There are six stencils here, cut into heavy laminated paper. Four are disconnected stencils, having separations between elements, particularly effective in wall or furniture stencilling. The specific stencils are: a star (approximately 4.5 inches high and 3 inches wide), a sun (3 inches long and 3 wide), a moon (3.5 by 3), a wavy sun (3.5 by 3), Saturn (3 by 3.5), and a shooting star (2.5 by 4.5). The moon, wavy sun and Saturn are pictured on the cover. They are a nice size for preschooler art projects but are unimaginative and probably not appropriately interesting for much else. Still, it's a good price for some basic stencils.

In 1580 Pope Gregory XIII commissioned this gallery with 42 large panels that represent Italy. Maps on the right side show the Adriatic side of the peninsula; those on the left side show the Tyrrhenian and Ligurian coasts. The quality of the paper and reproductions is excellent. Each map is discussed, and close-ups show the art and craft of the cartographers and artists. The author claims that this is the largest cycle of geographic images in Europe. This is a book to linger with; no matter your nationality, it may make you homesick.

A lot's changed since 1983 when this book came out, and the forthcoming review of UK sex laws will doubtless change most of the rest.

So, unless you're looking for a study of how things used to be, back in 1980s Britain, you need to look elsewhere.

Although this book is short, probably to keep it economical enough to entice consumers to make their own vino, the book is easy to read and straight to the point.

Ted has been making homemade wine for eons and his quick knowledge of the basic additives (chemicals), equipment and grape concentrate/juice is evident.

Ted works on the assumption that you know NOTHING about making wine and are only interested in learning the basics, especially working with the easy-to-use wine kits now readily available on the market.

He includes some handy tables, written in simple layman's terms, and a small trouble shooting guide.

My only criticism is that there is very little information on corks, bottles, shrink capsules and labelling. After all the book is only 48 pages short.

If you are looking for a quick read, this is it; we sell dozens of these books every month to new winemakers who don't have access to fresh grapes or a vineyard. It works for us up here in the great Northeast.

The opening of this novel does indeed show girls at play at a boarding school in East Africa, but it soon becomes clear that the title refers to the four teachers at the school -- the only white women in this remote region with nothing much to do after school hours. There's Miss Poole, the headmistress, a colonial born in Africa who does not care for England and continues to stay on even as independence for this African nation means lowered standards for whites like themselves. There's Bettyjean (B.J.) Lebow, a peace corps worker from San Diego, who struggles hard to match her fantasies of Africa with the realities. There's her room-mate, Pam Male. And finally Heather Monkhouse, who has had some sort of trouble in Nairobi and taken up teaching at this remote school. When finally two black men go out on a date with two of the teachers, a trail of tragedy engulfts each of the teachers' lives. The writing is uneven in patches (this was one of the author's early novels), but there are flashes of black humor. The funniest parts include scenes of the teachers taking turns in hosting group dinners at each of their homes although they cannot stand one another, each trying to outdo the other in being a rude and poor hostess.

Ever since I picked up purely by accident 'Becoming A Man', Monette has become one of my favourite authors. And that rarely are authors like him recognized for his gift as are their sexual orientation.

Because I've read his latter works before this, being an early work, it shows that Monette has always had the gift of the written gab. He doesn't so much as run a light finger through life as caress it and unlike other authors who rape it.

But comparing, the latter works obviously show his improvement. He beats around the bust a lot more and takes some time to get to the point.

The part I didn't appreciate was the extended ending after the story climaxed, but you can always excuse that as inexperience.

But I'd still recommend it to Monette fans.

Although some of the philosophical writings are a bit dense, this is a worthy book for anyone fascinated by Czech society and literature, and by the pre-1989 samizdat era. The content is uneven, but it is a great insight into what these writers were doing before they were free to write. Don't go looking for a Prague-centric collection, though -- it is all over the map.

This book has a lot going for it, not least of which is an editor with an excellent reputation. The authors of the individual essays are also well-known and respected within the field, and the essays are well-written and cogent. However, despite Paul Kennedy's explanation in the preface, the essays concentrate primarily on either military strategy during wartime or preparation, primarily military, for the next war. What consideration is given to economics, alliances, and diplomacy is geared toward military preparedness. This makes the essays much narrower than Kennedy's definition of grand strategy implies, and I cannot help but wonder about the choice of essays.

Within this narrow field, however, this book is excellent. The essays are clear, easy to follow, and persuasive. Most do an excellent job of providing not just a history lesson, but an analysis of the positive and negative aspects of the strategy. Of particular use were the three essays concerning British strategy in the War of Spanish Succession, World War I, and World War II. The essays on German and French policy also covered more than one war, making them useful for an analysis of how policy changes over time. Both successful and unsuccessful examples are given, and much thought is given on why this is so.

Beyond this, all I have are minor quibbles, the most serious being the fact that this is, essentially, a series of case studies. It is dangerous to use case studies to provide an objective analysis, in that there is a temptation to choose a thesis first, then choose which cases to observe to support that theory. Case studies are more useful in defending or defining a theory than in determining one. Here we can only hope that Paul Kennedy's reputation is earned (and I believe it is), because it would be very easy for him to mislead us.

The focus of the book is on Western Europe, and this is somewhat disappointing, given that other countries are becoming more and more prominent on the world scene. An analysis of Chinese, or even better, Japanese policy would have been useful, especially given its unique position. The end notes are placed at the very back of the book, making it difficult to check references, etc. The first essay could have used tighter editing as well.

Enough complaints, however. This is an excellent book, more useful for history than for strategy formulation, but a useful companion book nonetheless.

"Traps Ate" is not nearly as good as the first few books in the series; the traps in this one are sillier and thus less useful to a game master. I prefer the cleverer traps in the earlier books. The traps here tend towards excessive detailed overkill. Still somewhat humorous, but I'd guess most of the traps in this book are designed by younger gamemasters who are aiming for ridiculous ways to kill characters, rather than the very game-playable traps of the earlier books.

the book was funny and it has a really good ending. lots of my friends read it. I really think that you should read it. Bye