5 comments about Adrift (Bookcassette(r) Edition).

1. I couldn't put this book down and read it in a couple of sittings. An amazing tale of adventure and survival.



2. Absolutely fascinating, informative, a must for any sailor, and highly recommended for anyone heading out to sea.



3. Because of the horrible writing style I couldn't get past twenty pages. It was so mercilously annoying to struggle through the author's short, choppy sentences. His story might have been intriguing, but he should have hired a professional ghost writer. Put it aside for 'Lost' which is a much better written book.



4. I loved reading this book. The author has an amazing determination. Many times throughout the story, he was in a pinch and on the brink of disaster and death, but he fought and decided he was going to survive no matter what it took. He is a very intelligent person, judging by some of the assessments and solutions he came up with during the experience. He also has incredible will-power. Read the book if you love survival stories such as this.



5. I ordered this book on a whim. It's not usually my sort of fare but Callahan had me from the start and I had a hard time putting it down. Day by day, struggle by struggle, every new experience gave you either a sense of tremendous triumph or total despair. I was rooting for Callahan through out the book. I caught my self laughing out loud several times and twitching my feet nervously at others.
   
   Steven Callahan did one of the best jobs in all of adventure writing at bringing the reader into his little life-raft world. It was amazing to see an entire eco-system develop around his orange raft and how he interacted with it.
   
   Truly an amazing book and an amazing journey. Be forewarned, you'll feel lost at sea with Callahan!

5 comments about Red Sky In Mourning: The True Story of a Woman's Courage and Survival at Sea.

1. What a wonderful book, by a courageous woman. As I read the book, I felt that I was there with her during her struggles and triumphs. And the ending is very positive and doesn't leave the reader hanging. She's overcome a great deal in life at a young age, and has gone on to become a very solid and interesting wife and mother, I suspect. Yes, the book describes a real tragedy, the kind of thing that a sailor prays to avoid. However, there are real lessons to be found, such as equipment and design flaws aboard her boat, as well as the 'human factors' which she discusses openly. I've made purchases and upgrades to my boat (I liveaboard and cruise fulltime) based on her book and her lecture at the Annapolis sailboat show. Just buy the book, and you won't be sorry!



2. Tami lost her boyfriend and the rigging of the boat they were delivering from the South Pacific to San Diego, during a hurricane they tried to avoid.
   
   Her story is of profound love, desperation, madness and survival, told like only that lived through it can.
   
   Beautifully written, entertaining and a few lessons for the rest of us sailors.
   
   On top of the entertaining and poetical value (has both) it has important information on what to do (and avoid) on a similar situation. More importantly, how to avoid being in one on the first place!
   
   Capt. Pablo Vitaver



3. You will not be able to put this book down! I learned so much about sailing from reading this book and the other reviews make it clear that even experienced sailors have as well.
   One reviewer who really enjoyed the book criticized the fact Tami and Richard were so much in love they were not afraid to show it in the way they spoke with each other. I find nothing at all odd about calling each other "Love". It is similar to using the nickname "Sweetheart". Absolutely and totally believable in my opinion.
   
   As I read this book the descriptions of the places and the story was such that I found myself back in time, caught up in their beautiful world 22 years ago. Tami if you ever come to New England to speak I would love to attend! Now more than ever I would love to sail. Tami and Richard shared moments which many people will never experience in an entire lifetime.
   
   I recommend this book to people of all ages and backgrounds. This is a story which even those who live far from the sea can relate to. The freedom and exuberance of youth and love, the excitement of an adventure, the loss of one we haved love with all our heart, tragedy, despair, hope, courage, survival....and once again living and loving.
   
   This book held me spellbound. I was surprised when I found myself reaching for the kleenex as I finished the book. Perhaps I had finished the journey with Tami as I read the book. The fate of the Mayaluga was probably the final incident which started the tears for me. I will not ruin the ending for all of you. We all know what Richard would have chosen for the Mayaluga and it would be great to have an update on this.
   The photographs were so nice to have included in the book and I only wish there had been more photographs of the places they had visited! Purchase this book and you will treasure it!



4. It's really more a love story than a survival story. I have read good 'lost at sea' non-fiction such as 'The Raft' and excerpts from the Adrenaline series by Listen and Live audio. However this book really does not come close to the near death experiences by crew who are lost at sea without food and water. But it is a good love story, so for that reason I give it 4 stars.



5. This book is great. I fell in love with the characters, and my heart was broken. This book reads very easily and if you are a traveler type you will relate to the general sense of adventure that runs seamlessly through this book. If you like ocean adventure books you almost can't go wrong with this. I also recommend "North to the night" and "Desperate voyage".

5 comments about A Mormon in the White House? 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney.

1. First of all, I am a Mormon. I did not have a desire to vote for a Mormon candidate for president simply because I shared his faith. I was interested to read about Governor Romney's life, and what would qualify him to lead our country in what promises to be a very challenging time in our history. I found that his ethics and his life experiences uniquely qualify him for this position.This book is very informative, and is written by a non-Mormon in an honest and candid manner. It WILL clear up misconceptions you may have about Governonr Romney.



