Book Description
Certain to become the bible of HIT-the training that revolutionized lifting with shorter, far-more-intense workouts-this impassioned guide is the last word on how to achieve explosive growth safely, without steroids! For many dedicated bodybuilders, the weight-lifting theories of Arthur Jones are gospel. It was Jones, the inventor of Nautilus exercise equipment, who first discovered that short, intense workouts could produce better results than the long, high-volume workouts then in vogue. Even though research into Jones's methods has proved them correct, a number of high-profile strength coaches use HIT to train their athletes, and the bodybuilding magazine Ironman does HIT-based features every issue, there still are no major HIT books in stores. This new book-by champion bodybuilder, exercise researcher, and best-selling author Ellington Darden, who is a Jones disciple and friend-shows lifters how to apply the master's teachings, along with some new HIT concepts to achieve extraordinary results.At the heart of the book is a complete, illustrated, six-month course for explosive growth. Exercise by exercise, workout by workout, the reader is shown precisely what to do, and perhaps even more important, what not to do. Charging that too many bodybuilders follow a more-is-better approach-too many exercises, too many sets, and too much frequency-and rely on steroids to compensate for depleted recovery ability, Darden shows why HIT, steroid-free and healthy, is the best way to safely build muscle. Finally, the exercise religion Arthur Jones founded, and Darden fine-tuned, has its bible.
Customer Reviews:
HITS the Target.......2007-09-08
This book updates the reader on high intensity training principles. It is written by the guy who used to work with the founder of Nautilus, Arthur Jones. Arthur Jones popularized the concepts of high intensity strength training back in the 70's which have to do with pushing as hard as you possibly can doing only ONE set of an exercise- and then backing off and letting the muscles recuperate. What can I say- the stuff really works!
The principles are sound and will be most useful for weight lifters who have trouble putting on muscle. Also recommend Treat Your Own Rotator Cuff if you have a shoulder problem that is interfering with your weight training.
the book is ok.......2007-07-09
dr darden's book might not deliver on it's promise but still it's a good read.it has many discussions of core hit principles plus never before seen pictures of professional bodybuilders from the 70s and early 80s like mentzer jr and sr,viator,coe,wilson,arnold,sergio,columbu etc.it gives a detailed exercise regimen along with dietary advice.
however when compared to other books like the late mentzer's it falls short.mentzer's writing are far far better than this book.i am also repulsed by ell darden's attempted character assaination of the late mentzer.he pokes fun at mike mental illness.since when can a man be judged by his mental problems?he also tries to show that mike was not as hardcore as many have been lead to believe.as proof he cites mike's disincilination to exercise in 83.well mike had lost all motivation after the 80 olympia fiasco,so blaming him for not putting forth the effort demanded to be a mr o is simply to drop the context.
all in all i would say the book does have value,particularly for the neophyte.shahnawaz khan,peshawar
Way better then I expected from a muscle book!.......2007-07-06
If I could rate this book a 10 I would! It is so well organized and thought out. Each chapter leads onto the next chapter perfectly! I loved that it gave picture examples of how to preform all the exercises it suggested and tips. I loved that it gave a basic two week eating plan until I could get my hands on a better one. This was one of the best reads ever!
It works, It works..... It definitely works!!!!!!.......2007-06-26
I am a life long weight lifter, normal guy... that is to say, I lift weights to feel good, to remain strong and to stay connected with some sense of my escaping youth. At 40 I broke my leg in 3 places slipping on ice at work. I ballooned with comfort (hate) foods from 195 all the way up to 227 in about 6 months, one year and 3 months later I was rushed to the Emergency room with a numb left side, where I discovered a very blocked artery in my heart... one emergency angioplasty later and, well you get the idea. I was depressed frustrated and feeling even worse than when I broke my leg.
