This is a superficial review of several of the early civilizations around the world. The title is misleading - instead of "First cities" this book should be called "Early civilizations," since the focus is on entire civilizations/cultures and not on cities or urban settlements per se. The coverage of cities and urbanism is superficial and brief. As a review of early civilizations, the book covers the same material found in many other books, with little that is new or interesting. There are few errors of fact.

I read this book as part of a seminar in urban anthropology. I came away from the experience satisfied with the book's effective organization and lovely photographic material. The author, a noted Mayan archaeologist, covers vast amounts of archaeological and historical data on the development of early cities in a surprisingly succint and clear narrative. "First Cities" is a must read for the layperson with interest in ancient history as well as for budding scholars of urban archaeology.

This is a practical and useful basic book about growing vegetables and herbs in containers. The writer carefully presents the basics of container gardening and offers suggestions for designing container gardens. There is a useful section about pests and diseases and even a short section on harvesting.

Almost half the book is a plant directory, color-coded, divided into herbs, vegetables and fruit, with a few recipes for each.

This is pretty basic stuff, but the book is well focussed and nicely illustrated. It contains the information a novice gardener needs.

KITCHEN GARDENS IN CONTAINERS by Antony Atha is a nifty book with beautiful close-up pictures for tired eyes. Atha has created a useful and informative work. He shows the gardener how to make plant containers from scratch (wooden boxes, brick enclosures); convert items into containers (baskets, coffee cans, plastic lined buckets, wheelbarrows, etc.); or use the tried and true containers such as clay pots. He also includes material on how to design with plant containers. One nifty idea I am going to try involves growing combinations of food plants in the same container. I especially like the example of the strawberry jar growing cilantro in the side pockets and eggplants on top.

The back half of Atha's book lists container plants in his "Plant Directory." Not all plants are suited for growing in containers. Furthermore, some plants do well together and some do not. Atha divides his directory into herbs, vegetables, and fruits. Each entry includes information about plant tenderness, size, flower description (food plants have flowers), light requirements, propagation needs, and other information. He color codes the sections: purple for herbs; green for vegetables, and terra cotta for fruit. At the end of each section, he includes recipes for the various items. For example, under herbs you will find a recipe for a chamomile and bran face mask. Under vegetables you will find recipes for Borscht and Gazpacho. The fruit section includes recipes for spiced peaches and damson jam. This is a practical book for gardeners with intermediate skills.

Indeed, "Chicken Soup's" Jack Canfield has a promotional blurb on this book's front cover. Fans of his work & the "Teen Power" series might be delighted by this volume. I guess I'm not w/in that target audience. This volume is essentially an anthology w/ many "cutesy" mini-essays on various sub-aspects of learning about leadership. But I can't see it appealing to too many student leaders beyond those in Jr. High.

Brilliant book for students in High School, it is an ideal workbook for teachers like me who want to give kids leadership skills. What I like best is it brought together the best of the speakers we have had in our schools -- The Kids Were Blown Away!

If you are looking for a collection of ceremonial moments, this book is not for you! I was looking for ceremonial type rituals that I could do in order to encourage and empower myself. What I did find was an adequate explanation about brain waves and how to get to the "Alpha" state. Once in the Alpha state, the author has the person repeat affirming things to herself, such as "I AM God's beautiful love energy," or "I AM an optimistic and positive thinker." I was hoping to go a little deeper here. Meditation is great, and I use it all the time. But this book didn't live up to its title.

After reading this book and following the guidelines laid out within, I was able to realize that you only need yourself to be really happy. Dr. Zaffuto shares his experiences and life's knowledge with his readers in a way that is both spell-binding and educational. The style in which it is written allows the reader to almost experience the alpha state WITH the author. One of the most personal, insightful books I have had the pleasure to read.

I have been a faithful consumer of Lonely Planet products for the last five years. However, this collection does little more than offer superficial information on every country in Central Europe. If you want to go anywhere besides the capitals and most well-known tourist "traps", forget it. I was particularly dissapointed with the book's treatment of Germany and Switzerland. Very vague, very minimal. If you want to visit any of the countries in Central Europe, buy the Lonely Planet Guide to that country or look for a different publisher. Sorry guys, this one doesn't go in my travel bag.

