Product Description
A thorough understanding of naval policy is essential to comprehend the political, economic and social history of Great Britain before World War I. For most of the 20th century, historians have thought that British naval policy was driven by the Anglo-German arms race. After examining a prodigious quantity of primary sources, Nicholas A. Lambert concludes that Admiralty decision-making was in fact driven by factors totally unrelated to the German building programme. More important domestic considerations influenced these decisions - primarily the inability of the British state to provide sufficient money for maintaining an adequate warship building programme while meeting political demands for the creation of a national system of welfare relief. "Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution" explores the intrigue and negotiations between the Admiralty and leading domestic reformers of the day, such as Herbert H. Asquith, David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill, and shows how the politicians regarded the issues of naval strategy and finance as central to the success of their proposed social reforms.Lambert also explains how Great Britain's naval leaders responded to these challenges under the direction of Admiral Sir John Fisher, the service head of the Admiralty from 1904-1910. The government of the day appointed Fisher to his post, Lambert demonstrates, expressly because he was prepared to cut naval spending. The author also shows why Fisher came to believe that the only way to preserve Britain's traditional mastery of the seas at an affordable price was to adopt a radically new approach to naval defence. Under Fisher's leadership, the Royal Navy invested heavily in emerging technologies - such as analog computers for gunnery fire-control, long-range torpedoes, aircraft and wireless telegraphy - and created new types of warships such as the battle cruiser and the patrol submarine. At the same time, Fisher encouraged his naval colleagues to abandon the traditional strategic principle of seeking battle with the enemy's main fleet, proposing instead that the Admiralty adopt an "indirect" approach to warfare by focussing on the enemy's economic system.For mainly political reasons, however, Fisher concealed his "military technological revolution" during the ten years preceding World War I from successive prime ministers as well as from much of the navy's officer corps. Thus, while appearing to cooperate with the wishes of his political masters, who wanted him to limit his strategic focus to home defence, Fisher continued working surreptitiously to create a new model fleet capable of protecting all of Britain's imperial interests across the globe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Lambert sets a new standard
In Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution Nicholas Lambert has provided a comprehensive analysis of the policies ofAdmiral Sir John Fisher and the Royal Navy in the ten years before the outbreak of World War One.Displaying a remarkable command of the source documents Lambert examines grand strategy, tactical concepts, national financial policy and politics with great skill and fluidly moves between these seemingly disparate subjects with ease.It becomes apparent as Lambert dissects events that much of the research that has went on before on this subject and which forms the basis for many people's ideas about era is superficial and incomplete.

This is a complicated subject but Lambert's grasp of narrative and clean clear prose makes it easy for the interested reader to follow the string through the maze that was British naval policy in the Fisher era.Lambert makes it clear that Fisher was not appointed First Sea Lord in 1904 to introduce the dreadnought battleship/battlecruiser but to cut naval spending.This fact spurred Fisher to introduce new technologies to maintain Britain's naval supremacy when that supremacy was increasingly under threat from a number of quarters.Lambert puts emphasis on Fisher's ideas about the use of flotilla craft.These were small submersible boats and surface craft armed with torpedoes that could close the narrow seas around the British Isles to enemy battle fleets thus freeing the British fleet to roam the high seas, bringing battle to the enemy and protecting her own huge ocean trade.Lambert shows how on the eve of the war, the Royal Navy was on the verge of stopping battleship construction altogether on favor of flotilla craft.This is new ground.

Fisher was faced with four other areas of crisis which this book delves into: financial constraints, manpower limitations, ship deployment policies and forging new tactics that would take advantage of the developing technology that was changing the face of naval warfare.Lambert also makes clear that the senior officers of the Royal Navy in the decade before the war were not operating in an intellectual vacuum, countering the unfortunate impression that many historians have fostered that the navy was resistant to new technology, unable to think critically, and too lazy for deep analysis and staff work.While a number of hidebound ignoramuses had managed to reach high command, most senior officers were energetically working to exploit the emergent technologies to the full extent.

Lambert's story of the Royal Navy before 1914 presents a picture completely different from the accepted one.It is one that is wholly convincing and presents a more satisfying explanation of what happened, and why, than we have had before.I recommend this book to those who are familiar with the subject and have a desire to go deeper into it.You won't be sorry.

Giving too much credit to Fisher, and the Royal Navy
This is a superby researched book, though it falls flat on its major premise, that Fisher and the Royal Navy were ahead of the times in terms of naval strategy, armaments or hwat not.

Also the book is a misnomer, as it's more on the rivalries amongst the Board of Amiralty than on Fisher, and its dubious claim that Fisher pioneered the so called "flotilla defense" by submarines and torpedo boats stretches credulity, as Fisher is notorious for NOT beleving in a Naval War Staff, or any war plans at all.

The author also neglects, being a fan of Fisher, to point out that the latter's morbid fascination with "battle cruiser" led to the fiasco in Jutland, though all British historians and apologist will claim that they may have lost a battle there, but ultimately won the war!

Politics of Technological Change
An interesting book on the politics of defense spending and its relationship with grand strategy and domestic politics. Tedious at times, and often unbalanced as to proving the grand point and instead focusing on partisan minutae, this book is still interesting to consider; you have to commend Lambert for his exaustive research behind the common assumptions. He did major work in the primary sources.

The point is that much of the arms race theory before WWI is not genuinely correct. The motivations for the growth and posturing of the British Navy prior to WWI had less to do with fear of Germany -although using that fear was an effective tool- than with a naval revolution by the Admiralty's First Lord, Sir John Fisher. It is an intersting foray into the dynamics of defense spending politics, and how that ultimately impacts capabilities and strategy.

