Cactuses of Big Bend National Park (Corrie Herring Hooks Series)

Book Description

When the cactuses bloom in Big Bend National Park, their vivid pinks and purples, reds and yellows bring an unforgettable beauty to the rugged Chihuahuan Desert landscape. In fact, many people visit the park just see the cactus blossoms and the wildflowers. If you're one of them, this book will increase your enjoyment by helping you identify the wonders at your feet. And if you've never been to Big Bend when the cactuses are blooming, you'll discover here what you've been missing.

Douglas B. Evans describes twelve kinds of cactus-living rock, topflower, stout-spined, hedgehog, pineapple, button, barrel, fishhook, nipple, chollas and pricklypears, and Texas nipple-and their individual species known to occur in the park. Color photographs taken by Doris Evans and Ro Wauer accompany the species descriptions. As you hike or drive through the park, you can identify most of the cactuses you see simply by leafing through these splendid pictures and then checking the descriptions, which indicate the cactuses' characteristic features and habitat.

To make the book even more useful, Evans also briefly defines the parts of a cactus, explains how scientific names work, and offers a quick introduction to the geography and ecology of Big Bend National Park and the Chihuahuan Desert. With this information, you'll enjoy not only seeing the cactuses of the Big Bend but also being able to tell one from another and knowing just what makes each one special.

Customer Reviews:

Clear and w/ good photos.......2003-08-19

Clean clear presentation, photos well done.

From a frequent Big Bend NP visitor.......2001-03-10

This book is just what the non-botanist needs to identify and enjoy the "cactuses" of Big Bend NP. It is concise, accurate, and beautifully illustrated with photos taken within the park in natural habitats,...not in artificial greenhouse settings as with other cactus books. And, yes, in today's American English, cactuses is entirely proper.

the word is cacti?.......2000-06-25

Cactuses is now generally accepted as correct. Cacti is the older version of the plural form for cactus. Definitely a modern book.

The plural is "cacti".......2000-05-27

How can I trust the advice of someone who doesn't even know the correct name for his subject. Forget it.

Book Description

Home to magnificent art, exotic palaces, sparkling canals and steeped in mystery, join Rick Steves on a trip to Venice. Uncover the many layers of history and art entwined in St. Mark's Basilica, find the city's best pensione, take in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, travel like a local on a private water taxi, and more. With Rick Steves' Venice 2004, travelers can delve into Italian culture, make friends with the locals, and experience everything Venice has to offer — economically and hassle-free. Completely revised and updated, Rick Steves' Venice 2004 includes selective coverage of both famous and lesser-known sights; friendly places to eat and sleep; suggested day plans; color maps, walking tours and trip itineraries; clear instructions for smooth travel anywhere by car, train, or foot; and Rick's newest "back door" discoveries. America's number one authority on travel to Europe, Rick's time-tested recommendations for safe and enjoyable travel in Europe have been used by millions of Americans in search of their own unique European travel experience.

Customer Reviews:

You're going to LOVE ITALY! .......2004-09-24

I've been to Italy several times.....Rome, Venice, Florence, Bologna, Milan, some of the hill towns, etc. Here are my reviews of the best guides to meet you r exact needs.....I hope these are helpful and that you have a great visit! I always gauge the quality of my visit by how much I remember a year later......this review is designed to help you get the guide that will be sure YOU remember your trip many years into the future. Travel Safe and enjoy yourself to the max!

Rick Steves' books are not recommended. They may be an interesting read but their helpfulness is very poor. They don't do well on updates, transportation details, or anything but the first-time-tourist routine and even that is somewhat superficial on anything but the mega-major sites.

Frommer's
These are time tested guides that pride themselves on being updated annually. Although I think the guides below provide information that is in more depth or more concise (depending on what the guide is known for), if your main concern is that the guide has very little old or outdated information, then this would be a good guide for you.

Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet has City and Out To Eat Guides. They are all about the experience so they focus on doing, being, getting there, and this means they have the best detailed information, including both inexpensive and really spectacular restaurants and hotels, out-of-the-way places, weird things to see and do, the list is endless.

Blue Guides
Without doubt, the best of the walks guides.... the Blue Guide has been around since 1918 and has extremely well designed walks with lots of unique little side stops to hit on just about any interest you have. If you want to pick up the feel of the city, this is the best book to do that for you. This is one that you end up packing on your 10th trip, by which time it is well worn.