2. Author Hugh Hewitt has produced an appealing pro-Mitt Romney book that highlights the former Massachusetts Governor's political and business career and gives cogent reasons why he should not be discriminated against because of his Mormon faith.
   
   Romney alone of all the candidates has had to overcome the 'religious problem'to a greater extent than past Catholic contenders, Al Smith (1928), JFK in 1960, and another JFK in 2004. His Mormon religion was used against him by a member of the Kennedy clan when Romney ran against Ted Kennedy in the 1994 senate race and more recently, and importantly, by Mike Huckabee in trying to cement his lead in the Iowa Caucus race due in early 2008. While I am a lot closer to Huckabee in a religious sense than I am to Romney that attack, by the now front-runner in Iowa, was a low cheap shot and Huckabee deserves censure where it counts -by the American voters.
   
   America is the Great Republic precisely because it stands for across-the-board-freedoms and tolerance and Hewitt rightly warns that those Christians who wish to make Romney's faith a matter for intense debate and clause-by-clause scrutiny should be aware that they are opening a pandora's box for future attacks, by secularists, a cynical media and rabid atheists, against candidates of faith of a more orthodox persuasion.
   For those who may doubt that then the news today (23 december 2007), about former British PM Tony Blair announcing his conversion to Roman Catholicism, is instructive. Mr Blair said he was never able to discuss his religion in public in the UK, unlike politicians in the US, for fear of being seen as a 'nutter.' Thus far has the public square detioriated in the UK and if Romney is subjected to a barrage of criticism and derision for his faith then it will establish the same pattern for the future in the US- namely politicians of faith will be fair game and intimidated into surrendering the public square to the haters of religion.
   
   Like any other candidate for office Hewitt believes that Romney should be judged on his policy positions and for conservatives there is a lot to appreciate about Mitt: from his defence of traditional marriage as a Republican Governor in the bluest of liberal Democratic states, his strong defence and national border credentials, low tax policies, school choice, and a pledge to continue to appoint judges, as he did in Mass., that interpret the law instead of trying to make the law.
   
   As for Romney's pro-life change, Hewitt effectively catalogues some of the leading Democrats who changed the other way (to pro-choice) but somehow they don't receive the same attention from the secular mainstream media. Also what some might call Mitt's 'flip-flopping' can be described by others as him becoming more consistently conservative. Didn't a chap called Ronald Reagan move from being a liberal-abortion law governor to a consistently pro-life president? Come to think of it wasn't the Gipper once a Democrat? As Hewitt implies, being accused of being a flip-flopper is a very politically loaded term and frankly at times just plain silly as it it takes no account of a considered re-evaluation and changes of circumstances.
   
   Hugh Hewitt has written a timely book for all Americans to consider about a central character in a fascinating struggle for the Republican Party presidential nomination.
   
   In writing this review on my 29th wedding anniversary I am reminded that Mitt Romney is the standout family man of all the candidates- devoted to his wife and children and with no hint of scandal- and given the tumultuous history of the Mormon Church in the 19th century, plus some of those less faithful who seek to denigrate him today, you have to say politics can be an amusing business.



3. PAY LAY ALE!
   
   Romney uttered these words in the presence of "angles" and witnesses in a temple of the Mormon church. Google it for yourself. Learn about the ridiculous church of Joseph Smith (of which I used to be a part of) and see if you want a man who chanted "Pay Lay Ale" while lowering his arms three times while wearing a Chef Boyardee hat to run the United States of America.



4. I finished reading this book last night and after hearing that Mitt Romney had suspended his campaign. I believe he lost in the South because the voters there preferred another good candidate that just happened to be an Southern Baptist. Mitt Romney's resume is very impressive and his Mormon family values should make him a very desirable candidate to most Americans. They just need to get to know him and his faith better.
   I believe this book will return in the future as an updated paperback and there will be a Mormon in the White House in 2012.



5. If more people would have researched the candidates thoroughly (and read this book), Mitt Romney would be taking the oath of office in January 09. Those of you who are Christians and have said: "I won't vote for a Mormon" should realize that you're participating in your own demise. The liberal media and the secularists know that if they can divide Christians by encouraging some of them to be bigots, their side wins. We need to look at how the candidates live their lives and what they stand for. Christians should look in the mirror before they judge others. Romney is one of the smartest men who has ever been "dumb enough" to run for president.
   I would love to see how his analytical mind, backed by all the data his "team" would have gathered, would have changed the entitlement programs, for example. Now conservatives have to choose between liberal leaning candidates on both sides of the aisle. BIG MISTAKE IN 08!

5 comments about Hazardous Duty.

1. Very interesting book. I couldn't put it down after the first page or two. I've been inspired to read his other books -- esp. About Face, and support his organization Soldiers for the Truth.



