The concept of a "blind date" to cross the Saraha is intriguing and frought with possibilities. That they actually finished the trip still firends enough to marry is amazing. The recounting of the trip kept me very intrested, but I wanted more insights into the interpersonal relationship as it developed. Not "upwardly downwardly" stuff but introspective looks at how they understanding of each other developed.

Rumpelstiltskin is a good childrens story that I remember form along time aog. Now I am doing a class project on it...

Nothing here but a database dump of some high level recent games. Overpriced at that. From the Gufeld "book a week" club ...

This book is wonderful for anyone who wants to know one of the most solid defenses agains e4 there is. Guides you through multiple examples and analogies. But on the other hand, I was really disappointed in the amount of games that were "won" by White. When i learn a defense I don't want to go over examples of losing moves and how so and so lost using this defense. But over all a great book and a solid system in that.

This book is very complete and for a player who plays this great line used by great players such as Karpov, Anand, Smyslov, and others, its a most have. It guides you and shows you some good ideas on the defense, I just loved this one!!

Having lived in Germany from 86-89 and from 93-97 I have experienced both the pre- and post unification period quite intensely. I was standing just prior to the tearing down of the wall on the East side of it, together with 100.000+ East Germans when President Reagan deliverd his speech on the West side close to the Brandenburger Tor. We could not see him, could not cross the 800 yards which separated us, but we could hear him. The athmosphere of hope and joy is something I will never forget.

After the initial joy of the unification it turned out, of course, that "Ossies" and "Wessies" were quite different in many respects; values, education, and not the least material wealth. It became obvious that it would take a long time to reconcile the two people.

For me personnally, the many tours I took through the united Berlin in the early nineties are unforgettable and I have a deja vu feeling for many of the scenes of Peter Schneider's book.

He has set this book at one of the most interesting cultural and sociological environments in modern history and he does well in capturing the many small moments which make up the big picture. His description in the start of the book of the squatters in his new appartment block are splendid as well as the enfoldment of the exasperating red tape involved in repossessing the property. He even gets a good try at explaining the moral dilemma involved in the acquirement of the building. Why would anybody, who has not the faintest idea that he is, be able to claim ownership after fifty years ( only think of what Marx had to say about ownership and how this would still be engrained in the Eastern mind...), in particular when it possibly was acquired under doubtful circumstances by a Nazi from the Jews in the early thirties.

All ingredients for a great novel by a good writer ( and Mr. Schneider is a perceptive one indeed).

Why then spoil it with this utterly useless sideplot of Edward's marriage to, as other commentators say, the jerk Jenny? It distracts and annoys. In particular his obsession with the erotic parts of the marriage are totally uninteresting and deviates the attention to what really should have been the center of the novel; life in the recently united Berlin.

Given the extreme sensitivity of the issue in Germany this was a good try, but it could have been so much better.

Some 10 years after the Berlin Wall came down, how's German reunification going? Read Peter Schneider's novel for a sense of how much one must consider to answer that question.

In Berlin, the novel's main setting, it's a cultural war, "a war over Berlin's history and identity, an accumulation of all the touchiness, resentment, and hatred that existed between the inhabitants of East and West." Eduard Hoffmann returns to his native city ill-prepared for this fray by eight years of marriage and child-raising in California. His family is ill-disposed to his venturing off to Berlin to take a genetic-research position while he claims a surprise inheritance - a rundown, graffiti-defaced apartment building - from a grandfather he never knew. But it's a good career move and a chance to make big real-estate money, right? Not so fast. The building is occupied by angry, politicized squatters who are sticking Eduard with the utility bills, and his research colleagues don't care much for the returning expatriate.

Despite some dull stretches, Eduard's Homecoming skillfully brings into play the tensions and conflicts of a divided society, scourged by history, where little is as it seems. Might the squatters have a historically valid claim to the property? Was Eduard's grandfather a Nazi who obtained the building by defrauding its Jewish owner? Or did it just look that way?

Amid threatening violence (the possible genetic basis of which, ironically, is his research field), Eduard labors to pierce the mystery. At the same time he tries to save his faltering marriage to Jenny, with whom in addition to three children he has sexual problems. Alas, though Schneider works hard to make Jenny believable, she comes off as a jerky construct trying too fiercely to punch through the page and impress us.

If Eduard's dual struggles to reclaim his German-ness and his marriage never quite interconnect as Schneider wants them to, in other respects the characters' identity conflicts are wrenching. Former radicals become lawyers or reactionaries; conservatives form expedient alliances with squatters; a playwright obsesses over reports filed by his brother, who spied on him; communist vestiges linger; loose charges of fascism fly.

When society fractures, is reconciliation possible? After the profound evils of a passing generation, who is legitimate heir to what, who owes what to whom? Trying to solve this conundrum at least as it applies to his grandfather, Eduard finds old neighborhood photographs, and as he leafs backward, "the little hammer-and-sickle flags in the window boxes on the crumbling balconies transformed themselves into the homemade lengths of bunting adorned with swastikas that had fluttered from the still intact balconies ... . What of his grandfather ... ? What had his balconies looked like then?"

