A dry work, but a useful one
357642
This is the kind of book that everybody says someone should write, but which nobody ever does. Usually.
It is invaluable to anyone seeking to research the Air part of World War II. Containing facts, figures and reports the data is provided in an unbiased and factual format almost completely alien to the genre. You will find no boasting here, nor any misguided attempts to draw conclusions - simply a full and complete chronology of World War II from the point of view of the American Airforce.
Again, you will find little specific data regarding individual actions or campaigns, but this work will allow you to set any one piece of the war into its perspective, against the detailed backdrop of the "big picture". It is the only work of its kind that I have found and I heartily recommend it.
4955591
This is a fairly old work and therefore doesn't necessarily provide access to modern scholarship. It doesn't take long to read. It is cheap. It gives the reader a quick look at a time which is not as well known. It would have been ok not to read it, though.
2955973
Mason Currey has gathered together from a variety of sources accounts of how artists work.  Most of the artists are writers, but he includes a number of painters and a smattering of choreographers, architects, and others.  The entries are quite short; none is longer than a few pages and some are only a paragraph or two.

The artists' approach to their work varies, but most seem to work for just a few hours per day, typically first thing in the morning.  Most seem to stick to a schedule, although some seem to work sporadically -- or erratically! -- and so don't appear to actually have "daily rituals."

Currey makes no attempt to draw conclusions from the material he has gathered, so the reader is left to take what he will from the entries.  Because there is no particular organizational theme and because there are so many entries, this is a book best read in short bursts rather than cover-to-cover in a single sitting.

Although I enjoyed the book, I have a couple of minor criticisms:  First, Currey doesn't always make clear that for a substantial number of these artists the work schedule described applied to just a brief period in his or her career.  To take one of many examples, George Orwell is described as writing on a schedule determined by his hours as a clerk in a used bookstore, but Orwell only held that job for a brief period.  Second, the order of the entries appears random or nearly so.  In a few cases, the entries for similar artists appear together, but that's rarely the case.  Here, for example, are the last four entries in the book:  Maira Kalman, Georges Simenon, Stephen Jay Gould, Bernard Malamud -- quite a mixed group (and should a writer of non-fiction like Gould have been labeled an "artist"?).  It might have been more helpful to have grouped the artists by type and then chronologically within type.  Doing so might have made it easier for readers to detect common approaches and consider how the approaches may have varied over time.
107923
I would call this dictionary an average reference book.  It contains pictures to keep the graphically inclined happy.  The marginalia directing readers to related topics is helpful.  The longer articles giving more general descriptions are fun to read.  On the other hand, Tressider seems to try too hard to come up with universal meanings for the symbols he describes, pointing out the common elements while ignoring instances where a symbol may have radically different meaning.  His articles are often short and incomplete.  This is not as comprehensive a book as Chevalier's Dictionary of Symbolism (which I would recommend for the serious student of art and literature over this one), but many readers will find it's clean format and short explanations entertaining and attractive.  It deserves to be part of a library of symbolism, but I would not make it my only source.
3234367
This is a follow-on to Professor Lloyd's book "Early Greek Science from Thales to Aristotle".  It contains chapters of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, Hellenic Mathematics, Hellenic Astronomy, Hellenic Biology and Medicine,  Applied Mechanics and Technology, Ptolemy, Galen and The Decline of Ancient Science.  I found this book much more focused than his previous one on early Greek science, but it was equally dry.  I particularly liked the section on technology, but the others are also good; good but dry.  I was a little disappointed by the Ptolemy chapter because I was expecting a more in-depth treatment of the Ptolemaic system.