MapGuide
MapGuide is very easy to use and has the best location information for hotels, tourist attractions, museums, churches etc. that they manage to keep fairly up to date. It's great for teaching you how to use the public transportation system. The text sections are quick overviews, not reviews, but the strong suite here is brevity, not depth. I strongly recommend this for your first few times learning your way around the classic tourist sites and experiences. MapGuide is excellent as long as you are staying pretty much in the center of the city.

Time Out
The Time Out guides are very good. Easy reading, short reviews of restaurants, hotels, and other sites, with good public transport maps that go beyond the city centre. Many people who buy more than one guidebook end up liking this one best!

Let's Go
Let's Go is a great guide series that specializes in the niche interest details that turn a trip into a great and memorable experience. Started by and for college students, these guides are famous for the details provided by people who used the book the previous year. They continue to focus on providing a great experience inexpensively. If you want to know about the top restaurants, this is not for you (use Fodor's or Michelin). Let's Go does have a bewildering array of different guides though. Here's which is what:
Budget Guide is the main guide with incredibly detailed information and reviews on everything you can think of.
City Guide is just as intense but restricted to the single city.
PocketGuide is even smaller and features condensed information
MapGuide's are very good maps with public transportation and some other information (like museum hours, etc.)

Michelin
Famous for their quality reviews, the Red Michelin Guides are for hotels & Restaurants, the Green Michelin Guides are for main tourist destinations. However, the English language Green guide is the one most people use and it has now been supplemented with hotel and restaurant information. These are the serious review guides as the famous Michelin ratings are issued via these books.

Fodor's
Fodor's is the best selling guide among Americans. They have a bewildering array of different guides. Here's which is what:
The Gold Guide is the main book with good reviews of everything and lots of tours, walks, and just about everything else you could think of. It's not called the Gold guide for nothing though....it assumes you have money and are willing to spend it.
SeeIt! is a concise guide that extracts the most popular items from the Gold Guide
PocketGuide is designed for a quick first visit
UpCLOSE for independent travel that is cheap and well thought out
CityPack is a plastic pocket map with some guide information
Exploring is for cultural interests, lots of photos and designed to supplement the Gold guide

Great guide........2004-05-27

I just returned from Venice and depended upon this guide for general information, sightseeing guidance, and choosing my hotel. (I also used J.G. Links' Venice for Pleasure for sightseeing advice. Don't go to Venice without it!) I found Steves' book excellent. I stayed at a recommended hotel (Hotel Campiello) and it was just as described. The walks and museum tours are uniformly excellent. Only once did I have trouble and that is because a street named in the Rialto to Frari Church walk is either wrong or the sign identifying it is no longer there. However, the map in the book makes the route clear so that problem was cleared up in about thirty seconds. The writing is breezy, a bit irreverent, and easy to follow. The supplementary information is great. I used Steves' book on Amsterdam on a trip last year and was similarly impressed with that guide. He has me hooked as a steady customer and I will purchase his Rome book before my trip next year.

An invaluable guide to Venice.......2004-05-25

Rest easy and enjoy yourself ,weary traveller,here is your guide to Venice. Rick Steeve's guidebooks are simply the best available to assist the traveller in Europe, and this guide to Venice is no exception.I should know, I have travelled countless times to Europe on business and have used almost every guidebook printed.With this book you will find a charming,friendly hotel that will be clean ,attractive,and centrally located. Most importantly it will not be expensive(by Venice standards.)The guide to restaurants is right on and you will feel that you have become an "insider" to the best of Venice.Museum times and other necessary information is presented clearly and is up to date.
Everyone wants to find the "hidden Venice",where people are friendly and you will meet the Venetians. Everyone wants informed,even opinionated advice on where to go and what to do.Most people want to save money(the dollar is low, the Euro is high right now).This guide provides these things and more.His advice on packing light will save you time at the airport(a real hassle these days). I travelled with only one small carry-on and it made a world of difference in ease of travel.
I was prompted to write after reading the previous review who gave this book only one star!Well,no other guide book that I know of actually re-assures the traveller that you do not have to stay at the Gritti Palace,eat at Harry's bar, and bring lots of clothes to have a good time in Venice. By staying in charming Pensiones, eating where the Venetians eat and travelling light you will actually enjoy yourself much more.This is why these guides are beloved by people of all ages,especially older people(or middle aged like myself) who do not want to backpack and hostel(yes, I want my private bathroom),but who finds the advice in these guides liberating.
A must for the first time visitor to Venice, this guidebook is an invaluable,even revolutionary approach to travel for even the most seasoned traveller.

