One quality shared by all really good reference books is that the reader who goes to look something up finds himself twenty minutes later unable to remember his original question.

TOYS A-Z is handy sized and beautifully designed, with a thumb index and hundreds of illustrations of toys, ads, logos. The author is a real presence. Mark Rich has clear interests and an individual point of view. He shows us the story of an industry devoted to providing playthings and is strongest on U.S. toys. The book, in fact is a study of Americana. And an original piece of Americana as well.

If it was twice as long, it would be ten times as good. Ten times as long and nobody who dipped into it would ever be heard from again!

This is a brand new (2001) 480 page handy 6 x 9" book that toy collectors will want to keep with them when antiquing. It contains more than 350 black and white photos and covers the gamut of toys from A to Z. It's called a guide and dictionary for toy enthusiasts, and includes every type of toy imaginable. Items are listed by brand names, manufacturers and type of toys, cross-referenced for easy item location and identification. There's also much information regarding toy making companies. The book has a handy thumb-index like a dictionary for speed of use. It's a useful addition to your collectibles library.

Space 1889 was not the greatest game ever produced. The marketing of the game seemed weak. And, to be perfectly frank (pun intended), many of the illustrations were terrible! But, inspite of that and the demise of GDW (a tragedy in my not-so-humble opinion), the game lives on in the small enclaves here and there, joined by the internet.

I think that really says the ideas behind the game mechanics were brilliant. And I'm grateful to those who produced the game.

Transactions was a great fanzine. It, too, had an ignominious end. Now, with these compilations, it lives again. And better, far better than before!

This compilation has accounts of two miniatures games, which lend a great deal to the playing of the game.

If you enjoy movies like "Zulu", "Rogues March", "Beau Geste", "Four Feathers" and "the Light That Failed", you'll love this book.

I loved the first volume that Mark and Matt put together, and the second was even better. Being a post-GDW-collapse convert to Space: 1889, I didn't even realize that there had been a "Transactions" fanzine. I think that the new format does more justice to the efforts of Mark and the varied authors to improve upon the basic game materials than the fanzine. I think that the second volume would be more useful to those who are looking for more general information on Victorian Era Gaming and not just for Space: 1889. Loved it! Eagerly awaiting the 3rd Volume.

I was very hesitant to order nursery rhymes without seeing the book as many of the newer ones have changed the rhymes. These books have left them in the form I remember learning as a young child which is what I wanted for my grand children. I am very happy with these books.

A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes : Over the Hills and Far Away, Ring-A-Ring O' Roses & A Ding, Dong, Bell -- The hard cover boxed set is a great item for a great value.

The books contain traditional and classic rhymes. The illustrations are what make the books exceptional. They are BEAUTIFUL. I would definately recommend these books over any of the Mother Goose books on the market. I'm buying it again as a gift.

I agree with the previous reviewers comments; this is a must have CBT book. I use this book a great deal in my psychiatric practice to treat patients suffering from anxiety disorders. It has patient manuals which you can copy and give to patients to use in the clinical setting. This is a very popular book in Australia amongst psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. We have access to the full range of international CBT books but anecdotaly this is the most popular book in use. This book's only weakness is it lacks a chapter on PTSD. It has a good chapter on "first aid" after a traumatic event but not for treating PTSD as such.

This is a great Australian book on the cognitive-behavioural treatment of anxiety disorders. It is comprehensive in the topics it covers on each disorder, and practical to boot! The initial chapters are on general issues in dealing with anxiety disorders. Subsequent chapters cover panic disorder and agoraphobia, social phobia, specific phobias, OCD, and generalised anxiety disorder. For each of these disorders there is a chapter on the syndrome (what it is), treatment, a clinicians guide to treating the disorder, and a patient treatment manual. The patient manual is particularly useful and can be photocopied from the book to be used in clinical settings. Well worth a look.

Having read a lot about flies, and having tied even more, I always believed that fishing with flies entailed nothing more than the use of a rod, reel & line, and some dry or wet flies. And on a more imaginative day, the use of a nymph or a streamer. Of course, technique was tantamount important, but never did I imagine that my vision on fly fishing would change as much as when I laid eyes on "Tube Flies" by Mark Mandell and Les Johnson.

