Ford Reviews

This books leaves a mixed impression. First of all, although the book is called "for absolute beginners", it is not written as a book for housewives who never saw a computer before. It is interesting, informative, and the reader is assumed to be knowledgeable and capable of making informed decisions. In fact, one has to have a certain understanding of Windows (yes, it is not oriented towards Mac users) and TCP/IP to understand what the author is talking about. The author obviously has very extensive knowledge of internet security, and the book includes much of his practical knowldge. The negative side is that less than 1/3 of the book is generic and applicable to any firewall, i.e., discusses why home networks need to be protected, and where are the potential areas of vulnerability. The rest is step by step description of how to install and configure several commercial firewalls. Frankly, I do not understand who needs all these details since installation/setup guidelines are always included in the software manual which one gets in printed or electronic form together with the purchased program, whereas it is an obvious fact that any particular version of the program gets obsolete very quickly. I doubt that any of the descriptions of software from the book remains relevant two years after the book came out in 2001. I would rather prefer to see more generic (and less dependent on the software version) discussion of how to take advantage of the features present in most firewalls (blocking certain protocols, applications, IP addresses, etc.). All this said, this book is "beginner's guide" only because it does not get into too many details of what exactly firewalls do, and how they do it. However, those few items which are discussed are covered in significant depth and on a good professional level.

This book prefaces itself in that its intended purpose is not to cover all types of firewalls (e.g.corporate), but just personal firewalls. There are some great dives into previously unanswered questions I had:

1. Would I run a SW firewall if my DSL router already says it has a firewall built-in (answer is yes for a home LAN or a DSP WAN connection, no for low-speed dial up...)

2. How do various SW products (McAfee, BlackIce, ZoneAlarm) compare.

3. How do various HW products compare (DSL modems vs. Cable modems).(From a security viewpoint, there is a clear winner--you'll have to buy the book to find out though or else if I told you Time-Warner would send out someone to unplug my cable in retaliation)

4. How do I test these things once I get them installed? This topic was worth the price of the book alone...he emphasizes doing both Before & After tests to verify that insecure connections just become changed to secure connections. How many people might just install the SW or HW & then wonder "Did it really work? "What's different now than before?")

Overall, more useful information than I ever expected to find in this little book!

If you have a high-speed always-on cable or DSL connection then you need a personal firewall to protect yourself and your computer or home network from Internet hackers. This book covers both hardware and software based personal firewalls, including ZoneAlarm, BlackICE Defender and McAfee. You'll also learn how to lock down Windows security and test your computer's defenses by using any of a number of free Internet scanning services. Best of all, with this book you don't have to be a security expert or even know what a personal firewall is to get started using one. Highly recommended reading!

Ford's "Chemical Magic" is a book which harkens from a past era when chemicals probably were more easily obtained than today. The reading is quick and fascinating, and his summaries of why things work are very nicely done.

The result of passing time is that some of the materials used in some experiments may be difficult or even impossible to procure. However, you shouldn't allow this to dissuade you from getting this book - the experiments you can perform will provide you quite a lot of enjoyment.

Caution, however, is in order: Some of the reagents used are corrosive, poisonous, or even explosive. I'd advise ensuring that an adult is present to supervise if you care to attempt those particular experiments!

This book describes chemical experiments that give visible and
surprising results suitable for stage demonstrations. Presented as
recipes with short descriptions of of underlying mechanisms (usually).
What caught my eye was the number of classic demonstrations common in
older books but now largely dropped from children's texts as too
dangerous in ingredients required, or fumes and energy relesed.
Many of the recipes are about buring or blowing up things (Yeah! ;-)

* sugar cube treasted with conc H2SO4 black thing
* zinc based powder that emits green smoke when spat on
(thanks for teaching me this one Max ;-)
* colored fire powders
* flour cannon (did not mention that old quaker oats tin useful here.)

I am in favor of teaching children how to safely perform dangerous
science experiments, as this is the only way to learn to do such
things properly, (since many will do them regardless) and anyway the
kids would be up to more hazardous pursuits if the modest risks of the
laboaratory are denied. If today's young people do not learn how to
play with fire safely, where will we get tommorws homeland defense
technologists to fight our nations Fovever War against religous
fanatics?

