dry but a good reference for the space-a-holic
590234
This narrative is a bit dry but if you're a space-a-holic it is comprehensive in its technical description of Project Gemini.  This usually forgotten program was a vital bridge between Mercury and Apollo and a major reason why Apollo was a success.  Gemini allowed NASA to prove the concepts necessary for Apollo before the program commenced.  It's a story of slow plodding mastery of technical problems such as the RCS thruster and the fuel cells and of features that ultimately dead ended such as the Rogallo wing concept for ground landings.
4209477
I bought this book for a trip to Austin. It provides a good description of most of the things you might want to do in Austin, as well as some useful maps, but it is organized poorly, which may not be the fault of the author.

Also, the food recommendations aren't always the greatest. We did better using online review sites like Yelp. A useful book, but supplement it with online sources.

Two updates to the book (3/2010): the 'Dillo, Austin's downtown public transportation, no longer runs (sad face emoticon). There's still the bus, though. Also, the Governor's mansion is currently under renovation, so you can't go there.
1159721
A good summary of the new space movement. If you're a space nerd and have been following the industry closely you won't find much new information here. Also if you love the technical aspects of space travel this book will not satisfy you. It mainly covers Musk and Bezos and the race between them, with some focus also on Branson and Paul Allen. All in all an ok read, but those looking for new information will be disappointed
1882666
ACES profiles not only the major US, UK, German, and Japanese aces, but also several from Italy, France, Poland, and the Soviet Union. Each section begins with historical background on the particular air service(s) from each country and then provides a description of the individual pilots' careers. Due to the sheer volume of material, each section is fairly brief, providing mainly the highlights of each pilots' achievements. As a bare-bones overview of most of the major players in WWII's aerial conflict, ACES succeeds admirably; however, given the writer's dry, often lackluster language, reading more than a chapter or two of the book at a time becomes tedious. With so much ground to cover, allowing more insight into the pilots' techniques and personal stories may have been prohibitive, but as it stands, each section seems very generic; the story of one pilot reads much like another. One cannot sniff at the volume of information, nor at the historical background provided, though, so I give ACES a modest recommendation.
1260626
Straightforward advice to organizing your craft space. The book is divided by type of craft: rubberstamping and stenciling, scrapbooking, paper crafting, quilting, stained glass and mosaics, beading, and yarn crafts and needlework. Rooms belonging to guest artists are featured with interesting, but perhaps not unique, storage ideas featured. (The guest artists included Dee Gruening, Anna Corba, Sandi Genovese, Freddy Moran, Susan Pickering Rothamel, Suze Weinberg, and Linda Woodward. Note: no beaders, knitters, crocheters, or needleworkers.)

Ultimately, most of us are probably cross-over crafters and we'll all find something useful in this book about organizing our particular mix of supplies.

Starting with a remedial schedule for organizing your room, quizzes follow. These "personality assessments" suggest style and color for you to use in creating your space. This was the least helpful section.

Styles range from the galvanized steel workshop to pretty shabby chic rooms where supplies are displayed like collections. There is the wild, colorful style of the quilt artist and the sterile wire baskets and butcher block counter look. One room even looked like a store. Gives new meaning to shopping in your own stash!

There were no suggestion for locating the storage or other items used in the rooms.

I am primarily a needleworker, and I was a little disappointed with the suggestions they had for storing needlework supplies (although I suppose we have fewer different types of supplies than scrapbookers, for example). Storing spools of metallic thread in jars may be pretty, it's just downright impractical. There were some other suggestions that I found impractical but others might embrace (like organizing books by color). Most of the "spaces" shown are full craft rooms or studios, but they did feature one or two spaces that are parts of other rooms, in one case part of a bedroom. Something for everyone in this book.
2312662
This CD is a collection of PDF files from a fan made book that was made in the 80's to fill a void that Battlestar Galactica fans needed filling. There were no technical manual or blueprint books out for the show, and the only official publications that came out where a thin "Encyclopedia" and photo scrapbook. Apparently it was up to dedicated fans to put something together. The book is supposed to read like a field manual for new recruits to get familiar with the technology on the Galactica. It's a very mixed bag that goes between somewhat useful information to completely made up nonsense. Luckily if you are a fan of the classic 70's sci-fi show you should be able to tell the difference.

