First of all, it should be clarified that John F. Hoffecker's version of what constitutes "Eastern Europe" is the land between the Carpathian Mountains on the west and the Ural Mountains on the east. (Compare this with my review of "The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe"). The imprecise title may cause disappointment to some readers expecting a wider geographical scope for the book.

While this book can be seen a follow-up to his mentor Richard G. Klein's 1973 work "Ice-Age Hunters of the Ukraine", Mr. Hoffecker brings to the subject his own unique expertise in the general study of the archeology of people living in cold environments and applies it to the specific case of these people who amazingly managed to survive in this highly inhospitiable environment during the height of the Ice Age.

The book is divided into seven chapters. The first discusses general anthropological principles and theories pertaining to human adaptation and development in cold environments. The second outlines the environmental conditions of the specific area under study in the book.

The next two chapters focus on Neanderthal finds in the area. The following two chapters discuss the replacement of the local Neanderthal population by the Cro-magnons, and the development of their way of life in the cold Loess Steppe environment. The final chapter summarizes the discussion and is followed by an extremely valuable and extensive bibliography, more than half of which consists of non-English (primarily Russian) sources.

In reading this work I was struck by the ingenuity of these people in the ways they adapted to survive (such as cutting "meat freezers" into the permafrost ground to preserve food for leaner months ahead), and felt that they were much more intelligent than we generally credit prehistoric people as having been. Given the same materials and conditions to survive under, I doubt that I could do half as well as they did.

In summary, this book makes an extremely worthy contribution to the dire lack of knowledge about this subject available in English. The author makes extensive use of the work of Russian and Ukrainian archeologists, as well as knowledge gained from his own participation in digs in the area and access to collections of finds previously closed to Western scholars during the Soviet era.

My only reason for giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 is due to some disappointment with the illustrations in the book. All of them are merely reproductions of drawings of artifacts from earlier Soviet-era publications. With his access to the jealously-guarded collections Mr. Hoffecker has written of, it would seem to have been desirable to include new photographs of at least some of these artifacts which have never been seen by Western eyes.

It is hoped that this oversight can be remedied in the future by some sort of companion volume which focuses more on providing a visual record of the artifacts and sites in question to supplement the excellent information the author has provided in the present work.

John F. Hoffecker gives us a book about Ice-Age settlement in Eastern Europe. Starting with the Neanderthals and moving on to modern humans, he writes about how both adapted to the cold climates with technology, social organization, language and even the use of, or lack of, symbols.
'Desolate Landscapes' is one of the most detailed, most complete record of archaeological information I have ever found in any book. Primary sources from Russian literature added greatly to the knowledge we already have about Neanderthals and early modern man. Not light reading, but it can be delightful reading if you enjoy books on early humans or history.

Edwards and Magee is considered one of the bibles of technical analysis. While it covers the basics well (head and shoulders tops, etc.), the shear number of not so well known patterns can be overwhelming. I would doubt most people could (or would) finish this book. It's more of a reference book. John Murphy's Technical Analysis of the Futures Markets is a much better choice. Murphy covers trendlines, patterns, stochastics, Elliot Wave, money management and a host of other technical topics. Don't be fooled by its title -- it's quite applicable to stocks.

I read Edwards and McGee, Technical Analysis of Stock Market Trends with great enthusiasm. Here was a book that was originally written in the 1940's that is equally valid to anyone trying to play the stock market in the Twenty First Century. It also gave me insights into the wild times on Wall Street in the Roaring 20's, and taught me how the pros did stock manipulation and organized "bear traps." Understanding Wall Street irrational exuberance in 1928 helps a smart investor understand the irrational exuberance in 1999. I started reading and then using Technical Analysis because I found I couldn't make money on the market just using the fundamental analysis that my accounting professors taught me in business school. I bought stocks based on detailed analysis of the firm's fundamentals and then could not understand why the prices of my "smart" investments immediately dropped like a rock. Technical analysis provides an investor with insights into the market forces (supply and demand) that affect the rise and fall of stock prices and give a rational investor understanding of the psychology of the herd of investors.

Modern web technology available from Clearstation and E-trade take the drudgery out of the technical charting, and make it easy for an amateur investor to become an experienced technical chart reader. Edwards and McGee was the book that helped me develop this skill. I can not praise the authors of this book enough.

Investors and traders and technical analysts who are not familar with this book are only short-changing themselves. Unless you are informed as to this material you are unable to evaluate the products of number driven analysis. This is TA 1. I am amazed to hear some people call it boring. In fact it is extremely well written. Having read it 15 or 20 times I think I am qualified to say that. Scoffers at technical analysis and traders who use only statistical technical indicators do nothing but delight me and other chartists. We need their money ... W.H.C. Bassetti

The movie Jeramiah Johnson has always been one of my favorites. It turns out that the true account of the life of John Jonston (his real name), though no less fascinating, is not much like the movie at all. The movie portrays a lonley man haunted by relentless attacks from the Crow Indians. This is partly true, but if you have seen the movie and think you know a little of the history of the man, you will be amazed at how much you did not know after reading the book. This was a truly violent, ruthless man, living in a time and place where those traits were not uncommon.

