The rousing history of the Ghurkas & their wonderful achievements are meat & drink for an author like Farwell & he certainly doesn't disappoint here. Good mix of general military history together with plenty of first hand, personal accounts of Ghurka bravery & quirkiness. These are a special people & this is a fascinating story of how their 200+ years of loyal service to the British Crown's Armed Forces came about &, sadly, ended on pretty poor terms. Recommended!

This book was well written and very informative in all areas pertaining to those durable soldiers, the Gurkhas. I couldn't put it down and was so enthralled with it that I had to take off from a day of work to finish it. This book has taught me of a warrior tradition I only knew from conversations. It has inspired me to find out more and more of this story. A must read for any military enthusiast

The Life of Byron James is an encapsulated view of sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. And, in my opinion, an response to members of the Jim Morrison Cult who want to believe that he isn't really dead. Its the happy(?) "Well, what if it went this way . . ." ending to an otherwise tragic life. Kuntsler's knowledge of rock'n'roll comes through on every page. I've read it more than once. And I'm always sorry that it ends. . .

i love this book. it went out of print far too quickly. i first found it almost two decades ago in a a used-book store in winnipeg. it is an amazing trip through the long, slow, devouring of innocence that was the 1960's. (side note here, it is very hard sometimes for me to believe that my childhood times are now a recognized historical period. i have always taken pride in that fact that my birth coincided with both john glenn's flight & the freedom riders setting out to mississipi.) much of the literature about that time is dated, or just plain bad, but, this book holds up. written over a decade after the sixties ended, kunstler has enough perspective to veiw the times with a clear eye. the basic plot, (the reason that i got it, for it is a story that has always haunted me.) is that jim morrison-here called byron jaynes-really did fake his death, & went on to create a new identity & life for himself. (in case you didn't know-this has been a legend for the past thirty years.) usually, i avoid roman-ala-clefs, because you keep pausing in your head, or, in my case, keeping a chart of who is supposed to be who, in any case, it is very distracting. (i read mostly sf/f, & they have a sub-genre called alternate-history, where the use the real names & peoples, just how things might have been different, & it goes from there.) however, this book just grabs you by the throat, & doesn't let go. it helps one make sense of this that crazy, wonderful, insane time, even though it began & ended in violence. i don't miss the worst parts of that time,(ie: vietnam, the assasinations, the civil rights murders, altamont, the manson family, triumph snatched from stopping at the moon, not going back or carrying on outward,-dammit, we could have a colony on mars now!) but, i sure resent the world now. there are times, hearing a piece of music from that time, or, lying awake at night, not being able to sleep, i think of all that wasted potential, the shocking waste of life, both in 'nam, & stateside. it all turned out so [darn] differently from the way it was supposed to, didn't it? reading this book is like having time machine. someday, i wish someone would make a terrific movie of this wonderful book, just so we could have a soundtrack with phil ochs & tim buckley predominant. there are times when i get somewhat bitter about life & the world as it is, but, this book helps. this is an important book, & it should be much more widely available. i desparetly hope it goes back into print & never goes out.

This book is valuable in that it proposes an overview of the field of medical anthropology and also proposes a literary approach. At the same time, its quality is its weakness: it does not look at the political economy side.

Simply put, the interdisciplinary group of anthropologists, physicians, and others at Harvard have been doing some of the most important and far-reaching work in the area of medical anthropology ever. Byron Good's book, initially given as the Henry Louis Morgan Lectures at Rochester, is a beautifully written and accessible summation of much of the innovative thinking going on with his colleagues and former students --- most notably folks like MaryJo Delvecchio Good, Art Kleinman, Lawrence Cohen, Pete Guarnaccia, Carol Mattingly, and others. The major controversies facing anthropology and medicine have been legion, and the discipline has, indeed, been put to ethically-suspect use in service to imperialist ends before. However, as Good argues so effectively, there is still much use for medical anthropology to serve progressive ends in a democratically-ordered world.

This book represents an exciting tale of one man's journey to concur several demons in his life. Greg, the protagonist, is being hunted by an evil being with god-like abilities. The book takes us on Greg's journey to destroy the being. Greg teams up with several other characters in the book to battle the evil demon, and Greg tells them the story of the monster's creation throughout the book via flashbacks. On another level, the book deals with Greg's inner demon. Greg must come to understand that he is not the one responsible for this evil being, but must surrender his guilt to a higher power.

The book provides a great read. I found the plot believable and consistent throughout the book; however, I did see a couple areas of improvement. I found two of the characters lacked that vibrant spark which seems to make them come alive in other books. I also found the constant flashbacks a bit dizzying at times. Nonetheless, this is an excellent work for the author's first book.

