Financial Consideration of Executive Compensation and Retirement Plans (The Wiley/Ronald Series in Professional Accounting and Business)

Book Description

What if you weren't planning to become a trainer . . . but now you have to train someone? Or what if you are planning to become a trainer . . . but you have no idea where to start? How can you effectively communicate your expertise to your audience? This book has the answers.

A training workshop can be frightening for both neophytes and old pros. You know you have the knowledge. But just having knowledge is not enough. You need to match your training to your audience. You need to establish the learning objectives of your audience. You need to explain yourself clearly, to ask and answer the right questions, to relate to your audience. You need to determine how you will evaluate the effectiveness of your training. Basically, you need a plan, and you want it fast.

"This book is designed to answer the questions that I have been asked over and over again by students. Each key concept is linked to one of Aesop's Fables to make it easy to remember. The writing is deliberately simple and practical. I'm convinced that if you apply the concepts, you'll do a good job."
--Eileen K. Van Kavelaar, Author

You have the road map in your hands: follow this book. Fill in the worksheets as you progress. And when you are finished, you will have prepared a flawless program. Van Kavelaar takes what can be an overwhelming event--a training workshop--and divides it, chapter by chapter, into simple components. Breeze through these easy steps and you will find that your enormous event, your training workshop, is perfectly planned.

Each chapter begins with a fable. Each fable becomes an illustration of a key component of training workshop success. Van Kavelaar's engaging style moves you quickly through the essentials of workshop design, enabling you effortlessly to assemble a precise, effective plan. This book is excellent for accidental trainers, individuals who never identified themselves as trainers but find that they must share their know-how with others. And even experienced trainers will benefit from Van Kavelaar's back-to-basics approach to workshop planning.

Maybe you have never trained before. Maybe you have trained many times before. Maybe you are a manager who must give the subject-matter experts the tools they need to present their knowledge to their coworkers. Anywhere you need a training workshop . . . you need Conducting Training Workshops.

Customer Reviews:

Makes Creating Workshop Less Intimidating.......2004-12-08

Kavelaar shows in simple, easily-followed steps how to take intellectual content and turn it into a meaningful workshop curriculum.

Great resource for helping trainers organize and plan.......1999-06-19

Really enjoyed the analogies at the beginning of each section. The author definitely practices what she preaches.

A "must read" for novice trainers!.......1999-03-13

Before this book, I was at a loss as to how to effectively present training sessions on technical information. This excellent guide takes novice trainers step-by-step through the process. Handy fill-in worksheets at the end of each chapter provide a journal to use later. Each chapter begins with a guiding principle from one of Aesop's Fables that make the concepts easy to apply. I wish I had had this book years ago!

Conducting Training Workshops : A Crash Course for Beginners

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Conducting Training Workshops : A Crash Course for Beginners
Eileen K. Van Kavelaar
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MUH9UM

Amazon.com

Offered up as a lively and comprehensive alphabetical discussion of some 350 types of wine grapes, Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Grapes could double as a crush course in viticulture as taught by the award-winning, U.K.-based wine writer and coauthor Margaret Rand. Beginning with three lines for Abouriou ("on the way out, and won't be much missed") and ending with nine pages for Zinfandel, the book certainly delivers. And the approachable scholarship included in the introductory pages--touching on everything from the difference between a hybrid and a cross and the floating definition of "ripe"--provides an informative overview. Blending Clarke's Mourvedre-like, dryly tannic, intoxicatingly kicky writing style with the firm Syrah-esque backbone of Rand's collaboration, Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Grapes is premium juice. --Tony Mason

Book Description

The first authoritative, illustrated reference book on the world's great wine grapes in nearly twenty years.

Almost all wine lovers understand that the grape variety or blend in a wine is the most influential factor in a wine's taste. In Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Grapes Clarke explains and illuminates these qualities with concise and vivid descriptions of the 350 major grape varieties of the world, in an easy-to-use, A-to-Z format.