However I would not encourage experimemnts involving the burning of
mercury compounds (see the blue fire formula) and the use of
carcinogenic, flamable or persistently toxic substances like CCl4 or
fluid mercury anywhere but in a proper fireproof ventilation hood.
The book does mark experiments involving toxic (like CCl4)
sponateously combustible (white phosphorous!) and powwerful oxidizing
agents (my fav: Potassium Clorate). Unfortunately the short length of
the text did not permit a more detailed discussion of precausions one
sould take with such materials, like eye protection, long fuses and
electrical igniter/detonators, and saftely practices like using very
small quantities of reagents the first time, not permitting murcury to
spill in places it could release fumes over time or form amalgams with
other metals and never premixing oxidizers with combustables unless
one knows the combination is relatively stable in the environment in
which the mixture will be stored.

I reccomend this book as an antidote the boring...
libability concious [material] present in most high school texts, but
would also require students doing these experimentr to read some
detailed laboratory procedures text, and practice these techinuqwes in
a laboratory under experinced supervision. The most valuable lesson
then obtained is the attitude of cautious adventurousness that helps many
of us to have a joyful time in the lab while still retaining all ten
fingers.

The activities in this book are not intended for home use; however, they work great as class demonstrations and/or student activities. There are a lot of excellent attention-grabbing results which, if not utilized as part of a core curriculum, certainly provide a memorable "hook" that can be used to teach essential National Science Education Standards topics.

I was on my way home from school, and as I was accelerating, I felt the front-end shutter, and when the shuttering had ended the car would not budge. The mechanic said that I would need another transition in the car. It would cost me $2,300 to fix the problem. I had no choice but pay the man. I found out later that this was a common thing for the 92' mercury sable. If you have any information about a recall on this please let me know... Thanks

When i am running on the highway around 140 k/h and a big freight truck cross close to me the taurus car are shut off the engine,always with the cold air and i need to stop for turn on again the key of the car. No body knows what happend with this in the winter. Do you know what happen with me car. Taurus 3.8L 1990.

one of the bolt on the cylinder head broke in half.I could not get it out,and antifreeze in my engine keep leaking out.how can i fix the problem

It was a great book for all car lover

Needed to get more chevy nolige on witch nose or rear back light extr extr with a certain type of building year. This is the book. Give's al kinds of just would like to know info. Engine,weigth,selling price,changes compaired to other types or years. they are al in it. LOVE IT! hhoeray for ted burness

A very, very good book for any Ford fans. You can distinguish between different years and models of Ford cars even though the differences may only be a subtle change in the grill. Filled with hundreds of pictures from Ford ads and others. It gives some varied specifications but this is not the strong point of this book. Its strong point is to have a quick reference book to help distinguish what year Ford you happen to be looking at and for this it is great!

Hard to believe Amazon.com can't keep their years straight when it comes to reviewing this series. Anyway, the latest collection of sports writing was all right but nothing special by the usual high standards. It's a smaller collection than normal, and there are a few hunting and fishing pieces that I couldn't get into. That didn't leave a whole lot, although what was left was pretty darn good. I particularly enjoyed the articles on the parents of a benched high school football player suing the school, and on the 1998 World Cup.

The 1999 edition of "The Best American Sports Writing" has plenty of moments that will enthrall avid sports fans and even those less avid who merely like a good story. The series is a national treasure, which collects the best sports related writing every year and puts it into a single easy-to-read volume. The sports included run the gamut from the traditional team sports of baseball and football to more extreme examples like mountaineering. The main requirement for inclusion is great writing, and that's wht this series delivers consistently.

The best articles in the 1999 edition include Thomas Boswell's account of Cal Ripken's voluntary stoppage of his historic games played streak, Steve Friedman's biographical article on tormented 2nd generation professional bowler Pete Weber, Allen Abel's hilarous tribute to the long-folded World Hockey Association, and Adam Gopnik's insightful explantion of why World Cup Soccer fails to excite American fans. As always, the quality of the reporting means that even if you have only a margainal interest in the sport described, you'll still find it entertaining.

Overall, another fine entry in an outstanding series.

As of 10/17/99 the consumer reviews for The Best American Sports Writing 1999 are actually reviews of The Best American Sports Writing 1998.

