informative, but lacking
589513
The book is informative and eye opening to the way how riders and their families get caught up in a lifestyle of needing to improve at all cost.  Unfortunately the book gave me the feeling that Tyler proposes himself as a struggling athlete that was totally outclassed until he used performance enhancing products.  Other than that the book explained a lot.  At least worth a read.
2910338
I found this book due to a class Im taking with the author. While the book is informative, it is also lacking in depth in some areas. It is heavy in real life examples and explanations as to the timeline followed for the beginning of the revolution but lacks the depth required to understand why this revolution succeeded where others did not. There are a lot of specific quotes and examples taken from the Facebook page that began the revolution but not much analysis as to how these people knew where to start and how to make this revolution succeed where others had not. This is a major downfall of the book, for this book gave me the idea that it would examine the underlying mental processes behind this revolution rather than just the timeline of how the event occurred.
1191939
This book contains good information,  but not really anything new,  revolutionary,  or that you can't find with some internet searching.
3376447
Informative, has lots of facts, history. However, I was looking for more specific guidance, examples, instruction. Also,  I think I would have enjoyed the factual content more if phonetic spelling was included. Lots of important names, places, etc., were too difficult to pronounce, making it hard to retain much of the information.
3629174
A brief and readable biography largely culled from secondary (and recent) sources.  No maps, no pictures.  Most of the book is devoted to the War for Independence with good amount of attention paid to Knox's point of view.  However, if you are reading a book about Gen. Knox chances are you are rather familiar with the generalities of the war and therefore want more specifics about Knox and the artillery.  Sadly mostly all we get is lists of numbers and sizes of field pieces and no analysis of how Knox used them and how such use contrasts with conventional deployment at the time.  The book's subtitle implies the war is to be the main focus but it also states Knox was visionary- no such direct point is made until the final chapter, and uncompelling at that.  I would have preferred a thesis or theme that was supported throughout the text.

Much focus is given to Knox's relationship with his wife, mostly through primary quotes- which is one of the strengths of this bio.  Early years and very quickly and briefly covered- perhaps from a lack of materials but the author provides no such disclaimer.

Overall a nice book to cover a mostly overlooked member of Washington's staff but a full, comprehensive biography of Henry Knox is really still needed.
2395830
The intro was very interesting but the book is mostly just a list of names and, I suspect, not very complete. In any case, the intro is the best part of the book, unless you might happen to find the name of an ancestor.
While not a waste of time, it certainly would've been more worth it were the contents a) more complete and b) more context and background given.
4181779
This book is a pleasant read.  Unfortunately it is minimally informative concerning big business during Reconstruction and Redemption, the apparent intent of the work.  While many interesting facets of the period are explored none are truly fleshed to its full potential.  In this regard any given chapter would be apropos for an issue of Reader's Digest.
2635732
I love the idea of Terra Madre. Being in one of the U.S. hubs of locavorism and similar movements, it's easier for me to be able to utilize the concepts of the Slow Food movement.

Unfortunately, the information in this book isn't  particularly well-organized; the author flits from one topic to another, and I felt like I was continually waiting for him to get to his point. I can look back at the chapter titles and see how the content of each fits together (sort of) but it doesn't flow very well as I'm reading it.

