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Book reviews for "Edwardes,_Michael_F._H." sorted by average review score:

Elric: Tales of the White Wolf (Michael Moorcock's Elric)
Published in Hardcover by White Wolf Publishing Inc. (1994)
Authors: Michael Moorcoch, Edward E. Kramer, Michael Moorcock, Richard Gilliam, and Edward E. (Editor) Kramer
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An Elric novel written by Authors who grew up reading Elric
I have read every Elric novel. I own 500 kilos of fantasy paperbacks. This book brought me as much joy, inspiration and satisfaction as any book I have ever read. Elric was the first "evil" hero. Every fantasy writer has taken a peice of elric to produce their characters. Drizt Do'urden is a shadow of Elric. Raistlen is almost an exact copy of Elric. Darth vader's sinister life, dependence on technology/sorcery and eventual noble self sacrifice are in mimicry of Elric. In this book so many authors who wanted to write Elric stories, some who had made great fame and fortune copying Moorcock, were given licence to write as they pleased. Every short story in the book is its authors best work because as they write about their own dark heros in their own novels they are thinking about Elric. My highest praise: I want a sequel.. or two... or ten... a series published monthly untill I am old and grey.

Skin tingling ,edge of your seat, can`t put it down, tragedy
Elric, last Prince of Melnibone. Elric makes you feel that your right there with him and drawing the from the dreaded runsword Stormbringer, all his pain,sorrow,grief you feel it all. This pale,weak being could be any of us, and yet it`s his weakness that gives him the strainth to weld such enormus power and to control the uncontrolable. Elric will make you cry, make you feel that you could defeat the Lords of Chaos your self and forever will you bare some of his burden. Your life will never be the same, the way you look at things such as the ocean will change and you`ll catch yourself try to summon the water element himself. For such a being to exist in your mind alone is enough.

Elric: A creation of a new genre
Elric of Melnibone' represents a departure from the era of Tarzan and Conan, giving people a dark prince for a protagonist. This book helps put together a group of stories written for the first time by other authors and show how dynamic Michael Moorcock's Elric really is.


Patriot Games
Published in Hardcover by Putnam Pub Group (1987)
Author: Tom Clancy
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The Last One is The Best One!
I am not a huge Science Fiction fan but this book had me lost in a strange new world along with the characters. The challenges they face and the great twist at the end of the book made for a book I couldn't put down! Happy Reading!

The Last One is The Best One!
I have to tell you - I'm not a huge Sci Fi fan but The Last One is a book I could relate to and at the same time be transported from one world to quite another. The transport and ensuing challenges that the characters must face, along with the twist at the end, keep the pages turning. I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I did!

Captivating
This book is so good< you can"t put it down> I am waiting for the sequel. This author has a true talent for capturing your attention. This is a great adventure.


Collage : A New Approach
Published in Paperback by Jonathan Talbot (2001)
Author: Jonathan Talbot
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Fans of blues music will relish this autobiography
Fans of blues music and musicians will relish this autobiography of Delta bluesman Edwards, which charts his rise to fame and his survival in a critical musical world. His first-person observations of the changing blues style and field are especially meaningful given that so many blues titles are not written by participants in the field.

The Genuine Article
Honey and his astute collaborators have given us the genuine article: a poignant, detailed, uproarous chronicle of what Robert Palmer called the"Deep Blues," the Delta tradition from which all other blues styles emanate. If you've heard Honey sing either in person or on his fine recordings, you will hear the voice you read. He offers dozens of unforgettable moments, from the first sounds he ushers from a broken-necked guitar to his mother's death to the death of Robert Johnson, that are alive and chilling. My only criticism is that the photographs featured in the book are spartan, contemporary views of critical sites in this artist's life. More historical photography would have enhanced the text. The publisher of this well-designed softcover has made the text relaxingly readable. After my first 50 pages, I wanted to purchase all of Honey's recordings and read more about him. He is an articulate, funny, precise chronicler of his own life. If only I could do the same with my own life! First rate.