I got this book not expecting to even get to it in my stack of "you gotta read this". When I got home I looked at the first page of the first chapter and I was hooked. The others would just need to stay on the night stand for a few more days.

I read this book in record time. I read it faster than most of the "best sellers" I have read and enjoyed it even more. I want to loan my book out to everyone I know so they can enjoy it as much as I did, but I am afraid I'll never get it back!

The plot line is excellent, the character development is great and Bufkin does a masterful job of making you turn the page to see what happens next! If you like action, suspense, evil villians, unsuspecting heros, or deeper truths, its all rapped up in Bufkin's first literary work. All in all a great read for anyone, anytime. I look forward to more!

The author manages to make his various topics (glaciers and their effects on our world here in Ohio, development of flora and fauna of the region through history, etc.)very accessible to the lay person. He has a sense of humour about nature and a beautifully descriptive eye.

Sherman's excellent book was recommended to me by a colleague while I was preparing to teach a college course in bioregional biographies, and it is clearly the best I've seen. His rendering of geological, botanical, and biological information is both lucid and lyrical, and--unlike David Raines Wallace, whose Klamath Knot is also a wonderful model of this sort of writing--Sherman needs no incidental narrative device to hold the layers of deep history together. Mr. Sherman is a gifted writer and naturalist, and A Place on the Glacial Till is clearly a classic of natural history writing.

A good book to explain the Radar to people with singal process / electronics background. From searching radar/tracking radar to modern weather applications etc. It also introduces many good DSP applications in RADAR technology, and also good in communication field.

This book is admirably suited to either a one-semester or two-semester course in radar principles and design. More than that, it contains a good deal of information that's useful even to those of us who have designed and worked with radars for many years.

The common faults of written material on radar are either to focus too narrowly on one aspect of the topic, or to omit material on the assumption that it must be classified when in fact it is not. Edde's book avoids both pitfalls. He gives thorough, comprehensive information on all sorts of radars, past and present, designed for various uses, and leaves the conscientious reader prepared to think clearly about where to start when confronted with a request for something new and different.

Suppose you were asked to sketch out an initial design for a radar whose purpose is to track bird migration on the Atlantic flyway. Where would you start? What criteria would you strive to meet? To what extent could you hope to distinguish between types of migrating birds? What help might you hope to provide for keeping track of individual flocks during migration? What design techniques might be useful? How much of what kind of signal processing would you expect to need?

I don't know about you, but left to my own devices I could stumble around for quite a while contemplating such questions. To avoid wasting time this way, I would sit down and rapidly skim Edde's book again, cover to cover, taking notes on what might be useful ideas and starting points.

If you are professionally concerned with radar, you need this book.

Bryon has Recessive Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa... the same exact condition my son has. RDEB is a rare skin disorder where the skin is so fragile a minimum scratch causes 2nd degree burn-like wounds, it is a devastating condition with no cure that does not improve with age.
In this book Lillian describes in detail her life with Bryon from birth and beyond. It was a tough book to read because of the vivid images it brought to me, but a must to read for any EB parent and their loved ones.

"The heartwarming story of a small boy's rare courage and struggle with a rare skin disease that has caused pain and suffering for Bryon since birth. His story of strong faith in God's love is a lesson for all of us. His cheerful disposition is a tremendous contrast to the severity of his condition. When you read this story, you will realize that in the midst of sorrow, God alone can draw the sting out of every trouble and take the bitterness from every affliction." This is a wonderful book and you will be touched by it's story and how it will change your own outlook on life.

The trouble with a zombie collection is that zombies don't have quite the same depth of history as some of our old familiar monsters. So the interpretation of some of these authors as to what constitutes a zombie is a little in question. In the Anne Rice story (lifted pretty directly from the Witching Hour, I believe) a zombie is anyone who doesn't respond and is under a spell. In others we get the more classical Haitian zombie. In the Robert Silverberg story the zombies are what we become when we're inhabited by passengers from somewhere else. Many of the stories are meant to be comic or satirical, and those-- for me-- packed the weakest punch. Others, like "Emma's Daughter" (by Alan Rodgers) and "Though I Walk Through the Valley" are really impressive and inventive variations on the theme.

This is, obviously enough, a collection of zombie stories. I was kind of expecting to like some of these stories but then to find an equal number of just OK or bad stories. Instead I found a collection that just blew me away. Almost every story impacted me and became well liked. Definitely try this collection! Some of the stories with the biggest punch are listed below.

"Though I Walk Through The Valley" by S. P. Somtow - A boy helps his uncle love his son.

"Dead Right" by Geoffrey A. Landis - A professional boxer tries to defeat a zombie by using a new strategy.

"Passengers" by Robert Silverberg - Malicious zombies who can take people over at will.

