Babel is a great model for new writers in his ability to place "life on the page." This translation is as complete as they come and well translated for the contemporary American ear.

There were only a few Soviet writers who tried to tell the story exactly how it happened and Isaac Babel was on of these very few bright and brave men. His work deserves to be known, remembered, and the highest points.

Unfortunately I can't appreciate the Mr. Peter Constantine's english translation
I read Isaac Babel in russian
He is the one of my favorite short story writer
very good language, humor
I'm glad that english-speaking readers have opportunity
to meet Babel's wonderful stories

I enjoyed this book simply because I am an Isaac fan. It did present those few little known facts on Isaac, but it also dished out an extensive section on the whole group. I found it interesting, being an Isaac fan, and although it was much like the books on the whole group, I would reccomend it to other Isaac fans. However, I think that there could have been more on just Isaac.

How do we know that the facts in this book are true? It says written by whats-her-face and Ike, but is it? It's fun to read these books. but keep in mind that when you, if it doesn't say AUTHORIZED it might not be totally correct.

I think this book was good cuz it's about Ikers, and he doesn't get enough attention as Tay and Zac. Although Zac is my fave, this is still a coo book because Ike is a coo guy! The H kiddies are lucky to have him as a bro! I wish I was related to him... in my dreams!!!

Humanoids? Extraterrestrials? If you are interested in science fiction, this book is great. But if you are interested in the fulfillment of Judeo-Christian prophecy, you would be well-advised to look in the "Our Customers' Advice" section above, and read the book the is recommended there. It is truly great and reveals the meaning of real prophecy.

On the back cover of the Omegy Conspiracy, Isaac Newton is quoted predicting that biblical literalists would now be claiming they know the true meaning of prophecy. He was right about that. But as for the "end times" nonsense, Newton was just as wrong about that as the literalists are. And Thomas and Hutchings, while no doubt well-meaning, also guessed wrong, even though their take is quite different.

The truth is that when enough people get the message from the Spirit of Truth (which Jesus said would come to guide us unto all truth and show us things to come), our world will begin to be transformed. Bad leadership will fall from power. Myths will be shattered. False beliefs will be dispelled. Conflicts will be resolved. Divisions will be mended. The people will be empowered by the truth, and realizing that we are all equal joint heirs to God's new "kingdom" to come, we will begin to create a "new world" here on earth. That's what real prophecy foretells, and I pray that more people will get the message so we can start progressing toward a positive future, rather than being afraid of it.

I must tell you that I read this book almost ten years ago. I loved it then as I do now and find that it is even more relevant as the years pass. After reading the book, I called Reverend Thomas and chatted with him. I wanted to get him booked on Maury, Oprah or Montel and no one was interested. It goes to show that no one really wants to hear the truth. The book is fascinating, thoroughly.

I.E.D. Thomas does a great job of tying together the Evidence for UFOs and Extra terrestrials with the Biblical evidence; And proposes a very interesting theory that the ancient Nephilim of Genises chapter 6 are our Modern ET'S. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in UFO's.

Vallejo's techniqe is awe-inspiring and really very simple. He does a rough sketch, poses his models, takes pictures, and composes a finished drawing. He transfers this to a canvas, does an acrylic wash for the lights and darks, then adds colors with oils.
And that's it!
Well, he makes it look that easy, anyway. Vallejo let's you in on the medium he uses right down to the fast-drying ordorless turp used by housepainters. This book really disects the methods of an icon of fantasy artwork.

Thanks, Boris

WOW! i have been a fan of his work since 1985 . He is the greatest artist ive ever seen . I was proud to have one of his works from his 1985 calender tatood on my belly. I WANT MORE !

Boris Vallejo's renderings of the human figure are unmistakeable. The way he uses paint to depict a 3-dimensional form on a 2-dimensional surface is amazing. The work is so life-like. (And in many cases, erotic.)

I liked reading about Vallejo's humble beginnings, where we see samples of his early, unpublished work. It was also a relief to know that even this master of the figure uses photographs. Contrary to many student's belief, it is not "cheating". To make his point, Vallejo is convinced that if the Old Masters had had access to photography, they would certainly have preferred to use that rather than rely on a model who gets bored, tired, etc. Vallejo uses both the model and the photograph.

In addition to advice about colour, tone, light, and how to "see", we are also taken through some step-by-step paintings, to show how the image is gradually built. Advice about portfolios comes at the end.

