Janet Evanovich is better known for her immensely popular, offbeat series of Stephanie Plum novels (beginning with "One For the Money"). Ms Evanovich broke into the business by writing romance novels, and "Ivan Takes a Wife" is not only a charming example of this genre, but an indication of where the character of Stephanie might have originated. For the Stephanie of this novel is not a fragile, gentle flower but a retired cop with a habit of falling (off hillsides, roofs, and boats) and an sassy attitude. Janet includes trademarks her fans will recognize and appreciate, from the steamy sexual situations to the offbeat, delightful supporting characters, and even throws in a bit of a mystery to keep the story moving along. If you have the good fortune to find this novel, enjoy it!

This book contains the origianal shooting script of the 1945 release of Eisenstein's movie. It is therefore hard to rate as regular reading material. Those in search of historical research or entertaining storytelling better look elsewhere.

Mr Skrynnikov may or may not be an exiting storyteller in his own language, but this book - although reasonably well written and accessible to the interested layperson - probably loses much in the stilted English translation of a fellow Russian. The express purpose of this book to do away with many horror stories spread by contempory victims and adversaries leaves you sometimes wondering what earned Ivan his epitaph. Smirsnikov's text doesn't help: in one breath he states:" Ivan was merely one of many medieval ruler-tyrants. His harsh rule powerfully impressed contempories". One example provided to us by his translator of the fate of one of Ivan's victims:"Ivan set the dogs on him to worry him". All in all a readable account but not much more than that. The book deals in fact more with the continuous power struggle between the boyar factions of the time, but the scores of boyar names remain just that. A good read no doubt for the history student in need of a concise account in need of facts and very objective description; a disappointment to readers in search of any John Julius Norwich-style of narrative

While the Rainbow of Mathematics covers the entire realm of the History of Mathematics, it ignores the layman or "nonmathematician." Covering the early developments of all the main branches of mathematics, the author requires the reader to have an extensive background in the field. Unlike most good histories of mathematics that focus on each individual and their accomplishment, this book takes a tour of the concepts of math with only a brief glance onto the lives of the great mathmaticians who shaped the world. I would only recommend those with a moderately good mathematical background to read this book. While this book glorifies the concepts, the one who wants to view the history of mathematics and appreciate the individuals involved will not find this book agreeable. Unlike Men of Mathematics by E.T. Bell, the chapters are arranged by concept instead of person and I found myself drowning in a sea of technical mathematical ideas in the later chapters that deal with the calculus.

This classic Russian story of mystery, adventure, love and greed is very enjoyable especially with the well done illustrations. It differs from the full length version in Russian, but is a good substitute for reading stories to children of ages three to six. It is also the subject of several russian laquor boxes.

Although this book was published to accompany the BBC television series it stands alone as an excellent quality publication. An ideal Christmas or Birthday present for the teenager who is passionate about aviation and a good source of basic information on flight and the personalities,events and aircraft that have forged its history.

'Return of the Tiger' is an account of Operations Jaywick and Rimau - both of which are World War II Anglo-Australian covert raids, led by the British Ivan Lyon, against Japanese shipping in Singapore harbour.

The fact that there is so little information on Operations Jaywick and Rimau makes this book invaluable (in my research I have come across just two books dealing with these operations - this one and 'The Heroes' by the Australian Ronald McKie). This to my knowledge was the first account of these operations, and unlike the later McKie, focuses much more heavily on Ivan Lyon. This is partially due to Connell's use of material from the Lyon family to write the book. Other sources included the surviving members of Jaywick, and Major Chapman, the support officer for Rimau (all members of the Rimau operation were killed). Thus the book suffers somewhat from lack of source material. This is particularly true of the account of Operation Rimau. Mistakes in the narrative of events (again, especially during Rimau) become clear when compared, as one inevitably must, to McKie. McKie's research in some areas is much more thorough (in particular his use of interviews with Ted Carse, the Krait's skipper during Jaywick, and the much more valuable material from the Japanese interpreter at the trial of the captured Rimau men), and so in comparison is a stronger book.

However, it is a good read, and Connell does provide very useful descriptions of the character of those personalities involved - it is here that it becomes clear that he has talked to different Jaywick members from McKie. The photographs are also extraordinarily useful.

So to sum up, Connell is a good read (the stories of Jaywick and Rimau - so exciting and yet so tragic - are enough to ensure this), useful to the scholar simply because there is so little information on these raids, but should be used in conjunction with other sources as the reliability in some parts is questionable. Ivan Lyon and his two raids are certainly an area that requires more research.

It is a shame that the events are not more well-known, as the story is fascinating - extraordiarily exciting. The achievement of Jaywick was amazing, the tragedy of Rimau heart-wrenching but epic. The unbelievable courage and daring of these men should be remembered. And that's the biggest reason to read this book.

Illich makes what would otherwise be dry reading into an emotional and thought-provoking journey. He has great perception to see interactions in society. Every moment I spent reading it was worthwhile. Just as much fun was deconstructing his arguments to see how he reached the conclusions and deciding whether I agree. I am eager to read "Tools for Conviviality."

