Ten-Thirty-Three is an interesting story. However, without a detailed indication of the author's sources and how he checked and verified the information, it remains just a story, rather then the fact it purports to be. Written in the novel style apparent in Dead Men Walking (the similarities with which suggest it was ghosted by Nicholas Davies), Ten-Thirty-Three puts, often facile, words in the mouths of the characters without any way of knowing whether they are recollections, supposition or merely fantasy. The brief author's introductory note states that the sources were former members of the security services. No details are, however, of the High Court injunction brought against its publication, nor of any other sources used. The lack of an index compounds the feeling that there is little verifiable in the material.

Apparent discrepancies are common. For example, we are not given any explanation why a UVF man was involved in a UDA attack. Similarly although the murder of Ian Catney was claimed by the UVF, the author goes on to say other murders were planned by the UDA and Brian Nelson, as if the two were the same. Unsubstantiated comments abound such as "there could only have been one reason why McKee was murdered and that was because he was a Catholic", when presumably there could be many reasons, although none are discussed or discounted. The key most controversial assertion that Margaret Thatcher was completely aware of and sanctioned organised, regular State murders is based on the "fact" that there was a reporting line of committees to one she chaired. This is unconvincing and insufficient for such an important and crucial claim. In the end, this book, while interesting, and showing some flashes of insight, can only be viewed a good story without much more detail and evidence. As such it compares very badly with the meticulous work of authors such as Martin Dillon and Peter Taylor.

While it is still possible that any or all of the assertions in the book could be true, what is certain is that it offers little or nothing in the way of proof, or even convincing argument that this is the case. Conclusion: case not proven, file under fiction.

Again, this is like Sean McPhilemy's "The Committee". It is interesting as it reveals collusion between the Loyalist paramilitaries of Northern Ireland and the British security forces only this time though, its the Military Intelligence unit Force Research Unit (FRU)and not the RUC. It doesn't reveal too much, relying on a narrative account conversations between Brian Nelson and his handlers. It does, though, reveal facts which are convincing. More books should be published like this. It details how the FRU gave Nelson, the UDAs chief intelligence officer, information on targets he and his organisation sought, usually resulting in the death of the intended victim. There is also an interesting chapter of how the British saved Gerry Adam's life twice in 1987. Its worth the cash.

I think that someone must have thought "Lets take this old thesis, dress it up, and maybe we can make some money". There is really no reason for this book to exist. Almost all of the ideas and topics in this book (and more) are presented in much more depth in John R. McRae's "The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch'an Buddhism". In the acknowledgements, the author seems to describe his book as a phase in the historical progression of his thought. While admitting there is considerable overlap between his book and John McRae's, the author says "Unfortunately I was unable to rework my entire book to take into account all of the new data contributed by McRae. I only hope that by tossing this piece into the hopper of Chan history I may provide elements for some future synthesis." So basically, he just reprinted an old, outdated piece of research!? If you're interested in the Northern school of Chan, take your money and check out "The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch'an Buddhism". It's a bit dry, but it is by far the best book on the topic.

Although it is true that McRae produced an excellent work on early Chan, the decided lack of literature on the subject of pre-Hui neng Chan/Zen makes anything quite welcome. However Faure is unquestionably one of the best in the field, and, unlike McRae, who is "dry", Faure gives valuable insight in an entertaining and informative manner (not an easy task given the acedemic quality of the book). As an aspiring academic in the field of early Chan myself, I have found this book to be profoundly helpfull, and would recommend anyone interested in the subject to read both Faure and McRae.

I was given this book by a good friend of mine for my 67th birthday last October. A good friend, a man with good taste and a great sense and wonder for the outdoors. But I must be candid about this book. It simply sucks. Kim Keir is not only biased, but is a poor writer who lacks scope and detail in her descriptions of the great Northern Cal.

