I got this book at the library thinking that it would focus itself on "Ambient" composers like Eno, Aphex Twin, et al. The preface seems to give that impression on the reader, but when I started looking at the rest of the book, I realized that Pendergast's definition of "ambient" seems to be the widest definition of the word that I have ever seen - I mean come on, are the Grateful Dead, Miles Davis, the Byrds, and Yes really ambient composers? I don't think so. I think that Pendergast uses the word "ambient" in a different way in the preface than in the rest of the book. In the preface, he uses the word to mean a type, of quiet, meditative, background-type music, but in the rest of the book, he uses it to mean any record with good production values. They're two different things.

Also, he seems to fill the book full of meaningless trivia facts that don't really add anything to the scope of the book. I mean, do I really care what kind of engineering degress the members of Pink Floyd had? Is my understanding of Brian Eno's music heightened now that I know his middle name? No. So the guy can do his research. Big deal.

Third, as other reviewers have already pointed out, there are loads of factual errors, typos, and misprints in the book. Anyone who has listended to ELP's "Brain Salad Surgery" will know that the song "Lucky man" is not on that record, contrary to what Pendergast says.

So to all you would-be buyers of this book: You don't need a book like thas to understand the music. Just LISTEN to the music, you'll understand a lot more. And if you still fell curious, go to the library and look for it before you buy.

Your evaluation of "The Ambient Century" will depend on what you're looking for. I expected serious analysis, and by that criteria would give it 1 star. If what you're interested in, though, is an eclectic encyclopedia of interesting 20th century musicians, loosely grouped by the theme of "ambience," which is never defined, then you might think this is great. (I can't comment on the fact-checking criticism, but to me it's a secondary point.) Prendergast moves from "high art" composers including Debussy and Stockhausen, to "minimalism," to rock, broken into categories such as psychedelic, krautrock and synthesizer music, to the 90s techno/house/drum&bass/ambient trend.

However, his definition of "ambient" involves "music being deconstructed" by Mahler and Debussy (sounds really "postmodern," but what does it mean?), and developments in technology/electronics, along with an "interest in pure sound." He pronounces: "[T]he bleeding heart of electronic progress had by its very nature rendered all recorded music, by definition, Ambient." (4) Given this sort of cosmic perspective Prendergast could have included all music, and what he does include seems to be more or less "cool stuff that I like." Harsh, I know, but does Bob Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door," by any stretch of the conceptual imagination, belong on a list of the Essential 100 Recordings of 20th Century Ambient Music? If so, our author fails to offer any explanation. How about Led Zeppelin IV (ie, ZOSO)? I'm at a loss.

If the book was appropriately titled, I would have much less to criticize. But when you title a book "The Evolution of Sound in the Electronic Age," you lead the reader to expect some sort of theoretical analysis -- what sort of evolution? In what direction? What mechanisms are involved? But there is "no there there" if what is happening is just technological progress, and "an interest in pure sound" may characterize Cage's famous *4'33"* (the silent composition), but there is not even an attempt here to argue that it is the direction of 20th century music. If Prendergast really means to emphasize the use of music as background, where is his discussion of Muzak, and music in advertising? He doesn't develop his embryonic theme(s), but rather rushes headlong into profiles of musicians, which are strung together with little connecting analysis.

Caveat emptor -- if you're looking for serious analysis, look elsewhere, but if you want a breezy journalistic encyclopedia of non-mainstream music (that is seen as cool by "The Wire" magazine) you might find this a useful reference work. (For a model of analysis of cutting edge music, check out Nyman's "Experimental Music." It also has a foreward by Brian Eno!)

This is not some gratuitous little fanboy picture-book along the lines of countless tomes churned out to cater to the prepubescent fans of Britney, N-Sync et-al. Rather, it is the story of the development of 'Ambient' music over the past 100 years, as the subtitle puts it, "from Mahler to Trance - the evolution of sound in the electronic age."