I have mentioned twice that I felt that the book was dry, by this I mean that it was slow reading and not as interesting as I had hoped.  Nonetheless, I am giving the book 4 stars.  While dry, the book contains a lot of very interesting information and was worth the time that I spent on with it.
4689472
I'm not really ready to provide a review of this work, so I'll describe instead the intended application.  Business owners occasionally want to examine what aspects of their personality contribute to their work.  Myers-Briggs typologies have received considerable interest from the public and the Enneagram is a more contemporary extension of this work.  I find surprisingly little research and statistical work on Myers-Briggs and have reservations about the utility of the work beyond a kind of face validity.  That said, this text provides a readable overview of the typologies and may be a useful reference for those who wish to assess their entrepreneurial path.
2114915
cheese, thomas and craig's book on the talent powered organization was an interesting, relatively light read.  it was not sufficiently scholarly, in my opinion, for use in an undergraduate class nor was it sufficiently practical for use in applied settings.  as a supplement to graduate classes, it perhaps could find its home.  frankly, i did not read very much in it that i hadn't been reading 25 years ago, other than, particularly, technology's allowing us to globalize our resources more efficiently.  this book could have and should have probably cited numerous studies (e.g., top 10) in the areas it professed to focus upon.  i thought that it offered sufficient case studies that supported points being made within the text.  for popular american consumption, i prefer that british english be revised to american english (e.g., labour to labor, programme to program).  otherwise, a fine book.
349607
We used this as a textbook in Old Testament Survey at Belmont - I suspect largely because the author had just retired from a professorship there.  The book is well written, and accessible, but not particulary useful.
Tullock assumes the validity of the documentary hypothesis (as developed by Wellhausen et al.) and proceeds from there, which is a fatal flaw for two reasons:  1)The introductory student probably doesn't care about theories of composition and would be better served by spending more time becoming acquainted with the content and themes of the OT books; 2)Wellhausen's theories are deeply flawed, as many authors in the past century have pointed out (as an example, see Kline's Structure of Biblical Authority, which makes a compelling case that the form of Deuteronomy is that of an ancient treaty and only fits the milieu of the Mosaic period).
Skip this one.
Note:  the above comments apply to the edition which was current in 1991.  One hopes that Tullock has improved the book during the intervening decade.
196062
This isn't a thriller and it can be very dry and tiresome at times. However, from the academic standpoint , this is an interesting work on the CIA.
Good or bad, this book was a product of its times,  and I understand that.  It wasn't fashionable in the 1970s to spy, and there were some controls needed on CIA.
However, I think Agee goes too far in releasing secrets.
Agee takes the reader through recruitment, training and CIA life. If he had stopped there and left out designations, cover and agent names it would be a sort of dry but informative work.
He didn't.
Aldrich Ames sold names and operations for money to the Soviet Union. Phil Agee sold them to a book  publisher. I see little difference.
1140381
This book wasn't waste of money.  I bought it because it was very inexpensive, and it turns out that it has some useful information that was arguably worth the low price.  "Some" is the key word, though.  At only 126 pages to begin with, the book is printed in uncommonly large font, and a sizeable chunk of the first part is devoted to topics that have nothing to do with the kind of methodology that you would expect in a manual, such as an unremarkable "history of boxing," a list of "benefits of boxing," and a well-intentioned but somewhat silly "boxer's code" (see table of contents using Amazon's "look inside" feature).

I have very little experience boxing.  I was able to glean some useful information from the book, but I doubt that it would be helpful for anyone who has had actual training; even the usefull parts were rather simplistic.  Although marketed as a must-have "whether you are an amateur or professional," I would recommend it only to the casual ammateur.

Also, the description says that it is "an official manual used at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York."  I have serious doubts that this is true; the quality of the publication is minimalistic (which one can also see in the "look inside"), provides no supporting credentials, and is published by a small publishing company of which, if I am not mistaken, the author himself is CEO.

Take it for what it's worth.  It's usefull if you're into boxing as a casual excercise, but not a quality guide for competetive athletes.

Pros:
-Low price
-Offers usefull guidelines for basic workout routines

Cons:
-Little information
-Very simplistic
-Unprofessional
-Unsubstantiated endorsement
4048470
This book was copyrighted in 1998 even though my edition was printed in 2003. That means that the field of DCC has come a long way since this one went to press. Even so, it can still be of some use.

It's usefulness comes from it being written from the viewpoint of the National Model Railroad Association Working Group for DCC. It addresses the theory of the system and some elementary applications but it rightfully points out that manufacturers has broad latitude in implementing the published standards. It gives specific examples from various vendors and points out, even at the time of writing, that some are no longer in business. IN that respect and considering the advances in the field, the book is way out of date.

