Learning Perl, Fourth Edition

Amazon.com

In this smooth, carefully paced course, a leading Perl trainer teaches you to program in the language that threatens to make C, sed, awk, and the Unix shell obsolete for many tasks. This book is the "official" guide for both formal (classroom) and informal learning. It is fully accessible to the novice programmer.

Book Description

Learning Perl, better known as "the Llama book", starts the programmer on the way to mastery. Written by three prominent members of the Perl community who each have several years of experience teaching Perl around the world, this edition has been updated to account for all the recent changes to the language up to Perl 5.8. Perl is the language for people who want to get work done. It started as a tool for Unix system administrators who needed something powerful for small tasks. Since then, Perl has blossomed into a full-featured programming language used for web programming, database manipulation, XML processing, and system administration--on practically all platforms--while remaining the favorite tool for the small daily tasks it was designed for. You might start using Perl because you need it, but you'll continue to use it because you love it. Informed by their years of success at teaching Perl as consultants, the authors have re-engineered the Llama to better match the pace and scope appropriate for readers getting started with Perl, while retaining the detailed discussion, thorough examples, and eclectic wit for which the Llama is famous. The book includes new exercises and solutions so you can practice what you've learned while it's still fresh in your mind. Here are just some of the topics covered:

Perl variable types
subroutines
file operations
regular expressions
text processing
strings and sorting
process management
using third party modules

If you ask Perl programmers today what book they relied on most when they were learning Perl, you'll find that an overwhelming majority will point to the Llama. With good reason. Other books may teach you to program in Perl, but this book will turn you into a Perl programmer.

Customer Reviews:

An introduction to Perl.......2007-10-05

This book is a gives a gentle introduction to Perll; by the time you have gone through this book, you would have touched on some very simple operations and common language idioms found in Perl. This is not a comprehensive guide; on the contrary the book is selective about covering only those constructs and issues that one is most likely to face early on in programming with Perl.

This does not collect any of the more powerful feature in Perl like Reference; Data Structures; Manipulating lists of list.

I would not recomend this book.

Get the second edition.......2007-10-05

I learned Perl from the second edition of this book a few years ago, and was very impressed. After a few years without writing a single line of Perl, I needed to learn it again, so I bought the most current version of this book, the fourth edition. I was not as impressed with the fourth edition, it seems that a lot of the more advanced, and useful, stuff has been moved out of this book into the intermediate book. This book is missing a lot of the features that makes Perl a productive language. I'd try a few online tutorials first and then see if the intermediate book would work. Or, if you can find an older edition give that a shot.

Great book.......2007-08-12

First of all, this book is only the beginning. It does teach the basics including arrays, scalars, functions and many other topics that are central to a basic understanding of Perl. It also coves regular expressions which aside from the great swatch of modules is one of Perl's greatest strengths.

Because of that and the teaching style this book earns the 5 star rating.

Toward the end it hints at some of the other 'required' topics such as references, modules and objects. After you've read this book get a copy of Intermediate Perl to read up on those topics.

Enjoyable Read.......2007-07-25

The first thing that stood out to me about the book was the humor of the authors. The footnotes were not only informative but also good ways to lighten the mood of the book.
However, the jokes do not take away from the content in any way - you will learn a lot from the llama book. I always recommend the llama to anyone who asks for a book to learn Perl.
Now, this isn't an introduction to programming, programming basics are assumed (which isn't much to ask). But that's another thing I liked about "Learning Perl" - the authors give you the information you need with no fluff. Everything is straight to the point and explained clearly & concisely.

Perfect introduction to Perl scripting.......2007-07-14

I learnt Perl scripting from the third edition of The Llama, and recently had cause to brush up my Perl for a new job, so I thought I'd check out the fourth edition. I'm pleased to say it's still an excellent work. If you want to use Perl as a scripting language, this may be all you need for your entire scripting career. Some basic programming knowledge might be helpful, but even a complete beginner could get something out of this.

The basics are covered well: strings, numbers, control structures, subroutines, arrays and hashes, and most importantly, reading and writing files, and the mighty regular expressions. In fact, I've not read a better treatment of regular expressions anywhere else. Everything is clearly explained and well-written. Basically, this is the gold standard against which all introductory books to a programming language should be judged.

However, this book makes no claim to covering all of Perl. At least the main text of the book doesn't. I don't know what happened with the blurb on the back of the book, but it mentions, among other things: threading, references, objects, modules and package implementation. Technically, these topics are indeed present, but only in that a paragraph each is devoted to them in Appendix B. You will certainly learn nothing of any value about them.

There are some other minor quibbles: you may find the constant Flintstones references tiring after a while. Also potentially wearing are the sometimes inane footnotes, which breaks the flow of the reading experience for little reward. On the other hand, I found them a lot less annoying in this edition, so perhaps I've just mellowed out in the intervening years. Finally, the last chapter does a very whistlestop tour of map, grep, exception handling with eval, and array and hash slicing. I've never found the 'cram a bunch of stuff we don't have time to talk about into one chapter' approach to be very useful, and it doesn't work here, either. Fortunately, apart from the slices, it's all covered again at slightly greater length in Intermediate Perl.

Speaking of Intermediate Perl, if you want to learn Perl as a general purpose language, rather than for short scripts, you need to go and read that one next. Many suggest that you can graduate onto The Camel straight after The Llama, but I strongly disagree -- I tried and failed miserably.

But as long as you bear in mind you're only getting half the Perl experience, this is still the book I would thrust into the hands of anyone looking to learn Perl.

Average customer rating:

A worthy (as expected) successor
Good follow up to the The Llama, but poorly organised
Good Book For Classroom Setting
Good, but not great
Good sequel to Learning Perl

Intermediate Perl
Randal L. Schwartz , Tom Phoenix , and brian d foy
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0596102062

Book Description

Originally released in 2003 as Learning Perl Objects, References, and Modules and revised and updated for Perl 5.8, this book offers a gentle but thorough introduction to intermediate programming in Perl. Written by the authors of the best-selling Learning Perl, it picks up where that book left off. Topics include:

Packages and namespaces
References and scoping
Manipulating complex data structures
Object-oriented programming
Writing and using modules
Testing Perl code
Contributing to CPAN

Following the successful format of Learning Perl, we designed each chapter in the book to be small enough to be read in just an hour or two, ending with a series of exercises to help you practice what you've learned. To use the book, you just need to be familiar with the material in Learning Perl and have ambition to go further.