Mark Predergast is a respected author and critic, born in Dublin and now living in London, who has written extensively and authoritatively about ambient and electronic music for over two decades. This book is about what he considers to be the "classical music of the future;" Ambient.

The book is divided into four main parts:

Part I: The Electronic Landscape
Part II: Minimalism, Eno and the New Simplicity
Part III: Ambience in the Rock Era
Part IV: House, Techno, and 21st Century Ambience

The book starts with a Forward by Brian Eno, the British pop/rock/avante-guard/neo classical musician who actually invented, and coined the term, "Ambient Music;" music that should be, in his words, "as ignorable as it is interesting."

"Part I" charts the move away from rigid, Germanic orchestrations, to Romanticism and Modernity, first seen in Gustav Mahler's "Symphony No. 3," written in 1895. It details the works of some of the greatest composers of the last century, not only Mahler, but Debussy, Ravel - without whom Torvil and Dean would have hard a hard time winning their Olympic Gold! - Delius, Schoenberg, Stokowski, Messien, and many others. He also explores the development of electronic instrumentation, vital to the production of what we now know as Ambient Music. It looks in detail at the work of Leon Theremin, who's other-worldly sounding "Theremin," was used to such wonderful effect on the Beach Boys "Good Vibrations," and the soundtrack to "Forbidden Planet." Also explored are the developments of Maurice Martenot, Daphne Oram, the coming of the true synthesizers, first the monophonic "Moog," then the endless range of polyphonic synthesizers that went on to revolutionized the creation and production of modern rock and Ambient Music. It also looks at the career and work of one of the first great interpreters of the electronic keyboard, Wendy (Walter) Carlos, the Worlds most famous transsexual composer and performer of classical and neo-classical music!

"Part II" investigates the influence of American Minimalism, exemplified by Philip Glass and Steve Reich, on modern 70's rock, specifically Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," and Mike Oldfield's "Tubular Bells." These two seminal albums greatly influenced Brian Eno in his search for an alternative way forward in modern music. This part also investigates, in great detail, Eno's use of the studio itself as an instrument, as much responsible for the final sound of a recording as the acoustic/electric/electronic instruments actually played by the performers. As well as Eno, Glass and Reich, other important composers/performers careers and works are explored in detail, these include La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Michael Nyman, Arvo Part, Henryk Gorecki and John Tavener. Also investigated is the influence of the two recording labels ECM (Editions of Contemporary Music) in Germany, and Windham Hill in the USA, on shaping the public awareness, and acceptance of, Ambient/Minimalist Music.

"Part III," the largest part of the book, fully explores, in detail, the development and influence of Minimalism and Ambience on 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's rock music. This starts with the "Innovators," Leo Fender and Les Paul, who, between them, changed forever the sound of the electric guitar, and what discussion of instrumental innovators would be complete without a look at the work of Robert Moog, who gave his name to the ubiquitous Moog Synthesizer. It then looks in detail at the musical innovators of the times; The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, Ravi Shankar, The Velvet Underground and Nico. And then there was the all too brief but incendiary career of Jimi Hendrix, who single-handedly redefined what exactly could, and could not, be done with a Fender or Les Paul. Then there are the Germans, or "Kraut Rockers." There is an enormous amount of the book devoted to the likes of Tangerine Dream, who practically invented modern electronic rock, Kraftwerk, Can, and Klaus Shultz. The influence of Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulz, especially, cannot be overlooked, with their experimentation in hardware and soundscapes, they created entirely new musical worlds and experiences. There is also a complete mini-biography of Pink Floyd and Mike Oldfield, plus a discussion of the rampant excesses of British Progressive Rock, which reached its bloated nadir with the release of "Tales from Topographic Oceans" by Yes... and before you say a word, I'm a Yes fan!

"Part IV" explores the latest evolutionary step in Ambience and Minimalism, rooted in the "Club Culture" of London and Europe. This is traced in detail from the Disco world of 70's and 80's gay bars and clubs in New York, to the "Aciiiid!" fueled mega-raves of the late 80's and 90's in the British countryside. From crazed clubbers dancing for 24+ hours straight, fueled by a veritable cornucopia of drugs and alcohol, to the blissed-out "E" generation, chilling to continuous trance/trip-hop and minimalist mixes, Ambient music continues to evolve in endlessly surprising ways.