A great American life
This autobiography succeeds memorably on several levels. Told in spare, moving words, it provides a vivid picture of life in the Mississippi Delta long before the civil rights movements of the '50s. In addition, it's a kind of African-American "On the Road," told from the perspective of one who crisscrossed the Southern United States, scuffling to make a living playing the blues. And finally, it's a terrific history of the blues, told by a man who made a significant musical contribution himself and who played with nearly all the essential artists of the '30s and on.

Edwards, born in the Delta around 1915, worked the fields as a kid before he learned to play the guitar and began hoboing around the South. He rode the rails, played in innumerable small towns, and polished his craft. Along the way, he hung out and played with the likes of Sunnyland Slim, Big Walter Horton, Little Walter Jacobs, Robert Junior Lockwood, Muddy Waters, B.B. King and yes, Robert Johnson. The book describes how these architects of the modern blues passed songs, licks, and stories back and forth, keeping a form that relies so heavily on tradition dynamic and vital.

A major strength of the book is Edwards' distinctive voice, transcribed by his collaborators to retain its distinctive rhythms and dialect. The book's title sums up his attitude. His memories include violent death, physical and emotional loss, and great material want. Still, you sense strongly that he wouldn't have had his life any other way. His narrative is devoid of self-pity, but it never glosses over the difficulty of the times he endured, which included stints in prison.

The book concludes with useful appendices that define key terms and offer capsule biographies and discographies of musicians Edwards encountered. A good bibliography is also included. Highly recommended for those interested in the blues and in American social history. Great read.


Dragonheart
Published in Audio Cassette by Brilliance Audio (1996)
Authors: Charles Edward Pogue and Michael Page
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Just amazing
I am a hugely ardent fan of the movie... and I think I have to admit that is even better. It goes into a lot more depth- this is apparently what Pogue really wanted to do with the screenplay but couldn't. You get tons more about character here too and the whole story is somehow filled out. There are some very funny bits (Gilbert's first encounter with Draco par example...), and some haunting dark passages - a lot of Einon's thoughts...
And everything describing Draco and his thoughts is just beautiful... There's a bit near the end where he wants a last flight and sunshine which completely breaks my heart *sob*.
It's the sort of book I will gladly stay up all night reading... beautifully written... just amazing!!!




(Pls. note: this review was written by me about the BOOK - I don't know how much the tape has been abridged, but I strongly suggest you read the book anyway cos, as I said, it's brilliant!!)

Literate Fantasy
I read this book because of an article I read in which Charles Edward Pogue claimed that his screenplays for Dragonheart & Kull were savaged by their Directors. To give the man a fair shake, I read his Dragonheart Novel. I can see why he was so upset! Wherever the film takes a wrong turn, the Novel goes in the right direction. Everything that is wrong about the film is RIGHT in the Novel. The writing, while now and then a little spare [which is better than overwriting] and a little too modern, is, overall, exceedingly literate [some of the dialogue is close to Tad Williams level]. The characters are believable and involving. The story explains itself and it's world. I HIGHLY recommend buying a copy of Dragonheart!

I like the part in the book where Dragonheart dies!!!!
Ijust have to say that I love this book!! Also the movie is Awesome!!!!


The Cambridge History of Ancient China : From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC
Published in Hardcover by Cambridge University Press (1999)
Authors: Michael Loewe and Edward L. Shaughnessy
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Excellent Resource!
If you're seeking to extend your knowledge of Chinese history, you'll found a solid foundation in The Cambridge History of Ancient China, which covers China from prehistory down to the First Empire. With fourteen chapters by specialists, it presents a diversity of viewpoints and approaches, but without changes so frequent as to be disorienting. And it is not just a collection of disparate essays: a consistent style and spelling are maintained throughout, there is an integrated bibliography, and what overlap there is has obviously been coordinated. The Cambridge History of Ancient China does a good job of capturing regional variation and temporal depth (keeping in mind that an equivalent period in Mediterranean history would stretch from the Egyptian New Kingdom down to the Roman Empire) and the following summary does little justice to it.