Here is another excellent book in Osprey's Campaign series. Presented in the usual format, with photographs and colour battlescene plates by Howard Gerrard (oh why, oh why did Osprey reduced the number of colour plates in the campaign books from six to three?), this book details the airbone landings made around and at Pegasus Bridge, the occupation of points around the Orne Canal, of the British 3rd Division's landing at Sword Beach (along with Lord Lovat's Commando), and the subsequent link-up between the invasion force and the paratroopers.
Ken Ford has done a great job recounting the British landings at Sword Beach, the extreme flank of the Invasion of Normandy (Why is it that everyone remembers Omaha beach best? The Brits did indeed take part in the Invasion!) and of the destruction of the Merville Battery. Included, along with the account of the airborne landings, is the French commado's capture of the port of Ouistreham, as immortalised in the film "The Longest Day."
I highly reccommend this book for those interested in both the strategic and ground levels of the Invasion of Normandy in the Sword Beach sector; the narration isn't too difficult for those of us who doesn't know a thing about military terms and vocabulary, it should be an altogether enjoyable and understandable reading.

The latest Osprey campaign title on the British D-Day landings at Sword Beach and the 6th Airborne Division landings represents a mixed big. On the one hand, Sword Beach is a well written and attractive synthesis of the critical eastern flank of the Allied invasion. On the other hand, this book is hardly original and in light of the excellent Battleground Europe title Sword Beach by Tom Kilvert-Jones last year, Ken Ford's effort seems to be following in well-worn tracks. Despite the plethora of other titles on this subject, Ford renders a yeoman's effort and has produced a worthwhile summary of the British campaign in and around Sword Beach in June-July 1944. The title deserves five stars for content, three for originality and thus a compromise four stars.

Ford begins with a short section that introduces the origins of the battle and emphasizes that the seizure of the French city of Caen was regarded by Montgomery as the key to the British landing. After a detailed chronology, the author provides a short section on opposing leaders and then a seven-page section on opposing armies. The author makes good points about the British substitution of self-propelled artillery and anti-tank in the assaulting 3rd Division, but tends to unduly denigrate the German 21st Panzer Division. Ford is a bit vague about the 21st Panzer - which is odd because Colonel Hans van Luck's account of that unit in Normandy has been available for more than a decade - and suggests that the unit was not really combat worthy and composed of cast-off men and equipment. The real reason the 21st Panzer was not rated fit for service on the Russian Front was due to its lack of a Panther tank battalion, but it substituted an assault gun battalion and was a fairly heavy unit. The reason for the unit's poor performance on D-Day was not due to poor leadership or poor quality troops but rather, due to high-level confusion and tangled command control relationships. Various German commanders, from Runstedt and Rommel, down to the local Corps and division commanders, vacillated between going after the British airborne, going after the sea borne landing or waiting to launch a properly coordinated assault in strength. Ford then covers the opposing plans in seven pages. The British 6th Airborne Division landings are covered in 17 pages, followed by 29 pages on the Sword Beach landings, 6 pages on expanding the bridgehead after D-Day, and a short aftermath. A ground order of battle for both sides is provided. This volume has five 2-D maps (British 6th Airborne landing areas, German defenses in Sword Beach area, the landings on Sword Beach, the Allied lodgment at the end of D-Day, the Battle for Caen) and three 3-D "Bird's Eye View" maps (British airborne landings, Sword Beach landings, 21st Panzer counterattack). There are also three excellent color battle scenes: the seizure of Pegasus Bridge, No. 4 Commando moves inland and the capture of Hillman position.

Overall, Ford's summary of the British operations in this sector of D-Day is accurate and succinct. Unfortunately, the author falls into the ex post facto trap of suggesting that once the British failed to take Caen on D-Day that Montgomery then planned to pin down most of the German armor in the eastern sector of Normandy so that the Americans could break out in the west. This is a post-war rationalization pushed by Montgomery's adherents, which conceals the reality that Montgomery had intended to seize Caen and exploit with armor on the eastern flank but he repeatedly failed to accomplish this. Furthermore, the author tends to blame the 3rd Division commander for failing to seize Caen but ignores the plethora of missions given to this unit (seize Caen, link-up with airborne, link-up with Canadians, repel German counterattack and eliminate resistance nests in sector). Although landings of the British airborne were a great tactical success they were operationally sterile because Montgomery wanted to drive southward, not eastward. If Montgomery really wanted Caen on D-Day, he should have dropped at least one airborne brigade on the northern outskirts of Caen, which might have resulted in seizure of at least half the city on D-Day. Too much effort was put east of the Orne River, for negligible gain. The British drive inland was also delayed for seven critical hours by the 150 German defenders in the Hillman position behind Sword Beach (one wonders where all the 79th Armored Division "funnies" - tanks specifically designed to deal with bunkers and obstacles - were during this period); the author views the capture of Hillman as an out-an-out victory but in reality, the stubborn defense of that position upset the British timetable.