A Radically Revisionistic History
This is a major revisionist interpretation of British naval policy as conceived and carried out by Admiral Sir John Fisher as First Sea Lord between late 1904 and early 1910.In fact, there appears to be hardly asingle conventional assumption about Fisher's policies, and the policiesand technical flexibility of the Admiralty during this period that is notsubject to reconsideration in the book.

What I found most interesting wasthe startling - to me - degree to which senior British naval officersreadily accepted the potential for torpedo-armed submarine and destroyerflotillas to change naval warfare, and the amount of effort they werewilling to put into devising ways to use this revolutionary potential toreinforce British naval supremacy.The book is filled with descriptions ofBritish investment in submarine technology and the ongoing discussionsbetween naval officers of ways to adapt that technology to British needs.

According to the book, Fisher's planned great revolution in navalwarfare was not intended to be the Dreadnought battleship that his name isstill commonly associated with. Instead it was to be a British fleet madeup of a combination of battlecruisers with Dreadnought-scale heavyarmament, great speed, and excellent gun laying based on analoguecomputers, designed for overseas force projection; and a submarines anddestroyer flotillas designed and deployed for protection of Great Britainand such other narrow seas where they could be used to bottle up potentialenemy forces.This assertion is thoroughly backed up with detailed quotesfrom personal letters and Admiralty memos and position papers, plus theevidence of how Fisher spent funds available to him.

The plans of AdmiralFisher and others in the British Admiralty were developed in largelyhostile political environment. The British government during this period,and the opposition political parties, were intent on reducing British navalexpenditures, and not at all interested in developing the ability to expandBritish ability to project naval force overseas. Therefore, Fisher and hisallies had to act largely in secret, while disguising their true goals frommost of their political masters.

This book has a lot of trees in itsforest.I did not find it easy reading, and I would not recommend it tosomeone with only casual interest in British naval history or the historyof naval technology. To fully understand appreciate the book's thesis andscope, the reader must be willing to delve along with the book's authorinto British domestic politics, British foreign policy, and a host oftechnical issues beyond those mentioned above.I personally found itdifficult at first to fully understand why, given that Fisher had much ofthe Admiralty behind him, and that Winston Churchill, the First Lord of theAdmiralty from 1910 up to 1915, also had great faith in submarine anddestroyer flotillas to control narrow seas, the Royal Navy didn't manage tomake the changeover desired by Admiral Fisher.The way I finallyunderstood it, it comes down to one basic fact, Fisher, Churchill and theirallies in the Admiralty simply did not have enough time.Not enough timeto educate and prepare the politicians and the British public, not enoughtime to nurture the necessary submarine building industry in Britain or inone of the Dominions, and not enough time to guarantee a completely unitedfront in the Admiralty needed to quickly push through such radical changein naval policy.Given that it was less than a decade between Fisher'sappointment as First Sea Lord and the outbreak of WWI, that is probablyreason enough. ... Read more

Product Description
The Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild was a national auto design competition sponsored by the Fisher Body Division of General Motors. This competition was for teenagers to compete for college scholarships by designing and building scale model “dream” cars. Held from the 1930s through the 1960s, it helped identify and nurture a whole generation of designers and design executives.This richly illustrated book presents the history of the Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild, from its inception as a philanthropic project by the Fisher family during the Great Depression, to its expansion overseas, and finally to its end in 1968. Many former participants in this famous model building and design competition share their memories and photographs of their models, some of which are startlingly inventive even when viewed today.Virgil M. Exner, Jr., Charles M. Jordan, Robert W. Henderson, Robert A. Cadaret, Richard Arbib, Elia ‘Russ’ Russinoff, Galen Wickersham, Ronald C. Hill, Edward F. Taylor, George R. Chartier, Charles W. Pelly, Gary Graham, Charles A. Gibilterra, E. Arthur Russell, William A. Moore, Terry R. Henline, Paul Tatseos, Allen T. Weideman, Kenneth J. Dowd, Stuart Shuster, John M. Mellberg, Harry E. Schoepf, and Ronald J. Will, are among those designers and design executives who participated in the Guild. The book also describes many aspects of the miniature model Napoleonic Coach and other scale model cars the students designed. ... Read more

Product Description
This memoir of the French provincial capital of Aix-en-Provence is, as the author tells us, "my picture, my map, of a place and therefore of myself...just as much of its reality is based on my own shadows, my inventions." A vibrant and perceptive profile of the kinship between a person and a place.

A Considerable Town

M.F.K. Fisher scans the centuries to reveal the ancient sources that clarify the Marseille of today and the indestructible nature of its people A delightful journey filtered through the senses of a profound writer. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

One way ticket to Aix
This was the first MFK Fisher I ever read, and it is still my favorite. While her writing is always enjoyable -- her palate is divine and she is never boring -- the stories can tend to meander and sometimes lose their train of thought. But here she gets it just right - the physical and thematic maps she paints (of Aix, in particular) are charming and sometimes sad, like a slowly fading memory should be.

M K Fisher's Two Townsin Provence
I am a frequent traveler to Provence and I love Aix, one of MFK's two towns.It just so happens, Deux Garcon, MFK's favorite restaurant in Aix is my favorite place to people watch too.The spreading trees protect you from the sun and a long lunch,the French way, lets you view students and locals coming and going on the wide beautiful avenue. While things have changed through the years her tales of both Aix and Marseille ring true today.
The book made my daydreams of France more vivid and I am ready for my next trip!

Lovely writing
No, this book is not for someone who wants lively light entertainment, and it is not a 'travel' book. What it is is a lovely woven cloth of experience and observation. It's subtle and beautiful.

a disappointment
I have been greatly been disappointed in this book. I am a total Francophile and soak up just about any book on life in southern France, be it travelogue, novel, cultural study, etc. I have been reading Map of Another Town over the past few months and it's been a struggle. MFK Fisher goes into painfully boring and unnecessary detail on the most insignificant things, like having to go back and forth between offices and buildings while seeking the appropriate vaccinations for a trip to Africa, and what she thinks of every little thing related to the process. She'll devote pages and pages to experiences that have nothing to do with life in Aix-en-Provence and its environs -- it's a map of her own head, where she spends too much time. She finds herself rather fascinating, but I found her self-centered.

