As a devotee of "British-style" crosswords, I found this title when I entered "cryptic crosswords" as my keywords. As a reader and writer of mystery fiction, I was intrigued by the Sherlock Holmes connection implied in the title. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I discovered nothing cryptic or crossword about this collection, but merely a set of formulaic "brain-teasers" with a Holmes-Watson gimmick! (You know the sort of thing: John is two years older than Mary, but when she reaches his age, she'll be twice as old as Herbert and half as old as Oscar; how old are they?) Solving such problems are the only use I make of high school algebra, these days, but there was a reason I chose to major in English! Someone who enjoys this sort of problem would give this collection a higher score than I did, but would find it no substitute for the Mensa or even GAMES magazine ones.

This volume fails to reflect the cliche: "You get what you pay for".

Despite the description:

"...this new addition to Barron's "Pocket Guides" series takes on the subject of cliches--their origins, meanings, examples used within the context of a sentence, and in many cases, the regions where the idiom is used most often."

and the words on the cover of the guide regarding the origions of cliches, I was unable to find a single origion in the guide.

It is a very lean publication with generous white space. I returned it for a full refund.

this book is definitely not worth wasting wour time on

This book is an apology for Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris (or "Butcher" Harris, depending on your point of view), head of Britain's Bomber Command in WWII. Harris was the notorious architect of Britain's bombing policies in the War, which helped to add about half a million non-combattants to the Mount Everest of dead from that conflict. But it is a hopelessly flat and superficial treatment of the subject that manages to do a disservice to both Harris and his critics, not to mention the civilian targets of his policies. Harris's actions are catalogued and heartily approved without developing any significant arguments to justify them. And there is almost no attempt to engage Harris's many critics. An opportunity not only lost, but not even noticed by the author! The chapter on "Dresden--The Truth" is as moving as reading a train schedule. In response to the 30,000 killed in that attack, Saward simply offers a grisly catalogue of other war casualities, to "put it in perspective", as if high casualty rates in the War overall somehow justified the destruction of Dresden just a few months before the end of the war in Europe. Again, no real attempt is made actually to defend the bombing policy. The author's narrow perspective reveals a startlingly simple, black-and-white view of things (akin to Harris's outlook), betraying not the slightest trace of the moral complexities and tragedy of the events he writes about. A greater tragedy than the deaths of hundreds of thousands German civilians (mostly women and children), the author seems to think, is that Harris wasn't given a peerage after the war. Now that WAS a crime! That sums up the limited moral horizon of the author, whose identification with his subject is easy to understand. If this is the best defence of Harris there is, then his critics can lay down their weapons.

As an academic specializing in Latin American business, I have frequent contact with senior managers, politicians, and other academics in Mexico and throughout Latin America. As such, the inaccuracies in this book are plainly evident, and there are many. For a contemporary understanding of Mexico, I would instead recommend Bordering on Chaos by Andres Oppenheimer. An excellent introduction to Mexico's Colonial and Revolutionary history can be found in Blood Drenched Altars by Francis C. Kelley. But stay away from this one.

There was something about this book that was not quite right. Originally written in the late 1950's, this book lacks the creativity of Clarke's full novels.

Perhaps Clarke has discovered this also, because recently he stays with short diatribes on television shows and co-authors most of his recent works.

This book is only for the collector looking to complete their Arthur C. Clarke collection.

To begin with, I read a lot of books about Charles & Ray Eames and have a great love of mid century modern. This is aimed rather lower. My first complaint is the cover. Whose chair is this? It's certainly not one designed by Eames. The rest of the book is a rehash history in 21 pages of everything you probably know unless this is your first Eames book. The remaining 50 or 60 pages are photos you've seen everywhere, but without the contextual explanation that makes it all fall into place. One example of this lack of contextual explanation is a picture of a platform over someone laying on the grass. There is no mention that this photo set up was for a shot from "The Power of 10". This would be appropriate reading for someone very young as a quick introduction, but if you already know much about Charles and Ray Eames you should make another pick.

STUDENTS BEWARE !!! It is frustrating, disappointing AND a waste of my good money to have bought this book, only to later discover that I could not buy the subsequent volume to cover only Chapters 16-28. I now have to purchase Ch.ONE thru 28, because these money-grabbing scoundrels did not write/publish the follow-up ! I am extremely disappointed with having to re-purchase the first 15 chapters, which are now, to me, superfluous! They are a done deal! All I need is the textbook for ch. 16-28. The Study Guide/Working Papers for 16-28 are available for purchase...why not the damned textbook???

Sorry I was sleeping after trying to read this book... ZZZZZZ.

This book is a ripoff. Both men are employed by San Francisco State University which doesn't even register on the U.S. World and News Reports annual survey of colleges. The philosophy department is hardly a stellar group, with only few serious philosophers on staff.

The school/department was loosing funding, so these two men (Assali is a lecturer who needed Bierman's credentials to get this printed) sought and obtained a grant to see "how else" to teach critical thinking. The result is poor at best, and eclipsed by dozens of other books at a third the cost.

A few examples of superior quality, inferior priced books include: Walton, Informal Logic; Sainsbury, Logical Forms; Corbett, Classical Rhetoric; Copi & Cohen, Introduction to Logic;

If this book is the required text for a "critical thinking" course, take another course with a different text. You'll save money and get more for your buck elsewhere.