As far as I know, their book is the first comprehensive book on tube flies. Tying tube flies, and how to fish them make up the body of this book, but much of the flavor of this great read derives from the historical aspects and personal notes by the writers. From salt to fresh water is but a jump, but from a streamer to a tube fly is like entering an alternate universe. Tube flies are different, unlike any other fly, and they require a different approach.

The book consists of 6 chapters. Chapter one (1) deals with why one should fish with tube flies, or 'go tubular', as the writers put it. Tube flies can simplify one's tackle, they last longer, and seem to mimic baitfish in a way that hook-tied flies cannot. The next two chapters (2-3) deal with the different types of tube flies, and tell about 'how?' and 'with what?' to tie a tube fly. Next come three chapters (4-6) covering a large number of tube flies currently know to man. Each tube fly is introduced with a color photograph, a brief description, and a step by step tying recipe. Where possible, information about the inventor(s) of a particular tube fly is added, and sometimes one even gets to see its maker. Almost all the tube fly patterns come with expert comments on the fish they have been used on, and how well they caught.

This is without a doubt a magnificent book for anyone who wants to venture into the world of tube fly fishing and tying. It is a bright, well written book, with lots of very good illustrations. Descriptions of all the presented tube flies bring them within reach of any fly fisher who makes his/her own flies, but even those among us who don't (yet) may be inspired by this book to start tying their own. A very inspiring read, that cannot be resisted .... one simply has to go tubular. And for those who still hesitate after this, let it be said that tube flies can be used as well in fresh water as they can in the salt water, make no mistake about that!

I picked up Tube Flies in hopes that I might be able to better tie larger flies for blue water fishing. Not only did the advice in this book allow me to tie in the sizes I needed but the instructions corrected the problem of line twist that made me give up on tube flies a decade ago. My blue water box is now 3/4's tube flies and the money I have saved on hooks is, at least, three times the money this book costs. One pattern from the book took 20 tuna on a recent trip, and is still in good enough shape to take with me on the next trip. Since the fly slips up out of the mouth of the fish, it doesn't get chewed up during the fight and you have to take fewer patterns, that weigh less. There is a lot of history, and rigging advise as well. For a smart salmon, steelhead, or blue water fisherman this book is highly recommended.

I got this book for my TV buff husband for Christmas... he has been reading it ever since. The whole family has enjoyed reading it. This book is a must for any true TV buff... and what man isn't one! Looking for a great gift for a man in your life... this is a must, especially if he's a babyboomer or prior. Highly recommended for the money!

Be prepared for a flood of memories from your youth. Great look back at what's kept us entertained from the most powerful cultural medium of the last 50 years.
Also recommended - "No One's Even Bleeding" & "Delano"

The Sierra Echo, 1999.

A BOOK REVIEW by Bill Oliver

We've all heard much about, and have been awed by, Norman Clyde's unmatched mountaineering accomplishments-the numerous first ascents throughout the High Sierra, the notable search and rescues, "the pack that walked like a man." Although he supported himself largely by selling mountaineering articles, he revealed virtually nothing about the inner person. And he wanted it that way. Who then was this man behind the legend-the guy in front of "the pack?" Was he just a solitary old curmudgeon? What could reading 25 basically random and unconnected letters tell us?

Well, award-winning author Dennis Kruska has applied considerable scholarship and his great devotion to the subject in bringing these disparate letters alive-in telling a coherent story. Glen Dawson originally suggested the book project, and historian and SPS pioneer John Robinson further encouraged the author. The resulting 75-page book begins with the best Clyde biography I've seen to date. It traces the man from his forebears and follows his formal education, his coming West, and his later settling happily married in Pasadena. Some nine years later, in 1928, came the "infamous Halloween incident" at Independence High School in Owens Valley. Principal Clyde resigned five days later from the last full-time job he ever held.

