Not only is this book the gold standard, but it is eminently readable. It "sticks". Having seen Dr. Hall lecture I can appreciate how his text reads very much like his class lectures. Makes a topic that a radiation oncologist might find odious rather enjoyable, without sacrificing high standards and scholarly quality.

A must read book for radiation oncology and physics residents. All topics on radiobiology are explained in a comprehensible way. This book, plus "The Physics of Radiation Therapy", by Faiz Khan, are the basics of the knowledge for the people who are begining in the understanding of radiation physics. Great book, written for one of the best physics in the world.

Robert J. Kennedy's walk to Alaska is one of the most exciting adventures of all time. His humor, honesty, humility and courage will touch the reader deeply. The book's style is uniquely cryptic, but enjoyable once you get used to it.

No matter what goes wrong, Kennedy maintains an upbeat attitude at all times. His conversations with his buddy Ty, who came to visit Kennedy three times during the walk, are truly delightful and insightful. Several times in the book I was moved to tears. And many more times I found myself laughing out loud.

Kennedy strikingly lacks the crudeness often found in other adventurers. His ineptness is also unique among adventurers, but that only endears him further.

I strongly recommend this book for readers of all ages. Kennedy's story proclaims loudly that chivalry still lives; and it also has a sense of humor.

That so many things could go wrong during a 5-month walk is almost incredible. But the book documents the events with great detail. The reader often feels he or she is right there walking alongside. Or crawling alongside, in some cases.

The bear encounter is truly gripping, due mainly to its remote and dark setting.

Buy this book, but don't expect it to be anything like any other adventure book you have ever read. This is a spiritual journey as well as a physical and romantic one.

I cannot recommend any book more highly.

"By becoming a monster, one learns what it is to be human"

I'm probably the only person who bought this book with no intention of using it as it was meant to be used--as a role-playing guide to the "Vampire: The Masquerade" game. I don't play role-playing games--I even have an aversion to games in general (mostly video ones)--but I really love vampires, so I had to buy this book. Probably the thing I like the most about it is all of the beautiful black-and-white drawings inside. They really get the imagination juices flowing.

The beginning part of the book is basically an introduction to VtM, familiarizing the reader with the basic rules, its Gothic-Punk setting, vocabulary, and tips on effective storytelling. Then it goes deeper into dice rolling, character creation, and bloodlines. This latter part is my favorite in the book, describing the attributes and abilities of the seven clans of the Camarilla: Brujah, Nosferatu, Tremere, Ventrue, Gangrel, Toreador, and Malkavian. (But if you really want further insight into these clans, then I'd highly recommend any--or all--of the Clanbooks.) There is also a character sheet at the end of the book you can Xerox, as well as an example story to further help players.

I think I've read this thing about half a dozen times (though not usually from front to back), and it takes about that many times to thoroughly comprehend and memorize all of the above--rules, guidelines, etc.--without having to refer to the book all the time (unless you're a fast learner). If you enjoy role-playing games--or if you're like me and just like anything vampire-oriented--then I highly recommend this book. It's well worth your time and money.

Being a seasoned RPG player (20 years + exp.) I'm always interested to try new games on the market. Since a few years a buzz had been starting on the internet and among RPG fan about this new vampire horror game. When they put the second edition out, I decided it was past time that I check it out. I'm certainly glad I did! The game is simple (only using 10 sided dice and very easy character advancement)it's also skill based. The greatest achievement of this game is in it's ability to convey a mood of gothic horror "à la perfection (perfectly)" something no other RPG had been able to achieve successfully in the past. This success may be due to the "mature language and content of the game", the terrific illustrations all through the book or to the well written descriptions of the different fiends and all their complex powers.For whatever reason there's a chilling mood of wickedness, perversity and dark horror all through the book.
My only complaint has to do with the long historic background in the book. Having studied history for a while in university, I find that the evolution of vampire through history section at the end of the volume doesn't really add anything, all they do is make a quick resume of all the different time period and adding the word vampire in it... not really necessary...
All in all it still a great book with magnificient illustration and a well written interesting content. I would recomend this game not only to RPG players but to vampire lovers everywhere !!!

For some reason the reviews for the GURPS version of Vampire the Masquerade here are reviews for the original White Wolf product. The two games use completely different rule systems and are, well, completely different.