Perl is a different language to different people. It is a quick scripting tool for some, and a fully-featured object-oriented language for others. It is used for everything from performing quick global replacements on text files, to crunching huge, complex sets of scientific data that take weeks to process. Perl is what you make of it. But regardless of what you use Perl for, this book helps you do it more effectively, efficiently, and elegantly.

Intermediate Perl is about learning to use Perl as a programming language, and not just a scripting language. This is the book that turns the Perl dabbler into the Perl programmer.

Customer Reviews:

A worthy (as expected) successor.......2007-10-09

Successors are not always as expected. In this case you do get from this trio of authors, who are classics in their own right, just what you expect. In my own case, I needed to get good at OO Perl and fast. In three days, I covered the major chapters thoroughly, went off to my interview and in the end was told, "hey, you really know your stuff". This book intends and does indeed follow well the Learning Perl classic. If you finished the meat of the classic, this is the dessert. You'll recognize the writing style and flavour. There are no surprises. In my opinion, another classic.

Good follow up to the The Llama, but poorly organised.......2007-07-14

If you've mastered The Llama, make haste to read this one. Even if you only want to do scripting with Perl, you'll eventually find you need data structures slightly more complicated than just flat arrays and hashes, and you need to know about references for that. While The Camel does contain a fair chunk of material on just this subject, it was a bit too much for me to digest after The Llama. If Intermediate Perl (aka The Alpaca) had been around for me to read, I would have had a much easier time.

Written in the same style as The Llama, this breeze through most of the rest of Perl, in particular: references, objects, packages and modules. These are the bits that you need to use Perl as a general purpose programming language, not just for scripting. In a similar pragmatic vein, it also covers how to use tools to build your own packages in the CPAN style, and there's a good chunk of material on using Test::More for unit tests. Probably the only thing missing is material on type globs and symbol tables, although hopefully, brian d foy's forthcoming Mastering Perl will fill in these gaps.

The bottom line is this is Llama part 2, and you need to read it if you want to have any hope of understanding anyone else's Perl. But I can't give it five stars. The major problem is that the material is not very well organised. At the chapter level, objects are sandwiched between modules and packages. It would have been far preferable to keep the module and package information together. As a result, the distinction between modules and packages is rather muddied, and the introduction of objects in the middle just makes things worse. Overall, I found the explanations to lack the clarity of the Llama.

A more minor complaint is that, while there are mercifully fewer annoying footnotes, the Gilligan's Island theme (if, like me, you had no exposure to this growing up, you might want to read the Wikipedia article first!) grates far sooner than the Flintstones flavour of the Llama.

That said, make this your second book on Perl. Then, _still_ don't read The Camel yet. Avail yourself of Perl Best Practices first.

Good Book For Classroom Setting.......2007-02-20

I picked up this book for a class that I was teaching at my office. The goal of the class was to train HTML/CSS/JavaScript and/or Java programmers to code in Perl since a large portion of our code base is written in Perl. Overall, I think that the book was a good choice for the class for a number of reasons.

First of all, the book is already written with a classroom setting in mind. The authors have used previous versions of the book, titled "Learning Perl Objects, References and Modules", for their own courses. This updated version benefits from all of the hours of empirical testing that it has received in the classroom. There are many thoughtful additions like having all of the chapters close to the same size. This allowed for me to assign a single chapter per session and know that I could comfortably fit the lecture and discussion of the chapter into a two-hour session. There are also exercises at the end of each chapter and answers for those exercises (with discussion) in an appendix.

This book is good for getting people just learning the language ready for the TMTOWTDI/TIMTOWTDI aspect of Perl. Take something simple like opening files... there are at least four 'standard' ways to do it. The book prepares you for all of the different versions of annoyances/features like this that show up in Perl code by walking through the evolution of the feature.

Another reason that I like this selection of book is that data files and code examples are actually available for download. I've been shocked that some of the programming books that I've gotten lately actually don't have this addition.

Finally, the course that I'm teaching is for people who probably already know how to program, at least a little, but they don't know Perl. I didn't want to drag them through all of the picky details of the language by starting with "Learning Perl" or something equivalent. This book has been a good choice for introducing programmers to Perl. I do have to stop occasionally and explain some fundamentals of the language, but not too often... maybe I just work with smart (or shy) people :)

Of course, the book isn't perfect. As odd as it seems, one of the biggest complaints that I get is over the Gilligan references that are used in all of the examples in the book. There is also some coverage of packaging modules for CPAN. This is useful, just not for the particular class that I'm teaching, so we skipped that chapter. Of course, both of these complaints are pretty weak.

In short, this is a good book, especially if you are doing a training session about Perl.

Good, but not great.......2007-02-15

I didn't like the storyline, but I did learn how to handle anonymous arrays better.

Good sequel to Learning Perl.......2007-01-27

The first edition of this book was "Learning Perl Objects, References, and Modules". I never read that previous edition, so I can't comment on how that book stacks up against this new edition. This book is intended to pick up where Learning Perl left off. Its purpose is to show you how to use Perl to write larger more complex programs. As in Learning Perl, each chapter is small enough to read in an hour or so. Each chapter ends with a series of exercises to help you practice what you've just learned, and the answers are in the appendix for your reference. You don't have to know Unix to benefit from this book. Most everything in this book applies equally well to Windows ActivePerl from ActiveState and all other modern implementations of Perl. To use this book effectively, you just need to be familiar with the material in Learning Perl and have the ambition to go further. You should read this book from beginning to end, stopping to do the exercises as you go along. The following is the structure of the book:

Chapter 1, Introduction, just goes over what you should already know and how to use the book.

Chapter 2, Intermediate Foundations, introduces some intermediate-level Perl idioms used throughout the book. These are the things that typically set apart the beginning and intermediate Perl programmers.

Chapter 3, Using Modules, is about the building blocks for Perl programs. They provide reusable subroutines, variables, and even object-oriented classes. It also looks at the basics of using modules that others have already written.