Back at physical therapy now for my heart, I had several conversations with a grossly over weight therapist who assured me that all the weight lifting and cardio work in the world would not change my hyper cholesterol levels and that only through heavy doses of staten drugs would I achieve a safe level of LDL...
between his posture and my disgust for Pharmaceutical drugs I decided to get something going.. He was right about one thing my old routines of "chest and tri's" 'Back and bi's" and 'Legs and Shoulders" really wasn't getting me anywhere, 3 months in and I had lost a little bit of weight and my arms were starting to come back but nothing to brag about... at 42 I was feeling washed up. Then someone turned me on to this book by Darden.. I read it cover to cover.. yes as some of the other reviews mentioned it's anecdotal, but the meat of it is the training and diet plans..
yes it is possible to build muscle with 1500 calories a day, and while single sets to failure may sound funny, the reality is that within 6 weeks I had lost 20 plus pounds of fat and put on a whopping 6 pounds of muscle. That may not sound like much to the juice heads but for the rest of the population it's a freaking miracle. I augmented his diets with heavy protein and homeopathic HGH after that initial 6 weeks and am finishing up week 11.... Now with a total of 32 pounds of fat loss and 12 pounds of muscle (body fat from 27.2% to 18%)I can say without question that HIT works, the diets work... and the super-hydration works, together they create a synergistic effect that blows the doors off traditional Diet/strength training programs.
My cardiologist is AMAZED by my consistent drops in cholesterol and I still have not told him that I stopped the Zocor! I am not recommending that anyone else do this as I certainly am taking a huge risk by doing so... however, the proof is there and if you've got willpower and desire I truly believe this is the way to go....
Myth Busters.......2007-04-09
Fitness enthusiasts will enjoy this book that separates fact from fiction and presents a high intensity workout that really works.
Average customer rating:
- She could, he could, they could, we could
- As the story progresses it builds to greater and greater intensity
- A Book that Lives Up to Its Name
- intense
- Hedonism's reductum ad absurdum
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Intensity
Dean Koontz
Manufacturer: Bantam
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The Face
ASIN: 0553582917
Release Date: 2000-10-31 |
Amazon.com
A young woman staying as a guest in a Napa Valley farmhouse becomes trapped in a fight for survival with a self-proclaimed "homicidal adventurer", and races to warn his next intended victim. Unrelentingly terrifying, this book lives up to its name.
Book Description
Past midnight, Chyna Shepherd, twenty- six, gazed out a moonlit window, unable to sleep on her first night in the Napa Valley home of her best friend's family. Instinct proves reliable. A murderous sociopath, Edgler Forman Vess, has entered the house, intent on killing everyone inside. A self-proclaimed "homicidal adventure," Vess lives only to satisfy all appetites as they arise, to immense himself in sensation, to live without fear, remorse or limits, to live with intensity. Chyna is trapped in his deadly orbit.
Chyna is a survivor, toughened by a lifelong struggle for safety and self-respect. Now she will be tested as never before. At first her sole aim is to get out alive-until, by chance, she learns the identity of Vess's next intended victim, a faraway innocent only she can save. Driven by a newly discovered thirst for meaning beyond mere self-preservation, Chyna musters every inner resource she has to save an endangered girl—as moment by moment, the terrifying threat Edgler Foreman Vess intensifies.
Customer Reviews:
She could, he could, they could, we could.......2007-09-09
I think this is the first Dean Koontz book I have read; and I think it will be the last. It is just too long, too full of whole paragraphs and pages of "She could do this, but then this would happen" and "He could do this, but this might happen but he is not afraid." Also too much, "As a young girl, she lived with her mother with these gun nuts and hid here and saw this." Who cares? It detracts from the pace of the story to suddenly stop mid-action and make the character remember something from her childhood that takes up 3 whole pages, while the reader is wondering, "What happened to the present storyline?" Every single event in the novel seemed to remind the main female character from something in her dysfunctional childhood. I expected to read something like, "She could eat the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She could eat the whole sandwich or cut off the crusts and not eat that part. She could cut it diagonally or into two rectangular sections. But if she ate the sandwich, he would know. He would smell the peanut butter on the air and then he would find her and kill her. As a child, she hid under the bed when the evil man that she and her mother were living with started to spew drug-induced hatred for all sandwiches." It's just too much!
As the story progresses it builds to greater and greater intensity.......2007-09-09
This book was riveting. I had heard how Dean Koontz had appropriately titled this book, as it begins intense and as the story progresses, builds to greater and greater intensity. It was hard to put down to go to sleep. I wanted to find out what would happen next. The characters were well drawn appealing and revolting at times. The finale offered excitement, anticipation and surprise
A Book that Lives Up to Its Name.......2007-07-25
Dean Koontz is one of the most prolific writers in the modern age, and as such, while his books are uniformly good, solid works of pulp fiction--always worth the price of admission--he rarely rises to the level of masterpiece. INTENSITY is the exception.
