Holder

Although known as a "professionals" car tied to a very uninspiring image, Buick has sometimes come out with fascinating and exciting automobiles that shocked many in the industry. Cars such as the GSX, Grand National and the GNX were just a few performance cars made by this "boring" make which created image envy in the industry. Saying all this however, "Buick Muscle Cars" unfortunately does not do justice to Buick's performance past for a few key reasons. Firstly, I found very little new and exciting information in this book. This book mainly focused on year-to-year engine and minor cosmetic changes made to the cars which easily could have been summed up in easy to read bullets instead of long drawn-out sentences. I expected a story telling me about the people involved, the changing industry and the trends of the time which inspired models such as the GSX. However, this book was written in a time vacuum with no discussion on what was going on in the industry at the time nor outside of it (except of course to briefly interject about how the government and insurance eradicated performance). There also seemed to have been a little too much focus on newer models which frankly, really didn't belong in this book as this was not a history of Buick but of Buick's performance cars (90's Skylark's and Regal's with non-supercharged V6's really have no place in a book aptly titled). Another issue was the quality of writing which I found to be poor. Although I do not wish to refer to a dictionary for every sentence, I had hoped that the authors would have refrained from using phrases such as "no way" and "could it get better than this" in a book such as this. On the positive, this book did discuss models such as the Wildcat and Centurion, two cars rarely mentioned in current literature, and many of the photos were of a high quality. Overall however, "Buick Muscle Cars" was a very disappointing book. The writing quality was poor, the information provided lacked any emotion and the book was written in a time vacuum never telling us why the GNX, GSX and other models came to be. I would recommend that you save your money on this one and hope a more comprehensive book on Buick Muscle Cars comes out soon as Buick rightfully deserves to have its performance history told in an exciting and informative manner (such as David Newhardt's excellent coverage of Mercury in "Mercury Muscle Cars", in the Muscle Color History Series).

While there is some good information in this book, I was expecting more photos, especially of the various Wildcat and Invicta models and the various engine options offered in those vehicles. For instance, not one mention is made of the fact that "445" on a Wildcat engine was not only used in other vehicles, it also stood for the amount of torque the engine put out (and was *not* the cubic-inch displacement). The word "complete" used to describe this book was something of a misnomer...I found some information quite lacking here. Also, the writer(s) seemed a bit befuddled at times, and there are a few instances of incorrect information that have crept into the book. It's also hard to take it seriously where one Buick model is spelled incorrectly throughout the entire book (it's "Centurion," not "Centurian"...plainly visible on the first Centurion photo in the book). In all, there was little, if anything, I didn't already know about Buicks, and I'm far from an expert. For the price, I didn't feel it was worth the money. This one's "almost there," but a small disappointment to a fan of older "big engine" Buicks like myself.

Buick Muscle Cars is a must have for the Buick 'Muscle Car' Enthusiast! and, actually for the Buick Enthusiast in general! From the first Buick Muscle cars like the Century, the Centurian, the Wildcat, and the Riviera...to the Gran Sport Stage 1 and GSX, the Turbo Regal Grand National and GNX...and even a few 'modern day' Buick muscle cars like the late 90's Supercharged Riviera...They are all in this book! Full color pictures and descriptions. There's even special sections on Buick Race Cars, Special Buick Engines, Proto-type Buicks, and Buick Concept Cars!

This is a fun book. I like to bandy about some of these phrases and watch the reaction. Words are important and when you use phrases people are not used to hearing, well, you get their attention.

Author, R. W. Holder holds fast to two tests of a euphemism: 1) It must be a substitute for blunt precision or disagreeable truth 2) That a euphemism once meant, or still does mean, something else entirely different. In short, a way to be politically correct. A softer, kinder, way of speech so to speak.

In this work of almost 500 pages, we learn the art of not saying what we mean. Some are almost common language now. Such as "bowel movement", "working girl", "Native American" and "downsizing". Newer ones include, "white knuckler" and "vertically challenged" ( a nice way to say your boss is short)

I enjoy the way this is cross indexed and arranged. I did notice that a great percentage of the material is British. I wonder if that means the Brits are very good at "mums the word"? Seriously, I downrated the review a bit due to that fact.

Filled with thousands of of quotations, definitions, derivations, and historical explanations, this dictionary is extremely comprehensive for perusing.

A good editon for reference collections.

