Wheels, Life and ... is an enthralling and thoroughly enjoyable book for anyone interesed in math brainteasers. It covers a wide range of intriguing topics, from simple word puzzles to complex mathematical ideas. Knotted threads and geometric fantasies mingle effortlessly with Zeno's paradox and the challenging game of life! I couldn't stop reading one teaser after another, wracking my brain on some tantalising clue. If you're fascinated by mindgames, buy it. Its a Martin Gardner!

Basically, the idea of a screen for players is kind of absurd in the eyes of the Dungonmaster, but this is a good thing to have as a player because you can use it as a reference for wizard, priest, and druid spells. Handy charts for combat, saving throws, and XP are included as well. There are two different versions of this screen, each having different artwork.

There are more than 40 human gods in the Forgotten Realms line, and this book details them all. It seemed to me, after reading Monster Mythology, that the Forgotten Realms gods priests are especially powerful. Also this book is anything but an easy read. With well over 200 pages, teeny tiny text, dry writing, and not many pictures. But it really fleshes out any Forgotten Realms campaign so I would recommend it. Just drink about 3 pots of coffee to stay awake.

Normally I'm loathe to give a product five stars, but this is one of the best AD&D accessories I've ever seen. Tons of information on all the significant powers(even dead powers), their faiths, and their specialty priests(some of whom are VERY powerful... see Helm's section). New character classes, information on killing and ressurecting gods, and much more make this the definite resource for DMs and cleric fans playing in the Realms. Ever want to see how Cyric's church manages to operate, play a crusader of Lathander, or bring Bane back from the dead? Now you can. Combine this with Monster Mythology -which it makes references to- and you have all the godly information you could ever need in the Realms. No, I am *not* being paid by T$R; this is really that good of a product. It does repeat some old information, but if you missed out on old Realms pantheon publications, you'll do well to buy this. More than worth its cover price -- a rarity among T$R products these days.

One of the best accessories for the Forgotten Realms setting. If you have clerics as PC or NPC in your campaign, you shouldn't wait any more to get this one. Has every god of the FR with lot or informations about pantheon, church and above all the specialist priests for all gods. Don't wait! You are missing something really incredible! Hope you enjoy it as much as me and my players did!

"Dazed and Confused" by Houstonian Troy Martin is chock full of the realities of what a black man may experience concerning the workplace, his love life and more as depicted through the character Tony Harris. The story takes you all over Houston, the state of Texas, Louisiana, and even that infamous Cancun, Mexico. Tony basically gives you account of his encounters with girlfriends, wanna be girlfriends, girls who want to go from "temp to perm", etc. Troy Martin has a real grasp on what men really think about women whether we want to hear it or not. Some of the language is -- strong to say the least -- but Troy does a great job telling it like it is. His writing reminds me of Michael Baisden and Omar Tyree. He's very funny, VERY funny, and will have you laughing out loud with some of his descriptions. I felt he did an overall great job with his first novel. The only reason the book did not get five stars is because there were a lot of editing mishaps in the book, and I was hoping to read a little more action or dialogue between the characters instead of all the 'telling' that the author does. Nevertheless, "Dazed and Confused" comes highly recommended. It's an interesting, fast-paced story that will give you something to think, cringe, and laugh about.

Troy Martin's story encompasses all the pertinent parts of a young person's travels: friendships, romances, career, rites of passages, and going through growing pains and transitions. All of these things are told from a fresh perspective rooted in and set against the backdrop of Central Texas, with most emphasis on Houston, Texas. His attention to description and detail make it extremely easy to get into the appearance and character of his setting and the players of his story. For those who attended college, joined fraternal organizations, and maintained noteworthy relationships with the people they encountered, Dazed and Confused does a fine job of painting a picture that many have lived, but until now, have not related to in popular fiction. I can truly appreciate Troy's ability to relay a story through conversations that we've all had at one time and give all his characters three dimensions. The changes in the main character, Tony, for example, are so apparent-his priorities, behavior, even the things that he pays attention to and looks for in a woman- mature throughout the book. All of these elements definitely make the story more true to life and entertaining. Troy masterfully enmeshes various locations, personalities, dreams, disappointments, perspectives, with a dash of drama and unpredictability to give us all a novel worth reading and seeing some validation for the trials we experience as well.

I am an avid reader of AA authors and I must throw my hands up in praise for Troy Martin's Dazed and Confused. As an African American, college educated, greek female----I REMEMBER THE GAMES THE BOYS PLAYED. Dazed and Confused is a true depiction of middle class African American life--the struggle of self--the stupid mistakes--the spiritual awakening.

I hope all who read this will check out this book from the next--Omar Tyree!

Hats off to Troy Martin.