I have a board game called "Hero Quest", a sword-and-sorcery type adventure. The painting on the box looks like it was done by Vallejo, but I couldn't find his signiature. The colours and brushwork looked like his. The main figure was a Conan-type character swinging his sword. If you read Vallejo's "Fantasy Art Techniques" there is a good chance you will also paint like this eventually.

creationists are not all Religious and no creationist I'v met are crazy fanatics doing all they can to destroy the Theory of Evolution by just lying. Evolution is being fought because it has no evidence and that is the only reason. Do you put your trust completly in a person because they have a PHD, no. If you do then you are extreamly niev. About transitional fossils which all creationists claim not to exist. THEY DONT. If you doubt this then why has this new theory come up-Proteins have been Discovered which fix mutated proteins produced by mutant genes however Scientists say these proteins can only fix a certain number so when a certain number of genes mutate becomes to high(after millions of years)a large change takes place ie a large evolutionary step takes place. Scientists say this theory will help explain the LACK OF TRANSITIONAL FOSSILS. But yet you say this book claims that hundreds have been found. My experience
tells me not to trust evolutionists because when ever an arguement comes up it all they allways turn it into a personnal thing. Look at the anti-evolutionist books reviews and they are full a highly personnal negative statments telling people not to read the book without when they have not done so themselfs. The coments are allways along the same line dont read this because is just a fanatic preacher talking BS and has no scientific bases at all. How can you call yourselfs Evolutionists if you don't look at the whole story. You dont buy a computer just because it looks good on the outside do you.

"Science deals with the world of nature, the discovery and ordering of the world of facts and their relations, with concepts that have been tested by the facts. What the creationists attempt to do is to measure the facts by their conformity to Genesis, and this is absurd." --Ashley Montagu, Introduction, Science and Creationism

The late Ashley Montagu (1905-99) was a British-American anthropologist who earned his Ph.D. in 1937 from Columbia University. He was also a prolific and popular science writer of over 60 books. He is well known for discrditing the notion of race in the editions of his book, Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race (1942, 6th ed. 1998). His selections of essays for Science and Creationism range from the philosophical to the legal, historical and scientifically technical. The essayists in this collection include such academic luminaries as Isaac Asimov, Stephen Jay Gould, and others. The essays highlight the opposite methodology of scientists and creationists.

Scientists collect and investigate data and then attempt to formulate explanatory theories. Those theories are always subject to revision or even replacement in the face of new data. They often publish their research in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and their data, hypotheses, and theories are subject to independent verification and replication. Crationists, on the other hand, have an entirely different methodology.

They start first from their desired dogma that the Bible must be inerrant, infallible, and then work backwards to the data. They engage in campaigns of propaganda and political lobbying to pass legislation that either censors objectionable scientific theories or mandates "equal time" for "scientific" creationsim whenever objectionable theories are taught in the science curricula of public schools. Their dogma that the Bible is inerrant and infallible is not subject to revision or replacement in the face of disconfirming data, and they neither do any real science nor publish in peer-reviewed science journals. Thus, contrary to their claims, their dogma and their agenda are religious rather than scientific.

The essays also refute many creationists' errors. For example, creationists claim that the second law of thermodynamics, the law that says systems run "downhill," proves that biological evolution is impossible. However, as explained in Asimov's essay, "The 'Threat' of Creationism," the second law applies to "closed systems." The earth, however, is an open system inundated by energy from the sun. As the sun runs "downhill," it provides the energy necessary to allow the relatively small subsystem of earth to evolve life in the "uphill" direction. Thus, evolution does not defy the second law because it is not a process running "uphill" in a closed system. Moreover, as far as we know, the only closed system is the universe as a whole.

Although this book contains an excellent collection of essays, it lacks a description of the credentials of its contributors and an index. Obviously, an index would augment the utility of this otherwise superb volume.

If you're looking for a book boasting big names and eqally big answers to the never-ending debate between rationality and dogma (namely evolution vs creationism), then you have found it. The late Ashley Montagu has assembled a force to be reckoned with in this volume containing 20 essays by some of the biggest names in Science to date. Just to name a few we have: Ken Miller (of _Finding Darwin's God_ fame), Stephen Jay Gould, Isaac Asimov, Laurie Godfrey and the list goes on. The purpose of such an assembly of genius? To refute the largest hoax in history: the movement of the "Scientific" Creationsts. At the time that this volume went to press there was a lot of controversy and heated debate surrounding creationism. Many creationists wanted to get their theory taught alongside evolution in public science classrooms. It is no surprise that this decision was overturned in a district court in 1982. This volume contains the landmark decision by Judge William Overton as well as numerous essays defining science, comparing it to creationism as well as debunking common myths perpetuated by the creationist movement. There are many books available that similarly debunk creationism _The Blind Watchmaker_, _Abusing Science_, _Sciene on Trial_ etc., however this book is a necessary volume in anyone's library as it contains insights from many brilliant minds on all aspects of the debate. It is therefore an excellent starting point for anyone who wants to get an introduction to this topic. For those who are still seeking more, each essay contains an extensive list of references to articles and books that will quench the curiosity of the most academically inclined reader.