2. Great read, unique and interesting perspective about the US military from a qualified expert.



3. There are two types of soldier, peacetime and wartime. Hackworth is from that wartime brand. A pain in the ass in peace but vital in conflict. He clearly identifies the issues and yet is lambasted as a poor staff leader, funnily enough so was Patton, and what a fighting general he was! No one believed him about the Russians at the end of WW2. As an ex-soldier from a recon background i'd really have liked to have met and even served under Col. Hackworth. At least he wouldn't have thrown my life away like modern leadership. The quickest way to resolve an issue is to accept that it exists. The US Military should listen to these views and act on them, otherwise when the big day comes and they are up against an effective force they will be sorely embarrased. Look how badly they are currently handling the insurgency in Iraq.



4. Love him or hate him, you can't deny that David Hackworth has a story to tell. "Hazardous Duty" is his very persuasive diagnosis of the problem with American armed forces. Hackworth has "been there." Hew has led men in combat in Vietnam and experienced the "ticket punchers" who were less interested in destroying the enemy than in feathering their resumes. In this book, he takes us from the rice paddies in Vietnam to the scorching sands of Iraq and Kuwait in order to show us the weaknesses in the American fighting machine.
   
   Hackworth takes dead aim at the "military-industrial-congressional complex," the source of much of the problem, in his telling. His "perfumed princes" ride the military promotion machine to high rank while arms manufacturers pad their expenses and congressmen use the revolving door to lucrative jobs in the arms trade. The media and public are bedazzled by a few "smart" bombs and glad-handed into shelling out more tax dollars for Flash Gordon wizzbangery. Meanwhile, the grunts on the ground are outfitted with obsolete weapons and uniforms manufactured for the wrong climate.
   
   Hackworth portrays himself as a soldier's soldier, more interested in what happens on the ground than in some major's efficiency report. His devastating analysis of the debacles of the Grenada invasion and the Iranian hostage rescue are the first serious criticism I have heard about these botched operations. His skewering of Generals Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf is pretty frightening. In Hackworth's telling, it's a good thing that Saddam Hussein was such a horrible tactician; the US might have taken some serious casualties otherwise. By letting Iraq's Republican Guard escape, he empowered Saddam Hussein, and ensured that we would have to fight him again.
   
   Hackworth sees the military as a bloated giant, drunk on appropriations and its own sense of importance. Its leaders are dizzy with bringing home the bacon and fighting the other services, leaving America poorer and less prepared to fight the next war. Hackworth's pre-9/11 perspective is fascinating, if not always on target. He criticizes Reagan and Bush I for blindly throwing money at the military and Clinton for trying to integrate gays at a time of severe cutbacks and low morale. Writing at the time the US was involved in stopping Bosnia's self-destruction, he criticizes that effort as well as our interventions in Somalia and Haiti. The measured success in Bosnia and Haiti were still in the future, and somewhat diminishes Hackworth's omniscience.
   
   Whatever his excesses, Hackworth is passionate about his country and the ordinary soldiers and sailors who defend it. His prescriptions (reducing the armed services from 4 to 1, stopping the revolving door from Congress to arms manufacturers) may be either visionary or unrealistic. But it's clear from his experiences and perspective that a military that persecutes and marginalizes "war fighters," which continually prepares to fight the last war, and is hypnotized by fancy gadgetry is no asset to our country.



5. Hackworth is the ultimate soldier. He has been there, done that, and his record gives him the credentials to call a spade a spade in military matters. Recommendations and condemnations are posited on the basis of what is best for each soldier and his defense of our country. Even his technical descriptions are easily understood by an average reader. The writing flows naturally, and Hackworth's integrity is clear on every page. Honor, duty, country. Hackworth was all about that, even without the ring of West Point. He lived it; all of us owe him respect.

5 comments about About Face.

1. Great book! Hackworth was a true warrior stud. He was the essence of an instinctual soldier and was quite lucky to have survived so many brushes with death. I did find his conclusions interesting as he was not entirely correct. He became a liberal after Vietnam and predicted things that did not happen with the USSR, Central America, and more. He did give great insight into how bungled the Vietnam War was and what could have been done to "win" it.



2. This book was an inspirational read. Even though it takes forever to read this book, it's well worth the time. Hack's experiences shared in this book changed my outlook on life, and my outlook on human interaction/organization.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone, as I'm sure his experience can be applicable to anything you will ever have to deal with in life.



3. Excellent Read......... Highly Recommended ... 5 stars
   
   About Face chronicles the experiences of the youngest colonel serving during the Vietnam circumstances. The book itself begins in February 1951 with Hackworth facing the enemy in Korea and is divided into twenty-three chapters. About Face follows David Hackworth the length of his military journey from the days when as a young soldier nick-named 'Combat' he charged into the face of the enemy along a path to near ruin at the hands of disgruntled superiors. The work includes maps, author's notes, a foreword by Ward Just, an Epilogue and an Appendix including a Glossary, Index and final notes.
   
   About Face is a well written page turner presented in language clearly understood by the typical reader. The book is certain to interest those who have any link at all to the Vietnam situation faced by so many men and women from our country. The book helps to demarcate what happened, when and to whom.
   