Readers interested in Sword Beach should use this book in conjunction with Kilvert-Jones book, because taken together they pack a lot of information and insight on this subject. Standing alone, Ken Ford's book lacks some of the depth needed for really understanding why the British failed to achieve all their D-Day objectives and why the German counterattacks were so ineffective. Readers should also consult Robert Kershaw's excellent Piercing the Atlantic Wall, which offers more material on the British landings. Oddly, Ford makes little mention of Allied casualties at any point, so readers will have to consult other sources for that type of detail. However one area where Ford out-classes Kilvert-Jones' book is on information about the battlefield today, particularly concerning the German bunker-turned museum in Ouistreham and the Merville Battery.

I noticed a few errors in Dr Forcyk's review, so feel urge to write a few correction in the hope that people will not be mislead.

Montgomery's strategy:
Refer to the Post D-Day phase lines, which suggested that Montgomery did intend to hold round Caen and thus attract the German armour, while allowing the American armies in the West to seize Cherbourg, as having a working port was vital to the success of the Invasion (though this did not work as the Germans destroyed Cherbourg rather effectively).
The so called "myth" about Montgomery's original strategy failing stemmed from arguments at command level based on the success of certain battles (eg Goodwood) failing to live up to Montgomery's hype. This was purely down to Montgomery's sometimes arrogant nature which upset certain people (Tedder, Patton etc). For rather obvious reasons, Montgomery could not publish his strategies at the time (the Germans would then find out), and so naturally the press asked questions as to why the Allied forces (particularly the British and Canadians, who I might add faced substantially better equipped troops, including the majority of the SS that was deployed in Normandy, and certainly more Panzer Divisions then the American armies) had appeared to stall in Normandy.
From this arose the "myth" of Montgomery's failed strategy. Though admittedly the British 3rd Division had failed to capture Caen, which was not planned for but was down mainly to problems on the beach, and the arrival of the 21st Panzer on the afternoon of June 6th.
And the relief of the 6th British Airborne Division was not the responsibility of the 3rd Division. The Special Service Brigade (the Commandoes) who landed at Ouistreham relieved the embattled 6th Airborne until their reinforcements arrived at 21:00 on D-Day.

The area East of the Orne was "operationally sterile"? Hmmm. Maybe so, if you call the holding of the entire Eastern Flank of the invasion "sterile."
Without the Orne bridges and the Breville Heights, and by not destroying the Dives bridges, the 21st Panzer could have quite easily rolled into the Eastern flank of the 3rd Division and perhaps got onto the beaches. The Orne bridges were arguably the most important single objective of the entire invasion!

Dropping an Airborne Brigade onto Caen?! I doubt that would have achieved a lot. Except massive casualties.

Hillman: The "funnies" were trapped on the beaches. Delays and the incoming tide, plus of course the Germans, resulted in traffic jams on the beaches. The British at Hillman were left with little armoured support. Bear in mind that this was the first time the 3rd Division had been in battle, and so over-emphasised the threat of Hillman and the German forces that were in there. Yes it could have been by-passed. But it wasn't. Fortunes of war.

"British failed to achieve all their D-Day objectives"? May I remind you that the 6th British Airborne was the ONLY D-Day unit to complete all their tasks (though the Merville battery was re-occupied later).
Caen is an issue that military historians will be arguing for the rest of time, only by considering all the options and decent sources (not Stephan Ambrose!) can we begin to get some understanding of what happened on D-Day.

Another good book on a Disney classic. Full of wonderfull drawings, sketches and animation concepts and background designs. I always buy the "Art of" books Disney puts out on each of their new films. It's always a treat to see how concepts of characters and backgrounds changed as they went along. Sometimes for the better, and sometimes not. Being an artist myself, I always enjoy seeing the drawings of the rough animation and characters studies. It's nice that they included some photos of the original source material from China in the front of the book. This again shows how far Disney's team goes to research a subject. The information and research shows up on the screen. And besides, the books pretty cheap, so you can't go wrong. My only complaint is that it could have been a slightly bigger book page wise.

I think this book's art is quite nice and that the text is gratifyingly bold, which I like.

This children's storybook is a shortened version of the movie, packed between two hard covers. The wonderful pictures are in full color and relive the movie's magic. A great addition to the disney classic storybook collection that every Mulan fan should have.