Chapter 4 introduces references, which are the basis for complex data structures, object-oriented programming (OOP), and fancy subroutine magic. They're the magic that was added between Perl version 4 and version 5 to make it all possible. A Perl scalar variable holds a single value. An array holds an ordered list of one or more scalars. A hash holds a collection of scalars as values, keyed by other scalars. Although a scalar can be an arbitrary string, which allows complex data to be encoded into an array or hash, none of the three data types are well suited to complex data interrelationships. This is a job for the reference, which enables a level of redirection that allows the same code to operate on different sets of data.

Chapter 5, References and Scoping shows how to copy and pass around references like any other scalar. At any given time, Perl knows the number of references to a particular data item. Perl can also create references to anonymous data structures and create references automatically as needed to fulfill certain kinds of operations. This chapter look at copying references and how it affects scoping and memory usage.

Chapter 6, Manipulating Complex Data Structures, starts by using the debugger to examine complex data structures and then uses Data::Dumper to show the data under programmatic control. Next, you learn to store and retrieve complex data easily and quickly using Storable, and finally you wrap up with a review of grep and map and see how they apply to complex data.

Chapter 7, Subroutine References shows how to capture behavior as an anonymous subroutine that you create dynamically and execute later. In the same way that taking a reference to an array lets you have the same code work on different arrays at different times, taking a reference to a subroutine allows the same code to call different subroutines at different times. Also, references permit complex data structures. A reference to a subroutine allows a subroutine to effectively become part of that complex data structure

Chapter 8, Filehandle References, stores filehandles in scalar variables that you can easily pass around your program or store in data structures. You've seen arrays, hashes, and subroutines passed around in references, permitting a level of indirection to solve certain types of problems. We can also store filehandles in references to create new solutions to old problems.

Chapter 9, Practical Reference Tricks,looks at optimizing sorting and dealing with recursively defined data.

Chapter 10, Building Larger Programs, looks at how to break up a program into pieces and includes some of the concerns that arise when you put those pieces back together again, or when many people work together on the same program. You learn to build larger programs by separating code into separate files and namespaces.

Chapter 11, Introduction to Objects, shows how to work with classes, method calls, inheritance, and overriding.

Chapter 12, Objects with Data, shows how to add per-instance data, including constructors, getters, and setters.

Chapter 13, Object Destruction looks at an important topic: what happens when objects go away. When the last reference to a Perl data structure goes away, Perl automatically reclaims the memory of that data structure, including destroying any links to other data. Of course, that in turn may cause Perl to destroy other ("contained") structures as well.

Chapter 14, Some Advanced Object Topics, answers the questions "Do all objects inherit from a common class?" "What if a method is missing?" "What about multiple inheritance?" or "How can I tell what sort of object I have?" and other advanced questions pertaining to objects.

Chapter 15, Exporter, shows how to decide what to export and how to create your own import routines. In Chapter 3, you learned how to use modules, some of which pulled functions into the current namespace. Now you learn how to get your own modules to do that.

Chapter 16, Writing a Distribution, shows how to package a module for sharing, including portable installation instructions. In the previous chapter, you created a fictional Island::Plotting::Maps module and built the right support for Exporter so that we could include use Island::Plotting::Maps in a program. While the resulting .pm file was useful, it wasn't very practical. There is more work to do before you can share your work, whether that means simply installing it yourselves on another machine or giving it to someone else to use.

Chapter 17, Essential Testing, covers testing your code to ensure it does what you want it to do. As briefly described in Chapter 16, a distribution contains a testing facility that you can invoke from make test. This allows you to write and run tests during development and maintenance, and it also lets your end user verify that the module works in their environment. You should look at "Perl Testing: A Developer's Notebook" for in-depth coverage.

Chapter 18, Advanced Testing, gives you a taste of some of the more popular test modules. These modules are usually not part of the Perl standard distribution (unlike Test::More) and you'll need to install them yourself. You'll learn how to test complex aspects of code and also meta-code subjects such as documentation and test coverage.

Chapter 19, Contributing to CPAN, shows how you can contribute to the Perl community at large. The mechanism for sharing your work is called the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN), which has thousands of different modules.

I found this book to be a seamless continuation of "Learning Perl". Everything is explained very well and there are plenty of examples. It really is ideal for self study. Having the answers at the back of the book was helpful, too. There are not just a bunch of pieces of code as answers, but good explanations as to how and why you would take a particular path in solving an exercise. Highly recommended, especially to the self-taught.

Average customer rating:

exactly what it claims to be
Important Note - Discontinued
"Evolutionary" method to explain Perl Structures, References, Objects
Great book
Definitely a Great Addition to any Perl Library

Learning Perl Objects, References, and Modules
Randal L. Schwartz , and Tom Phoenix
Manufacturer: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0596004788

Book Description

Perl is a versatile, powerful programming language used in a variety of disciplines, ranging from system administration to web programming to database manipulation. One slogan of Perl is that it makes easy things easy and hard things possible. This book is about making the leap from the easy things to the hard ones. Learning Perl Objects, References & Modules offers a gentle but thorough introduction to advanced programming in Perl. Written by the authors of the best-selling Learning Perl, this book picks up where that book left off. Topics include:

Packages and namespaces
References and scoping
Manipulating complex data structures
Object-oriented programming
Writing and using modules
Contributing to CPAN

Following the successful format of Learning Perl, each chapter in the book is designed to be small enough to be read in just an hour or two, ending with a series of exercises to help you practice what you've learned. To use the book, you just need to be familiar with the material in Learning Perl and have ambition to go further. Perl is a different language to different people. It is a quick scripting tool for some, and a fully-featured object-oriented language for others. It is used for everything from performing quick global replacements on text files, to crunching huge, complex sets of scientific data that take weeks to process. Perl is what you make of it. But regardless of what you use Perl for, this book helps you do it more effectively, efficiently, and elegantly. Learning Perl Objects, References & Modules is about learning to use Perl as a programming language, and not just a scripting language. This is the book that separates the Perl dabbler from the Perl programmer.

Customer Reviews:

exactly what it claims to be.......2006-12-20

This book provides exactly what it promises: a clear, concise, and complete explanation of how one uses objects, references, and modules in the Perl programming language. The didactic style does an excellent job of explaining concepts in straightforward terms, and maintains a light, conversational tone so that the reader doesn't fall asleep. For those who have a genuine interest in programming, and who enjoy learning new things, PORM encourages this and plays to it, to good effect. As a second Perl book after Learning Perl, I recommend it without hesitation.