An introduction touches briefly on historiography, the physical environment of ancient China, and calendar systems. A chapter by William Boltz provides background on language and writing (this was quite technical, but I found it comprehensible without much background in Chinese linguistics). And Kwang-chih Chang covers the prehistory of China, concentrating on the archaeological evidence but looking also at the debates over the historicity of the Xia dynasty.

The core of The Cambridge History of Ancient China uses the traditional Shang / Western Zhou / Spring and Autumn / Warring States chronological framework, with paired chapters on each of the periods, one covering material culture (archaeology and art) and the other more historical in approach. This provides an important historiographical and methodological balance. A chapter by Robert Bagley on "Shang archaeology", for example, tries to avoid the biases of traditional history, presenting a fascinating twenty page introduction to the archaeology of bronze metallurgy and using that to highlight the breadth of Chinese culture outside the Shang areas, in the Yangzi valley, Sichuan, and the north. In contrast to this, David Keightley's chapter on the Shang focuses on written inscriptions (bronzes and oracle bones) and what they tell us about politics, religion, and society in the nascent dynastic state.

The historical chapters generally avoid becoming enmeshed in the details of particular wars, successions, and the like, addressing instead larger scale social and administrative changes. Edward Shaughnessy probes the origins of the Western Zhou and their conquest of the Shang, then describes their subsequent history. Though cautious about the use of historical detail from later texts, he highlights the significance of Western Zhou political theory for subsequent Chinese historiography. Cho-yun Hsu describes the multi-state system that evolved in the Spring and Autumn period (with recognition of a shifting Ba or "senior state") and sketches its social, administrative, and economic developments. And for the Warring States period Mark Lewis focuses on the institutional and military development of the various states and their consolidation into progressively larger units, laying the groundwork for the imperial unification.

The chapters on material culture are longer than their historical counterparts, largely due
to the space taken up by illustrations. Jessica Rawson begins with a general introduction to Western Zhou archaeology, then proceeds from pre-Conquest Shaanxi (and the uncertainty about Zhou origins) down to the Ritual Revolution, providing details of key sites. Lothar von Falkenhausen covers late Bronze Age archaeology, describing finds from cemeteries and tombs in the different states and regional cultures. With more detailed information available, Wu Hung deals with Warring States art and architecture in a more systematic survey. Four chapters supplement these eight. Nicola Di Cosmo surveys the northern frontier area from Manchuria across to Xinjiang, covering the archaeological and historical record down to the development of pastoral nomadism and the first contacts between the Chinese core and a nomadic kingdom (the Xiongu empire) towards the end of the Warring States period. David Nivison presents a historical account of the classical philosophical schools and texts, in an approach which makes the relationships between the great philosophers clearer than more abstract presentations. Donald Harper uses excavated manuscripts to present a balanced view of Warring States occult thought and natural philosophy (astrology, divination, magic, medicine, and so forth), too often veiled behind the much better-known philosophical tradition and the later orthodoxy of Han yin-yang and five phases correlative cosmology. And Michael Loewe describes the legacy left to the Qin and Former Han empires: views of the past, religious and philosophical traditions, institutional and administrative systems, and other unifying strands (he also provides a general sketch of law and legal history, something not covered in other chapters).

I have only two minor complaints about The Cambridge History of Ancient China. It is well provided with half-tones (an essential part of the chapters on archaeology and art), but it badly needs more and better quality maps: you will find yourself floundering, especially with place names that don't appear in modern atlases. It is also too large and expensive a volume to be as widely read as it deserves. There are arguments for a single volume - I'm glad I had the chance to read it cover to cover - but if The Cambridge History of Ancient China were published as four or five separate paperback volumes it would be a better proposition for students interested in (say) Warring States occult thought but not Shang archaeology.