I only give this two stars for the illustrations and suspect that the main reason this book is bought is because of the Caldecott Honor. While I look for books that have strong female characters, I cannot recommend this story. There are many violent images -- a man caught in a bear trap, a multi-day wrestling match with a bear -- which, IMHO, are too much for young children. We shouldn't be teaching our girls or our boys that to be a giant and wrestle bears is how girls get to be the equal of boys.

Excellent book for a young reader. Very much in the tradition of Paul-Bunyan-style tall tales. The hero this time is a heroine, nicknamed Swamp Angel, with the strength to rid early-days Tennessee of a giant bear called Thundering Tarnation. Like the best tall tales, this one is full of wonderfully humorous exaggerations, all wonderfully illustrated on every page. Delightful and entertaining book for both boys and girls.

What fun to have a tall tale that features a woman--and such a capable woman at that! Anne Isaacs has written a yarn that seems somehow to have been in the pantheon all along--much like Howard Pyles' "Pepper and Salt" stories, "Swamp Angel" is new as far as children's stories go, but has all the elements of the classic stories and so seems older and as wonderfully distinctive as the tales that have been around for generations.

Isaacs tells us all about one red-headed, freckled young woman named Angelica Longrider. From the first, we know we are in for a wild ride when we see the picture of her rather startled-looking parents holding an enormous but contented baby--the text tells us calmly that Angelica was "scarcely taller than her mother and couldn't climb a tree without help." Things start moving at a pell-mell pace when we find out that a destructive black bear has so annoyed folks all around the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee that a reward has been offered for his hide. Angelica sets up to whup that bear and means to do the job right.

The fight between Angelica and the bear is a wondrous portion of the story, told with great good humor, a number of winks at the reader, and the astonishing illustrations of Paul O. Zelinsky. "Swamp Angel" may well be Zelinsky's masterpiece. The pictures have the flavor of early American folk art, combined to great effect with Zelinsky's usual eye for telling detail and gorgeous use of color. They fit the style of the story so well and complement the action so sufficiently that it's as though Isaacs and Zelinsky are two halves of the same person. Rarely do the visions of both author and illustrator dovetail as cleanly as they do here, and it's our great good luck as readers that Isaacs and Zelinsky found each other. Three cheers for "Swamp Angel!"

This book was okay, believable characters but there wasn't much depth. It was good if you had nothing else to read. The best thing was the dynamics between the two women, without that there would not have been much worth reading. I just did not think the writing style was great.

A truly delightful read. So strong were the character developments that I too wanted to call Cass while she was in Antigua. Where's the sequel?

This book was given to me by a friend and I was very amazed a this book. I was very hard to put down. The story line was great. The author kept her audience focused. I was also impressed to see that it was written by a fellow Caribbean person. CONGRATULATIONS You did yourself proud. I recommended this book to a few people and they too were impressed by it. We even had a discussion about it and we have ne question, Where's the sequel???

Anyway D> GIsele Isaac, Congratulations on a book well done, I'm sure u will doi it again with a BANG!

Remember your audience is waiting for the sequel.

GOOD LUck

I think this book is highly over-rated. I found the tiny font very hard to read and the screen captures look like they were made several application generations ago. For my money I'd get something like 3D Animation: From Models to Movies by Watkins or digital 3d design by Danaher.

If they updated this book to reference software that people are actually using today and made the font bigger then I think it might merit a higher ranking.

If you are expecting an tutorial book for a day by day work, this book is not for you.
But if you are expecting an overview of techniques developed troughout the time, with a more theoretical approach, this book is your book.

You want one book that will teach you every concept in 3D? This is the book. Well written, Good diagrams. Just get this book, already!

When you read Nelson's Biddlecomb books you cannot help but see the obvious influence O'Brian's Aubrey/MAturin series have had on his writing. The sole reason I purchased the first book was because it said, "Nelson writes with the eagerness of a young man sailing his first command - Patrick O'Brian," on the cover. Having read all of O'Brians books (with the exception of his Picasso biography) I thought that if he endorsed it then it was worth reading. A lot of the book is predictable and at times it is very hard to believe that Biddlecomb gets in and out of so many immpossible situations. The more I read the more I started to think that O'Brian's praise may have been intended as a stinging commentary. Read the quote again and you will see what I mean. If you like this genre then I think you will enjoy Nelson's work. My biggest complaint is that Nelson ends the five book trilogy (yes, that right) without any discussion of some of his most endearing and interesting characters.

This is a 3 star book with some 4 star parts.

When you thought it couldn't get any better, Mr.Nelson pulls out all the stops for the finale.
Isaac and two privateers are en route for Philadelphia to take command of 'Falmouth', when they encounter a British man-o'war; what should have been a fairly easy victory is turned into resounding defeat, as the privateers decamp at the first taste of hot metal - leaving Isaac at the mercy of the bigger ship with the weather-gauge. He has no option but to beach his beloved boat, rather than be captured, especially as his sworn enemy Smeaton is aboard.

