Born in the Soviet Union, the author immigrated to the United States in 1979 at the age of 28 after achieving an engineering degree. He loves to tell stories - stories of his childhood, stories of his travels, and stories of his observations of the human condition everywhere. His distinctive voice comes through on the pages of this book. It's thick with a Russian accent and there's always a buildup to a surprise ending. Mostly, they uncover the tragedy that is so much a part of the human condition.

It's a short book, but I took my time reading it. Each story was so full with meaning and left me so sad, that I had to stop, put the book down for a few days, and let the story haunt me for a little while. Like a rich meal, only when it was fully digested could I go on to the next one.

It's obvious that Mr. Zubry loves the land of his birth; it's also obvious that he hated the government. His strongest stories take place in Russia - a child's eye view of a beautiful countryside and a loving family. He was also surrounded by political corruption everywhere and the difficulties of life in his homeland. He uses simple words, but brings the essence of life in the Soviet Union home to the reader. I was glad he somehow escaped, but saddened for the people who still live there.

He's even more critical in his descriptions of life in Saudi Arabia, especially for non-Muslims such as himself. Employed as an engineer, he was paid well for the work he did, but was always an outsider. But even though he obviously was not happy there, and he writes scathingly of the government, he still had respect for some of the Saudi people he met along the way. In one of his most heartwarming stories, he writes about some date trees. And then there is a sad story about how a young Muslim boy is horribly misused.

He turns his skeptic's eye on the United States as well, and I couldn't help giggling at his observation of what one woman called "harassment" in the workplace. And I also enjoyed his story about an eccentric neighbor.

In spite of some grammatically incorrect sentences and occasional spelling errors, I completely enjoyed the book. All of these seemingly simple stories ring true. I feel privileged to have discovered "Miles of Experience" and I wish him well in his future writing career. Recommended.

Can you picture Mark Twain telling stories with a Russian accent? I can, because I have read "Miles of Experience," a wonderful collection of short stories by Boris Zubry. The Twain-like stories are told in such a way that I pictured myself sitting on the author's front porch ( or perhaps on a dacha, overlooking the Black Sea), watching the sun set, listenting to the night insects buzz, while he spins warm and fascinating tales of his childhood adventures, his work abroad, or serious stories about Russia.

The twelve short stories are told in a gentle and deeply personal voice. The author speaks with the wisdom of someone who has seen the best and worst in people, and who still manages to find humor in life.

The author, now an American, was born and raised in Russia, and many of his stories take place there. "Crickets," my favorite story, is the bittersweet tale of one idyllic summer spent at a dacha, when the author built a toy castle and caught crickets to populate it.

"Jewish Blood" is set in 1939, during the swift and bloody German invasion of Poland. "Russian Dedication" is a humorous look at incompetence in that country under Communism. "The Last Pogrom," is a true story of officially-sanctioned anti-semitism during Brezshnev. Perhaps the most deeply personal story is "Wild Strawberries," another fond memory of his happy childhood.

Those who enjoy reflections on the human condition, told with intimacy and great detail, will surely enjoy "Miles of Experience." I feel I have come to know the author quite well from this book. He makes me smile.

The stranger, the outsider, can see things the native born is not even aware of, for he is not immersed in the culture. He is not taken in by the self-deceptions of the locals. Author Boris Zubry is the ultimate outsider, the wanderer who has transcended many cultures, who sees everything with the simplicity of a child. Perhaps for this reason, he is a master storyteller, a spellbinding raconteur. He is the man you would love to invite over for dinner, and you would listen to him talk for hours. Because he sees what you have missed. And yet, seeing everything as an outsider, he becomes involved in spite of himself. He clearly cares for people, and so, a compassionate warmth pervades his story-telling.

In Miles of Experience he tells stories from his travels. Some are short stories, some essays, some travelogues, some are told as personal experiences, some have an aura of legend. They all convey an intense realism. You don't know if you are reading fiction or actual events, and it doesn't matter. And each little piece has its own dark hook, the twist, sometimes horrifying, that makes it unforgettable. These little pieces will stay with you long after you read them.