I thought it would be interesting to read about life there in the 1950s and 1960s, but again, the book is less a cultural study than autobiographical ramblings (if you can find it, Village in the Vaucluse, a Laurence Wylie cultural study first written in 1957 and updated in 1967 and 1974, is fascinating and was one of my college texts for a French culture course -- 5 stars plus.). I probably will not even bother with A Considerable Town and will finish Map of Another Town only because I feel like I should.

If you are considering this book because life in southern France fascinates you, I would instead recommend any of the Peter Mayle books (not jumping on the bandwagon here; I've read his books from the beginning and own all of them, and his writing style is absolutely delightful and endearing, even when he's being a snob), Yvone Lenard, etc. In fact, Peter Mayle's books so charmingly describe Provence that they serve as a guidebook to the best the region has to offer, so you can visualize and plan your own trip. With his writing style, it feels like you're along for the trip, whereas with MFK Fisher, you wonder when you're going to get there.

Memoir of a short time in the life of a unique woman
MFK Fisher holds a special place in the hearts of all `foodie' Americans. She was perhaps the 1st person to see the sense of writing food-based literary books and articles, and of course it's now a genre unto itself. But few have rivaled her beautiful prose, and I recall reading that she once said she considered it a day well-lived if she'd managed to compose one perfect sentence. To consider her just a food writer is to do her an injustice; she is a writer, first and foremost, who happens, sometimes, to write about food.
Two Towns in Provence is a memoir of the years she spent in France, after her divorce from her 3rd husband, with her two young daughters. The two towns in question are Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. Aix is full of artists, eccentrics, gardens, and wonderful food. Marseille is grittier, less beautiful, but still, oh, the food! Fisher's talent, besides the obvious ones of food appreciation, cooking, and writing spectacularly crystalline prose, is her ability to accept life at face value, adapt, and make the best of situations, managing to observe closely and have a wonderful time in the process.
Highest recommendation for all Francophiles, cooks, and lovers of memoirs and superior writing. ... Read more

Product Description
This lavishly illustrated monograph features a selection of Fisher's recent projects for such legendary bands as Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones and U2, together with a text derived from a series of in-depth interviews with Fisher and his collaborators. This material has been organised into a series of thematic sections in which Eric Holding weaves a critical analysis of the broader cultural context into the specific circumstances of Fisher's career, producing a rich and illuminating discourse on this popular art form.
The notion of 'staged architecture' is fundamental to an understanding of Fisher's work and the way in which he designs for an audience/performer relationship. This includes the use of powerful visual codes and narrative themes which reinforce the message of the band and, in an age of marketing, ultimately informs their 'brand identity'. Staged architecture also refers to the importance of time in Fisher's work. This not only governs the way in which his dynamic environments transform during performance but also plays a critical role in the logistics of mounting a rock tour, the 'choreography of construction' that is required to ensure the these ephemeral structures are efficiently transported between venues.
In more than sixty full-colour spreads the diversity and power of Fisher's work is captured using hundreds of images, many of them previously unpublished, including sketches, presentation drawings, computer animations, technical drawings, video stills and spectacular photographs that provide a record of the events themselves.
Mark Fisher is a British architect with an international reputation for the design of spectacular rock concerts. Over the past 25 years he has created some of the most memorable rock shows ever staged. His designs include The Wall and Division Bell for Pink Floyd, Steel Wheels and Bridges to Babylon for the Rolling Stones, and Zoo TV and Popmart for U2. Many other distinguished rock artists have performed on his stage, including Elton John. R.E.M., Tina Turner, Phil Collins, Janet Jackson and Cher. He also designed numerous one-off events, including multi-media shows in Japan, spectacles for Jean-Michel Jarre and Aquamatrix, the nightly show at the Lisbon Exp98. He is currently working with Peter Gabriel on a show for the Greenwich Millennium Done in London. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Inspired Designs of Modern technology
An Inspired insight into the relms of modern theatre and music, artistic stage conception and design. A worthwhile insight for any aspiring designers and Music/contemporary art/rosck fans alike. The designs,concepts and credits are an acolade to this this 20th century visionarydesigner. His resume speaks for itself. ... Read more

Product Description

Target the Super Stocks that deliver huge returns

One of the most successful investing books ever published, Super Stocks showed investors how to use innovative techniques and fundamental analysis for valuing stocks and predicting future profit margins.

You'll gain valuable insight into Fisher's original thinkin for valuing stocks and predicting future profit margins. A pioneer in the use of the Price Sales Ratio-a powerful analytical tool-Fisher regales readers with instructive tales of the businesses he invested in and profited from.

Super Stocks gives a historical perspective on how Fisher successfully researched companies and stocks—who he saw and what he asked—to get a better read on profitable returns.

“As rich in investment war stories as it is in knowledge.”-The Motley Fool

Customer Reviews (7)

Book Review from the Aleph Blog
When I review books, I don't just review new books.I try to share with my readers the books that have helped me become a better thinker on investments.Fortunately, in this case, the 1984 book Super Stocks was reprinted in 2007.Perhaps that validates my opinion that this is a valuable book.

Ken Fisher focuses on the concept of Price to Sales [P/S] ratios as a means of analyzing cheapness in companies.Cheapness, yes, but predicated on the concept that a new product, process improvements, or better management will make more profits from the sales, or improve sales volumes and perhaps profit margins.

