My admiration for Jaan Kross first developed after reading The Czar's Madman a number of years ago. I then bought and started this later book, but found it required a degree of concentration that I could not give it. Now, several years later, I have finally picked it up and re-read it, and am very glad that I did.

This book is beautifully written, and for that alone it is well worth reading. However, if one is interested in the history of late 19th Century Russia, it is also a refreshing tale filled with interesting historical connections.

Jaan Kross has proved himslef to be a great literary figure, and one of the rare examples of Estonian fiction available in the West. His writing is not particularly well suited to all audiences and tastes, but hold great promise for those with a love for Russia and Baltic culture and history.

Kross brings to bear an encyclopaedic knowledge of Estonian and Russian history upon this book about an aging man's journey through his own memories. The novel takes place, for the most part, on a train, but we follow Professor Martens' digressions into the details of his own rise to influence, love life, internal arguments, and penetrating self-doubt. Martens is one of the most engaging characters one is likely to encounter. He is vain, but keeps it mostly to himself, and Machiavellian, although he rarely admits it. The progress of the novel is ponderous. This is not in-flight reading material. But it is worth the time, effort, and attention.

I purchased this book to help explain the real Saint Nicholas (as opposed to Santa Claus) to my son. I vascilated quite a bit on whether to return the book or keep it.

The author's choice of content is a bit unusual for my needs. The book starts by explaining that Nicholas was born to older parents who were wealthy and charitable. Next it mentions the parents' death (with an illustration I'd rather have been skipped, more on that below) and Nicholas' continuation of his parents' charity. The book continues with some events of Saint Nicholas' life with nice detail: saving the three daughters from slavery, his entry into the priesthood, his intervention during the stormy voyage, his appointment as bishop, the legend of the schoolboys, and his suffering in Roman prison for his convictions. His adoption as patron saint of various groups is mentioned in context. In the Author's Note, written more for parents than children, the author mentions the connection between Saint Nicholas and our present day Santa Claus.

The style of the illustrations is very nice. A "pieced" stained glass effect, it suits the material very well. Most of the illustrations represent the text nicely. The one exception is the page where the death of Nicholas' parents from the plague is mentioned. Here we see a large black cloud filled with scary-looking skeletons that appear to lurch in the direction of the boy Nicholas. Nicholas looks frightened even though his uncle's arm is around him. Before it's next use, I will glue the pages together and just skip it entirely. The dealth of Nicholas' parents can easily be incorporated into the next page where the book speaks of Nicholas' being his parents' heir and continuing their charity.

The book does a nice job of covering the life of Saint Nicholas, but it's nothing special.

We found the book beautifully written and illustrated. It is legendary as well as factual, but his life is presented in a most touching and informative way.

Santa Paws is a great book! It's about a stray dog that has to fight for a family and the right to be a normal dog. He goes through many perils and hard times but he always knows how to spend a Christmas!! Santa Paws got his name because some people saw him sleeping in a fake "Santa Sled" and said "Hey look! It's Santa Paws!" And the name stuck. Santa Paws had a lot of adventures but always made it back in time for Christmas!

Have you ever seen someone homeless, hungry, or cold? In a great book called Santa Paws by Nicolas Edwards a lost, homeless puppy tries to find a home for Christmas, while trying to find his family. The little dog has many surprises, hard times, and adventures.
In this book a sad puppy awoke, and he found that his family was not there. He went on an adventure to help some people and meet friends. He helped a poor blind girl find her wallet by grabbing it, and giving it to her, and then rubbing his head against her. The blind girl rewarded him by a pat on his head.
Another time he saved an old lady from a falling roof by howling very loudly and getting the neighbors. She rewarded Santa paws with a big piece of meat for all the nice things he had done he was rewarded a home. He never found his family though, but he will always remember them.
I recommend you to read this book that has a great resolution. It is so exciting and it will make you jump out of your seat.

A psychological portrait of a man who might be a murderer, Nicolas Freeling's "Some Day Tomorrow," depicts a Dutch flower grower facing old age and mortality and not much liking what he sees. As the police seek the murderer of a young female student in his neighborhood, Hubertus van Bijl reflects on his comfortable life and what it has come to.

Van Bijl's long-respected family history in the flower business culminates with him, a well-educated, well-off, respectable sort of man disappointed with his daughters and, by extension, himself. The narrator, he slips into the third person, to describe "Bert's" inabilities to cope with age and the changes in stolid Dutch society.