Koontz is an adept writer whose heroes and heroines ring with the everyday qualities that make us relate and sympathize with them. Until INTENSITY, however, he had not written a villain that I felt really cranked the suspense factor. Well, now, meet Edgler Vess, one of the scariest, creepiest, non-supernatural baddies this side of Hannibal Lecter. Here's a guy whose entire psychosis is based purely on sensory gratification--a guy whose senses are, by far, more acute than the average bear's, if you catch my drift.
But the thing that truly separates this book from others in the Koontz library is its lack of "tables". Let me explain:
In most Koonts books (and other writers, notably Dan Brown, are equally guilty of this) there's a team of good guys. When some mystery remains unsolved, what they will do, invariably, is sit down somewhere (ergo "tables") and think it through out loud so that they can figure out what to do and the reader understands it all via dialogue--as opposed to revealing the story through action. Intensity, with its lone protagonist, has none of this rather lazy author device. The whole book is made of action; it NEVER slows down to clarify or explain itself. All the reader can do is ... hold on. And THAT's good writing.
Bravo, Mr. Koontz. INTENSITY lives well up to its name.
(This review has been posted by Marcus Damanda, author of the vampire book "Teeth: a Horror Fantasy".)
intense.......2007-07-12
Seriously this is pretty intense. I had been disappointed by the Koontz books I've read recently (velocity, false memory) that seem to follow a bland formula, but Intesity definitely entertained. It is definitely suspensful and exciting, with Koontz's vision of a killer chilling and larger than life, while his heroin is (like always)very human with very real to life frailties. This is an excellent read, I've read it twice myself, even when I know for sure what's going to happen it entertains me.
Hedonism's reductum ad absurdum.......2007-07-04
I recently re-read this book and it was just as good as the first time. I've been tough on Koontz in a couple of my reviews of other of his books but reading this book again reminded me why I liked him in the first place. The plot's classic Koontz: a desperate, tough, plucky and determined young woman struggles to free herself and a captive from the clutches of a homicidal maniac. SPOILER ALERT. Koontz takes a simple theme and makes it into heart-pounding, detailed, believable action, with a ending in which satisfying retribution is generously dished out on the bad guy.
And of course this book is structured to expound on Koontz' life philosophy, and expounding on it in that special way that only Koontz can, by having the bad guy espouse a contrary philosophy, then be overcome by it. Koontz is *awfully* hard on postmodernism in general (e.g., "The Face"), and on its lineal ancestor, hedonism, in this book in particular. But that's only because those philosophies deserve it. Indeed, the antagonist Edgler Vess is really a well-crafted reductum ad absurdum of hedonism itself. Way to go Koontz!
Book Description
A PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
High-intensity bodybuilding advice from the first man to win a perfect score in the Mr. Universe competition
This one-of-a-kind book profiles the high-intensity training (HIT) techniques pioneered by the late Mike Mentzer, the legendary bodybuilder, leading trainer, and renowned bodybuilding consultant. His highly effective, proven approach enables bodybuilders to get results--and win competitions--by doing shorter, less frequent workouts each week. Extremely time-efficient, HIT sessions require roughly 40 minutes per week of training--as compared with the lengthy workout sessions many bodybuilders would expect to put in daily.
In addition to sharing Mentzer's workout and training techniques, featured here is fascinating biographical information and striking photos of the world-class bodybuilder--taken by noted professional bodybuilding photographers--that will inspire and instruct serious bodybuilders and weight lifters everywhere.
Customer Reviews:
Don't be afraid to try this type of workout.........2007-08-30
Before reading this book I always wondered why I would get burned out after 3 or 4 months of lifting. Plateau...then quit for a while. I love lifting. I love being in the gym. I would just fizzle after a while. This book explains it. I simply can't lift 3 times a week and make long term progress with out steroids. Did Mike do roids? Sure! Read between the lines in this book. He basically admits it. I've been lifting every week since reading this book 4 years ago. Although a workout consisting of one set of deadlifts followed by 4 days rest might seem crazy/lazy to you now - try it. It works. It's up to you.