Awful!.......2004-03-03

I bought this book because I had seen (and suffered through) Steves' amateurish and infantile videos on visiting Italy. I was curious to see if his books were as bad as his videos. The verdict: they are equally as bad. The problem is, Steves isn't an innate or talented traveler, though he apparently has performed a miracle and makes money fooling others that he *is* a great traveler. The Arthur Frommer Guides are much better than these Steves offerings.

Problems abound. Steves concentrates most of his time on typical tourist destinations in Venice. Of course it's interesting to read about St. Mark's Sqaure, but does he provide information on how to catch a taxi or streetcar? Of course not. What about hotels? His advice is universally bad. He hasn't a clue on how to locate a low-cost Pensions and opts for dingy tents on the outskirts of town. His suggestions on eating are obtuse. Snacking in Italy is a cinch: go to a bakery in the morning, buy your rolls, cheese and coffee and be on your way. His suggestions of hanging around railway stations and saving a few pennies are insulting and poorly rendered.

Similarly wretched is his advice on getting about the city and Venice's environs. Forget the gondola, Venice is a walking city, not that Steves bothers to tell you this. Another weakness is Steves' opinions of the city, which basically consists of 10 pages advising you to frequent the cheapest and most touris-ridden spots. If that's all there is to see and do in Venice, then we're in trouble. Truly, this is a terrible book written in plodding, patronizing style, guaranteed to set your nerves a-jangle. Venice is a sublime place: the people, the food, the sights and sounds are fantastic! This book will steer you to the worst tourist traps. Avoid it.

Customer Reviews:

The Roman Inquirer.......2000-06-08

This book imitates the typical newspaper format. An index indicates the various events that were pivotal for the development of Roman culture and government.

The events portion is set up chronologically, but the other sections cover societal topics such as sports, political life, women's pages, food pages.

The graphics are colorful and include illustrations, charts, and maps in imitation of modern newspapers and magazines.

It was interesting to us and it is our belief that the similarity to modern print media will intrigue students.

Wanted to like it more than I did.......2000-04-21

This thin book is certainly very attractive with its many graphics and easygoing style and probably in the end does stimulate interest for younger readers to try to find out more. It would have been nice however if some controversial conclusions about Roman history were not presented as fact. For example, it is not universally agreed that Romulus was an historical person or that 753 BC is the actual date of the founding of the city. While I fully realize that the conceit of the book is that it is supposed to be a view of the world as the Romans themselves saw it, that does not excuse giving wrong information. Anyway, the Romans certainly did not use the term BC which is freely used here. And these are not the only cases. It would have been nice if the Colosseum were also given its proper name for example, the Flavian Amphitheater. It is surprising to see Diocletian criticized for dividing the empire as this is not universally considered harmful by historians. And so on. I'm not entirely sure I agree with the ordering of the book either. Initially it goes in chronological order and then this is totally abandoned as one skips ahead to Constantine, then back to Vespasian, forward to Hadrian, etc. Overall, the book is worth buying, but an annotated guide to go with it would be quite helpful.

Average customer rating:
The Little Book of Cat Tricks
Sandra Toney
Manufacturer: Howell Book House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cats | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Teaching Your Cat Simple Tricks (Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin, a-272)

Cat Training in 10 Minutes

How to Get Your Cat to Do What You Want

Getting Started: Clicker Training for Cats (Karen Pryor Clicker Books)

How to Toilet-Train Your Cat: 21 Days to a Litter-Free Home

ASIN: 0764566156

Book Description

So You Think Your Cat Isnt Trainable?

Imagine your cat climbing a ladder on command, ringing a bell to let you know its time to go outside, or leaping from the ground onto your shoulder. Through clear text and entertaining illustrations, The Little Book of Cat Tricks provides hours of fun for you and your cat. The two of you will learn

Hide & Seek
Pucker Up
Shake on It
Take a Stand
Plus 16 other fun tricks!

The Little Book of Cat Tricks is a must-have for every cat lover.

