"Masks" and "Tao" are my personal favourites both because of their intelligence and beauty, something hard to find together.
Masks is a disturbing and compelling tale of identity while the eastern quest of 'Tao' fits Batman's spiritual history quite well.

One of my favorite Batman graphic novels! I especially liked "Sanctum" and "Masks", both of which stand on their own as excellent Batman stories ("Sanctum" gave me chills!). The artwork is all first rate, too, making this one a winner on all counts!

I first read "Masks" one of the several stories featured in this excellent collection when I was a kid and it's haunting, dark imagery, has not ceased to entertain me. As well as the above mentioned story, Batman: Dark Legends also has a tale about Batmans first encounter with the Joker, which is one of the greatest Batman stories in print buy this book now, you'll treasure it forever! Peace.

This book has clearly been written with one eye on archaeology courses in England but contains lots of useful material for the American reader or student, especially if they are just starting to look outside the US.

Most of the sections on methods and issues in archaeology apply everywhere, as do the sections on themes. The case studies include many on the Maya and other civilizations regularly studied in anthropology and archaeology courses, and there are links to many useful US websites.

Most archaeology texts assume a high level of technical language and familiarity with scientific techniques and social science concepts. This one doesn't. Its main attraction is the way it introduces new ideas simply and clearly. It gives you the basic understanding to be able to tackle the harder texts and get the most out of difficult lectures. A great intro to archaeology.

I've been a huge Judge Dread fun for a long time, and I was pleasently surprised to find these books of alternate universe fiction. His meeting with Batman was very well depicted, especially when the differences, as well as the hidden similarities, of the two heros were shown. A definite must read to all Judge Dread funs.

We've read this book so many times! I'm purchasing more books from the "What's Their Story?" series. The colorful pictures and straight-forward text would appeal to any child, 4 and up. And I'm thrilled to see my son interested in maps, Vikings, and history thanks to this book!

'Nightwing: Ties That Bind' collects the 'Nightwing: Alfred Returns' one-shot and the four issue 'Nightwing' miniseries. Nightwing is Dick Grayson, the original Robin, grown up. During the storylines 'Knightquest: The Search' and 'Knightsend', Bruce Wayne is looking for a way to recover from injuries suffered at the hands of Bane in 'Knightfall'. Driven like a madman to recover and resume his duties as Batman, his loyal butler/best friend Alfred is driven away, not wanting to see the boy he raised to manhood get himself killed. 'Nightwing: Alfred Returns' tells us what Alfred has been doing since he left Bruce Wayne. It seems Alfred has found an old girlfriend, who might have a few surprises for him. Meanwhile, Nightwing has decided Batman needs Alfred, and finds him. Can he convince Alfred to come home? 'Alfred Returns' is the first story in the book. The rest of the book is the 'Nightwing' miniseries. Early on, Dick Grayson decides to quit the hero biz, and meets an interesting girl. If only life were that simple, but Alfred gives Dick some papers, one of which contains what may be new evidence on his parents murder. As Dick resumes the persona of Nightwing and travels overseas to investigate this possible evidence, we learn the girls life is not perfect either. This collection can be considered a lead-in to the ongoing Nightwing series. If you like Batman and Robin, give this book a try. It's a touch more lighthearted than the regular Batbooks, but contains plenty of action and adventure. -Mike W. Goos

nightwing is the best hero of comics now,he is human end super-hero,ok.

This book was a bit of a disappointment because it does not include a lot of standard information I have seen in earlier books on clans and tartans. For instance, there is no listing of septs and other family names that are associated with some of the Highland clans. Furthermore, most people of Scottish heritage are what is referred to as "clanless Scots". But, ALL the clans at least come from a District and it would be nice to have information on the District tartans (and photos). That is also lacking. Yes, there are some nice photos of surrounding landmarks and a color swatch of each of the main highland tartans. Plus a bit of history for each of the 140 clans, but it is basic information available from several other sources.

Surprised to find a swatch of Barclay hunting tartan used on the back cover, I quickly flipped to the Barclay section. I was pleased to again find Barclay hunting used, rather than the normal yellow Barclay tartan. The write up of the historical information was accurate UNTIL I got to the end which stated that the current chief lives in Essex. Sure enough, when I checked the address listing, our current secretary in Richmond Virginia's address is correct, BUT, the other address is Colchester in Essex. This has not been our chief's address for over 10 years. I wonder how the author picked one current address and not the other. In addition neither address identifies to whom you would be sending information at the address given. In the midst of a visually appealing and otherwise nice book, this error and lack of detail was most disappointing.

This really is a wonderful book. I've been reading through it in the bookstore and need to pick up my own copy now. It goes into tons of clans' tartans, with a photo swatch of each one. It also has a small history for each clan and it's tartan. It also connects famous people to the clans, such as General Douglas MacArthur. It's not a very in depth book about the clans, but gives a wonderful into to each of them.