Unfortunately--alas--this wonderful book is plagued by poor editing--misspellings, wrong words, grammatical lapses. A good proofreader could have caught most of these; hopefully in a future edition they will be corrected. In the meantime, get the book and read it. I promise you will love it. Reviewed by Louis N. Gruber

This is a simple but sweet story about a pirate who is many things in addition to being tough. My three year old loves this book.

Mem Fox's _Tough Boris_ is a picture book about Boris Von Der Borch and his gang of pirates. The text is very simple. Basically, it simply states "Boris was greedy." for one pair of pages, and then "All pirates are greedy." on the next pair, and then substitutes other words for greedy, like "massive," and "scruffy," etc.

The pictures tell the story, though. Boris and his group find a treasure chest, filled with treasure and a violin. The crew drags the treasure chest aboard the ship, and divvies up the loot. A boy steals the violin from Boris's room, and Boris seeks the boy out for punishment. The boy plays the violin so well, however, that Boris has him spared. Next, Boris' pet parrot dies, and gets a solemn and appropriate burial at sea, in the violin case. Boris and all the pirates are very sad, and, as the text states, "all pirates cry."

This book required repeated readings with my 3-year old to get the whole story. The simple text says so little, but in the end the text complements the illustrations well.

Kathryn Brown's illustrations are wonderful. The colors are bright, and the renderings of the pirates are fantastic. They are the best pirates I've seen in over a dozen pirate picture books. While I'm at it, I'll salute the author and illustrator together for creating a pirate picture book which doesn't include any battles, swordplay, cannons, or gunplay.

I give _Tough Boris_ 5 stars.

ken32

All of the other reviews focus on this book describing a pirate who has feelings besides just being tough. But this book is MUCH more! It lets children know that death/saddness happens to everyone and it is ok to be sad and cry about it, that crying is a good way to express yourself. It is a good book to prep children for the inevitable things that happen in life...it should be read often...before something inevitable happens. I read this book often in my preschool class and found that the girls enjoyed the story just as much as the boys.

This is the best chess book you can own and not use a chess board (except for Logical Chess: Move by move by Chernev). A few minutes every day keeps the chess juices flowing and my chess strength is moving up after a 11 year gap of ANY playing. Tough problems? You better believe it but when you work through them, you will find yourself seeing the chess board in a new way! I'm on a U.S. Navy ship and when I'm out to sea, this is the book that I read every night before I turn the light out in my rack. While this book is very short on words, read those words carefully! Lou Hays gives good advice. Don't see the answer after a while, look it up! Go through the book two or three times and then use it as a refresher book that sits in your reading room!

One of the most frequent comments one hears before a tournament is to go over some chess problems. This books offers over a 1000 of beautiful combinations that not only sharpen your general tactics but are likely to help you realize in the middle of the game that you have already seen this position before and know exactly what to do! Only after a few pages of this book you'll notice a drastic change on how you evaluate your game. This book is a must if you are a serious chess player.

I really liked the format of this book. I love tactics books. The kind with no text in them, and page after page of nothing but chess diagrams. The kind that people on an airplane look at you funny when you are "reading" them.

This book is very similar to the other tactics books out there, but with some improvements that I think are nice. One improvement is that the tactics are labeled with a * symbol to show how difficult the problem is. The more stars the harder it is. This is a nice break from the Reinfeld books which will have a mate in one followed by a mate in ten, and you have no idea beforehand how hard the problem is going to be. I personally like to have some idea of what I am getting into.

Another nice feature is that the answers show where the game came from. I think that this is a nice touch, and gives credit to the people that actually played the game. A lot of books don't do this, and you see puzzles where you know where the game came from - "Oh yeah this is the opera box game", etc, but the author gives no credit where it is due.

I also like that the answers are in algebraic notation, as opposed to descriptive ("e4" versus "pawn to king 4"). Reinfeld's books still have the old school style. One note is that the notation is not really standard. Bxe3 would be Be3, which is a little odd. I got confused at least once when looking up an answer and did not see the "x". I assumed I had the wrong answer when I didn't. But once you know this is the format they use, you can adjust. But it would be nice to see the standard used in the first place.

Overall great tactics book. If you like doing tactics til your eyes bleed, and want something that could be used as part of a "400 points in 400 days" type of study program, this is a good one to add to your collection.