"Larger Than Life" by Lawrence Watt-Evans - A producer gets some help to save his latest film.

"The Potable Zombie" by Larry Tritten - A malicious bartender plays a trick.

"Corruption In Office" by Don D'Ammussa - The President of the United States gets some special help.

"The Toddler Pit" by A. R. Morlan - A young woman remembers her past as a pre-school teacher's assistant.

"The Silent Majority" by Robert Weinberg - The silent majority make their presence known.

"The Dead Speaketh Not, They Just Grunt Now And Then" by Lionel Fenn - A reluctant Lord assists with some mysterious deaths.

PERSPECTIVE: sci-fi/fantasy/horror fan, unfamiliar with Huggins' work

Its unfortunate that I come away from this book disliking it, as I tried hard... really hard... to find the goodness in it. What hooked me into initially picking it up was the cool concept - an evil being possesses the scientifically enhanced body of a dead former CIA operative, and just what those responsible were going to do about it. As I read, I was also intrigued by the pseudo-science surrounding just what makes Cain tick, and what ultimately needs to be done to stop him.

Some things were done well, as some of the action sequences are reasonably thrilling, and Huggins' writing style is very straightforward and easy to follow. Unfortunately, that's all I can say from a positive standpoint. The novel is essentially a screenplay for a B-level action/horror movie. Both protagonists and antagonists have meaningful things to say at times, but every chapter, and towards the end, every section, seem to end with a snappy one-liner ("I'm going to see if a dead man can die", etc...) or some dramatic sub-cliffhanger statement that remind me more of a bad film script than a novel. The characters aren't completely static, but it is almost transparently predictable as to what the ultimate fate of every main character will be from early on in the book. A lot of the situations seem somewhat contrived, as Huggins seems to make some of the players do momentarily irrational things in order to advance the plot or further a situation.

All of the above would have been more forgivable if it weren't set into a background of pseudo-science that, while convincing to the average layperson, is just plain inaccurate, coming from a biology/medical background. The same can be said for the religious ideas presented - it's okay "pop mythology" for a B-movie, but to have this as the basis for a novel just doesn't fly with readers with any theological training.

All in all, this wasn't the worst book I've ever read, but the most disappointing aspect was that the cool ideas were only mediocrely researched and presented, and dragged down by contrived drama and a story that while fun at times, wasn't well-developed enough to make me care.

FINAL WORD: Don't read this book - life's too short and there are too many good-to-great novels out there to waste your time on this.

You knew when you heard the biblical names of Soloman & Cain--that you were in for an evil battle of epic proportions. Indeed, you get just that, oh and a nanosecond of a romance. James Byron Huggins has managed to slam every nightmare you've ever had into this tall tale. We've got "CAIN," (a Golem really, and the antichrist fused into SuperMan), with some real satanical tendencies, who just happens to be a vampire (nightmares run amok in this book) and needs blood to replenish his strength every time he beats the crap out of Soloman, or gets shot more times than any gangster in Los Angeles. Not only does this monster suck blood, have the "unholy" strength of 100 men, and some evil castle dwelling minions, but he has the help of technology with his titanium reinforced body parts, and an internal (Marburg) viru-bomb set to detonate in 10 days. Could Huggins put any more of our darkest fears into a worse package? Of course we really don't hate Cain until he messes with the Catholic Church. That was his biggest mistake! Our hero, Soloman has his work cut out for him. Licking some old wounds suffered when he lost his wife & child, this ever intense, one-man army is enlisted to stop Cain. Soloman's sidekicks are nowhere nearly as formidable, but Huggins does give us a couple of great archetypical characters in the General, the safehouse soldier, the priest, and the innocent child, who happens to be the daughter of the very woman (Dr. Milton) who created Cain in the laboratory using her own daughter's blood. What irony! Well, some of it may be predictable, but it is a tortuous ride to see when the good guys will bring the bad guys down and who will lose their lives in the battle. The mayhem starts so quickly in the book, that you are sure it will go nowhere because -- how much more can our hero endure? So you keep turning the pages. You turn them so quickly you miss the romance. What romance? You won't be sorry you took "CAIN" to the beach or on your subway commute home. -- D.

This is my 1st book I have read from this author and it was truly one of the best reads out there today. If you like lots of action/adventure mixed in with a type of religious horror, this ones for you! Cain was a very interesting character and seeing how he would be brought down was exciting to say the least. I already purchased two of his other books - HUNTER and RECKONING, and will definately buy all his others. His characters were all interesting and the storyline never is boring or slow - its either fast or HIGH OCTANE! This author deserves to be a bestseller. If his books are made into hollywood movies, look out for it, because if they are made right, there is no doubt they will be blockbuster movies that make millions. This CAIN story has movie written all over it but I don't see who could play the Cain character, this guy would make Shwarzenegger look like a baby! Shwarzenegger would be perfect for the role of Solomon though because the guy was pretty super-human himself, to me Bruce Willis could not pull that off. Cain could be done in pure CGI form, now that would be a 1st and awesome in movie history. But read this book because it has lots of hours of enjoyment in it. I can't wait to read his other books, and I will review them as I finish them. A must read folks!