The first section deals with a slightly informative dictionary on words used on the show. Then you get several pages of different seals, insignia and uniforms of the Colonies. This stuff to me is mostly fluff on a technical perspective, but I gather is highly useful for costuming reference material. Then you get the weapons and gear used in the show. The entries here are touch and go with some giving some useful tidbits and others feeling like a waste of time. Next up is the Galactica itself with some drawings of the ship and a few of the locations. This section has no text, and I can't vouch for much of the level diagrams they come up with as it hasn't been confirmed officially. This portion is rather scant due to this. Then you get a lot of pages on the Landram wish some observations that aren't much more than what you can already see in the show (no info on the shuttle though). Then finally some pages on the Cylons that don't really provide you with much of anything aside the illustrations.

Speaking of the illustrations keep in mind this is a fan made publication, and the artwork is pedestrian at best. It serves the purpose of getting a general shape and design, but forget anything else. The illustrations only serve to let you know what an item looks like more than provide meaningful details. So for fans of the late 70's Battlestar Galactica there is a little to love here, but maybe more not to. It's only for the die hard fan who wants to complete their collection.

Now as for this particular item. It's a complete scan of the old Colonial Warriors Technical Manual in a pretty high resolution. You get pages and pages of PDF files along with newly designed front band back "cover" pages. That's it. Just a bunch of Acrobat files, which is what's advertised. This option is a lot easier to come by than the original book, and will cost much less. Not to mention you can print the pages out in pristine paper instead of buying a 30 year old second rate copy.
1937225
This is a good reference for MS Word, nearly everything is at least mentioned and some common stuff is explored in more detail.
The author is clearly quite knowledgeable, but for one reason or another some aspects of Word were skimmed over a little too quickly which I feel stops this book from being a great reference. I think this is one of the smaller of the Office 2010 inside out series and it's lack of detail of some of the more advanced topics is frustrating for me since I was looking for more.

A good book for beginner to intermediate users, but advanced users might be disappointed.
1132632
It is a fact that there is a lack of useful books in the area of building performance simulation especially for architects. So, any new book can bring something to the practitioners and that's why I bought this book as soon as I came across it. However, in my opinion, it does not offer too much to the readers. To me, as a simulation lecturer, it is more like a catalog, with some figures (many of them screenshots to just give an impression) and very short descriptions of a number of simulation-related studies that specific companies have done in their projects  (with no detail on the simulation models, results, etc.). But, trying to be fair about the book, I would say it expands the horizon of beginners in Energy Simulation.
4320270
As a Naval Officer, I saw utility in a small book that allowed me to ID ships.  This one isn't bad but is not organized very coherently.  Also, it's dual German/English.  So you have to sort through the German sometimes as well.

It's a decent reference but I haven't used it much and still relay on the same mostly computer-database based references I relied on prior to purchasing this book.  I would say to most, it probably isn't worth the high price tag.
199466
Being a science geek, I'm naturally interested in this subject matter. I was a *bit* disappointed in this book because the material is presented in a pretty dry fashion. I think there needs to be a bit more color and less slavish adherence to every letter and number in the history of science. Not falsifying but leaning more toward the human without being afraid to show disagreements, personality flaws, etc. The history of science is really the history of human beings, after all. I would recommend this book for anyone who, like me, slurps up Everything Science, but not, maybe, for a youngster who's just dipping her toes in the stream for the first time.
1837918
This book is a fairly comprehensive and encyclopedic glossary of Chicago blues artists and clubs.  The descriptions of clubs and festivals are mundane and factual, and for the most part they don't try too hard to capture the essence or soul of the blues through descriptions of live events.  While the artist directory (featuring 80 or so musicians) does make some effort at painting the scene's many colorful characters through artist spotlights and anecdotes (e.g. Eddie "the Chief" Clearwater discovering his trademark headdress at a friend's house party), the description of the Chicago blues festival is particularly inane ("bring... if rain seems possible, an umbrella") and like the rest of the book reads more like a tourist brochure than a critical review or a narrative description.