What a gem! Beautiful concepts and clear 'how to's' make this indispensable. Worth every penny. A beautiful gift.

Alisa A. de Jong-Stout has taught me to see in a new way, to really look at and appreciate the distinctive beauty of a flower. In the future, instead of just throwing flowers in a vase, I will ask myself, "what kind of space does this wonderful flower deserve around it?"
With her clear text and exquisite photography, she has opened up a new and exciting world to explore!

I never knew flowers could be so beautiful picked and placed indoors, our of the garden. What should be an unnatural environment becomes an art forn in itself through floral design. Fabulous photographs and text to match, a rare treat.

Vallejo's techniqe is awe-inspiring and really very simple. He does a rough sketch, poses his models, takes pictures, and composes a finished drawing. He transfers this to a canvas, does an acrylic wash for the lights and darks, then adds colors with oils.
And that's it!
Well, he makes it look that easy, anyway. Vallejo let's you in on the medium he uses right down to the fast-drying ordorless turp used by housepainters. This book really disects the methods of an icon of fantasy artwork.

Thanks, Boris

WOW! i have been a fan of his work since 1985 . He is the greatest artist ive ever seen . I was proud to have one of his works from his 1985 calender tatood on my belly. I WANT MORE !

Boris Vallejo's renderings of the human figure are unmistakeable. The way he uses paint to depict a 3-dimensional form on a 2-dimensional surface is amazing. The work is so life-like. (And in many cases, erotic.)

I liked reading about Vallejo's humble beginnings, where we see samples of his early, unpublished work. It was also a relief to know that even this master of the figure uses photographs. Contrary to many student's belief, it is not "cheating". To make his point, Vallejo is convinced that if the Old Masters had had access to photography, they would certainly have preferred to use that rather than rely on a model who gets bored, tired, etc. Vallejo uses both the model and the photograph.

In addition to advice about colour, tone, light, and how to "see", we are also taken through some step-by-step paintings, to show how the image is gradually built. Advice about portfolios comes at the end.

I have a board game called "Hero Quest", a sword-and-sorcery type adventure. The painting on the box looks like it was done by Vallejo, but I couldn't find his signiature. The colours and brushwork looked like his. The main figure was a Conan-type character swinging his sword. If you read Vallejo's "Fantasy Art Techniques" there is a good chance you will also paint like this eventually.

I thought htis book was very good. Just as the televisio series is. But could have been a little more detailed. So you don't actually feel you are reading a book. But watching the television. But out of most of the books i read this would probaly be a good one tell others about. Because, well it is written pretty good. And if you like he series, and like to read then this would be a good book to read before going to bed. And for the guys to, because they will fall asleep thinking about Sarah(buffy).

In the internet, you'll find like hundreds of Buffy quiz, right? If you don't know the right answer..You'll think where the hell did he knows the right ans. Well, if you buy this book, you'll know those quiz too. i promise.

This is just pure fun. Cynthia Boris has put together great questions. A true fan should be measured by their Buffy IQ. I was amazed by the number of questions I could answer and a little frightened too. I think I may have watched some of these episodes one too many times. Then again no that's impossible, I didn't answer all the questions correctly. I will have to study and take the tests again. This is a great book to share with your friends. A must for every would be scoobie.

Conrad is a real star, I'm rather fond of him. Under Western Eyes is about living in a time of revolutionary urgency, individual fragility in a delicate system, and personal honor.

To summarize; Razumov, the 'Hero' is a university student in Russia post 1905 but pre 1917 who keeps to himself and has no real family and no close friends. A fellow student and a revolutionary, Victor Haldin, assasinates a local oppressive Tsarist autocrat. He then takes a chance and takes momentary asylum with Razumov, asking him to help him get out of the city. Razumov is an evolutionary progressive, not a revolutionary. Not willing to risk association with a radical like Haldin and destroy his entire life, Razumov turns him in to the police, and Haldin is subsequently hung.

The rest of the novel deals with Razumov's struggle with himself- he betrayed, and he has to live with a lie. Complicating things, he falls in love with Haldin's sister in exile. Raz can't bear it though, and eventually he does the right thing, but things get messy.