I've read two other Huggins thrillers ("Cain" and 'Leviathan'), and they're all similar man vs. evil beast stories. Of the three, I would say "Hunter" is the best technically speaking, but "Cain" is the most exciting. Huggins continues to make the same mistakes here as in his other formulaic books, i.e. 1) the same descriptions ("volcanic", "titanic") are used over and over again; 2) the evil scientist is the same charcter as in the other books; 3) the hero is still a haunted superman. Nonetheless, I'm still reading them, so there's obviously something worthwhile, and I think "Hunter" deserves points for straying at least slightly out of the usual formula. While Nathaniel Hunter is a superman character like Thor and Solomon before him, his talent is not innate size and strength like Thor nor superb military training like Solomon. Instead, Hunter is simply a man who grew up in the wilds, and the environment made him the powerful man he is. Ergo, he is the best of the superman charcters. Speaking of which, Huggins is moving in new directions with them. In this book he spends part of the time with Chaney, a U.S. Marshal tracking the bureaucracy behind the requisite beast, and his entertaining pal Brick. And while plenty of no-names get slaughtered by Luther, the beast, we actually get a few named characters with background information who die too, so at least having a name doesn't mean you survive in the end. The supporting charcters are fairly decent, with a Japanese neo-samurai, a very cool female sniper, and a shotgun-mad soldier. They all try to transcend the stereotype boundaries, so kudos for that. The beastie in this is a very nasty critter named Luther. Without supplying details, I'll say he is a perfectly-equipped predator, and the reasons behind him being around are more believable than the same for either Cain or Leviathan. The premise is much better than the other two. There are some other new tricks in this book. There are a wealth of people using different weapons, which adds variety. The action is constant but not set-piece formulaic, and the final encounter in a veritable Golgotha is the best of the three books. Also, this time Huggins adds survival lore instead of mythology and doesn't have any Christian mythos, if that is a reason to buy/not buy this tome. And while some people complain that there is actually sex and profanity (gasp, horror!), it makes the book more realistic. Can you imagine a group of hardened but scared soldiers tramping around Alaska and not cussing? All in all, 'Hunter' was entertaining and an improvement in technical style for Huggins, though I must admit, if you prefer more comic-book style action and excitement, read "Cain" too.

I must admit that Mr. Huggins style is immediately immersive, the pacing lightning fast. I was at first intrigued by the fearless tracker Nathaniel Hunter and his huge wolf Ghost. The action was intense and bloody, the weaponry and the tracking information extensive. But then the story got repetitive. Which made me feel kind of cheated. Overall I enjoyed this novel and the trek across Alaska to kill an enemy that seemed impossible to kill. But the suspense level really wasn't all that high, I had a pretty good idea how this book was gonna turn out. Some of the twists were slightly unexpected, the characters were well developed (especially Hunter and Ghost) and the monster was a true vision of Horror. However, I do have a major problem with characters being thrown into the same situation again and again, only to prevail and fight another day and blah blah blah. The story kept building up to the same climatic scene over and over, just in a different way with a higher and higher body count. It kinda made me question the intelligence level of the elite special forces unit sent to track the creature. But, taken for what it is, an action novel, Hunter does deliver the brainless goods. I must admit I had fun reading this and I daresay, if you're an action fan, you'll enjoy this fast paced book too. You just might get a little irritated toward the end. Overall, a good, quick read, that you will strangely recommend to friends.

I've read some of the other readers' comments and was surprised at the extent to which many voiced objections to Huggins' use of profanity and "illicit sex" in this book. Okay, so the guy has some terrific books that do not include bad language or any sexual scenes - so what?!? This is an action thriller, plain and simple, so what do you expect? And it isn't like there's tons of bad language, nor is the sex scene very explicit. And my gosh people, if you were one of the soldiers fighting this thing and had seen many of your comrades butchered in front of your eyes and all your weapons were useless against it, I can guarantee you'd be cussing a lot worse than any of the characters in the book did!! This book and Cain do share the Noble Hero-versus-Epitome of Evil Adversary, but most thrillers contain that anyway. It's a simple, good versus bad story and, in my opinion, very, very well done. I devoured this book as quickly as Luther cut a swathe through platoons of helpless soldiers!!