   I first read About Face written by Col. David Hackworth during the late 1980s. I found it particularly helpful in helping me...a woman with little knowledge of anything military, understand better my children's dad, a land based Viet Nam combat vet and the problems he had to deal with before his death.
   
   As the wife of yet a second Viet Nam combat vet, special forces, I suggest this book for anyone who wants a better understanding of the debt of gratitude and respect we citizens owe those who served during the action in Vietnam and those who willing to serve in The United States Military today.
   
   Molly Martin
   Reviewer



4. Colonel David Hackworth was a soldier's soldier. Born too late to see active service in the crucible of WW II, he lied about his age and enlisted in the Army as soon as he could. Often credited as being the most decorated American soldier of his era, Hack was well-known within the U.S. Army for his courage, honesty, and derring-do exploits.
   
   Hack ranks right up their with the U.S. Marine's Chesty Puller and Gregory "Pappy" Boyington as the sort of officer who is a pain in the a** to have around in peacetime -- but who is exactly the sort of leader you want when the bullets start to fly. It is impossible to read about Hackworth's battlefield experiences during the Korean War without getting a lump in your throat for the privations those poor guys suffered. (Many U.S. Army units were airlifted from the States via Japan directly into combat in Korea, still wearing their Class 'A' uniforms -- totally unprepared for the Korean winters and the raging fighting they found upon landing.)
   
   Col. Hackworth's Vietnam experiences are fascinating, too. As he rose in rank he displayed an uncanny ability to call a spade a spade, and his dismay with how the war was being fought eventually led to his being personally cashiered out of the Army by the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army!
   
   Buy this book and read it -- you're in for a real treat! Hack was the real thing, and his demonstrated courage and abrasive honesty make him worthy of study and appreciation by both junior and senior officers throughout the armed services.
   
   Captain Michael L. Pandzik, U.S. Navy Reserve (Retired)



5. This is a story of a soldier in an army in decline, a lost war and a premature end of a magnificaint career. It is also the most motivating war story that I've ever read. It is the story of a man with barely a 7th grade education who joins the army at 15 years old and earns a battlefield commission in Korea and in Vietnam becomes the only soldier to be awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses, 10 Silver Stars and three times nominated for the Medal of Honor (which he did not recieve) and became the youngest Colonel in Vietnam. The book is a cry for military reform and it is also a war story. Hackworth tells of the desparate fights on nameless hills in Korea in a fasion that makes you wish that you were there, not an easy task, with the Korean War. When a lackluster soldier is killed Hackworth is proud that he died well and makes him a hero to the unit. He never seems to feel fear-"I guess I just like war...I like the cameradship. Adversity brings out the best in men"- Hackworth told Ward Just in the book "Military Men." In Vietnam Hack often took hopeless situations and turned them into victory. In a way his resignation was a victory, this self educated soldier stood up to a buracatic army that was losing a war while others went along. This is the most motivating book that I've ever read, so much so that I retured to active duty after reading it, insisting on infantry. David Hackworth may have been "Once An Eagle" but he was no colonel Kurtz-as the hardback dusk cover suggested. Hackworth died in 2005 from cancer, the only fight that he ever lost.

5 comments about John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography.

1. As someone who had recently seen the "John Paul Jones" movie that was made in 1959 with Robert Stack, I was curious to learn more about the man who put the U.S. Navy on the map. Of course, most know him as the one who coined the immortal, defiant phrase "I have not yet begun to fight!" This book delves beyond that, as Morison shows Jones as he really was, a human being born in obscurity in Scotland who developed a love for the sea at an early age. He was simultaneously a shrewd combatant with a quick temper (in many ways the American equivalent of the great English admiral Nelson,) and a gentleman who enjoyed the company of numerous lovely ladies ashore. Morison leaves no stone unturned as he takes the reader on a detailed, captivating journey (from page one, the reader is hooked.) He sailed the waters that bore witness to Jones's battles and drew extensively upon the naval archives of the four primary countries that figured in Jones's life. To give you some idea, the engagement with H.M.S. Serapis is fleshed out in such marvelous detail that one can almost smell the gunpowder, but Morison goes beyond that, explaining what happened before, during, and after, most of which one would not learn in history class. In fact, I would make book that at least ninety percent of what one will read in this book would not be learned in history class. Morison has included pictures, charts, diagrams, excerpts from letters (some of which are in French with English translations), and has deftly blended them and the text into a perfect biography. For anyone who wants to learn more about Jones, this is required reading.



2. It has been said that most great men are bad men. Samuel Eliot Morison's superb biography of John Paul Jones supports, if not proves, that proposition. Jones's greatness is undeniable: Although he was the son of an obscure Scottish gardener, he virtually founded the United States Navy, he won one of the most important sea battles of the Revolutionary War when he was only 32, and he later commanded ships in the service of France and Russia. But Jones also was extremely temperamental, excessively vain (after receiving an honor from France, he liked to be addressed as "Chevalier Paul Jones"), and he had mistresses in practically every port. Morison, a longtime professor at Harvard and the author of the authoritative, Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Christopher Columbus, as well as a massive, multi-volume history of the U.S. Navy during World War II, reports all of this in a matter-of-fact fashion. Morison's Jones is a great sailor and a man of the world in every respect.