"Bert" strikes up a friendship with a young girl. "Stupid Bert. Susceptible Bert." Has a brief affair before he loses the ability entirely in an operation for prostate cancer. It's "Bert" who rages furtively, accosts the wife of a friend, befriends the dead girl. The "I" remains aloof, tasteful and intelligent, maintaining a staunch allegiance to his athletic, conventional wife, a mild disdain toward his daughters, an indulgent smile for the antics of "Bert."

Freeling, whose many awards include the Edgar, fleshes out his narrator with a sharp knife. His staccato style reveals a complex, layered man. Unable to articulate his fears and insecurities and rages, he expresses his disappointments by draping them on others and keeps much of his character hidden even from himself.

A well done, thoughtful portrait but it's been done before and van Bijl arouses little sympathy

The Dutch police question retired flower grower septuagenarian Hubertus "Bert" van Bijl of the crime. Bert tells the police a rambling tale about his current life and much of the major events in his previous seven decades on the planet.

Through his meandering confession, Bert proves that he recently has become more and more isolated from his family and friends. Even his wife who Bert in some distant way cares about seems just out of reach for the elderly man. His efforts to connect with anyone, including wives of former associates, and family members only leave him further segregated from society. However, segregating one's self is not a crime, but is his babbling confession ultimately going to lead to his admitting that he murdered the young woman or is it just the inane chatter of a lonely old man?

SOME DAY TOMORROW is a different type of police procedural. The story line focuses inside the mind of the prime suspect, a senior citizen, who may have killed a younger woman. Readers obtain an incredible psychological and emotional look from the inside at an intelligent, educated individual who has been forced into retirement before he is ready to do so. Nicolas Freeling's novel is not action-packed, but packs quite a wallop through its ingenious "autobiographical" psychological character study.

Harriet Klausner

On his first effort as an author, Nicholas Ware brings us a very entertaining book. Drawing on what I believe are a series of autobiographical incidents, Nicholas strings together the adventures of a young CIA officer named Gus, whose only real concern is to catch the best possible wave on his surfboard. His "surfer attitude" keeps getting him in trouble with his superiors; yet enables him to unofficially recruit an Iraqi diplomat just at the start of operation Desert Storm.
Nicholas' descriptions of the Indonesian locales where the action takes place (bars and beaches mostly) definitely make you want to go there and see that with your own eyes and that, along with his reflections on the futility of war are the high point of the book.
On the other hand the CIA angle feels almost like an excuse for the character to be in Indonesia; the references to the work done for the agency are minimal and loosely put together (he might as well have been an oil, relief worker for the UN or any other profession that allowed him to be there long enough to make friends and catch waves)
What's supposed to be the main topic of the book, Gus befriending an Iraqi diplomat is constricted to the last quarter of the book, making you doubt of its real importance in the plot. Finally the way the hero fouls an Iraqi plan to assassinate the US ambassador is barely believable and is perhaps the lowest point in the book.
All in all, the book is fun, very readable and worth your time and money as long as you do not expect anything too serious from it, I guess that to fully enjoy the book you must adjust your mindset in the same way that you do when you go and watch a 007 movie, you know things are not always going to be logical or 100% possible or believable; but if you are willing to let go of that of a while, you spend a good time.

Definitely a wild ride, however it is rated R, so don't leave it for your young kids to read. Definitely worth your time, and this man really has a way of putting a high-class spin on low class talk.

QUICK REVIEW
This is a fairly good book about the discovery of dinosaur eggs (and a few other fossils) in Argentina and what scientists learned from studying them. An interesting book.

FULL REVIEW
This book is written about a couple of things. Mainly it is the story of what a group of paleontologists discovered at a site in Argentina. They found a number of incredible fossils (some of which had never been seen before) and were able to piece together a picture of what Sauropod dinosaur embryos looked like and what happened to them. They mostly unearthed eggs but they also stumbled across two other skeletons. Overall it was amazing what they found. But the book is also about other things. Within the overall story we are given a history of other dinosaur fossil discoveries as well as lessons on different types of dinosaurs and their classification. We are given a timeline of when dinosaurs lived and some background on how paleontologists collect fossils. All of these things make up the book, so it is not just a simple telling of the story of the discovery. The book isn't fantastic but it is pretty good and generally keeps the attention of the reader. This is the kind of book where if you think you'll be interested in it, there's a good possibility you will but if you aren't interested in it and don't think you'll enjoy it you almost certainly will not. For readers who think they'll be interested, the authors do a good job of taking you through the story by the excitement of discovery. You follow along with them as they come across one great find after another. Sometimes they get a little too technical for the average reader but at other times they don't give as much technical information as the reader may want. And the authors rely a little too much on evolution to try to explain things that aren't full understood. Instead of just saying scientists don't know how something happened or that they can't figure out the whole story, they try to squeeze things into the box of general evolution just because they don't have any other answer at the moment. There are also some slow parts while they go off on a tangent now and then, but it basically flows pretty well and if the readers feel somewhat interested they probably will enjoy this book.