Each Clyde letter is accompanied by brief background material that handily sets the scene. The majority of the correspondence was sent to Chester Versteeg-a fellow gnarly mountaineer who avidly mined Clyde's intimate Sierra lode. I knew Norman had been a grad student in the classics at UC Berkeley, but I never knew that later he also attended a semester of graduate work at USC. I was amused to read that in 1923 he declined a nomination for election to the Sierra Club's Angeles Chapter Executive Committee. I was amazed at the consistent thread that bespoke of his considerable disdain for Owens Valley folks.

This handsome volume concludes with a selected list of Clyde writings, an enumeration of first ascents in the Sierra Nevada, and a chronology of his life [1885-l972]. There are many pertinent photos and numerous carefully crafted line drawings original to this work, including a stunning oblique view of the High Sierra at the book's endpapers. This is a good read and a wonderful addition to the Clyde literature. Go for it!

Tuesday, August 17, 1999 - THE INYO REGISTER

By Jed Reitman News Staff

Some say that Norman Clyde was the most prolific mountain climber ever to set foot in the Sierra Nevada range. He was one of those unique characters - a man who stood as tall and liberated as the peaks that line the Owens Valley.

Clyde made first-ascents of 100 peaks between the years 1914-1939. He set a speed record for climbing Mount Shasta. He went solo into the Eastern Sierra, time and time again, in search of the unclimbed and untainted.

Known for carrying a huge pack, some called him "the pack that walked like a man." He was the principal at Owens Valley High School in Independence until the infamous "Halloween incident" brought him to resignation. He wrote articles and letters about the mountains of the Sierra and about life in the Owens Valley. He spent his last years living on Baker Creek in Big Pine.

In a little-known, award-winning book by author Dennis Kruska, "Twenty-Five Letters from Norman Clyde - 1923-1964," the life of Norman Clyde is illuminated. For years, Clyde's mountaineering accomplishments have been recognized, but few details about the man himself have ever been revealed. The book is based on a cache of correspondence and photographs acquired from the late Chester Versteeg, and insight from Glen Dawson and Jules Eichorn - two men who climbed with Clyde. Kruska's scholarship has earned him an "Award of Merit" from the 1999 Western Books Exhibition.

The book is a small edition, fine press publication. A short biography of Norman Clyde sets the scene for 25 letters written by the man who lived a humble life of teaching, then surrendered to the mountains. Several appendices in the back of the book offer excellent reference to the selected writings of Clyde, a list of Clyde's first ascents in the Sierra Nevada and a chronology of his life. Sketches and photos illustrate the joys and hardships he faced.

Kruska noted that the profound meaning in mountain climbing can only be recognized by a chosen few. For those whose lives are touched by good tidings of the mountains, Norman Clyde's legacy will forever be inspiring.

Any mountaineer's life produces an abundance of tales. The life of Norman Clyde was no exception. The tale of the infamous "Halloween incident" is particularly entertaining. As principal of the Owens Valley School, Clyde fired several "protective" rounds at a group of rabble rousing boys looking to vandalize the campus. After a resentful resignation, Clyde succumbed to the high country with a bitter taste of the valley's social flavor. From then on, Clyde devoted himself to the mountains and focused his writings on making a meager living off of his tales of adventure and discovery.

Twenty-Five letters from Norman Clyde provides unheard information about Clyde's wife, his early career, his disdain for "ordinary" Owens Valley folks, and insight to his eventual mountain retreat.

I cried for this young girl. I thought she showed a lot of courage to finally face the ghosts of her past. Although the story centers around a mystery, with a fair amount of violence, the book is really about people and making the good choices in life. I recommend Twylla to anyone who wants an unforgettable journey in to the real world of both joy and pain.

As well-conceived mystery thrillers go, this one has terrific character mosaics and a bittersweet if not surreal romance going for it. I see this gal as your typical high school sweetheart trying to run from her past only to get swarmed by really evil people trying to do her in. She brings out the hero in all us home-boys.

Who hasn't wondered why catastrophes happen, and if they can be predicted or avoided? Economists and investors try to understand why markets crash, seismologists struggle to understand and predict great earthquakes, and historians speculate why empires crumble and global cataclysms such as the First and Second World Wars occur.