Special features on the classic varieties are exquisitely illustrated with original paintings, and double-page spreads on other major grapes describe the varieties, their history, geography, character, and cultural context. The transformation of grapes into wine is fully detailed and illustrated with charts that provide essential information on which grapes are allowed in each wine. The book concludes with a glossary of technical terms, a comprehensive index of grape names and their synonyms, and a general index.

With its luscious artwork, evocative text, and practical information, Oz Clarke's Encyclopedia of Grapes makes a uniquely attractive and useful gift-a delight to browse and a mine of interesting information.

Customer Reviews:

great grapes!!.......2005-12-06

I am in the wine business, and find this book to be a wonderful tool for times when I need further explanation or more detailed descriptions. I would recommend it highly for both pros and amateurs.

If you like wine, you need this book!.......2005-11-22

One of the most comprehensive books on wine grapes around. It gets to the heart of the subject: what a wine made from a specific grape should smell and taste like. My copy has been "borrowed" several times from my bookcase....

Fun, informative and open-minded.......2002-11-07

This is an excellent book, and I'd have to say it's generally better than Jancis Robinson's Vines, Grapes and Wines. Ideally, one would have both; if not, one would have Clarke's Encyclopedia. As another reviewer has noted, Robinson gives more attention to hybrids; this is surely forward-looking, especially given that the material is generally dated. Though most hybrids are indeed horribly yield-obsessed, there are some promising hybrids and crosses out there (not all of the American hybrids are foxy); many get no mention in this book. Yet there aren't many wineries using newer hybrids in the first place, which makes their inclusion (or exclusion) almost a moot point. Nevertheless, Robinson can come across as relatively rigid and conservative in other ways, at least in this superannuated book. Where Clarke, for instance, rightly notes Garnacha's potential, Robinson focuses on its ignoble role in the "wine lake,"-- in Garnacha's case, a particularly alcoholic and highly flammable one. Yet, to be fair, Clarke has time on his side: this is a wonderfully up-to-date book and he's had a lot more time to analyze the frequently obscure potential of what were once relatively obscure grapes.

Without comparing the two books directly, this book offers a lot on its own. It's impeccably laid out, with maturity charts, pictures of grapes and enough idyllic vineyard views to inspire anyone's curiosity. The glossary is thorough (a big plus in any reference work) and the appendix even contains Celsius/Farenheit conversion formulae, along with Brix/potential alcohol/sugar content charts. Most importantly, the intro is one of the best short introductions to winemaking principles and practices that I've seen (finally, someone has thought of outlining some of the attributes of different soil types and trellising systems!). The intro to Robinson's book is not even comparable.

Clarke's book is ideal for beginning oenophiles: it's concise but just informative enough to offer a good springboard for further reading. And it's an invaluable addition to everyone else's library (even as a more accessibly distilled version of Galet and Meredith's work). Start with Clarke, then pick up Robinson's book. Even though there are one too many references to the 1970s (I'm still waiting to see vinadors in flower-embroidered polyester pants) Robinson's is also a solid book. It's too bad no one updated Vines, Grapes and Wine. Either way, one can't go far wrong.

Good overview of varieties.......2001-11-13

In comparing this to Jancis Robinson's books on grape varieties, there are some better aspects to it and some worse. On the better side Oz spends several pages describing each major variety like Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. With detailed maps and a plethora of information on that variety (climate, soil, yields, etc). Where it falls down is the limited amount of grapes (compared to Jancis' books) they describe. The pay almost no attention to French/American hybrids. There has been an explosion of new varieties available to growers in the last few years, but this book breaks little new ground to give information on lesser know varieties. It shines on the already established varieties.

