I abhorred History when I was at school. When I've matured and grown more realist I've started to consider the importance of history to try understand what happens around me. I started with The Penguin History of the World" by J.M. Roberts; I don't recommend that book for beginners though it's a good book (I actually hadn't courage enough to finish it, it exists in audiobook too). This book is written by five american scholars which I think gives it a more general scope than others written by a single author. It includes a CD-ROM with the whole book plus a multimedia summary of human history read by a beautiful voice, photographs, Questionnaires, Quizzes, maps and the Complete Webster's New World Dictionary. There's an exclusive webpage for the book with quizzes, add-on reports and links to other history websites, there you can have your questions answered and your exercises corrected (I haven't used it yet though). Sincerely I didn't expect this book to be so good. The CD-ROM is the same for each of the separate books or for the complete version, so, buying the first or second part alone you have the full CD-ROM encompassing all world history.

No book captures the authentity of world civilizations as this one does. A masterpiece

Steve Albert has presented one of the most exhaustive and most interesting works on the Noriega trial. I have read other works by John Dinges, Frederick Kemp, David Harris, but, when it comes to events leading up to the actual trial, this has to be one of the most important contributions on the U.S.-Panama-Noriega case.

This book is for readers interested in searching, exploring, and in the end, understanding how key events, exchanges, testimonies, and ultimately an invasion took place to not only overthrow the general but also how the judicial process was able to ultimately imprisoned him in the United States.

How did the U.S., under the Bush administration, get away with it?

Why former traffickers served and assisted prosecutors?

What was the motive, the real motive, behind the invasion?

Did the average reader know or research the fact: "11 days from the invasion (January 1, 1990) the U.S. was to begin the Panama canal hand over process to a Panamanian administrator? This process would continue to December 31, 1999.

Why did Noriega participate in the Contadora Peace Process, and how did his views change U.S. foreign relations with Panama, in particular with his personal and close, with regards to intelligence services, relationship with the United States?

Why Noriega no longer expressed support for the School of the Americas in Panama, or no longer expressed a bilateral interest in maintaining such training facilities in Panama?

This book is thought-provoking. For readers interested in the U.S. role in Panama during the Noriega years, this is a must read.

I applaud Mr. Albert for being forthcoming in presenting this book to a wider audience. Many thanks.

A lot of information on machining packed into one book. Good to keep in your tool box.

This book is an outstanding resource for anyone with even a passing interest in Car Wars. It combines all vehicle body types (including cars, bikes, tanks, helicopters and airplanes!) as well as the equipment and weaponry from all previously published material. In college, I bought 2 copies -- one for me and one to circulate around my gaming group. This book contains equipment for those who prefer the classic slugfest, but also stealth, sound-systems and sound enhancement systems useful for ROLE-PLAYING.

As a side note, for anyone who plays other RPGs but needs good vehicle combat rules, give Car Wars a try. The vehicle combat rules are quick and clean. In the early 90s, there were even groups adapting Car Wars vehicle construction for use in GURPS and Shadowrun.

If you like Car Wars (or just need some good vehicle construction rules) get this book.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile is a wonderful play, with a great deal of tongue-in-cheek humor, dry wit, and intelligent riddles. In this play, Martin has set out a very amusing treatise on some very important aspects of the 20th century, especially regarding art and science.

There are, however, three other plays in this collection. Two of them, Zig-Zag Woman and Patter for a Floating Lady, can hardly be called plays. They're not even one-acts. They have the appearance of just being filler that Martin wrote to pass the time. Wasp, the fourth play in the collection, has many high points, including an hilarious monologue the father delivers to the son. It contains enough dark humor and sarcasm to make it a good read.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile alone is worth buying this collection, but don't expect the other plays to live up to Picasso's status. It is, though, a good collection for anyone interested in this type of humor or drama.

Steve Martin has always been a "serious" writer, in that he is interested in using humor to make people think and to highlight ideas in new ways. "Picasso at the LapinAgile" is a delightful piece of theatrical slight of hand wherein he creates the meeting of the century that never happened between the most influential scientest and the most influential artist and, after a wonderful setup, does a quantum leap into the absurd. It's fun to read and on stage (I saw the production at Ford's Theater in D.C.) it is fantastic.

Recently on a trip to Paris I climed Montmarte Butte to find the site of the Lapin Agile, the bistro in which Martin's play is set. It is still there and still in business, but alas, never saw nor will see a coming together of intelligence, talent and ego such as that envisioned by Steve Martin in this play.This is very smart comedy but funny enough in other ways to work for most audiences. I highly recommend it.

Steve Martin's "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" is a well- constructed and amusing read. Seeing it performed is ideal, but reading it is also rewarding. The use of subtle humor and irony by Martin provides the reader with a quick and enjoyable read. With all of the recent talk about the entrance into the 21st century, the play's references to the turning of the 20th are especially funny. I recommend this play highly to anyone.