Now for the bad news: this is an old book. The later editions have been renamed "Intermediate Perl", and more directly follows on the heels of Learning Perl. At the time of this writing, I have not read Intermediate Perl and cannot comment on its quality as an update of PORM, but based on a solid foundation like this it would be difficult to go far wrong.

Important Note - Discontinued.......2006-05-05

New editions of this book are no longer in the works, as this title is being discontinued. O'Reilly's "Intermediate Perl" by the same authors (Randal L. Schwartz, brian d foy, and Tom Phoenix) is the new edition of this book. The first edition of "Intermediate Perl" was released March 2006. So if you're thinking about purchasing this book, purchase "Intermediate Perl" instead. It includes the same material (albeit updated) by the same authors. Once again, this title has been discontinued.

"Evolutionary" method to explain Perl Structures, References, Objects.......2006-03-28

This book attempts something very interesting: not just to describe "how" central aspects of Perl work, but also to understand the process of "how Perl got there". Thus, the book does not serve the "conclusions" right away; it reaches them via a series of experimentations and improvements (in fact, similarly to what is done in other sciences).
To make it interesting (and humorous but realistic at the same time) the book presents a band of "software sailors", who write navigation software. They quickly discover the pleasures of workgroup development; they start reusing software with "eval" (on library files), they then limit unwanted effects with "do", to finally adopt "require" to pull a file only once. Then, after chaos still erupts on name collisions (two different "turn_to_port" routines with the same name, which send one boat into a loop..), the sailors discover "package", and finally, the fleet can proceed with a certain harmony [note: given the structure of the book, "use" will be introduced a lot later, in chapter 12].
This is a very original software lesson; for anyone who reads chapter 2, it will be hard to see the line "package Xyz" and not smile remembering (at least once) the conflicts between Skipper & Gilligan. This is great teaching, as your mind associates a "scenario", not just a "habit", to a programming line.

There are other chapters equally brilliant; more than the "Object" chapters, I liked especially the one on "Subroutine References". It begins explaining how to reference a named subroutine, and it then builds a hash of sub references. Then, it prods us to do the next logical step (with a trick which recurs along the book: "why waste some brain cells to define a name for each subroutine, to only use it to initialize the data structure?"), gently pushing the reader to accept "anonymous" subroutines, code them in the hash structure itself, and enjoy the remarkable simplification of the code that results! The stage is now set to introduce "Callbacks", and then "Closures"; again, with the same method of "one evolution at the time":
a) first a variable is declared to hold the callback, followed by a naked block with a private context and the callback assignment.
b) then the code is simplified with a subroutine encharged to contain the variables on which the closure is done and to return the reference to the anonymous subroutine.
c) last, it shows how the same subroutine can be invoked simultaneously, keeping its own context in every call.
I must say that, after you begin to realize the power of "Closures" (I went back to read "Programming Perl", p 260-262, to fully understand it), you regret that the only example given by the book is so elementary (findFile). Imagine instead, to remain with the sailors theme, a routine which computes a boat trajectory (closing on boat's initial position, velocity, etc), and a main routine instantiating multiple boats and launching them in a race. Multiple automatas in action (with a few lines of code!); this would close the chapter in full glory.

More than once you have the strange feeling that the book was written under a constraint of having less than 200 pages. Examples: it presents a remarkable lesson on Autovivification, but fails to alert against unvoluntary autovivifications (when testing structures for existence).
Or see for, in chapter 2, the section "Packages and Lexicals" whose first line is: "A lexical variable isn't prefixed by the current package because package variables are always global". The statement is not false but it is so awkward at the start a section ("X does not have property Z, because only Y has Z"). Why not to spend a few pages, mentioning the Perl symbol table and on this basis explain concretely the difference between "lexical, global, local"? else, everything remains so abstract.
Still, these are minor defects of an unique remarkable book. The introduction mentions that the material is built on the Stonehenge courses; for all of us without the opportunity to attend them, but able to read, think and experiment, this book is an excellent deal to "see" the Stonehenge people in action.

Great book.......2005-11-02

This book is perfect if you want to expand your perl horizon. It only gets 4 stars because, hey, I can't give everything five stars.

Definitely a Great Addition to any Perl Library.......2004-12-22

This book is great for just learning about OO concepts and their related functioning in Perl. Most of the other important Perl texts are very large and tend to summarize many concepts. This text takes Perl OO concepts and presents them in a very interesting and helpful format that is easy to follow. Perl is more than just a scripting language and this text helps you to understand this language from a different prospective.

Seal!: From Vietnam's Phoenix Program to Central America's Drug Wars

Average customer rating:

This is a true story:
No Nonsense!!!
Illuminating SEALS
Get over yourself
Real courage under fire.

Seal!: From Vietnam's Phoenix Program to Central America's Drug Wars
Michael J. Walsh
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0671868535

Book Description

A MAN OF ACTION

This is the extraordinary story of Lt. Cmdr. Michael J. Walsh, a veteran of twenty-six years of combat with the Navy's most elite special force -- the legendary SEALs. Outspoken renegade and consummate survivalist, Walsh began as a key player in the Vietnam War's top-secret PHOENIX Program. For a PHOENIX operative the goal was simple: invade the enemy's home and take him captive; remove the target alive if possible, dead if necessary. The Viet Cong soon feared Walsh so much that they placed a bounty of thousands of dollars on his head.

A MAN OF WAR

After five tours in Vietnam, Walsh refused to take a desk job, and subsequently spent more than two decades in combat in such explosive arenas as Lebanon and drug-infested Central America. From killing a VC general in hand-to-hand combat, to stalking anti-war activist Jane Fonda, to combing the streets of Beirut in search of his friend and former PHOENIX advisor William Buckley, Walsh and his unforgettable exploits stand alone as the pinnacle of daring and sacrifice in the storied history of the SEALs.