Physicist and science journalist Mark Buchanan brings the science of what he calls "historical physics"--the study of systems that are far from equilibrium and, as he puts it poised "on the knife edge of instability" to bear on these questions.

He describes a much-studied model of such catastrophe-prone systems, a simple sandpile. Build a sandpile by dropping one grain at a time on the top of the heap. It will eventually reach a critical state at which a grain can either make the pile a bit taller or start an avalanche, small or large. Scientists experimenting with real and virtual sandpiles have observed several important regularities:

1. The time between avalanches is extremely variable, making it essentially impossible to predict when the next avalanche will occur.

2. The size of avalanches is also extremely variable, making it essentially impossible to predict whether the next avalanche will be tiny or huge.

3. A big avalanche doesn't need a big cause; one grain can trigger a sandpile-flattening event.

4. Avalanche sizes follow what mathematicians call a power law. What that means is that large events happen less frequently than small ones according to a fixed ratio. For sandpiles the frequency goes down by a factor of 2.14 for each doubling of avalanche size. For earthquakes the frequency goes down by a factor of four for each doubling of released energy.

5. Any process that follows a power law shows two key features. The events are "scale invariant," meaning that no particular size of event is favored. And large events--big avalanches, 8.0 earthquakes, "1000-year floods" and many other kinds of catastrophic events occur far more frequently than common sense would suggest.

We tend to assume that events distribute themselves along the familiar normal curve--like height, weight, IQ scores, etc. These distributions do have a favored scale--most people cluster around the average height, weight, or IQ, while the number of people with extremely low or extremely high scores is very small.

Buchanan shows that many events that greatly impact our lives represent changes in sandpile-like systems, and so are not just hard to predict, but inherently unpredictable. The one thing that can be predicted is that huge events will occur far more often than our intuition prepares us for.

Many natural events follow power laws, including earthquakes, forest fires, floods and the mass extinctions that have punctuated the history of life on earth. And many human events also show these regularities, including traffic jams, market crashes, the collapse of nations and empires, and wars.

Buchanan's presentation of these regularities and their implications is well reasoned, well documented and well written. Read it for yourself, and see if the ideas he presents don't help you to understand what seems to be a profound pattern that underlies many of the events that shape and shake our lives.

Robert Adler, author of Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation (Wiley & Sons, September 2002).

Wow! I am constantly amazed when someones careful investigation, and word crafting puts together a book like this.
The Author charts out the research path of scientists working in diverse fields as seismology and fire science,and takes the work on these seemingly random events and shows that there is a demonstrable, repeatable science to them.
More amazingly, he takes recent research work and shows that a large number of seemingly controlled things of mankind, such as city size, are driven by these same mathematical laws.
Even though the author alludes to the fact that these are events that just happen, and implies that they are beyond our control, I am hopeful that people are extending on this wonderful work to see the horizons of mankinds future in many different fields.
Brilliant work. If you are interested in the line of human history, and in the future, this is a great read.

This book showcases 14-27 and has spideys battle with Doc Ock(my favorite villan,kraven the hunter(if your a fan of his beware). It shows a sneak peek of ultimate sandman.Then there is the return of the green goblin and a great fight that includes nick fury and a history of Osborn. when gobby throughs M.J over the bridge you think its Gwen stacy all over again. Buy this book.

Picking up where the first Ultimate Spiderman hardcover collection left off (the first book collected issues 1-13), this book collects the next thirteen issues of the mind blowing excitement that is Ultimate Spiderman.
Written by Brian Michael Bendis (Daredevil) with art by longtime Spiderman artist Mark Bagley, this collection is phenomenal. Ultimate Spiderman is the retelling of the Spiderman in a modern world. Brian Michael Bendis's writing is spectacular and captures the innocence and excitement as Peter Parker/Spiderman learns to use his abilities and deal with high school at the same time. Mark Bagley's art is, as always, gorgeous, smooth, and brings Spiderman to life in a way that makes you wish you could live in the streamlined world of a comic.
This excellent hardcover features two great Ultimate Spiderman stories: his first battle with Dr. Octopus and his second face off with the Green Goblin. Not to be missed by anyone who has ever enjoyed Spiderman!!