I haven't read this
But all Cambridge History of China are consistently good, so I assume this to be as good too. If you don't want to sell your wedding ring as suggested by Bryan, there is another option: wait 5-10 years for the Chinese version to come out at the price of less than USD10!

Simply the best history of ancient China!
For too long there has been no up-to-date, general historical introduction to ancient China. This book remedies that deficiency, and does so in a wonderful way!

The book is topically organized, with each chapter written by a leading scholar on that topic. The list of contributors reads like a "Who's Who" of contemporary Sinology: K.C. Chang on Chinese "pre-history"; David Keightley on the Shang Dynasty; Hsu Cho-yun on the Spring and Autumn Period; David Lewis on the Warring States Period; David S. Nivison (see his _The Ways of Confucianism_) on ancient Chinese philosophy, etc.

The general reader should be warned that the scholarship here is sometimes a little intimidating. However, careful reading will be well repaid. As you can see, the price is a real problem. Perhaps it will come out in paperback some day, but I wouldn't count on it happening any time soon.

If you are seriously interested in ancient China, hock your wedding ring and buy this book!


Cowboy Carving With Cleve Taylor (Schiffer Book for Woodcarvers)
Published in Paperback by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. (1994)
Authors: Cleve Taylor and Jeffrey B. Snyder
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Your value creating partner in financial services
I feel that this book has been the most outstanding work ever done in the financial services sector. I recommend this highly especially for people involved in the financial services business. I have used this book immensely in my business too. My heartiest congratulations to all the four authors of this book. I look forward to another book from them in the future.

A perfect guide for business strategy in financial services
It is a superb book which has a total grip of the latest in the financial services sector globally.

A "MUST READ" for all financial services participants and strategists. I have read the book three times over and everytime I read this book I find a new angle which I could apply to my business.

Very useful analysis of approaches to creating value.
A very useful book describing a variety of approaches to creating value, such as strategy, products, technology, logical and mathematical modeling frameworks for analyzing a firm's strategy, technology, and process choices.

A must read for managers of financial service firms, and consultants as well as researchers who work in the area of strategic planning, technology choice, process design and process re-engineering.


Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Barron's Book Notes)
Published in Paperback by Barrons Educational Series (1985)
Authors: Michael Adams and Murrary Bromberg
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Can Albee be anything but 5 stars?
Loved it. Wished I read it before I saw the movie, that way I would have had a purer vision of the play.

Something you truly need to experience.
This is a great modern play. I loved all the references and word games

Such richness!
I'm directing the play in The Netherlands. Never had to dig so deep as in this play. Did the play before, and now I did some completely new discoveries. What about this: I think Nick is the only true victim. May change that opinion the next rehearsel: 'Woolf' never stops amazing!


Barchester Towers
Published in Digital by Amazon Press ()
Authors: Anthony Trollope, Michael Sadleir, and Edward Ardizzone
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Immortal Trollope
Despite the criticisms levelled at Trollope for his "authorial intrusions" (see Henry James for example) this novel is always a pleasure to read. The characters take precedence over the plot, as in any Trollopian fiction and this is what makes a novel like BARCHESTER more palatable to the modern reader, as compared to any of Dickens's. Some readers may find the ecclesiastical terms confusing at first but with a little help (see the Penguin introduction for example), all becomes clear. What is important, however, is the interaction between the all-too-human characters and in this novel there are plenty of situations to keep you, the reader, amused.

Do yourself a favour and take a trip back into Nineteenth century where technology is just a blink in everyone's eye. What you will discover, however, is that human beings have not really changed, just the conventions have.