Don't take my word for it............2007-08-15
So here is how i sum up this book.... if you think you know a lot about bodybuilding and have already pre-determined that this is BS read no further............. This book has opened up a whole new concept to me in terms of bodybuilding. I am by no means a proffesional but I am like many more of a similar kind, a guy that wants to build muscle in the best possible way PERIOD. The problem with the Mike Mentzer system is that it seems all to simple and too short because of our common concepts of how more equals more.....not less equals more.......and then you try it and no matter who you are you notice a change in your appearance for what seems to be a conservative amount of time in the gym. AND YOU LOVE WHAT YOU SEE! This book is not just theory it involves scientifically backed data, when you can sit and read it and open your mind to the conceptual idea the gym will become a whole new world to you. If you can and are willing to push your body to it's absolute limit and then some more, take a peek at this book I can gurantee as long as you have the ability to take yourself to your limit you will benefit. Scientifically AND THEN theoratically it is proven. Train hard and enjoy the pain! Just a side note; i have read different opinions towards HIT training, some claim that peaking is it's biggest draw back. HIT training has a limited time of usage and then it is'nt effective........but this is the nature of our bodies!? Adaptation. Even with the conventional methods of training 10 out of 10 people WILL PEAK. This book puts it plain and simple...
1.How training less WILL give you more.
2.How to take advantage of your body's muscular development by exhausting all 3 phases of muscle strength.
3. How to train hard but also smart. How busting your a** twice a week can create incredible changes in your physique.
4. And how to be aware of and delay peaking.....this book doesn't deny it will happen. We all have our genetic potential, with or without anabolic aid. For some it will come sooner then others.
Works 4 me.......2007-08-13
His system works better than any ive tried in the past. At 34 y/o old i put on 14 lbs, bf dropped from 20.7% to 15.2% in 45 days. Also i do NO cardio, at all. I train every 3 days and watch what i eat. Buy this book and apply it!
400 lb. bench.......2007-04-08
A most excellent book on high int. training!! I do not agree with all written, but most of it is good practical info.Bottom line, no matter how you train, recovery is key. I think less is better as you get bigger and stronger. The muscles may recover in short time, but the tendons and ligaments do take the extra time to repair themselves.Also, your life style plays a huge role in how well you recover, pretty individual, but there are some fast and firm rules to apply, the principals you can tweak as you need.
Good ideas and insight.......2006-03-03
I would recommend this book to anyone whose have "sticking point" problems.
Product Description
This work effectively responds to the pressing need for a clinically-oriented textbook that focuses on all aspects of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy: A Clinical Perspective is divided into three sections: Fundamentals, Clinical Implementation, and Clinical Sites. The book aims to provide a practical approach oriented text for radiation oncologists and physicists interested in commencing or expanding an IMRT program. It discusses the fundamentals of IMRT including physics and biology and provides a site-by-site review (i.e. breast, prostate, etc) of IMRT treatment techniques and outcomes with practical clinical examples. The content reviews published IMRT outcome studies and suggests possible future directions for IMRT research.
Book Description
Gil Merom argues that modern democracies fail in insurgency wars because they are unable to find a winning balance between expedient and moral tolerance for the costs of war. Small wars are lost at home when a critical minority shifts the balancing element from the battlefield to the marketplace of ideas. This minority, representing the educated middle class, abhors the brutality involved in effective counterinsurgency, but also refuses to sustain the level of casualties resulting from fighting in other ways.
Customer Reviews:
They're not "Small Wars" if you live there. . ........2005-06-04
Merom's book, and Lusavardi's review essay which endorses it, share a subscription to an unhappy intellectual current: "the stab in the back" -- the idea that a worthwhile military effort is undermined by "intellectuals" back home, and that if we'd only been able to "take the gloves off" and be just a bit more brutal -as demanded by circumstances, of course-- then everything would have turned out OK.
But this analysis is both wrong, and a pretext for the suppression of dissent. One of the characteristics of all three of the wars that Merom covers is that they were long, far longer than the American Civil War, and than American involvelment in WWII. The length of these involvements alone belies the argument that if only "a little more time, or more men" had been expended then the outcome would have been different.
What they also share in common --and share with Iraq-- is that they were at best marginally legitimate. None of these "wars" included a declaration of war, nor the political unity that such a declarations require-- Begin's invasion of Lebanon was regarded as illegal by the international community, and unwise by many Israelis. The "casus foederis" for America's Vietnam excursion, the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident" was as authentic as Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction. And France wished to maintain as French an Arab Muslim territory which didn't desire it at a time when the international community --prominently including the US-- regarded old Empires as politically illegitimate.
