Transportation Books

This book was an enjoyable read about the history and development of American Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from the 1940's to present day. The book had technical details and color pictures of every American UAV - it reminded me of an encyclopedia or other reference book. While enjoyable, the book had a few quirks that I didn't like. Except for the mention of a few Israeli UAVs the book said nothing about non-American UAVs (there are quite a few). Second, the beautiful pictures often did not match up with the text. The text was talking about one UAV, but the image next to it was another. The book was kind of "dry." With a title of "Attack of the Drones" I was looking for some action and war shots - there was very little of either in this book. Instead, the book droned on for chapters mentioning individual UAVs, dates of service, technical dimensions, which UAV it replaced, and which UAV replaced it. This got boring after a while. The upside is that one can retrieve all the historical data and a nice picture of any American UAV - past or present. Overall I did like this book and recommend it to any fan of UAVs.

Great photos, a poignant story, and just enough science. It had a nice allusion (but not too graphic) about the author's efforts to end the practice of clubbing baby seals that allows the parent to use it as an avenue of discussion or not. My 5 year old daughter loved the book!

As Bill Yenne emphasizes at the introduction section, the book is solely about UAV projects of USA. The book covers up to date information by the time of its creation (2004).

Attack of the Drones contains excdellent pictures of several UAVs of USA. It may be purchased just because of the picture content. But some of the pictures are not synchronous with the text, i.e. picture of a UAV may be seen a few pages before it is mentioned in the text.

The book claims to mention every project of USA (I write "claims" because I am not in a position to verify the coverage). I think more technical information could be provided, perhaps with some tables summarizing properties of the vehicles.

Although not perfect, it is certainly an enjoyable book to read, and it can be used as a reference about history of USA UAV projects.

When the United States Air Force was set up independently from the United States Army (as the Army Air Corps which fought World War II) an agreement was made that the Army would no longer have any armed fixed wing aircraft. So even though the Army has had a number of aircraft that would have been suitable for arming they were prohibited.

This has caused considerable friction, as the Air Force has concentrated its efforts on the strategic aspects with concentrations on long range nuclear armed forces at the expense of the tactical ground support that the Army needs. The Army countered with arming its helicopters because they hadn't been considered in the original agreement.

The Air Force likewise has traditionally not supported drone aircraft. After all, the way for promotions in the Air Force is to fly planes in combat situations.

The realities of the situation in Afghanistan has forced some changes in these areas. For the first time there was a wide use of drone observation craft. On occassion these drones found targets that U.S. forces wanted to attack, but by the time a piloted aircraft could arrive to make the attack, the target was gone. Over opposition permission was given to hang some smart weapons on the drones. They were extremely successful.

This book does an excellent job of describing the development of drones since the 1940's. He reports on these early attempts at creating armed drones. He further gives a good introduction on the new craft that are under development.

This has got to be one of the best books written about trucks and trucking that i have ever read. It is packed with information that will help everyone from people thinking about becoming a truck driver right up to expirenced drivers who would just like to keep the book handy to refer to. Almost everything you need to know is in here , from gearbox types and mechanical information throught to driver hours.

A great book packed with valuable information, that will really help to get any new drivers trucking career off to a great start.

This is an excellent book for both the new guy and the veteran. At almost 500 pages, this is a very practical book that covers every aspect of truck driving and life on the road. In addition to basic operations, there is also plenty of detailed mechanical info on the inner workings of a truck. That will probably be of more interest to owner-operators than company drivers but it's good to know it's there in case you ever need it. My only complaint is that this book wasn't around when I started out. It definitely would've made for a much smoother transition into the 'industry'. Highly reccomended.

So you want to be a PTD (professional truck driver),well this is your first step into the drivers seat.

If you have never driven a tractor trailer this is a great book. It covers everything from a drivers perspective. The truck itself including: Engines, Transmissions, Parts, Driving techniques, Hazmat, Airbrakes, Life on the road etc. What it does not cover in great detail is if you want to start your own trucking company, or authority. It touches on parts and mentions the D.O.T and FMCSR but mostly from the drivers interaction with those agencies, not as a trucking company. This book is for drivers behind the wheel on a day to day basis. Non-drivers will find it useful and insightful but if you are wishing to start your own company, It does not cover in detail the authorities you will need and actual details involved in doing so. The book never claims it does cover that information... this review is to let you know what is not in there in that regard. As a future driver, or someone interested in the actual day to day operations or the skills needed to operate a tractor trailer, this book is great and worthy of 5 stars.

It is about impossible in my mind (with 13 years of driving experience) to come up with a better book that covers EVERYTHING from the most basic to complex In my opinion, this book should be used by all Motor Carriers and have their "future operators" read and PASS all the tests this book offers. If that was posible everyones insurance rates would go down (less acidents nationwide) and mechanical costs for carriers would dimish also. Spectacular book and easy reading, and as I said previously with 13 years experience I still read this book.

I started reading "Boats" to my son when he was just a few months old. He is now 11 months, and since he was 8-9 months, he has grabbed "Boats" preferentially each night. Even when he is in a bad mood, the bold colors and simple shapes make him light up with a big grin! The variety of boats introduced, the simple illustrations and the multiethnic nature of the stick figures make this book a great find. I believe this will be a favorite for a long time.

My husband, who loves naval history, bought this book for our daughter when she was one year old. Since then, it has become one of her prized possessions. I've had to buy another copy, because she's spilled milk all over it and the pages have stuck solid.

The bright colors, dark print and overlapping scenarios keep her engrossed. Definitely a great book to have for your toddler.

I purchased this book in early June when my son, who was 16 months was just learning about boats. Having a difficult time finding age appropriate boat books for him, I decided on this one and haven't been disappointed. The pictures and drawings are very basic but we always seem to find lots of things to talk about. He loves this book and has created his own mannerisms for each page and picture. The size of the book is small like other board books and is perfect for little hands to hold and turn the pages. We have read this book some many times the binding is broken and the pages are getting worn. He refers to it as the boat book and just can't seem to get enough of it. I would highly recommend it for any child , you won't be disappointed. We are looking forward to trying some of his other books after the success we had with this one.

I suggest Amazon.com to reconsider their age rating for this book. Toddler to 3 years might be more approriate. This being said however, my toddler boy loves this book. He goes wild over the bright colors and big bright pictures. The great thing is that the book introduces one new boat per page while keeping the previous boat displayed in the background. This way the child is able to see what happens to the other boat while being introduced to a new one. The Text is easy and plain "here comes a rowing boat" style, leaving plenty of room to create ones own stories.
I recommend this book for small children.

"Boats," by Byron Barton, is a good book for beginning readers. Like others by this author, the book combines simple text with illustrations in Barton's trademark style: bright, solid colors and simplified, almost iconic figures.

Barton depicts a rowboat, sailboat, fire department boat, ferry, cruise ship, and other vessels. The boats are actually shown in action. A nice touch is that the passengers and crew are people of different colors and ethnic appearances. Sample text: "There goes a fishing boat out to sea." A colorful and educational book.

The pictures are great and the wording is easy and accurate. My son just turned 3 and he enjoys it but we both would have liked more detailed explanations of how the trains work and what the different parts are called. Overall, a good choice for little train-lovers just starting out.

REAL photos, not illustrations, make this book a treasure for train lvoers of all ages. It is a must for any car trip, to stuff a stocking, or to give to the train buf ages 6 - 96!

I am all for books that are cool enough for young boys to read on their own - heck - we have every Capt. Underpants book in creation... but I was a little turned off by the text in this book. In the first few chapters alone, there were lots of "I hate her" and "She is stupid", "She is dumb", etc, etc. I'm not a total prude about these words - but the reading level of this book strikes me as "early 2nd grade"- meaning that this book is most likely to be read by 1st and 2nd graders. The negativity seemed a bit excessive to me. Also - it's one thing to think your school is weird, but the main character AJ goes into some detail about why he HATES school, talks about how mean the fifth graders are, and accuses another child of being a "brown-noser". (Try explaining brown-nosing to your 7 year old.) I just felt that it was generally a bit negative for the 1st and 2nd graders - most of whom still really like school, or you at least WANT them to like school at that age. Let's not tarnish their idealism already! Even Capt. Underpants is pretty upbeat and optimistic throughout its potty humor. I would not necessarily have minded all the "hate", "stupid", and "dumb" comments had my son been a few years older, at least in 3rd or 4th grade - but really, the reading level is not that high, and by age 9 or 10,there are much better books for them to be reading. Otherwise, I agree with the other reviewers that the book is a quick read, and humorous .. but not necessarily the kind of jaded humor that I felt like a 1st grader needed to read (nor did he really enjoy that type of humor).

My grade-school kids love the whole series of these books, either when they're reading by themselves or when I'm reading to them.

But this one is my favorite. "Stryker Smith is fighting Evil under the bus!", and the mini-eulogy by the kids "It's hard to be alive/When you don't have a head", I still can't help laughing just thinking about it. And we find out exactly why Neil Crouch is "Neil the nude kid".

My ten and seven-year-old boys LOVE reading the books in this series. They can completely relate to the main character, A.J., and his trademark opening line: My name is A.J. and I hate school". Of course, A.J.'s school is a fabulous place for boys and he can't help but learn things. All the books are quick and enjoyable reads.

This episode is about the bus driver, Mrs. Kormel, and a disastrous day on the way to school. My boys and I were laughing out loud through most of this book. We liked it so much, we gave a copy to our busdriver so she could enjoy it with her sons.

Mrs. Kormel is not Normal is about a crazy bus teacher that doesn't even know where the new kid's house is. The funny thing about the book is that they weren't allowed to kneel and crouch in the bus and somebody said if your name is crouch or kneel can you kneel or crouch on the bus and the bus driver said yes. Then Andrea said there is nobody named kneel or crouch but it ended up that the new kid was named Neil crouch. I would recommend this book.

This is an integrative simulation: one must make decisions in all of the areas of running a business. Although the context is the airline industry, most, if not all, of the generic decisions one must make in business are contained. For example, decisions must be made in the areas of price, promotion, training and dividends.

I use this simulation in some of my upper level business classes. Since it is a strategic simulation, you need some prior knowledge of the different functional areas to make wise decisions. If you do not possess this prior knowledge, then you need the willingness to do some research in your areas of weakness.

Many of my students find this to be one of the highlights of the class. Some, however, do struggle with it. If one keeps an attitude of learning as the ultimate goal, and stays motivated towards that goal, then this simulation can be a positive learning experience. The simulation can and will probably require serious thought and effort.

The manager or student who does not have the assistance of an 'airline-experienced' professor, the computer software and the additional training material makes this simulation process much more difficult to comprehend, understand and complete. If the publisher and the writer would include the extra material plus the computer software, this could be a great training tool for many airline managers and others.

If you must buy this simulation in its present form, consider purchasing Paul Dempsey's book: Airline Management to get through this.

Used worldwide, this is one of the best selling simulations for use in senior level business strategy, global strategy, marketing management, services marketing/management, airline management and tourism managment courses. The book that is listed is the STUDENT MANUAL for the course. The instructor will have the software for the simulation. This is not a stand-alone product but must be administered by the instructor in the course. This book would be the same book as purchased in the college bookstore.

Stay tuned folks, the new and improved 4th edition is scheduled for publication during the third quarter of this year!

This is one of the least pleasant learning experiences I have ever been through. I used this book and associated software (which you must download) in a graduate Aviation Route Planning class, and this book takes every opportunity to disappoint.

Understand that this is a simulation guide and you must use the simulation as part of a registered class. As for faults, there are many. The most glaring error is the almost total absence of information related to selections you must make from the very beginning. There is essentially no discussion of pros and cons of various options presented, therefore if any of the information is not completely understood prior to beginning the class (which obviously defeats the purpose of the class) errors can be made which can prove disastrous for the remainder of the simulation. Only my long history in the industry assisted me in making reasonable choices in the numerous gray areas.

If you insist on taking a class that uses this simulation, buy a comprehensive airline management text and read it prior to starting the class (perhaps the books by Douganis would be most helpful). Don't even think about buying this for personal use; you will get nothing from it.

As an aside, the software is extremely buggy (for myself and many others in my class), so be prepared to enter all decisions multiple times, have data disappear, never be able to find your information, etc.

All in all this is without peer in the truly horrible textbook category. If you can take an equivalent course based on case studies, or for that matter ANY other text, by all means do so. I was obviously very disappointed by this book (and software): it sounded like a good idea at the time, and I genuinely thought it could prove of value to my knowledge of the materiel; instead all I got was indigestion.

My 19 month old son LOVES cars. We checked this book out from the library and it is definitely my son's favorite book. I put it on my Amazon wish list, so hopefully someone will buy it for us. We've renewed the one we have 3 times now! :) The book has a lot of simple pictures of cars, simple words, and even a bus. My son gets very excited about the last page which has cars, a bus, and an airplane. My Car is a bedtime story request almost every night.

My son received this as a gift when he was about 18 months old and absolutely loves it! It is a regular favorite... he loves the graphics and simple story line. He is almost two and loves to recite some of the lines and point out things in the nice, colorful yet simple pictures. Great book for boys!

Our twin toddlers love this book. The simple language and vivid illustrations are excellent.

This is a great book if your child is obsessed with cars as ours is. It explains all the car parts, and is very colorful. It's a cute little book. Very general.