Though the examples are from the early 80s, the writing is clear enough that one can get the idea of how it might apply today.You would get the same feeling from Ben Graham's classic The Intelligent Investor, where the examples were from the 50s and 60s, but the truths are timeless.

Why choose this book to review now?Profit margins are artificially high, and will come down somewhat from here, even if they remain above average.How can we find cheap stocks when profit margins are so high?Use P/S, or Price-to-Book [P/B].

My own investing looks at a wide number of valuation figures, but across an economic cycle, I give more or less weight to each variable.When things are bad, I give more weight to P/S and P/B.During the recovery, I emphasize P/E on a forward basis.When the bull market is in full swing, I let industry selection dominate, which gives me more market sensitivity. As another example, I play up EV/EBITDA when buyouts are becoming common, and drop it as a criterion when buyouts are not being funded.

So, unlike Peter Lynch, paying attention to the macroeconomic environment can positively affect your performance, if you do it intelligently.

Super Stocks is very consistent with my eight rules, particularly the rules:

* Stick with higher quality companies for a given industry.
* Purchase companies appropriately sized to serve their market niches.
* Analyze the use of cash flow by management, to avoid companies that invest or buy back their stock when it dilutes value, and purchase those that enhance value through intelligent buybacks and investment.

Fisher spends a decent amount of time on balance sheets, market share, competitive advantage, and use of cash flow for future investment.Though I don't endorse everything in the book, like his price-to-research ratios, there are a lot of good concepts for the average investor to consider, and benefit from.

Always a good decision
Buying, reading, studying and implementing Mr. Fisher's work is always a pleasant and profitable experience. Excellent!

One of the 20 all time best
This book is one of the 20 all time best critical works on investment. The idea of a company selling at a multiple of it's annual sales and how to incorporate that priinciple into your investment strategy is significant. I can never evaluate the auto group without thinking of this text and Fisher's analysis of the historically correct price per sales ratio for the group. I almost bought Ford several weeks ago and just this morning saw the Wall Street Journal article in which Ford sited "unforseen headwinds" for the company. Thank you Kenneth Fisher once again.

One of the top-5 stock books I've read:
I strongly recommend this book for your consumption: this book is extremely valuable for both its investing intelligence and its unique nature. No other book that I know of provides such a complete, and reasonable evaluation of revenue analysis, value opportunities via temporary profit margin squeezes, and screening for these opportunities via Price-to-Sales Ratios (PSRs.)

The heart of the book is that many investor's extreme focus on short-term bottom-line (P/E and earnings growth percentage movements) results can create extremely undervalued purchasing points in a great company with a temporary problem (determining this 'temporary' part is where his discussions about qualitative and margin anaylsis comes in.) Because revenue percentage movements tend to be both much more stable than earning percentage movements, and much less appreciated, PSR scanning may be the beginning of the most accurate type of mid-/long-term undervalued selection. (A good free scanner that has PSRs can be found here: http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/finder/customstocks.asp)

Even if you reject the PSR method, this book's focus on profit margins and revenues can help you focus on what goes into the companies earning's movements. Not all earning growths are the same: you need both revenue growth for sustained earnings growth (you can only cut so much for so long,) and you need a healthy profit margin so that you can finance this revenue growth without large dept or share dilution. I would recommend being skeptical of a company that has growing sales but a sustained falling profit margin, I would be even more skeptical of earnings growth that isn't closely followed by revenue growth (almost disregarding it if it was a profit margin squeeze.) I think balance is key in this area.

The book also has good qualitative insights, has good appendixes, and is fairily concise to boot.

Some on this review page have objected to this book by claiming the author is arrogant. Nothing stood out to me in this book, however in "Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits and Other Writings" by his father Phil Fisher (probably the best qualitative fundamentals book by the way) he wrote in the preface about how his greater success comes from being a harder worker, being more driven, etc that was tasteless in my opinion (especially since Phil was then on his deathbed and it had a bit of a 'tribute' nature to it.) He's not that bad for what it's worth; I was surprised at how modest he seemed when he explained about how he turned a company around (when asked by the board he was on to act as a temporary CEO): he stuck to the point the appendix was making (i.e. that market research is much more important than expensive product R&D.) Anyhow, you're buying access to the author's ideas, not his friendship.

When part of me is secretly happy that this book seems to be out of print, my greed should be your hint. The Fisher's know what they're talking about, and Ken presents un-rehashed information.

Focuses on PSR as a valuation tool
I was first introduced to Fisher's concept of Super Stocks about 10 years ago.The idea behind the concept is buying stocks with a low Price-to-Sales Ratio (PSR), typically 1.0 or less.Simply having a low PSR is not sufficient to be a Super Stock.The valuation tool is combined with fundamental analysis (e.g. growth, margin analysis, balance sheet analysis, etc.) of companies to identify stocks with favorable characteristics that will make them Super Stocks.Fisher also introduces a complementery tool Price-to-Research Ratio (PRR) which is a measure of the company's reinvestment rate into growth.

Fisher spends a lot of time discussing how to make money off the "Glitch".Basically, he believes that many Super Stocks are stocks that have been hit by a "Glitch".A "Glitch" is a temporary setback experienced by a company that makes the out of favor (e.g. product life cycle delay, revenue short-fall, etc.)This attitude is indicative of his value-orientation in investing.In other words, his fundamental analysis may find a great stock, but he will wait for a pull-back from a "Glitch" to a more appropriate PSR before investing.

Overall, the concept of PSR is not so different from other valuation measures for "low-priced" stocks such as Price-to-Earnings or Price-to-Book.However, it doesn't hurt to have another tool in the kit.