Oz Clarke's Grapes and Wines: The definitive guide to the world's great grapes and the wines they make

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Grapes Galore
More problems than advantages

Oz Clarke's Grapes and Wines: The definitive guide to the world's great grapes and the wines they make
Oz Clarke , and Margaret Rand
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0156032910

Book Description

First published in hardcover as Oz Clarke’s Encyclopedia of Grapes, Oz Clarke’s Grapes and Wines is newly revised and updated to provide the most current information on an even wider array of grapes. Oz covers chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, and fifteen other "classic" grapes in depth, and includes features on tradition and innovation, methods used in the vineyard and the winery, and different wine styles around the world. He also provides vivid descriptions of more than three hundred grape varieties organized in his renowned A-to-Z format, as well as a glossary of technical terms and a wine decoder that lists which grapes go into which wines.

This authoritative volume by one of the world’s great wine writers is all you need to distinguish among grape varieties— the wines they create and the flavors they contribute—and to make an informed choice on selecting the most satisfying wines.

Customer Reviews:

Grapes Galore.......2007-09-24

Completely updated, you can test this, learning the recent discoveries about the origins of Zinfandel and Primitivo grapes.(pag 293).
You can learn a little more about native portuguese grapes.
You would enjoy having a kind of glossary to "translate":
which grapes make which wines !,
so you can travel Europe strange names in the wine label, either from terroirs, clos, crus, vineyards, vignerons or wine-makers and evem fantasy names. Perfect for you, who love choosing wine by their grapes.
Schiffini, J. P. (Founder member of The Century Club)

More problems than advantages.......2006-04-17

Oz Clarke's Grapes & Wine takes a different tact than other large definitive coffee table-style wine books like Hugh Johnson and Janice Robinson's World Atlas of Wine, Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia, and Peter Forrestal's The Global Encyclopedia of Wine. Those books (and, indeed, Mr. Clarke's own New Encyclopedia of Wine) are organized based on countries and regions, while this book is organized by major grape varieties, which are arranged in alphabetical order.

As such (and despite what the title says), that makes this more of a guide to grapes than to wine. And that offers some advantages for a lover of, say, Chardonnay, who with this book can read and learn about they way the grape is used in California, France, and New Zealand, without having book markers protruding from three different chapters. The style of organization also allows for the history of a certain grape to be traced even when it crosses national borders, as is the case for every significant variety grown in the U.S. and many classic varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Nior, and Shiraz that have made names for themselves far from where they were originally cultivated.

But I believe the grape-oriented organization ultimately presents more problems than advantages.

From a purely logistical standpoint, it can be confusing because many grapes are known by different names in different places: what the Americans, Australians, and South Africans call Shiraz, the French call Syrah; what the French call Pinot Nior the Italians call Pinto Nero; and what people in one part of Tuscany call Sangiovese is referred to as Brunello, Prugnolo, and Morelino in other parts of the same region. Mr. Clarke solves this by listing the grape by its best-known name and making references to the others in the text (Shiraz and Syrah are listed in hyphenated form), but it might still be confusing to someone who became familiar with a grape by one of its lesser-known appellations.

Also, for a novice, it's not clear what grapes are tied to what kinds of wine in regions that don't reflect the variety on the label. So while the book does explain that red Burgundies are made from Pinot Nior and white Burgundies from Chardonnay, that Barolo and Barbaresco are both crafted from Nebbiolo, and that Chianti comes mostly from Sangiovese, the reader must first know these things before delving into the appropriate chapter.

But the most serious problem, I think, is that organizing chapters by variety presents a false choice: a light and crisp Chardonnay grown in New Zealand, for example, has more in common with the Sauvignon Blanc grown down the street than it does with a powerful and buttery Chardonnay from California. And what about regions known for blending varieties? In Bordeaux most wines are mostly Cabernet Sauvignon (Lafite Rothschild, Haut-Brion), but some very significant wines (Le Pin, Petrus) are made predominantly from Merlot.