My 17 month old son loves having this book read to him and pretending to read it. He already loves cars, so the subject is great. It has bright colors, the pages aren't too busy, and the words are simple. Great book. We have the trucks book too. We also have the trains book, which he got for a gift and is also great.

If you want to know about the Andrea Dorea or have read about it before this is a must read.

After reading "Shadow Divers", I was drawn to read more about the people and about diving the Andrea Doria. "Deep Descent" is a well-written account of the people and dangers of deep wreck diving on the Andrea Doria by an author who has personally dived the wreck several times and interviewed all of the significant players. Once I started, it was hard to put this book down. It is a great read for diver and non-diver alike.

The focus is on the personalities and the emotions driving those involved and how they were a factor in many of the deaths for this dangerous dive. It recounts interesting personalities of the dive boat captains and key Doria divers, their competition, and their concerns. It includes both sides of many issues whose schisms are clear in some of the other books. It is not a travelogue of the ship itself nor is it very technical -- neither detracts from the enjoyment of the book and allows it to retain its appeal for non-divers. He also talks about how advances in diving gases and equipment have made such deep dives safer and reachable for less experienced divers, yet divers continue to die for many of the same fundamental reasons -- driven to the limits of their abilities and beyond.

If you want a book on the technical aspects of deep wreck diving, or accounts of the scenery of the wreck, this is not your book. Otherwise, you will find this a very enjoyable read.

There are many other books about real - and harrowing - experiences diving that are much better written. A true disappointment - don't bother.

This was a great book from two standpoints. As a reader, I appreciated how well-organized the book was. The chapters are not broken down chronologically but rather by weaving important ideas into a coherent story about the history of diving the Doria. McMurray knows exactly how to turn possibly hundreds of hours of interviews into a suspenseful adventure for the reader. As someone who has just started diving, it was a great way to cement some of the lessons taught by my instructors regarding panic under water, narcosis, and equipment malfunctions/hazards. This is also a great book if you want to read about some legendary divers in the 80s and 90s. McMurray paints a detailed and honest picture of the book's characters, allowing the reader to step into their shoes and understand their motivations. Thankfully, he didn't seem to baby the reader when it came to explaining the science behind the risks of diving. As a diver himself, he kept the explanations short and simple for those who are not already familiar with the concepts. The only drawback of the book is McMurray's sometimes sparse recountings. Parts of the book were very matter-of-fact as if it were taken out of a newspaper article when I wished he could provide more detail. However, these parts didn't detract from the overall good quality of the writing.

All in all, a great read for anyone interested in the Andrea Doria, deep wreck diving, or a piece of diving history.

I read this book after reading Shadow Divers. Technically, this book cannot even begin to compete. I would not recommend it.

We borrowed this book from the library for my 3 year old son. We had to check it out 2 months in a row because he couldn't part with it. So I am buying one of his very own. He loves the rhyme and you will too! It is one you will find yourself saying over and over in your head so beware. But everytime we see a railroad track he begins reciting it...."I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track". Very cute book!

My three year old son is a train fanatic. We found this book at the library, and he loved it so much we had to buy it. The story is actually really sweet in that it supports that all things in nature are important-even a little ant. The story has a nice rhyme to it and the vocabulary used is great. Your little one will definitely requeset this one over and over.

Love this little book. We received it as a gift from a crazy aunt (ant/aunt...). My 3 year old practically has it memorized. To hear him quote the book ("oh ruin to wrack" whenever he drops a toy or doesn't get what he wants) is just hillarious.

I teach 4-5 year olds and this is their favorite book! They pretty much know all the words to the book and love telling it with me. Highly recommended!! I also own the Ant in the Parking Lot book and prefer this one to it. I feel the rhyming flows better in this one.

Purchased this book to read to my son's preschool class. The teachers enjoyed it as much as the children! Engaging and fun with great illustrations. This is one of our favorites!

I bought this to give to my nephew with the matching Tonka truck. I probably wouldn't have had I taken full note of the book's dimensions and the fact that it is NOT a board book, nor a hard-cover. It actually got lost in the packaging and for a moment, I thought it might have missed the shipment!

It might be nice to read aloud to your toddler (the images are nice) but you won't want to leave your tot alone with it as the book will become damaged quickly.

Even though we have a lot of classic toddler books, this is one of my son's favorites. He is almost 2, he has gone from just liking to see the dump truck on every page, to listening to the story.

Very nice book. I gave it with the Dump Truck.

My son loves this book, I have to read it to hime several times a day. It's infomative for me as well. Any toddler boy would enjoy this!