On a more interesting side-note, Wall Street analysts have definitely not read this book.It is amusing to note that analysts in the hey-day of the Internet boom touted stocks with PSRs in excess of 10x.A careful fundamental analysis would have resulted in concluding that the growth, margins, and balance sheets of these companies did not justify such high valuations.Nothing in the business models indicated superior performance on any dimension.Even if a business model was found to be superior, prudence would have dictated waiting for a "Glitch". ... Read more

Product Description
This must-have book written by the two foremost Fisher-Price historians and collecting experts is a comprehensive look at the colorful history and even more colorful playthings produced by the world’s largest manufacturer of preschool toys.

Features more than 150 color photos of toys made from 1931 to the present, as well as detailed information on more than 3,000 toys, including toy names alphabetized by year, toy identification numbers, number of years made, special remarks, and a value range from good to mint condition. Includes comic characters, vehicles, dolls, Little People®, and more!

Also includes a special dedication by company president, authors' toy stories, company milestones, authors' picks for top 10 toys in 20 categories, founders' biographies, year-by-year historical and toy line descriptions with decade summarization, catalog covers, and more.

Co-authors Bruce R. Fox and John J. Murray have been employees of Fisher-Price for a combined 52 years and are collectors themselves.

• Detailed listings for more than 3,000 toys

• Accurate, up-to-date values ranging from good to mint condition ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Fisher Price Review
I use this book constantly for reference.I received it as a gift, and have given it to others as a gift.It's a lot of fun!

Excellent resource book
I collect toys. A friend gave me this book as a gift. It is an excellent resource for anyone starting to collect toys or someone that has been doing it for a long time. I applaud the authors for making this available.The history of the company was also quite good.

Everything you want to know about Fisher-Price toys
If you are at all interested in collecting Fisher-Price toys or simply want some interesting background about the toys you grew up with -- then you'll like this book.

It is by far the most thorough book I've found related to Fisher-Price.It has a complete company history, product catalog and price guide for all the toys made by Fisher-Price (and even some never released).

I am a novice toy collector and bought this book because I've always loved my FP toys.I found every toy I've ever had (or at least can remember) in the book along with some amazing facts about them.Unfortunately, I learned that my Jalopy prized #724 Jolly Jalopy is probably not worth more than...

The authors were obsessive in their attention to detail, pointing out all the nuances that make certain products more valuable than others and providing a detailed history of the company and how some of their favorite toys were born.

My only disappointment was that the book is not available in hard cover.

Have fun!

Great book
I enjoyed this book because of the great photos and details.As a toy lover and collector, I can appreciate the authors' memories of collecting and the interesting facts about Fisher-Price.It's a great portable reference to take with you to garage sales or flea markets!The colorful pages and concise information make the world of Fisher-Price toys come alive.It's been a wonderful edition to my library.

EXCELLENT
AS A PAST COLLECTOR OF FISHER PRICE TOYS (15+ YEARS)---
EXPERIENCE SAYS - THIS IS AN ACCURATE PRICE GUIDE ALONG WITH A VERY INTERESTING APPRAISAL OF FISHER PRICE (THE COMPANY).
THE INQUISITION OF TOY VALUE COMBINED WITH DAINTY PHOTOGRAPHY GIVE THIS PUBLICATION HIGH MARKS IN MY EYES.
THE AUTHORS BRING A DISTINGUISHING MARK OF AUTHORITY TO FISHER PRICE AND ITS PRODUCT LINE'S....I WISH THIS MATERIAL WAS AVAILABLE AT THE PEAK OF MY COLLECTING..
VERY NICE JOB..................... ... Read more

Product Description
Even before the rest of North Carolina joined her sister states in secession, the people of the Lower Cape Fear were filled with enthusiasm for the Southern Cause - so much so that they actually seized Forts Johnston and Caswell, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, weeks before the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter. When the state finally did secede, Wilmington became the most important port city of the Confederacy, keeping Robert E. Lee supplied with the munitions and supplies he needed to fight the war against the North. Dedicated soldiers like William Lamb and W.H.C. Whiting turned the sandy beaches of southern New Hanover and Brunswick Counties into a series of fortresses that kept the Union navy at bay for four years. The mighty Fort Fisher and a series of smaller forts offerd safe haven for daring blockade runners that brought in the Confederacy's much-needed supplies. In the process, they turned the quiet port of Wilmington into a boomtown. In this book that was fifteen years in the making, James L. Walker, Jr. has chronicled the story of the Lower Cape Fear and the forts and men that guarded it during America's bloodiest conflict, from the early days of the war to the fall of Wilmington in February 1865. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (29)

"This port of Wilmington is the only hope for rebeldom..."
James Walker's work "Rebel Gibraltar" covers the events of the American Civil War in the port city of Wilmington, North Carolina, which managed to hold off Union forces, and remained an open city for Blockade Runners, until the beginning of 1865. This success can be attributed to the ring of fortifications defending the city and the inlet into the harbor. The largest of these fortresses was Fort Fisher, dubbed the Confederate Goliath. Fisher and the other forts kept the port of Wilmington open until February 1865, when Fisher and other fortifications finally fell to the Union forces.
Walker's work is a fine addition to anybody's collection of Civil War era books. While there are some passages that could have been shortened (His covering of repeated successful and unsuccessful attempts to run the blockade becomes repetitive after a while), his details of the events leading up to war, along with the tempestuous relations between the Confederate command and the Government in Richmond, and an exciting retelling of the final assaults on Fort Fisher, make up for the slower passages, and make this a worthwhile book for Civil War study.
Grade: B+

A Heartfelt and Scholarly Study
I have just completed a second read of Mr. Walker's fine book having first perused it among the distractions of doing catastrophe work in Louisianna and Mississippi in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita back when the book was first published in 2005.

My second and more leisurely read convinces me that Larry Walker has obviously created the definitive work to date on Wilmington during the War Between the States. Previous works have emphasized the attacks and eventual fall of Fort Fisher, such as the excellent studies done by Chris Fonvielle, Rod Gragg and Charles M. Robinson, III, whereas Mr. Walker has woven a rich tapestry of the wartime experience of the lower Cape Fear River region of North Carolina. This detailed and well documented work gives one a fuller understanding of the prodigous contributions and sacrifice the people of that area sustained that, perhaps, only a native son could produce.