Illich proposes that sometime in the last 50 years society passed through a threshold where "modernized subsistence" was achieved and all our modern real needs were met. At this point we reached the maximum, and coincidently the ideal level, of individual satisfaction through a balance of autonomous action and consumption of mass-produced commodities (goods and services primarily in medical, transportation and educational areas). But then society passed through this threshold and, as a result individuals have been experiencing lower and lower overall satisfaction with life with our ever increasing use of mass-produced commodities.

Illich argues that society would have stopped at the threshold value had there not been created at that moment the distorting force of the Dominant Professions. Dominant Professions that impel society to produce a surfeit of mass-produced commodities.

Dominant Professions are a professional class with the power to impute the need for unneeded commodities upon the citizenry. By using the language of the Professional, they trick us laymen to go beyond our real needs by creating in us needs that we would not otherwise have - imputed needs. They do this for the sake of sustaining and furthering their authority and profession and in the service of the people who control the tools of mass production. The Dominant Professionals not only control the distribution and supply of the approved commodity that satisfies our imputed need, they also make it illegal or impossible to satisfy our need using a non-approved commodity. The Professional's commodities are of course mass-produced. Thus, society has passed the threshold because of the Dominant Professions. To get back to that threshold value we need to dismantle the authority of the professional class.

Those are the arguments. The fun part is decomposing the arguments. Stop reading now if you want to figure it out for yourself without being biased by my analysis.

First, Illich imagines us a citizenry of such simpletons we can't determine how much we need to sustain ourselves in this late industrial society. By calling every need an "imputed need" if it is beyond "modernized subsistence", Illich can blame the Dominate Professionals for causing society to progress past where it would otherwise have stopped, fully satisfied. I disagree. It is the ever expanding desires of individuals that keep us wanting more long after we knowingly achieved subsistence. We are never satisfied enough to stop wanting more. These are not imputed needs from an external Professional class that we need to defend ourselves against, this is our own natural behavior which we chose not to rein in.

Illich also tells us that we know the maximum benefit to life that industry can ever provide. Fortunately, this is not true. For example, if average longevity hasn't changed during the past 50 years it doesn't follow that industry has been ineffective. This assumes a constant population base whereas the size of society is increasing and more people are living to about the same age. And there is ample evidence that the mass-produced commodities are the cause for improvement in life. Examples Illich sites in the book as examples of autonomous actions replaced by commodites that induce "modernized poverty" include; peasants living in homes they built from and upon the refuse of others moved to pre-fabricated houses, indoor light from fires and candles replaced with electricity, infant mortality reduced by the presence of trained physicians. Furthermore, individual human longevity is not limited by a theoretical physical law we know of in the same way the speed of light is. Thus, because the record has not been broken in the past 50 years it does not follow that it cannot be broken during the next 50 years. If we followed this logic long-jump competitions were no longer necessary after the 1968 Olympics.

Illich proposes that we are faced with a new choice - "modernized subsistence" - resulting from the invention of modern industrial capabilities. However, each age - in it's own time "modern" - stone, bronze, iron or last week in the post industrial age, the commodities that determined the maximum attainable life and the minimum amount of resources needed to stay alive, e.g. the subsistence level, were dependent on what was available. Because installation of a society-wide commodity will always impede the liberty of an individual to use another technology or no technology at all - whether it is the rules of the road, language, or inoculations, there is no non-zero level of commodity use required that will simultaneously preserve for every individual the liberty to act and the same objective measure of "modernized subsistence". Simply said - your actions count towards yourself and the whole.

Illich's asserts we know what "modernized subsistence" looks like from empirical observation. In fact, Illich gives his opinion of a current and real country that has at its disposal the appropriate intensity of production to approximate "modernized subsistence." Subsistence is a minimum level to support life. "Modernized Subsistence" supports "Convivial Austerity." What Illich proposes is his ideal society: his idea of the ideal life for the individual that alienates the liberties he cherishes least and mandates the commodities he values more.

Illich shows our beautiful tendency to romanticize the past; when it seemed that the world reached its apex coincidently with our arrival on the planet. Language was real, technology was benign, and people were pure until that moment when a kernel -born only in our consciousness - metastasized and corrupted the balance of powers that would have otherwise been. Reality is that language is always evolving, applied technology is never benign and people run the gamut from altruistic to evil. And this has always been the case. Illich's arguments and desires for a better world are wonderful food-for-thought. They also are unfortunately an impractical model for society.

This is a short portrait of bourgeois Russian society just before the Crimean war, mainly, and its loves and hates.

The most memorable character is a young Bulgarian, who moved to Russia as a child, and decides to go back and drive out the Turks. The reader gets something of the feel of the pan-Slavic movement of the time, which drove Europe to one of its major continental wars (which led almost inevitably to WWI and II). The most memorable scenes are in Venice towards the end - I won't give too much of the plot away.

This isn't Turgenev's best work, but is worth a look, if you have enjoyed his other books.

Single to Single is a devotional geared to singletons, including those divorced or widowed. The book covers 52 weeks, with each week starting off with a "leader's" notes and then devotionals written by those in the group. All of the daily devotionals were written different, everyday people. There is a heap of sharing of lives as it applies to each week's 'power verse'. This is a handy book to keep by the bedside table for a little inspiration, but it is by no means a hardcore devotional like Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest.