Plantagenet Palliser reluctantly becomes the Prime Minister of England. Lady Glencora continues her self-appointed task as a meddler in affairs of the heart and now politics. We are glad to see the couple back at the forefront of our story, the 5th entry of the Palliser saga. Re-appearing characters Lizzie Eustace and Phineas Finn are present, but only in minor roles. The delightful Marie, now Mrs. Finn, stands by Cora in triumph and trouble. Lopez slithers on the scene and courts Emily Wharton, much to her family's dismay. The novels of Anthony Trollope are the Victorian equivalent of daytime TV dramas. They are lightweight, but entertaining. The pace is leisurely, and the book goes on for 700+ pages. Graham Greene once wrote that Trollope's novels ease stress levels because nothing much happens. The stylish presentation in smoothly written prose compensates the reader nicely. Besides, nobody captured the comic essence of Victorian manners and morals as Trollope. The unyielding men and women are often the cause of their own dilemmas. This book is a pleasant contrast to the noise, bustle, and electronic hardware of modern life. Recommended reading. ;-)

Anthony Trollope has created yet another book full of twisted plots and fatal loves. Another book to read and cherish.

When Plantagenet Palliser (Duke of Omnium) is named Prime Minister, his wife, the Duchess Glencora, is delighted. Immediately she plunges into politics herself, giving huge parties intended to support the Duke, who is completely honorable, but unfortunately detached and reserved, seeming at times icy to those whose political backing is needed. Glencora, one of Trollope's most delightful creations, has a sparkling personality, but is occasionally too outspoken and is sometimes misunderstood. Eventually her well-intended machinations result in embarrassment for the Duke's ministry.

In the other main plot, Emily Wharton ignores the advice of her father and almost all her friends when she falls in love with Ferdinand Lopez, about whom very little is known except that he seems to be a wealthy gentleman. Finally she persuades her father to give his permission for her marriage. Very quickly she discovers that she has made a horrendous mistake, and her life becomes a living h! ell. Only one of her old friends remains true--Arthur Fletcher, who vows that he will always love no one but her.

Anyone who is interested in Victorian history and British politics will find the novel a pure delight. Others may find it slow going and mystifying in spots, although no such knowledge or interest is needed for the Emily-Lopez plot. Lopez is one of the most despicable villains in all of Trollope's fiction, ranking with George Vavasor of "Can You Forgive Her?" Emily, on the other hand, sometimes becomes tiresome in her queer, fastidious obstinacy.

The character of Plantagenet Palliser is finely drawn. He is a man who is scrupulously honest, too much so for partisan politics. He is a natural leader and yet a thin-skinned, conscientious man who takes any criticism to heart. He loves his vivacious wife, who teases him mercilessly when she wishes to upset him. The match seems very odd, and their marriage began under inauspicious circumstances, and yet she,! in her way, admires and adores her husband.

"The Pr! ime Minister" is an outstanding work by one of literature's greatest novelists, mainly because of his brilliant handling of character. No one does it better.

That Vico is largely unknown, even by the so-called experts teaching in our universitiues, while mediocrities and worse of the past half century are lauded and taught widely is yet another indication that our educational standards are dumbed down considerably. Vico is difficult to read, and we are increasingly an intellectually lazy people who prefer simplistic platitudes that sooth our postmodernist prejudices.

I give this Penguin edition only a 4 not because New Science is not itself a 5 or because the translation itself is weak, but because Vico requires copious notes. Most who read this work will do so on their own, and they need considerable help unless they are already as well read in the Classics and works of the Medieval and Renaissance eras as was Vico himself. Perhaps soon we will see an edition that meets that need, which also might encourage a few more to teach Vico, before we fall into the re-barbarism.

An eighteenth century alternative to a Cartesian hegemony of philosophic vision. Herein lies a pride of imaginative erudition and practice for the reader in allegorical and metaphorical thought--a poetic more than meets the mind. "Poetic Wisdom" offers a gamboling philological development of human institutions--all that is, explained. And this book has a chapter on "The Discovery of the True Homer." He was so much fun to look for and we are glad he's found. This edition has a detailed table of contents and an introduction by Anthony Grafton as a bonus for readers.