   According to Morison, Young Jones was highly ambitious and went to sea at age 13 "as a road to distinction." During the next 15 years, he learned well his trade and he also became an American patriot. At the beginning of the Revolutionary War, Morison writes that the American navy was "only a haphazard collection of converted merchant ships," and the Royal Navy was probably the most powerful in history. But General George Washington, according to Morison, "had a keen appreciation of the value and capabilities of sea power," and, in October 1775, Congress appointed a Naval Committee of Seven to manage the colonies' maritime affairs. In December 1775, seven months before the American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain, Jones accepted a commission as a lieutenant in the continental navy.

   Although Morison is primarily interested in Jones's activities during the Revolutionary War, he makes a number of more generally cogent observations. For instance, the United States government was in a state of nearly constant impecuniousness and was able to afford to build only one of the largest class of naval vessels, a ship of the line, during the conflict. In Morison's view, this was the status of the war at the time of the battle off Flamborough Head in September 1779, which secured Jones's fame: "The War of Independence had reached a strategic deadlock, a situation that recurred in both World Wars of the twentieth century. Each party, unable to reach a decision by fleet action or pitched land battles, resorts to raids and haphazard, desultory operations which have no military effect." That deadlock continued, according to Morison, until 1781. Morison also writes that Britain took the position "since the United States were not a recognized government but a group of rebellious provinces,...American armed ships were no better than pirates."

   Morison appears to be deeply impressed by Jones's technical competence: "One of Paul Jones's praiseworthy traits was his constant desire to improve his professional knowledge." That passion for self-improvement reached fruition September 1779 off the Yorkshire coast of east-central England when a squadron which Jones commanded from the Bonhomme Richard defeated the H.M.S. Serapis in a three and one-half hour battle during which those ships were locked in what Morison describes as a "deadly embrace." (Bonhomme Richard sank during the aftermath of the fierce fighting.) It was during this battle that Jones defiantly refused to surrender with the immortal phrase: "I have not yet begun to fight." According to Morison, "[c]asualties were heavy for an eighteenth-century naval battle. Jones estimated his loss at 150 killed and wounded out of a total of 322." Morison writes that Jones was at his "pinnacle of fame" in late 1779, and, when he visited France, which was allied with the U.S. during the Revolutionary War, in April 1780: He became the lion of Paris, honored by everyone from the King down." When Jones returned to the United States in 1781, however, he was unable to obtain what Morison describes as a "suitable command," and he never fought again under the American flag. In 1788 and 1789, as "Kontradmiral Pavel Ivanovich Jones" he swerved in the navy of Catherine II, "the Great," Empress of Russia. When he died in 1792, he was buried in France, but, in 1905, his body was returned to the United States and now rests in the chapel of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

   Jones's nasty temper is frequently on display. Morison remarks on various occasions that his crews were "disobedient," "sullen," and "surly." Which was cause and which was effect is difficult to ascertain. Jones clearly was an overbearing commander, which may explain, though does not excuse, his crews' bad attitudes. On one occasion Jones had one of his officers "placed under arrest for insubordination [giving the officer] a chance to clear it up, and Jones was unwilling to admit his error." It is not prudent to compare events during war in the late 18th century to the peace and prosperity of our own time, but no reader of this book will be impressed by Jones's interpersonal skills.

   Morison makes numerous references to "prize money," the curious, but apparently then-universal, practice of rewarding captains and their crews in cash for capturing enemy ships. The fact that Jones pursued prize money with vigor may raise additional doubts about his character, but I would guess Morison believed that Jones simply followed a custom which probably motivated many successful naval captains of his time.

   Morison held the rank of admiral in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Although the degree of detail in his narrative is fascinating, I found some passages too technical, and I suspect some other lay readers may be baffled as well. (The book's charts and diagrams were, however, very helpful.) But that is a small price to pay for a wonderful biography of one of the most intriguing figures of the American Revolution.




3. A hero of my youth, this book appears to tell the full story. This is a scolarly work which reads easily. I only wish I would have read this book in my twenties. There are some wonderful life lessons in this biography. If you read it you will learn his flaws, his good and fine attributes, and some mysteries. This is first-rate biography and detective work by the author. I recommend it.



4. John Paul Jones is one of those figures on the fringes of the American pantheon. Most educated people have heard the name, but few know anything about the man beyond, perhaps, that he proclaimed, "I have not yet begun to fight!" Much to my surprise, after reading this classic biography (winner of the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Biography) by Samuel Eliot Morison, the godfather of US Naval history, Jones' exploits are both relatively unknown and relatively modest. There is, however, nothing relative or modest about Morison's biography, which is an excellently structured and wonderfully written piece of history that is a pleasure to read.
   