"The Ambient Century" is an incredibly rich and detailed book, written in an immediately accessible style for the listener of Ambient; you DON'T need a doctorate in musical theory to enjoy this work!!! There are many criticisms of this book in other reviews; these tend to focus on minutia of detail such as the EXACT model of synth Wendy Carlos played, or the accepted name of a particular synth module. For anyone with a serious interest in Ambient/Minimalist music, I can't recommend this book highly enough; the nitpickers will ALWAYS find something to criticize!

This was a pretty fun book I guess. However it wasn't what I expected it to be though, The book basicly just replaces Dutch with a personalityless brother who just happens to be an NYPD homicide detective. If it were not made so abundantly clear that this is Dutch's brother you would think he is a horrible attempt at ripping him off, this aside the book was a nice read. I didn't like how Dutch had just dissapeared, and they made him out to be a sissy compared to his brother. The detective aspects of this book were really well done, too bad that the writer had to waste his efforts on a poorly written character such as Scheafer. It may sound like I'm being harsh but the character WAS poorly written, one minute he's supposed to be a borderline psycho who never talks to everyone the next minute he's making wise cracks like ... Spider-Man. And his partner, his parnter Rasche, was a very well written and likeable character who for the life of me I can't figure out why he didn't shoot Scheafer himself and give him to the predators, through almost the entire book Scheafer treats Rasche like a doormat and I couldn't figure out why Rasche kept helping him out. This book also feature kind of a cop out ending, that I won't give away, but the ending is about three pages long and it's not one half as good as it could have been.

All in all this was still a fun book to read, I give it three stars for the characters, action, and the nicely written predator sequences.

Obviously the book goes into way more detail and description than the graphic novel. Nathan Archer even goes as far as adding some scenes that give Schaefer's partner Rasche a bit more character and few more things to do.

The plot is what Predator 2 was originally supposed to be. Arnie's character was supposed to be helping the NYPD with a drugs war in an unbelievably hot summer. But when Arnie couldn't schedual in between Total Recall and Terminator 2 the role was re-written for Danny Glover. So the story here is pretty much as much a decent continuation of the first movie as the film sequel is. But with one big difference...

The role of Dutch Schaefer is changed to Detective Schaefer, Dutch's brother. He's just as big, bad and burly. And guess what...he goes by his own rules. If there was ever a REAL inspiration for 'McBain' from The Simpsons...it's probably Detective Schaefer. While reading the book I couldn't help but think of a Rainer Wolfcastle-type hero.

I've never read many action-based novels and I never knew how they'd work. But Predator: Concrete Jungle does manage to be exciting and is a real page turner. It's a pretty thick book but I managed to finish it in about 3 days. I know this isn't particulary fast but I'm not the kind of guy who can spend all day reading.

Not unless what I am reading is interesting or has a reason keep me reading to the end. And this book is definitely all that. The follow-up, Predator-Cold War, is even better. But I do recommend that if you like the Predator movies and comic books that you check out the novels. There are quite few of them and they are well worth it.

A good idea to put Dutch's brother against the predators! This book has a lot of action and I liked that, but the action is not very realistic in some parts. Like when Schaefer manaced to run a long way to a predator and kill him with a metal pipe, and the predator just stood there?! But the plot is quite good and pictures are well drawn. But that is the only bad part in this one. This is the first predator only book I've read, and I am going to keep buing them 'cause this was so cool!

I find myself turning to this book over and over when presented with a piece of pottery I cannot identify by sight. The layout is great, the organization is easy to understand, the pictures are, for the most part, clear. I sympathize with the reviewer below who had trouble with some of the marks being off with regards to dates, but in my mind, that does not detract too much from the usefullness of this book as a reference. I'd recommend it.