Book Description

After more than eight years of intensive research this is the first and only encyclopaedia of glass marks from the 17th to the 20th century and its at last available

Customer Reviews:

great book & great ideas.......2003-03-22

this is a really great book, it explains how to make some unbelievable cakes, the designs can be adapted for women & kids also. There is one cake in there, that is a swimming pool with all these women around it with no tops on! it is really funny, I've made it several times, sometimes even the girls have their shirts on! really funny book with great ideas! def. a good buy for your library

Average customer rating:

This is a great book...Purchased for my son and his grandfather.
A good read!

My Pop Pop and Me
Irene Smalls
Manufacturer: Little, Brown Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Picture Books | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0316734225

Customer Reviews:

This is a great book...Purchased for my son and his grandfather........2007-03-09

This is a wonderful book that shows the relationship between a grandfather and his grandson. I love the subject of having the relationship take place in the kitchen.
As the story progress the kitchen gets messy, and it shows child washing his hands cooking and cleaning... The pictures jump off the page. They show the little boy doing boyish things in the story...Beautiful book very warm and I love the ending.

A good read!.......2006-05-24

For far too long there didn't seem to be children's books that celebrated relationships between grandparents and their grandchildren. My Pop Pop and Me by Irene Smalls has contributed to what I hope is a growing trend of stories that are fun, informative and celebrate the love between generations.

Pop Pop and his grandson spend the day together in the kitchen cooking. Yes, two guys are cooking! How wonderful. They explore the kitchen and make a luscious lemon cake. The author even shares the recipe with the readers.

The illustrations are cute, big and bold with soft, inviting colors. Children will be drawn to the kitchen scenes and the relationship between grandpa and grandson. I'm always looking for books with racial diversity and My Pop Pop and Me fits my criteria with the African-American characters.

Armchair Interviews says: Grandparents, this is a perfect book to purchase for that special grandchild. You can bake the cake together and then snuggle on the sofa reading My Pop Pop and Me.

Piece of Cake (Cassell Military Paperbacks)

Average customer rating:

A cynical classic
Gateau Robinson: a treat
Read the book, see the series on DVD
Good Tips on How to Win Dogfights
The best fictional account of air war ever

Piece of Cake (Cassell Military Paperbacks)
Derek Robinson
Manufacturer: Cassell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 030436312X

Book Description

Vivid and unforgettable, this popular novel follows an RAF fighter squadron during the Battle for France and the Battle of Britain. These pilots are real human beings, not two-dimensional heroes. Unconvinced of the wisdom of their leaders, they concentrate only on staying alive and on forgetting their fears of being burned to death in their planes. Some turn to drink, some turn on their compatriots in order to survive, and others score a succession of aerial victories--while acting unforgivably on the ground.

Customer Reviews:

A cynical classic.......2005-05-03

The Battle of Britain. Dashing, fearless young patriots out of Shakespeare take to their machines to save Albion from Nazi bombers. Battling hopeless odds and a vastly superior enemy, these lions of the sky prevail against evil, save democracy, and land back at base in time for their tea.

Or not.

Derek Robinson's "Piece of Cake" has to be one of the most brutally cynical, myth-debunking pieces of historical fiction ever put to pen. In its 650+ pages it methodically, and at times gleefully, ravages the heroic sterotype of Britain's fighter pilots cemented by the hundreds of books, movies, and documentaries which have come out since the war. In the language of the book, it puts paid to all that bumf and tells the truth --or rather, Robinson's version of it.

"Cake" is the story of Hornet Squadron, a rather average collection of fighter pilots flying Hurricanes, between September 1939 and September 1940. It details their involvement in the "phoney war," the Battle of France and lastly, the Battle of Britain. From the very first chapter, when a number of the pilots wreck their car while driving home drunk from a pub, then steal a tractor, and finally horses, to get back to their base, the reader begins to realize that we few, we happy few, we band of brothers, is nowhere to be found here. With the occasional exception, Hornet Squadron is a collection of snobbish, selfish, sophomoric, not-too-terribly bright adrenaline junkies who joined the RAF in the hopes of blowing things up without legal consequences. It's a case of be careful what you wish for, times two.

For a story with so many characters -- the squadron has more than a dozen, and chaps are always getting knocked off and replaced -- Robinson does a terrific job of keeping them all fresh and distinct from each other. Each reader will have his own favorite "good" guy -- goodhearted flight leader Fanny Barton, the cold-blooded American volunteer Christopher Hart ("CH3"), the crazy as a loon Flash Gordon, or possibly the non-fighting duo of "Uncle" Kellaway (the squadron adj) and his sidekick, an Oxford don turned intelligence officer "Skull" Skellen, who spend a lot of time arguing about squirrels. There is no question about the squadron's biggest bastard -- not since "GoodFellas" Joe Pesci/Tommy DeVito did I hate somebody as much as Lance "Moggy" Cattermole, the big, smooth-talking sociopath who seems to enjoy tormenting and using his squadron mates even more than he likes to machine-gun German pilots as they hang helpless in their parachutes. Robinson takes positive delight in showing how how Hart's theory that "up there the world is divided into bastards and suckers" also applies on terra firma.

"Piece of Cake" was a contraversial book not only for its thoroughly unglamorous depiction of the RAF jocks but because it expands on the touchy and undiscussed issue of the RAF's kill claims. The pilots, who in fairness can hardly be blamed for making mistakes given the nature of air combat prior to the installation of the gun camera, claimed about 2.5 German aircraft destroyed for every one that actually was. The vastly overstated statistics issued by the RAF made their way into the postwar literature and contributed to the mythos surrounding the battle. In point of fact, the Germans had about 900 fighters to the Brits 600, and the Me 109 was badly hampered by its extremely short range and the necessity to try and protect the bombers. The odds were somewhat closer than the Brits care to believe.

"Piece of Cake" wasn't written to disparage the courage of the British pilots or denigrate their accomplishments, but to show them for what they were -- young, often immature officer-boys of varying character who sometimes died stupid and futile deaths. In other words, human beings at war. In this sense, Robinson does the RAF a favor, for heroism is much more impressive when it comes from real people rather than Hollywood cartoons. After all, peacetime flaws often make for wartime virtues. Or as Hart says to Fanny Barton about Moggy: "He really does like killing people. You don't know how lucky you are to have him."

Gateau Robinson: a treat.......2004-12-05

This is one of my favourite books ever, perhaps rivalled only by Robinson's other masterpiece, "Goshawk Squadron", both of which I have read and re-read again and again over the years. The writing is simple, subtle and brilliant, the dialogue sparking and witty, the atmosphere vivid.

Was this what life in the RAF was really like at the start of the Second World War? The author's unemotional writing carries with it a gritty and entirely convincing sense of reality; you cannot help think that this is really how it was.

From the opening sentence to the final full stop, Robinson delivers a tense and entertaining story whose characters spring to life from the pages. If many of his personae are necessarily only lightly sketched and interchangeable, others are multi-dimensional portraits that remind me forcefully of the kind of people I went to school with or suffered under as a pupil. (I served my time in a British Public School. By the 1960s we were living in 1890).

We meet Ramsey, headstrong and impatient, but he is in such a hurry that we have little time to get to know him. Fanny Barton, an athletic but uncertain New Zealander suffers from social insecurity and a nervous introspection that drives him to hasty and poorly considered decisions. Lord Rex is confident and breezy, but his aristocratic charm disguises an unpleasant ruthless arrogance, and sometimes callous cruelty. Despite his experience as a pilot in the First World War, the much older adjutant Kellaway comes from an earlier epoch, and ideas of gallantry are not completely erased. Skull Skelton, the intelligence officer, by contrast, sees the folly of war for what it is - and gains few friends from his outspoken views. Moggy Cattermole is thoroughly unlikeable from the beginning. When we meet him he has just stolen a giant gollywog from someone by punching him in the eye. As the story progresses his unusually ugly character is slowly revealed to the reader. By contrast, Chris Hart III is an upright, cynical, war-weary American, viewed by some as an unwelcome colonial intrusion into a thoroughly British war.

On the ground, Robinson evokes the colours and scents of wartime France and England, and mercilessly - but without fuss - shows us the muddle, misconceptions and incompetence of the administrative machinery of 1939 and 1940. He lets the reader see the unthinking class snobbery of the young pilots, making us reassess these otherwise often likeable individuals and realise that by upbringing they must in many cases have been blinkered and insufferable, arrogant self-anointed masters of the universe. But you cannot dislike these pilots. They live intensely and with gusto, and the reader is swept up into their funny, unscrupulous, devil-take-the-hindmost world where a quick turn of phrase and disregard for personal safety are badges of honour.

By the outbreak of the air war in 1940 the Spanish Civil War had convincingly demonstrated that large formations of fighters were horribly vulnerable to attacks from an enemy using more flexible tactics. The RAF ignored the lesson that the Luftwaffe had taught the Spanish Republican Air Force and stuck to the outmoded air gymkhana for no reason but doctrine. Robinson shows in this book how the RAF gradually came to accept that doctrine does not win air battles.

In the air, Robinson immerses us in a vast and frightening arena of battle. His descriptions of flying a Hurricane are so well executed that the reader can almost feel the vibration of the airframe and smell the hot oil and hear the exhilarating roar from the Merlin engine. In some books you can predict which character will live and which die; in this book you get the feeling that you had better not get too attached to any of the jaunty, interesting individuals that inhabit its pages. Death is as unexpected and final here as it must have been to the young men and women who saw these events at first hand. Robinson delivers battle in the air with a mastery that leaves the reader shocked and shaken as death scythes in from below, from behind, from nowhere, in an abrupt shuddering blur from the empty sky.

I have read many war novels. "Piece of Cake" has few rivals.

Read the book, see the series on DVD.......2004-07-11

This book was made into a Masterpiece Theatre series on PBS in the late 1980's. It is an enthralling production. Years later, I read the book and highly recommend both. Robinson gave some very vivid scenes of aerial battle in the skies over England and the Channel. Whether you read it first or view it first, you'll want to do both.

Good Tips on How to Win Dogfights.......2003-06-08

Piece of Cake is much more than just a very well written war novel - which it is. In Piece of Cake, aviation author Derek Robinson uses the small group genre by focuses on the notional "Hornet squadron" as a means to bring to light many of the Royal Air Force's doctrinal, equipment and personnel deficiencies in the first year of the Second War. Piece of Cake is also a darn good examination of character and leadership - or lack of - in warfare. Typically, "the few" who flew for Britain in 1939-1941 are presented as an exemplary elite, who sacrificed themselves for the greater good. In Piece of Cake, Robinson may have angered those who favored such a hallowed historiography, but he gives the reader a greater insight into what was probably much closer to the actual mark in Fighter Command in this early phase of the war. Indeed, it would be fair to rank Piece of Cake among the best war novels ever written.

Robinson's plot line follows the notional Hornet Squadron from 1 September 1939 to 15 September 1940, and the unit is equipped with Hurricane I and II fighters (not Spitfires, as in the film version). The reader is presented with three different leadership styles in the squadron leaders: the self-destructive style of Ramsey, the arrogant style of Rex and the fatalistic style of "Fanny" Barton. The squadron adjutant "Uncle" Kellaway and the intelligence officer "Skull" Skelton also add considerable depth on the human and scientific sides of warfare. The pilots themselves are a pretty stock bunch, as they are in most Robinson novels, with the exceptions of the sociopath "Moggy" Cattermole and the American, Chris Hart. Indeed, one of the major differences between the book and the film is the relationship between "Moggy" and Squadron Leader Rex, which is never explained in the film. In the book, Robinson paints "Moggy" in the role of the "squadron enforcer," who is fiercely loyal to Rex due to perks provided. Indeed, "Moggy" even kills to protect Rex, which is odd for a character that displays no loyalty to anyone else in the squadron.

Robinson's portrayal of the RAF's inadequate tactics and doctrine is quite interesting. In particular, the large formation "fighting area attacks" put the RAF at a major disadvantage against the Luftwaffe's more fluid "finger four" tactics. Indeed, through A Piece of Cake, the reader is presented with a year's worth of tactical and doctrinal evolution in the RAF, with the initial faulty methods yielding grudgingly to more sensible means of waging air warfare. Robinson also seems to include every fighter pilot "lesson learned" in A Piece of Cake, which makes the novel virtually a primer for dog fighting (e.g. never climb away from the sun, don't always break left - the favored direction). Yet despite Hornet Squadron's tactical improvements, Robinson shows that survival in warfare still comes down to a certain matter of luck, as even the veteran pilots succumb to mistakes and fatigue. Few other accounts of the Battle of Britain demonstrate how punishing the August-September 1940 campaign was to RAF fighter squadrons as well as Robinson's fictional account.