   How did Jones attain immortality for his role in the American Revolution while other leading military figures of the period (most notably, in this reviewer's opinion, General Nathaniel Greene) have nearly vanished from history? Jones' attachment to the United States, both as a nation and a cause, were slight, even dubious. He was born and raised in Scotland and didn't arrive in America until roughly 1775 (on the run from a murder trial, no less, which also prompted him to add the alias "Jones" to his birth name of John Paul). He never owned a home or even maintained a permanent resistance in his adopted land, and instead lived with friends or at hotels at government expense. During his forty-five years of life, Jones only spent about three of them on American soil -- and that time was divided among four brief visits. His commitment to the principles of the American Revolution are a bit suspect, although he did frequently claim to be a citizen of the world engaged in the fight for liberty. Nevertheless, when Catherine II of Imperial Russia, the ruler of the most despotic of European monarchies, dangled a much coveted flag officer position before him in 1788 Jones quickly jettisoned his liberal pretensions and jumped at the offer.
   
   If Jones lacked the deep American roots of a John Adams or the strong ideological convictions of more recent immigrants like Thomas Paine, he was at least a military hero, right? Well, sort of. Jones' major military exploits during the war can be summarized as follows: a partially successful raid on his hometown port of Whitehaven, Scotland followed by a botched kidnapping attempt and then the capture of a modest-sized British warship while cruising the Irish Sea aboard "Ranger" in 1778, and then the famous defeat of the "Serapis" off Flamborough Head in September 1779 aboard the "Bonhomme Richard." Like Doolittle's Raid on Tokyo in 1942, the military value of these actions were minimal, but the psychological impact -- both at home and with the enemy -- was enormous. The British home islands had, afterall, been inviolable since a Dutch raid in 1667. Thus, Jones stands alone as the man who brought the American Revolution home to the British Isles, albeit in a way that caused little material damage.
   
   So, through a combination of moxie, luck and the general absence of anything else to cheer about, John Paul Jones -- one-time slave trader, murderer, Imperial Russian admiral, and alleged rapist of a 12-year-old (in his defense he swore, foreshadowing a future American scandal, that he "did not have sexual relations with that [girl]," although conceded that other amorous relations did occur) -- emerged as a bona fide hero of the American Revolution. Jones died alone, indigent and forgotten in Paris in 1792. But today his remains rest in an ornate tomb (modeled on Napoleon's) at the US Naval Academy and he is widely regarded as the father of the US Navy, which has become the global juggernaut he dreamed it would be.
   
   In closing, Morison does a remarkable job in capturing not only the essence of his subject-- Jones' native intelligence, egotism, insecurity and opportunism -- but also the pulse of life on the open ocean in an eighteenth century sailing vessel. The skill, experience, fortitude, and endurance it must have taken to guide these ships in battle and in treacherous seas with a motley collection of mutiny-inclined men as a crew is difficult to fathom. That Jones did so with such obvious success is, indeed, impressive. For readers with an interest in naval affairs or simply a love of sailing, this book would be a welcome addition to your library.



5. The book is very interesting, well written by an author clearly concerned with facts not myths as he differentiates between tales surrounding the subject and actual events.
   Too bad the book is missing pages 77 thru 92. (At least my copy is, anyone else come upon a similar print? If I keep it will it turn into a collectable?)

5 comments about Leading with My Chin.

1. Jay Leno has been entertaining the world as host of The Tonight Show every weeknight for over 13 years. His monologues covering current events are consistently funny. But his rise to this pinnacle did not come overnight. In fact, all the way up to his surprise crowning (over David Letterman) as the replacement for the retiring Johnny Carson in 1992, he was still known for little more than being a respected stand-up comedy veteran who had gained an extra reputation as a solid guest host for the show when Johnny was on vacation, as well as for his funny visits to (former) good friend Letterman's Late Night program that followed Carson.
   
   This autobiography tells in hilarious detail, through a series of anecdotal episodes, how he struggled for years to make it in show business. From humble beginnings as the son of Italian/Scottish immigrants in Boston, through experiences with various shady characters on the mean streets of Boston, New York, LA and other places- agents, club owners, hippies, mobsters, strippers, prostitutes, johns, hustlers, rednecks and con men of every stripe- as well as discrimination in LA-LA land against his trademark chin-strong image- Leno shows how perseverence and hard work can succeed in the end, and how his desire to make people laugh kept him driven to make it, despite the odds and endless obstacles.
   
   There is also a bit of a stand-up comedy history interwoven in the narrative, describing the rise of comedy clubs like The Comedy Store and The Improv during the 70s and the concurrent rise (and sometimes fall) of Jay's contemporaries like Letterman, Richard Lewis, Freddie Prinze, Jimmie Walker, Andy Kaufman and others.
   
   The book winds down with the story of how he met and bonded with his wife Mavis, his ascension to the peak of the late night talk show mountain, and a touching dedication to his deceased parents. The laughs don't come quite as often, but it is a good way to finish off the tale.
   