This book was my first porcelain reference book and I purchased it with the idea of identifying and dating items in my growing cup and saucer collection. It did not disappoint me. It doesn't have all the marks(an impossible feat), but it is an excellent reference and I use it extensively! I highly recommend this as an important addition to the library of any one collecting porcelain!

Whether you collect McCoy, Hull, or Royal Doulton, you will find information about the marks on your pottery and porcelain here. Well designed, well written, loaded with examples, and even some histories of manufacturers. Great all around reference.

I travel a lot, and have found Lonely Planet guides to be a big help... I still do... granted, some of the info is inaccurate (particularly with prices), but every guidebook provides a caveat at its beginning to warn readers of unstable prices... generally the inaccuracies never amount to more a pitance.

I found the LP Spain book to be more useful than the Let's Go! Spain guidebook as the LP book had more background information, more listings for places to stay and more maps with better detail... unfortunately, as one of the other reviewers mentioned, this book and many of their other guide books are starting to refer you to other LP mini guides... they used to throw everything you needed between those covers, but these days you almost have to carry a small library around with you to get what a early 90s LP book would give you. Still better than Let's Go!, but for how long?...

My wife and I just completed a tour of some of the major cities of Spain. Before we went, we purchased this Lonely Planet rather than the individual city guides. Since we were part of a tour and merely wanted some supplemental information, we purchased this one.

The information they give on each of the sites and monuments is helpful. Although it didn't go into intense detail, you did get enough background historical information to make some sense. This book also gave us some good ideas of sites to see which the tour we took did not tell us about.

Some of the information is a little inaccurate, don't take this information as 100 percent correct. For instance, admission to the Capilla Real is 350 ptas and not 300. The hours were a little off also. We did find the maps to be pretty accurate. The walking tour of Madrid was a little more difficult to follow, but it could be done.

A fellow traveler had the Let's Go book for Spain and Portugal. Consistently, we found her looking at our Lonely Planet for better information.

I would recommend this book for a trip to Spain. Remember that it is supplemental and should not be taking as 100 percent accurate.

This book I found superior to competitors. Its maps were better and more detailed, allowing me to get aorund Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and the little towns of ALgicerias and La Linia without any trouble. It is a wonderful book and also has a wide variety of places to stay unlike some guidebooks which only have the most expensive or the cheapest(and most savage) places to stay. I was very happy when I found myself alone in Madrid to have this book.

HTML & CGI Unleashed is the worst computer book I have ever read in my life...The author's wouldn't know good writing if it jumped out and bit them. Much of the book is devoted to the basics of development rather than stuff you will actually use.

Beyond this, the authors knowledge of Web publishing is second rate and harkens from the days when Mosaic was king of the browsers. I wouldn't even recommend this book if someone gave the book to you for free. December and Gingsburg have done a great job of peddling bad books on unsuspecting readers. Don't become their next victim

About a year ago when I left a tech writing job at a software company to become Webmaster at DeLorme, I searched in vain for *any* published books on HTML or the Web. At the time, I thought I should write one, and the countless fluff that's out there proved that correct... I can write three paragraphs on the difference between

and

with the best of them. Your book is another matter. It is wonderfully useful and wonderfully well-written. Had it been available a year ago, I might not have had as much fun learning the subtle ins and outs of web serving, but I'd be much farther ahead. I recommend it to anyone who wants to know the whole story about Webmastering. From CGI to principles of hypertext design, its got it all.

First, I must admit that I only skimmed the initial sections on web philosophy and design. Other reviewers seemed put off by the depth of those sections. Though I have only built small web sites so far, I very much welcome having a source of knowledge to ensure my larger developments do not look like a poorly organized beginner's site. The design sections are really more than you bargained for, and they don't take away from the excellent discussions and reference material on HTML and CGI. The HTML section in particular let's the reader know which version of HTML supports each tag, so browser compatibility can be ensured. Simple samples that focus on the tags being learned are provided. The book is very comprehensive; hopefully, beginners won't find it too overwhelming. This book is highly recommended.

I enjoyed this book a great deal. Regis is a good writer and the subject matter is compelling. It doesn't get 5 stars for two reasons: the lack of counterpoint about the development of nanotechnology (IT'S GOING TO HAPPEN DAMMIT! WE CAN'T STOP IT): please. Also, the author shows almost no creativity on the effects of nanotechnology on future society. The deepest thoughts are about free steak and getting to sit around without working 9-5 jobs?

This book is a very good history primer. If you're REALLY into nanotechnology though, read Drexler's works.

This book provided me with my first FACTUAL survey of this science-fiction-ish area of scientific research. Nanotechnology, as the blurb up above says, is the emerging science of creating self-replicating robots the size of molecules. These tiny robots, if developed, should be able to have an almost unimaginable impact on human civilization. For example, they could be swallowed in the form of a tablet, which might release millions of tiny robots into the body with the aim of attacking cancer cells. They could be set to work transforming, for example, grass clippings into rice by monkeying around with the composition of grass at the atomic level. People are seriously researching scary stuff like this. There is a lot of science fiction out there about this kind of thing, especially dealing with the infamous (and not impossible) "gray goo" scenario, in which nanorobots run amok and accidentally rip the whole planet into undifferentiated submolecular slime.

Ed Regis is careful here to present the actual state of the field, and also to give some interesting insights into the curiously cultlike following that has grown up around Eric Drexler.

I recommend this book as a dispassionate assessment of what really COULD be one of the biggest technological revolutions since... oh, I don't know... the wheel comes to mind. Or fire. Or the printed word. My only problem with this book is that it's slightly behind the times nowadays. Nanotechnology is even less science fiction today, in 2001, than it was when this book came out. People should understand, while reading this, that IBM, Hewlett Packard, and other corporate behemoths are spending tens of millions of dollars RIGHT NOW to develop nanotechnology. Some of America's top business schools have Nanotechnology Clubs to monitor potentially lucrative developments in this field -- I'm thinking specifically of Wharton, which I know for a fact has such a club, and I've been told that Stanford and Harvard do as well.

I don't think it's possible to be too highly aware of this field of study. I recommend buying this book, and talking about it with family and friends. Pass it around, encourage your friends to pick up a copy for themselves. If you are in school, or have children in school, ask your science teacher to try to do a unit on it. Heck, why not form a club. Try anything, it doesn't matter what you do specifically, just try to become informed. Also -- it is easy to find newsgroups and listservs online about nanotechnology. Just go to any search engine and type in "nanotechnology" and "listserv," and you'll find a source of valuable information for yourself.

This book is very worth owning. Two thumbs up.

A highly entertaining look at the emerging science of nanotechnology and its leading visionary, K. Eric Drexler. The subject matter is fascinating, and Regis tells the story with his usual wit and humor. Well worth reading as a quick primer on the subject; not intended to be a dry technical text on the subject. Much in the spirit of Regis's Great Mambo Chicken; I think this one is actually a better book, but one should probably read Great Mambo Chicken first as an introduction to Regis's work.

This work, ..., is very useful to those of us who are setting up trading systems based on Neural Nets or using other Cybernetic techniques. Yes the writing style may not be the best, but this does not take away from the high quality of the technical material, which is what is really important.

Mr Jurik has some very interesting Low-Lag technical indicators available on his web site....

If you are attempting to design a profitable trading system which uses technical analysis for Stock or Futures trading, this book should be on your shelf.

This book offers valuable information on a variety of critical subjects for both the beginning trader and traders with extensive experience. As an edited book, it assembles the ideas of many authors and presents the information within an overarching framework of four sections: (1) Basic Trading Skills and Methods, (2) Testing and Evaluation, (3) Assessing the Market and Yourself, and (4) Advanced Indicators and Forecasting. As with any edited book containing chapters from various authors, each with unique knowledge, perspectives, and writing style, the chapters are somewhat heterogeneous. While the reading would have been smoother if one author had written about all the subjects covered, the collective expertise offered by the various authors is far more important. Mark Jurik has made a significant contribution to the field of computerized trading by editing this very valuable resource book and making the collective experiences and wisdom of many experts available in one book.

