Mark Twain's 1,000,000 bank note is a charming story with a few suprises. Whe a man is shipwrecked his life takes a surprising turn. He finds himself accross the Atlantic Ocean without a cent to his name and with only what he is wearing. In England his missfortune interests two welthy men who decide to make a bet on him. He is given only a 1,000,000 pound bank note and a month on his own. Mark twain uses humor and irony wonderfully in this book. As in many of his books insights into human nature, especcially pride, are enlightening and logical. I would recomend this book to anyone who enjoys humorus short stories without too much slapstick.

As stated on the cover this is for kids only! It's so funny and even if you never use anything in it it's really fun to read. The author really talks like a kid infact they talk like Malcolm. I think adults wouldn't really get the humer in it like kids but i would recomended it to any kid even if you don't like to read cause it's quick and easy, I don't like to read that much but i just sat down and read this. Remember this is for Kids only!

Followers of the Stevenson novels must have let forth a massive groan on discovering the title of this last in the series, for we have seen Abigail from the day of her birth two books ago growing up and presenting as the most unpleasant of the Stevenson brood. She is revealed as brilliant (which of the Stevenson children is not?), headstrong (ditto), destined for a degree of greatness (double ditto), and regarded by the family as a sort of time bomb. She mellows somewhat with the passage of time, but still displays on occasion an unfortunate tendency, possibly inherited from her father, to gross selfishness and towering stupidity for the sake of her own (feminist) independence. This is not critcism. Of such character flaws are major plot engines made. It is probably my happily married woman's prejudice that makes me see her as one who throws away happiness with both hands through listening to her own fears and man-hating "friends", and who has still missed out on the best years later after her fears have been dismissed and her friends' wounds have been healed--ironically by men. I could not develop a liking for Abigail as a character, but that is irrelevant, for her odyssey has great merit as a story. Her true inheritance is from her uncle Daniel, the revolutionary, whose personal relationships were also sacrificed under the smashing wheels of a juggernaut idealism. I only wish there had been more about other members of her family. We get a look at the world of writing and publishing, art, expatriate life in Rome, a slice from the fall of the Paris Commune and the dawning Womens' Rights movement. A word about the author. MacDonald has been hailed as "the heir to Delderfield". My humble opinion is that the former far surpasses the latter. I find MacDonald's characters better drawn, clearer, more real and more interesting. Delderfield was less successful at juxtaposing comedy and tragedy; his efforts had a rather jarring result. I am entertained by the authenticity with which MacDonald takes us on a tour of the time and place he is writing and his sharp insights into human thought and behavior. I am engaged by his crackling wit, and his ever piquant style. I am enthralled with his liberal sprinklings of irresistible humor and unabashed sex. I have read and will read everything of his that I can lay hands on. If I could write and were allowed to choose one author to take as my pattern, it would be Malcolm MacDonald.

An emotional story about a simple man and his three friends, all of whom are just looking for honest people in life and a place where they can all just live together and mind their own business. A bit like an eighteenth-century version of "Friends" or "Party of Five."

This book is a wonderful introduction to some of the controversies in astrophysics extant at the time of the Hubble launch. It is highly technical, but the general sense can be derived from the text, which is extremely funny. The author skillfully adapts the scientific controversies to the Adventures of Alice in Wonderland. I read this book aloud to my son when he was around 8 years old. Subsequently, he has re-read this book at least three times. ( I suspect that if one were in the field of astrophysics, which I am not, much would now seem quite dated.)

This book looks at some of the best science fiction series, such as Herbert's Dune, Clark's Rama, and Niven's Ringworld, and examines the settings and their impact on the stories. Each chapter covers a different series, and the artwork that accompanies the text is just amazing. I've spent many hours simply staring at the images -- it's more of picture book than a book you sit down and read, though there is quite a bit of writing. I recommend it to science fiction fans.

A virtual Victorian doap opera in Dublin, MacDonald succeeds once again in creating an absorbing, enjoyable read. While relationships are examined, romance is kept to a minimum. Even though this is not one of MacDonald's Cornwall masterpieces, it's definitely a must read.

Webern's music seems to me to be something of an acquired taste. This biography, however, is perfectly designed to encourage one to acquire a taste for the strange atonal wisps of sound that comprise a good part of this composer's ouevre.

Rather than getting bogged down in technical discussions of Webern's serial techniques, the author gives us the composer's life; stopping at crucial musical signposts to explain how his thought evolved. In each case, we're given an idea how to approach the given piece.

Webern's music often seems unearthly, and he comes across as a bit unearthly (or at least very impractical) himself. Still, we get a human portrait of him, which further encourages us to see the passion in his music.

As with all the books in this wonderful series, it contains copious quantities of drawings and photos, a complete list of compositions and a wonderful bibliography for further reading.

If you've always wondered what the big deal about Webern was (to the extent that he influenced 50 years of music, frequently by people who seem not to have understood his muse), this is a good place to start finding out.

This is an omnibus collection of two books: Army Uniforms of World War 2 and Army Uniforms Since 1945.

The first book is an excellent reference for WW2 enthusiasts, especially modellers and figure painters. It contains complete uniform, equipment and weapons information for most army arms.

This is an army uniform book. It does not touch naval or air corps uniforms at all.

The uniforms and equipment are shown in colour plates, the weapons in B&W.

The second book only covers world army uniforms up to the early eighties (Zimbabwe is still Rhodesia), but it covers cold-war uniforms extremely well.

Well worth it if you can find it.

The chemistry of aromatic compounds is part of many aspects of chemistry and other similar subjects. As such the chemistry of benzene and its related compounds is an intergral part of all undergraduate chemistry courses.

This primer covers the vast majority of information needed for a thorough understanding of aromatic chemistry in a clear and readable fashion. The book gives careful consideration to bonding, the concept of aromaticity (Huckel's rule), the major reactions undergone by aromatic compounds along with the orientation of substituents in aromatic reactions, modern synthetic methods, such as the use of organometallic reagents, and examples of other arenes.

Unfortunately, however, there are certain errors in the text that I feel make if difficult to follow. For instance, equation 3.8 on p. 15 is the same as equation 3.9 on p. 16; and SN2 is designated as substitution, nucleophilic unimolecular on p. 27 (above equation 5.2) instead of the correct substitution nucleophilic bimolecular. Furthermore, the text would be improved by the addition of a further reading section. This would be of particular use for Chapter 8 "Wider aspects of aromaticity", which talks about aromatic heterocyclic compounds and annulenes; the former of which the text clearly states is outside its scope.

Overall, this primer provides an inexpensive and generally easy to follow survey of aromatic chemistry, which would aid many students' understanding of chemistry.