While Mr. Walker's admiration and partiality toward the Confederacy is evident in the pages of his book; it is difficult not to be so when absorbing the full impact of this story. For surely the subject matter provides a timeless lesson exemplifying the courage and fortitude against adversity that the people of North Carolina and the South sustained for four long years.

Ignore those that clearly have an personal problem with the author
After reviewing all the comments, I urge the prospective reader to buy the book and judge for yourself.Clearly there are many who have commented here that are biased against and for this author.Unlike the biased against, I will clearly state, I am biased for the author.However the charge that this book is not weel documented can be dismissed by simply thumbing through the book as at the end of each chapter there are 3-4 pages of footnotes.Any persons who left reviews claiming this work is not documented should have their reviews pulled as their hands have never even graced the pages of this book and clearly the reviwer never used purchased the book.

The comment by John was the closest to my experience with this book.To the prospective reader, what you are witnessing is angst over the fact that Bragg was clueless at best and at worst an agent for the North.One can not fathom why Davis continued to support this so called leader after his repated failures.My blood boiled as I read how he would engage in all many of well documented evenings with ladies or parades while the men at Fort Fisher worked themselves feverishly to construct defenses that ultimately for lack of men would not hold.This assessment is at odds with some who have romantic and fanciful notions of the war Between the States.This assessment blinds them and any work that critically examines the actions of those in the South.Prospective reader you will notice the same detractors to Walt Hilderman III book because this author and Hilderman are members of the same reenactment unit.They are admittedly ameteur writers, but I ask you prospective reader where are the published works from the detractors?????????

Fascinating read and I too desire to go see what is left at the scene.I also found myself grabbing maps to follow the story.

Thanks for an entertaining story.

fellow patriot

Another Look at Ft. Fisher
Rebel Gibraltar is a very well-researched history of Civil War Wilmington and of Ft. Fisher.The book is well-written and easy to read. Walker's book provides a detailed look at the Union's attempts to capture the Confederacy's last major port and the vallant efforts of outgunned and outnumbered Confederates to keep open the lifeline to Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.I recommend this book to Civil War buffs and history novices alike.

A waste of time
Walker's book is a compilation of poorly researched material discussed in his on personal opinion. Clearly a first book by an amatuer writer, I would suggest staying away from this book, it will be a great waste of your time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Recommend
Living in metro Detroit my entire life, Max Fisher was a person who was always in the newspaper. He goes down in history as a man of great accomplishments. Hard work gave him great monetary rewards and he was willing to use his wealth to support causes that gave him pleasure.I believe that metro Detroit is better because of him. It was interesting for me to find out more about him. He is a great role model for people with ambition and drive.

I had no problems with this purchase and would use the store that sold me this book again.

You'll learn much from this book, especially how Max became
such a successful, caring and genuine person. I am 27 and was always interested in how Max Fisher rose from humble beginnings. This book definitely offers some nice insight into that.
For example, when Max didn't do the work he planned for the day, he would skip a meal.
Anyway, I am just sad I was never able to meet Max in person, because I know he would have been a wonderful mentor, who always had time to lend an ear and offer insight. ... Read more

Product Description
One of the most eccentric and riveting voices to be heard in the world of fly fishing has his say on just about every aspect of angling.
Amazon.com Review
"Oh boy. Another collection of navel-gazing essays from a baby boomer who got hold of a fly rod and a word processor and thought Eureka, I've found myself. And now wants to share." Any writer who can open a volume of, well, navel-gazing essays that self-effacingly has probably done some useful gazing, might actually have something worth saying, and has most likely manufactured a pretty good way of saying it. Fly-fishing is less avocation for James Babb, the editor of Gray's Sporting Journal, than a personal life choice. Born in the back of an ambulance in the parking lot of a Tennessee barbecue joint, he eventually resettled in New England. Through odd job after odd job, he found his equilibrium on the streams. When he wasn't out fly-fishing, he was thinking about it--and writing about it with unforced quirkiness and insight. In time, he built his own cabin in Maine with a trout pond to go with it. Why Maine? "I often say that I moved to Maine," he writes, "for the brook trout and Thoreau's wild North Woods and the joys of living in an inbred rural community where none of the cousins are mine." In a voice that's legitimately funny, magnetic, and unique, Babb has his say on just about everything from waders to wading staffs, British literature to knives and forks, which makes it a reader's adventure and an angler's catch. --Jeff Silverman ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A let down
James Babb's River Music was great but Cross Currents, after a nice opening, is just another travel/fishing book.I was disappointed.

First book better.
Although this is a well written book I did not find it as interesting as his first book 'Fly Fishing Fool.'The cover picture/ scene will lead you to believe it is a book of trout fishing stories, instead, it is heavily salt water exploits oriented.If you are into 'salt' you can add one more star.

Nicely done
Perhaps my title is insufficient.The progress is more or less identical to what any reasonable human being would want in the late 20th and early 21'st century.