Customer Reviews:

This is a true story:.......2006-11-09

I served with Commander Mike Walsh During his tour of duty in Panama 84-86 I was attached to Naval Station Panama Canal, Combat Craft Unit. I was Boat Captain of PCF-4.(Patrol Craft Fast) As a Gunners Mate Guns Petty Officer First Class. Commander Walsh was a true professional. A great man on or off duty. I read this book in one day. Truly one of the best books that I have read in my life. Made me feel that I was back in Panama conducting support for the various Special Warefare Units that worked with. Iam proud to say that I knew Commander Walsh. A man that never forgot where he came from...

No Nonsense!!!.......2004-03-01

SEAL is still one of the best memoires available today!!!
After completing this work, I was blessed to locate and actually spend some time with the author.
Put succinctly, Mike Walsh possesses more personal integrity, patriotism, and courageous resolve than most anyone above ground today.
His book is a gift to Americans concerned with guts, veracity, and acquiring an education from perceptions only viewable through the eyes of a highly intelligent and intrepid warrior.
The California clown that offers the "get over yourself" review below obviously is blind to understanding that even a humble man
like Mr. Walsh, tasked with attempting to record his extremely extraordinary life, will seem (to an ignoramus) to be boastful.
Mike Walsh is not a boastful man.
SEAL is the truthful product of a matured, religious individual whose personal discipline, devotion to country, and unpoliticized insights offers this nation's youth a measuring stick for honor.
Although my service was with the army, I would follow this naval 'Commander' into hell if he so desired.
SEAL is strong evidence that Mike Walsh knows all about that arena.
Americans need to read this one.
It'll make your chest stick out a bit further.

Illuminating SEALS.......2003-03-24

This book was riveting! It provided historical value with a personal component that truly engages the reader. The book gave insight to why certain missions were successful, and how some missions went wrong. Lt Mike Walsh has helped me to realize that our nation is not asleep! Now that we are engaged in war with Iraq, I was able to imagine the in's and out's of the recent successful SEAL mission to secure the two oil wells on 3/21/03. And finally, Lt Walsh's personal life-changing testimony is wonderful! Thanks, Lieutenant!

Get over yourself.......2003-02-08

Two stars for the historical facts, zero for the self-admiring, self-adoring, self-aggrandizing tone that permeates every page. SEALS, the elite, the best, the true warriors, etc., etc. Gimmie a break. A touch of the short-man's complex, I think - Mike tells us in glorious detail how very wonderful he was and all of the great things that he did. The only folks portrayed in a better light in the book are "SEAL legends".... I mean, c'mon, let's have less bias, please! He makes brief mention of the Green Berets, Aplini, SAS and Aussie SAS in the book, praising them, but it's otherwise "SEALS rule, don't mess with us, we're fierce warriors!". Listen, Bud, if you need to keep telling everyone this all the time, it's obvious that you don't believe it yourself.

The true warriors are the ones that Mike doesn't know about - they do their job well and no one ever knows it was done. No mention of these truly elite operators in this book. The self-congratulatory tone is almost nauseating in many chapters. There are so, so many books about elite forces and Viet nam, all available on AMAZON, that are much better than this hymn to SEALS.

Real courage under fire........2002-07-09

The story of an extraordinary man doing his daily job. This book provides insight into the elite fighting groups who defend our freedom. Included in this book are various pictures of Lt. Cmdr. Michael J. Walsh, USN, who is now retired. If you want to know what goes on behind the scenes, behind the news stories, read it.

Average customer rating:

Valentine's book is flawed and misleading
Revisionist History Discrediting True Hero's
Disappointing
Just one question ....
Excellent read, very readable, on a difficult subject

The Phoenix Program
Douglas Valentine
Manufacturer: Backinprint.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0595007384

Book Description

"An important work."

—John Prados, author of President's Secret Wars

"This definitive account of the Phoenix program, the US attempt to destroy the Viet Cong through torture and summary execution, remains sobering reading for all those trying to understand the Vietnam War and the moral ambiguities of America’s Cold War victory. Though carefully documented, the book is written in an accessible style that makes it ideal for readers at all levels, from undergraduates to professional historians."

—Alfred W. McCoy, author of The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade

Customer Reviews:

Valentine's book is flawed and misleading.......2005-06-23

This book is an excellent imitation of a historical work, but falls apart in light of Valentine's own methodology and the actual historical work done by real historians. The text comprises a tenuous web of interviews and dubious sources, including a surprising amount from known frauds Elton Manzione and Kenneth Osbourne. To maintain his belief that the US government supports evil for evil's sake, Valentine makes a great number of unfounded accusations, and astute readers will notice that his most controversial claims come with no footnote whatsoever. A professional writer, Valentine was able to ape historical writing very well, and unfortunately the conspiracy theorists who patronize his work are ready to believe anything on scant evidence.
Readers interested in the truth about the Phoenix Program would be much, much better served by consulting Andrade's Ashes to Ashes or Moyar's Phoenix and the Birds of Prey. First-person accounts are provided by Herrington in his Stalking the Vietcong or by Cook in his The Advisor. All of these researched, reputable works contradict Valentine's portrayal of the program, and remedy to some extent the damage his work has caused to the historical record and to men who fought in Vietnam.

Revisionist History Discrediting True Hero's.......2005-03-30

I regret that I purchased this book. Douglas Valentine demeans the HEROISM of two close personal friends that were part of the Phoenix program. After many years of silence both have shared their experiences with me. Both were wounded several times and have continuing disabilities to this day. The Viet Cong atrocities that each discovered over and over are treated lightly or not at all by Valentine. Neither friend committed any atrocities, ordered any atrocities committed or witnessed any atrocities committed by U.S. or friendly forces. Each friend relives the death of every enemy soldier they killed nightly in their dreams. They never killed in anger or unjustly.

Valentine's book quotes many persons that are either malcontents, liars, Viet Cong spies, or fictional persons with no actual service record.

The book reads like a very dry high school history text. It meanders back and forth through time with little continuity. Valentine's agenda to discredit "Real Soldier's" who served their country is obvious. I forced myself to read this entire book only to find it a "Complete Waste Of Time."

Disappointing.......2005-01-20

The author's intent is very obvious, however, his structure is too detailed in facts that clouded the issues by making a boring and difficult read. The flow and continuity were just not there. I am quite surprised the editor did not have a field day rewriting much of his work.

Just one question ...........2004-08-08

One reviewer writes: "It is a sad but telling fact that the CIA's secret supporters have managed to suppress this book"...

