Okay, so maybe you know who Judit Polgar is, but you aren't clear about who Zsuzsa and Sofia are, right? If so, then this is the book for you!

This book contains lots of behind-the-scenes info on Zsuzsa's tournament career, and the often nasty political tactics that were used to (try and) keep Zsuzsa out of the spotlight. This book gave me a much better appreciation of who Zsuzsa is, how her contributions to chess helped pave the way for her younger sisters (and women in general) to excel in the traditionally male-dominated chess world, and what an amazing player she is in her own right!

Also contain 100+ pages of games annotated by Zsuzsa (including all the games from her 1996 World Championship match with Xie Jun), and lots of color and b/w photos of the sisters and other chess legends (go find Bobby Fischer!).

Excellent, and an easy read, even for non-chess players! I gave it a "9" only because I wanted more, more, more!!! :-

In RAISING CAIN, single working-mom Lucy takes on the task of watching the demon-spawn for the summer before she starts her own business. Woody, dad to the rowdy kids, hopes this babysitter will at least stay long enough for him to line up the next one. They have no idea where the adventure will lead - but it will involve love and laughter - and a few surprises. Raising her son, Cain, is easy for Lucy. Raising demon-spawn? Well, let's just say it's always something new. And this time, that something new may just be a whole new family. Because Lucy can see the demon-spawn for what they really are: lovable, albeit rambunctious, kids. And how can Woody resist that on top of Lucy's other charms?

Ms. Jacobs manages to surpass her excellent Harlequin debut novel with this new Double Duet. She'll make you laugh, and she'll tug at your heart-strings, making these stories not-to-be-missed.

In example after example, he compiles a wealth of data on how the vast majority of people learn to use alcohol and other drugs in responsible manners, balancing their use with the rest of their priorities in life. While not ignoring the harms that can come from misuse and abuse of drugs, he places them in perspective with other behaviors in people's lives.

Rather than erecting legal edifices that prohibit these substances, increase the harms associated with their use, and forever give up the chance to sensibly regulate them, he goes back to the original roots of the temperance movement to show that we have always had extensive historical precedents for moderation and effective social norms in this area.

This is a profoundly uplifting book that elegantly restates the philosophy that human beings have an inherent drive for balance and health and psychoactive substance use is no exception.
Since America's War on Drugs has pernicious effects in every area of our society, this is a book that should be read by all.

The story of the "gundan" - which means "army corps" -- is primarily the story of the man who created and ruled over it for much of the 70s and 80s, Kakuei Tanaka. Jacob Schlesinger spends more than half of "Shadow Shoguns" examining Tanaka's life, including his roots in the construction business, his entry into politics, how he made money work for him in consolidating political power, and finally, his fall from power.

Tanaka was a fascinating figure. In many ways he was a combination of LBJ and Boss Tweed. His appetite for power and money was huge, and his experience in the construction industry gave him the ability to amass both. Coming from one of the poorest prefectures in Japan, he fought hard to bring huge pork barrel construction projects back to his constituents, and they in turn gave him unflinching support even when he was charged with crimes and became a national symbol of corruption.

A scandal removed Tanaka from the prime minister's seat in 1974, but due to his constituents' support, it did not remove him from the parliament. From then until the mid-80s, Tanaka would be the power behind the throne, using money from construction projects to strengthen his faction, and his faction to strengthen his hold over national politics.

What finally removed Tanaka from his position as leader over Japan's most powerful faction was not angry voters, other factions or their political leaders, but his own underlings. Tanaka had attracted some of the most talented politicians in Japan to his faction, and handling those egos was a full-time job. After a stroke in 1985, Tanaka was unable to reassert his power, and three of his protégés (Shin Kanemaru, Noburu Takeshita, and Ichiro Ozawa) wrenched the faction away from him.

The final third of the book focuses on those protégés, their strengthening of the faction, and finally the fall of their machine as Japan's economy began to flounder. As Schlesinger tells it, the success of the faction was always predicated on continued strong economic growth. When the Japanese economy faltered throughout the early 1990s, so did the mechanism by which the "gundan" governed Japan.

This is a book that gives vivid life to a political system and to politicians many people find boring. Schlesinger shows that because Japan's most capable and interesting politicians operated out of the limelight for much of the last three decades, their story is a compelling one as well as the key to understanding the history of the modern Japanese political system.