An alternate explanation for why democracies lose such wars is that military political elites, having papered together a thin pretext for intervention, are unable to maintain such rationales against the steady wave of casualties, the hatred for the intervener for their efforts, and the lack of any defined endpoint, but you won't hear that in Merom's book.
Finally, we might add that the brutality argument doesn't wash. Rather brutal nations have failed at counter-insurgency warfare --hard to argue that the Soviets in Afghanistan "kept the gloves on", nor that their successors in Chechnya have either. Conversely, the British did put down an insurgency in Malaya-- one of the classic success stories in counter-insurgency warfare.
Blaming whingeing home-front intellectuals for the strategic errors of those who commit a nation's soldiers to wars without end is tempting, but wrong.
Small Wars Lost At Home Not on Battlefield.......2004-05-15
How Democracy Loses Small Wars is perhaps one of the most-timely, but unrecognized books dealing with the so-called "quagmire" and war prisoner abuse situations the U.S. has encountered in Iraq in 2004. Gil Merom addresses how modern democracies lose small wars against weaker forces. Merom writes that small wars are lost mostly at home not on the battlefield when a highly media-visible minority of the educated upper middle class selectively views with moral revulsion the brutality and casualties necessary to win war. In response, government war leaders resort to repress the ugly realities of war by deceit, censure, and crackdowns, attracting even more media attention.
Merom offers three case studies of the outcomes of small wars: the French Algerian War, the Israeli Lebanon War, and the U.S. Vietnam War. It is not the Vietnam War but the French war against Algerian independence from 1954-60 that may offer the best history lesson for the U.S.-Iraq war. France sought to hold onto its empire and oil and gas resources in a mostly Muslim country. The French had overwhelming military power. There were low casualties. The public supported the war despite concerns about the economy. The conflict entailed mostly urban guerilla warfare where one third of the casualties were due to ambushes. And the war was portrayed as a struggle between "forces of light and those of darkness." Sound familiar? France won the battles but lost the war and had to eventually pull out. Its citizens would no longer tolerate the suppression of wartime abuses by criminalizing the press, the seizing of antiwar literature, and invoking the military draft.
So look for the Iraq war to be lost not in Fallujah or Kandahar, but in Berkeley, Paris, or more lately, in Madrid or Abu Ghraib prison. Look for the war to be lost if U.S. forces resort to war crimes, cover-ups, abuses of the Patriot Act, and succumbing to provocations of anti-war activists. Thus far, the Bush administration has court-martialed those who have committed abuses, has reluctantly admitted to no WMD's rather than attempting a cover up, and have avoided anything like the opinion galvanizing incident of the 1970 Kent State University National Guard killing of student Vietnam anti-war protesters in response to the provocation of burning down the campus ROTC building.
Merom offers good analysis of the interaction between the military and civilian battlefields. His book could have been enhanced by an analysis of how, what sociologists Alvin Gouldner and Peter Berger call the "new class" are able to socially construct the military as comprising the moral low ground. As to the quest for capturing the moral high ground in the Iraq War, perhaps the often self-indulgent anti-war activists could be reminded of the tragic moral consequences of the aftermath of abandoning Vietnam - the Killing Fields, the Boat People émigrés, and the atrocities of Pol Pot in Cambodia.
Customer Reviews:
Long on small wars, short on airpower.......2006-01-19
This was well researched, but despite the title, it did not focus nearly enough on airpower. I also agree with Mr. Cappelli's assessment in his review. There is, however, some knowledge to be gained from the book, as the reader is able to examine some small wars side by side and see which aspects of airpower have consistently worked and which have not. The biggest drawback is the amount of material one has to wade through in order to find the bits where airpower is discussed.
To the authors' credit, the chapter summaries are good, and their conclusions covered in the final chapter are on the mark.
Half political history, half airpower history.......2004-04-29
I bought this book after reading some of the brilliant articles written by James Corum for the USAF official magazine. I rate this book with only two stars, because if one knows the history of various insurgencies of the past, can easily avoid reading half of the pages.