That said, the book is packed with compelling writing and important and interesting information, and the photography is very strong (even if photos are for the most part a little small for my taste). This book, the last of three editions, was published only three years ago. Afterwards, editors divided the contents into two books: the aforementioned New Encyclopedia of Wine and Mr. Clarke's famous Encyclopedia of Grapes -- both of which I ought to be more familiar with. But after familiarizing myself with the high-level of Mr. Clarke's knowledge and his strong writing and at the same time being somewhat stymied by the way the book is organized, I can't imagine that the decision to divide these riches into two books wasn't a wise one.

Book Description

The observational evidence for the existence of black holes has grown significantly over recent decades. Stellar-mass black holes are detected as X-ray sources in binary systems, while supermassive black holes, with masses more than a million times the mass of the Sun, lurk in the nuclei of galaxies. These proceedings provide a useful and up-to-date overview of the observations of black holes in binaries, in the center of the Milky Way, and in the nuclei of galaxies, presented by leading expert astronomers. Special attention is given to the formation (including the recent evidence from gamma-ray bursts), physical properties, and demographics of black holes.

Book Description

What's new in dendrimer research? Just as these fascinating giant molecules are continuing to ramify, new perspectives and challenges continue to emerge. This bestseller on dendritic molecules discusses the latest developments in the synthesis and application of these macromolecules. It gives a comprehensive, up-to-date account of the topic, from the historical overview and theoretical background up to the most recent achievements.

Having shaped this scientific field, the authors are able to brilliantly combine the basic principles with a wealth of more advanced information. The optimal presentation of the structural features of dendrimers helps readers to quickly understand even sophisticated syntheses. For special synthetic problems, the well-selected, detailed list of references allows easy access to further literature. This monograph will undoubtedly prove to be of interest for both beginners and advanced scientists in organic and pharmaceutical chemistry, as well as material science.

Dendrimers and Dendrons: Concepts, Syntheses, Applications

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Dendrimers and Dendrons: Concepts, Syntheses, Applications
George R. Newkome
Manufacturer: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MBU0U2

Book Description

This introduction to software packages is written specifically for scientists and engineers who write programmes to get numerical results. It covers the whole range of numerical mathematics, from linear equations to ordinary differential equations, with short sections on the calculus of error and partial differential equations. As it aims to give a unified approach to theory, alogorithms, applications, and the use of software, the emphasis is on examples and applications rather than proofs. This book is appearing at the same time as PAN, software that contains all the programs described in the book, and additional useful software such as help systems, and utility tools as well as an enlarged hypertext version of the text.

Numerical Methods and Scientific Computing: Using Software Libraries For Problem Solving

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Numerical Methods and Scientific Computing: Using Software Libraries For Problem Solving
Norbert Kockler
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKZ0C4

Book Description

They are the unforgettable leaders who inspired their troops, the tacticians who devised the wiliest strategies, the military mavericks who won the wars. Although more than 2000 years separate Alexander the Great from Giap, the single-minded commander of the North Vietnamese forces that defeated the U.S., each of these outstanding characters has something to teach us about military history. They include Shaka Zulu, Stonewall Jackson, Garibaldi, Lawrence of Arabia, and Patton--12 in all.

Customer Reviews:

Rooney Loves Windgate.......2006-05-08

This is supposed to be a book about great military leaders, and the maverick qualities that gave them the ability to defy contemporary conventions and to think out of the box.

In fact Rooney never really defines what a maverick is, what a leader is, and how a maverick leader differs from a conventional leader.

Which brings us the the true reason for this book. David Rooney loves Orde Windgate, and has spent his writing career building the proposition that Orde Windgate was a military genius, and that the failure of his Chindit organisation, and the horrific death toll of his men, were due to the machinations of his many enemies in the Military.

Every "Maverick" is compared to Windgate. This is done to make it seem that Windgate, instead from being a nobody in a sideshow of the second world war, was an Alexander, a Garibaldi, a Lawerence of Arabia. He wants to list Windgate amongst the great names of military legend. Quite why I do not know. In any case it has backfired by undermining the book.

This could be a good book if it was rewritten properly, and if Windgate was left out.