This book is fantastic. I was amazed at how thorough a book could be. These authors also have a great sense of humor. Lonely is an oxymoron. This book is very comforting. I highly recommend this book.

While I am quite a fan of Vettriano's work, most of the painting I've seen displayed on the Portland Gallery's website were of the type as "The Singing Butler." The paintings in "Lovers and Other Strangers" are not all so innocent. While they are all wonderful compostions I wasn't expecting the highly sexual nature of the pieces. (Perhaps I should have from the title.) There are several of his in this book of the type I enjoy such as "After Midnight" and "Winter Light and Lavender" I am not such a fan of Quinn's choices. While it gives a broad view of Vettriano's work you might not enjoy it if your favorite pieces are "Singing Butler" and "Mad Dogs." I do like the composition of all the pieces as well as the use of color I was not always taken with the choice of models. If you, like myself, enjoy Vettriano's work that are character studies of average people you might not care for the sexually charged nature of most of the pieces in this book.

In 1989, or was it 1990, I stood in the Scottish Academy's "Open" show in Edinborough and marvelled at the work of an unknown Scottish miner's work named Jack Vettriano - Dammit I wish I'd had the 300 pounds to afford that wonderful painting. This is a book that shows a romantic at heart with the courage to paint what he feels regardless of modern day art critics who have failed to realize that their written word no longer carries any weight in the world of art. Vettriano is a romantic Hopper, but better - he stylizes, preaches, decorates, creates and delivers wondrous works that remind us why we love painting and painters who ignore critics and fashion and trends and paint what they want to paint. This is a success story from the very dark depths of the public's ability to make superstars in art that give art critic stomach acid for centuries to come - when their names are forgotten, Vettriano's dismissed artwork will still be colelcted, sought-after and admired. Keep them cookin' jack!

Started off OK but soon deteriorated into the realms of utter absurdity. The presence of William Desmond Taylor would have been much more effective if it had merely been implied . When the present day cop started to argue with Taylor's ghost - particularly so early in the book it all became a bit silly and I quickly lost interest. Would have been much better to have simply "Dropped Hints" to suggest the great man's presence and then brought him into the foreground action much further into the book. An interesting idea ruined by shortening the suspense.

This well-researched murder mystery reminds me of Jack Finney's wonderful pair of time travel fantasy-mysteries, From Time to Time, and Time and Again. Peeples' book does not have the romantic charm of Finney's books---the protagonist here is more into the physical aspect of love---but the time travel theme is similar. While Finney used an elaborate deliberate scheme to effect time travel, Peeples chooses to make the ultimate trip an accident.
In The Man Who Died Twice, a 1970's Los Angeles Police detective travels back to 1922 Los Angeles, and inhabits the body of William Desmond Taylor, a Hollywood producer who was murdered in real-life Hollywood in February 1922. The LA detective, Ernie Carter, has the advantage of knowing lots of details about the case, from having read the police files, and just living in the Hollywood/LA area all his life. Carter, with Taylor's personality serving as a kind of alter ego, tries to prevent Taylor (and himself!) from being murdered.
Along the way, Taylor/Carter encounters many legendary Hollywood figures, including D.W. Griffith, William Randolph Hearst, John Barrymore, Mabel Normand, and Rudolf Valentino. It is sobering to read about the sad and/or untimely end of many of these stars, and to contemplate how little Hollywood has changed since, to wit Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, Tony Perkins, and many many others.
Peeples brings Hollywood in 1922 to vibrant life, transporting the reader to the silent era with great skill. He seemingly mentions all of the possible murderers, and keeps the reader guessing as to which one he will use as the actual shooter. In real life, the case was never solved, but Peeples' murderer is convincing.
An old science fiction story once had a time traveller in the age of dinosaurs walking along a special path, from which he could not stray. He could not pick flowers, kill any of the animals, or leave any evidence of his visit. If he did, all of the ensuing history of the world would change, subtly in the time of dinosaurs, massively in his own 20th century. I am reminded of that story when I read a book like this. I will leave it to you, if you read this book, to discover if Peeples adheres to the tenets of the SF story.

Only if you are keen to know how the Agamemnon was shipwrecked

This may be the first book to make the HMS Agamemnon its subject. The problem with this book is that anyone who picks it up must be an admirer of Nelson, and must have already read at least a couple of biographies of him. For them the middle-section of the book is superfluous, being re-telling with some twist of the same story by other authors. Neither is it a one-volume biography of Nelson for beginners, as it is nominally about the career of the ship, although the author dwells on Emma Hamilton and even her and Nelson's daughter which is a sidetrack. 40% of the book is about Nelson's battles and his times, although he commanded the ship only about three and a half years. In the Battle of the Nile she did not take part, and at Copenhagen she was a spectator, being run aground early. If your interest is mainly on those wooden battleships, you had better buy "HMS Victory: Her Construction, Career and Restoration" by Alan McGowan. However special the Agamemnon was for Nelson, I hardly think a book specially on her was necessary.

Regarding Nelson the author is heavily indebted to previously published books, particularly those by Carola Oman ("Nelson" 1947) and Ernle Bradford ("Nelson: The Essential Hero" 1977). I happen to have Bradford's book, which Deane (sorry, I omit Mr, Mrs, Lord, Lady, etc. here) sometimes quotes verbatim, changing terms here and there, shuffling sentences, or adding or omitting something. A specimen is given below. It can be assumed that the author must be equally indebted to Oman and others. Well, such may be a common practice among writers which cannot bother ignorant readers. At least Deane has the honesty to name his sources -- well, most of the time. A notable omission seems to be Nelson's Letters and Dispatches. Certainly there are things he himself researched from original sources rather than published books, namely, on the Agamemnon's career before and after Nelson, particularly her shipwreck. However, I would like to discuss two points which would be of interest to people who might be considering to buy the book. By examining a couple of fruits you could judge the quality of the whole tree, I think.

1. Lack of official credit to Nelson for the successful siege and capture of Bastia.
Deane p.108 -- "It was also Serocold ("who commanded the Proselyte, a bomb-brig") who had stood up for Nelson when Hood (then Nelson's superior), FOR REASONS BEST KNOWN TO HIMSELF, had in dispatches given most of the credit for the command of the batteries at Bastia to Captain Anthony Hunt and had merely mentioned Nelson as 'commanding and directing the seamen, landing guns, mortars and stores.' Serocold had been so incensed at this injustice that he had said that Hunt 'never was on a battery, or even rendered any service during the siege... if any person says he did, then I submit to the character of a story-teller', and he had hotly announced his intention of 'publishing an advertisement' with the truth."
Here, remarkably, Deane gives no sources. He writes above "for reasons best known to himself" but others knew them well, too, albeit unofficially.
Bradford, whom Deane quotes so frequently, explaines: "the fact was Hunt, who had lost his ship through no fault of his own, was in need of the assistance that a favourable report from Hood could give him. Hood himself knew well enough the true circumstances of the case, ..." Bradford, too, ascribes the statement, "that Hunt never was on a battery, etc." to Serocold but it was none other than Nelson himself who wrote it. I wonder who made the mistake first. To quote more fully from his letter to his uncle Maurice Suckling: "Lord Hood and myself were never better friends -- nor although his Letter does, did he wish to put me where I never was -- in the rear. Captain Hunt who lost his Ship, he wanted to push forward for another -- a young man who never was on a battery, or ever rendered any service during the siege; if any person ever says he did, then I submit to the character of a story-teller. The whole operation of the Siege were carried on through Lord Hood's letters to me. I was the mover of it -- I was the cause of its success. Sir Gilbert Elliot will be my evidence, if any is required. I am not a little vexed, but shall not quarrel...." -- Nelson's Letters, ed. by Geoffrey Rawson 1960.

2. Nelson's joining the fleet before Trafalgar.
Deane, p.180 -- "At dawn on 28 September with the scent of Spanish orange groves wafting from the shore, the Victory joined the fleet off Cádiz." Maybe a nice touch giving a local colour, which Deane does occasionally. I only wish it was based on recoded facts.
Bradford, p.330 -- "On 28 September, the Victory sauntering along -- 'we have very little wind' -- Nelson sighted the fleet of which he was to take command." This sounds far more authentic.
Nelson, in the letter dated October 1, 1805 to Emma Hamilton -- "I joined the Fleet late on the evening of the 28th of September, but could not communicate with them until the next morning."

Specimen.
Deane, p.102 -- The British miliary hierarchy at San Fiorenza had sarcastically nicknamed Nelson "The Brigadier" because he had voiced his opinion that the taking of Bastia was feasible, while their own generals, first Dundas and later D'Aubant who had succeeded him, refused to attempt it without reinforcement from Gibraltar. Who was this thirty-five year old naval upstart, they asked, who dared dispute military strategy with professionals such a themselves? Nelson was about to prove to them that he deserved the military title they had given him in sarcasm and that he could mete out punishment to the enemy on land in the same measure that he could at sea.
Bradford, p.104 -- The military at San Fiorenza, who had been openly contemptuous of Nelson's optimisic view about the feasibility of taking Batia without waiting for reinforcements, had sarcastically nicknamed him "The Brigadier". Who was this thirty-five-year-old naval captain, they argued, to be disputing with professionals like themselves, let alone their general? Nelson was soon to prove that he was as deserving of his military title as his naval one.

This is a truly well done study of a proud and noble ship. Deane knows his stuff. He picked nearly the perfect compromise of explaining naval jargon without dumbing down the material. His use of illustrations and visual representations (from maps to the beautiful cover painting by Geoff Hunt) are wonderful, and his appendix on the sailing qualities of Agamemnon based on her trials is absolutely fascinating.

His history is very inclusive and well documented (easy and accessible footnotes). I was most impressed with his history of HMS Agamemnon (my name sake, in case you haven't smoked it yet) as a paradigm for the naval wars of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period. His bio of Nelson is also well done and congruous with the rest of the book.

All in all a very solid buy that will fit nicely on your naval history shelf. If you don't have one... either start one, or get another book, sorry to say.

Na'allah's text is comprised of a substantive quantity of poetry, making the volume lean towards a poetic anthology for Saro-Wiwa. Many of the items are genuinely emotional, though not very poetical.

The articles are divided evenly between: (a) previously published and still accessible material; and, (b) new, politically contextualized pieces. The latter work very well.

The general quality of the editing is good, though continuity suffers in the assessment of Saro-Wiwa because of the mix between poetry and appraisal. Occasionally the writing of individual entries is abominably dull because of an elementary sense of stylistics and the most rudimentary grasp of rhetoric. That said, the book is a serious tribute to Saro-Wiwa, well meant.

No single event has exhibited as clearly, the depths into anarchy and lawlessness which Nigeria's military has plunged the West African nation than the judicial murder of renowned writer and minority rights activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa in 1995. This volume of essays and poems is a befitting tribute to a hero who literally laid down his life for a just cause: the unrelenting crusade against the rape and debasement of his homeland by multinational oil corporations, that without conscience, provided self-sustenance for a completely corrupt and evil military junta.

In addition, the publication provides a lucid overview of the literary output of Saro-Wiwa over the years and presents them in clear perspective against the inimical background in which the writer labored tirelessly.

This is a book recommended to all people who desire justice in a world increasingly threatened by the evil spectre of "might over right".

Quinn isn't an actor you think of first when you think of Hollywood. But his trip from Mexico, emotional development and gambles with legends of the studio system make for entertaining reading.

Nice anecdotes and insights into the minds and egos of some of the great names of yesteryear.

More than a review by itself, we read that Mr Quinn is planning on making a movie on his life as central theme, script built around this book. According to interviewer, Mr Quinn or producers, are on the look for young actor to play him on his young years when he starts his acting training and career. This has caught our attention, because my oldest son Bryan (20)which is a trained actor studying filmaking here in Monterrey, Mexico, could very possibly play Mr Anthonhy Quinn in young days. Since our family background is French-Irish-Mexican ( similar to Mr Quinn ) , Bryan's grand-father was born in Montana and established himself in Monterrey,Mex on late 50's. Bryan does share physical features like Height, Skin color,body built, face/overall apearance and speaks both Spanish and English . We feel Bryan can portray convincingly young Mr Anthony Quinn, both physically and emotionally. Should there be interest from Mr Quinn , pls contact : Mr Edmund B Durell c/o Alger Bryan Durell tel (528) 369-1021 Fax (528)369-1006 Monterrey, Mexico Best regards & Tank you on your time Ed