Thats the general plot, but the real meat of the novel is in the characters and the ideas underlying the conversations between them. The idea of how you justify revolution, the chaos of revolution vs the order of gradual reform, the unwillingness and helplessness of the individual caught in it all. And there's a continual theme of the diference between East and West.

Razumov reminds me a bit of Crime and Punishment's Raskolnikov- an isolated university student waxing the time away in a single apartment, brooding over Big Ideas and being slowly crushed by a powerful conscience. The stuff of modernity. Dostoyevsky was a little bit better, so thats why Under Western Eyes only gets 4 stars.

If you are familiar enough with Conrad's writing you will know he has a few favorite words - like "inscrutable" and "destiny". They reflect I believe Conrad's literary outlook. He likes to take characters, give them a haunted past with some shameful secret, emphasize a fatal weakness, introduce some culminating stimulae, and watch the tragic unfold. I think he could have written a brilliant biography of Richard Nixon. But to the point..."Under Western Eyes" is a quintessentially Conradian book. But unlike many of his other novels - Lord Jim, Nostromo, Victory - "Under Western Eyes" treats of period politics (namely the revolutionary movement on the rise in Europe) as he weaves his tale of betrayal and tragedy. There are no heroes in this book (save perhaps one) but only a motley collection of victims, fools, and eccentrics. There is not much action, despite its subject matter. I don't want to give away too much. The story unfolds in Moscow and Geneva, not around political machinations but around the tragedy of the central character, a young Russian thrown into the revolutionary movement entirely against his will. The saga of the young man's anger, self-loathing, and attempts to extricate himself from his "situation" form one salient plot of the novel. The ultimate solution to his unsought conundrum also serves to redeem him in his own eyes, if not those of others.

"Under Western Eyes" is also an attempt by Conrad to explore the peculiarities of the "Russian character". This is another line of development in the work. I put this in partentheses because such notions of racial character are naturally not so well received now as in Conrad's day. Whether you agree or not, Conrad (who himself was Polish) offers some interesting personal insights into the nature of the "inscrutable" Russian soul - its ability to persevere, its mysticism, its ultimate radicalism. Such issues were particular relevent to the time the book was written (1908), as Russia was then already breaking out in revolutionary violence. The story's narrator - a retired English bachelor - are the "Western eyes" under which Russia is regarded.

I might label "Under Western Eyes" a comic-tragedy, in that the primary factor behind the story's tragic chain of events is a misunderstanding. It is ultimately for the book's central character a journey of personal redemtion. Within the context of this, however, Conrad details some of his views on Russia, its people, and the nature of the revolutionary movement. I did not find it as engaging as some of Conrad's other works but anyone interested in the Russian revolutionary movement, or radical politics of the period in general, or with a bent for stories of betrayal, tragedy, and love should take a look.

"Perhaps life is just that," reflected Razumov, pacing to and fro under the trees of the little island, all alone with the bronze statue of Rousseau. "A dream and a fear." It is on this small space of remote land that young Razumov finds what we all seek after--a place for quiet contemplation (reminds me of Hemingway's "A Clean Well-Lighted Place"). And in this very thought-provoking Rousseau-inspired environment Razumov stumbles upon the thesis that all of life is but a dream--a dream full of constant fear. The taciturn, exiled, young Razumov reminds us of Joyce's Stephen Dedalus, and even more so Dostoevsky's Raskolnikov. Indeed, Conrad attempted to continue the legacy of the great Russian novelists, by forcing an eclectic grasp on some of Dostoevsky's themes (like the need for, and final apparent conclusion of, man's suffering) whilst straying away from other Dostoevskyian qualities. All in all, Under Western Eyes is about ideas--as Conrad repeatedly suggests-an ideal gripping psychological tale of a young intellectual's suffering for choosing the path of the czarist leaders. If Razumov, like Stephen Dedalus, was more skeptical, more prone to the need for exile (not the exile he indeed does embark on to Geneva via the Councilor's strategic plan) would he have ultimately had his eardrums smashed by a revolutionary brute? Certainly, Razumov must confess for his betrayal of Haldin; Razumov realizes the intelligence, love, and raison d' étre of Haldin altogether too late. Razumov, who knowingly understands that because of his actions Haldin lost his life, gives up his own body for lifelong suffering. And by doing so, Razumov seems to willingly accept his punishment, and further he lives no longer in fear. Upon completion of this wonderful novel, we can bask in the warm sunny glow of Conrad's wit that shines upon us--"Peter Ivanovitch (or any person who opposes despotic cruelty) is an inspired man." Joseph Conrad is an inspired man.