The White Wolf version of VtM is stand alone, you buy the book, some 10 sided dice (from a hobby store or White Wolf's website)and you're ready to play. The "Storyteller" rule system is pretty simple and has been revised and improved. There are many other White Wolf products that use the same Storyteller system (Werewolf, Demon, Mage and so on) so your World of Darkness can grow and expand. White Wolf's emphasis on Role Playing instead of dice rolling and complex rules probably make this a great choice for someone new to RPGs. Be warned however, White Wolf's products and website can be very, very dark and profane. Probably not a good choice for children in my opinion. The game itself is very original, imaginitive and popular.

GURPS (Generic Universal Roleplaying System) by Steve Jackson Games is a fairly detailed RPG system. The GURPS version of VtM is NOT a stand alone product. You must first own a copy of "GURPS Basic Set" (availabe here at Amazon.com) to play GURPS VtM. One difference is that GURPS uses 6 sided dice which are readily available (bonus). The GURPS system was developed as sort of an answer to everything thing that was annoying about the grandaddy of RPGs, Dungeons and Dragons. D&D was an immense rules system that spaned many tomes and modules, required many types of dice and was stuck in sword and sorcery mode. GURPS allows you to play any type of character, in any type of setting imaginable all from one book (GURPS Basic Set and some six sided dice). The GURPS rules system is going to be a larger investment in time to master than Storyteller, but it is detailed and logical. I personally like it.

Two last thoughts, you don't necessarily have to play a Vampire character in the GURPS version of VtM. You could play a Psychic or Combat Specialist who gradually learns about the Vampires and begin to unwravel the Masquerade. Eventually the characters could be embraced by Sabbat Vampires or attacked by the Camarillan Vampires. You could play a Vampire who goes into Torpor for a few centuries and wakes up in a post apocalypse future. Only the Game Master would be allowed to use the Vampire book as a source, and the game would run from the Basic Set. The players would gradually be drawn into the shadowy, secretive World of Darkness. Also the GURPS version is toned down a bit and is more appropriate for young people.

The Arcanum is typically an organization that easily falls into the shadows in most WoD games for several reasons... First of all this is an organization consisting, at least mostly, of mortals - according to a lot of people the WoD consists of vampires, wraiths, mages, werewolves and a whole bunch of other weird creatures as well as a few hundred mortals for these people to fight over. At least it looks like it judging from the amount of information you can find on mortals in most WoD books. This book is an exception. In here you can find information on the Arcanum as well as information on what means the mortals have to fight back against the supernatural. I run a vampire game myself and after I got this book (even though it's really an addition for MtA) one of my players immediately wanted to play a mortal... Mortals exist in the WoD and time and again they do actually have a clue about what's going on - that is what this book is about.

Halls of the Arcanum provides detailed information on one of the most fascinating groups in the World of Darkness. This book was released during the Year of Hunter for Mage the Ascension. Though they don't hunt mages or other supernaturals like the Inquisition, they do pose a serious threat due to the tremendous amount of information they have. The Arcanum is after all a society that studies the unknown. This book is ideal for storytellers who want to run mystery campaigns with an emphasis on investigating the supernatural with normal humans. The presentation and the mood of the book worked extremely well. The horrors of the unknown are in every corner and it's up to them to bring light to the darkness.

as you'll notice on it's cover it says that is a sourcebook for the masquerade. white wolf has outdone itself on KoE and made it a game of its own. the powers of the kindred are powerful and vast they are balanced by their own inner demons and their fight against self-destruction. while it may seem unbalanced to those who play western vampires, you are just seeing one side of the coin.

This book is simply amazing.
Even if you don't like vampires or the entire White Wolf line of monster rpg's this is a very interesting book. The subject matter is unique and it isn't just European vampires transplanted to Asia.
Before this book came out I was skeptical that W.W. would do Asian "vampires" justice but they exceeded my wildest expectations.
It mostly focuses on N-E cultures (China/Japan/Korea) but there is even a bit on Malaysian "vampires".
W.W. has even done an excellent job of putting out supplements for the game.

I think this is the best book that White Wolf has published so far. If you have any interest in "vampires" from Asia, this is the book to get, followed by The 1000 Hells. Even if you never actually play an eastern vampire, this book is a great read.