Not a Serious Study, but I don't think it was intended to be.......2005-06-09

Rooney writes what he wants to write about and there is usually little ground breaking work in any of his books. They usually serve as general introductions into other subjects. So this books offers a little light intro into 12 Military Commanders of all time. There is little to unite them except to lump them into being "mavericks" of a kind... though Rooney does not give us a definition of Maverick.

In addition the book carries no analysis and little compilation. If one were to do one's own analysis then we can reach the assumption that mavericks:
1) Lead from the front
2) Are passionate
3) Have a meglomaniacal belief in themselves (with the exception of Guderian)

Beyond that I really do not know what the selection of this disparate group of people is supposed to prove.

I had low expectations. I just wanted a military book to cover a few historical areas in short, light chapters to be used for bathroom reading. In this sense the book admirably fulfilled my expectations.

An interesting note is that Rooney also uses this book to plug his idea of the "brilliance" of Orde Wingate... I personally disagree with his passion and I find the continued reference to every military leader in comparison with Wingate a little disconcerting and, frankly... odd...

A Lacking Compilation.......2004-10-03

Rather than provide a thorough study of any one military maverick, Rooney, in this uninspiring compilation, attempts to introduce the already well-known facts and idiosyncrasies of certain well-known military commanders.

The book is divided into twelve chapters, each discussing one notable individual. Each chapter provides a brief (generally too brief) bio of the man, a short history of the conflicts in which he gained fame, a quick allusion to certain eccentricities, and finally a short prologue. I found the book lacking historical insight, as well as a readable style, which leaves the work at times slow and monotonous. Rooney's book perhaps would have been better recieved had he shortened the number of characters from twelve to six and expanded the chapters to create a more full description of the individuals.

Although the author attempts to render a history of martial nonconformists from Alexander to Guderain, each brief biography lacks any real meat, or surprising new information. All too often Military Mavericks leaves the reader wondering just how much time Rooney spent on his work.

Not very well done.......2004-03-08

I'll concur with the other reviews here. The book is short on scholarship and is really a precis of the work of others. Little in the way of references, and one suspects, original research. No significant conclusions, no real surprises, and a very straight-forward retelling of well-known biographies.

The author should probably have chosen lesser well known subjects, and done more primary research with extensive footnotes. Even if one argues this is simply intended as "light reading", it's all been said before.

orthodoxy before victory.......2002-05-24

The author introduces in this book as many elements of psychology or psychopathology in studying military personalities than about strategy or tactics. Summing up, he says religious, sexual or another suspected peculiarities are compensated by great skills in war. It seems to me these type of judgements are little professional and mostly rough, although if he's right or not it's impossible for me to say but at last he's not a physician, but a military teacher and those matters are delicate. The most objective fact is that war isn't different from any other human activity in what respect for social stereotyped conducts, and so, this results in that great heroes or original military men, also are subject to social critics almost even in the heat of fire. This is specially clear in the case of Orde Wingate or Lawrence of Arabia. The victories achieved by these men no matter how valuable, seems as if his comrades would prefer an orthodox defeat than an irregular victory. Only personages above the media as Churchill are capable to appreciate the value of uncommon, high capable men.

Amazon.com

In her early 50s, Australian historian Inga Clendinnen fell ill with acute liver disease. "'Fall' is the appropriate word," she writes. "It is ... like falling down Alice's rabbit hole into a world which might resemble this solid one, but which operates on quite different principles." Her imaginative, unconventional memoir mirrors the hallucinatory nature of this world as she mingles reminiscences, fiction, hospital sketches, and family profiles to chart the course of her physical and mental life from diagnosis through a successful liver transplant and recovery.