Fans of Tudor history will enjoy this meaty volume which delivers a very different take on the life of Queen Katherine Howard...she is hardly the hysterical and promiscuous girl so often depicted. Especially interesting characterizations of "Bloody" Mary Tudor and Henry VIII, as well. Strictly for fans of the subject, however, or otherwise tedious reading.

Ford Madox Ford's "The Fifth Queen" - actually a collection of three separate novels - is a fictionalized account of the fifth wife of England's Henry VIII, Katharine Howard. As A.S. Byatt explains in her Introduction, "This figure bears little relation to what we have about the real Katharine . . ." and thus the reader should be conscious that Ford's Katharine - a young, pretty, pious woman who yearns for a return to Catholicism after Henry's split with Rome - is strictly fictional. That said, the only real failure of this work is that Katharine is the least appealing, least interesting character; we first meet her as a dispossessed ingenue seeking entrance to Henry's court around the time of his disasterous fourth marriage to Anne of Cleves, and it is this description which will follow her throughout the book. Even as she becomes Queen, it is almost by accident, surviving the machinations of Cromwell, Lord Privy Seal and the recklessness of her devoted cousin Culpepper. She is Queen by default. She constantly protests that all she seeks is a Catholic England - the "old ways" - and yet throughout she resigns herself to letting events happen to her, as if she cannot control the consequences of her own life. Indeed, her final speech to Henry where she confesses to an adultery which did not occur, becomes her last fatal act of passivity, for which she pays with her life. She cannot see that there are those who wish to help her and that her naive, narcissistic piety does not have to be her ruin. What holds these novels together is the rich supporting cast: the aforementioned Cromwell, who has his own sovereign Protestant image of England, free from the entanglements of Rome. There is the brooding Princess Mary, Henry's daughter by his first wife, who knows how to carry a grudge for her mother's divorce, the super-spy Throckmorton, the lecherous Magister Udal and more. Ford uses Katharine to show that the blind commitment to an ideal - any ideal - will only result in failure, that this world is more than ideas and faiths, but of people who are imperfect, people who will fail. It is a world five hundred years in the past, but it is also our own.

Intrigue and romance in the court of Henry VIII
Katherine Howard, armed only with education, wit and honesty, becomes the Fifth Queen, Henry VIII's fifth wife in this amazing historical trilogy. The plot-ridden court comes to vivid life as everyone high and low maneuvers for advantage. Everyone except Katherine Howard, whose unwillingness to scheme will make her queen and defenseless at the same moment. Even knowing the general story this is a fascinating and occasionally shocking novel, with a stunning ending...

Lots of photos, videos of old Mustang commercials, even audio clips of different engine and exhaust sounds! I hope they release an updated version once the new 2005 Mustang comes out.

I am not tom-boy but I love one car the Mustang.My Favorite is the 69 429 Boss.Before I loved the 01-02mustang.When I got this CD i fell in love with the boss!Althought the Cd is missing a little information in some areas I still recomend this CD,for a mustang lover!!!...

Incredible CD-ROM with everything you could posibly want to know about the Mustang. Hundreds of high-res photos. It even has TV commercials and sound effects. The screen saver is worth the price alone! I also have other titles from this author which I also love!

I read this book in the mid '50s. I agree that a Henry Ford buff will find this interesting reading. But this book is interesting to me for another reason. My grandfather worked for Ford Motor for years, and then for the Henry Ford Museum until he retired about 1952. From time to time he would see Mr. Ford. He told us that the Ford family had been offended by this book and had bought up as many copies as it could lay it's hands on.

If true, that could explain why it is so difficult to get copies of the original 1951 Gold Medal Book publication today.

After the pages of his original copy fell out of their binding , he stacked the leaves, drilled holes thru the margin cover-to-cover, and bound them all together with two pieces of string. When he died (1958), his copy passed into my mother's hands. About four years ago, it came into mine.

I was fortunate to stumble on another copy at a garage sale in the early '90s (for $.25). Also fortunately, it's binding is still pretty-much in tact. It's the only other copy that I've ever seen.

Harry Bennett's story of his life as Henry Ford's right hand man. Bennett served as Henry Ford's assistant for many years - almost running Ford Motor Company at times. Hated by the majority of the Ford family and even by many Ford employees; nevertheless, Bennett seemed to have unequalled power within the organization. This is his account of his role in the automobile manufacturer's interesting history and struggle's with the Ford family. Written years after his retirement from Ford Motor Company. Interesting reading but keep in mind that this is Bennett's story and could be considered one-sided.

Why hasn't anyone found me this book?