While the idea behind the Friends of Ed series is admirable and useful - that is, to cover the broad and expansive areas of Flash development that are not so well documented elsewhere - the books so far have been spoiled by the inconsistent quality of their ActionScript.

Too often, I get the feeling that authors that have been invited to contribute have simply re-worked a pre-existing project - and this all too often includes (the usual) hacks and workarounds which all of us use when faced with deadlines. Bits and pieces of Flash4 ActionScript creep in every now and again - and occassionally the authors seem to be entirely unaware of new methods introduced in Flash5 that make their workarounds obsolete (the onClipEvent for loaded data is one example - see Chapt 9 of this book to learn how to do it the *old* way).

Furthermore, the tutorials often lack focus - as though the editors can't decide where to pitch the level of instruction: so that some hard-core ActionScript is often mixed-in with superfluous detail about how to build the interface for the tutorial example.

Anyway, my advice if you really want to *learn* ActionScript for yourself - and also avoid the mistakes, hacks and workarounds that plague the Friends of Ed books - put Phillip Kerman's excellent "ActionScripting in Flash" together with Colin Moock's "ActionScript: The Definitive Guide" on your desk - you'll never look back.

If you are a newbie,......their are other alternatives that will get your feet wet, but if you are a practicing Flash developer and have a firm understanding of ActionScript...this book will inspire you to build real dynamic Flash apps. It touches on Flash Javascript methods, Flash and textfiles and goes into server side middleware solutions like, CGI,Perl and PHP. It also introduces you to database integration. This book gives you real world solutions, which maybe a bit elementary, but overall it lays the foundation for you. I found this book to be inspiring and to be the book which pushed me to learn CGI,PERL,PHP and MySQL. If your looking to build real dynamic/interactive Flash applications or websites this is the book.

I've bought numerous books on Flash and the Dynamic Scripting that can be intermingled with Flash.... Flash 5 ActionScript F/X and Design, Flash 4 Creative Web Animation, and different Wrox books on ASP, ASP databases, and ADO. This book ties ALL of them together. It explains motion scripting for beginners, and then it shows how to import variables from ASP, PHP, Perl, and Cold Fusion. These 1000+ pages contain EVERYTHING you want to know about Flash, it it with out a doubt, THE BEST FLASH BOOK EVER CREATED!!!! It even branches out Flash to other programs like Dreamweaver UltraDev and Generator, it explains how to display information from databases using Flash Turbine. If you read this book, you will be a master at Flash.

A very useful book to the design historian, except for some omissions, wrong dates, and a strong bias towards GM products. It is useful reference to track down many somewhat obscure vehicles, but could have benefited from better pictures, which may not have been available, and multiple indexes. Most visibly lacking were a plethora of Ford concept vehicles and numerous independent manufacturers cars that just were not there. The difference between concept/idea cars and show cars should have been made prominent, with the understanding that this was standard industry practice. Some of the history is a little inaccurate regarding the significance of certain vehicles and what actually happened in the mid to late '30s. The enthusiasm for certain brands demonstrates a lack of automotive design credentials by the author, and does not add to, or enhance the historical record. Interviewing retired, current, and competitive designers could have provided a better balance to the editorial material. Still, I would strongly recommend it as an addition to your reference library, but be aware that it is far from inclusive, and may contain errors of accuracy, enthusiam, or ommission.

It is comprehensive.There are hundreds of American prototype vehicles in this book. Ones I thought I would never see again (like the AMC Amitron) I found represented with several images. The text is good too, often revealing a vast knowledge of the many cars and their history.

Now my gripes. It is not strictly chronologically organized (would that it were). Instead, they are grouped by make (Buick concept cars are all together for example). Within a make, they are chronological.

Oh, and then there is the color plate section - which borrows cars from all over the book in one section. So, the order to the book, is somewhat lacking.

But less forgivable are the poor quality of so many of these images. The majority of the images are grayscale and the images are often poor in terms of gray/black levels. Worst still are the JPEG artifacts and other tell-tale signs of low quality or low DPI images.

The quality of the images is adequate enough that you can discern the general shapes and stylings of these futuristic cars, but forget the details. (Occasionally they will show a dashboard photo from one of the cars and, of course, the instrument cluster details are lost due to the poor quality.)

On the other hand, other books I have that have better quality images don't have 25 percent the number of cars in this book. You decide.