This book is packed with information that you need to know about guitars and looking through the book is as good as being in your local guitar shop, absolutely fantastic showcase of guitars throughout the years. Paul Trynka did a nice work on the book . If you love guitar then this is the book for you.

This book was a big help for learning advanced statistics. The text on each topic is descriptive without being too longwinded. The examples given in the text apply to many different situations. I highly reccomend it as a statistics cookbook.

A great read. The authors' dynamically combine history and conventional issues while telling the story of a misfortunate man and his family in the 1800's. This book does a fabulous job of examining the politics of law and their relation to capital punishment.

York and the Great War is an incredible and inspiring account of one of the most phenomenal individual accomplishments ever in modern wartime history. For those that have perhaps seen the Hollywood account, Sergeant York, this is the true and detailed account of what actually happened. The book is actually a unique reproduction of York's war diary and has a very fresh, layman's kind of approach to the story. Those who enjoy history and great stories will love this book.

The horror of war comes through, especially ch. 12. The specifics as to why armies take up winter quarters is explained to the novice. Excellent descriptin of Naval campaign, Monitor and Merrimak. Balanced review of both sides yet Jackson and Lee remain exceptionally strong, wise and true. Lincoln included little but in positive light. McClelland's frequent letters to his wife explain he was an organizer and a politician not a fighter. Excellent coverage of life of average citizens that have been invaded. The strength of the book is its coverage of many aspects of the conflict, a wide variety so a novice gains an appreciation not gotten from high school courses on the subject.

This book should have been a classic introduction to musical acoustics. Instead, it tries to hard, is convoluted, often in error, and confuses musicians.

When I taught from this book, I and the class found errors in equations, references to equations, and calculations. When undergraduates are struggling to learn, this is a very bad context.

The book is so concerned with a level of comprehensiveness, that measured clarity is left out. At the same time, for the expert, it is too little. Therefore, it appeals to neither the introductory level nor the more advanced level.

I gave up using this book.

I have used this book as the primary textbook for an introductory course in the physics of music. It is at a somewhat higher level than some of its competitors (e.g. "The Acoustical Foundations of Music" by Backus) but still suitable for non-science majors with weak math backgrounds. It is the most thorough and informative book I have seen at this level. However, the students complained that it was somewhat dull. Also, the section on electronic reproduction of music is out of date--relatively little on CD's etc., and nothing on mp3 and related technologies. Still, I plan to use it again.

I have taught a course entitled "Acoustics for Musicians and Recording Engineers" to Engineering, Music, and Film majors using Rossing's THE SCIENCE OF SOUND. He has toned down the equations enough that the students aren't groaning, yet he's remained true to the interdisciplinary nature of acoustics as a pursuit of physics, psychology, math, and engineering. The structure of the book provides a wonderful outline for the course and it has been an invaluable resource for both me and the students who have wished to continue with their study of acoustics.

This is one of the best books about family I've read in a long time. The McWilliams siblings are wonderfully compelling characters, especially Sam, the oldest. Believing after losing his parents that only he can protect the family and keep it together, he becomes a playwright, pushing his brother and sisters to perform black comedy sketches about a family whose parents never show up for dinner. But the pressure he puts on them -- and the pressure of celebrity, once they start to become famous -- causes rifts between them, and forces Sam to reassess his own concept of family.

Despite its humor, this is at heart a serious allegory about the latchkey children of absent boomer parents, and about the power of the imagination to allow us to reshape our world. The writing is subtle but fast-paced, and the ending is powerfully moving. A great and memorable book.

I first stumbled across this novel in a review section of one magazine or the other. The review intrigued me enough to buy the book, and I was far from disappointed! I couldn't put Plum & Jaggers down. The characters fascinated me--especially Sam, whose mind we truly see into. I was a little put off at first by the predictable unpredictability (meaning the orphaned children, the oldest one of whom takes obsessive control), but the author answered back with twists and turns; my favorite was Sam's realization of the trite explosion at the close of the troupe's television show. Overall, a great read that stuck in my mind.

The power of Plum and Jaggers is how long after reading it I was still thinking about the characters and their story. Sam, as the eldest of four who were orphaned when their parents were blown up on a train, has the burden of protecting his siblings - even when and where they didn't need protection. His resiliency has its price in that he is troubled, overbearing, yet incredibly strong.This is a story of family values with an edge. As in an earlier book, A Country of Strangers, Susan Shreve is able to constantly link comedy and tragedy in a subtle yet provocative manner. She goes deeply into the psychology of her characters with a light flair. A great "book club" book.

Wheeler has written his history of the battle of Gettysburg and the campaign leading up to it in narrative style, without footnotes. This works if you're a great writer like Catton or Foote. But Wheeler is not a great writer; his use of language is quite pedestrian, so the "story" aspect of the book doesn't really work. Also, without footnotes, some of the dialogue and the accounts of individuals' experiences becomes suspect. Is this material accurate, or is he making it up? The depiction of the battle is quite simplistic, giving rather little attention to events on the Confederate left. Wheeler puts great emphasis on General Stuart's activities before the battle, which makes sense when you realize that he has decided to be one of the Stuart-scapegoaters (as opposed to the anti-Longstreet and critical-of-Lee and where-was-Anderson crowds). In pursuit of that thesis, he puts thoughts in Stuart's head in a way which, without corroborating quotes from primary sources, seems unjustified. Overall, this book reads rather like a pamphlet written for battlefield tourists or an indifferent young adult history textbook. It isn't serious scholarship, and I don't recommend it.