David Dodd has assembled a wide variety of stories to inspire and encourage addicted people to get clean. I was impressed that Twelve Step groups were NOT the focus of every tale, and that the one constant was that each individual made a PERSONAL CHOICE to forego their addiction and live sober. For all the help some people get from 12-Step groups, there are many who don't "relate" to the religiousity. But this book shows that recovery is still possible and worthwhile. The fact that most of these tales are told by celebrities and artists we KNOW only increases their value. Plus, it's nice to know that my gut feeling about Steven Tyler is "on the money" - he truly IS a mensch!!

I was attracted to the many well-known names listed on the cover, but once I began reading the book, I was overwhelmed with its passion and solutions. David Dodd has done a remarkable job which is reflected in this collection of interviews. My favorite part, however, is the introduction to the book, where the author tells his personal story on how he became sober with the help of Steven Tyler. His vivid description of the events were astonishing to me, they were absolutely incredible. This is a wonderful book!

A David Baldacci novel is a great companion for a summer vacation, and Absolute Power is no exception. At the end of each chapter, I would convince myself that I could read "just one more chapter." It cost me some sleep but I was able to go through large chunks of the book in a sitting. Although not as good as Total Control, which I think was Baldacci's best effort, Absolute Power was still a page turner. Having seen the movie years ago, I was a bit skeptical to pick up the book but I am glad that I did. Although Baldacci has obviously tightened up his writing skills with his subsequent novels, Absolute Power is still packed with action, suspense, plot twists and good character development. I quickly found myself rooting for Luther Whitney, who although a career thief also has an abundance of courage, integrity and personal fortitude. If you are a Baldacci fan but have not yet read his first work, I strongly recommend picking up Absolute Power.

"Absolute power corrupts absolutely" --Lord Acton. That truer words have never been spoken is proven by David Baldacci's thriller "Absolute Power".

Alan Richmond is the President of the United States, he is also an adulterer who finds himself in a lethal situation, when the woman he is beating up grabs a letter opener and tries to kill him. Poised outsided the door, Secret Service agents Burton and Collins hear him cry out for help and rush to his aid. They simultaneously shoot his attacker, the much younger wife of billionaire Walter Sullivan.

Quick thinking by Chief of Staff Gloria Russell, begins a coverup that would have been effective if only aging burgler Luther Whitney hadn't been trapped in the one-way mirrored vault by the President's lustful intentions. Luther sees the whole thing, and is horrified. He fully intends to just keep his haul and fade into the background until circumstances dictate that he needs to step in.

And so begins a page-turning thriller whose plot twists and turns in the established bestseller format. Absolute Power is a quick read and very hard to put down. It gives a view of what could happen if a corrupt President puts his loyal to the death Secret Service into an impossible situation.

Very impressive for a first novel, I can't wait for the next one!

Absolute Power cast an absolute spell over me -- couldn't stop reading! This first novel by David Baldacci has unusual twists on the traditional tale of murder. Through a two way murder in a walk-in safe, a thief witnesses a murder and cover-up. It involves none other than the President of the United States. And that's just the opening chapter! Baldacci, like John Grisham, is a lawyer turned writer. Baldacci, of course, doesn't have the reputation of Grisham but I think he is a better writer. Unlike Grisham, each character in Baldacci's story is completely developed, although somewhat one-sided (good guys/bad guys) they are realistic. Baldacci has two characters, Seth Frank and Bill Burton who are family men with children. Baldacci could have padded pages with tender family scenes. Instead the reader only knows of them as the plot relates to them. Scenes that would naturally pull them into the picture, as when Seth is in the hospital, are deftly manuevered. Seth Frank and Bill Burton are foils for each other and the book, in a classic style, abounds with foils -- Kate Whitney and Jennifer Baldwin, Luther Whitney - the thief and Alan Richmond, the President. This is a well crafted story. I hope to see more from this promising new writer.

David W. Barber is to music history what Victor Borge is to classical piano; both invigorate their subject with fresh humor and insight. This book is a wonderfully funny look at classical music, and it is all true! Read this book and you will know that classical music is not the stuffed shirt that many believe it to be. Barber's history is especially humorous for musicians and the musically savvy. One gets the impression that Barber has waded through many scholarly works to pull out these gems of information. It is easy to distinguish between the information and the embellishments, making this a perfect companion to any hard working music student. The illustrations by Dave Donald compliment the text perfectly and are also good likenesses of the composers. The text begins with a painless history of Gregorian Chant and proceedes through 20th Century music, discussing all of the big composers and the major movements in music history. I wholeheartedly recommend this! book to the musically educated and those who want to be.

