In the same decade H.G. Wells wrote The War of the Worlds, Americans all across the States reported seeing an airship more massive and advanced than anything possible at the time.

Most people believe UFOs and aliens are the inventions of the 20th century, with all its whizbang technology, from airplanes and radar to nuclear bombs and genetic engineering. This book, and a companion book The Great Texas Airship Mystery, both reveal that people have been paranoid for a good long time. :)

Cohen, the author, covers various reports in newspapers from that era, and tracks the course of the airship. He includes enough clippings from newspapers to make the reports seem genuine. It is doubtful the man simply imagined this event.

For students studying UFO lore and history, a complete understanding of extraterrestrial mythology should begin with the earliest history. For the casual reader who is not researching UFOs, this book is not incredibly entertaining.

I was given this book by my Nutritionist, and found it an easily readable, sympathetic introduction to the idea that changing the way I ate would increase my chances against cancer.

The House of Habsburg is one of the oldest and geographically broadest in Europe, having had a part in the reigning dynasties of nearly every Continental state. But the family nearly became extinct in the male line until Emperor Charles VI promulgated the Pragmatic Sanction, enabling his daughter, Maria Theresia, to succeed him in all his estates and titles. Bavaria contested this maneuver but lost the War of the Austrian Succession, and Maria Theresia's demonstrated abilities in diplomatic and military affairs -- and the election of her husband, Franz I, to be Holy Roman Emperor -- cemented her position. Moreover, she produced sixteen children, most of whom married well and three of whom have descendants. This volume is a straightforward outline of those descents, one major line per chapter, with no narrative text at all. The compiler cites fewer than twenty secondary sources, so there's no original research here, either (and there are no specific footnotes). It's primary use, therefore, is as a ready reference source for the families covered, but even that utility is somewhat limited by the lack of an index.

Stephen Aron's book depicts the two conflicting ideals of how Kentucky is to go down into history by pioneer Daniel Boone and then, the powerful Henry Clay. A very good book answering all the questions of historical Trans-Appalacha. I feel as if Aron could have shortened the book and still be able to get the point across of the two opposing sides.

Very fine treatment of the next level of performance for the Sprite/Midget. Not a tune up book for existing or original cars,but an excellent reference for aftermarket and upgrade for the car moving to the next level of performance.

Reviewed by Johanna Granville, Clemson University, Clemson, SC USA

This book has several strengths. Calhoun examines Soviet decision making toward the Hungarian crisis. This detailed book is written in an entertaining style. The book consists of two case studies; half of the book is devoted to the British role in the Suez crisis. However, although this book was relatively recently published, it does not contain any recent archival findings. The author apparently knows neither Russian nor Magyar.

The security of the Persian Gulf remains a vital national security concern for the United States. Vital, as over 30% of oil imports are sent from the region. A disturbance in the supply caused by internal or external conflict may diminish the economic growth of not only the U.S but will have ramification worldwide. Post Desert Storm the political landscape of the region has changed dramatically. With the Soviet Union disintegrated, the U.S remains the sole power to dictate its term. This new reality has forced nations in the region to accommodate the change in this reality. A significant shift in policies occurred by both Syria and Jordan, which were once supported by Soviet Union and later moved from confrontation to compromise in the relations with U.S. This change occurred after it became evident that Russia could no longer support them financially and militarily. Call it direct or indirect but peace in (how shallow a form) came about after Soviet Union was dismantled. Till the mid 1990's significant dialogue and energy was placed by both Israel and the Arab nations.

In this study the authors have identified the region of conflict in the Gulf, and the access available to the forces from friendly countries. The authors do comparative analysis on military forces, bases and equipment between all the countries. There were two facts mentioned in this study, which I do not concur with, which are:

1.Security and Intelligence sharing between Arabs and Israel.
2.Iranian Opportunism.

I disagree with first on the mere premise that there exists much mistrust between the two nations. The present example is relations between Israel and Egypt. Having made peace in the late 70's the relation has not progressed; it is at best a mere recognition and a non-war pact. True peace cannot be achieved in my perception till the Palestinian cause for a homeland is not addressed and their rights of independence are not respected. In the second case Iranian Opportunism in the region remains a very unlikely scenario. The Iranians like all the people in the region have witnessed the devastation brought onto Iraq after if began its incursion into Kuwait. Besides at present Iran remain both militarily and financially very weak. In the late 1990 the Iran government decided against an attack on Afghanistan (under Taliban) after it was evident that the latter had murdered its diplomat.

Editors Pauline J. Sheldon, Karl W. Wöber and Daniel R. Fesenmaier present 40 papers from the International Conference on Information and Communication Technology in Tourism, now in its eighth year. At this conference, tourism and information technology (IT) experts, practitioners and researchers made presentations in 14 categories. Their research, which reflects their individual approaches, covers innovative IT solutions for tourism, knowledge management and change in the tourism industry, electronic communications, Internet marketing, business to business tourism, how consumers use destination web sites, intelligent recognition systems, tourism education and the hotel industry's IT challenge. These highly technical, sometimes even mathematical, articles are targeted to a specific market - those immersed in IT and tourism. We from getAbstract suggest this expert compilation to information officers, IT academics and tourism executives interested in IT for their companies. If you are interested, but not an insider, you'll like the chapter abstracts that summarize key articles (but, then again, we do have a soft spot for abstracts).

i picked this up because it was on clearance and at the time (a grad student) i couldn't afford stevens. i'm glad i did, it covers a lot of the internet protocol background you'll need to do any serious research. however, it really lacks any of the depth in most places that you'll find in stevens or comers. i still refer to some of it, but frankly a lot of the background material is out of date and covered better elsewhere.

probably reccomended for people who can pick it up on the cheap or want a fair overview. i'm glad i read it, but i have better ones on my shelf.

Good, clear introduction to systems thinking but there are much better values out there (eg Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Compexity or Peter Senge's books). Would be useful in a seminar or classroom setting but I have to say I was very disappointed when it arrived (at that time the page information was not listed on Amazon). Maybe if it was packaged with some of the other systems thinking booklets produced by Pegasus I would have been more satisfied. If you are really interested in the topic ... is a very good resource.