The Growing Edge is a magazine designed and published for readers with an interest in gardening, horticulture, and hydroponics. The Best of Growing Edge II: Popular Hydroponics and Gardening for Small-Commercial Growers and Hobbyists is a compilation of the best of the magazine's articles originally published between 1994 and 1999. The various articles are grouped into chapters: Introduction to Hydroponics; The Basic Elements of Hydroponics; Building Your Own System; Plants You Can Grow Hydroponically; Breeding and Propagation; Pest & Disease Control; Greenhouse Management; Organics and Hydroponics; Beyond the Basics; Small Commercial Growers; Hydroponics in Education and Public Service. The Best of Growing Edge II is an essential title for personal, professional, academic, and public library hydroponic gardening and horticultural reference collections.

The Best of Growing EDGE is a collection of the best articles, by twenty four different authors, from the first five years of Growing EDGE magazine. It covers hydroponics, greenhouses, nutrients, lighting, and other new and innovative techniques to use in high tech gardening and horticulture. Since the articles are from the first five years of Growing EDGE magazine, each chapter is a comprehensive compendium of cutting edge horticulture without going over the edge! New and innovative seems to be the keyword here. The mainstream gardening magazines and books cover the tried and true techniques of gardening; The Best of Growing EDGE covers the new and innovative. The information can be used by both hobby home gardeners and large commercial growers. The techinques are the same, it is just the scale of the operation that is different. Gardening is possible year round with the information contained in this book

The Poetry of this astounding collection is heart-taking. It captures the moment of the struggles, hopes, and dreams of each poet presenting his work. The arrangement of each work of poetic art and word painting builds in intensity as it slowely, yet enjoyably leads the reader to a climactic conclusion with Coleridge's heart-pounding and breath-taking "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." For poetry fans, it is a must read, and for casaual readers, the joy and plaeasure of reading this colection still shines through.

I have had this book for probably more than a year now. I have spent many hours perusing it ... and many, many more going over the games.

First a word on the quality of this book: It really is superb. A beautiful hard-back, soft pages that are opaque, and a binding that has stood up to being bent in half ... more times than I care to admit.

This book has virtually EVERY SINGLE GAME that the great Reshevsky ever played. Now Reshevsky is a true giant in American chess. He was one of the top players in this country from probably the late 1920's almost to the end of the 20th Century. He won the U.S. Championship many times ... and more tournaments than I care to count.

This book is as lovingly and painstakingly done as any I have ever seen. (Period!!! Unbelievable accuracy ... I have found no errors in this book - despite about 50 spot checks of various games.) You get the complete score of each game, as well as a lot of useful information that other books and databases leave out. (Like exact dates - not just the year. Plus round number, things of that sort.) You almost always get a cross-table for each event as well. (Its great fun to see who played in what event. Many of the people are the legends of chess; far too many are no longer with us.)

You also get quite a bit of biographical data. There is a lot of info here, enough for any chess hound or Reshevsky fan. There are nearly 2000 chess games, (1768); and much more useful features. You can find anything very easily the author has provided indexes by opponents, openings, and ECO code. Over 400 pages of interesting material.

What are the drawbacks to this book? Its pretty expensive, you could buy a dozen used books for what this one tome costs. It is also dense, I would have liked to see much more biographical data and info and stories on some of the individual tournaments. The large majority of the games are NOT annotated. Many of the notes are those that were lifted from various periodicals of the time when the games were played. (I would have liked to see the author at least take a stab at annotating a few games!)

OK ... so what's the bottom line here? Its a simple question: "If I have the money to spend, should I buy this book?" I think the answer is a resounding YES!! Why? I will give you a few reasons: # 1.) If you are a Reshevsky fan like me ... I saw him play in many U.S. Championships ... then you definitely want this book. # 2.) If you are a fan of the game and chess in general, then this is a great book. # 3.) Much of the material in here ... and the games themselves ... would have been surely lost to the sands of time without this book. # 4.) This is NOT a beginner's book ... but any beginner could surely benefit from a diligent study of this great Master's games. He was good in the opening, great in the middle-game, and simply fantastic in most endings!!! # 5.) Looking for a ... RESOURCE BOOK??? Put this on your shelf. There is more reference material here than you could ever use, and more chess games than most small {personal chess} libraries offer!! # 6.) Any serious student of chess history would kill to own this book. # 7.) Any student who wanted to see and be able to study LOTS of different openings, and ... the way they really work in master practice, could use this book. I could go on, but by now, I trust you will get the point.

A large and hefty book that should last a chess lifetime. But I am an odd bird and love books, and never give one away or sell one ... ESPECIALY chess books!