This is a particuarly useful guide to each and every Roman emperor - including usurpers/failed coup leaders who called themselves emperor, and including East and West. It is a terrific "gap-filler" if one is seeking a biography of an obscure or forgotten Augustus. (Contrary to received Hollywood wisdom, the princeps was usually called "Augustus," the title "Caesar being reserved for the heir apparent or junior emperor.) This is particularly useful when we get to the cast of thousands who occupied the throne in the Third Century.

Grant's great strength is his sobriety: he refuses, utterly, to be drawn into hysterics about mad emperors like the fool Commodus (as caricatured by Joaquin Phoenix's in "Gladiator") or the sun-worshipping Heliogabus (compare the more credulous popular works which insist Heliogabus was a depraved hemaphrodite), and he disdains the "whig" history which tends to idolize the later Christian emperors and demonize those earlier rulers who threw churchgoers to the lions.

The incomparable Michael Grant delivers again with this erudite anthology of concise yet richly rewarding bios of the rulers of Imperial Rome, from Augustus thru the end of the Western Empire. Each Imperial bio is structured roughly the same, covering family background, methodology of accession, overview of reign, a general judgment of the character of both the Emperor and his time in power, and then more often than not quotes from primary sources like Suetonious or Dio Cassius giving contemporary physical and psychological descriptions of the Princeps. All the entries come with a thumbnail sized portrait of the subject, either lifted from sculptured busts or numismatic sources.

What truly makes this book work is of course Grants smoothly lucid prose, equally suitable for scholar and laymen alike. He command of classical history is so complete, he can embody vast amounts of useful information in just a few paragraphs. As a source book for research or as reference for the casual reader, this book cannot be beat.

This is an excellent book which offers an overview of the emperors of Roman history, beginning with Caesar Augustus (the "august one" who was first among equals). This book does not and cannot provide an in-depth view of each emperor's life and times & politics. Indeed, great individuals such as Augustus, Claudius, Hadrian & Marcus Aurelius warrant entire volumes dedicated to them separately. However, Grant does a wonderful job of giving his readers a "taste" of each ruler's reign as well as some useful (and sometimes colorful) anecdotes about their lives.

This is a tremendous book for those who would like a nice quick-and-easy history of the Romans who wore the purple. For those who would like more in-depth books that cover certain epochs (and I hope there are many of you out there), Grant has written books such as "12 Caesars" and "The Antonines" & some others which go into much more detail, but have less scope (timeline wise) than the present book.

This is a great book! The only thing wrong with it is that it had to end. My first love in life is plantation homes and this book was like food for my soul. Having lived in Louisiana for all of my life and in south Louisiana for almost 25 years, I was thrilled to find this book. I would love to read more from this author. I will keep this book in my library and will surely read it again!

I really enjoyed this book. It was fast paced and intrigueing, blending historical,mystery,romance and murder.

I love to read a book that grabs you by the hand and won't let go until the end, and then makes you wish there was more to come ! I would love to see this on the "Big Screen"! I usually don't read romance books, however, I love ghosts and mystery books. This one I could easily pick up and read again. I love the place and time of the story. I felt like I was there when I was reading it and find myself thinking about it still, even though I've finished reading it. Just like some of the best movies I've seen, there were times when laughed to myself and times when I had tears in my eyes. I even gasped and said "Oh, My God" out loud a few times. That's when you know it's really good, when you can feel it. I can't wait to read your next book. P.S. I would love to meet Tyce!

Highly recommended! Especially for those Christians like me who respect zen as a philosophy rather than a religion as a branch of Buddhism, and have the vague perception that zen can be practised as a style of life without compromising one's faith.

Highly recommended reading. The author is very direct, i didn't have to try and figure out what he meant.

