This book contains about 80 endgame examples clearly explained in sentences, not just notation symbols. The detailed explanations, along with an emphasis on the most commonly occuring practical positions, make this book special. Designed for intermediate tournament level players between 1700 and 2100 elo rating, this book uses mostly grandmaster examples from recent matches The emphasis of the book is on explaining the main line of play and does not get lost in a maze of endless analytical variations. This is an excellent book destined to become a classic.

Jeremy Silman in "Inside Chess" writes that Essential Chess Endings, along with Soltis' Grandmaster Secrets: Endings and Shereshevsky's Endgame Stratey, are three books that together provide 2400 level knowledge of the endgame. Howell explains clearly and thoughtfully king & pawn endgames, rook & pawn endgames, minor piece endings, queen endings, pawnless endings, etc. He insists you think for yourself but he does provide general principles to guide one's calculations. I read the book as 1800 USCF player and found it to be both useful and interesting. Yes, interesting! If you're bored or afraid of endgames, but know you must study them anyway, try Howell.

The long-awaited field guide to the diverse reptile populations of East Africa. This book was everything I expected it to be and more. Comprehensive listings, excellent photography and detailed information on habitat/distribution, natural history, conservation status etc. I can't say enough good things about this book, the list of authors should speak for themselves! ;-)

No serious herper's library is complete without this book...

I was hoping to be able to buy this book before my trip to Kenya in August 01. Unfortunately, it wasn't yet published at that time. I thought I could pick up a decent field guide in Nairobi, but I was wrong. The best I could find there was a short paperback with fuzzy photos, anecdotes, and very incomplete list of species. Nonetheless, I had a great trip and identified some nice herps.
In December I saw that this Field Guide was out, so I bought it and found it to be outstanding. A nice fat book jam packed with beautiful and useful photos, great descriptions, habitat and range info, and natural history. There is so much precise and credible information in this book it is amazing. So much work must have gone into producing this thing! The species coverage is vast. For example, there is complete info on over thirty species of chameleon. The identification keys are also practical and simple. The writing is straightfoward -- minimal superscientist jargon -- but also precise and complete and consistent. Good sections on how to find herps, how to use the book, dealing with snakebite, etc.
I am very glad I bought this book. The authors have my admiration for this achievement.

Must be read by anyone interested in humor, small town life, 20th Century Southern Life or looking for a good book to read. First read it 15 years ago and have been scouring used book stores from PA to TN since.

Dr. James Howell's book is the most comprehensive and up-to-date source currently available on the American juvenile justice system. Chapters cover the causes and correlates of delinquency, various parts of the juvenile justice system, what works and what doesn't to prevent and reduce delinquency, and presents compelling arguments about why a separate juvenile justice system (distinct from the adult justice system) should be retained. A must-read/must-have one-stop source.

Having grown up in the Orthodox Church, I have had a somewhat limited understanding of saints, which has been changed by my contact with American Protestants. This book offers a very contemporary understanding of saints, giving the stories of many people we ignore in the Orthodox world, but people who offer tremendous examples of God's power and love. Because I did not know anything about them, the saints I enjoyed reading about were Clarence Jordan, Martin Niemoller, and Karl Barth. I am surprised by these because they are not the norm. Author Howell uses a definition that seems to be consonant with Christian teaching, though I doubt that many of the people featured in this book will have feast days on the calendar.

This must be a heavenly-inspired book. It's written in such a down-to-earth style for the average ordinary human. Howell tells us the stories of a man who was born 2000 years ago and makes us fall in love with this crazy radical called Jesus. He shows examples from those "saintly" lives like St. Francis and Mother Theresa and Augustine and Martin Luther as well as many, many others who believe 100% that Jesus is the Son of God and how it has transformed their lives. They believe Christ lives within them... and thus their hands do Jesus' work-which is that of loving and taking care of all those around us.

In the self-absorbed century we just left, we have very much gotten away from helping our fellow man, haven't we? Howell suggests that perhaps we are just all too full of "stuff and things and material possessions". We need to get involved....to develop hearts that are impassioned for mankind.

If you belong to one of those "tight Christian social clubs" where everyone in your church is homogeneous and you emphasize in reach more than out reach, this book is a much-needed wake-up call for you. Read and absorb... We are all mortals who will face that judgment day. How empty-handed are you?

"We are put on earth a little space, that we may learn to bear the beams of love"-a thought-provoking quote by Wm Blake. What a perfect read to begin the year 2000.

I thought that the book was excellent. I would think that anyone who read it would be able to tackle texts like Dissemination etc. There are so many bad introductions to Derrida around that this book came as a refreshing surprise. I felt that it gave a very good coverage of Derrida's work.

Derrida is my favorite philosopher. I don't think that his 'Deconstruction' is holistic necessarily but the gist of it explains the inherent problems of doing philosophy better then anything else I've read.

Unlike the greats of Science who simplify complex ideas (i.e..Stephen Hawking, Richard Feynman), the guru's of philosophy take fairly straight-forward ideas and shroud them with such mysterious sounding proprietary language that their work becomes nearly impossible to decipher. Derrida is no exception. This is a shame because his underlying message is brilliant...and really not not all that abstract.

So until philosophers realize that less words does not directly translate to less intelligence, we should be very glad to have commentators like Jim Powell around.

"Derrida For Beginners" concentrates on developing the key concept of "differance" and defining the necessary Derridian terminology used to communicate its meaning. The book clearly defines, "binary opposites", "texts", "logocentricism" etc.. and has plenty of diagram's to help you get the idea. While I can't say the artwork did much for me, the cartoon setting does force the message to be carried accross succinctly...no babling. The first book I read after failing miserably to tackle "Of Grammatology" was "Derrida" by Christopher Norris. While his was an excellent introduction..I will say that after I read "Derrida for Beginners" I went back and read most of Norris' book again and got a lot more out of it. Try this: read "Derrida for Beginners" as many times as needed until you have all the words in bold print at your fingertips..then, read Norris' book "Derrida". With this few hours of investment, do some online searches and read some of the commentaries and criticism of Derrida. You will be surprised at how badly he is misunderstood by so many who have studied him a lot more then you, and should feel good about your knowledge in comparisom. Of course you then need to get humble again so start reading "Of Grammatology". :)

Before I read this book, I knew almost nothing about Jacques Derrida, though I had browsed through some of his works. I think this is a good book for the general reader. It goes more into depth on Derrida than Powell's other book Postmodernism for Beginners.

I love this Bible - I make sure this is the Bible our church gets for our graduation gifts for the seniors every year - it's also the Bible I bought my wife. The print is clear, and it's a durable Bible with lots of accurate notes.

This study Bible is one of the best versions out there. It is very easy to follow and understand. It has outlines and footnotes that allow you to apply each verse to everyday life.

I am a Seminary student and have gone through many study bibles. However, this work by W.A. Criswell is by far the best in the business.

This book is an excellent insight into the design and production of the unibody Lincolns produced from 1958 through 1969. The author gives you the behind-the-scene view of bringing the Lincolns to production as well as specifications of the different models produced during that period. Anyone interested in these 'classic' Lincolns and Continetals would be pleased with this publication.

This is a good book for those interested in Lincoln's. It contains many photographs, in black and white, of the design stages and final production models. It also has ads used in magazines of the various Lincoln's. There's also several pages on Presidential Lincoln's and their features. The only drawback is the fact it's not in color. Otherwise it's a good book for those of us who know "what a luxury car should be."