Indeed, the "forever self-redesigning city" of Berlin booms in a constant uproar of reconstruction. Residents must navigate around and through construction sites. Road rage abounds. Vast holes are dug for new foundations - but for what? "The ubiquitous excavations ... now seemed like recklessly exposed entrances to another city beneath [Berlin]. Disembodied spirits crept forth and clung to the ankles of the living, hampered their progress, befogged their brains."

The novel, translated from German by John Brownjohn, is well worth reading, despite its flaws, as an exploration of cultural and individual identity in changing times. How do we understand ourselves? Like Berlin, our identities are all under construction.

All of us recall the night-time scenes of exuberant, young East Berliners physically destroying the Berlin Wall with everything from hammers to battering rams. Few of us, however, have had any equally memorable images of Berlin in the years immediately after that destruction--until now, with the arrival of Eduard's Homecoming. Here author Peter Schneider presents a compelling story of a young West Berliner who returns from an 8-year fellowship at Stanford to take a position in a research institution in East Berlin after the fall of the Wall. As Eduard resumes his professional research in Berlin, he must also resolve problems in his marriage and a bewildering array of financial and legal difficulties with an inherited apartment building, now full of squatters. Schneider does an absolutely astonishing job here, developing his story on several levels while creating laser-sharp images and incisive cultural commentary. He illuminates the whole city, from its physical appearance to its social interactions, and he describes buildings, roads, cafes, apartments, night life, theatre, and people from all walks of life so vividly you feel, upon completing the book, that you could easily navigate Berlin without a map.

The book is witty, humorous, and filled with a sense of the absurd, as Edward finds himself dealing, often unsuccessfully, with the political, social, and institutional resentments between "wessis" and "ossis." Though they are officially "reunified," they no longer share the same goals, expectations, or even history, obviously paralleling some of the problems in Eduard's marriage. A book which can be read on many levels, from marriage to political science, it is successful on all of them. Best of all, the comments on society and politics are so lucid you will find yourself seeing Berlin--and the U.S.--through new eyes.

I bought this book along with the companion "An opening repertoire for the attacking player" and I have to say that I was thoroughly disappointed. The lines given are not particularly popular. Not only that, I crossed referenced some of the lines with other books and a database, and the results were depressing: hardly ever did white get and advantage and black's choices were rather limited. There are very few explanations. If you are searching for a complete repertoire, this is not it. You will not understand why you are playing certain moves.

This is an excellent book by a voice of experience. Some will argue with the idea of a book of "positional" openings all beginning with 1. e4, but really, there is no reason why you cannot play in a more positional manner with e4, and with a more attacking manner with d4. I think Gufeld's idea is that you are going to be able to control your repertoire better with e4. 1. d4 has so many things to be prepared against, but with e4 you are much more likely to know what you will face. To wit, you will generally face 1...e5 and 1...c5. The Scotch Four Knights is a fine opening, and if you study it, you will know it better than black. Frequently it will reduce to a scenario where you have the two bishops and doubled isolated c-pawns. The resultant scenario is rich with "positional" ideas, but in an open setting. Against the Sicilian, 2. c3 may or may not appeal to you, but clearly, it is a good move, and one that does allow you to determine the contours of the game. Personally, I prefer the Closed Sicilian, and Emms' Attacking with 1. e4 has an excellent chapter on the Closed Sicilian. The Gufeld book is very well put together, withe variations clearly distinguished with well-placed boldfaced fonts. Also, with each new line, all the moves to that point are re-written, which is very helpful. Finally, each chapter has a couple of illustrated games. I think this is an outstanding book. I could go on about his recommendations as black too, with the Classical Sicilian and King's Indian being great suggestions. Excellent book!

This book is great! With white the authors suggest e4 and against the Sicilian, the Alapin (I love this opening because it's simple to play and tends to really annoy Sicilian players); against e5, the four knights Scotch game; against the French, the Tarrasch variation (Nd2); against the Caro Cann, the Short variation; against the modern/pirc, the Pirc-Ufimtsev defence; against the Alekhine, a system with Nf3. All these openings are relatively slow and positional in nature but ultra solid and with dynamic potential. What's more, they are played regularly by the leading GMs of today. For black against e5 they suggest a classical sicilian with Qb6 in the Sozin variation and the interesting Bd7 in the Rauzer variation. The main ommission is that they don't deal with the closed sicilian with Bg2 nor the grand prix attack but instead refer you to another book that they wrote. Against d4, they recommend the King's Indian Defense and the chapters on this opening alone are worth the price of the book. GM Gufeld, the co-author of the book, is one of the leading experts on the King's Indian. There are also chapters on how to deal with the annoying Trompowsky and Torre attacks. Lastly, the authors suggest ideas on how to react against 1. c4 and 1. f4. Overall the book is well-written and well presented. Any player who likes positional play and is not not a strong master or above will greatly benefit from this book. Highly recommended.

The Dragon is a excellent counterattacking opening for Black to include in his/her repertoire. However, by focusing EXCLUSIVELY on thematic elements of the Dragon and not including any theory, this book will leave Black players at a disadvantage against opponents who know their opening theory. I strongly recommend Winning with the Sicilian Dragon 2 by Chris Ward because it includes a nice mix of thematic elements along with the theory that is necessary to know when one is playing the Dragon. All in all, a good general overview, but a waste of money.