Terence Grant describes a process of personal change through self-understanding and God's power. He describes how we struggle to attain some ideal and yet we are unable to attain the ideal through our own power. Instead we can gain freedom by learning to live in the present moment and listening to God in prayer. Mr. Grant provides a viable way of personal change without self-improvement.

hooray for sydney! i loved how determined and devoted she was to someone with an inspiring dream! too bad he died before we got to meet him. this book showed a powerful look at the tobacco industry thru the eyes of the people who work the fields. it reminds you how unhealthy smoking is without being preachy. this book leaves you hanging on til the very end, never quite sure whodunnit. once again i am glad to acquaint myself in sydney's world and can't wait until sally is back on her feet flirting with everyone in the next book! hmmm... i wonder if they ever really will develop a safe cigarette....

Smoke Screen continues the series begun with Multiple Listing, featuring Sydney Teague in her second outing. This novel takes us beyond the typical amateur sleuth adventure, covering themes of obsession, family and forgiveness. The journey Sydney takes here is deeper than the solution of the murder disguised as suicide that starts the book - it encompasses a searching of the past, both hers and the victims for answers that extend past the "facts of the case".

The seriousness of the issues is leavened with Sydney's self-deprecating humor, the relationships with her employees and her children (a NY mystery book store owner praises Grant's ability to write about children -"she just gets it" - and I agree), and the gentle pricking of Charlotte, NC's wannabe self absorbtion.

The depth of thought here does not in any way remove the lively pace. I couldn't put it down. A compelling book from an author who has much to give.

"Multiple Listing" by Anne Underwood Grant was a great read and her new Sydney Teague mystery "Smoke Screen" is even better. Sydney has a new client for her advertising firm. Seth Bolick had developed a new product--tobacco free cigarettes. They will have addictive qualities, but eliminate the toxins of tobacco, tar and the hundreds of other additives. When Seth dies, Sydney is convinced that it is not suicide as reported. The sheriff/coroner/auto dealer, etc. in the small community near Charlotte, N.C. wants it to be suicide as do the residents of the town which relies heavily on tobacco crops. Seth's family believe his obession with his quest for a safe cigarette led him to madness and self-destruction just as it had his father. There are plenty of suspects as well as some knotty social and economic issues. What happens to tobacco growers and others who make their living in the industry? In some ways it is analogous to the fate of the lumber industry as thousands were plunged into unemployment to save some obscure flora or fauna. Grant presents this problem with real compassion for all sides of the issue. We also learn more about Sydney's past, especially her relationship with her father. Buy and read "Smoke Screen," but be sure to read "Multiple Listing" first. Anne Underwood Grant is a real find among mystery writers.

100 BULLETS: SPLIT SECOND CHANCE is the second graphic novel from the award-winning monthly 100 BULLETS comic book put out by DC Comics' Vertigo line. Again, series writer Brian Azzarello keeps the mix violent and unpredictable, fusing the cold shadows of the street with the hot fury of betrayal. The book opens up with a two-part story, "Short Con, Long Odds", about Chucky and Pony, two childhood friends who grow up to be gamblers. Then Agent Graves, the unknown man of mystery who always kicks the stories into high gear, shows up carrying a briefcase loaded with a semi-automatic pistol and 100 rounds of untraceable ammunition. He tells Chucky that Pony set him up for a seven-year fall in prison that he should have taken--at the same time that Pony is stealing Chucky's woman. The biggest risk either of Chucky and Pony ever took was being friends with each other, and that's about to change. "Day, Hour, Minute...Man" offers up a quick peek into the mysterious agency that Mr. Graves works for, and shows Mr. Graves coldly dealing out vengeance of his own. "The Right Ear, Left In The Cold" tells the story of Cole Burns, an ice cream man who sells ice cream and stolen cigarettes out of his truck, and who is much more than he appears to be. Mr. Graves gives him a briefcase and the 100 rounds of ammunition, then tells him that Goldy Petrovic is the man responsible for the burning death of Cole's grandmother in the nursing home. Besides wanting vengeance, Cole also has to deal with another ice cream man trying to take his beat. But most of all, Cole Burns is a man on a mission to find himself. "Heartbreak Sunnyside Up" is another stand-alone tale that is brutal and violent, and all too real. Lilly Roach is a waitress in a diner, and a woman who has lost her teenage daughter to the streets. Then, one day, Agent Graves shows up with the story of what really happened to Lilly's daughter--and a briefcase containing a pistol and 100 rounds of untraceable ammunition. Even the back story in this particular episode resonates with truth and pain directly from the real world. The book wraps with a three-chapter arc, "Parlez Kung Vous", that takes the reader back to Dizzy Cordova, the heroine introduced in the first graphic novel. She's in Paris on assignment, hooking up with a man named Mr. Branch. She has a lot in common with Mr. Branch. He was a reporter, very different from the barrio life Dizzy knew, but he was also offered the briefcase and 100 bullets--only Mr. Branch didn't use them and his life is now in jeopardy. The mystery surrounding the Trust, the Minutemen, and Agent Graves is cleared up a little, but only enough to reveal that more twists and turns are ahead.

