Native Orchids of the Eastern Caribbean (Caribbean Pocket Natural History Series)

Book Description

Completely updated every year, Frommer's Montreal & Quebec City is the only guide you'll need to discover these two gems of French Canada. You'll choose from a wide selection of accommodations, from grand hotels to charming guesthouses. Our author, a renowned food writer, has found the very best French cafes and bistros, from the classics to the cutting-edge, and his pull-no-punches reviews will help you find the perfect spot to suit your taste and budget. Frommer's Montreal & Quebec City also includes up-to-the-minute coverage of shopping and nightlife; detailed walking tours; accurate neighborhood maps; and side trips to the scenic Laurentian mountains.

Download Description

You'll never fall into the tourist traps when you travel with Frommer's. It's like having a friend show you around, taking you to the places locals like best. Our expert authors have already gone everywhere you might go--they've done the legwork for you, and they're not afraid to tell it like it is, saving you time and money. No other series offers candid reviews of so many hotels and restaurants in all price ranges. Every Frommer's Travel Guide is up-to-date, with exact prices for everything, dozens of color maps, and exciting coverage of sports, shopping, and nightlife. You'd be lost without us!

Completely updated every year (unlike most of the competition), Frommer's Montreal & Quebec City is the only guide you'll need to discover these two gems of French Canada. You'll choose from a wide selection of accommodations, from grand hotels to charming guesthouses. Our author, a renowned food writer, has found the very best French cafes and bistros, from the classics to the cutting-edge, and his pull-no-punches reviews will help you find the perfect spot to suit your taste and budget. Frommer's Montreal & Quebec City also includes up-to-the-minute coverage of shopping and nightlife; detailed walking tours; accurate neighborhood maps; and side trips to the scenic Laurentian mountains.

Customer Reviews:

Not a help to me........2007-06-30

I had this book along with the Lonely Planet guide to Montreal. I found that the Lonely Planet guide to Montreal had better information on Quebec City than this book did.

It may be that this book is just not designed for people like me, but I just did not find this book useful.

Mis- information.......2005-09-24

We were disappointed in the inaccuracies in the information regarding Quebec City. The listing for the Auberge St. Antoine indicated two levels of parking (valet and self park); in fact the hotel only offers valet parking and for considerably less than listed in the book. The hours for at least one of the tourist attractions were not correct. The biking information does not include the nice trail in Levis accross the St. Lawrence and accessible by ferry (no car required); instead, the book sends you to an island that requires a car and does not have traffic free paths.

Traveling to Quebec? Don't forget your guide........2001-07-29

As many Frommer's traveling books, this one will help the reader to get along the city and take advantage of his travel. Having this book handy in your backpack will make your walking tours, dinning and staying a truly unforgettable experience. It is amazing how it describes to the detail many places that no other way you would consider visiting. Even though Frommer's is a guarantee istelf, consider buying a better city map to get along, since the one in the book is a little confusing and incomplete.

A great help in enjoying two wonderful Canadian cities.......2000-08-23

In preparing for a trip to Montreal and Quebec, I was pleasantly surprised to find a book that covered both cities. It was easy to read and find specific information. The different maps were very helpful while walking around both cities -- although I used actual road maps for driving directions. Keeping in mind that having two cities means less information about each -- I found the information was the right amount to help us make important decisions or ask the right questions when we made reservations. It certainly will help you find the "must see" spots as it provides recommendations for a one-, two- or three-day visit. I often read the short description of a site aloud before we visited. We changed our hotel reservations based on the book. As a result, we saved $10 per night (which more than paid for the book) and got free meals for the children -- a huge savings over three days. Bottomline -- a good, easy-to-use book with valuable information -- especially for first or second time visitors.

Frommer's Montreal & Quebec City.......2000-05-08

Good overall book. It is very accurate and a good starting point for a new traveller to the city. The only problem w/ a book like Frommer's is that 10,000 other people have the same book. You tend to see the same kind of crowd if you follow thier recommendations as the people who buy the book. Nevertheless, it is a very good informative guide for what it is and should be bought by any 1st time visiter to Montreal and Quebec.