Still, the theory is the same. This book gives a fairly thorough treatment of that theory. It is rather dry reading but is still worthwhile.
1908218
This book was fact-filled and a wee bit dry; nonetheless, it gets the job done in setting the stage for what has unfolded after the ink dryed a few years ago. The author does good analysis of the international lauch market prior to 1999 but a lot has changed while much has remained the same. ITAR space technology export controls still a vexing issue that needs to be carefully vetted by the Congress in the 21st Century; but the Commercial Space Launch Amendments of 2004 has done a lot to change the content anaylsis of the book.  One may read the book for historic context, as I did, but have the realization that the policy and law is dynamic. The material has aged. In future editions, I do suggest some visualizations and graphs along the way to give the reader more than simple straight text. Personally, I enjoyed the footnote references at the bottom of each page and the extensive bibliography.
3120958
While this is a useful book for those who collect postals, or who are interested in seeing how this region has been depicted on cards, it has two major faults.  Many of the cards have no actual or approximate date, which limits the value of the book as a reference work.  One could understand if it were not possible to place one or two views temporally, but the number of pictures lacking such information suggests a sloppy approach to the subject, particularly when other volumes in this series (such as Nelson Harris' Roanoake and Vintage Post Cards) do offer dates for all the cards shown.  Perhaps less excusable is what appears to be a mixing of pictures with postal views.  The young hiker (at p. 6), a woman with outstretched arms (at p. 8), the rocks depicted at p. 9, and possibly the Indian brave at (p. 10) are but a few examples. (Cabins at p. 36, the CCC pictures at pp. 37-39, and the farm at p. 75 also seem suspicious.)  For a volume that is supposed to be about postcards, this appears to be a serious lapse.  Again, had these views been dated, questions about the pictures would have been less likely.

 Frederick's introduction (at pp. 7-8) adds little to our understanding of the Park and its environs; fortunately, she does a better job on individual captions.  While some have criticized Frederick for her failure to explain the disruption to the lives of many when the Park was formed, she does touch on the matter (at pp. 26 and 55).  The picture of Luray Caverns (at p. 32) does not mention the major suit which decided their ownership (see Russell H. Gurnee's Discovery of Luray Caverns, Virginia), while the picture of the Foot Tunnel (at p. 59) states that information was updated "15 years later," but does not give the original date of issue.  No explanation is given of the name "Limberlost" (at p. 61), while a picture of dying trees makes the interesting observation that, "[c]hipmunks will use the rotting bases of tree trunks for protection from larger animals, and certain species will deposit their eggs under loose pieces of bark" (!-at p. 66).  Finally, a card on p. 124 makes an obscure reference to "Culpepper [sic] in Warrenton" - in fact Culpeper is both a county and a county seat, while Warrenton is located in Fauquier County.
209990
lacks detail,but not bad for overall information
1090938
A fairly dry overview (it reads like, and probably was someone's Master's Thesis), it is certainly worth having but offers all too few real insights either as to stage or film-craft or the background of the specific productions. If you have a broad knowledge of the films drawn from Shakespeare's works, you probably will not discover any "lost gems" you had not heard of before. Still, for the price, it's a good cross reference with other lighter, more interesting - if flaw-filled - works like Douglas Brode's Shakespeare In The Movies.
3530975
This book deals with social history, politics, racism, imperialism and literature all in 100 pages. The writing is quite efficient, and with little repetition it is a useful primer for anyone studying post-colonial (or colonial) literature, especially if your studies have an emphasis on the West Indies.
There are problems, however. The text is riddled with careless spelling and grammatical errors, so much so that it does not look as though it has been proof-read. Amon has some good ideas, but his writing is tainted by continual need to criticise colonial practices. Anyone reading at this level will already have formed their opinions about the merits or otherwise of colonialism and needs to know about the literature, not the politics.
There are some good historical observations and local information that may not otherwise be available, and the informal style lacks the academic pretentiousness which taints so many books on this subject.
A useful book, but the errors marred my enjoyment of it.
4032017
Interesting, yet pretty rudimentary - not a lot of "new" here.