The puzzles in this book seem to be intended for very young ages. The questions did not stimulate my mind and the explanations were not that clear. Elementary school students might enjoy this book, but if you're older I would recommend a different book with tougher questions.

My favorite part of Martin Gardner's "Classic Brainteasers" are the Logic Puzzles (although I was miffed when he actually provided a hint on one of them!). The Warming Up section might seem too easy to most children, but you really do need to be thinking "wrong" in the right way to work through these brainteasers. Yes, I am sure your kids have come across some of these before, but I am also sure they will find a couple that will stump them (hey, I did a lot better on the Science and Math Puzzles than I would have thought). Adults need to remember to concentrate on these when challenged by their kids or they risk being embarassed.

Of course, "Classic Brainteasers" is full of Wacky Wordles, Trick Questions, Proverbs and lots of other things that teachers can use on unsuspecting students in class. Since education is about learning to thinking as much as it is accumulating all sorts of knowledge, this would be a good thing.

This is another great book from the great Martin Gardner, who once wrote the Mathematics column in Scientific American. In this book, he is accompanied by an amazing illustrator, Jeff Sinclair. Sinclair's illustration combined with Gardner's ingenuity are what make this book so much fun.

I strongly recommend this book to those with young children, or for those looking for a fun present for a little boy or girl. The kids will love Sinclair's drawings and adore the book. The simply-stated problems and interesting solutions can provide entertainment for hours.

The puzzles are organized by categories. Gardner begins with a few pages of warm up problems, then proceeds into "word for word," a literary playground. He continues with a chapter utilizing Sinclair's pictures, then continues with tricky questions are teasers. The book finishes with science and math problems, more Sinclair in "Find the Mistakes," and finally logic puzzles. Overall, this book is 96 pages of fun!

I have a 1901 rating as a result of playing in three tournaments. I suspect my actual playing strength to be at about 2200. It is my feeling that this style of puzzle book (Endgame) will help my over all playing strength / tournament results; as well as shore up some of my weaknesses in the Endgame (an area of the game a lot of players neglect).

These puzzles are NOT easy, but are printed two to a page, which makes it easier to analyze then some others puzzle books. However, some of typeface, as well as the ink density, make it hard to figure out which are the White pieces and which are the Black pieces.

I lost this book once and actually went out and bought it again - it's that good. Along the same lines as the above book, but different, is Troitsky's (sp?) book "Tactics In The Endgame". You want to get better? Studies these two books - you'll notice result right away, I promise.

Chris Rondthaler

I recently purchased a chess set on Amazon.com. I wanted to re-learn the game and its different nuances. What a better way than trying to solve these puzzles! These puzzles focus primarily on the end-game, and you have to make the moves for both white and black. If you want to improve your chess game, I would recommend that this be one of the first places you stop.

This GURPS Supers supplement, based on George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards universe, was good, but a little limited. There was an assumption that users would have read the books. Also, the character descriptions were pre-"Ace in the Hole" despite the fact that this book was published *after* "Ace in the Hole."

This RPG suppliment details the world of George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards for the GURPS role playing game. The rules are provided in 1st edition format, so translation to 2nd edition is necessary. The time of this RPG suppliment sets it between book 3 and 4 of the first series. A copy of GURPS Basic set, GURPS Supers, and GURPS Psionics is required to play this game to it's full potential

For a different perspective on the Dreaming, check this book out. Lots of great ideas for stories and characters (am looking forward to a troll PC running into a Gloam). Finally fills in a chunk of the mythological puzzle of WOD - dryads, sprites, etc.

As mentioned in the other review, however, the editing causes some difficulty - different stats for the same thing in different parts of the book for example. I had a real sense that each of the authors were responsible for their own sections of the book - they did not talk to each other often. The book is supposedly written from different C:tD character's points of view, but the meat of the book is very disjointed. All that aside - the material within is worth the effort.

Inanime is quite possibly the best book for this game since The Enchanted. Not only does it FINALLY present the inanime, hinted at since the first edition of the main rules, but it manages to present these rather alien creatures in an entertaining and intersting manner, and best of all, gives hitns on how to intergrate them with an already running chronicle. Unfortunatly, i was unable to give this book 5 stars, as the editing is particularly bad, esepcially in the mannekin entry, but otherwise, it's a wonderful book which i suggest wholeheartedly to any Changeling ST

Maybe its that I'm looking at the past through rose colored glasses, but when I read this I did'nt experience the same sense of wonder that I did when I was 13. Martin touches on very very cool topics, but my main gripe is that he whizzes through everything, often just giving a pointer to another book, which is great in that it encourages more exploration but is frustrating at the same time. But if you havent encountared recreational mathematics before, take a look, Martin does a wonderful job in making math FUN!