Average customer rating:
Many Lives, Many Stories; A Biography Reader, Volume II, Supplement
Kathryn A. Abbott , and Patricia H. Minter
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Biographies & Memoirs | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0130989320

Average customer rating:
Many Lives, Many Stories; A Biography Reader, Volume II, Supplement
Kathryn A. Abbott
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OI5MM4

Book Description

The Los Angeles Home Book provides convenience by compiling the area's top home enhancement service providers with easy-to-read listings by trade. The Los Angeles Home Book also dissuades reader's fears of unreliable service providers by only selecting the finest professionals available. The Los Angeles Home Book maintains its credible reputation by choosing only those professionals who rank among the top ten of their respective fields in the Los Angeles and surrounding area. Most of the professionals were chosen based upon outstanding work that they have been awarded for in their fields. In more than 40 sections, home industry professionals are showcased to inspire the consumer. These professionals include:

• Custom Home Builders
• Interior Designers
• Architects
• Kitchen & Bath Designers
• Landscape Architects and Contractors
• Swimming Pool & Spa Designers

Customer Reviews:

What a Gem.......2001-06-02

This terrific book was visually and editorially superior to any other resource. I loved the unique shape and well-thought out tabs. The beautiful photography and smart text were extremely helpful as I made decisions about my new home. As a matter of fact, I am working with a designer that I found in the book. I would highly recommend this resource.

Los Angeles Home Book.......2001-06-02

I found this terrific book visually and editorially superior to anything other book out there. It was educational, high-quality and very easy to utilize. The unique shape and tabs allowed me to go right to the category I was searching for and I enjoyed the wonderful photography. As a matter of fact, I am working with a designer that I found in this book. I would highly recommend this resource.

Don't Buy This Book.......2001-05-11

This book is NOT comprehensive. It's like one of those hardcover books you find in hotels: it recommends only those companies that have bought advertising in the book. For example, there are more than 2 landscape architects in Los Angeles, but you wouldn't know it from this book. It has practically nothing for Orange County despite the subtitle. I'm returning the book (thanks,... for your return policy).

Book Description

The famed "gray ghost" of the dog world, the Weimaraner is a robust, proud hunting dog of German origin. As a family dog, the Weimaraner is protective and affectionate; as a sporting dog, he is multi-talented and highly trainable; and as a show dog, he is aristocratic and eye-catching. The "gray ghost" has fascinated dog lovers for centuries and continues to be a distinctive companion animal, revered for both his friendly disposition and his natural aptitude as a watchdog. This book provides the much-needed factual information about Weimaraners and their ancestry, character and standard, as well as puppy selection, feeding, training and preventative health care. The new owner will welcome advice about puppy-proofing the home, preparing for the pup's arrival, housebreaking and preventing puppy problems.

In addition to an authoritative, comprehensive text written by an experienced breeder and fancier, this book presents over 135 photographs in full color, which prove to be as informative as they are attractive. Helpful hints and important information are highlighted to provide easy access to everything the reader needs to know about life with a Weim from puppyhood to the senior years.

Book Description

Imagine Barbie as a nightclub singer, race-car driver, or presidential candidate. Picture her as a graceful ballet dancer on pointe, as a leather-clad biker babe on the back of a Harley, or as the great film icons-Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, Judy Garland as Dorothy, Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra. In Barbie Live she is all of this and more.

Stepping into these delicious roles, Barbie acts out her fabulous dreams and aspirations, adopting a new persona on every page and having the time of her life. In spectacular designer clothing-by Bob Mackie, Vera Wang, Christian Dior, and others-she attends exciting Hollywood events and New York photo shoots. Around the world at such hot spots as St. Bart's, Paris, Malibu, and Martha's Vineyard, Barbie takes us on her quest for fame-as a rock star, as an artist, and ultimately as a movie star. But is fame and fortune all that Barbie dreamed it would be?

Nancy Ellison's gorgeous full-color photography taken expressly for this book is filled with vitality and emotion. Lisa Birnbach provides the voice of Barbie in her fun, playful text. Barbie Live is the ultimate Barbie collector's item for children and adults alike.

Average customer rating:

BARBIE-FASHION ICON

The book that launched a million Barbie collections.

Billy Boy puts down facts and visuals, all very good!

A tribute from one of Barbie's most ardent admirers.