A man of insight, regrets, decent moral grounding andcapable of facing the difficulties of the realities of ecology (a/k/aCranes and Rainbow trout)James Babb has molded a life worth living. Would that we were all so talented and perceptive.A biography more than afish story is to be had here.

more than fish
Babb is one hell of a writer, and Crosscurrents is about more than just fish and antique split bamboo rods.It's about one man's spiritual journey from his boyhood home in the hills of East Tennessee to the lobsterman'slife in the cold North Atlantic, to the hills of Maine, where he nowresides.Plenty of adventures along the way, unforgettable characters,cultural observations, literary and historical allusions, and some reallyfine writing.I've never thrown a dry fly in my life, but I loved it,anyway.Bravo, Mr. James Babb! ... Read more

Product Description
Chronicles the life of a brilliant Italian mathematician, physicist, and astronomer, who was forced to renounce his inventions and discoveries because they challenged the authority of the Church. ... Read more

Product Description
Proven to be highly effective for the treatment of a wide range of problems, cognitive-behavior therapy is the most widely used psychotherapeutic technique. Building on the success of the previous edition, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Second Edition presents specific direction for cognitive behavior therapy techniques. Fully updated and expanded, this edition contains contributions from world-renowned experts on problems including smoking cessation, stress management, and classroom management. Its step-by-step illustrations create a hands-on reference of vital cognitive-behavioral therapy skills. This reference is essential for psychologists, counselors, and social workers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Had to buy for a class
Great book, very comprehensive. Needed to buy it for a class but I am keeping this for future use. Several great case studies are included as well as excellent rational for different therapeutic interventions.

A Research-Based Resource that Addresses a Number of Diagnoses.
This practical book gives the clinician research-based techniques that are effective for a variety of diagnoses, to include enuresis, panic disorder, depression, and skills acquisition for the developmentally delayed.

There are 60 chapters on individual therapies for a wide range of problems, such as smoking cessation, stress management, and classroom management.

This compilation contains submissions authored by experts in their particular treatment approach. A handy desk reference for the CBT practioner.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy:Applying Empirically...
Excellent resource book for all health psychologists.This book will be a staple reference book on my shelf.Great source of a practical strategies that are empirically sound.

A good reference on CBT skills
The book serves a good reference for essential CBT skills, with easy-to-understand format and step-by-step illustrations.For experienced clinican with solid theortical background, it can serve as a quick reference and reminder for good tools available in our hands. ... Read more

Product Description
A comprehensive guide to Mozart's THE MARRIAGE of FIGARO, featuring a NEWLY TRANSLATED LIBRETTO with MUSIC EXAMPLES, Principal Characters, Brief Story Synopsis, Story Narrative with Music Highlight Examples, a Discography, a Videography, a Dictionary of Opera and Musical terms, and insightful Commentary and Analysis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Outstanding Biography
Mark Foster does a terrific job defining the character and accomplishments of Carl Graham Fisher. This incredible life story played a far larger role in shaping America in the 20th centuty than most people understand. Largely forgotten, Fisher set the tone for American leisure time, and gave his heart to everything he did. Foster's insights to Fisher's motives and values provide a fascinating portrait of a man whose legacy lives on in Miami and in every turn of the wheel in American auto racing. Great reading! ... Read more

Amazon.com Review
In December 1864 and January 1865, Federal forces launched thegreatest amphibious assault the world had yet seen on the Confederatestronghold of Fort Fisher, near Wilmington, North Carolina. This wasthe last seaport available to the South--all of the others had beeneffectively shut down by the Union's tight naval blockade. The initialattack was a disaster; Fort Fisher, built mainly out of beach sand,appeared almost impregnable against a heavy naval bombardment. Whentroops finally landed, they were quickly repelled. A second attemptsucceeded and arguably helped deliver one of the death blows to aquickly fading Confederacy. Hurricane of Fire is a work oforiginal scholarship, ably complementing Rod Gragg's ConfederateGoliath, and the first book to take a full account of thenavy's important supporting role in the assault. --JohnJ. Miller ... Read more

Product Description
A comprehensive guide to Mozart's immortal THE MAGIC FLUTE (Die Zauberflote), featuring insightful Commentary and Analysis, complete Story Synopsis with 30 Music Examples, a COMPLETE NEWLY TRANSLATED LIBRETTO with Music Examples, Discography, Videography, and a Dictionary of Opera and Musical Terms. ... Read more

Product Description
In Writers of Conviction, Julia C. Ehrhardt examines the literary careers of four American writers who have not received the critical attention they deserve: Zona Gale, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Rose Wilder Lane, and Josephine Herbst. By reintroducing these authors, Ehrhardt reveals a fascinating and unexplored aspect of white, middle-class, and female authorship: the provocative links between each writer's personal politics and her literary aspirations. She uses this innovative critical perspective to show that each woman became a writer in order to express her political beliefs to the largest possible audience. Combining feminist literary theory, women's history, and biographical criticism, this work presents a compelling study of a woman's individual journey to political consciousness and the writings that resulted from it. ... Read more

Product Description
Proven and effective, cognitive-behavior therapy is the most widely taught psychotherapeutic technique. General Principles and Empirically Supported Techniques of Cognitive Behavior Therapy provides students with a complete introduction to CBT. It includes over 60 chapters on individual therapies for a wide range of presenting problems, such as smoking cessation, stress management, and classroom management. Each chapter contains a table clearly explaining the steps of implementing each therapy. Written for graduate psychology students, it includes new chapters on imaginal exposure and techniques for treating the seriously mentally ill. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

