Cargo

This work warrants three stars on the merit of its relatively little-explored subject matter and often excellent photo selections. The authors do a fine job casting light on many lesser-known but intriguing air transport projects, as well as showcasing the more familiar US airlifters. Unfortunately, the authors' attempt at a conversational (as opposed to documentary) prose style savagely detracts from the work. Reading the text was a vexing chore. With stringent editing, "C-Planes" could have been a real gem.

A simply fabulous book with details that are unbelievable! You want to know what serial numbers of C-47s the USAAF bought? It's here. Each airplane is detailed and has it's own story. An interesting and informative format for a book. I enjoyed it immensely!

It has good pictures with good info. It's simply a good book. but this web-page only sez Bill Holder is the author when the cover of the book sez Bill Holder AND Scott Vadnais as authors.

A highly satisfying thriller. Having once met the author, I'd say the hero is well modeled after him.

This was a very fun read. Recommended.

This is a real page turner, I couldn`t put it down. Beautifully written, choreographed to bring it all togeather in the end. I am looking forward to reading more of Johns work.

Verlomme's guide to travel by cargo ship provides the essential details for those interested in exploring the possibilities of cargo ship travel. The guide is practical -- including sample itineraries of shipping companies and their contact details, sections on what to expect and what to avoid -- and is organised in a highly useable format. Having been first translated from the French in 1995, though written in 1993 and updated in 1994 the fare structures are in need of further updating, but the consolidation of the contact details of so many shipping companies in one location makes the book a valuable reference guide.

This is a great travel book I'd love to go on a Cargoship to Russia and the CIS.I wish it was updated for 2000/2001 thought.

Others have commented on the disparaging treatment of the camp, gay steward. Another of the characters is obviously a lesbian, and she is sympathetically written up except that the passengers comment rudely on her "ugliness". She is a foil, though, to the Nice Young Girl Jemima and the wonderful Mrs Dillington Blick (imagine Diana Dors in her heyday). An interesting touch is to have a priest and a psychiatrist discuss the mind of the murderer. Of the two, I'd take the priest's demonic possession over the doc's 50s Freudianism. If you enjoyed this voyage, read Marsh's Clutch of Constables.

When Scotland Yard has reason to believe London's latest serial killer has set sail on a small luxury liner, Inspector Allen is quickly dispatched to perform an investigation en-route. The result is one of Marsh's more tightly plotted novels with enough twists to keep you guessing all the way to the end. Unfortunately, it is also the Marsh novel most likely to offend modern readers.

Marsh is particularly noted for her ability to create well-rounded, convincing characters... but there is an exception: on the rare occasions when she deals with either implicitly or obviously gay characters, she inevitably characterizes them as slimy, dismissable, and unlikable--and even Inspector Allen, who is inevitably polite to one and all, feels free to behave toward them in the most obnoxious manner imaginable.

Marsh's tendency toward homosexual hysteria is noticeable in DEATH IN ECASTY and PHOTO FINISH, but it is particularly obvious here, and it is so powerful that it renders an otherwise wonderful bit of writing progressively distasteful. Marsh is among my favorite mystery writers, and I did read the book to the end--but it was not a book that I kept on my shelf afterward.

Clues point to a serial murder being aboard a cargo ship bound for South Africa. Inspector Alleyn is sent to join the ship on its voyage south. It carries nine passengers in addition to the crew.

The cast of characters are vividly drawn and Ms. Marsh does a wonderful job in making us switch our suspicion from one character to the next. As with most mysteries of this sort, much of the fun comes from the interplay between the characters as opposed to the mystery itself.

As always, Marsh provides us with the necessary clues to guess the murderer. If you pay close attention, you may figure out the solution within the first half of the novel. A drawback here, is that the list of the possible guilty parties is narrowed rather early on. Part of this is, however, made up for by trying to perceive who the next victim will be.

Something has been made about the character of a gay character. I've always thought that it is somewhat dangerous to attempt to place the latest views of morality/society upon works of fiction written in the past. Was Ms. Marsh prejudiced against homosexuals, or was she portraying the reality of her day? One could easily interpret that the unfavourable characteristics of the character may have arisen from the need to hide their sexuality. Also, because of its role in the outcome of the mystery, its uncertain as to what could have been changed and still keep the mystery intact. Finally, in regard to how gay characters are treated by other characters in the novel, it seems more likely that they would have suffered prejudice, etc., rather than open acceptance and celebration of their sexual preferences.

This book provides an introduction to creating custom UI components using Java. First there's a guide to effective user interface design, including what to avoid, including examples of real software.

The book then goes through several example of custom UI components. The examples are done with the AWT instead of using Swing for better portability of the code. In the examples, the authors emphasis design principles along with the actual code. The examples are advanced and are written for experienced programmers. The authors then go through the design and development of the example, which is very helpful to understand their design consideration in coding the example. The book ends with an overall software development process and component maintenance.

This book is for Java developers seeking a detailed introduction to designing and implementing custom user-interface components and frameworks. After the user interface guide in the beginning, this book is a tutorial by example. I would recommend the book to anyone who needs to create a user interface beyond the components offered by the standard toolkit.

Professional Java Custom UI Components takes the reader through a planning, design, and implementation philosophy for creating custom user interface components. Hints and tips are discussed, giving important insight for creating components. The authors concentrated on the basic principles of design without creating another reference book. Also, rather than laying out all the nitty gritty code detail, the most interesting portions are highlighted and discussed. A handful of custom components are built to demonstrate these principles. Both the source code and documentation can be downloaded from WROX, and are copyrighted by Krutsch Associates, Inc.