I visited the Gettysburg battlefield for the first time in Nov 99. Not being that familiar with the events of Gettysburg, I decided to read a book about it before I traveled to the site. I was very fortunate to have selected Gettysburg 1863 by Richard Wheeler. The book thoroughly explains the events surrounding the battle of July 1863. In addition to the outstanding narrative, Mr. Wheeler has included many drawings and maps that further detail the battles fought and the military strategy of the two armies. The book was very easy to read and extremely interesting. I couldn't put it down. By the time I arrived at Gettysburg, I felt like I had been there before. Thanks to this well written book, my visit to Gettysburg was twice as enjoyable. If one wants a quick, complete and accurate history of the Battle of Gettysburg, this is the book. Any sincere Civil War buff should have this book in his or her library.

The last part of the book where the story of Watership Down (which I've read about 8 times and loved) I enjoyed. I got bored with the El-ahrairah stories, probably because I never developed a sympathy for his character.

the original watership down has been for years one of my favorite books in the world. when i discovered that there was a sequel i was so happy and rushed to buy it. i knew of course that sequels are always less good than the original, so i lowered my expections. but alas it was worse then i have expected. the first 2 sections were about alhrairra and only the last and short sec. was about the watership rabbits. the stories about elharirra in the original book were sophisticated and original but in here most of the stories were ridiculous, boring and rather stupid! i hoped that at least the stories about the watership rabbits will be better but as people have allready written they were not! the stories lack the magic that was in the first book, the characters whom i missed so didnt behave at all like the first book and it seems like someone took all the spirit out of them. most who are mentioned are hazel, fiver,bigwig and hizentley. what happend to blackberry? one of the most important characters? and holly, dandelion, pipkin and the others? they are hardly mentioned.
so why did i rate it 3 stars?
well, there were a few stories i liked like elhrairra and the hole in the sky and the fox in the water(by the way, the storry about the terrible hay making was hard and terrible indeed). i also liked the story about campion and the story about the rabbit who chased away the weasels. and of course even if they were not charming as beforé, i enjoyed meeting hazel and his friends again. as someone had mentioned before and with reason, i would'nt be surprised at all if it finds out that adams didnt write this book himself because i know he can do much better than this! even the writing style felt different. i can only hope that maybe someday another book of the watership down will be published and that it would be a compensation of this one.

As a fifth grader I thought that this was a wonderful book. Yet it was also a challenge to read with many confusing parts. Even though it was challenging. I loved every minute of it, and recommend it to a more advanced audience. In the story there is a group of rabbits who live on a down, and have a lot of adventures but none compare to their big fight with General Woundwart (you can read about that in Watership Down another novel by Richard Adams.) One adventure is when Hyzenthlay (one of the rabbits) goes out to stay with an injured rabbit and then brings her back. My least favorite adventure is when a rabbit named Sandwort who is rebellious and disrespectful falls in a well and two rabbits save him. I think this book is a great book but like all books it has its flaws such as: they have more stories then adventures. The book is not long enough and it needs a little bit more details. But still I gave gave the book 4 stars because it was good. The way it held my interest was by leaving you in suspense. I thought Tales From Watership Down was a great book you will to.

Having enjoyed a number of Richard Wheeler's other novels, I looked forward to THE WITNESS, particularly since it is included in the 2000 WWA Spur Awards. But I found it simplistically moralistic and overbearing. While the ethical lesson is a good one, its presentation here is too heavy handed. It is also predictable--you can see the end coming for hundreds of pages.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as I have all of Wheelers' writings. However, I did notice a few spelling errors. Maybe due to publishers' oversights?

In "The Witness," Spur Award winning author Richard S. Wheeler takes the traditional western novel into brand-new territory. Rather than combating hostile Indians or bandits, Wheeler's hero, Daniel Knott, must resist pressure to compromise his own ethical standards by telling a lie in court. Refusing to do so jeopardizes his job, his family's security and his future. Reduced to two sentences, Knott's conflict sounds almost mundane. But in Wheeler's talented hands, Knott's dilemma becomes a suspenseful page-turner that this reader couldn't put down. With its universal theme of personal ethics, "The Witness" should appeal to diehard western fans and to people who have never read a western novel in their lives.

"The Witness" features complex, realistic characters who seldom are all good or all bad, a sense of time and place that makes the reader feel he's living in 1890s Colorado and prose that flows along as effortlessly as a mountain stream. Highly respected by his writing peers, Wheeler has not yet achieved the widespread general readership that he deserves. For those who haven't yet discovered him, "The Witness" is a wonderful way to get acquainted.