Aircraft Carriers: The World's Greatest naval Vessels and their Aircraft By Chris Bishop and Chris Grant (256 pages, 612 photos, 252 drawings) Reviewer:  Dr. V. H. Schumacher Overall Rating: Three stars--Recommended. A solid effort. For those who served on aircraft carriers, this book will be a welcome addition to their personal library. The book presents its readers with the historical perspective and specific reference points in time needed to understand and to appreciate the role the carrier has played from its early years up to the present. The authors have done an outstanding job of merging text with a large and varied collection of black and white and color photographs that depict the aircraft carrier from its inception as a concept often scorned to its evolution into what some consider perhaps the centerpiece of offensive operations at sea. The many detailed drawings add another interesting dimension. Specifics about aircraft evolution, individual plane strengths and liabilities and the accomplishments of individual pilots that accompany the drawings will help novices gain basic information and will reawaken the memories of former "flat top sailors."