The book tour starts with a discussion of the user interface design, the importance of a good interface that is intuitive to use, and the attention to detail required for a UI component. The authors take the reader through the planning and implementation of a toggle switch and LED component, implementing the event model, specifying the parent container interaction, and rendering strategy. Many tips are provided so that the reader may avoid common pit falls. More complex components are discussed and implemented.

The book ends with an overall software development process and component maintenance. Until this point, the focus has been the "how" of building custom components, now the discussion shifts into a larger context. The authors stress the importance of both before and after the initial implementation.

I recommend reading this book for anyone designing and implementing custom UI components. (September 2001)

When developing client Java applets there is a problem which has no simple solution. The majority of browser installations support Java 1.1 only. If you intend to use Swing you will often have to force the user to download and install the upgrade. This can lose clients because it's too difficult, or limit the user base because 1.2 is unavailable for their platform, etc. In addition, Swing can run quite slow on older hardware. A large part of this book deals with providing equivalent functionality using AWT alone.
This book covers the design and implementation of several components using AWT and then covers what you would do given access to Swing. In the end you have several components that give a good foundation to an alternative library to Swing. You could use the design concepts in this book to develop your own complete library to use when Swing isn't available.
One thing to note when comparing the components in the book to Swing is that Swing was developed in a non-production environment. In a way they had to invent the problems and then create the solution. This code was developed as a result of real problems. As a byproduct the components run very fast compared to regular Swing components.
The chapter on UI design (Chapter 2) is a must for any developer. It details common UI design mistakes that developers make and give practical solutions. I would suggest requiring developers to read this chapter before allowing them to do any UI development of any kind (note I didn't say UI design - I recommend that you don't allow developers to DESIGN UI at all). The chapter on code maintenance (Chapter 11) is very useful and is a skill that many developers lack. Again, this could be required reading for developers.
There are several things about this book that make unique from any other book I've read. The code base is the result of a real, shipping system (used by StorageTek). It's the result of a real, organic development cycle that is also well tested. The code isn't small snippets that were hand built for the book, thus forgetting the interaction with a full application. The code is a full product standing on its own.
The code and topic is advanced and is not for beginning programmers (the name of the book is PROFESSIONAL Java Custom UI components). Bring your thinking cap.

This is a solid collection of short stories from one of the Grand Masters of science fiction and fantasy. While many of these stories are over 50 years old, they hold up well because of the fantasy elements (which tend not to age so quickly), and the human elements (which one likes to think are universal). Sturgeon is at his best when he's at his most economical; some of the longer stories ("Cargo" and "The Traveling Crag" in particular) dragged on longer than necessary. However apart from "Brat" (a light farce about a baby who knows too much), and "Two Percent Inspiration" (a send up of standard science fiction adventures), the rest of these stories succeed in tapping into basic human emotions and situations that make them still relevant today. Moreover, a strong streak of optimism runs through most of these stories, and even the most disastrous conflicts are not without silver linings. The power of self-esteem in "Won't You Walk...", the simple joys of being human in the light-hearted "Poker Face", the importance of community expressed in "The Touch of Your Hand", all point to an unchanging moral order that transcends the centuries. Other standouts include "Microcosmic God", which describes a conflict between an inventive creator and an unscrupulous profiteer, and "It", with its Gothic American setting and feel. But the best story is easily "Bright Segment", the only completely straight fiction in the collection, and the most gripping emotionally. A quiet, insignificant man who has never felt needed in his life finds himself caring for a horribly injured young woman whose very presence must be kept secret. Working in a small, almost claustrophobic setting with just two characters (one of whom has very few lines), Sturgeon drives home the lonesome protagonist's terror, courage, determination, and compassion to create a truly unforgettable effect. Even those readers who aren't fans of science fiction and fantasy may find this story worth looking up, but for those who are, "Bright Segment" is the capstone of a very satisfying collection.

The thing you have to realize about THE SPIDER is that he fights bad guys. Not bad guys "they had a difficult childhood", but bad guys "pure evil". In CORPSE CARGO, the bad guys are stopping trains, killing and robbing everyone on them, and then sending trains full of dead bodies zooming off out of control down the tracks. These are not nice people. But rest assured that THE SPIDER will stop them, and that he isn't going to be reading them their rights, or shooting the gun out of their hand. His motto: "Death to the bringers of death!" Not really catchy and not PC-enough to be on a T-shirt anymore, but it gives you an indication of the action and adventure you can expect.

This is a good history of a combat cargo squadron from training through the end of WW II. Although there is nothing there to add to history, it does allow a peek into the workings of an operational squadron.

Sam McGowan
Vietnam Veteran, author of THE CAVE, a novel of the Vietnam War.

Needs to be updated, infomation outdated, info on terminal operations needs to include container marking and labeling also desreption of labor needed to run operations in container yard and different discharge operations. Should have section on what a marine cargo specialist does. All the way from stow planning to direction of cargo operations.

I know many things about seaways changing. I know about changes. I went through many changes in my life, but one change that has never occured is in my true love. Jim will always be my true love and when I read this book I can't help thinking of him. Jim, if you are out there, please know that I LOVE YOU!

I am a reader, no God. I am the earth, The Changing Seaway is God. Who know's more than me, the bride of such a wise tale. This is a must read. I read it to my wife and son, who is ill. I am not ill, but quite healthy. Now everyone knows.

The Changing Seaway, a classic, an honor to read. This is probably the best book of it's kind. Ignore other reviews that praise it. Destroy the reviews that destroy it. If this book was God it would have created the Earth. It is brilliant and so am I. For I know these things.