"A Game of Thrones" is a rich saga with splendid characters and an intricate plot. This book is EXCELLENT. A must read for anyone who likes character-driven stories and rich world with well developed political and historical structures. Very highly recommended!

...What is so great about the book isn't just the character development, but that each chapter is seen through different characters' eyes, many children (who learn fast). Not only is this interesting from a psychological perspective, but it also throws the black-and-white/good-and-bad thing out the window. Everyone has their own motive. It's very insightful into human nature.
As a guy very skeptical of fantasy books..., I think this is really good. I can't put it down; I've already plowed halfway through the second book, a Clash of Kings.

The world of Westeros, the setting for A Song of Ire and Fire, contains the perfect balance of realism and magic that has been missing in the genre for some time (are you listening Forgotten Realms editors?). We find moral ambiguity and the constant and real threat of an untimely demise, even for the most important characters. The characters are well-nuanced, with real motives and human passions. Magic is reserved for the few and, when it manifests, it does so in incredible displays of power.

I labeled Martin's prose "raw" and "reckless" because he does not appear to be afraid of any theme or issue and he turns many conventional fantasy elements on their collective heads. Martin, quite simply, is the best fantasy author since Moorcock.

A warning: don't buy this book unless you are prepared to purchase the entire series. The books are, at once, compelling and addictive page-turners that will leave you clamoring for more.

The book addresses letter and word play in such breadth as to command authority. The frequency of errors in its examples and tables, however, gives an opposite impression. I soon found myself playing a different game than any described in the text: looking for errors. (For example, a lipogram supposedly lacking the letter H contains the word "the"; another supposedly lacking the letter A contains the word "day" (p. 4). At least 3 of 100 purported palindromes on pp. 32-4 are not quite: "Tense I 'snap' Sharon's roses, or Norah's pansies net"; "Evil is the name of a foeman as I live"; "Stephen, my lad--ah, what a hymn, eh, pets?") I found 11 in the first 50 pages, and I would not be surprised if I missed some. Then I quit: it was less challenging than most of the play described in the book.

Ross Eckler has synthesized 30 years of developments in the field of wordplay in a single, scrupulously organized volume. To accompalish such a task must have required a Herculean effort of mental strength! He coined the term "letterplay" to distinguish it as written wordplay involving, for the most part, the combinatorial effects achieved by manipulation of the letters of the alphabet. The best-known types of letterplay serve as a starting point--anagrams and palindromes--that lead to the twilight zone of language where the alphabet dances like a mysterious diva, showing words as they're rarely seen. In fact, Eckler has edited Word Ways magazine ever since 1970, the magazine that ushered in what many believe is the Golden Age of Wordplay. More wordplay has appeared in English in the past 30 years than in any language in the history of the written word. To "read all about it," buy this indispensible book! There is none like it, and there will never be another like it. Eckler knows all, and tells all!

Ross Eckler's latest book on wordplay is destined to become a milestone in recreational linguistics. It is second only to Dmitri Borgmann's 1965 classic Language on Vacation. Eckler's offering should bring recreational linguistics (or wordplay, or logology) to a whole new generation of word enthusiasts. Great, great, great

This is one of the better books on playing pool...and I'll tell you why.

First, the book is filled with useful information that appeals to both beginner, intermediate, and expert pool players. For beginners, it covers stance, bridge in a concise and no-nonsense way with diagrams. Yet the book doesn't belabor these important yet simple fundamentals. For intermediate players, the book describes in simple terms the concepts of english, throw, leave, etc... And for experts, there's plenty of tips on straight pool, etc..

But what makes the book stand-out from the concept is the PRESENTATION. 99 pool shots ranging from the simple to the complex, spanning every concept from english, throw, bank shots, etc are presented. Since reading the book last week, I have seen over 25 of these shots in my games and used the techniques presented.

But all this aside...I'm giving this book 5 stars for 1 reason -- it works! It improved my game. I think it'll improve your's...

Reading this book is sure to improve your game. It worked for me!

If you are looking for a good book for beginners, this isn't it. This book is all about making a good pool player better. It assumes a basic knowledge of pool has already been established. If you're a beginner, check out Ewa Mataya Laurance's "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pool & Billiards." It's a great straight-forward book to get you started right. But if you're already a pretty good pool player and want to add some great shots to your game, I highly recommend "The 99 Critical Shots in Pool."

The book is not without it's drawbacks. This is a 220 page book. Of that, 50 pages are devoted to The Official Rules and Glossary of Terms. An additional 25 pages skim the basics of shooting form, etc. That leaves only 145 pages for the meat of the book, the 99 critical shots. Of the 99 shots, 22 are devoted to break shots for straight pool. If, like me, you play only 8-ball and 9-ball, then this book should be called "The 77 Critical Shots in Pool" because you'll never use the other 22. So, for me, this 220 page book has only 107 useful pages.