Hmmm. If the book is "suppressed," then why can you buy it on Amazon? (In fact, a REPRINT of the original version!)

Maybe the answer is in my motto: never trust anyone, esp. an "author," who talks about himself in the third person. :)

Excellent read, very readable, on a difficult subject.......2003-12-22

After having read Douglas Valentine's essay on how the Phoenix is coming home to roost via Homeland Security on his website, I decided to look into his book, The Phoenix Program. Besides his comprehensive, journalistic coverage of the details involved with the program, unafraid to uncover the deeds of all sides involved, two things impressed me even more.

First, this type of book usually has alphabet soup groups, projects and missions labeled with acronyms, and so many individuals' names woven through that I grow weary of reading half way through, if that far. Not so with Valentine's opus. Somehow he presents all these details in a readable fashion, which if you begin from the beginning, unfolds those normally boring and confusing details without losing the reader. At least not this one, who is easily confused by such matters.

Second, and even more impressive were his interviews. It was more like watching a good documentary than reading. Valentine conveyed the characters and their personalities so that they became real people to me, and he let them tell their stories in a very human, honest way. At times even touching, those interviewed were equally human regardless of rank, station, deed or misdeed. It's rare that an interviewer gets the interviewee's real voice and viewpoint. Great stuff, really soulfull and heartfelt. Read it and check out his article on his website, the Phoenix Program is not just history, and it's not just Vietnam.

Average customer rating:

A very good text for understanding Low Intensity Conflict.

A fair shake for the Phoenix program

An excellent book for a factual account of Project Phoenix

Ashes to Ashes: The Phoenix Program and the Vietnam War (Issues in Low-Intensity Conflict Series)
Dale Andrade
Manufacturer: Lexington Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Stalking the Vietcong: Inside Operation Phoenix: A Personal Account

ICEX Intelligence: Vietnam's Phoenix Program

The Advisor: The Phoenix Program in Vietnam

The Phoenix Program

Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam

ASIN: 066920014X

Customer Reviews:

A very good text for understanding Low Intensity Conflict........2004-10-10

This is an important read for those interested in understanding current world disorder, and the future of Low Intensity Conflict. An examination of the American experience in the Vietnam War, probably provides some of the best examples of the criteria necessary for success in Low Intensity Conflict, including but not limited to guerilla war and insurgency. Andradé identifies in Ashes to Ashes the criteria as articulation, accessibility, and accountability.

Articulation of specific goals and objectives must be clear and reasonable. Accessibility of the officials to the general populace must be systematic. The accountability of every member in an operation must be held to the highest standards. Finally, the combination of the above must achieve a synergistic effect; whereby, the ability to accomplish the mission is accompanied with the will and desire to sustain the effort for whatever duration it takes!

The Phoenix program was a response to a war whose objectives were never clearly stated, but were implemented incrementally, and largely ignored such basic elements as public support, a willing and competent host, and consideration of past experiences evaluated and analyzed by its intelligence community. The Vietnam syndrome is not dissimilar from either the Israeli/Palestine conflict, or current US/Iraqi war. The ultimate question is whether a democratic society burdened with occupation of another unwilling people can, despite its best intentions, sustain the rule of law long enough to achieve the peace.

A fair shake for the Phoenix program.......2003-08-20

If you want to read a fair and accurrate description of Vietnam's Phoenix Program and its scope and activities then this is the book for you.

Well researched and well written it is one of the few books that portrays Phoenix for what it was, a systematic program to counter the VC insurgency. Most books on Phoenix are content to waste space plathering on about mythic conspiracies by the CIA to assassinate and torture every living being within the country of Vietnam. Andrade's book tears away these myths and explains in full detail the situations leading up to the creation of Phoenix, its inception and planned scope, how it operated, and attempts to determine its overall effectiveness on the course of the war.

If you are looking for an anti-US government, or CIA/military/Presidential/feemasons/illuminati conspiracy book then don't even bother. But if you are genuinely interested in knowing more about the truth of the Phoenix program, this book is a MUST. An additional item is that in reading this book you may be able to deduce for yourself how such a program could help our current efforts in Iraq.

An excellent book for a factual account of Project Phoenix.......2001-04-18

A fine work that accurately and truthfully talks about and displays the truth about the Phoenix Program. The author obviously spent a great deal of time on thorough research with operatives who were actually there. This book shows Phoenix for what it was, an effective grass roots campaign to root out and capture the Viet Cong Infrastructure.

Most other books I've seen on the subject have largely been the delusional fantasies of wannabes who were never there. The types who clog VA centers claiming PTSD for top secret commando missions they were never on. This book only interviewed real Phoenix operatives.

Book Description

From his arrival in war-torn Vietnam in 1968 to his reluctant departure twenty-five months later, John Cook served as an advisor in the district of Di An and took part in the systematic operations of the Phoenix Program to destroy the Infrastructure, the political organization of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces. The Advisor is the story of those twenty-five months of fighting an laughing and hoping, and of the people who shared them - Major Chau, a man who so tremendously symbolized dedication to the destruction of the Infrastructure that the Viet Cong made several attempts on his life; Lietenant Hau, Cook's Vietnamese counterpart and close friend; Colonel Anderson and Major Allen, two of Di An's senior advisors; and other American and Vietnamese colleagues who - fighting a war at its "rice roots," rather than viewing it through myriad news analyses and peace demonstration demands - found it impossible to remain objective about such a conflict. More than the story of bombings, sweep operations, enemy confrontations, and hamlet pillages, The Advisor tells how one man came to see the Vietnam War as his war, how he bacame involved in the district villagers' struggle for their freedom from terrorism, and how he learned the true costs of that freedom., 70 color and b/w photographs, 3 maps, 6" x 9"

Customer Reviews:

Misleading cover sub-title, all in all, disappointing.......2005-07-28

As a description of the Phoenix Program, very weak. Cover subtitle (ie. The Phoenix Program in Vietnam) should have been left out as it's misleading at best -- I was looking for much better info than just snippets of related experience. One of the weaker memoirs I've read on Vietnam; surprised it's still in print. "Once a Warrior King" far better both in content and style.