-CDS-

Great photos (in color!) of the entire line of Firebirds and Trans Ams. However, the text and captions are far from accurate. Take what you read in it with a grain of salt. Several examples are: describing a 1981 4.9L Turbo engine while showing a picture of a 1989 20th Anniversary 3.8L Turbo engine; showing a 1992 TA but describing it as a 1993 TA; calling the 403 Olds the top engine for 1979 with 220 hp (the 400 Poncho engine was 220 hp, the Olds 185 hp); describing the 3100 engine as the V6 for the early Fourth Gen cars (3.4L actually); etc. I do recommend the book, though, for the great pictures. For a better text, buy Pontiac Firebird 1967-2000 Photo History by George Scala. This book is awesome - very accurate details of how the models changed from year to year, Firebirds, Esprits, Formulas as well as Trans Ams. The only bad thing is that the photos are in black & white.

This book served the purpose I was looking for - Pictures of different Firebird and Trans Am models through the model's 33 years of life. The pictures and layout are great. All pictures are full-color, and feature some beatiful cars.
However, the downside to this book is the faulty information this book contains for those that do more than just look at the pictures and captions. The author did very poor research on the changes through the years, especially in the 4th gen era, and in several cases, incorrectly identifies the year of a pictured model. Also, the book contains several glaring typographical and grammarical errors. It's a shame more attention was not given to the text, as everything else is well produced.

Without doing more reseach, I decided to buy this book because I was in a rush. I saw that it was reviewed with 5 stars, so I thought the book was pretty good. But this review book lacks many vital information that went on through history. It needs to improve on the following: 1. Adding more detail. This book is too concise and it doesn't define the terms mentioned. 2. It lacks many ofthe less-important but still important facts. Many of the events weren't even mentioned. 3. They tried to squeeze in maybe about 100 years of history in one chapter. By doing this, all they are doing is basically writing a summary of the most important events that went on during that time. 4. At the end of the chapters, they give you key people, key terms and ideas to remember, but meanwhile they don't even define these key terms and people throughout the chapter. What are we suppose to figure those out ourselves? 5. There is no glossary in the back of the book. A glossary is very important for many people. 6. There is no index at the back of the book. This is a big problem since an index is very useful. In order for me to find one even in history, I have to look through the whole book? that makes no sense. If they had an index, they would make our lives so much easier and less time consuming. 7. They don't offer a quiz or drills at the end of each chapter. by offering a quiz, we would get more practice with the questions.

The only good thing about this book was the charts and tables that they provided for easier viewing.

In a market of AP American Review Books, this book is by far the best. Since I was so worried about this exam this year, I bought 5 AP review books, yet only this book seemed to cover the material in the quickest and most complete way. All the material you HAD to know for the AP exam is found within this book. Unlike other review books, you were not lost in the menutia of unimportant people and events, rather the book focuses on what you need to know, and organizes the material in such a way that it is easy to remember what you have read and equally as easy to keep reading. I read this book over the course of two days, and felt that it taught me what I did not know- which was quite a bit. The practice exams in the back, in my opinion, did not imitate the AP very well, yet they are worth a look anyway. This book is BY FAR the best AP American review book on the market, and any student who does not purchase it is making a true mistake. HAPPY STUDYING!

The major problem I had with this book is the lack of depth. The review is essence cannot really be considered a review, as it skipped major events. The writers of this book seem to have forgotten that this is an Advanced Placement test, and not an SAT II. Also, in the "reviews" are listed Key Ideas/Key Events, with just the name of the person or the event, no explenation attached. Imagine my frustrating when I see: Force Acts and Stevens' theory in bold, with no reference to these terms. Finally, the practice tests seem to be much harder than the actual test. Be skeptical of your score when taking the practice tests.
All in all, it's not a bad book, but you can definately find better. Although not great, I found the Princeton Review book to be somewhat better.

It's a useful book to prepare for the examination but I'd be more inclined to recommend other titles that could be utilized. Solid facts. Sometimes not as detailed. Not enough practice exams.

Getting the go ahead to write "Blood and Fog" had to be a piece of cake simply because of the hook, which appears on the cover: "Buffy and Spike are on the trail of Jack the Ripper!" For Spike this will be the second go around with the original Ripper (not to be confused with Giles). The story is set in the sixth season of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which means Buffy and Spike are dealing with what constitutes dating on their part while Willow is going through Wicca withdrawal and still separated from Tara. However, all of this matters only in terms of an attempt to presage the appearance of Darth Rosenberg at the end of the season, and while I think the nod towards that confrontation provides one of the best moments in "Blood and Fog," it is not the main game this time around.

Ironically, while Jack the Ripper is the hook for Nancy Holder's novel, it is ultimately as unnecessary as the vermiform appendix. I am by no means an expert Ripperologist, but I have worked my way through the superb website of evidence regarding the murders and I know enough to be well aware that what the Hughes brothers provided in their adaptation of Alan Moore's "From Hell" is, by Ripper standards, a PG version of what really happened (they left the audience off easy). Consequently, I know that besides invoking the name of Jack Ripper there is nothing substantial about the Whitechapel murders worked into this novel beyond the setting. This is of some importance since it gives Spike and Dru, along with Angelus and Darla, ample reason to cross paths with Jack. If anything, given the purpose for Jack's killing spree, the historical escalating of eviscerations makes no sense in terms of Holder's narrative.