In a highly readable account, the authors describe a 1997 scientific expedition to Patagonia, in the desolate, remote region of central Argentina, which results in the discovery of tens of thousands of fossilized dinosaur eggs. Some of the eggs contain the first fossils of embryonic dinosaur skin ever found. In the full flush of discovery, the team of scientists dub their new find 'Auca Mahuevo,' as a pun on the volcano Auca Mahuida around which the field is located, combined with 'mas' 'huevos' or more eggs, in Spanish.

By means of a number of questions, which the authors then proceed to answer in successive chapters, the reader is lucidly lead on the path of scientific discovery. For example, in one chapter, the authors ask and answer: "What Were We Searching For and How Did We Decide Where to Look?" There is one exception to this lucidity, however. In one chapter the authors feel it necessary to provide a primer on dinosaurs, in order to establish all the possible species whose eggs these could be. In my opinion this chapter was a total flop. If you are a dinosaur maven, it was probably unnecessary, and if you are not, as is my case, it was far too technical and dragged on and on. At the end of the 1997 expedition we are treated to the spectacle of an overflow press conference, with all types of media imaginable in attendance.

Next, a 1999 expedition to Auca Mahuevo is described. In this expedition more evidence about egg laying patterns is gathered and another startling fossil discovery is made. a completely new species of dinosaur is found, and the fossil is collected and named: Aucasaurus garridoi. Finally, a 2000, Y2k expedition is described.

On the whole, this is a very enjoyable read, with only a few dull spots, and I recommend it to you.

I am not a big fan for equating investing with gambling, but Mr. Darvas has successfully done it again. Somehow he is able to make the negative connotation of gambling and turn it into a lesson for the novice and experienced trading.

This is essential, because if you don't know what you are doing wrong, how can you learn to do it right?

So by making traders realize that their is a risk of loss it puts them on the alert.

I read it in one sitting. This title fleshes out the contents of his first. I found its chief value to be in the identification of stock investing with gambling, and also the detailed mechanics used to define and time his entries and exits. Anyone at least mildly excited by his first offering ought to enjoy a little more of Darvas's company.

I read this book almost 20 years ago, a chance find whilebrowsing through the stacks at the library, and was deeply affected byit. Nicolas Gagarin's search for love, and peace from the loss of it, is one that is immediately recognisable from our private moments of hell. I only found out from reading the review on Amazon that he had commited suicide in the same year the book was published - 1970. A sad end to a beautiful search.

Nicholas Gagarin '70 was the executive editor of The Harvard Crimson. He was on campus during times of tremendous racial division, rioting, and general malaise. He chronicles his experiences with love; schoolwork; the looming threat of being drafted into a war nearly all of the campus felt was unjust; the malaise felt by young intellectuals looking for meaning in a world where they felt was spiraling out of control. Gagarin, indeed, was looking over the abyss. Nicholas Gagarin's book was published in April 1970. He committed suicide in November 1970, the same weekend of the Harvard-Yale Game.

Well, this play sure was unique, I'll give it that. I had to read it for the Theatre Arts International Baccalaureate Exam (2001). It was one of three choices (the other two were by Dario Fo and Lorraine Hansberry which explains their listing on the "people who bought this also bought" list) and it seemed the most interesting. Basically, Woyzeck is a soldier in 1830s Germany. He has a girlfriend whom he discovers is cheating on him with a higher-ranking official. All the while, he is humiliated by his superiors and the townspeople. One day, he buys a knife and murders his girlfriend. The author, Georg Buechner, died while writing the play, so it ends, rather ambiguously, with Woyzeck wading into a pond into which he will throw the murder weapon. This was an interesting play to analyze for IB inasmuch as it provided a good deal of material for me to work with and I had good ideas about how the play ought to be produced. Still, the plot was very strange.

(I always wanted to say that.)

Woyzeck is a designer's nightmare but an actor's dream: a tragedy of immediate imagery, almost written for the MTV generation. Scenes that last at most two pages flicker around archetypes like the overbearing Major and the menacing Doctor, while the play's more human characters find themselves caught in between. There are searingly tragic moments (as befits the genre). There are also darkly funny ones: Woyzeck's conspiracy theories, Andres's childish songs, the Scholar's politically incorrect comments.

Buchner left the world young, and if this play is any indication, that's a tragedy too. As a reader, an actor or a (shudder) designer, you'll enjoy being swept along by his work.

The book is inteligent for students and academics