   Whether or not all of these occasionally hard-to-believe stories are the whole truth is moot- it's all a riot, and will have you rolling.



2. I have read this book at least THREE times. I've given it to almost everyone I know. I gave it to my nephew when he was 14. One day, we saw him shaking and crying on his bed. When I asked what was wrong, he rolled over and handed me this book!!!! He couldn't even speak, he just pointed to the part he wanted me to read. It is soooo funny. Whenever my mother feels down, she just opens it up to any page and it cheers her up. If I ever met Jay, I'd tell him this is my favorite book. I made the mistake of taking it when I was waiting to see if I would be picked for jury duty. I kept laughing out loud and everyone kept looking at me. It really is funny. I don't know if his life was this funny, or if he left out most of the bad stuff, but if you have ANY sense of humor at all, GET THIS BOOK!



3. As a comedian starting the biz in 1990 myself, I enjoy reading these comedian autobiographies. It is very interesting to see how different the industry was back when some of these guys, who paved the path for the rest of us, started. I've always heard great things about Leno, that he is the hardest working guy in show business and one of the friendliest guys in the industry. He is supposedly very supportive and I know he did a free show every year at Zanies in Chicago for all unemployed people, who showed their unemployment checks to get in.
   
   The book tells some of the best stories I've heard of coming up in the business. Leno started back when there weren't comedy clubs, more playboy rooms and strip clubs. He was one of the first club regulars and no doubt his skill, along with the others at that time, helped make the comedy club scene big. (Although I've heard criticisms about his Tonight Show monologues, Jay is known in the industry to have been one of the most talented comedians ever back when he was touring regularly.)
   
   Jay recalls episodes of his life in an easy-to-read style and isn't afraid to tell stories revealing his strong respect and love for his parents. My favorite story wasn't a funny one at all; it was the one where Jay got his first car, even a passion back then, spent lots of time and money to get it all fixed up and was sitting in his high school classroom, staring out the window at impending sudden doom of rain, looking at his convertabile with the top down. He couldn't get to it. Suddenly, his parents drove up and... you'll have to read the book for the rest of the story.
   
   It's also really cool to read about the other up and comers Jay came in contact with in his early years, as well as those who didn't make it or passed before their time. Among them are Jerry Seinfeld and Robin Williams. A fun, quick read for anyone who enjoys standup comedy or wants to read about a grateful star, of which there is a great shortage of today.



4. Sorry I don't usually swear...but the message I took away from this book was a standup comedian's life is hell! And Jay Leno deserves to make millions a year for being stick-to-itive. While hitchhiking, he was picked up by mean men. He slept in a garage near a car because a manager of a comedy club claimed he provided comedians with a "condo". He worked in tacky, dark places. It was awful. I'm glad he made it big! He didn't have a super affectionate family. But Leno describes them with loving acceptance.



5. Comedy is difficult to rate because personal taste accounts for a large degree of one's perception of the material. I have always been a fan of Jay Leno and appreciate his sense of humor, hence Leading With my Chin was very enjoyable. It falls right in line with the sense of humor you anticipate from watching the Tonight Show or any of his stand-up routines; however it is not merely a series of jokes as Leno presents an account of his life growing up in Massachusetts. If you appreciate Leno's wit and have interest in discovering the life that helped developed his sense of humor, you will enjoy this book.

1 comments about RFK: Selected Speeches: Original Live Recordings of RFK's Finest Speeches.

1. You can hear the compassion and conviction in Bobby's voices. I have listened to these two tapes many times over... I've read the speeches in text ... but nothing is like listening to Bobby's voice, slightly shaken, slightly rushed, but always genuine and sincere. Bobby Kennedy is an American leader. Though his short life span did not allow him to accomplish enough, his vision and integrity examplified what spiritual growth could be. Even with all the mistakes he might have made, you could never doubt his conviction and his good will towards all mankind. Listen to his voice, not just his words ... and let his voice give you a desire to give more than what you are required ... to live for something greater than ourselves. Even in death, Bobby left the youths of every generation the challenge, a torch to carry on.

No comments about Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution.

5 comments about Jack: Straight from the Gut.

1. It's hard to separate the man from the book. The book itself is little more than an account of where he went and what he did, with the rare nanosecond of self-doubt always followed by self-vindication and congratulation. He could have had his diary published and gotten much the same results.
   
   However, what he did to GE and its employees is loathsome. The unbridled avarice and lack of concern for anything but the bottom line injured thousands and likely killed hundreds. I am astounded that people hold him up as a paragon of the modern businessman.
   
   Jack Welch, Robert Allen of AT&T, Lou Gerstner of IBM are only a handful of the hundreds of greed-driven, ego-ridden businessmen who more than exemplify Gordon Gecko's motto that "Greed is good." God have mercy on their souls.



2. Jack Welch's life has been about excellence, winning....and having fun. His autobiography, "Jack: Straight From the Gut", tells how he rose from small town roots to become CEO of General Electric, arguably the greatest corporation in America and the world at the end of the 20th Century. During his life's journey, Welch accomplished more than most ever dream of. He earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering by the age of 25. During his 20 year tenure as head of GE, company revenues soared from $27 billion in 1981 to $130 billion in 2001. GE's annual growth rate averaged 18.9 percent during this period, and its stock rose a staggering 3,098 percent.
   