One of the best books on the Viet Nam War..........2003-12-12

I have three bookcases (one big and two small) full of books on the wars in Indochina (Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia) from French colonial days through the Sino-Vietnamese conflict of 1979. I have also read many other books on the subject which I do not own. This book is, in my view, one of the three best memoirs ever written on the period of direct U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia. (The other two are "War Story" by Jim Morris; and "Brennan's War" by Matthew Brennan.) If you want to gain some understanding of what it was like for those who fought that war, these three books are indispensable. Students of Military History can sometimes get a bit jaded, but when I first read "The Advisor" a few years ago, it literally brought tears to my eyes. I am very glad this is back in print, as my paperback copy is getting slightly worn (I just finished re-reading it again). I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Incidentally, the best book to help you get a sense of the background to the Viet Nam War is a work of fiction: "Le Mal Jaune [Yellow Fever]" by Jean Larteguy. It's hard to find and very expensive these days; but if you read it first, then read the abovementioned three memoirs, it will not only increase your understanding but may also cause you to discard much of what you thought you knew about the war.

Dimestore Liam

John Cook is Fantastic!.......2001-04-02

After reading John Cook's Rescue Under Fire: The Story of DUST OFF in Vietnam, I decided to see if The Advisor was as good. I'm here to tell you, this guy is fantastic. He doesn't talk down to the reader. Rather, he pulls the reader into the action in a way that the reader is actually there. Told in the first person, this is the very personal account of a young man who grew to hate the communist Viet Cong. However, he very clearly explains why. The Viet Cong murdered innocent villagers, blew up market places, and killed children in front of their parents. In a bold, direct style, Cook makes no apologies for the way he felt. He took on the enemy with a vengance and eliminated them from his district. This is a story you never heard on TV and that's a pity. However, this is a book that every American should read. Then, they could be proud of what the US did in Vietnam. Without John Cook, I never would have known the truth.

As Real As It Gets.......2001-03-24

The Advisor: The Phoenix Program in Vietnam, was a real eye-opener for me. I have never read a more personal, compelling account of the Vietnam war than the one provided here by John Cook. He takes the reader through every aspect of living in this country as an advisor. In short, he makes the Vietnamese real and makes it very easy to choose sides. Cook very easily brushes aside all the liberal hog-wash about how the Viet Cong are really not all that bad and exposes them for what they are--a bunch of murdering thugs. When I read this book, I found myself out there on an operation or ambush and hoping to God that I would be able to kill a whole bunch of Viet Cong. This book is not objective and is not intended to be. Clearly, John Cook has an agenda and he executes it extremely well. He hates the Viet Cong and explains why, in very graphic language. This is a book you will not put down, once you pick it up. Thank you, Colonel Cook, for cutting through all the crud and giving it to us straight.

The best written book I have seen on Vietnam.......2000-04-13

The Advisor is, by far, the best written, most insightful book of any type I have seen on Vietnam. It describes the heroic actions of the most respected district chief in Vietnam, Major Nguyen Minh Chau, of Di An District, Bien Hoa Province, and his team of advisors. This book also includes actions involving 1/4 Cav troopers and 1st Infantry Division during the period 1968-1970. Written in the first person by the young senior advisor to Chau, John Cook, this book is a must read for any Vietnam vet or serious student of the war. Col (Ret) William C. Haponski Quarterhorse 6, Jan-Jul 69

ICEX Intelligence: Vietnam's Phoenix Program

Average customer rating:

A Non-fiction Story about a Classified CIA Program
The Phoenix Program - An Insiders Memoir

ICEX Intelligence: Vietnam's Phoenix Program
G. LaVerne Crowell
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Intelligence & Espionage | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Vietnam War | Military | History | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 141379923X

Book Description

This book allows the individual citizen to find astonishing information about a special government program used against the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. The author was a military member of this program. You can follow with him and his fellow program combatants through a period of time during mainly the famous Tet Offensive of 1968. This program was classified until 1982, so now it can be given to the American people. This will be the closest you have ever been to real combat by our brave soldiers who continue to fight and die for America.

Customer Reviews:

A Non-fiction Story about a Classified CIA Program.......2006-08-16

This book is my military story while in Vietnam. It is about the Phoenix Program as conceived by the CIA. Army Intelligence called their participation ICEX Intelligence. ICEX stands for Intelligence Coordination and Exploitation. There are many stories and information about Phoenix on the internet however as I have found, I am the only person that wrote a book about it and actually served in the program. Information contained in this book might expand a persons knowledge into program still active that have been built on the foundation of the program. I purposely did not give hard and gory details of the operations. This book can be read by youngsters without the normal details found in fictional movies and books about violance. Hopefully my book will provide a historical base for future generations to read and program better society programs for the good of all mankind.
G. LaVerne Crowell

The Phoenix Program - An Insiders Memoir.......2006-06-06

Almost anyone who has a little knowledge of the Vietnam War has heard or read a little something about the CIA covert operation called "The Phoenix Program." Most of us only know that it had something to do with assassinating VC leadership. But it was a much more effective agent for changing the tone and direction of the war than the public fully understands. In his well written memoir, "ICEX Intelligence - Vietnam's Phoenix Program," G. LaVerne Crowell gives us a rare look at who some of those men were and what they did.

Although the author is very protective of his inner thoughts and feelings he still reveals enough about his "tour of duty" in Vietnam to give us a picture of what he and others had to endure. The book is riveting and coldly honest at times about events that took place. Crowell tells us things that are totally foreign to our own personal world (and this includes old Vietnam veterans like me).

I was there and I saw these guys flying around in those white "Air America" Hueys. They were a breed apart from the rest of those who did their tours. They worked in very small groups and carried out missions that would make for some unbelievable action movies. These guys were fighting a war in the shadows and had to carry what they did within themselves for all these years. They had the toughest job in Vietnam and had no one to tell their stories to until now!

You will find yourself totally immersed in the story that Crowell chronicles about his training and his time in Vietnam. This is a page turner not because of any fancy writing or phrasing but because the story line is so tense and full of energy. The author understates what he was going through without any embellishments to his tale.

This is a must read book! You cannot fully understand this war unless you include some understanding of these men who gave their very souls to that effort. These men are "The Real McCoy" combat veteran. The author never writes about how brave or heroic he was - but take it from someone who was there and who had on occasion dropped these guys off and picked them up from deep cover operations - they went through hell!

