These are not necessarily the best-loved poems, nor the most famous poems, nor the most memorized poems. These are the best poems written in the English language, one each from the 100 best poets. So say the three editors - Harold Pinter, Geoffrey Godbert, and Anthony Astbury.

They apparently argued heatedly, but eventually arrived at a unanimous decision for each poet selected. They may not change your mind, but their choices will stimulate and challenge the reader. And this anthology makes very good reading.

I was disappointed that Pinter, Godbert, and Astbury did not share their discussions and arguments. How did they select the 100 best poets? Who was 101? Where are John Milton, William Cullen Bryant, Longfellow, and Whittier? For those poets that were chosen, I was curious whether some of my favorite poems had even been discussed as they made their final selection of the 'best' poem. Did they have bias toward works less frequently included in popular anthologies? Were they intentionally provocative?

For example, they did not select Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, nor any of William Blake's poems from Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, nor a poem from A. E. Housman's admired A Shropshire Lad, nor a familiar poem by Robert Frost, nor Dylan Thomas' well-known Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night. I was also surprised by their choices for Kipling, Shelley, Pope, Donne, and to a lesser extent, Wordsworth.

Their selections for Shakespeare (I see many 'best' choices), Coleridge, Marvell, Keats (again, many 'best' poems), Burns, Carroll, Arnold, Poe, Stevens, and a few other poets were more in agreement with my preferences. I found that a bit reassuring.

I recommend this collection to anyone that enjoys poetry. Pinter, Godbert, and Astbury give us a selection that is less predictable than that found in most anthologies, and is thereby more provocative and stimulating. Have fun!

To kill time on a long trip, playwright Harold Pinter & 2 friends set themselves this task: pick the 100 most representative poems written in English. They excluded living poets in order to choose from a poet's whole corpus and they agreed to list the poems in alphabetical order by author.

The result: an anthology that ranges from the 13th-century to the present, from the formal love poems of John Skelton to the lacerating confessions of Sylvia Plath. One might not agree with some of Pinter's choices, but they comprise an interesting snapshot of several centuries of the art.

As idiosyncratic as this anthology is, it is also a testament to the broad tastes and deep appreciations of its editors. Could you have done better?

Start from the beginning and read through to the end, or dip into it randomly, this anthology is a small chest of treasures. Carry it in your pocket or assign it to your class, you won't regret the purchase of this book.

As educators know, it can be difficult to put together a resume filled with all that goes into teaching: classroom, coaching, club advisor, education, licenses, etc. This book not only tells the career educator what to include, it helps weed out unnecessary information. With sections such as Production Guidelines, Tailoring Your Resume, and Resumes for International Teaching, this book is for the teacher seriously looking for a new position. It even has a section on Cover Letters.

I really enjoyed this resume book. It helped me to get my first teaching job and I was even complimented on my resume by my employer. I really found the chapter on what gets left out helpful. It also gives you good action words and short phrases to use. Great for administrators too!

This is number three of twelve in the 12-part "A Dance to the Music of Time" series. I found the first two volumes a little dull and slow, but I am continuing to read this series mainly due to Richard Horton's exhortations. With this book, I finally got a sense of why Richard keeps urging me along; something finally clicked. As characters reappeared, I welcomed them back as old friends, and didn't need to flip back to find where they had entered the story before. Jenkins, the narrator, started doing something, rather than just commenting on the actions of Stringham, Templar, and Widmerpool. Marriages were consummated and broken. Literary and political differences moved into the foreground of the novel. For once, I even thought I saw a plot.

I guess what really happened is that I warmed to both Powell's prose and subjects. In the first two books, I thought there were occasions upon which Powell waxed poetical--loving bits of description that put both character-building and story into suspension until the subject at hand was drained of detail. I am the first to admit that I am not one fond of overt description, but one can sit still for only so long before something falls asleep.

Jenkins and his contemporaries are in their late 20s in this book, which takes place in the golden years between the two World Wars. Trouble is brewing in the world, seen here in some characters who are pronounced revolutionaries, followers of Marx and Trotsky.

A quote from page 63 sums up the idea of this series in my mind:

Afterwards, that dinner in the Grill seemed to partake of the nature of a ritual feast, a rite from which the four of us emerged to take up new positions in the formal dance with which human life is concerned. At the time, its charm seemed to reside in a difference from the usual run of things.... But, in a sense, nothing in life is planned--or everything is--because in the dance every step is ultimately the corollary of the step before; the consequence of being the kind of person one chances to be.

