When I first read this book, I was AMAZED...because I found it to be 100% in keeping with my own experiences, experiences I had been trying for years to convey to others. I had been able to get through to some people who didn't mind my scientific explanations and support information; but a lot of my friends just don't care about that...they are only interested in results.

This is a book about the results, and techniques to get them. If you want the science behind it, you'll need to look further; but "From Atoms to Angels" is a heck of a good introduction to by applying metaphysical principles to your life to make it work.

Walsh's book is a true delight to read, the principles in the book seem to come alive as you read on in the book. The prose is written with vivid descriptions and the author gives the reader insights albeit shrewd of how the battles were fought.

I got the inpression that I was there with the incisive insights the author gives the reader, from the Generals, to the commanders, right down to the trenches, told with deeply moving detail. I encourage anyone interested in reading about the Civil War or the "Yankee War of Aggression" to read this book.

I've read Foote, McPherson, and Catton's writings about this time in American History, but Walsh's account here is the best and most personal one that I've ever read, with a probing into the character and the battles that made them feel like they were fought right before your eyes.

This book is, by all accounts, for a single volume the best book written about one of the best fighting armies the Confederacy ever had... the Army of Northern Virginia. This book is worthy of a place in your library on American History.

I hope the authors write an updated version of this book because it is really necessary. It is surprising that there are so few books like this available to diabetics who really have to take care of their disease all by themselves. It is lonely out there and books like this really help.

I'm hardly surprised that he gave up reviewing over 25 years ago for painting. Writing just doesn't seem to be his strong suit.

Walsh is careful to weave basic information about the presidents into the book. If you already know a good deal about the modern U.S. presidents, you will find much of this information either simplistic or repetitive. If you don't know very much about the modern presidents, however, but you want to know more about Air Force One, then you won't get lost here.

Walsh usually introduces each president with a brief history, and then shows convincingly that the planes they flew had a way of revealing the character of that president in a way that other places - the Oval Office, for example - did not. Reporters and staff, if they are fortunate enough to be allowed on board the jet, have access to a president that they do not have anywhere else. Presidents also seem to open up more when they fly Air Force One. Both of these circumstances allow a unique opportunity to see the usually powerful and distant man unfiltered.

While the historical moments that took place on Air Force One are all here (LBJ's swearing in as president just after the assassination of JFK; George W. Bush's long flight around the country after the terror attacks on 9-11, etc.), I personally found the trivial or less famous information more interesting. I had never heard, for example, that Nixon's Air Force One had to take evasive maneuvers during a trip to the Middle East after it appeared Syrian fighter jets might attack it (they were mistakenly sent up to welcome the Presidential jet). I also had no idea that secure communications on the president's hi-tech plane are often disrupted while it is in flight.

This is a light book that can be finished in an evening of reading. My only disappointment with it was the lack of basic drawings of the interior setup of Air Force One or drawings of the insides of previous presidential jets. I don't think the information is classified (since Walsh describes it in words), so it would have been interesting to see the various layouts.

The theme of the book is that Air Force One is more than a plane. It's a symbol of the US and of presidential power. Most important, AF One offers presidents a chance to be alone -- and a chance to take off their suits and reveal themselves in jeans, sweats and Boxer shorts.

Some presidents come alive more than others in this account. We get a feel for Nixon, Clinton and Ford, but less for Kennedy and the present Bush. The Carter chapter surprised me: the public persona contrasts with the private man and Amy turns out to be a spoiled brat. Ford was the most decent and caring of all past presidents. And we learn that Reagan was far more disciplined than most of us realized.

We begin to realize that Bill Clinton, the first Baby Boomer president, brought a new era to the Presidency as well as the plane: he was actually comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt, and his open expressions of emotion are contemporary. His predecessors seem stiff by comparison. Wisely, the author remains carefully neutral when writing about the current president.

I'd have liked to learn more about the crew who serve AF One. How are they chosen? Do they get special training? What's it like to be a flight attendant or a steward? And I'd like to hear more about some of the notable reporters, such as Barbara Walters, who gets mentioned only for her dismay at being served a spam sandwich.

And Walsh's journalistic role has a downside. I'd have liked to see a chapter with some insights that cut across individual presidents rather than straight reporting. As a reader, I found myself astonished at the ordinary qualities of the leaders of the free world. Some were not accustomed to being served. Others seemed so ill-suited to the presidency that I wondered how they got so far.

Overall, they're downhome, at least a little chauvinistic, insulated from much of the rest of the world because they're too busy with the president to develop a broad exposure. They play cards and watch light movies. Most have a roving eye: Kennedy, Johnson and Clinton are well-known but apparently Nixon liked to look, too.

Reading this book is like going to Epcot: you feel as though you're getting educated when you're really being entertained, and you can't help enjoying the experience. For an eerie contrast, read The Ship Who Sang, a classic sci fi novel by Anne McCaffrey.

I have just finished reading Kenneth T. Walsh's newest book, "Air Force One: A History of the Presidents and Their Planes". This book, I am happy to report, is as informative and articulate a reading experience as I have had in a long time. Mr. Walsh's long-time "insider" status as well as his exhaustive research and crisp, concise style of writing made this a thoroughly enjoyable read, start to finish.

The short history of aviation and it's effect on American history is truly remarkable, as Mr. Walsh reports. Over the few years it has taken for the jet age to develop, our executive branch has been relatively quick to recognize and tap the potential for extending democratic values and influence. Between FDR's first tedious and exhausting hop-scotch to Casablanca and George W. Bush's incredible split-second decision on board Air Force One the day of September 11, 2001, this book gives the reader some wonderful minute-by-minute reporting from the key people involved, right up to the presidents themselves.

Each of our presidents has approached the Ait Force One experience in their own unique way, thereby revealing a closer insight into their hearts and minds. This book details each, from Clinton's relatively relaxed and homey flying style, Johnson's bullying, to Nixon's brooding and self-obsessed genius. And for me personally, the detailed descriptions of each airplane's awesome power and capabilities imparted a sense of certainty and reassurance that our leadership is just as secure and in command at 35,000 feet and 700 mph as it has ever been in the White House or Camp David.

These airplanes and the phalanx of people who fly them have known more history than one could ever have even imagined. With this book, Mr. Walsh has brought American history buffs as well as casual readers like myself a slice of flying knowlege and experience not soon to be forgotten.