If that's all the book is aiming for, that's understandable.  Unfortunately, though this book was just published in 2007, it is already becoming a bit dated- many of the clubs (particularly the smaller bars) have closed down and a third of the listed artist websites are broken links.  Interestingly, it's still got a better track record than most websites I could find and I'd actually find this material to be useful if it were still 2006 or the content of the book were moved to the web and kept up to date.  That said, if you're new to the Chicago blues scene, this is worth skimming (I actually read most of it straight through and found it tedious)- if  and like the previous reviewer noted, even the most seasoned blues fan would learn a few things.
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.
1398988
Useful, but not "Everything You Need To Know"  (as claimed) cruising directory.  Good detail on communities, marinas, bridges, and boating related businesses, but lacking in critical information such as depth for access to rivers and anchorages.  Pages of tide tables are a waste, considering the excellent GPS enabled apps available. Categorizing an anchorage as "good" without stating controlling depth is not very useful.  I'll use this as a supplement to other cruising guides and Active Captain.
1573167
Full of information, but lacking good use cases for the content
3119410
Not really a lot of new stuff here, the movies that are covered are pretty well known and the trivia pretty skimpy, but a fun read and a handy little guide. I read it over two days in waiting rooms. It doesn't give a lot of knowledge except to the novice, but it is a more than adequate read for the seasoned pasta eating gun slinging saddletramp.
4133478
This is a handy one-volume reference for scientific terms and for short descriptions of a few (39, to be exact) scientists. Besides definitions, there are three other kinds of entry, called "a closer look", "biographies" and "usage". The book is written in a two-column format and these additional entries can run from a quarter to three quarters of a column, sometimes boxed off at the bottom of the page and taking up in some cases more than half the entire page.

The two page Periodic Table is situated near its alphabetical position (actually it interupts the entry on 'pesticide', so it's slightly out of position), and a two page spread on Geologic Time interrupts the entry on 'geostationary orbit' . There are a few other charts that take up a single page, such as those for the Solar System, Symbols & Signs, and Taxonomy. They occur pretty close to where you'd expect them (again, they are shifted slightly out of alphabetical position).

The text is written at the "popular science" level and does not go into advanced, detailed explanations. It's an enjoyable book to browse in; it's a handy size; and it's a well-made volume. There are illustrations in it and the font is easy to read.

My copy is the 2005 edition. An updated edition was published in 2008.
4647196
Starship Spotter was a book I awaited for with anticipation since I personally know two its authors (the book actually has four authors).
The range of ships covered is rather good including ships from all eras of  Star Trek. Ships covered include those of the Federation (of course), the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Empire, Cardassia, the Dominion, and various ships we've seen in the Delta Quadrant. That being said, the information in the book is, by and large, good, if perhaps somewhat sparse, at times.
The problem, interestingly enough, is the pictures, which is amazing considering that the book's primary author, Mojo, is an acknowledged master of rendering.  To be fair, the renderings are masterfull, but every one of the double-page full color pictures are far too dark, to the point that the obscure the detail the pictures are meant to provide in the first place.  Its quite possible that this issue was caused by the printer, but its something that must be corrected in future printings.
I'd also lose the wire diagrams and replace them full small renderings of a front view, side view, and top view.
The book shows a lot of potential, but in the end its major draw - the pictures - show some fatal flaws. The book ends up illustrating the classic conflict between a fan's labor of love and the sordid realities of commercialism.