Besides writing 100 BULLETS, Brian Azzarello has also worked on the HELLBLAZER series, BATMAN/DEATHBLOW, the JONNY DOUBLE mini-series for DC COMICS, and STARTLING STORIES: BANNER, CAGE, and SPIDER-MAN for Marvel Comics. Eduard Risso, the co-creator of 100 BULLETS, has also drawn for BATMAN, the horror anthology FLINCH, the JONNY DOUBLE mini-series, and comic books in his native France.

100 BULLETS: SPLIT SECOND CHANCE continues the same throbbing beat of violence and sharp emotion summoned up in the previous graphic novel. Each volume, so far there are four, stands on its own merits, but there is something to gain by reading them in order. As always, Azzarello's characters are sharply drawn and come across as real people with real problems. Primarily those problems are always about betrayal and the need for vengeance. Azzarello moves easily about the urban landscape of the real world, and his stories echo with current events. His dialogue puts a fine point on what could simply be just a collection of out-for-revenge stories. The characters are torn between the need for vengeance, the loss they're going to suffer when they act on that need or choose not to, and they're torn over the fact that once they follow up on that path to vengeance that their lives are going to be forever changed. Risso's artwork displays those worlds, those streets, and those emotions with knowing ease, while at the same time conveying the heaviness of life to someone living in the shadows. The fact that the vengance stories are only pearls on a string, and that the string is actually part of a much greater story Azzarello is telling is awesome. Readers can start to see the beginning bones of that story in these tales, and the imagination will reach to fill in the other gaps.

This graphic novel is definitely recommended to fans of Azzarello and Risso's work. Also, any fans of noir and action movies will find a lot here to whet those appetites in the brilliant dialogue and panels that accompany these hard-edged stories. Comics fans that regularly read Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, and Chuck Dixon will find a new favorite author in Brian Azzarello.

100 bullets will be a classic in comic story telling.When after 100 issues it will be finished,Brian Azzaello will enter the hall of fame of comic-writers ;along with Gaines-Feldstein;Frank Miller;Alan Moore;Brian Michael Bendis.This is too good to be true.

First off read the first 100 Bullets trade. It's a great read if your a comic fan or a fan of crime literature. This second trade continues the excellent storytelling of the first trade. It answers some questions, and brings up many more. It appears the creators are setting up a huge,grand mystery. When 100 Bullets is finished I feel it will be as large an epic as Preacher was. The trade ends with a story featuring the return of Dizzy Cordova from the first storyline. And it ends with a killer last panel that will make you want even more. I eagerly await the next trade paperback. Like I said 100 Bullets is for fans of great stories(comics or otherwise)