The above I wrote before I purchased the book. Now that I own it, it's even better. Even the very beginning of the book with its snippet of Scottish history is wonderful and whets the reader's appetite to learn more about Scotland.

If you want to see Batman fight Judge Dredd, you'll find this book disappointing (unless you think a three- or four-panel scuffle constitutes as "fight"). You'll also find this book disappointing if you're hoping to see Batman and Judge Dredd team up, because they don't. Instead, Batman teams up with Anderson to go after Judge Death, who has teamed up, rather randomly I think, with the Scarecrow (surely the Scarecrow and Judge Fear would have been a more logical combination?) It's not an activally bad comic, but it's certainly not a great one.

It's crime fighting time when Judge Dredd and Batman take on each other!It's even better than Batman Forever!Highly recommended!

This book supplements the GURPS Traveller system by describing the history, organization and tools of the mercenary's trade. Written by two veteran Traveller authors, the attention to detail is refreshing in a gaming supplement. The mercenary's life is thoroughly described in the main text and typical of the GURPS products, spiced up with lots of interesting snippets on the sidebars. New templates and new equipment will be of interest to players keen on dishing out (as mentioned in the preface) "Grade-A violence to all comers". The only (minor) fault I could find is that the sample characters are not particularly inspiring.

The original Mercenary book was arguably the most exciting of the supplements published by the now-closed Game Designers Workshop when I first started playing Traveller. This new version for GURPS Traveller is even better. Easily the first supplement I would get for the GURPS Traveller system.

This commentary is aimed for the young Christian and the group study leader. It is well designed and easy to navigate. It is also reasonably detailed and readable. Generally it gives the various alternative interpretations for difficult texts, including the rapture and millennium. The text of Revelation is in bold, and the comments are on one or two verses at a time, with the fragment of text being commented on highlighted in italics. It alternates between different modern bible versions, which I found annoying. It does a reasonable job of interpreting the meaning of the symbols. It includes additional tables and maps, an index, application notes and classic quotes from noted Christian thinkers.

There are instances of sloppy interpretation or editing, such as saying that the church at Ephesus was filled with pride, which is not what the text says, pride applies more to Laodicea. The mighty angel of 10:1 becomes an archangel by 10:2. On page 173 it misquotes Tertullian by saying, "The blood of the martyrs is seed" it should be "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church" (or seedbed of the church). However these are minor criticisms on what is basically a sound commentary.

Its strength is that it avoids the crass sensationalism and fiction of some modern interpretations and in general it follows the interpretation given by the more scholarly commentaries, which is to be welcomed. It is readable and not over technical and will help make Revelation meaningful to the young Christian. It is not so brief as to be useless but it packs quite a lot of information in its 284 pages making it worth buying.

The study leader will find Keener useful for application and Johnson or Krodel useful for further detail, with Mounce as a more scholarly reference. Other useful commentaries for the layman are Hendriksen and Ladd.

This book has good points and bad points. On the good side, it is very tongue in cheek and humorous, if one likes that sort of thing, though some puns were used over and over. I can't count how many times the alliance of countries was likened to a marriage.

On the downside, it was not an ideal textbook. My class is using it for our AP US History class, and it really does not suit the purposes of a high school course. The authors obviously spent so much time attempting to be humorous that they forgot to put facts into the book. The section on the Webster-Hayne debate said absolutely nothing about what the actual subject matter of the debate, only described the orators themselves in great detail and made jokes. It also contains a lot of useless information a high school student would never need to know, such as a physical description of each president and the exact parallel of every territory's boundary.

It probably suits the purposes of someone trying to learn and study American history on their own because it is amusing enough to keep the reader interested. It is not suited to a high school class trying to learn and memorize straight facts.

This book handles its subject very well. It was the basic text for my 11th Grade history course, where it provided a good balance of mildly amusing wit and genuinely useful information.

The main advantage of "The American Pageant" is that the author is not trying to push a major political agenda. It lacks the patriotic drivel for which "traditional" history texts are often denounced. However, it also lacks the negative, depressing Socialist philosophy which makes Zinn's "People's History of the United States" so difficult to read.

The end result is a history text which does a history text's job: telling what happened. The book covers politics, economics, and major events in a style which is sometimes amusing and usually informative. Although not overly political, it also pays due attention to such important issues as race and gender.

Not a particularly "specialized" book, but an excellent survey text.

I read this book first in high school several years ago as part of an advanced placement U.S. History course. I hated it then - but love it now. Bailey captures the depth of the issues the nation faced in each step of its development. His accuracy and profound insight keep the subject matter from becoming too dry. What I loved most about the text is that it never over-simplifies the significant historical events such as the political struggles of the 1st and 2nd continental congresses, secession issues and America's position in both World Wars. He digs deep beneath the surface to paint a thorough understanding of what the root causes were of historic events. The 10th addition adds interesting subsections that profile the various immigrant cultures that influenced American history. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the nation's history and the people who made it.