I have Oxford dictionaries in other languages and never found any problems with them. My Russian is not very good and perhaps that's why I notice some problems with this dictionary. It has some odd omissions. For instance, I tried looking up the Russian word for 'children' under the entry 'child' in the English-Russian section. The entry does NOT say that 'children' is the plural of child, in fact it doesn't mention the word 'children' anywhere. Nor does the entry include the Russian word for 'children.' And 'children' is not listed anywhere else in the English-Russian section. So some hapless Russian speaker using this dictionary would not learn that 'children' is the plural of 'child,' and would not be able to look up the word 'children' at all. Conversely, an English speaker would also not find the Russian word for 'children' by looking in the English-Russian section. Granted this may be an isolated example, but it does suggest that there may be some editing problems.

I also disliked the explanations in the front about the construction and meaning of dictionary entries. The explanations are a little too terse for those of us not well versed in Russian grammar. It would be nice to have at least a few examples written out in full. And as far as I could make out, a lot of the information about the Russian entries actually appeared under the discussion of English entries.

It would be nice to have a few more notes about pronunciation. As is, you would think that 'yevo' in Russian was pronounced 'yego' (as it is spelled) if all you had to go on was the information in the dictionary. Nor will you find information about consonants that aren't pronounced.

Other than that, the dictionary is nicely produced and well printed. It appears up-to-date, with lots of internet information. I am not able to make any intelligent comparisons of this dictionary with other Russian-English dictionaries. Although this seems to have a few shortcomings, it may well be a good choice for many readers.

One additional note: although another reviewer mentions conjugation tables, my copy of this dictionary has no grammatical tables of any kind (although they would have been useful).

This is an excellent dictionary for students of Russian. It is well-organized, attractive, and I have to not find a word I need. However, it is pretty big. I wouldn't advise buying it as a travel ditionary.

Very comprehensive and an ideal companion to your Russian studies. It appears to have all I need in terms of vocabulary at a beginners/intermediate level, although it could contain more contemporary slang (important I feel when learning a language you will be exposed to on a daily basis)

It is though the heaviest book I carry around daily and sometimes I could wish for a lighter dictionary!

Nice bit of pretty girl artwork of Playboy caliber, sometimes they aren't even naked. Includes water color (see the cover) and pencil sketches. Good artist. But overall not much more variety than most other sources: all white 18-25 year old young ladies. Nice enough for a nude art collection.

Boris is right on target with this one. I highly reccomend this book for nude artists. the drawings in this book are the way nudes should be done.

I had a drawing done of me by this artist and was EXTREMELY pleased.. the likeness was INCREDIBLE.. this book is also incredible... this is one talented person.

This book may be challenging for infants, but for my intelligence, i found the game boring.

Nice collection of problems which demand some creativity as well as varying degrees of mathematical prowess. Also populated with interesting anedotes regarding mathematicians throughout history.

Although no mathematics beyond the high school level is required, the challenge lies in the ingenious application of even the most rudimentary math and logic necessary to successfully tackle these exercises. The problems range from rather simple to difficult. Some amount to raw logic riddles requiring little or no math while others offer the opportunity to fine tune one's skills in geometry and algebra. In addition to offering a rich variety of problems which will satisfy the needs of puzzlists at many levels, the editors have made a good point of dividing the problems into categories emphasizing different sets of skills including geometry, algebra, arithmetic operations, spatial visualization and logic. Such a delineation makes it easy evaluate strengths and weaknesses so you can focus on areas of improvement.

Given the long history of this publication, several problems will be familiar to some seasoned puzzle enthusiasts but most will still provide a fresh challenge.

I greatly enjoy mathematical puzzles and brain teasers and regularly look for good puzzle books out there. I picked this one up about 10 years ago, and it's still one of the best I've ever encountered. Many of the problems are short and concise, but provide great challenges. A great learning tool as well as a nice diversion for many ages.