At this point I should admit that I have something of a prejudice against science fiction and fantasy stories that turn Jack the Ripper into an inhuman monster. When Robert Bloch came up with "Wolf in the Fold" for the original "Star Trek," that was fine. After all, Bloch wrote a "real" Ripper story with "A Toy for Juliette." But Jack was human, which is what makes him such a horrible figure. If there is a more gruesome murder than what he did to his "final" victim Mary Kelly (Holder provides a massive example of understatement by referring to her as having been "gutted like a fish"), then I do not want to know about it and I especially do not want to see any photographs. Jack the Ripper was a human being and the idea that the Slayer of that time, Elizabeth, would be restrained by her Watcher from going after the Ripper because he was (presumed) to be human, has plenty of story potential.

That aside, the important thing here is that in telling the story of an eternal conflict between two sets of Irish faery, the Fromhoire and the Tuatha, Holder makes playing the Jack the Ripper card unnecessary. All it really means is that the name itself inspires some notion of fear in Buffy, but they the faery induced fog does that all by itself, so that pretty much makes the Jack the Ripper point moot. Clearly the creature that Buffy faces is not the Jack the Ripper of legend, which, again begs the question why bother to waste him in this novel? If Holder had written a novel about Spike and the rest of the vampire quartet in Whitechapel in 1888, dealing with a human evil whose viciousness was beyond even that of Angelus, that could have been a pretty good "BtVS" novel, even if Buffy never made an appearance in the main narrative (I assume she would be in the prologue/epilogue). I have no doubt that Spike could carry a book pretty much on his own.

The other problem with having Jack the Ripper in this story is that the Celtic mythology regarding the Fromhoire and the Tuatha gets muddled. "Blood and Fog" even has a lecherous little leprechaun who has taken an interest in Willow, which has nothing to do with Jack. As it is, the most chilling point in this novel is when we learn what Willow does to protect Dawn. Several others have comments on the canonical violations of this novel, which is surprising given Holder is the principal author on both volumes of "The Watcher's Guide" published to date, so I will not add to that debate. I will just say that Simon & Schuster should have a better spell check to run books through before they publish them.

"Blood and Fog" will be one of the most disappointing "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" novels ever, mainly because when you take into account the hook and the author you would have such high expectations. The cover art is very striking and the title is perfect for the hook, but ultimately the story is flawed in its conception. The great irony is that is the hook was removed and the name Jack the Ripper had never been mentioned, I would have rated "Blood and Fog" higher.

The pictures are excellent, but they are not plentiful, particularly in the case of the '69 and '70 Chevelles. Of course, much attention is paid to Yenko and Baldwin-Motion, as in other similar publications. The text (also in short supply) is well-written. Overall, should be titled "Chevelle-Light".

I invested my time reading parts one and two so there was little doubt what was going to happen when the third part of this adventure was finally released. If you enjoyed the first two you will be scratching your head when you are done with this part of the adventure. I got the feeling we were headed towards something but the author forgot to tell us what. Was this the end or a set up for a new book. If another is on the way make it soon. If this was the end remove another star.

This book is as dry as the moldy archives it was derived from. As the title suggests, Franz Kurokski's book, another in Schiffer's Knights of the Wehrmacht Series, lists all _Knight's Cross Holders of the Fallschirmjager_. With the exception of a brief Foreword by the author (This work was translated by David Johnson: see my review of Johnson's _Righteous Deception: German Generals Against Hitler), the book contains only brief profiles of the Knight's Cross recipients. These encyclopedia style one-page entries (Kurt Student warrants three pages as it was Student who suggested to the author he take on this project, Foreward, p.5) focus on facts only concerning birth, death, posts held and military ranks achieved and of course, the date(s) that the individual received his coveted Knight's Cross, swords or diamonds. There is one accompanying photograph of the individual included on the facing page of each entry. Most photos are the studio-portrait type, however, some are taken in the field. Still others (just a few) are of the artist sketch variety that were made into postal cards, a common practice of German occupational forces. Most of the photographs are well reproduced. A couple, however, look as if they were run through an ancient Xerox machine with low toner. This book serves its purpose as a reference work for the serious student of the Fallschirmjager arm. Anyone thinking they will find compelling battle narrative or feats of daring exploits will be very disappointed.

Although a little out of date, this is a well-researched history of the F-15 and variants. There are lots of large full-color photos and an excellent section on special, test, and NASA Eagles. Since it was published in '94 there have been a few changes and additions to the Eagle fleet, but overall a good addition to any aviation enthusiast's collection.