Corum and Johnson did not go deep in details, so the book remains just a general historical overview of the phenomenon of airpower against insurgents, even forgetting some minor wars (Sri Lanka against Tamils, Russia against Chechens, Morocco against Saharawis and so on).
Moreover, in the chapter dedicated to Colombia the two authors give an explicit negative political judgement on Clinton politics and overtly claim an American military intervention in the ongoing Colombian civil war: mixing politics with an academic work is not a good thing.
How low and slow do you have to fly?.......2004-03-04
The ideal aircraft in a counter insurgency war has to be able to fly low and slow enough to detect the insurgents and terrorists. But also have the ability to stay over the target long enough to direct firepower on them, if not fire upon them. While being able to carry the ordnance and have the speed to avoid being hit by ground fire. Does this require several types of aircraft, or is there one that can do it all?
Airpower in Small Wars presents over nine examples of small wars by giving the background of each particular conflict or the origins of each insurgency. The US Marine Corps is credited in the introduction and following chapter, with having greater interest and experience in employing aircraft against insurgencies. While the US Army Air Corps (later to become the USAF) focused on strategic use of airpower. The USMC still emphasizes aviation in its support of ground units with its close-air support doctrine. (Combined Arms Operations).
From the conflicts presented in the book, high performance jet aircraft are not particularly a benefit in the Counter Insurgency or Anti-Terrorist campaigns. And helicopters, though very useful are sussceptible to ground fire and Shoulder fired surface to air missles and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs).
The book also shows the interaction between the US and assisted countries with regard to supplying aircraft, supplies and training in relation to US foreign affairs policies.
Though recent US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq are not covered. The examples presented provide you a frame work to understand the current and past air operations in both countries. The peacekeeping mission in Somalia was not also featured but this is well documented in other books and a smilar analysis frame work can be applied.
It is the hope of the authors that this book may serve "to inspire other writers to take any one of the case studies as a starting point to more fully examine airpower in a specific conflict in much greater depth, then they will consider their book to be a very positive contribution to military and airpower history."
Amazon.com
Whether fought for commercial or strategic concessions or even moral reasons, whether little-known or well-publicized, America's "small wars"--against, say, the Barbary pirates and the rebellious Boxers--played a large part in the development of what historian Max Boot does not hesitate to call an American empire. All arguments to the contrary, Boot insists, America has never been an isolationist power; it has "been involved in other countries' internal affairs since at least 1805," when American marines landed on the shores of Tripoli, and it has "never confined the use of force to those situations that meet the narrow definition of American interests preferred by realpolitikers and isolationists." Closely examining the record of those small wars, which far outnumber major conflicts, Boot argues that Americans have a historic duty to deliver foreign nations from aggression, even to intervene in civil wars abroad, especially if the product is greater freedom--for, he writes, "a world of liberal democracies would be a world much more amenable to American interests than any conceivable alternative." Readers may take issue with some of Boot's conclusions, but they merit wide discussion, especially in a time when small--and perhaps large--wars are looming. Boot's book is thus timely, and most instructive. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
Reviewed and debated everywhere, this book has become a key volume in the case for a new policy of interventionism.
America's "small wars," "imperial wars," or, as the Pentagon now terms them, "low-intensity conflicts," have played an essential but little-appreciated role in its growth as a world power. Beginning with Jefferson's expedition against the Barbary Pirates, Max Boot tells the exciting stories of our sometimes minor but often bloody landings in Samoa, the Philippines, China, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Mexico, Russia, and elsewhere. Along the way he sketches colorful portraits of little-known military heroes such as Stephen Decatur, "Fighting Fred" Funston, and Smedley Butler.
From 1800 to the present day, such undeclared wars have made up the vast majority of our military engagements. Yet the military has often resisted preparing itself for small wars, preferring instead to train for big conflicts that seldom come. Boot re-examines the tragedy of Vietnam through a "small war" prism. He concludes with a devastating critique of the Powell Doctrine and a convincing argument that the armed forces must reorient themselves to better handle small-war missions, because such clashes are an inevitable result of America's far-flung imperial responsibilities.
Customer Reviews:
a must read for these times.......2007-09-28
One of the best books I have read about our (USA) involvement in a surprising amount of insurections and affairs that required more than the State Departments attention.