When I finished reading this book I wanted to embrace the author and tell him "thank-you" for his service and "welcome home!" You too will be moved to do the same thing. This book has earned the MWSA's Highest Book Rating - FIVE STARS! This book is also personally endorsed by this reviewer.

Seal Force Alpha: From Vietnam's Phoenix Program to Central America's Drug Wars (Rogue Warriors Series)

Average customer rating:

Just ONE reason this is better than the usual Marcinko stuff
Rotten Richard
Another cheap Mac Bolan type book
Perfect. One piece of work!
Dick in China!

Seal Force Alpha: From Vietnam's Phoenix Program to Central America's Drug Wars (Rogue Warriors Series)
Richard Marcinko
Manufacturer: Atria
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0671000675

Book Description

AS A U.S. NAVY SEAL, RICHARD MARCINKO KNEW NO LIMITS -- AS THE ROGUE WARRIOR, HE OBEYS NO RULES!

SpecWar master Richard Marcinko has revealed classified, kill-or-be-killed operations in a series of New York Times bestsellers: Rogue Warrior, his #1 blockbuster autobiography, and four scorching Rogue Warrior novels. Now in an electrifying new adventure, the Rogue Warrior battles an ultra-secret, ultra-lethal military plot.

The Rogue Warrior's taking a flying leap -- a high-altitude jump over the South China Sea. His mission: scuttle a Chinese freighter's cargo of nuclear hardware and its crack crew of naval commandos. It's a leave-no-tracks, take-no-prisoners operation, and business as usual for Marcinko. But on board he makes a chilling discovery: a cache of state-of-the-art command and control equipment, all made in the U.S.A. -- and primed for America's destruction! Marcinko takes his findings back to Washington, where he runs into a wall of doublespeak and double deals. Tapping into his own intelligence sources, he discovers the ugly truth -- some of the U.S. military's most sophisticated technology has been given to our most dangerous potential adversary: the Chinese. Their long-range objective: turning the United States into a third-world country -- and a fifth-rate power. Worse, the Rogue Warrior discovers that Washington has signed off on the deal. But not everyone wants to see America go down the drain. General Tom Crocker, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, unleashes the SEALs of war -- Marcinko and a Pentagon-based unit, SEAL Force Alpha -- to neutralize a global maze of political deceit that begins all too close to home.

The Chinese sense victory. They have a mole in the White House, and five thousand years of military strategy on their side. But neither the traitor nor all the wisdom of Sun Tzu are prepared for Marcinko and his men. They, after all, live by the Rogue Warrior's Tenth Commandment of SpecWar: "There Are No Rules -- Thou Shalt Win At All Cost."

Customer Reviews:

Just ONE reason this is better than the usual Marcinko stuff.......2004-10-08

I've read a lot of Marcinko's books and I have to admit they're starting to bore me. It's the same formula every time; Dick discovers a dirty politician or evil tycoon, has a verbal confrontation with him, goes away, comes back, kills the bad guy's ex-special ops bodyguards, and finally kills the bad guy. Somewhere in there he stops to talk about the size of his unit (and I don't mean the number of guys on his team). What makes Seal Force Alpha a little different from the norm is the amount of effort Marcinko has spent on setting up the enemy this time. The "ex-special ops bodyguards" that he usually chews through without much trouble are actually fearsome in this book! They're the Chinese equivalent of SEALs and Marcinko & Weissman really make them seem like they could give Marcinko trouble. The way Marcinko describes his fight in the river and his encounters with the Chinese commander are quite interesting and he manages to throw in some real surprises. The inclusion of obscure tradecraft details also makes these sequences quite thrilling. It's a good thing they're here, too--the rest of the book ranges from mildly intriguing to downright sloppy (the ending is very rushed). An average Marcinko book with slightly above average action scenes.

Rotten Richard.......2001-02-24

Hmm, the #%*?$@% has a great way of telling a story! Typical Demo Dick fasion - lots of action and color. A truly entertaining book. Thank you Cpt. for your service to our country.

Another cheap Mac Bolan type book.......2000-09-19

Demo Dick Vietnam Sharkman, is a lousy writer. True he has lived the life and even in this book, you get a few juicy bits of how covert operations are carried out. Lets face it, Demo Dick is a has been, who constantly anchors down on Bombay Gin. A few years ago, I saw him on NBC news mouthing off about how he could poison Saddam Hussein. Well Dickey, Saddam is still alive. If you are the real man you claim to be, Daniel Boone, sobber up and go get him!

Perfect. One piece of work!.......2000-03-16

I enjoyed this book dearly and liked it a lot. Readin' Option Delta and good so far!

Dick in China!.......2000-01-08

Seal Force Alpha is a great book with a colorful front. Hard to miss. You follow dick to China to fight. He and his merry band of maurders help him over come Mr. Murphy and win the day! It is a great book and a great read

Last Phoenix: A Story of the Cia's Phoenix Program

Average customer rating:

Entrancing characters, makes you fume with rage and fury

Last Phoenix: A Story of the Cia's Phoenix Program
Carl Douglass
Manufacturer: Publication Consultants
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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The Advisor: The Phoenix Program in Vietnam

ASIN: 1888125020

Book Description

Last Phoenix chronicles the transition of an American boy next door into a soulless predator in the veritable and emotional jungle of irregular warfare, betrayal, madness, and revenge. It is the story of Karl Isaacson, a heart-of-America boy who believed in the rightness of his country. In the end, like his great country, he was betrayed and humiliated; and he got even. This is an all-too-true fictional account of one agent in the CIA's Phoenix Program against the civilians of South Viet Nam during the War in Viet Nam; the irregular, hidden, dirty little war. He learned that Phoenix lived on after the war, and then, he became the Last Phoenix.

Customer Reviews:

Entrancing characters, makes you fume with rage and fury.......1998-02-13

This is a great book. It has some problems, to be sure, is poorly edited and some of the historical asides drag on forever and take away from the action. The typographical errors are glaring. But, the author gets inside your head and provokes sympathy and thought, brings the whole sickness and drama of Vietnam alive and holds your attention fixedly. This book is written at a much higher literary and psychological level than most "vietnam war" books. While the author seems to tire out right at the very climax of the book, this book is a wonderful work by a talented author.

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