This is a story about a little girl named Stacy and her family. Stacy is excited for the birth of her new baby sister Ashley. However she has mixed feelings when the baby starts getting more attention from Stacy's parents then she is. Soon Stacy realizes that she wants to be a good sister and she cannot wait until little Ashley gets old enough to really play with. Sadly one morning Stacy wakes up to a crying. When Stacy goes into her parents' room she is told that Ashley had died that night from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Her parents try to comfort her when she thinks that she may have been responsible for her little sisters death or that SIDS is contagious.
I believe that the author did such a wonderful job in telling a story of a common occurrence with babies, as well as helping children to understand SIDS with a little description in the back of the book. The pictures and the story are just so touching that it would be so easily explained to a young child what Sudden Infant Death Syndrome actually is. If any child has ever lost a brother or a sister to SIDS the author does a great job of explaining that it is not their fault no matter how they felt about the baby.
I loved this book mainly because of the story. I was so sad when I read this book and then I thought of all the little kids and parents could really appreciate this book if they had lost a sibling to SIDS. I have never experienced a loss like Stacy and her family but after reading this book I have a little bit more of an understanding and sympathy.

This is a book about a family and it is based on the little girl of the family, Stacy. Her mom has a new baby and Stacy is jealous of her little sister. She wants all the attention from her parent's back. Eventually she decides that she wants to be a good big sister and wants to start playing with her baby sister. She realizes that her parents haven't forgotten all about her after all. One morning she wakes up to crying and she knows it's not her sister crying. She going into her parents room to see them crying. Her baby sitter had died during the night of sudden infant death syndrome. Everyone missed the baby so much including Stacy.
I liked this book cause it really told how little kids act like when they do get a new sibling. They do tend to be jealous and feel left out because the baby gets all the attention. I also like this story because it has a different twist to it. It is tragic the baby dies but it does happen and I think that it is good to have books to explain to little kids about things like this. It had great, very realistic pictures that really followed a long with the story.
I think the author was trying to get across the point that things like this happen but in a way children can understand it. I don't think children should be blocked off from bad things that could happen to anyone and this story really seems to get that point across. It also seems to say something about cherishing the time you have with someone because you never know when he or she might not just be there.

I bought this book for my son after his sister died of SIDS. He is only 2 1/2, and still doesn't grasp the concept of death, but I think it's a good book, and am glad that I will have it to show him, when he does begin to understand.

The most comprehensive, single source, small business strategy guidebook I have read and applied.
The tactical processes Robert Frey recommends gets you focused early by crystallizing your business strategy, mentoring you step by step, establishing knowledge-based decision points and executing a successful proposal.
The CD is a great plus with schedules, proposal templates, and more to get you started for your next contract award!

In this blue-ribbon edition, Robert Frey provides enough valuable proposal management detail to establish your proposal department, to write your proposal manager's job description, to outline your proposal team's functions, to produce topflight and winning proposals, and to measure the proposal team's success. And if that were not enough, Frey offers his bravura insights into knowledge management and how this wonderful concept can be realistically and incrementally applied to the proposal development process.

Frey mentors you to success with regard to every aspect of proposal management. Frey's style is not staid and wooden. To the contrary, his love for his audience and his desire for their proposal management success shines forth. I would pay twice as much for the book. My company's proposal win rate this year alone proves the worth of the material in these pages. Invest in it, do what it says, and prepare for the reward.

Bob Frey has again created a valuable source of information that should be on every Business Development professional's desk. It presents a clear and concise approach to properly managing the proposal business acquisition process, including creating a winning proposal. The use of Knowledge Management approach to leveraging intellectual property provides an excellent approach to crafting a winning strategy and incorporating it in the proposal. I highly recommend this book.

The MW3 strategy guide has a lot of info, but there are a number of obvious flaws. The vehicle descriptions are all messed up when it comes to vehicle weapons (donar choppers don't have ER medium lasers!), and guide's suggested 'mech configurations don't have a lot of ammo and heat management is nearly non-existent. However, the battle-maps and run-throughs are exceptional, as are the combat and 'mech customization tips. Besides the minor glitches, this Prima is one worth using.