O'Donohue & Fisher CBT
Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Applying empirically supported techniques in your practice brings together the techniques as a study guide for practitioners. Each chapter is organized in a comprehensive manner, providing a considerable scope and utility of many individual techniques. Chapter one explains that 80 diverse techniques exist in cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), which creates an additional burden for therapists seeking to become skilled in them. Meanwhile, chapter two discusses psychological acceptance by examining the movement of promoting acceptance of suffering and how improvement results in quality of life rather than changing the client's negative experience. This movement of the models emphasizing acceptance versus change is empirically supported, thereby demonstrating that by trying to suppress thoughts a rebound effect will occur. Indeed, the research findings indicate that CBT thought-stopping might be ill advised. The problems with trying to restructure problematic thoughts using suppression could result in intensification, followed by the clients elaborating upon those thoughts. Cognitive therapists have challenged the theoretical argument that simply targeting thoughts to make effective changes may not be successful in the long term.
CBT includes specific aspects. First, CBT philosophically originated from behaviorism based on the key idea that science and psychology are combined. The second aspect is the theoretical framework that focuses on specific problems and assesses the principles that what makes the problem also creates the causes. The third aspect is the knowledge base that relies on group and individual experimental designs. Measurement in the therapeutic treatment and the skilled technical aspect of the therapist in the execution of the techniques are also key aspects. The research underscores the important relationship involving the measure of competence in the therapeutic result. Thereby giving rise to the importance of a skilled cognitive behavioral therapist. This further highlights the extent of therapy techniques needed to qualify as a clinician.
The book further provides beneficial exercises that clearly illustrate each therapeutic technique in a step-by-step manner. As such, CBT becomes a fundamental means for therapists and researchers using such specialized therapies. This handy book supplies empirically supported techniques that are useful for a broad array of problems, including sexual problems, panic disorder, depression, and skills acquisition for the developmentally delayed. The discussions detail ways in which to help clients with a variety of problems in everyday life and are an essential reference for therapists seeking to learn CBT techniques and how to apply them. The information is not limited and is designed be used in a step-by-step application. It includes more than 75 sections that go into great detail, discussing many of the issues as well as how therapists can incorporate the use of CBT treatments into their practice. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Sparkling writing, witty dialogue, & dastardly villains
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (12/08)

Kerry Greenwood's "Murder in the Dark" was exactly what I expect from anything published by the Poisoned Pen Press. I never like what they publish; I either love it, adore it or I am simply crazy about it. "Murder in the Dark" was no exception. Sparkling writing, witty dialogue, enchanting heroine, dastardly villains, quirky plot, vivid background and more red herrings than one is able to keep track of make for an enthralling read.

Phryne Fisher has been invited to a very glamorous Last Best party of 1928, yet she did not decide to accept that invitation until she received several warnings about not attending. The surest way to insure her attendance was obviously to tell her she should not come - after that, there was nothing to stop her, not even a poisonous snake delivered to her under the guise of a Christmas present. So she set out to Werribee Manor House, where sinister events started taking place even before her arrival. Once there, she quickly got involved in a sinister scavenger hunt, with the villain leaving cryptic clues which she has to solve if she wants to save a few lives and the remainder of the party.

I would be hard pressed to pick out my favorite character from the book, since all of them were so superbly drawn. For a change we got to meet a whole array of very distinct female characters as well. Phryne Fisher was so brilliantly ditzy at times, yet hiding a superb intellect and an unlimited supply of kindness for anybody around her. Nerine was so sizzling hot that it still surprises me the pages featuring her did not burst into flames. Mrs. Truebody was one of the most adorable battleaxes I've ever encountered in a book. Madge to Goat Lady was priceless, and as for Minty, one of her animals, as well as her role in the exciting polo match, I simply lack the words to adequately describe her. While the male characters were no less inspired, I will remember this book by the many fantastic females in it. Another trait that endeared this work to me further was the subtly skewered "Upstairs, Downstairs" aspect of it, and any reader who has ever watched any of the great British comedies dealing with the rapports between the "masters" and the "servants" will undoubtedly enjoy this book just as much.

A simply scintillating read, "Murder in the Dark" by Kerry Greenwood is a winner in every sense of the word.

excellent pre-Depression Era Australian whodunit
In Australia liberated Phryne Fisher enjoys Christmas 1928 with her significant other Lin Chung and her family.Scandalous acquaintances from Paris, the Golden Twins Isabella and Gerald Templar, have invited her to the Last Best party of 1928, a four-day affair at Werribee Manor house.

Phryne considers declining the invitation until she receives letters and a Christmas present containing a poisonous snake in the post that threaten her if she attends. No one scares Phryne away so she goes to the gala.At the party, hashish and alcohol flow freely and she meets an odd collection of people including a bad-mannered child Tarquin who soon afterward vanishes without a trace.Two more people disappear with puzzle clues left behind.As Phryne and Nicholas Booth, who she has just met and believes is an undercover cop, investigates, she realizes someone has been hired to assassinate the sibling hosts.

No one messes with kick butt Phryne whether it is threatening her by post, behaving boorishly towards her at a party, or committing murder.She is at her best in this pre-Depression Era Australian whodunit as her sleuthing partner Nicholas brings out her strengths.The mystery is cleverly devised with solid twists and the roaring cast fits the decadent 1920s.Fans will enjoy Phryne's latest caper as once again Kerry Greenwood provides her readers with a deep look at a bygone era Down Under inside of a rousing investigative thriller.

Harriet Klausner
... Read more

Product Description
KEY BENEFIT: Living Religions is a sympathetic approach to what is living and significant in the worldrsquo;s major religious traditions and in various new movements that are arising. KEY TOPICS: This book provides a clear and straightforward account of the development, doctrines, and practices of the major faiths followed today. The emphasis throughout is on consciousness of believers and their own accounts of their religion and its relevance in contemporary life. MARKET: For professional theologians and others interested in the development of the major religions practiced today. KEY BENEFIT: "Living Religions" is a sympathetic approach to what is living and significant in the world's major religious traditions and in various new movements that are arising. KEY TOPICS: This book provides a clear and straightforward account of the development, doctrines, and practices of the major faiths followed today. The emphasis throughout is on consciousness of believers and their own accounts of their religion and its relevance in contemporary life. MARKET: For professional theologians and others interested in the development of the major religions practiced today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Got money back but left with no book for class!!!
I paid for the book, and waited for about two weeks and no book. I finally got my money back but in the process didn't have book for my class. thanks for nothing. Not very happy with this dealer. ... Read more

Product Description
The accomplishments, deeds, and powers of sixteen towering figures. ... Read more