A seductive message, and yet it is wrong..........2007-07-29
I first read this book several years back, as a young Sergeant. When I first read it, the book seemed to make a lot of good points, and its logic seemed almost ironclad. After having gotten a bit older and a bit wiser, and having been taught at least a few formal critical thinking techniques, I now believe that Mr. Boot's book is pretty much wrong from cover to cover. He basically tells us how great and wonderful our military interventions have been to the world (and to our security), but when you start to look more deeply at his examples (Philipines, Haiti, etcetera) you start to believe that the truth is a lot more complex than he makes it seem.
I am no pacifist, and in many cases our intervention may truely have been unavoidable or have improved things, but the case he makes is almost entirely one sided. Look no further than his analysis of Smedley Butler's change of heart. *sarcasm* Obviously the man simply didn't see "the big picture". After all, a General with decades of experience in the very campaigns Boot cheerleads couldn't possibly be at least somewhat right in his criticisms. */end sarcasm*
I give it two stars because Mr. Boot is a good writer, and he knows how to make his argument seem irrefutable, even when they are very debatable. Just my 2 cents.
The perfect mix of analysis, narrative and good writing.......2007-06-18
The more history I read, the more I admire historians. Writing good history is not easy. You can be overly academic and the book becomes dry and boring, or if one just strings together interesting stories the book lacks intellectual weight.
The Savage Wars of Peace hits the mark. It finds new ways to tell old stories in a new light. Most military history focuses on the big wars and big battles (think D-day and Gettysburg). Many prominent historians have made careers stating the American way of war is based on mass and attrition.
Max Boot takes a different angle. Those "small wars" that pop up in-between the big wars are just as vital to U.S. military history as the big wars. As America looks toward the future of warfare it is looking less like Battle of the Bulge and more like numerous occupations of Haiti. The book carefully moves though American's small wars and demonstrates how similar they are and how regular, irregular warfare really is. The book is very pro-Marine Corps, but they are the ones who fought most of America's small wars and published the now famous "Small Wars Manual" in the late 1930s.
The book was written before the U.S. intervention into Iraq, but it does predict many of its problems. The first half of the book is stronger than the last half, and the last chapter sort of rambles, but it is by far the best military history book I have read this year. Well worth your time.
War is the last stage of diplomacy but small wars come first.......2007-04-23
When I first grabbed Boot's book, I was dreading yet another look at conflicts and was stopped at the first page. Boot's knowledge and depth in the small intensity conflicts of the US from Tripoli to the Banana wars of the 80's, is quite astonishing. Having been an avid reader of military history literature, I was caught surprised to learn something new at nearly every page.
I would offer that most readers need to have a good understanding of the main (or popular) opinion of the times the various events Boot refers to occur. This will help to expand the understanding gained by the reader. However, anyone with an interest in the lesser known acts of "diplomacy" engaged by the US government is well advised to add this book to thier collection.
I did find a certain sense of bias toward the Marine Corps (given that the USMC's focus has been predominantly centered on low-intensity conflicts, this is almost unavoidable). Still, being a former Marine, the read was quite motivational as well.
Given the topics of todays counterinsurgency (COIN) activites, this book will add depth and clarity to small unit leaders as well as policy-makers into the challenges the US faces in the near future. Like it has been said time and again, a firm understanding in the past will shed enlightenment of the future.
A must read.
While not supporting or defending the tactics of guerrilla forces of the past, to gain a first-hand dimension of COIN, consider reading Moshe Dayan: Story of my life. Its a bit older and obviously bias toward what may be considered unpopular (or even deploarable) actions of a nation in engaging in diplommatic conflict, but worth the read nontheless.
A good overview..........2007-02-07
Max Boot's book does a service in covering some lesser known aspects of US military history. The general history of small scale landings/naval activity to protect American citizens and trade is well known to many but some of the more obscure events like unofficial American attempts to control some western Pacific islands make interesting reading. This book covers events from the time of national birth to post Gulf War I.
Mr. Boot's writing style does not bore a reader but gives sufficent detail to elevate the book above a popular history. Especially enlightening are the chapters on the history of US military presense in China, the successful(during the actual occupations)efforts in the Caribbean and Central America and the Philipines.
The ending chapter on the lasting effects of these efforts and the likelihood of future efforts is maybe even more interesting. Agree or not with him, Mr Boot lays out some good arguments for most of these efforts to have been beneficial to both the Americans and the localities concerned. His points on Vietnam while not new, are concise and quite valid. The chapter dealing with the myths concerning US military incursions such as "need for exit strategies", "need for declarations of war", etc are excellent. His points on the current emphasis on force protection/casuality minimization are thought provoking also.
My problems with the book were actually minor. This book is unabashedly pro USMC, given the fact that a majority of the small actions were Marine not Army, this makes sense but to a retired Army infantryman...well its annoying (sorry)
One excellent and overriding point he makes however is this. The Armed Forces have overwhelmingly succeeded in their missions if allowed to do so, generally only homefront political interference, not their erstwhile enemies caused failure. With Iraq raging and an almost as hot a war being waged on the home front on the issue, history might be worth looking at.
Customer Reviews:
Extraordinarily researched and well written.......2002-01-22
As a fan of espionage, terrorism, and special ops. books I had to check this out. This covers a multitude of the aforementioned groups. It is extraordinarily researched and I strongly recommed it for the avid reader of books about "the weird world of Spooks, Counter-terrorists, Adventureres and the not-quite professionals.
Book Description
The primary objective of this book is to teach residents, fellows, and clinicians in radiation oncology how to incorporate intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) into their practice. IMRT has proven to be an extremely effective treatment modality for head and neck cancers. It is now being used effectively in other sites, including, prostate, breast, lung, gynecological, the cervix, the central nervous system, and lymph nodes. The book will provide in a consistent format an overview of the natural course, lymph node spread, diagnostic criteria, and therapeutic options for each cancer subsite.
Book Description
Readers tired of the same old workout moves can grab a sword (a broomstick and some imagination will do!) and slice, chop, and thrust their way into great shape. In Forza The Samurai Sword Workout, top New York trainer Ilaria Montagnani transforms ancient Japanese sword fighting techniques from kendo and aikijujitsu into a supercharged fitness program.
Specially designed to work the whole body, Montagnani's program teaches precise striking movements that shape the upper and lower body while building strength. Forza The Samurai Sword Workout is also a fantastic cardiovascular workout as various movements are strung together into movie-like, choreographed fighting sequences performed at high speed. The book includes a resource section explaining how and where to purchase various workout swords, including steel, wood, and weighted plastic.
Customer Reviews:
A workout.......2007-08-23
Doing the cuts and practices as instructed by the book can be quite the workout when you focus on the correctness of your motions, and doing them slowly can make it very rigorous.
Save your money, buy cat food instead.......2007-07-27
As a student of Itto Tenshin Ryu Kenjutsu (a classical Japanese sword fighting technique used by samurai) I must state that this book is a grotesque-horrible bastardization of samurai swordsmanship. Not to mention, you are most certainly going to get yourself hurt if you try to do what is described in this book.
Even as a cardio-workout, you are going to tare your body up. Why? the exercises in this book do not match the proper footwork with the appropriate cuts. Also, this type of moment combined with the hyper extension of the body displaces your center of gravity and will unevenly load your joints. An Olympic gymnast may be able to do this workout, but that does not make it right, and especially not right for someone trying to get into shape.
If you are a practitioner of the Japaneses sword and want a good laugh; then, by all means buy this book. You will laugh so hard you will commit seppuku.
Save your money..........2007-07-15
I bought this book out of curiosity, against my common sense.
I've been a martial artist for over 10 years and was interested to see what this new workout had to offer. After reading it I realized that what this book has to offer is very little. As novel a concept as it appears to be, this book was a waste of money, time, and publishing. There is nothing offered by this book that is unique or even worthwhile.
Perhaps the actual classes have more to offer, in person amongst other people, I'm sure it is more interesting. However if you're trying to learn anything or gain anything from this book, look elsewhere.
Go but not complete.......2007-05-12
Good book, but it seems to be lacking some depth. Excellent starter book and it is really hard to feel like you have done a work out unless you go for a very long time.
It is what it is.......2007-04-11
This is a great book for what it was intended to be -- a new kind of interesting workout. It was not intended to be a book about Japanese sword fighting techniques and the author states as much.
I got this because My daughter and I are taking karate classes and, though my wife was not interested in taking classes, she wanted to participate. These workout routines make a nice change of pace from all the generic aerobic stuff you see all the time.
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