Probably the only defect in A Piece Cake is the lack of perspective from the enemy side. In Robinson's later A Good Clean Fight, he does provide some insight from the enemy perspective, but this is lacking in A Piece of Cake. The number of squadron veteran pilots is ever dwindling in the face of the massed Luftwaffe attacks, but the results are uncertain given Skull's exposure of dubious pilot "kill" claims. In Robinson's novel, the reader is unsure who is actually winning the Battle of Britain (certainly the actual participants would have been uncertain at that moment, too), but it is suggested that the British are exaggerating their "kill" claims for propaganda purposes. Certainly in retrospect, the Battle of Britain seems more like a "goal line stand" than an outright victory, but Robinson's portrayal may strike some readers (armed with knowledge of the end result) as ambiguous or even defeatist in tone. Furthermore, the Luftwaffe also suffered from faulty doctrine (being designed as a tactical, not a strategic bombing force) and inadequate equipment (short-range Me-109s, the clumsy Me-110). If Robinson had provided a bit of enemy perspective, even with a captured pilot or two, this might have shown that the campaign was punishing and frustrating for both sides.

The best fictional account of air war ever.......2000-09-06

I rank this as one of the best books I've ever read and am very surprised more people aren't aware of it. The writing is top-notch: Robinson was at the top of his game when he wrote "Piece of Cake." The characters come to life, even if many of them don't stay alive very long. It is laugh-out-loud funny at times, slyly humorous at others, brutal, honest and thought-provoking -- often on one page. One must remember that Britain's "Knights of the Sky" averaged bout 19 years of age when The Battle was raging. They often behaved in a less-than-honorable fashion, as most 19 years usually do. Finally, anyone who ever entertained the notion that the air war was a "clean" way to fight will quickly have that notion dispelled. Dying in a burning Hurricane, taking cannon fire in the gut or waiting for the cold sea to steal all the warmth from your body are just a few of the ways an RAF pilot could die in the autumn of 1940. In spite of the controversy it generated, this book is a great tribute to the RAF's Few and a fine work of literature.

Average customer rating:

and women loves too!
Cakesorama!!
Cakes for every occasion... and then some!

Cakes Men Like
Benjamin Darling
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Cakes | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Baking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books

Cooking | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books

General | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0811800075

Customer Reviews:

and women loves too!.......2007-05-08

Better that I thought. An old book from the 50's but the recipes are easy and can be done. In fact, I found that this books has interesting and different recipes that the ones you find in modern books. Besides the recipes with 7-up, the others are "normal". I do not know what they named it the cake men like, it should be cakes everybody like.

Cakesorama!!.......2007-03-30

I loved this book so much I just had to write a review! Cakes Men Like looks like one of those tacky little so-called books I always see on the racks with the $5 book marks at the bookstore when I'm waiting in line for the cashier. You know the ones. They're usually well meaning but pitiful, overly long, hardcover greeting cards designed to snag the impulse shoppers. Cakes Men Like is another story. It's a compact, deco style treasure, a work of art, full of cake recipes that range from the disgusting to the divine. On the one hand, there is PORK cake (ugh!) but on the other there is a caramel icing recipe (yum!) that I am going to try tomorrow.
I picked this little gem up with 50 other books to sell. When I sat down with it to write my listing, I found I just couldn't bear to part with it and so I wrote this review instead.

Cakes for every occasion... and then some!.......1998-11-12

A wonderful parody of what life was like in the years when "the phrase 'two-income family' was but a twinkle in the eye of an economist...". Some truly amazing and unappetizing recipes (and illustrations to boot!) for cakes that, yes, your mother and or grandma may very well have tried in a desperate attempt to salvage domestic serenity. Nonetheless, a must have for those who are not afraid to put 7-Up into batter or pour boiling water over salt pork to make a cake. Stick to the first two or three recipes, and you can't go wrong. Bon appétit!

A Candle for Your Cake Twenty-four Birthday Stories of Famous Men and Women

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A Candle for Your Cake Twenty-four Birthday Stories of Famous Men and Women
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
Manufacturer: Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1952
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000LVSZVY

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A candle for your cake;: Twenty-four birthday stories of famous men and women
Carolyn Sherwin Bailey
Manufacturer: Lippincott
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007E6MWY

Cakes Men Like: 14 Top Favorite Cakes for Men

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Cakes Men Like: 14 Top Favorite Cakes for Men
Demitria M. Taylor et al.
Manufacturer: Tested Recipe Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000L1RR2C

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Cakes Men Like: 50 fun-filled Recipes
Benjamin Darling
Manufacturer: Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OGOR18

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War time hearts and hands
Lu B Cake
Manufacturer: The Author
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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