Mathematical Snapshots is a wonderful excursion into the mind of a mathematician. It answers a question that was asked of the author "You claim to be a mathematician; well, what does one do all day when one is a mathematician?" This book explores games, the computation of shortest paths, why two soap bubbles blown from the same pipe are different sizes, how to pursue another boat on the open water, how to color maps, the simplest forms of solid objects, mobius strips, where to locate schools, the ideal musical scale, and many, many others. Each topic is presented in a short, concise paragraph along with a diagram or picture of explanation. The author asks the reader to supply answers and reasoning. It is readily readable by those with mathematical inclination (even if they can no longer 'push' the numbers) and provides hours of enjoyment and expansion of the mind.

It is a very good book, it is not very long but is never the less very comprehensive. The only problem is that it took me a bit too long to read because it is in Swedish.

While travelling by air is generally taken for granted today, in the 1930's the fuure of air travel and the shape that it would take was far cloudier. At that time, the technically immature airplane was poised against the giant airships of the German Zeppelin company. 'My Zeppelins' is the story of the attempt to make the Airship a commercially viable vehicle that ended in the Hindenburg disaster of 1937. The author, Dr. Hugo Eckner, was the driving force behind the Luftshiffbau Zeppelin, the company that produced the huge airships. While he is only known today among a relatively small number of aviation historians, at the time he was a celebrity of worldwide porportions. A vocal critic of the Nazi party, only his enormous fame kept him from being liquidated along with Hitler's lessor opponents. The book deals mostly with the spectacular success of the Hindenburg's predecessor, the Graf Zeppelin, from financing the craft to the initial ocean-crossing operations. This is most certainly a niche book, of interest to the serious airship enthusiast.

"One of Us" is a very readable and entertaining biography of Margaret Thatcher, ncecessarily concentrating on her time as Prime Minister (1979-1990). However, Young does not fail to chart Thatcher's childhood, which was dominated by her father, her rise through the Conservative Party and her role in the ousting of Edward Heath in 1975.

This was an important time in late-twentieth century British politics, with the rise of what became known as the "New Right", with its challenge to the political consensus which had endured from 1945. A reaffirmation of capitalism based on the individual, rather than the corporatist version which had held sway, gave rise to the "rolling back of the state", and to the "denationalisation" carried out by the Thatcher governments, both of which were continued after her fall by both the Major and Blair administrations.

Young's account breaks the myth that all of this was pursued in a systematic, rational manner by a political party united in its sense of purpose. The New Right philosophy was by no means accepted by the party as a whole: throughout her years as Prime Minister, Young recalls the strains and rivalries that resulted from the policy direction in which she took her governments. Indeed, Young sees Thatcher herself as far more prone to muddy thinking and prevarication than some commentators (or indeed the lady herself) would have us believe. No doubt she was helped by the parlous state of the political opposition she faced, and by the fact that Britain won a war under her leadership (although Young does a good job in reminding the reader of the government's negligence leading up to the Falklands War).

The only quibbles I'd have with the book are that Young becomes over-obsessed with Thatcher's gender from time to time, hence:

"...there were moments when [Cecil] Parkinson, seeing the fraughtness in her face, felt that what he really ought to do was put a manly arm around her."

Also, perhaps Young underdoes his analysis of the privatisation programme. This was a massive sea change for the British people and something we've had to live with ever since. How different life was before then - whether it was better is open to debate (perhaps better in parts? nostalgia can blind). Still, it's an important part of the legacy of the Thatcher years, which, along with the obsession with the individual as a consumer rather than with the common good, still dominates political rhetoric, albeit increasingly uneasily.

G Rodgers

One of the first serious studies on the experience of film viewing, this brief text has come to the attention of recent film theorists and is more highly regarded today than it was 70 years ago. An important work for any film theory student.

The late Fr. enomiya-lasalle, german jesuit and along with Frs.Henri la saux,Bede Griffiths, William Johnstin and Thomas Merton,are the great bridges from west to east. Fr Lasalle was a survivor of one of the Atomic blasts{a tv movie made about Hiroshima cast max von syndow as a composite],and an accepted Zen master while retaining his standing{as it was] as a catholic priest. the fact that he served in Japan with dom pedro arrupe, later to be general of the jesuits was certainly advantageous.

This book, then is a compostite of fr enomiya -lasalle,a week long retreat ,as it were,a 7 day zen reatreat. The writing is non esoteric[somehow, zen can appear like quantum mechanics], clear and clean,like calligraphy. A wonderful intro, for people like me without the backround,though most definitely NOT A NEW AGE FUZZY WARM BOOK. There is effort[or better NON_EFFORT] involved here. Well, done, very well presented ....

The roots of strategy books have been an invaluble asset in my study of military strategy. The priciples set forth in Von leebs book should be read and if not implemented, certainly used as a spring board for further deliberatiion and study. I would strongly encourage the student of warfare to aquire this book and spend much time meditating on its contents. Although the material may seem outdated and archaic when viewed superficialy, many of the foundational points hold true. The middle book is especialy relevant to todays military comanders, As J.F.C. Fuller said, the art of generalship never changes.

Usually one who begin to learn trumpet does not know much about instrument itself. Many method book only describes shortly about this. Even there is no explaination! This tipbook may be the supplement for such problems. After reading this book, even novice can buy instrument by himself. I recommend this book not to only player but to the musician who is run for both knowledge and technique. This book has many good illustrations and is very readable.

Hugo Hamilton writes with an excellent style. There's plenty of characters in this book, all of them fairly interesting and well-explained. The book reads well, and the overall arc of the plot is like several episodes of a soap-opera. My only complaint is that speech from characters wasn't quoted in quotation marks, it was hyphenated like this:

-Well, that's a nice necklace you're wearing.

But it was fairly funny in places. There's so much going on and it's all so original and well-detailed.

Well done, Hugo.

Peter Mattheissen ("The Tree Where Man was born," "At Play in the Fields of the Lord," "The Snow Leopard") takes the reader on a safari into the Selous, the grandest piece of truly wild real estate left in Africa. Along for the ride in western Tanzania is the last great warden of this famous park, a direct descendant, in a way, of Frederick Cortenay Selous himself, for whom the park is named. Matthiessen is low key, unpretentious, straightforward and fresh in his descriptions. Yet, as the safari moves deeper and deeper into the bush, one wonders, as one found in Matthiessen's classic "The Snow Leopard", whether we're really going to see any big animals after all. And whether or not Matthiessen and the crusty old game warden are going to resolve their apprehensions about each other. Suffice it to say that at no level is this fine book a disappointment, including the excellent photography of Hugo Van Lawick, who accompanied the private safari, driving his own Land Rover down from the Serengeti. If you ever thought you might like to take a walk in Africa, the old Africa, this is your book.