Barbie: Her Life & Times
BillyBoy
Manufacturer: Three Rivers Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Dolls | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
History | Fashion | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Culture | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0517590638
Release Date: 1992-10-13

Book Description

BillyBoy, owner of the world's largest Barbie doll collection (20,000 dolls and counting), charts the history of this protean American dream girl in a good-humored and affectionate retrospective. Illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

BARBIE-FASHION ICON.......2001-08-21

Having met the author in Paris in the early nineties I can sincerely say that Billy Boy knows his subject well.He is an expert not only on Barbie but on Bleuette and various other fashion dolls.This book gives a fascinating account of Barbie's itineraries as fashion icon and pop phenomenon.It contains some very interesting photos of Barbie's best outfits from the late 50ies to the late 80ies as well as a great gallery of Barbie portraits dressed by every well known designer.Also,lots of information on Barbie family members.A must.

The book that launched a million Barbie collections........1999-10-23

Although more than a decade old, this book continues to fascinate me. Mattel owes a debt of gratitute to Billy Boy*, whose landmark coffee-table book inspired many, including myself, to start their own Barbie collections. I own three copies of this book, whose narrative is as fascinating as its photos (Twiggy and Malibu Christie are two of my favorite Barbie friends, and are given prominence in this book). The photography also captures the "fun" of Barbie, and are not merely dolls posed in a wire stand. "Great" says it all ...

Billy Boy puts down facts and visuals, all very good!.......1999-03-31

This book about one of the world's greatest doll really emphisises the fasion of Barbie. The photos are absolutly stunning; with shots of the original doll to the French, Italian, Brittish, and American designers to Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Chanel, etc! He covers all the fasions of the time periods, which starts from when she was first debuted to middle 80s, and especially mentions the Haute Couture. The history of Barbie is very good; I think out of all the books I read about her history, this one has the most, and also the most facts about things that you never really knew. It shows alot of things that weren't coresponded to Barbie and her fasions mainly; It has the Bild Lilli and Twiggy dolls (a brief page or two), old comics or books on her, and on a lot of pages, you will see someone who was famous back then, who he thinks the doll had some connection to (i.e., Brigette Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor, Kim Novak, Marilyn Monroe, Bettina, etc.). It covers the Barbies and accsessories, like Flirting Miss Barbie, the twist and turn era, Color Magic Barbie, Talking Barbie, and many of Barbie's pets. A very good book if you are intrested in knowing what actually made barbie famous and knowing her history and fasions.

A tribute from one of Barbie's most ardent admirers........1999-01-19

Most fans know Billy Boy as one of the "original" fashion designers who lent their skills to Barbie couture. Billy Boy was perhaps the most ardent admirer of the 11-1/2" fashion doll, and while his association with Mattel lasted for only two doll releases (1985's Le Nouveau Theatre de la Mode and her followup Feelin' Groovy), his tribute to the Fashion Queen Extraordinaire lives on in this book. If you are looking for a guide to identifying dolls or viewing a complete history of the most popular toy in the world, you'll be disappointed, but if you want a true tribute from one of her biggest fans loaded with pictures of one-of-a-kind dolls from the world's most well-known designers, then this is the book for you.

Average customer rating:

Barbie Her Life and Times
Billyboy
Manufacturer: Crown Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PRS9OW

Average customer rating:

Barbie: Her Life & Times Sears

Manufacturer: Crescent
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0517671751
Release Date: 1988-06-26

Average customer rating:

Barbie: Her Life and Times
Billyboy
Manufacturer: COLUMBUS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O5RY7S

Barbie: Her Life and Times: And the New Theater of Fashion By BillyBoy

Average customer rating:

Barbie: Her Life and Times: And the New Theater of Fashion By BillyBoy
BillyBoy
Manufacturer: Crown Trade Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000V1DBXQ

Average customer rating:

Barbie Her Life & Times Columb
Crown
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0517567903
Release Date: 1989-01-01

Average customer rating:

Barbie Her Life & Times Edita
Crown
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0517570505
Release Date: 1989-01-01

Average customer rating:

Barbie Her Life & Times P Grap
Crown
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0517570742
Release Date: 1989-01-01

Average customer rating:

Barbie Her Life & Times P Pop
Crown
Manufacturer: Crown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0517570513
Release Date: 1989-01-01

Average customer rating:

Fabulous book for houseplants!