The format of the shots section is great. Each shot includes a diagram of the whole table layout, a diagram of the cue ball showing exactly where to strike it to impart the draw, follow or English, and a text description of the shot. As others have pointed out, the text refers to a black ball (the object ball) and gray balls (all other balls), yet they are indistinguishable in the diagrams; they both look black. This is an annoyance, but does not keep you from understanding the author's intentions. Between the text description and the lines indicating the ball paths, I was always able to determine which ball was the object ball.

If I still had my own pool table, I would have this book sitting right next to it. I'd study a single shot in this book and then practice it until I had mastered it. Then, when I'd mastered that shot, I'd proceed to the next shot and so forth. That would be the most effective way to use the book. Unfortunately, I have to go to a pool hall to practice. I don't know about you, but I don't really want to be seen reading a book about pool at the pool hall. So I have to study several shots and then practice them there from memory. Obviously, there's no substitute for practice. This book shows you WHAT to practice.

Having told you that I only found 107 pages (77 shots) useful, you might get the impression that this book's not worth buying. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of those 77 shots, probably at least half were shots that I had either never even considered or had never fully mastered. You only have to add a few new shots to your game to make this book well worth the price. Buy it!

As a poolplayer, and a personal friend of Ray Martin, I wholeheartedly recommend this book to beginners, intermediates, and professionals. Obviously, a book that shows the top 100 or so billiard shots will have to cover some basic stuff. Having said that, if you know every shot in this book, you should be playing in the circuit. I've been playing for over 30 years, am a member of the BCA, and was taught to play by Ray Martin in his pool hall in Clifton, NJ...and I didn't know all these shots. If you want a book to improve another aspect of your game (high runs, safeties, etc), there are better books, but this is the bible for shotmaking.

I bought this book thinking that it would be useful for designing a science fiction campaign. Boy, was I wrong!
The best parts of this expensive tomb are the rules for creating planets, the world tech levels, and the like. If you have an earlier version of this game, then you already have what you need.
The major problem comes from the character classes. They are generic and, at times, pointless. Consider that a game that covers the cosmos has a core class called Traveller. Their job is to basically, travel and get into trouble. Then, classes like engineers, computer scientists, and field scientists don't exist. Instead, you get the Academic.
If you want to run an SF campaign...keep searching.

The long wait to a modern vision. The best game produced with out being backed by a movie. Mark Miller wrote the forward and you can tell he is happy about the product that was his baby, and now all grown up, setting another standered in RPG's. Thank God for this book, saved me from giving up gaming.

This is easily the best d20 old-game-to-new-game adaption I've seen in the last couple years. It is fully developed - tons of skills, classes, feats, and equipment. The combat rules are logical and lethal. Starship combat, psionics, and planetary generation are well-designed and incorporated, drawing on twenty years of game development. The "Imperium" background is vague enough to allow plenty of flexibility when designing the setting while still providing enough of an inspiration framework to avoid doing it from scratch.

The game is a hard-science sci-fi roleplaying game - more Star Trek or Foundation than Star Wars. Belongs on every gamer's shelf.

Martin Gardners column "Mathematical Games" was in the magazine "Scientific American" for so long that he was more than an institution. This was the first of his books to take some of the ideas from the many columns and present them in volume format.

I first came across it in a British edition titled "Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions" in my early teens. From memory it took me around three weeks and two rolls of adding machine tape to finish with the hexaflexagons (don't ask, just buy the book) in the first chapter.

Mr Gardner deserves his reputation as a writer who can simplify complex subjects without talking down to the audience and this is well demonstrated in this volume. Some of the later chapters deal with parts of probability and game theory that skirt around some complex maths while someone with little mathematical ability (such as myself) finds it easy to follow along. The prose is light and easily read while the subject matter is entertaining.

I would recommend this book for someone mathematically inclined in their early teens or anyone in their mid teens or later. If you have a child capable of mathematical and/or logical thought who is getting turned off mathematics by the rigors and dullness of school then this volume may well turn the trick - I know it was influential in convincing me that it was my schooling and not my mind that had ruined my maths ability. I give it only four stars as it is now starting to show its age, otherwise it would have five.

This book is an amazing one and it is definetly recommended to the people who like math puzzles, games, or thought challenges. Also it is a great book to distract yourself. It is a book that you would like to keep in your shelf. Martin Gardner is a great writer and has other great books on many other different mathematical puzzles.