Delightfully ridiculous!
I rushed home every day after work to read a little more of this Trollope comedy. The book starts out with the death of a bishop during a change in political power. The new bishop is a puppet to his wife Mrs. Proudie and her protégé Mr. Slope. Along the way we meet outrageous clergymen, a seductive invalid from Italy, and a whole host of delightfully ridiculous characters. Trollope has designed most of these characters to be "over the top". I kept wondering what a film version starring the Monty Python characters would look like. He wrote an equivalent of a soap opera, only it doesn't take place at the "hospital", it takes place with the bishops. Some of the characters you love, some of the characters you hate, and then there are those you love to hate. Trollope speaks to the reader throughout the novel using the mimetic voice, so we feel like we are at a cocktail party and these 19th century characters are our friends (or at least the people we're avoiding at the party!). The themes and characters are timeless. The book deals with power, especially power struggles between the sexes. We encounter greed, love, desperation, seductive sirens, and generosity. Like many books of this time period however, the modern reader has to give it a chance. No one is murdered on the first page, and it takes quite a few chapters for the action to pick up. But pick up it does by page 70, and accelerates into a raucously funny novel from there. Although I didn't read the Warden, I didn't feel lost and I'm curious to read the rest of this series after finishing this book. Enjoy!

A great volume in a great series of novels
This is the second of the six Barsetshire novels, and the first great novel in that series. THE WARDEN, while pleasant, primarily serves as a prequel to this novel. To be honest, if Trollope had not gone on to write BARCHESTER TOWERS, there would not be any real reason to read THE WARDEN. But because it introduces us to characters and situations that are crucial to BARCHESTER TOWERS, one really ought to have read THE WARDEN before reading this novel.

Trollope presents a dilemma for most readers. On the one hand, he wrote an enormous number of very good novels. On the other hand, he wrote no masterpieces. None of Trollope's books can stand comparison with the best work of Jane Austen, Flaubert, Dickens, George Eliot, Tolstoy, or Dostoevsky. On the other hand, none of those writers wrote anywhere near as many excellent as Trollope did. He may not have been a very great writer, but he was a very good one, and perhaps the most prolific good novelist who ever lived. Conservatively assessing his output, Trollope wrote at least 20 good novels. Trollope may not have been a genius, but he did possess a genius for consistency.

So, what to read? Trollope's wrote two very good series, two other novels that could be considered minor classics, and several other first rate novels. I recommend to friends that they try the Barsetshire novels, and then, if they find themselves hooked, to go on to read the Political series of novels (sometimes called the Palliser novels, which I feel uncomfortable with, since it exaggerates the role of that family in most of the novels). The two "minor classics" are THE WAY WE LIVE NOW and HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT. The former is a marvelous portrait of Victorian social life, and the latter is perhaps the finest study of human jealousy since Shakespeare's OTHELLO. BARSETSHIRE TOWERS is, therefore, coupled with THE WARDEN, a magnificent place, and perhaps the best place to enter Trollope's world.

There are many, many reasons to read Trollope. He probably is the great spokesperson for the Victorian Mind. Like most Victorians, he is a bit parochial, with no interest in Europe, and very little interest in the rest of the world. Despite THE AMERICAN SENATOR, he has few American's or colonials in his novels, and close to no foreigners of any type. He is politically liberal in a conservative way, and is focussed almost exclusively on the upper middle class and gentry. He writes a good deal about young men and women needing and hoping to marry, but with a far more complex approach than we find in Jane Austen. His characters are often compelling, with very human problems, subject to morally complex situations that we would not find unfamiliar. Trollope is especially good with female characters, and in his sympathy for and liking of very independent, strong females he is somewhat an exception of the Victorian stereotype.

Anyone wanting to read Trollope, and I heartily believe that anyone who loves Dickens, Austen, Eliot, Hardy, and Thackery will want to, could find no better place to start than with reading the first two books in the Barsetshire Chronicles, beginning first with the rather short THE WARDEN and then progressing to this very, very fun and enjoyable novel.


Bokken Art of the Japanese Sword
Published in Paperback by Black Belt Communications, Inc. (1985)
Authors: Dave Lowry, David Lowry, and Mike Lee
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Buy This One First!
Thinking of getting into the saltwater aquarium hobby? Do not buy anything until you have read this book cover to cover! You will be sorry if you don't. By applying the principles in this book, you will have much greater success at the venture. You will save a lot of money and spare the lives of many fish.

