This book was cool. It certainly lists a lot of songs...but if you have the knack for it, you could make up a lot that are better than some listed. But all in all it really helped my campaign, I wouldn't say it is a must buy but it does help.

If you own Christopher Hilton's "Alain Prost", you probably won't find many things new in this autobiography. But the fact that everything is told by the 4-time world champion himself puts readers in the best position to see why he did this and why he did that. You will find yourself racing in Alain's cockpit, and learning much from his reasoning.

Alain Prost is never as good a writer as Christopher Hilton, who has been a journalist for years. But this book, translated from Prost's original French version, does not come with long and artistic narration and brings readers right to the "fast lane". You will find it even more readable.

You'll know Prost's history better by reading Christopher's book. But only by reading this autobiography will you know Alain Prost better.

This book starts with an interesting introduction of his childhood before moving to Prost's racing career from kart racing to his record-scoring season in 1988. It ends with a rather strange chapter stating the author's desire for privacy. The great thing is that it comes with a handsome photo of Prost skiing. An additional chapter is added to include the 1989 season and Prost's 6th Brazilian GP victory in a Ferrari in 1990.

The best thing of the whole book, however, is that it contains excellent photos of Prost, and many good ones in his childhood. Lovely. You can't resist.

Both the editorial review and "Braveheart" make an error about the concept of "ius primae noctis." A feudal lord never, in the folklore, was thought to have such a right in regard to one of his vassals (a lesser noble who held a fief from him, or a knight). Wallace being a noble, his bride would not have been subjected to such a custom, even if it had existed. Even in legend, this supposed "right" was limited in the popular imagination to the brides of unfree serfs.

From the late '40s, Robert Capa's Magnum agency became intimately involved in the world of cinema. His personal contacts with leading directors and producers allowed him exclusive (and lucrative) access to the sets, the movie-makers, and the stars.

This book takes us from that time right up to recent days, but the climax of the book has to be its coverage of The Misfits, the final movie of Clark Gable and Marylin Monroe. The pictures of Monroe's public and private faces, along with commentary of the day, gives us an insight into her last big show - in a way only Magnum photographers can make.

Featured photographers include Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eve Arnold, and Capa himself. Watch out for Hitchcock, Sophia Loren, and Orson Welles. Brilliant.

If anything, Badiou's book poses a serious challenge to the dominance of Heidegger in continental philosophy today. Philosophy can never announce its own end, the end of philosophy. Neither can philosophy pretend to lose itself in the linguistic turn, in the shift from logic and reason to poetry. Philosophy, Badiou argues, must be distinguished from sophistry. Just as Plato founded philosophy from the thralls of sophism of his age, we too must recapture the 'Platonism' of philosophy in an age of anti-Platonism. Badiou's middle course between Plato, on one hand, and the likes of Heidegger and Deleuze, on the other hand, proposes the ideal of philosophy that is not-yet and, more importantly, not reducible to extreme conclusions, i.e., the rejection of philosophy as a dead endeavor. Philosophy is not the antithesis of sophism, and in this the true opposed to the false, but Badiou contends that sophism is a necessary partner of philosophy. In this schema, philosophy must be distinguished from sophism; that is, we must uphold a conception of truth, or rather, of truths. Philosophy seeks the truth in the plural, truth as multiple but which is nevertheless truth and not relative 'truth.'

In 'Manifesto,' Badiou engages with the dominant currents of philosophy today in order to reimagine the possibility of philosophy despite the skeptics. In the anglo-american vs. continental split in contemporary philosophy, one is often left to choose two impossible alternatives: logic or poetry. In 'Manifesto' Badiou opens up another way, a way that is a return to that which has always been with us all along.

Danielou was a Frenchman who spent two decades in India studying the vina. This book, a revision of the 1946 "Introduction to Musical Scales," compares the basic scale structures of India, China, and ancient Greece, relating each to the philosophical worldview of its parent culture. In a nutshell, he finds Chinese and Indian music to be equally profound but utterly dissimilar, and Greek music to be a confused merging of the two. Modern Western music, because it is based on the flawed Greek system, he finds decadent--capable of moving the listener, but only by overcomplicated means in comparison especially to the directness of Indian classical music. WARNING: Though a Frenchman, Danielou wrote this book in his idiosyncratic English. Be prepared for some puzzling passages.

a good collection, but October has sure pulled back from any connection to actual contemporary art (which is a shame).

This book gives the tourist 'in spe' a good guide about the Philippines. Excellent maps, good but short descriptions of the touristic sights, interesting background information about the country and its people and lots of practical guidelines... not even to mention the perfect and amazing photographs. The average tourist will be satisfied to plan his trip. The 'off the beaten track' adventurour will still be hungry.

This book covers a highly significant period of Palestinian political history. The era at the heart of the book's analysis is from 1967 to 1974, and looks at both the PLO's evolving stance and the position of Palestinians in the West Bank (its lack of a substantial analysis of Gazan politics is one of its few flaws). It principally examines the PLO's changing stance towards a State in the West Bank and Gaza, national relations with Jordan and the role of those living under occupation within the framework of a national movement. It contains a highly extensive trawl through the speeches, statements, and resolutions of this period to substantiate the basic claims to a change in the PLO's position and attitudes over these years. On this, it is certainly one of the best English-language texts, despite its non-academic, slightly journalistic style.

The weight of factual evidence marshalled by Gresh does not allow him to draw substantial conclusions or make extensive causal analyses of the changing PLO position. Where he does venture into this territory, his claims are often highly disputable - eg attributing Fath's opposition to a West Bank state before 1972 to a reluctance to antagonise Jordan (clearly it was nothing of the sort after 1970; only slightly more so before). Gresh also deals with the PLO and West Bank popular opinion, but oddly not at all with popular diaspora opinion. This seemed to me to be inexplicable, given the large number of sources on the attitudes of Palestinians in Lebanese camps, and their independent role in and often against PLO elite trends.

In short, the book is well worth reading for anyone interested in modern Palestinian history, and many of the points made have not been repeated elsewhere. But there's a great deal more to be said about this period that falls through the framework of Gresh's analysis. A final point: the English translation from the French original is quite poor; although I haven't looked at the French text, it may be worthwhile to read the original book if you can.

As someone brought up on western music and untrained in indian music, I was able to follow what the author was saying. This book is an important piece of the puzzle, in understanding the expressive power of music in gerneral and intonation in particular. Aspiring composers should check this book out. Probably best for instrumentalist with continuous control of pitch, (violinists trombonists etc.) and singers accustomed to singing against a drone.