I thought the book presents a well organized discussion of the important aspects of good trading. There are four parts, each with its own introduction and checklist style summary. Each author discusses the aspect of trading he knows best, and all together, the book offers much collected wisdom. Actually, considering the how many contributing authors there are (20 of 'em), the material is surprisingly well integrated.

The chapters progress toward more advanced topics, beginning with entering and exiting strategies, then money management, performance assessment (both system and trader), and on to multi-time frame strategies, market analysis, nonlinear modeling and forecasting.

I thought the tone began light because the material gets heavy soon enough. It struck me as a thoughtful approach to get both beginners as well as seasoned traders reading on the same wavelength.

There is one thing in this book I've seen nowhere else. An appendix discusses how financial tick data is created, transmitted to a user's computer, and processed by the computer. During this explanation, you're given "Consumer Report" style questions for you to ask when evaluating different data feed vendors. Considering how expensive choosing the wrong data feed can be, this alone makes the book worth its price.

If you're looking for a new magic technical indicator for instant riches, you'll be disappointed. There're no "secret" equations or "get rich quick" strategies here. Instead, there's lots of practical ways to improve trading systems. And there's lots of choosing to do: picking the right chart analysis, trading style, software, books, data feeds, ... as well as some optional sophisticated state-of-the-art techniques for the extra "edge". Of course, the advanced stuff take time and effort to implement. Rome wasn't built in a day, ya know.

I liked it. Can you tell?

It's as if Lime 5 were written by two people. Mark Crutcher #1 is the researcher who gathers volumes of information and presents it in a clear and well-documented way that even the most committed pro-choice "true believer" can't refute. Mark Crutcher #2 is the politician who tries to sway public opinion with blanket statements and drawn conclusions that are impossible to verify - and earns as many enemies as friends in the process.

The strength of this book is in the volume of anecdotal and statistical evidence, copiously annotated, that tells stories that would make the so-called "mushy middle" of the abortion wars cringe and the hardcore abortion supporters run for cover. The sections on abortion injuries and deaths, as well as medical and sexual misconduct by abortionists, are drawn from sources ranging from newspaper stories to court records. The information is made more credible by the author's forthright admission that the it is anecdotal, and explanation about why it nonetheless can and should be considered reliable. The chapter on the abortion-breast cancer link focuses on scientific studies, with clear descriptions of the methodologies employed and why they are or are not reliable indicators of a link.

The weakness of the work is Crutcher's tendency to rant, which does little more than offer abortion defenders an excuse to dismiss the more scholarly aspects of this book. This is especially true in the chapter alleging a coverup by the CDC, in which well-documented events, policies, and conversations are intermingled with below-the-belt jabs which are entirely unnecessary to make the point Crutcher wants to make. And some of Crutcher's analogies throughout the book (e.g. between abortion industry self-regulation and tobacco industry self-regulation), though they have the potential to be quite enlightening, are written so simplistically and condescendingly as to drag down the sophistication of other elements of the book.

As an ardent and active pro-life feminist, I didn't really learn anything from this book that I didn't know already (though I did get lots of the sources for many of the stories I had heard). But pro-choicers and fence-sitters could have learned alot. I doubt they will, however, because Crutcher's inability to write an entirely objective scholarly work will probably turn off the very people who need most to read this.

Crutcher makes no bones about his politics on abortion: he wants it stopped, entirely. After reading this book, the reader will have a difficult time disagreeing. His descriptions of events are often taken verbatim from hospital records, court documents, and autopsy reports. They are not for the squeamish, and bring home a reality that numbers never could. A mother describes sitting at the bedside of her dying 13-year-old daughter: "I had to keep my hand pressed over my mouth to keep from screaming in horror." A respected abortion doctor reflects on his fellows: "Following good standards costs money. And people don't want to do that." An abortion clinic nurse describes her work environment: "The real philosophy is, each woman is worth X amount of money and the more women we can see, the more money we can make." Crutcher throws down the gauntlet, challenging those who defend legalized abortion to clean up their act. Yet he argues that ultimately such efforts will fail because abortion inherently contaminates everyone and everything it touches. The first rule of battle is to know your enemy, and Crutcher left no stone unturned. Lime 5 is painstakingly documented, and his sources are unimpeachable. Whether you agree or disagree with his conclusions, he presents a picture of abortion that every American should contemplate. Lime 5 is a must read for everyone.

The information found in this book is hard to find elsewhere, but it is well documented. He doesn't make it up. People need to know the risks, especially since the abortion industry is unregulated in comparison to other medical procedures, thanks to politics.

I found the information in Lime 5 shocking and depressing. Women fought for the right to abort, and now that same obsession with that right has led to an unregulated industry with serious health consequences.

Crutcher outlines these risks in this book extremely well, from the risk of death, sterility, breast cancer, even rape and sexual assault. It isn't a book to be read for pleasure, but it is necessary to be well informed. It is a must read on the issue of abortion.

Very simply, this book is for two kinds of people: 1. People for whom English are not their first language or 2. People who don't read OR write formal documents in their workplace. The trick to the essay questions is pretty straightforward. Rather than reading essays that "worked", a person is better off reading the op/ed page in the New York Times and/or practicing what I would call the 5-paragraph rule. I used this (made-up) rule to get a 6 on the essay section with no preparation; (the essay is scored 1-6, 6 being the highest). Basically, the exam states a very simple statement, either ridiculously agreeable or ridiculously disagreeable. All you have to do is say why you agree/disagree with the statement. So what you can do is break it up as follows: paragraph 1 - State your opinions very clearly, e.g. I agree with this statement because of reason 1, reason 2 and reason 3. Paragraph 2 - Support reason 1, reason 1 makes sense because blah blah blah. Paragraph 3, same as the second paragraph. Paragraph 4 - optional, you don't need 3 reasons. I had 3 for one essay on 2 for the other. Paragraph 5 - wrap it up by re-iterating your reasons for agreeing/disagreeing with the statement, e.g. In conclusion, I agree with this statement because of reason 1, reason 2 etc. Voila! Practice this method with a couple of incredibly simple statements. It's more of how you structure the essays than the content. Remember that one of the two graders is a computer. Here is a practice statement: 1. Women were given the right to vote in the latter half of the 20th century. The presidents from this time period have caused more mass destruction than from the first half of the century. Thus, women should not have the right to vote. (Yes, some of the statements are this stupid.)

Very simply, this book is for two kinds of people: 1. People for whom English are not their first language or 2. People who don't read OR write formal documents in their workplace. The trick to the essay questions is pretty straightforward. Rather than reading essays that "worked", a person is better off reading the op/ed page in the New York Times and/or practicing what I would call the 5-paragraph rule. I used this (made-up) rule to get a 6 on the essay section with no preparation; (the essay is scored 1-6, 6 being the highest). Basically, the exam states a very simple statement, either ridiculously agreeable or ridiculously disagreeable. All you have to do is say why you agree/disagree with the statement. So what you can do is break it up as follows: paragraph 1 - State your opinions very clearly, e.g. I agree with this statement because of reason 1, reason 2 and reason 3. Paragraph 2 - Support reason 1, reason 1 makes sense because blah blah blah. Paragraph 3, same as the second paragraph. Paragraph 4 - optional, you don't need 3 reasons. I had 3 for one essay on 2 for the other. Paragraph 5 - wrap it up by re-iterating your reasons for agreeing/disagreeing with the statement, e.g. In conclusion, I agree with this statement because of reason 1, reason 2 etc. Voila! Practice this method with a couple of incredibly simple statements. It's more of how you structure the essays than the content. Remember that one of the two graders is a computer. Here is a practice statement: 1. Women were given the right to vote in the latter half of the 20th century. The presidents from this time period have caused more mass destruction than from the first half of the century. Thus, women should not have the right to vote. (Yes, some of the statements are this stupid.)

Hey, let's face it--who is going to read 150 GMAT essays? Not me, maybe not you, maybe only a GMAT essay scorer. Most people can do fine with the samples included in the Official GMAT book or with the review included in other books.

Furthermore, most schools don't really care too much about your GMAT essay score--they care most about your Verbal and Quantitative scores. Most of the schools that really care about your writing ability will look at your answers to the essay questions in the MBA application.

However, if you are the kind of person who really, really *loves* to study as much as possible for a test, this book is good, *and*, it is the only book on the market with this many sample GMAT essays.

All the essays are well-written and they would receive high scores on the GMAT. This book is good for people who learn from examples or for people who really have no idea what to write. Non-native speakers of English should take a look at this book if they feel like their writing style is not similar to the English writing style.

In short, this book is full of examples and is good for people who are not sure of what to write. Since GMAT has said that all essays will come from these topics, studying this book is good for people who are nervous about their essay scores.

Diehard fans of the show who criticized the first "Survivor" book will be happy to know that this volume picks up some of the slack for its predecessor: It describes the last few days on the island in detail and provides coverage of the last Tribal Council, with Sue's full speech included.

From there, however, it goes into tedious history about the Australian Outback itself and the production-based reason for picking the locale. This comprises the largest section of the book, and for those who aren't interested in geography and topography, it will be a boring read.

The section that most readers would be interested in is the section about the contestants of Survivor 2. Unfortunately, the material included here is hardly more extensive than the stuff you can read in magazine articles (and magazine articles cost less, might I add). The "psychological profiles" are hardly more than blurbs, and frankly, one doesn't need to be a psychologist to have given the same assessments of the contestants. Any person who has watched the first episode or two could've come up with the same "profiles."

All in all, I'd say it's worth checking out from the library or for browsing through while at your local bookstore, but this isn't one that you need to have in your home library-- unless you're hoping it'll be worth something as a collector's item. Maybe the complete, post-show Survivor 2 book will be better.

"Survivor II: The Australian Outback" is over and done with, so why read "The Official Companion Book to the CBS Television Show"? Because if you were a devotee of the show you will find it interesting. The first section, "Survivor: Borneo," provides Mark Burnett's comments on the end game of the first "Survivor," looking at the last days, final tribal council, wrap party, and the show's premier as a prelude to casting the second series. The chapters providing "A Short History of the Land Down Under" and "The Playing Field" are concise but interesting looks at the playing field for the game with color photography similar to what we got during the series.

The information on "The Contestants" in Chapter Four is arguably more interesting to read after the show rather than before hand. The comments of the Casting Director and the Psychologist about Jerri, Colby and the rest of the cast are wonderfully ironic given the way the game played out. This is even truer about the final chapter on "Strategies," where we learn how each of the sixteen INTENDED to play the game (Jerri wants to "find a way of not being so controlling"). The Sixteen Strategies for Winning "Survivor" laid out by Burnett are certainly fodder for discussion around your own tribal fire.

But let's face it, the great thing about this Field Guide is reading about Jerri's intentions and self-image and comparing it with the "edited" product. You might get similar enjoyment reading about Tina, Elisabeth, Roger, Keith or whoever you favorites were (to win or to hate), but I cannot believe that there is anything as choice as what we see about the Wicked Witch of the Outback who insisted everything anybody did in the game was a strategic move, except, of course, for some of her kinder, gentler moments. This book would certainly be a fun read for anyone suffering from Survivor withdrawal.

If you follow the show this is an invaluable source of information that you won't see on the current show or find on the DVD. A nice summary of last season's show, how the current location was picked, information about the new cast, including the casting director's comments and the psych review, which is interesting to read now that the show has started to eliminate its players. Interesting commentary about 16 strategies to win the show, and advice for anyone applying for future shows. Full of color photos and a map of the current camp, this is an excellent book to have alongside while you're watching the Australian Survivor, or if you are infatuated with the show and want more informaiton.