   Without any formal management training, Welch worked his way up from "process development specialist" in 1960 to CEO of GE in 1981. His management secret? Welch attributes his success in life and business to living the lessons his mother drilled into him during his youth. She taught him early that he had better face the facts of any tough situation if he was to succeed: "Don't kid yourself. It is the way it is." she would tell him repeatedly. "Grace Welch taught me the value of competition, just as she taught me the pleasure of winning and the need to take defeat in stride,"... "If I have any leadership style, a way of getting the best out of people, I owe it to her," Welch writes.
   
   And getting the best out of people, himself included, is what Jack Welch did best. He was such a great manager largely because he focused on bringing out the best in his employees, making GE into a "people factory". He knew that a business cannot afford to be soft-hearted when it comes to grading and rewarding, or punishing, employees based upon their performance. He knew that the value of a business is primarily the talents, skills, and knowledge of its people. Under Jack Welch, GE changed from bureaucracy to meritocracy - focused on grading its people, rewarding the best, encouraging the middle, and getting rid of the rest. As he writes: "Performance management has been part of everyone's life from the first grade. It starts in grade school with advanced placement. Differentiation applies to football teams, cheerleading squads, and honor societies....There's differentiation for all of us in our first 20 years. Why should it stop in the workplace, where most of our waking hours are spent?"
   
   Welch characterized the traits that made him successful and that he sought in others as "The Four E's": 1. Energy of personality, 2. the Enthusiasm to communicate that energy to others, 3. the Edge to make tough decisions, and 4. the Execution to see those decisions implemented. The Four E's were connected by the "Big P: Passion". Welch's integrity to this vision of employee excellence is seen repeatedly in the book when he promotes unrecognized and unrewarded employees because he saw the four E's and big P in them, where others did not. Most of these individuals went on to become successful upper managers at GE and even CEO's of other large corporations.
   
   Whether being blasted in the media as "Neutron Jack" for laying off thousands of employees while building a state-of-the-art management training center, or executing the buyout of other companies, such as RCA with its NBC network, or implementing a system to share best practices among GE companies world-wide (a concept he termed "boundaryless"), Welch dove into each project with seemingly inexhaustible passion and zeal. He brought the same dedication to implementing each company-wide program he initiated: Globalization, Growing Services, Six Sigma, and E-business. Welch loves what he created at GE. The company definitely became his baby - and he was the heart and soul of GE during his time as CEO.
   
   As an autobiography, Jack Straight from the Gut, is a pleasure to read. Welch's A-type, straight talking personality comes through, with the help of co-author John A. Byrne, in a natural, down-to-earth writing style. Jack Welch's rise from small town Irish immigrant roots to chairman of General Electric is one of the most engaging and inspiring business tales you will ever read. Welch is a late Twentieth Century version of Andrew Carnegie: rising to fame and fortune from a humble background. His life is a confirmation of the American virtues of free enterprise system, with its focus on the values of hard work, integrity, ambition and excellence. Jack Welch is a real life Ayn Rand business hero. Like Howard Roark or John Galt, he struggled across his career, and despite numerous set-backs, he ultimately rose up to create a life of great achievements. Welch sought excellence in himself and those around him. As a result, he drove GE, its thousands of employees, and the American economy to unprecedented levels of productivity and prosperity.



3. Jack Who? People who are in college at this moment might not know the name. Does that really matter? No!
   
   This book is about Jack Welch and his amazing story up the ladder of corporate America. It teaches us about guts, hard work and true dedication. It actually reads like 'Once upon a time in America' featuring Robert de Niro.
   
   As Jack begins his journey with childhood memories, it shows how anyone can achieve great things and have an amazing career. It features hard work and some luck, but most of all the book shows there are no shortcuts. As so many books tell you how you can get that promotion as fast as possible, this story shows no 'dot-com millionaire' or 'america's next top model'. These are all longshots.
   
   If you value a career and are ready to learn from someone who's been there and done that, grab your copy. When you want to succeed in business, it'll take more than just a fancy website... it'll take a lot of guts.



4. It's very interesting, entertaining and fun to read the autobiography of Jack Welch, the CEO icon of the 80's and 90's. He's very direct, honest and detailed on his professional life while touching sometimes on his personal one. He explains how hard work, wit and a mix of luck made him the man he has become. It's full of General Electric episodes - the good and the bad - which makes it a very compelling read. I highly recommend it.



5. I've met Jack Welch in Pasadena few weeks after the book came out. Jack Welch just confirmed his keen intellect," tough" guy fame but he discussed with passion about Six Sigma, one of initiatives he championed together with globalization and e-business. This book though is not the textbook on Welch Style of Management but is a good inside in some of his thinking and approaches. This book is for those who want to listen to what he wants to say.