And, while I am in a quoting mood, here is a line that seemed apt: "There is, after all, no pleasure like that given by a woman who really wants to see you." Lines like that have me anxious to continue the series.

I loved Acceptance World, which has Powell's writing on the London art scene (hilarious) and his more meditative style at its most enthralling. This book occassionally puts Powell in Proust's class, in my opinion, and I wouldn't say that about most of the other novels in the series, as much as I have enjoyed them.

The story seems a bit slow at times, but it's a good one. The characters are extremely well-developed, and Mr. Anthony has infused them with a touch of humor, which really encourages the reader to care about them. The ending was *particularly* delightful.

I THINK THIS IS A GREAT BOOK. OUR TEACHER HAD US READ THIS BOOK IN 1998. BUT NOW A NEXT TEACHER WANT US TO READ IT AGAIN . I NEED TO REVIEW THE BOOK AGAIN.

Anthony Dozier's, Amenra of the Sands is a must read for those who enjoy historical fiction about Egypt. The protection of the Pharoah's daughter through the desert of Egypt provides the drama; while the conflict between good and bad gods of Egypt and battles of human governments and armies compete for power. The story begins with a dream narrative told by the main character Amenra. The fulfillment of the dream unfolds as this action-packed novel of ancient Egyptian culture and society, mystism,love and intrigue moves to its conclusion.
The action passages are vivid and the description of the land is easy to visualize. The reader gets a lot out of this novel that is under 200 pages. I hope to read more from Anthony Dozier.

Amenra of the Sands is a classic work of historical fiction, that keeps you flipping pages like an excited little kid. If you enjoyed Braveheart and the like, you will enjoy this story. Its set in the deserts of ancient Egypt, and it gives an interesting take on how life would have been like for the Egyptians, from the Pharaoh & his nobles to the common soldier.

The book is unassuming, it doesn't make references that the reader can't follow, it simply tells an entertaining story. In addition to some creative battle scenes, it explores relationships, primarily that of the main character & his brother. I found it to be my surprise read of the year, and I'm looking forward to some more good stuff from the author.

I don't usually buy this type of book, but I saw it on a bargain book table a few years ago and picked it up. King Kong is the greatest monster movie of all time, and this illustrated account of the story looked interesting. In 92 pages, the familiar story of Kong's tragedy is told rather well, and the illustrations are quite good. Browne especially did a great job capturing the emotion and sadness of Kong at the end, lending him a much greater sense of humanity than can be found in the true monster of the story, filmmaker Carl Denham. One thing that could not help but strike me was the way in which Browne depicted Ann Darrow-there are definite similarities to Marilyn Monroe, and one early illustration is a perfect likeness of the blonde bombshell. I also noticed that one illustration of Kong on his abode atop Skull Mountain depicted what looks exactly like a bi-plane in the corner beside a basic V-shaped bird; I don't know if this is a mistake (the corner does closely match that of a later illustration of Kong atop the Empire State Building) but it did jump out at me.

Basically, this is a children's book, although I rather enjoyed it myself. This may not be a wise choice for bedtime reading for a small child (Kong's battles with several prehistoric beasts are vividly illustrated along with the horrors of Kong's escape in New York), but older children should enjoy it. The pictures pretty much tell the story themselves, so a child can enjoy the book even without reading the accompanying text. I think both the story and the illustrations convey an important message about the dangers of greed, one which parents can reinforce in their children by discussing Anthony Browne's King Kong with them.

I would like to know whether this book has already been translated and publlished in Japan. If it's coming in near future, when and which publisher.Thank you. (I have sent 2 other. I skipped my name then)

An amazing depiction of Hopkins, I got what I wanted out of it! Unlike most biographies, this one was a keeper. It was a page-turner, especially if you are interested in Hopkins. I just wish it was more up to date!

I've always found biographies to be a bit on the dry/boring side, this one, however, is not. There was not a boring page in this book. I enjoyed it immensely and could barely bring myself to put it down. This biography covers Mr. Hopkins life from birth through his success in Silence of the Lambs. It gives you an in depth look at his youth/childhood/formative years, as well as following his every career move. It was definitely a worth while read.

Study the book instead of an expensive review course. This is a good one!

I am recommending this book to my PA students to prepare for End of Rotation Examinations and the NCCPA Exam. This is the only book that I have reviewed that truly follows the NCCPA format. The fact that it is also easy to read; written the way clinicians think, makes it the logical choice.

