This is a collection of documents relating to four things: the final days of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, their murders, the concealment and discovery of their jewels and valuables, and the discovery of their remains. Many of the documents have not been published elsewhere in English; but many of the more important ones HAVE. The stuff that has not been published elsewhere (in English) mostly relates to the valuables and the bodies-- both of which are somewhat interesting, but only for true Romanov fanatics. The translation of the book from Russian to English is somewhat poor. It is quite readable, but errors and convoluted phrasing sometimes made me wince.

The introductory essay, an overview of the books written about the imperial family's captivity and death, is interesting but suffers simply because it is based mostly on "foreign" (ie, English- and French-language sources, or Russian books published by the emigre press) sources, and therefore less supplementary reading (other people's discussions of these books or their authors, for example) was done.

I have never seen the documents relating to the excavation of the imperial remains (in 1991) published before, but that reason may be that several much more readable accounts of the events have been published, and no one saw any need to publish the documents themselves in their entirety. Where this book really shines is in the information it gives about the servants of the Tsar's family who stayed in Russia; those who remained faithful and those who did not; and those who went to extraordinary (one might even say shocking) lengths to protect the belongings of the Tsar's family. An interesting work for the true Romanov devotee, but anyone else will probably not be interested.

This book is very useful in linking teaching theories with Art. If you are a beginning Art Education Student or Art Teacher, this book would be good if you want to learn about pedagogy in the Art classroom. It asks you to analyze and discuss the different approaches to teaching and learning in the Art classroom. This book gives great suggestions for assessment in the Art classroom. It also contains a section on how to get that teaching job you want.

With this book Nicholas Blincoe cements his position to me as one of those authors whose books sound and look good and then fails to produce the good. Acid Casuals was a total waste of time, and this one is only marginally better. The story is mainly about Jake, a successful London casino manager in his mid-30s. One night, a police inspector from Manchester shows up and coerces him into returning to that city where as a teenager back in 1981 he lived a hedonistic drugs and gay sex life. It seems that back then, Jake's best friend was murdered, and just a few weeks ago, another friend from the past was found dead.

The story switches back and forth between Jake's present day (1997ish) trip back to Manchester to dig up the dirt, and flashbacks to the days of seedy gay discos and Bowie clones. Clearly, Blincoe is also trying to contrast the gritty old days of Manchester's gay Village with the posh fin-de-millenium redevelopment of the city. Unfortunately, this never really pops off the page to someone who's never been to Manchester. Blincoe is too interested in the flash and sizzle of the past to keep the contemporary story moving, although at the end, as he slowly reveals the crimes of the past and Jake's role in them, the book gets a bit more interesting. However, if you like this stuff, a book with a similar plot, set in San Francisco's gay community in the early '90s, is Agnes Bushell's The Enumerator.

Nuclear Fuel Cycle: Analysis and Management by Robert G. Cochran, Nicholas Tsoulfanidis. This book is an overview treatment which does not treat engineering details. It covers the important materials at an undergraduate level. For graduate work it is inadequate, but it is a good complement to Benedict, Pigford and Levi, where the engineering detail can be found. (BP&L, unfortunately, is out of print.) This book gives the current context of the nuclear fuel cycle, which is out of date in BP&L.

The Communism that was practiced in Russia had some major differences from the way it was described by Marx and Engels.

Nicolas Berdyaev writes a very much needed analysis of where Russian Communism came from.

Although there is much to be learned about how the mindset of the average Russian was shaped over hundreds of years by Roman Law and Russian Orthodox religion, the writing style leaves much to be desired. Even though I studied Russian in college for two years and have a serious interest in Russia, I had difficulty finishing this book.

I give Berdyaev 5 stars for information and 1 star for the dry writing style. That averages out to 3 stars.

--George Stancliffe

The Oxford Classical Dictionary was newly edited. Of course I admit that second edition of the dictionary had good points e.g. explanations on literary works , and third edition of it contains some mistakes e.g. chapter numbers of classical sources. However the new=3rd edition is improved much better than 2nd one ,e.g. adding new entries like Homosexuality,Secular prostitution, Abortion, Menstruation, Gynaecology, etc. If you can read German language , I recommend A. Pauly, G. Wissowa, and W.Kroll's "REAL-ENCYCLOPAEDIE D. KLASSISCHEN ALTERTUMSWISSENSCHAFT". However if you like antiquated books, it is a good idea to buy 2nd edition of Oxford Classical Dictionary, also Lempriere's Classical Dictionary and William Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Biography & Mythology.

Paper Nautilus is a simple story of simple people which takes place around Jack and his niece , Penny . Written in Flashback , the story started with the end : a marriage between Penny and her boyfriend . Although the story is not at all breathtaking or fabolous , it is a very emotional book , where the story show how "boring" Jack and his brother Peter (penny father) contrast each other . Where Jack chose to be responsible and " boring" and Peter is born to be "special" and adventurous . Peter is loved by everybody and Jack is just an ordinary guy that most do not even pay attention to. However , in the end , Jack unselfishly dedicated and gave his WHOLE life to take care of Peter's daughter (whose own mother , peter's wife , ran away with other man ).

This is an informative book, but it is marred by a typically British, bitchy, gossipy tone that colors the text in many spots. So PETER O'TOOLE: A BIOGRAPHY is a mixed bag.

As always, the incredible prolific philosopher Rescher writes thoughtfully and well about an important topic. I have enjoyed several of his previous books. On this particular topic, however, I happen to have know of a large decision-theory literature on the irrationality of "agreeing to disagree" which suggests that Rescher is just wrong. While Rescher says that the variety of human circumstances implies that we must inevitability draw diverse conclusions, the agreeing-to-disagree literature shows how disagreement must disappear once one takes full account of the information implicit in the opinions of others. In 1976, for example, Aumann first showed this (in the Annals of Statistics) for Bayesians with common priors. Of course Rescher might reasonably disagree with this literature, but his book suggests that he is just completely unaware of it.

Medical students may find this text useful for basic overview of clinical examination, however you'll really need its bigger book equivalent to get all the information.