Anyone who has ever been in a hospital will recognize the frail, vulnerable, disoriented state of mind she evokes in describing her time there. Yet Clendinnen also displays biting humor (especially in portraits of fellow patients) and an almost mystical sense of purpose as she seizes on writing as the tool to make sense of her situation. Childhood memories loom large, many invoking the beauty of the natural world, ever-present and overwhelming in rural Australia. Presiding over that childhood, her proud, stoical, impenetrable mother "provided me with an inspiriting mystery: the obdurate opacity of other beings"--and sparked, Clendinnen believes, her lifelong pursuit of historical mysteries.

But the experience of being seriously ill dominates this text. The title comes from her determination to emulate a zoo tiger she admires because he refuses to acknowledge his imprisonment: "I too was in a cage, with feeding times and washing times and bars at the side of my cot, and people coming to stare and prod ... whenever I felt the threat of the violation of self, I would invoke the vision of the tiger." For all the grim candor with which she evokes physical deterioration, Clendinnen also persuasively conveys her discovery that "illness casts you off, but it also cuts you free ... the clear prospect of death only makes living more engaging." --Wendy Smith

Book Description

"A decade ago...I fell ill.'Fall' is the appropriate word; it is almost as alarming and quite as precipitous as falling in love."

So begins Inga Clendinnen's beautifully written, revelatory memoir exploring the working of human memory and the construction of the self. In her early fifties, Clendinnen, Australia's award-winning historian of Mayan and Aztec history, was struck with an incurable liver disease, immobilized and forced to give up formal research and teaching. From her sickness comes a striking realization of literacy's protean possibilities: that writing can be a vital refuge from the debilitation of the body, and that the imagination can blossom as the body is enfeebled.

Exiled from both society and the solace of history, and awaiting the mysterious interventions of medical science, Clendinnen begins to write: about her childhood in Australia, her parents, her neighbors, her own history. In addition to recovering half-forgotten stories -- about the town baker and his charming horse, Herbie, about the three elderly, reclusive sisters who let her into their clandestine world -- Clendinnen invents new ones to escape the confines of the hospital, with subjects ranging from the jealousies between sisters to a romantic, Kafkaesque encounter on a train. She also traces the physical, mental and moral impacts of her disease, and voices the terrifying drama of bizarre, vivid drug- and illness-induced hallucinations -- even one she had during her liver transplant.

Along the way, Clendinnen begins to doubt her own memories, remembering things that she knows cannot have happened and realizing that true stories often produce a false picture of the whole. With her gifts for language and observation, Clendinnen deftly explores and maps the obscure terrain that divides history from fiction and truth from memory, as she tries to uncover the relationship between her former selves and the woman she is now. An exquisite hybrid of humorous childhood recollections, masterful fictions and probing history, Tiger's Eye is a uniquely powerful book about how illness can challenge the self -- and how writing can help one define and realize it.

Customer Reviews:

Slow going.......2001-12-17

I have to disagree with the other reviewer with 5 stars. The book just didn't grab me as I hoped it would, and it was a bit of a struggle to complete. I thought about ditching it at around page 50, but continued on to see if it improved--which it did to a small extent. After reading other books about people with illnesses, I found that Tiger's Eye paled in comparison. Go for "It's Not About the Bike" by Lance Armstrong if you want a more gripping personal account of someone dealing and overcoming serious illness. Now that's a real page-turner!

Hour of Lead, Remembered.......2001-08-07

Tiger's Eye is Inga Clendinnen's account of her diagnosis of a rare liver disease, her rapidly debilitating illness, finally a liver transplant and ultimate if precarious recovery. But that is like saying Moby Dick is about whaling. This historian from Australia has written a superb treatise full of hard truths on both illness and memory. After all, the truth is not always carried on angels' wings. Along the way she also has written fiction-- short stories-- and some of the history of Australia. After her diagnosis of Active Auto-Immune Hepatitis, she began writing this memoir on her laptop computer, not knowing if she would live or not. She writes searing accounts of her hospitalization: the good, the bad, the indifferent hospital personnel. The visitors who came late and leave early, to get back to their lives outside an institution.