After you've read this one, buy The Conscientious Marine Aquarist by Robert M. Fenner and give this great hobby a go. It's wonderful, and these two books will get you off to a great start.

He beat me to it!
... covers just about everything imaginable, and does so in such a clear & concise way that there is little point in my trying to cover it again.
I am truly impressed. This so-called beginner's book scarcely rates that category; this is the very sort of information that beginners REALLY need but oh-so rarely ever get until it is too late. Moreover, it is presented in a form that beginners can understand and digest with ease. Truly a gem, and destined to be a classic.
The checklists, the explanations which make the complex simple, the techniques, the wonderful illustrations, the tips & tricks, the lists of common mistakes to avoid, ( and which species to avoid ) and the truly useful advice make this book very complete. It's 140+ pages are chocked full of good information without a lot of "fluff"; it's truly "all-meat, no filler!"
If I had to recommend just ONE book for the beginning marine hobbyist, I think that this would be the one. I even recommend it highly to intermediate hobbyists. While it doesn't cover every single aspect of the marine hobby, ( not that any one book, or even any given dozen ever books could ) it aptly covers the most important things, and most importantly, it covers them in a way which will make it the most useful to it's target audience...

An Excellent Guide to Starting a Marine Aquarium
I had already looked at many marine aquarium books before I found this one. I already have a freshwater tank, but really had no idea how to go about setting up a saltwater tank. I mean, I didn't know anything!

This book misses nothing. Other books may start off well, but tend to get skimpy on the things you really need to know and then focus too much on things that, at the moment, you don't need to know, such as page after page on various species of fish. That's important, but not particulary helpful if you don't know what you are doing.

The first part of the book goes into tank selection & setup. It goes over among other things, protein skimmers, power filters, & powerheads along with the other more rudimentary stuff such as heater, thermometer, etc. It goes into instructions on how to correctly mix the salt water and put in the substrate.

After that, a considerable amount of time is spent discussing live rock, what it is, how to choose it, how to take care of it, where to place it in the tank, etc. It even gives sample layouts - very helpful! The last part regarding tank setup walks you step by step through setting up the tank and live rock. If you follow the checklists, you won't miss anything or do anything out of order.

The second half of the book is on selecting fish and taking care of them. In the section showing the various species of fish, it also tells what suitable tank mates could go with the fish. Lastly it goes into feeding and maintaining the tank along with a section on fish diseases and how to treat them.

If you are interested in starting a saltwater tank, then this is an excellent book to begin with.


Winning the Influence Game: What Every Business Leader Should Know About Government
Published in Digital by John Wiley & Sons ()
Authors: Michael Watkins, Usha Thakrar, and Mickey Edwards
Amazon base price: $34.95
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Insightful!
If you've ever wanted to be part of a special interest group or a corporate lobbying machine, but didn't know where to start, experts Michael Watkins, Mickey Edwards and Usha Thakrar have written a handbook for you. The authors write intelligently and provide information in great detail with no fluff. We [...] recommend this book to those in business and organizations of all sizes who are - or should be - playing the influence game.

Indispensable tool for any CEO
Reading 'Winning the Influence Game' was an eye opening experience on how important it is understand how government can influence business. The authors have provided a blueprint for creating a strategy which can change government from an adversary to an ally. More importantly, a well thought out strategy can become your most valuable competitive weapon. If I had viewed government as a partner 10 years ago, there is no doubt in my mind that my venture capital business would be much larger and far more profitable today.

Superb
Too many leaders, focused on starting or expanding businesses, think that markets and competition exist in a vacuum. This very insightful book reminds us that the background of government regulation is also make-or-break. The authors' insights and strategies are intellectually well-grounded, yet oriented to someone who has to apply them in the real world. A must have.


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