Do not waste your time reading Ralph J. Acampora's book. It is another way Mr. Acampora is trying to make money is today's world. When will he have enough?

I read a lot of investment material and this is the first time I have heard of the concept of a "mega-market". Mr. Acampora provides interesting comparisons to prior mega-markets with very brief lessons in technical analysis. He has made a boring subject interesting and uses a lot of personal examples. I think it takes guts to go out on a limb to highlight a phenomenon and to have in print that you predict that this bull market will run through 2011. This is even more corageous considering he finished this book during the present market turmoil. I don't find this to be vanity but more of a desire to share his knowledge with others. You are not going to learn all the details of technical analysis, but reading his book gave me the confidence to contiue investing in this bear market.

Unlike several current books about the stock market that I've read, Mr. Acampora chooses not to make incredible Dow predictions but rather presents an excellent historical and technical argument for investor optimism. He explains the social and technology backdrop of prior robust market eras and shows the reader why everything is in place for a grand future. Bear markets and the periodic deflation of speculation are a natural occurence in the course of a bull mega-market. If anything, this book will build your confidence as a long term investor and support a committment to stay in the market during the current severe stock correction. Mr. Acampora addresses the current market and puts it in a historical context and that I found very informative. The book is very well written and I have no doubt this is due to the collaboration with Michael D'Antonio who put his Pulitzer Prize winning writing skills to work here. You don't have to learn much technical analysis to enjoy this book. Mr. Acampora makes a solid and easily understood case for it but, in my mind, his inate integrity, sense of history, and long experience find an intuitive expression through that venue. At first I was going to rate this book a 4 but after some thought upgraded to a 5 because the book's understated style truely provides a thoughtful and informative experience that will benefit the investor. Highly recommended.

This is a book written by authors well known as former CIA personnel in Turkey. This rather old book has numerous mistakes as facts and one feels that the authors' best sources are Turkish university professors!

That's right, two stars, I would have given it more but only two thirds of the book was readable. Any one that has read my other reviews knows that I'm not the biggest Nancy Varian Berberick fan, and this book didn't help her score any points to win me over. You should remember before buying this that it is a source book, if you are coming in expecting some story that gives info on the Fifth Age as it goes along than you are wrong.

What you get is good old information, in a half way cool fashion. The way that the authors did that is that they made it as if they themselves were working for Bertrem in Ansalon, and he was nice enough to give a foreword, notes on the writings, and an afterword. I liked this better than just throwing out info and stats like most source books do.

Now the authors themselves, best to worst (and we all know who that is). First is Paul Thompson, he did a great job, the section about Politics is one of the most interesting source readings about Ansalon ever. Stan as always was funny and solid, but nothing that really kept me reading.

Last of course is Mrs. Berberick. She's not a bad writer, I just don't think she is a dragonlance writer, she is way too descriptive and flowery. An example is "Can we say with certainty that they yet pile up their lovely tresses of silver and golden so they may wear the shimmering veils of sheerest silks flowing from their coiffures as clouds stream round the glimmering sun-shining mountains?"...excuse me? I mean does that really belong in dragonlance? I personally think it is a bit overboard for DL, good for some other novel (romance?), but not in the Dragonlance shared world.

Final Thought: You really have to love the Fifth Age to get this and enjoy it totally, if you have money and want to buy a DL book then go ahead, but don't expect something that will change your view of Krynn.

For die-hard fans (like myself) this book is good, I did like the Arms and Armor section, and the games and stuff are cool. What really bothers me is some loss of continuity with the rest of the Dragonlance world. The most glaring example comes as a footnote in the aformentioned Arms and Armor section where Laurana was supposedly standing next to Sturm Brightblade while shooting a dark knight, I assume that means knights of Takhisis/Neraka which did not exist until 20 yr after Sturm died. Also, elves getting married at 20 yrs old or something, I thought they weren't even adults until the age of 80. If you can get past these few problems, though, it really can be an enjoyable read, but for the best filler information pick up one of the Leaves From the Inn of the Last Home titles.

If you're new to Krynn and you want to learn more about it , go straight ahead an buy this book , it explains a lot of stuff , including a nice amount of history about the various races in the book . However if you have been with Dragonlance for a while and , then pass it up , it has some nice stuff , but it doesn't describe a lot of stuff on the land of the Dragon overlords, talks a LOT about culinary stuff . Doesn't say anything about gnomes or gully dwarves but talks a lot about elves and kenders and ogres and humans , interresting but doesn't fo much for those who read the books and already knew everything about the current situation for the races listed above(except for the ogres) . The authors who wrote this did include a bunch of games and some celebrations and that was a litle original . All in all it is sort of entertaining but if you want to learn about the Legion of steell or the Knights of Nerak or any group ( except the knights of Solamnia) then don't bother picking this book up. I could go on about the weapon section simply talking about clubs and swords, nothing on weapons found only in Ansalon, such as the Hoopack , but I'll just let you choose for yourself....