The Indoor Plant Bible: The Essential Guide to Choosing and Caring for Indoor, Greenhouse, and Patio Plants
Dorte Nissen
Manufacturer: Barron''s Educational Series
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Spiral-bound

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Greenhouses | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
House Plants | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Reference | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual: Essential Gardening Know-How for Keeping (Not Killing) More Than 160 Indoor Plants

Indoor plants

Tempting Tropicals: 175 Irresistible Indoor Plants

ASIN: 0764157698

Book Description

Indoor gardeners who open this comprehensive guide will discover imaginative ways to transform any home's interior into a bountiful Eden. The author shares her foolproof indoor gardening secrets and offers tips on providing optimum growing conditions for a wide variety of plants. She opens with advice on what to look for when choosing and buying indoor plants. Readers are then instructed on how to determine the best location for each plant within the house, with attention to such factors as light and temperature. They will find extensive information on pots and potting, pruning, fertilizing, plant propagation, and feeding and watering requirements for each variety. Profiled in these pages is a wide range of house plants, including colorful geraniums and cineraria, ambient ferns and palms, and the more exotic orchids and cacti. The Indoor Plant Bible is beautifully illustrated with more than 400 color photos.

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous book for houseplants!.......2007-08-11

This has been a incredible reference for all my houseplants, including a few that I've owned for years without knowing what they were! The wire binding is a good touch, and the cross-referencing is well done. Quality pictures, clear directions for plant care. All around my favorite houseplant book.

Book Description

A unique figure in medieval Jewish history, Isaac ibn Khalfun was a professional poet during the Golden Age of Hebrew poetry in Spain. Like the Arabic poets of his day, Ibn Khalfun wandered throughout the Mediterranean east in search of wealthy patrons, writing panegyrics for those who complied, and witty, often pointed requests for payment from those who did not. His poems, which were not rediscovered until the twentieth century, are as fascinating for their literary quality as for the light which they shed on medieval Jewish society in the lands of Islam.

Book Description

This volume of stunning photography discloses the spirituality and ethos of a people and vast geography of earth in a way that cannot be communicated through an academic treatise or lecture. The photos of this book include the nooks and horizons of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Silk Route, and China-the people, landscapes, and architecture of an expansive and often misunderstood region.

Customer Reviews:

Breathtaking Images Open A New World.......2004-06-21

The photography of Peter Sanders takes us into a new world of possibilties and challenges us to humanise the "other". A man who straddles East and West, Sanders captures the spiritual depth and universal message of the lived Muslim experience in a way few others have. Each photograph is the starting point for a narrative that ought to be written by those who view them. A blessed and marvelous work!

A must-have - unique and rare view into the Islamic world.......2004-06-02

I had the pleasure of stumbling across this book recently and purchasing it through Amazon; it contains striking pictures of Islamic people & places captured by Peter Sanders, a famous English photographer. The associated descriptions and quotes from Islamic sources for each impeccably selected photograph greatly enhance the high production quality.

In this day and age where the electronic media is replete with images of death, destruction, and violence this book serves as a breath of fresh air, evoking the simplicity and beauty inherent in being near to one's Creator.

Mr. Sanders has a great gift to see the world through a beautiful lens, and to be able to share it with Muslims and non-Muslims alike. He has a well-crafted web site (which I'll fail to mention, respecting Amazon's review guidelines) that contains a mini-photo gallery - as well as info on his forthcoming books in the series which I hope to see available here soon, inshAllah (God willing).

If you're still debating whether to buy this book or not, stop and just click the button; trust me, you won't regret this purchase one bit! :)

If you want to know ..........2003-11-21

This book came as a gift from a dear friend who happens to be a Christian from Britain. His note read "I thought you might appreciate this lovely book." Lovely it is indeed. In many ways. A gift that is a challenge to repay.

Great photographers' through their works get us to see and comprehend the world surrounding us. A few among great photgraphers are able to translate to us through their images what we miss or are not able to see inside the people arround us.

Peter Sanders' work gives us glimpses of many insides. It is a look at many parts of the world of Islam. But as you go through the images and the words you see straight into the crevaces of Sanders' yearning. And from his inside you can see much of what it is to be a muslim. A word that means something along the line: one who is willfully submiting in peace, to the Peace.

In these days of many horrors this work is a gift for those who want to know. A gift for searching hearts.

Amazing Pictorial of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.......2002-10-15

Peter Sanders, one of the first non-Muslim's (Before he entered Islam) to take photo's of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, has put together an excellent pictorial journey through specific countries and places.

While the cover claims, "An Odyssey through the Muslim World", I would choose to call this collection a glimpse into the heart of Peter Sanders.

Mr. Sanders went through his extensive collection of photographs taken from throughout the World, and picked ones that he felt had something to say. He placed a quick commentary and some words of wisdom together with each photograph, and created this book.

Some of the pictures are breathtaking, and some are not so breathtaking. Some of the pictures become breathtaking after reading the commentary; Several pictures made me scratch my head in puzzlement. But after reading Mr. Sander's explanation, I found a new appreciation for the pictures.

I think the book can pass off as an interesting coffee table book. Some people though, will find the photo's and the commentary exceptionaly interesting, and find the book much more then an idle conversation passer.

Anybody interested in exceptional photography (In my limited appreciation of photography) from North Africa and the Middle East will find this book worth the cost.

Peter Sanders is an acquantance of Shaikh Hamza Yusuf; for some people, that might be enough reference to purchase the book.

Book Description

Distinguished journalist John Sack spent twelve years fearlessly shadowing and befriending the most powerful crime lord in the Chinese Mafia. Now he tells the true, unfictionalized story of mob legend Johnny Kon–“the Dragonhead.”

The Chinese Mafia has always been a mystery to both law enforcement and the media–part of an unapproachable and unfathomable conglomeration of secret societies operating worldwide. To this day, though, police and prosecutors insist that Johnny Kon’s own secret organization–the Big Circle–is public enemy number one. Now, in a triumph of literary journalism, John Sack introduces us to this secret world and its top criminal mastermind, reporting from the homes, hotel rooms, crime scenes, and jail cells of Johnny and his gang, all reported with their full cooperation. It is a journalistic coup.

From Kon’s escape from poverty in China and his golden years as a smuggler during the Vietnam War, The Dragonhead traces Johnny’s rapid rise to power and chronicles the growth of his heroin cartel, as it smuggles a billion dollars worth of drugs into the United States. With astonishing savvy, Sack reveals the humanity behind the previously impenetrable wall of the Chinese and American underworlds, rife with shocking crimes, bound by unforgiving codes of honor. At once a loyal husband and father and a ruthless crime boss, Johnny Kon is by turns fascinating and repellent, but ultimately unforgettable.

Customer Reviews:

Um, no........2004-07-30

Sack here bit off way more than he could chew. He had all the resources needed for writing a great story except talent. "Bland" comes to mind; so does "contrived." Moreover he shows neither sensitivity nor genuine understanding of Asian culture and the traditions of the hei sh'e hui (Chinese triads).

I regret buying this book. The true story of Jonny Kon would have been much mroe brilliantly handled by a veteran writer. Sack's interview and contacts with Kon turned out to be a pathetic waste of an incredible opportunity.

FlawedýBut Not Fataly.......2002-07-04

First of all, I strongly encourage anyone to read an excerpt of this book before purchasing it. Sack (for better or worse) is one of the pioneers of "literary journalism", which means his writing style is more akin to storytelling, with recreated conversations and whatnot, than many people will be used to. This is especially disconcerting because he explains his methodology in assembling this biography of Chinese gang lord Johnny Kon at the end of the book, instead of the beginning. If this doesn't put you off, it's still hard to ignore some of his other stylistic flaws. Foremost of these is an excess of detail-throughout the book the reader is kept up to date on every dish consumed during gang meetings, the cost, style, and provenance of every item of footwear Johnny Kon is wearing, and the precise decor of every hotel lobby and room he passes through. These details, marginally interesting the first or second appearance, rapidly grow annoying and intrusive, ballooning what might have been a 250 page book to it's final 400 pages. Another stylistic flaw is the lack of dates throughout. Once the early part of Johnny's life is past, and the Vietnam War is over, it's very hard to get a sense of what time frame is under discussion.

The life and times of Johnny Kon is certainly an interesting tale, and not one many people could have even attempted, much less completed. From a life of poverty in Maoist China, Kon escaped to Shanghai and then Hong Kong, building a semi-legitimate fur empire. Much of his fur fortune was linked to the huge US Army presence in Southeast Asia during the 1960s, and the sections which detail his interactions with the US Army are very compelling. However, in this period also lies Kon's alleged motive for becoming the leading importer of heroin to the US. I say alleged because the basis for the book is Sack's relationship with Kon and interviews with him conducted in jail, and so it's hard not to view Kon's "motive" as an after-the-fact self-justification. In any event, whether one believes it or not, the event that pushed Kon into drug dealing was the death of two of his children in the chaos of the Khmer Rouge coup in Cambodia. He lays the ultimate blame for this at the feet of the US and its meddling in other countries and spread of indiscriminate death and destruction. The book posits the dubious notion that heroin was "popularized" by all the US soldiers who became addicted during their tour of duty, and thus created the demand for Kon's operations ten years later.

So, Kon builds himself a gang comprised of a tough circle of ex-Red Guard soldiers and embarks on an effective smuggling operation that massive quantities of heroin into the US in the '80s. While the logistics of his operation make for interesting reader, the dynamics of the gang do not. There are so many members of his gang, it gets hard to keep them, their nicknames, and their allegiances straight (here, a diagram or simple list at the beginning of the book would have been a useful editorial addiction). Similarly, the Byzantine feuds of the various gangs and how they all relate to each other gets a bit tedious and hard to follow. Ultimately, Kon's downfall was predictably the result of some rather amazing bungling, silly escalations of petty rivalries over "respect" between gang members, and that ultimate foe of the gangster-betrayal.

One of the more disturbing aspects of the book are the descriptions of how the US government strong-armed a number of countries into extraditing members of Kon's family who had nothing to do with his heroin operations. They were used as leverage against Kon, forcing him to plead guilty-and while there's no denying he was a very bad drug lord, those kinds of tactics are bad precedent setters. Ultimately, the book is moderately interesting, but far too long. It suffers greatly from its more or less detached recounting of Kon's life story-especially odious are Kon's attempts to be a good Bhuddist amidst it all. The same kind of hypocrisy that infested the Irish-Catholic gangs and Italian mafia. Ultimately, unless one is really really interested in the heroin trade, or in Chinese gangs, I'd probably advise skipping this overladen book.

Not as in-depth as I would've liked........2002-06-11

June 10, 2002

For good or ill, the author of `The Dragonhead', John
Sack, is the book's real `star'. He spends an inordinate
number of words wowing or attempting to wow his readers.
His style is a marriage of Tom Wolfe's observational
acuity and novelist James Ellroy's cynical descriptive
overkill.

As may be expected, Sack's writing occasionally gets
away from him, particularly during his frequent head-
hopping. Once inside the brains of a subject, Sack
doesn't illustrate so much as wallow. I'd guess he's
fairly on the money, but this impression may stem from
the fact that the book's main character, Johnny Kon,
has a noggin that's been turned around more times than
the wind-up propeller on a child's toy airplane ("Crank
`em up and watch `em go!").

I'm not a hundred percent on the reportage here, but
I'm more than impressed enough to believe that if not
everything in "The Dragonhead' is true, it could easily
well be. Still, it's an imperfect and not particularly
well-detailed book, and Sack and occasionally tiring
writer.

A bad guy's story.......2002-05-15

This book is about the life of a Chinese gangster leader Johnny Kon and his associates. John Jack spent 12 years talking with Kon and his criminals before he wrote this book. The operation of Johnny Kon's drug business is located in Hong Kong, my hometown. I like this book because it depicts the real life of a gangster leader and shows how he gets away from the authorities and how he runs his "business." The book unfolds like an action movie. For instance, in one scene Kon is attempting to smuggle a large amount of heroin around his waist at the airport. When he is about to be body-searched, he drops his expensive Minolta. The camera smashes on the ground, distracting all the security guards. They apologized as Kon walks away with the drugs. It is pure drama. I enjoy this book, however, I hope that readers who read this book do not have an impression that Hong Kong is highest crime cities in the world.

What a disappointment!.......2002-01-13

Before buying this book, read the first few pages. If you like the style, then you'll like the book. If not, you'll find that this is a great story that was ruined by an annoying style.

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