Ms. Clendinnen writes: "What distinguishes the healthy from the ill--which is a more significant division in any society than class or gender or possibly even homelessness--is that the healthy consider feeling well to be the normal state of things." Then there is memory and all the attendant problems. For example, two children of the same parents have different recollections of their parents, but they are both right. "Being ill had taught me how much of ourselves there is in all the stories we tell about the past." Ms. Clendinnen wanted to preserve the memories of her parents, to try to discover what they were like before she was born. The portraits, "as accurate as memory allows," the author would say, of her parents are the best thing I think in this book. Her descriptions of her mother Catherine, born in Melbourne in 1897-- and her futile attempts ever really to know her mother made my eyes water. Her mother's hard life was in some part her own making. Not all her sisters, for example, were as miserable as she. About her mother's death, Ms. Clendinnen writes "how could her life be ending when it had not yet begun? Bound from childhood in a net of unsought obligations, she fought hard, but with weapons which always turned and lacerated her own flesh. In the desolation of old age, with death imminent, I think she finally knew herself to have been trapped, and defeated, from the beginning."

Ms. Clendinnen named this memoir Tiger's Eye after her favorite animal, the tiger, "because he was the only animal who did not acknowledge he was in a cage. . . I too was in a cage, with feeding times and washing times and bars at the side of my cot, and people coming to stare and prod, but the kaleidoscope of the horror of helplessness ceased to turn because I withdrew my consent from it." Like Melville's Ishmael, the now wiser writer lived to tell her tale: "Illness granted me a set of experiences otherwise unobtainable. It liberated me from the routines which would have delivered me, unchallenged and unchanged, to discreet death. Illness casts you out, but it also cuts you free. I will never take conventional expectations seriously again, and the clear prospect of death only makes living more engaging." There is so much to learn from Ms. Clendinnen's ordeal-- about illness, about courage, about getting on with our lives. A very fine book indeed.

Average customer rating:

Like it was

Spiceberry Point

Forget the previous review

Yawner

A Story of Integrity and Dignity. And of Life.

Eye of the Tiger: Memoir of a United States Marine, Third Force Recon Company, Vietnam
John Edmund Delezen
Manufacturer: McFarland & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0786416564

Book Description

"We live together under the thick canopy, each searching for the other; the same leeches and mosquitoes that feed on our blood feed on his blood." John Edmund Delezen felt a kinship with the people he was instructed to kill in Vietnam; they were all at the mercy of the land. His memoir begins when he enlisted in the Marine Corps and was sent to Vietnam in March of 1967. He volunteered for the Third Force Recon Company, whose job it was to locate and infiltrate enemy lines undetected and map their locations and learn details of their status. The duty was often painful both physically and mentally. He was stricken with malaria in November of 1967, wounded by a grenade in February of 1968 and hit by a bullet later that summer. He remained in Vietnam until December, 1968.

Delezen writes of Vietnam as a man humbled by a mysterious country and horrified by acts of brutality. The land was his enemy as much as the Vietnamese soldiers. He vividly describes the three-canopy jungle with birds and monkeys overhead that could be heard but not seen, venomous snakes hiding in trees and relentless bugs that fed on men. He recalls stumbling onto a pit of rotting Vietnamese bodies left behind by American forces, and days when fierce hunger made a bag of plasma seem like an enticing meal. He writes of his fallen comrades and the images of war that still pervade his dreams.

This book contains many photographs of American Marines and Vietnam as well as three maps.

Customer Reviews:

Like it was.......2007-05-14

This book tell the real story, of the daily routines of a Grunt/ Infantryman in Nam. No glamorizing/glorifications.