In general Moon travel guides are encyclopedic, and "Northern California Handbook" at nearly 800 pages of fine print is not an exception. Hotels and restaurants are subjectively described rather than rated, which I find preferable to the AAA approach. I purchased the guidebook for a visit to the "gold country", and unfortunately found it to be offensive. It refers to miners as "barbarians"and "lustful legions", refers to use of pig latin by miners as "hog" latin, refers to the 1849 gold rush as "the peak years of greed", hard rock mining is refered to as a "corporate raid", hard rock miners are described as being "like monstrous moles burrowing ... to bleed ancient veins", describes the very pleasant and beautiful Malakoff Diggins State Park as "horrifying" and "ghoulish", calls mining "land rape". The author gleefully describes bigotry toward Chinese miners, but is apparently oblivious of her own prejudice toward non-Asian miners--many of whom were Latin Americans (including Mexicans among others), free Black Americans, and Cherokee Indians from Georgia. It is not at all clear that Chinese miners were less "greedy" nor otherwise morally superior to non-Asian miners. Indeed far more Chinese miners were injured and killed in tong wars among themselves than by non-Asians. I am part Native American myself, and I personally have a deep seated pro-Asian prejudice as a result of a very kindly Chinese neighbor when I was a small child, but I manage to avoid expressing such prejudice in print, and certainly do not express it by denigrating non-Asians and non-Native Americans

Baedeker gives the prospective traveler snipits of facts, history and details from Aberdeen to the Yorkshire Dales. The information is superficial and may lack sufficient depth to be substantively helpful to the uninitiated traveler. The information is organized by cities, alphabetically which proves quiet cumbersome as the reader bounces through the pages. If you want to plan a trip to Scotland you will be leafing through all the cited cities in Great Britain, Wales, and Northern Ireland to boot. There is very little information that would help the traveler plan a trip budget. For the novice traveler, the Michelin Travel Series may be more helpful. For the experienced traveler, the lack of depth in Baedeker will be unsatisfactory.

For 7,000.00 smakers I can take anyine on a tour of italy in style you will Tast the foods & meet the chefs. Or you can take 7,000.00 smakers and feed a couply of hungry and homeless people Italian food for a year! in short get real take a vacation experience the foods & wines & most imporntant the people of Italy. Steve.

Although this book lists many attractions, I found it lacking in letting me know which attractions my kids might actually like. I find that it does not add much more than a regular guide book not geared towards families. It could use more editorial recommendations and hints on who might like a particular attraction, or what makes it special. I found the book to be very dry, and not up to the standard of other family guide books I have used.

I purchased this product because I frequently find myself in Northern Vermont and wanted a way to find a few good trails. This product contains several maps (each map features only one hike) for hikes in Northern Vermont. The maps are done in a neat format where they show the views from mountain summits as well as sharing some good information with you. The maps however are incredibly basic. A serious hiker would be better served by more detailed maps.

I also found the information on mileage and timings to be questionable. I am a fairly experience hiker and have never questioned the distances or the times so much as I did with this product. Also, there is no information on Vermont hiking in general. I went up to do some late season snow shoeing and found myself right in the middle of mud season when many trails were closed. It would have saved me a good 2 hour car trip if I knew about this ahead of time.

All in all, I think this would be a great product for those who are less serious or newer hikers. For those more serious, check out the Green Mountain Club's line of books.

The 213 black-and-white figures are a splendid introduction to the northern woodcut in its first hundred-odd years. The author's descriptions are helpful as well, given the tremendous detail provided in many of these images. But the more analytical portions of the text are a disappointment: poorly written, poorly argued, at times even barely relevant to the object under discussion.

First, the context: I purchased this book for a class on the History of Ireland. The course covers everything from pre-historic Ireland to present day, and we've used four books. So, that being said, I can safely say that there was nothing in Townshend's book that can't be found elsewhere.

The jacket purports to answer some long-standing Irish riddles, such as how the Sinn Fein movement ended up lobbying against home rule. Townshend outlines the events that brought about the change in position, to be sure; however, there is very little in the way of analysis. And what little analysis there actually is tends to be buried under flowery language or tired old cliches.

I'll recommend it if you only want to read about recent events in Ireland, to get a feel for the names, places, and key events that still hold influence today. If you want a more thorough analysis, though, my advice is to keep on searching.