Wow pretty much sums this guide up. You think it's got a lot of info in it? It's 279 pages! You bet it does! They crammed so much info in this book it's easy to see why it has a listing price of 20 bucks. This book lists every 'Mech along with their cruising and top speeds, normal and max tonnage, primary weapon configurations, as well as a full page description of each of the 'Mechs pros and cons along with suggested weapons and equipment grouping. It lists every weapon, the heat it generates, their damage potential, and range. The walkthrough is very well done with suggested routes to take and what 'Mech to pilot as well as what 'Mechs to have your lancemates control. Before every mission, there is a page which states everything you'll find there, as in missle placements as well as the number and identities of every enemy 'Mech out there. It explains excellent customizing of 'Mechs, giving you awesome firepower for any range, the heat sinks to allow repeated fire, and the armor and speed to live through any battle. The book also explains all the controls and gives you ideas on how to get adjusted to any combat situation. I really haven't even begun to scratch the surface of this book, but this should be enough to help you with your decision to buy it. So....what are you waiting for? buy it!

As with the MechWarrior 2 Guide; this one helps you thru the rough spots AND helps you figure out which weapons make the best combo for you. Don't want to give away the whole book but...a couple of "dogs" in MW 2 are my favorites now.

BTW, D/L the vers 1.1 patch for the game itself from microprose

The book is short and so are the sections. And for some reason, it gives the book a certain charm. You can take a minute or two and read the next section, and if you want put it down. There is a lot of information in each section. The first part of the book is biographical in nature. The more interesting part, in my opinion, is the second part. This is where the editor really shined and his admiration and understanding of Lewis shines through. Each section deals with Lewis' thoughts on certain subjects. It is not really biographical...it is picking the brain of a giant. The book is truly wonderful and I suggest it for all Lewis fans, or for those serious about becoming more acquainted with his thoughts. Would make a great gift.

This book is a part of the Leaders in Action Series, which contains many biographies of great leaders throughout history, all of which are extremely stellar. Each book is divided into a biography section and an analysis section, the latter of which is always very insightful. The chapters are short, so reading can be spaced throughout a few weeks, which is very helpful.

But beyond the series itself, this book is hands down the best biography I've read on C.S. Lewis, barring his own autobiography. Terry Glaspey traces three main attributes of Lewis throughout his life: imagination, reason, and faith. Threaded all throughout Jack's life, these three things set him apart as a leader, and Glaspey brings them out beautifully. The man had such faith in God that he couldn't help but glory in fantasy and intellect, and after reading this biography I want nothing else but to lay hold on these traits and incorporate them into my own life.

I would first and foremost recommend Lewis' autobiography, _Surprised by Joy_. But for the facts Lewis left out and for a delightful analysis of Lewis' life and writings from an outside stance, this book can't be beat.

I had only read the Chronicles of Narnia, which I had found to be very profound, yet I had never really understood the breadth of the contributions of C. S. Lewis before reading this small volume. Mr. Glaspey does not waste words in this interesting biography. I have not read anything else about Lewis, but I feel that I know and understand so much about him because of this book. This book is divided equally between the life of Lewis and His teachings. If anything was a could be improved it would be that much of the teaching is paraphrased and summarized by Glaspey. I am certain that larger excerpts of Lewis own very eloquent words would have been better. I appreciate the small bibliography of other biographies of Lewis included at the end. This book does a wonderful job of highlighting a christian genius.

Schiff's wisdom and clarity are tough to appreciate when you don't know anything about flying. Save this one until after you've soloed at the very least. Then reread it once per year. And don't forget Volume 2 when you can learn how to fly the North Atlantic and also how to ditch if your flight to Europe doesn't go as planned...

Even you are familiar with the principle of flying, the book can provide new insight in every flying aspect. It uses different point of view to elucidate the basic theory. I am sure you can get more understanding about what you have learnt in flying.

As a physicist and private pilot, having read a few dozens of books on aviation, I find this book (in fact the two volumes I and II) the best aviation reading I have ever come across. Strongly recommended even if you think you have read it all.