All the characters are fully-formed now and we reap the benefit of understanding their actions and their foibles; I think Smeaton is excellently portrayed - the aristo with a chip on both shoulders and an obsession with finishing Isaac off - he is pivotal in this gripping 'factional' tale of how the British were forced to abandon the occupation of Philadelphia.

Again we see Isaac's headstrong character take over and cause him trouble, as he loses two boats in quick succession (though not entirely his fault) and almost loses his wife and his life in the protracted vendetta with Smeaton.
The sub-plot of rescuing and fitting-out the 'Foulmouth' is a great counter to Isaac's stranding and attempt to find her, as the two plots run side by side, interspersed with Smeaton's gradual descent into mania.

Although this appears to be the last in the 'Revolution at Sea' saga, I suspect that there is more to come before Isaac is finished with the British - at least I hope for more...

I have enjoyed all of James Nelson's books in the Isaac Biddlecomb series, but this one is the best by far. Nelson's skill at characterization is in full force here. He creates believable, riviting people put in often impossible situations and reacting the way real people will. It is just not right to say the British are portrayed as evil - they get the same even treatment that the Americans do - not good, not bad, just people. On top of that, the plot moves at break-neck speed. Great reading! Though the first three books say "Trilogy" the last two say "Saga". Nelson's web site says he hopes to finish the Biddlecomb series some day, and I certainly hope he does! Also don't miss Nelson's Marlowe novels, starting with The Guardship.

When a prolific and profitable author like Isaac Asimov dies, his publishers do not believe that his death ought to mark the end of the publishing gravy train. After Asimov's death, his Foundation and Robot universes were novelized again by several writers, most notably David Brin, Gregory Benford, Roger MacBride Allen, and now most recently with Mark Tiedemann with MIRAGE. It is not overly difficult to duplicate the style of Asimov; it is his substance that remains elusive. Tiedemann writes of the robotic future of earth that had not yet morphed into a galactic empire. This empire is staunchly anti-robotic, with much opposition coming from decadent Spacer worlds that require robots to maintain their own self-loathing existences. On earth, a number of humans and Spacers are assassinated by unknown assailants, throwing into jeopardy a major treaty between earth and the Spacer worlds. The problem with Tiedemann is that his characters speak with the Asimovian twang but lack its inner emotional resonance. Tiedemann seems unclear as to who his protagonist should be. Instead he divides center stage between Special Agent Mia Daventri and roboticist Derec Avery, neither of whom is sufficiently interesting to involve the reader. Nowhere in MIRAGE does Tiedemann cause the reader to care about an increasingly volatile symbiotic relationship between man and robot. Roger MacBride Allen was far more successfull in his trilogy of Asimov inspired robot novels. If the reader wants to get further involved in a post Asimovian universe of conflict between man and robot, then this reader has little choice but to hope that writers like Tiedemann learn their craft well enough to make him care about how humans interact with both altered humans and robots. The real test of any novel lies in its ability to cause the reader to think of it long after he closes the flyleaf. Sadly, MIRAGE failed to deliver.

The Asimov universe has been respectfully added to since his untimely death - first there were the Robot City novels, then came the new Robot novels by Allen and then the Second Foundation Trilogy. And now this, a new Robot novel. In truth, while there have been some dissappointments, most of the new novels set in Asimov's universe have been fairly good. As is this offering.

In Mirage, the author does a very good job capturing the sense of mystery Asimov used in his own novels. He also shows a good grasp of Asimov's ideas and universe.

What is surprising to me is the fact that no history is mentioned about the main characters who spent 6 novels together in the Robot City chronicles. Nor is any indication given as to when this story fits into the Asimov timeline - while the reader can certainly guess, the author could have thrown the reader some sort of lifeline from the original Asimov books to let us know what else was going on.

At any rate, its an interesting read. Very nice to see that the spirit of Asimov is well remembered and appreciated.

I read Mark Tiedemann's COMPASS REACH and was blown away by his ability to do terrific characterization in the context of a full-blown space adventure. I was almost disappointed to discover that he had written books in someone else's universe, but I gave MIRAGE a shot and I'm glad I did! All his strengths are here, breathing life into what I'd come to see as a dry, been-there-done-that franchise. Proves that a good idea can always be done a bit better if a good writer is given a chance to reimagine the whole thing.

MIRAGE is an espionage thriller that toys with a frankenstein idea. When the climax comes, teh possibility of a really cliche ending is avoided by following logic--like Asimov would have done!--and sticking to the possibilities in the characters themselves.

Great characters (he even made Derec Avery and Ariel Burgess more interesting!) and a great plot, with impressive speculation to boot. What more can you want from a science fiction novel?

Tiedemann's "original" novels are better, but MIRAGE turned out to be a really good introduction to a fine writer. FIVE STARS!