After a long afternoon of studying ordinary differential equations, computer science, and japanese, it is great to find a book like this that sucks you right in, absorbs your brain for a couple of hours, and then inspires you to cut, paste, & fold paper. What you see absolutely reeks of awesomeness. I love Martin Gardner! (Last month's reading, Knotted Doughnuts, was equally fun!)

So ok, we all know that Jack Ryan is a good man. So good that throughout this book, he engages in a tedious inner-battle as to whether or not he should be devoting his time and energy to the CIA, indirectly helping bring the terrorists who attempted to kill his wife and daughter to justice. In the real world, people like Jack Ryan would be itching to get their hands on coldhearted killers who put their family's lives on the very brink of disaster. Yet Ryan is troubled because his intense data analyses are helping bring killers like these to a secret justice that they deserve? No, I don't think our boy Jack Ryan would care what happened to low life thugs like Sean Miller if it were real life.

But it's not real life, and other than a warped sense of guilt, Jack Ryan performs well to serve Clancy in this great book. Great story, good characters, a little bit of action, lots of political insight, and a great stretch of reading in-between. I liked it, definitely not my favorite of Clancy's, but it was good nonetheless. Hope this review helps!

Jack Ryan is a former Marine turned history teacher. He is in England with his family when ULA terrorists attack a car. Ryan remembers his training in an instant and disarms one terrorist before killing another. After Ryan recovers from his own injuries sustained in the battle, he learns that the people he saved were the Prince and Princess of England. This earns him hero status in England and everything seems to be fine until the terrorists turn their sights on him. The terrorists plan attacks on both Ryan and his family. Their first attack fails but nearly leaves Jack without a family. After this Jack vows to protect his family forever, by any means necessary. Patriot Games is filled with action and energy from the virst page to the last, from the first assassination attempt to the raid of the Ryans' house. Clancy builds an extreme amount of suspense in all of the battles, and leaves them about until the very end. The book is also very factual. Clancy uses many real places and people in the novel to give it an authentic effect. The book gives many accurate details as concerns customs, military procedures, and firearms. The book is very detailed as related to characters and scenes. Clancy uses vivid imagery when describing places and objects. He also uses allusions to relate chaarcters in the book to real people. Patriot Games is a book that can be enjoyed by anybody that likes to read action-packed, suspenseful stories. Because of the attention paid to detail relating to guns and the armed forces, this novel might be more fully appreciated by a person in the area of law enforcement or armed services.

On vacation in London, Jack Ryan stops a terrorist attack by the Ulster Liberation Army on the Prince and Princess of Wales and their infant son. When the leader of the attack escapes from custody, Ryan and his family become targets. To defend them, Ryan goes to see his old friends at the C.I.A. and tells them he wants back in. The climax of the book is another attack on the terrorists at Ryan's own home where the Prince and Princess are dinner guests. "Patriot Games" is an atypical Tom Clancy novel in that is the Jack Ryan book least reliant on cutting edge technology, dealing more with the consequences of Jack's choices for his family and his career.

In is interesting to read this 1987 book knowing that filming it turned Tom Clancy against selling the movie rights of his books to Hollywood (although apparently the powers that be can have their own way with the Jack Ryan character). The problem, of course, was the final scene. In the film, Harrison Ford's character kills Sean Miller at the end of an exciting fistfight on a speeding boat. In the book, Jack Ryan does not shoot his gun at the fatal moment so that he can tell his newborn son, "Your father isn't a murderer." Clancy's conservative inclinations are well known, but forcing him into a fascist stereotype really misses the point, especially when it tries to make his hero some sort of a reactionary.

"Patriot Games" takes back several years before the events described in "The Hunt for Red October," where the Sir John Ryan backstory is certainly alluded to at a couple of points. I wondered if maybe Clancy had simply written this novel first but could not get it published, yet one of the strengths of his work over the years has been the detailed backgrounds on the various characters (the best examples are probably Red Wegener and Ding Chavez in "Clear and Present Danger," where the complete backgrounds are given although one is a minor character in the novel and the other goes on to be a main supporting character). One of the reason I always liked this book is because of the pure audacity of making members of the Royal Family main supporting characters, especially Prince Charles, who has continued to pop up from time to time.

This is the book where Clancy dropped the annoying subtitles used in his first two novels. In retrospect "Patriot Games" is a much more intimate novel than what is follows. Certainly the threat is much more personal, targeting Ryan and his family. With Clancy's tendency to tell stories where nuclear war is a distinct possibility, this becomes an atypical effort, similar to "Without Remorse," which supplies the complete backstory on John Clark. Another reason for the feeling of intimacy is that Clancy's novels have tended to get longer and longer. Final note: people who have read these book in the "correct chronological order" find "Red October" to be something of a step backwards, so the best advice remains to read them in the order they were written.