This book show you positions, ideas and some games. No lines, no variants. If you want to study lines get another book.

The Sicilian in general (and the Dragon in particular), is known as a sharp tactical opening. So along comes a book which attempts to teach you the general ideas that seem to occur again and again. Instead of endless waves of mind-numbing brilliant tactical moves, the authors present a list of ten concepts that Black should keep in mind throughout the game. I still remember how my eyes lit up during an OTB game when I realized I could sacrifice the exchange on c3 (idea #3).

The authors are clearly pro-Dragon, but they do make the effort to present the themes that White should pursue. There is a second list of nine themes for White, one of which (attacking the King along the h-file) has changed the way I approach going after the castled King.

Be sure to note that this book, in keeping with its "idea" approach, does not attempt to analyze lots of lines. It presents the concepts and expects you to try them out over the board.

"Billy" Meier is a sort of latter-day George Adamski, but twice as hard to swallow. Obvious from the reviews below, there are some people who just HAVE to believe the malarkey coming out of Switzerland. In spite of the fact that Meier's films make Ed Wood's flying saucers look good, they have a NEED to believe that beautiful, blond, benevolent aliens have selected a Swiss with a shady (to say the least) background as their front-man to save civilization from itself. The saucers, cobbled together from trash-can lids and assorted odds and ends, have a sort of Victorian, "H.G. Wells-ian" look about them that is charming in it's naivete, but are awfully hard on the gullibility index. I wish I had a rack of "I WANT TO BELIEVE" posters to sell these unfortunate people, but the next best thing would be to sit them down and have them read this book. The deprogramming may not be comfortable, but it's for your own good.

If Korff has an axe to grind, it's that he himself has had a UFO sighting experience, and is essentially sick and tired of the subject being the butt-end of jokes because of charlatans such as Meier (who claims to have traveled with the UFOnauts through time and space, met Jesus, and had all SORTS of wonderful trip to the mushroom planet adventures).

Korff went undercover to the Meier compound to see for himself what was going on, and documents his findings here. It isn't a pretty picture. Meier has made some big-time bucks over the years preying on the extra-terrestrial hopes of some apparently very impressionable people. It's about time somebody asked hard questions about exactly what is this clown up to, and Korff does a pretty good job of it. The main shortcoming *I* see is that Korff himself seems to be a UFO newbie, or he would recognize some of the old-tyme hogwash from Adamski's days.

Those who find Korff's tone harsh or accusatory certainly haven't read any Phil Klass, probably the best known UFO debunker. Korff isn't a "debunker" as such: he's a sceptic, and demands a whole lot better evidence than Meier is able to come up with. He's no friend of the old phoney, and doesn't mind letting that come through in his writing. More power to him. With all the "Sightings"-variety baloney on the idiot box, a good dose of pragmatic investigation is worth it's weight in gold. Keep up the good work, Kim.

I don't see how anyone with an open mind could possibly come away from this book without having serious doubts about the Billy Meier case. Whatever your position on UFOs, you will find this book fascinating. Although Korff himself has had a UFO experience that he continues to be mystified about, he is a serious UFO researcher who believes that the whole field of UFOology can benefit from rigorous scientific examination of specific UFO claims. Extensively documented with footnotes, the book is marred only by a sometimes overly accusatory tone. Note: Kal Korff recently made a public apology to radio talk-show host Art Bell for making what turned out to be unfounded accusations of blacklisting. Korffs quick and abject apology are evidence of his willingness to admit error when shown to be wrong.

I just got my hands on this one, and it was truly a fun read. I've laughed over the shoddy photos of Billy Meier for years now, and this investigation into the clims behind those photos was fascinating.

It's everything the saucer kooks don't want you to know - the model spaceships photographed against bonsai trees, the "alien woman" photos which turned out to be a dancer on a variety show, and the cult-like atmosphere meier has built around himself and his lies.

I'd reccoment this book to anyone with an interest in the UFO scene, or who wishes to provide a skeptical examination of UFO claims to a friend.

I thought this book was very out of date! I would not recomend this book to people that want to travel to Georgia.

I read through this book with delight. Finally, I thought, the West can learn the true origin, history and present about Georgia. I am Georgian. I have been living in the US for over six years.

This is a well laid out attractive book. It is obvious that alot of work has gone in to it.You can tell the Thinkers Press take alot of pride in their books.. What is disappointing is the opening itself. I knew little of this opening before I got the book..the statistics given for the variation 1/d4 Nf6 2/Nc3 d5 3/Bg5 c5 gives, based on 159 games, 25 % wins for white and 40 % for black ! Not very encouraging for a supposed repatoire weapon

This book is not for begninners, but for someone who already knows the basic stuff. The material is presented in a very ad-hoc manner. The chapters and subsections do not follow the standard "say what you are going to say - say - and say what you said" format. New concepts are thrown at you with no lead or introduction. But the material is there. So it is a good reference book. This book can use a good editor.