The author, in the first person narrative, serves a doomed and not totally unoriginal love story set on the eve of the fall of Hong Kong to the japanese. It is a book more notable for its historical aspect than for the affair of the heart which grows more tiresome as the plot progresses. The main character, rings of Casablanca-like Rick, and the end mirrors that story as well. I have read worse...

This novel of Trollope's poses his usual question: will the middle class heroine find true love in spite of various social/emotional conflicts? In this case his poverty-stricken heroine has two suiters and must decide between the one she loves and the one who loves her. The dilemma is a tricky one since the man she loves has culture and wealth and breeding but no strong feelings for her; while the rougher and uncultured man who loves her is truly devoted to her. Trollope has written better paced novels but this one does hold the reader until the solution is reached.

I've never read anything by Evelyn Anthony before. I found Bloodstones to be enjoyable, though not necessarily great or compelling. I did appreciate her talent in creating interesting characters and in telling her story in such a way that it was not obvious how it would end. At times I found it difficult to keep track of the numerous characters in this story. Overall I would say Bloodstones was a good but not a great read.

Girolamo Cardano's THE BOOK OF MY LIFE is a very typical entry into the lists of the New York Review of Books Classics: fairly obscure except to Renaissance historians, Cardano was an enormously important Italian mathemetician, scientist, and astrologer who also wrote an account of himself, his nature, and his life. Cardano's experiences in 16th-century Italy are extremely complex and colorful, and he recounts not only his problems with his children and his many enemies, but also his birthsign, his experiments, and his encounters with supernatural beings. The book isn't quite as enthralling as you hope it might be, and in the foreword Anthony Grafton comments on the limitations of this translation (which hearkens back to the 1920s)--given this, you wonder why NYRB didn't commission a new and more faithful translation. The book is intriguing enough but doesn't exactly pass the time quite in the enjoyable way the NYRB Classics seem to be intended to do.

This is a very good book, because it has very good explanations, and also it has a lot of images and illustrations, and you can understand it better, you can play better because with this book you know how to play, and they tell you tips so you can play better.

One must start this review by explaining that fish decoys were used by spear-fishermen, usually under ice, when that sort of fishing was legal.

Today the old lures are collectible and good examples are quite expensive, and occasionally forged and artificially aged.

Anthony Hillman's guide will get you started in the wood-carving game. Fish decoys, because of their size, represent a much easier starting point than the ever-popular duck and goose decoys, but by following Hillman's guidelines, the carver will develop the sort of skill and confidence he or she needs to handle larger projects.

The author provides a concise introduction to the subject, including choice of wood, and the many pages of diagrams of various kinds of fish should prove helpful.

Color charts to help carvers paint their fish would have been useful, but would obviously push up the cost of the book, and this sort of information can be readily obtained from other sources.

It's worth noting that the traditional decoy carvers quite often painted their fish in fanciful colors and patterns that resemble no fish that ever lived. Some of them may even have worked.

The purpose of the casebook is to reinforce your theoretical knowledge of finances. That is perfectly fulfilled. I have bought it as suplement to regular textbook. That is in my oppinion the best way of using it. I can recommend it to anyone who is not already significantly experienced.

In this inter-dimensional fantasy, Jack, a college-age art student, falls in love with, and eventually has relations with, the thirteen-year-old physically challenged girl he was supposed to deliver to a medical clinic. If that simple fact doesn't send you off book-burning right from the start, then you might find some small entertainment value in this mildly interesting story. People and things are rarely what they seem in this convoluted, but still easy to follow book, starting with the girl, Tappy. Blind,(although doctors say there's nothing wrong with her eyes), and mute, (although she talks in her sleep), and all the while wearing a leg brace, Tappy eventually takes Jack on a hike up a mountain side, walks right into a large rock, and leads him through it into another world. There they encounter a race of primitives (who nonetheless have some useful technologies), as well as some helpful androids, who explain that Tappy is actually the human host for the Imago, a sentient being that promotes empathy for all life. This makes her supremely dangerous to the Gaol, a race of brutal conquerors who rule the galaxy, and who intend to continue ruling it by imprisoning Tappy. Although there are some slow spots in the first half of the book, there are also lots of twists and surprises; but as is often the case with fantasies, the successive shocks become less and less impressive as you go along. Anthony has a good eye for description, and Farmer's sections are quickly discernable by their more scientific rationalizations, so that as a whole the book reads pretty well. Perhaps instead of asking "Who are you?" the Caterpillar should be asking "Who is your target audience?" The sexual content guarantees that this book can't be recommended to young readers, despite the fact that the authors try to assuge Jack's guilt by showing his remorse, Tappy's need, and the effect of the Imago living inside of her. On the other hand, there's little in the way of truly deep philosophical thought or sophisticated scientific speculation to lure the more experienced adult readers. So while this is not in all ways a bad book, the number of people who will really just love it is probably very small.

Chilton's repair manual for the Supra or Celica gives you a great working knowledge of the car in question.

However, when it comes to explaining specifically how to perform a repair or replacement operation, the book is horrible. This is due to the fact that it covers about 8 different makes and models of cars, be them a Supra or a Celica.

This presents a grave problem when dealing with, for instance, the installation of a new power window for your car, or replacing spark plugs. Allow me to demonstrate.

I own a 1986 1/2 Toyota Supra, the 7M-GE model with the regular straight-6 engine. I had no idea how to replace spark plugs, but I knew my car needed new ones, and I had always been given the impression that it was a simple process. Chilton's tells you how to replace spark plugs, but the replacement procedure it gives is incredibly vague. It basically read like this:

Step one: Open the hood of your car.
Step two: Pull the spark plug covers off of your spark plugs.
Step three: Pull out the spark plugs with a spark plug wrench.
Step four: installation is the reverse.

This is not specific to any model or car. On my car, you have to remove the ENTIRE intake manifold in order to get to just one (1) spark plug. The directions for installing spark plugs say nothing of the sort.

Another problem arose when I wanted to fix the power door locks of my car. Without consulting a manual (this was what inspired me to order the book, in fact) I removed the inside door panel in an attempt to get to the locking mechanism. However, it was shielded by a seemingly immovable metal plate, I assume placed there for anti-theft purposes. THen I said to myself, "Aha! But WAIT, self! A repair manual will tell you exactly how to replace the door lock!" Thus, you could imagine my suprise when I received the manual in the mail and read to find this (essentially):

(1) Take of the interior door panel.
(2) Unscrew whatever you need to unscrew in order to take out the power window mechanism.
(3) Installation is the reverse.

To which my reaction was, "DUHHHH." No technical layouts of wiring for any specific model are in the book, thus preventing you to trace bad connections. It doesn't even MENTION cruise control in the book. Come to think of it, the only thing this book DOES do well is give you some basic information about cars. I'm changing the rating of it from 3 stars to 2 stars. Basically, if you want a detailed answer to your car problem, DO NOT consult this book if you're not familiar with cars.