Roger Jones, PA-C
Clinical Director
Bethel College PA Program

This book did not quite meet my expectations. Since I have more reason to criticize I shall start my review by listing the flaws.

First thing that strikes me as a mistake is the fact that the works are not arranged in any order, but rather just thrown in at random. Although the authors make it clear in the introduction that this was done deliberately it still strikes me as a poor decision.

Next, neither one of the two authors is an art historian. Too bad, because a lot of the works merit better descriptions.

In my opinion the authors included too many works by LeRoy Neiman, and at the same time failed to include some very important works of art that should really have been included to make this book complete. LeRoy Neiman also wrote the Foreword, which is fine, except that he made a big mistake in his description of the world famous painting "The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs" by Georges de La Tour. He says, "Women gambling pops up frequently in this collection. Georges de La Tour's painting of a woman being cheated..." The famous painting in question shows a young man being cheated by small conspiratorial group of two women and a man. How could such big mistake slip through the cracks and end up in print? Sloppiness?

While at the subject of La Tour's masterpiece, "The Cheat with the Ace of Clubs". The authors do mention that this painting is a virtual clone of another work by the same artist, "The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds", however they did not include a color plate of the other one. Why not? Furthermore the authors have totally failed to provide an accurate description of this masterpiece. According to the authors this painting is about a cheat switching cards. Yes, a cheat is seen holding out two aces behind his back, however there is more to it; the main foundation for this painting is a moral essay on the three main temptations of the 17th century - women , gambling and wine. A quick glance into a few art books would have made this fact known to the authors.

Although the authors did note that the above-mentioned work was strongly influenced by Caravaggio's "The Cardsharpers", they failed to include any paintings by Valentin de Boulogne, a celebrated artist, also influenced by Caravaggio, and the only one said to come close or even surpass Caravaggio's talent. The two masterpieces by Valentin that should have been included are "Cardsharpers" and "Soldiers Playing Cards and Dice" (aka "The Cheats").

Other paintings that should have been included are works by Theodor Rombouts, such as "Card and Backgammon players" (aka "Fight Over Cards"), and two renditions of "The Card Players". The exclusion of the above-mentioned works makes this book incomplete.

As I had already mentioned, the descriptions of the paintings tend to be a bit incomplete, sometimes inaccurate, and often tend to focus on irrelevant subjects. For example, in the description of "The Dice Playes" by Georges de La Tour, which was painted in 1650, the authors slip away to a description of an event that happened in 1984 when a Texan (unnamed) made a one million Dollar bet at the Craps table, at Binnion's Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas. Although this is undoubtedly a good story, what does that have to do with the painting that La Tour painted in the 17th century?

As an example of an inaccurate description I could mention the Carl Kronberger's "Surprised". At first glance one can see a scene in which three card players, seated under a bridge are distracted by a carriage that happens to be passing over the same bridge. The authors are attempting to guess which three-handed game of card the players could be playing. However, what they failed to notice is that the players are seated on top of their bags, around a make-shift table, and that there is an abandoned fourth bag over which the absent fourth player laid his hand of five cards to rest. Furthermore this fourth player left his wager (a few coins) on the card table. At the same time he is seen begging for change, hat in hand, on top of the bridge, as the rich man seated in the carriage in tossing spare change into the man's hat. The painting obviously shows an interrupted four-handed game, and not a three-handed game, as the authors are guessing.

On the good note, I still find the book interesting. It is probably the best gaming-related art book with good color reproductions. Despite its flaws it is till obvious that the authors did do a substantial amount of research and I do recommend this book for anyone interested in gaming and/or gambling, and art.

I bought this as a gift, and I only had time to thumb through it. I figured that I would write a quick note since it has not been rated and others might at least want an idea.

This book is full of interesting and colorful art work. From card games to horse racing it has it all. If you think you will be interested you will like it. I was very happy with the purchase.

The book was not the best textbook.....there is no study guide

This is one of the best book on global history, you can find every religion from east to west, north to south. You can read about all empires and kings, you can know all cultures and traditions. There is no other book which have reviewed and presented true picture of three major religions; Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

My daughter have to carry tree of these size books. Her school bag is 18 lbs. Why not divide all of these schoolbooks on two parts and make our kids happy. I believe school (elementary, middle and high) is not military training base.

Gregory Yamin