Spiceberry Point.......2005-09-14

Eye of the Tiger is incredible. Every time I read it I am transported back to Viet Nam. It is the summer of 1967 and I am again humping a pack in the DMZ, searching for the North Vietnamese Army. I can feel the sweltering heat and taste my sweat as I slowly and gently push aside the next little bit of jungle with my left hand, eyes constantly moving in a sideways figure 8 pattern searching for color, shape, movement, anything that does not belong, searching, searching. We've heard chopping all morning. Is that log the corner of a bunker? What's that smell? Did one of our guys fart or one of theirs? Which way is the wind moving? M-16 in my right hand, stock clamped between bicep and side, finger on trigger, thumb on safety, trusting from experience my subconscious will recognize the next deadly threat and, I will without thinking simultaneously flick the safety to full auto and pull the trigger a fraction of a second faster than he does, killing him before he kills me. Nothing exists but this moment.

Delezen paints word pictures that are so incredibly powerful that I am mesmerized, transformed, taken aback and admit to myself, yes, this is what it was like, this is real. I know it is real because I was his pointman in 3d Force Recon team Spiceberry One. Thank you for telling it your way, Eddie.

Forget the previous review.......2005-07-06

It is obvious that this person lacks any ability to fairly provide critique for any work of literature. His remarkes that Eye of the Tiger does not suit his personal tastes are quite biased..perhaps a bit predjudiced. The book is everything that the reviewer did not like and it is these very qualities that have turned it into a best seller. I decided to research the critic and found that he has no credentials what so ever and this is merely his second review; perhaps a bit over his head to say the least. I think that he will realize that his opinion is not of any value judgeing by the votes cast by other readers. It is not fair that these "hatchet weilders" are allowed to voice an opinion when they lack the ability to articulate on anything but "Ramboesque" novels.
This was a review that came from a person that lacks the knowledge or ability to present artistic dialog, in short he jumped in over his head and now his reputation will be ruined...there are many people upset over this blast of such a wonderful piece of literature. I would advise the reviewer that stated "Yawner" to take some creative writing classes at his local community college; this is perhaps the worst review I have seen thus far on Amazon. I am surprised that it was allowed to be posted... he is finished.

Yawner.......2005-07-02

While I have the utmost respect for the service of Mr. Delezen and the constant dangers that he and his teammates faced, I didn't really enjoy his writing style, which appeared to be very philosophical and lacked a great amount of detail. It almost seemed to be written in the third person with an effort to explain the emotional and psychological gyrations of a combat soldier.

A Story of Integrity and Dignity. And of Life........2005-05-21

John Edmund (Eddie) Delezen joined the United States Marine Corps at the age of seventeen. After extensive advanced training for a Marine Force Recon Unit he was assigned to Vietnam in March of 1967. He spent 20 months in Vietnam (2 extensions)and after being wounded twice and suffering various bouts of malaria was finally ordered home for medically reasons with a severe case of that disease.

Marine recon units of 4 to 8 men operated on their own in the mountains and jungles and rice paddies behind enemy lines in Vietnam for 6 to 10 days. A nerve wracking and exhausting experience where day or night death could come at any moment.The main function of these small units were to gather information and movement about enemy units moving down from North Vietnam into Quang Tri Province, the Northern I Corps area of operation along the DMZ defended by Marines, and various Army units.

'Eye of the Tiger'is not a portrayal of blustering and bragging bravado, but of strain and sweat and constant fear. In no way is war glorified, or hatred expressed for the enemy grunts struggling to do their duty with their own constant fear of enduring hunger and disease, and sudden death.

Eddie Delezen narrates the days and nights in Vietnam with a distinct poetic literary beauty and even underlining love for the that ancient country and its people. As those who fought in Vietnam know, there is a deep scaring bonding of body and soul that takes place, not only for one's unit comrades, but also with Vietnam itself. A bonding that never totally fades away, but for some deepens in a spiritual way.

In the end, it is the human dignity, depth and beauty of this story that stays with you. 'Eye of the Tiger', in its way, echoes Stephan Crane's 'Red Badge of Courage. And like it, I hope is a story that will be read by the genrations to come.

A story that enobles and enriches a reader.

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TIGER'S EYE: A Memoir
Inga Clendinnen
Manufacturer: Text Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WQ199S

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