This book is something more than just a fun read. True, David Barber has a wonderfully ludicrous, dare I say punny, sense of humor, but the vast majority of his material is ripped off - from music history books! Composers were strange, quirky people who often lived in strange, quirky times. So here we have a strange, quirky writer telling us all about them - what could be more fitting?

David W. Barber is an excellent writer and writes about music history in a way that makes it highly enjoyable. It consoles the mind to know that even though they wrote incredible music, all of the famous composers were most definitely human. Bach, Beethoven, and the Boys is a fabulous book and I would recommend it to anyone who has any interest in music

I noticed that Tony DeRose, one of the authors of this book,
was a project lead in Pixar's wonderful film "Monsters".
Computer graphics, especially at the cutting edge practiced
by Pixar is deeply mathematical. This is certainly reflected
in this book.

This book covers a number of areas that are not covered outside
of journal articles. For example, there are chapters on
interpolating wavelets (e.g., wavelets built via splines or
polynomials). The coverage of interpolation and splines to
construct wavelet is good, but the authors quickly gloss over
the other critical half of the problem: how to construct a
scaling function for a given interpolating wavelet. I have
read over this material several times and I have not found the
answer. I have come to doubt that the answer is there, at
least in a complete form.

This characterizes much of the book. The authors cover
important material, but if you are not already deeply
familiar wavelet mathematics, it may be difficult or
impossible to implement an algorith from the coverage
provided in this book. Many practical issues are missing.
For example, many wavelets calculated on a finite data set
like an image can have edge effects. There is little
in this book on minimizing edge effects.

If you are already familiar with wavelet algorithms and their
implementation, this book may be a great reference for wavelet
applications in computer graphics. But it is by no means
an introduction for the novice.

This is a fine introduction to wavelets for computer scientists, with many fun applications in computer graphics. Easier than other introductions I've seen, in part because it avoids the frequency domain. I'm using it in a graduate course, but it would be easy to use by yourself or in a special seminar for undergraduates in CS or math.

I shall be brief and skip saucy words and go to the main point: Why you should acquire this book? 2 Reasons. 1)Michael Lounsbery, Tony D. DeRose and Joe Warren, "Multiresolution analysis for surfaces of arbitrary topological type" 2)"Multiresolution curves", Adam Finkelstein and David H. Salesin.

The authors offer their knowledge in an early stage and this honour them in the largest extent! This book provides an expleantion for these two papers and their branches(papers originating from these theories).

This book was outstanding. Though I don't get into Historical Fiction, it was worth the time to read it. It really shows how much you depend on life and friends when it comes down to a war of blood, hopelessness, and depression! Read on! this book is GOOD!

This book is great if you're looking for a new opinion of All Quit on the Western Front. If you have the read the book for a school assignment but don't want to, don't think this book will get you out of it. This is simply a study guide for the real book.

I have to admit that I read the Cliff Notes after I read the book twice and saw all three movies. However, the notes are still helped with understanding points that were not previously stresses. The notes include:

. Life and Background of the Author

. Genera; Plot summary

. Remarque's Introductory Note

. Critical Commentaries

. Remarque's Style

. Remarque as a Social Critic

. Character Analyses

. Questions for Review

It is a bad, substandard, under founded movie. Poor script. Terrible DVD quality. And it has nothing to do with the first Syborg.

Billy Drago's (Takeover, Delta Force II) movie career dates back to the 1980's. If you admire his portrayals as the obsessive psychotic bad guy, then you must add this movie for your viewing pleasure. He does share air time with high-visability actor Jack Palance (City Slickers and a portrayer of many a great bad guy himself) and Angelina Jolie (showing some bare breasts in this her first film role) and Elias Koteas (Prophecy) so Mr. Drago's air time is limited. But his character displays the subtle phychotic role that he has perfected over the years making him a fascinating bad guy. This cameo role has shades of his chilling character Frank Nitti in "The Untouchables." Enjoy!

Wow! All I can say is that this movie was incredible. I was blown away by Angelina Jolie in another one of her hits. This movie is best watched with a bowl of Classic Trio ice cream.