Also, I felt like the author was at times alternately patronizing and romanticizing the farmers and other food workers he talks about. I know he has a lot of in-person experience working with them, but sometimes the way he described them came off more as a stereotypical out of touch yuppie.
1785424
The author did a great job making the information accessible and understandable, but the information itself was regurgitated. I think it fell far short of what it claimed to cover.
1066030
The former president makes the case for charitable contributions of time and money, offering a showcase of various operations around the world as examples.  The pace moves quickly; he rarely devotes more than two consecutive paragraphs to the same organizational effort.  Still, it reads pretty dry and it's a bit discouraging that nearly every example he holds up has to be qualified with the disclaimer that while most of us aren't capable of operating on that kind of scale, with those kinds of resources, everyone of us can do something.  I was kind of hoping for more clear-cut examples of how the rest of us could give without having to establish a foundation.  There are a handful of genuinely moving anecdotes that made this rewarding, and the back of the book includes a directory for organizations and books cited throughout each chapter that could be quite handy for any number of reasons.  It's not essential reading by any means, but I confess that I do feel like I've run out of excuses for not being more participatory in helping to improve the world.
4239888
Jam packed with information, but not a lot of elaboration for people new to the material.
396643
Christopher Hibbert has written a competent, but very brief personal history of the Duke of Wellington. The Duke of Wellington's life could easily fill thousands of volumes, let alone 500 pages. Hibbert has collected some of the more interesting tidbits of the Duke's life to create this brief overview. This isn't a bad book. In general, it is well written, but it is also shallow as a result of the brevity. It's just not enough to grasp how much impact this man had on British and European history from 1805-1851. I was somewhat disappointed. I had hoped for more.
978204
This book has some interesting facts, but the information provided is too general and lacks the depth of research to make it of much use for a reference guide.
3237628
An interesting history, and potentially an inspiring series of ancient texts, sadly limited to a few small selections. It would have been much better to offer the entire text of the scrolls, so readers could determine for themselves their overall importance and meaning, rather than to cherry-pick from them.
The history section, too, is rather spartan and gives a taste of the rich story, but not enough to warrant the price of the book itself. It could easily have been made into a rich, exciting story - instead it is simple, direct, but too brief and ultimately unsatisfying. There are more questions asked after the reading than are answered by it. What did these early monks believe and what were their sources? How did their Christian faith collaborate with Buddhist and Taoist beliefs? What happened to the early Christians in Xian and other parts of China? Where are the scrolls now? Are there alternate translations? What does the stele say? And where can it be seen?
Because of the brevity, this book ends up on the "pop religion" category instead of where it should be: a serious work on an unknown but fascinating piece of religious history. The sutra selections come across as bumper-sticker slogans instead of inspirational texts. Overall an unsatisfying work.
4163308
While this book is informative on a lot of levels, as a first time pool owner, I don't know what a lot of the tools named even look like! If there were more pictures of the tools and some procedures, it would be much easier to understand. I don't just want to know WHAT tools to use, I would like to know what they LOOK like. To explain that a certain procedure needs to be performed is one thing, but I would like an example of the procedure. To have pictures of these simple things would make this book much more useful. The only pictures in it are examples of different styles of pools and spas. I already have a pool so to see different styles, is of no use to me. This is supposed to be a book on maintenance and care, not to see what other peoples' pools look like. like I said, this is my first pool so I'm learning everything from the ground up and a lot of this stuff is absolutely foreign to me.
3640870
This book is illustrated well and has great information.  Unfortunately, it did not really teach me anything I did not all ready know.
3918215
I consider myself a bit of a tree and shrub fanatic. I just love to plant them and watch them grow. I love to learn about the varieties, their habitat and growth habits. One of my favorite things to do is to browse garden nurseries and read data tags on trees and shrubs. I often wish I could dig up little specimens and bring them home. I liken it to people who want to pick up every dog or cat they come across. I love pets too, but they take lots of time, $, commitment and responsibility. I had high hopes for this book. I have the NG pocket guides for Rocks and Minerals as well as Flowers. I thought this guide lacked in classic info and details. What it does include is (160 species of trees and shrubs) the common name as well as the species name, height range, info about leaves, flowers/fruits/seeds and range. There are small color photos of each tree/shrub and smaller illustrations of the leaves, fruit, cone, catkins, flowers... There is a small paragraph which provides some topical info that one may not widely be aware of (like historical pearls of wisdom), which can be interesting. I would prefer that it provide much more descriptive information in more of a bullet point format that included sun and water needs, growth rate, most desirable habitat, shape, wildlife draws and disease problems, weather tolerance/susceptibility. This is a small book ( a true pocket size) with selective information and coverage. Not bad, but I just wish it had more.