Reading this takes me back to time spent in my school's library poring over Gardner's columns in Scientific American. Several of the columns in this book I first read as a nerdy 14 year old and was staggered then (as I am now) by the elegance and beauty of the ideas they contained. Now I read it with a far greater appreciation of the problems and ideas expressed, but that doesn't compare with the sheer sense of wonder I experienced first time around.

A great book. I was intoduced to LARP role playing through Laws of the Acension, and I havn't looked back. The book can be a bit confuseing for new player who hasn't ever played either table top or LARP before. Perticulary if you're a table top player trying to make the switch to LARP. It's not easy. But if you read the book, and have a freind or two near by who can help you out with character creation, then it's a great buy. I wouldn't suggest it for a new player who can't ask his or her freinds about it.

But if you know your stuff, and if you find mages interesting, and you want somthing other then Vampier intruge and Werewolf blood baths, try Mage, it's not only a great mix (if you want a blood bath, then you can have one, if you want a socail game then by all means try it) but the best part about mage is it's flexability. Mage allows player to play almost whatever they choose, and if your into crossover game with other types of supernaturals, then mage is great for that too.

So if your a newbie, I'd try somthing diffrent, however, if you know your LARP and you want a change of pace, try Laws of Ascension. It's fun and truly interesting.

This book is the best Minds Eye theatre book I have read yet. WHile it does have some minor problems in it, overall it is simply beautiful, though i HIGHLY suggest any prospective players or buyers also get a copy of mage Revised, and a copy of the Tradition book they plan to play in. Great work, White Wolf, it was wort the wait.

This adventure is the 2nd part of the famed 'Enemy Within' campaign for Warhammer FRP originally published by Games Workshop. The adventure, set in the small town of Bogenhafen has been described by its authors as a 'Call of Cthulhu' scenario. This means investigation, conspiracies, secret cults, and fateful summonings. Above all, it encourages roleplay since there is a bare minumum of violent action.

While many Warhammer FRP veterans enjoy this adventure and rate it highly, I prefer a more balanced style of adventure design. As it is written, the game features a lot of investigation and interaction, and almost no action. However if your group is fortunate enough to consist of players who prefer roleplay over combat, add one star - this adventure is made for you. Players with way too many weapon specialization skills would probably be unconscious with boredom before the end.

This adventure is not recommended for players who like only hack and slash. SOB is lighter version of Power behind the throne. Player characters are drawn to Bögenhafen by a mistake. There they are faced by a great threat of Chaos. One of the very high persons in Bögenhafen is corrupted and players are to find out who it is. Guilty one is found out quite easily, but problem is: How to find evidence hard enought to collapse him/her? Can players stop the catastrophe? This adventure is the first of The enemy within campaign. So player characters should not be too powerful. Very fascinating and interesting book. I recommend.

There are 200 puzzles (chessboard diagrams with the pieces strategically placed). You are told how many moves are needed for the White chess pieces to earn a "mate" over the Black pieces, and then (of course) you attempt to solve the puzzle by figuring out which moves it will take to accomplish the feat. Some of these puzzles are easier than others.

The solutions are listed in the back of the book. Many of the puzzles have more than one solution, and when this is the case, the author uses asterisks and footnotes listing possible alternative solutions.

I suppose this book could have been better if there were brief discussions of the solutions, but in all fairness to the author, that's not a realistic expecation for a chess puzzle book -- especially for a book with 200 puzzles (if you like that type of didactic commentary, read chess manuals with plenty of examples).

modified Descriptive (English) notation. [EN]

Incident at Exile is by all means an introduction to the Alternity Role Playing Game from TSR. The content is split between a rules summary for the game and an introductory adventure.

The rules are a simplified version of the Alternity game system, concentrating on the basic concepts rather than dealing with the "nitty-gritty" that this wonderful game system is capable of. Excluding such concepts such as success levels and mortal damage, the rules are much more managable for a beginning troupe of players as well as a splendid introduction to the system. Once the basics have been mastered through this simplified version, one can easily add the more detailed rules found in the hardcover rulebooks.

The adventure section is where the supplement loses a bit of its charm. The heroes simply "stumble upon" a derelict vessel and need to explore it... It feels like an AD&D dungeoncrawl in space, which is a concept that the designers of Alternity tried very hard to move away from.

All in all, you get a good deal for your cash. It provides a stepping stone into the greater Alternity universe (one of my picks for the best RPG engines so far), and if the players don't like it, they're only down 7 bucks or so, not 30 by buying the PHB.

really a good idea for a N America Campaign. Gives new powers to Elecktrokinetics. Great thing to have!