The book reads quickly and gives you a sense of awe for the man, and the manner which he and his companions lived. Though the book is mainly based on documented accounts of those who knew Johnston, I sometimes found parts of it hard to believe. One example is simply the sheer number of Indians this man kills throughout the book. That alone is nearly beyond belief, and I wonder if some of the accounts may have been exaggerated. That aside, the book was very enjoyable. A true taste of the harshness of the place and the people of that time. You'll never look at a liver the same after reading this book!

Possibly the best fur era book I have read. John Johnson is what the free trapper really was. If you are ready to get away from the "fantasy land" of the historical novelist, and immerse yourself in what was, this book by Thorp will bring you there. Open the book, keep your powder dry and watch your topknot. If I don't see you at the grave on Sepulveda (Big Anton's name) then I'll see you on the trail.

I have read this book a number of times. Having grown up in Wyoming, I am familiar with much of the country and many of the people described in the book. Opening this book is like going home all over again. This is not an "historical novel" but a retelling of actual events that reads better than any fictional adventure story. The best part about the book is that it turns the giants of the American West into real people, with real foibles and follies. The mountain men weren't super heroes, but regular people living a hard and dangerous life. It's an excellent snapshot of the realities of frontier life, told by the people who lived there. Thank God Raymond Thorp interviewed these men before all knowledge of their lives passed into obscurity.

In the spirit of Kindred of the East, this book is an add on for existing World of Darkness games. You need another core book (preferabley Vampire, Mage or Wraith for cross over use, but any of the games work), but fear not, because this has allowed the writers to add a whole bunch of juicer information into the pages.
Essentially, this game allows you to take on the role of a Mummy, just as the previous World of Darkness games put you in the role of other monsters. But these aren't the bandaged wrapped monsters of the cinema. Rather, they are more an amalgam of Boris Karlof's immortal mystic from the original Mummy and Egyptian mythological beings. These Mummies are immortal heros, blessed by Osiris and given the task of restoring balance to the world. As such, this is a much more hopeful tone when compared to, say, Vampire or Wraith, but that only makes the game that much more challenging. Mummies are made of a combination of a flawed mortal and an ancient Egyptian soul, so they are both modern and ancient at the same time. And they are also considerably less powerful than their ancient age would make you think. Therefore, these Mummies are not as unbalancing in cross overs as they might seem. Indeed, even the immortality thing isn't as big an advantage, because it does take considerable time to come back, plus Mummies do not have supernatural endurance on par with some of the other denizens of the World of Darkness.
The book is pretty straight forward. Mummies and their role in the World of Darkness (along with some great tips and ideas for better running Mummy games) are all described in great detail, including Osiris, Anubis, Ma'at, the Judges and various Cults of Life such as the followers of Isis and Osiris. There is a lot of usage of Egyptian and even Arabic words, but these only serve to add to the flavor and shouldn't confuse the reader overly much. Theres even a glossary of the major terms used, and some brief descriptions of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Plus theres the recommended reading, viewing and listening which give you some more points of reference for incorporating mummies, ancient Egypt and Middle Eastern culture into your games. And many of these sources can be found on Amazon.com, conveniently enough.
Like other denizens of the World of Darkness, the Mummies are divided into different splats, in this case based off aspects of the Egyptian soul (plus another one for "unaffiliated" mummies). Each of these splats are given full page write ups, which helps players get a handle on what motivates their characters. Each splat also specializes in a specific Hekau, ancient magics of Egypt such as alchemy or making ushabtis. These are given ratings from one to five, and work kind of like Vampire Disciplines or Mage Spheres, so players should grasp these pretty quickly. Furthermore, although Mummies only get a few new abilities, differing from those presented in the core book, Mummies also have a wealth of new backgrounds to help flesh them out, such as Ba, Ka and Companion, and even a handful of new merits and flaws.
As the first book in the "Year of the Scarab" series, Mummy also details the core setting for the game, Egypt and the lands of the Middle East, Africa and the Mediterranean. The histories of Egypt and Saudi Arabia are given, along with an extensive write up of Egypt's geography, from Luxor to Sinai. There are also some description Persia (Iran), Iraq, Kuwait, Kuwait, Israel and the Palestinean Territories, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Greece. Also, the Lands of the Dead (and beyond) are described, mainly from an Egyptian point of view, but fans of Wraith should be pleased.
The back of the book is also loaded with lots of juicy stuff for STs. Not only are there detailed notes for adding Mummies into a game, but there are also some other nasties, both for Mummy only games and for cross-overs. Corrupt "bane mummies", cannibalistic Egyptian cults, undead monsters and other servants of Aphosis and corruption are unique foes specifically for Mummies. Other supernaturals, such as the local Vampires (Assamites and Followers of Set), the walking dead, Wizards such as the Arabian Ahl-i-Batin and Persian Taftani, ghosts and other spirits, Djinn, shapeshifters (not only werewolves, but also werecrocodiles, werecats and even wereserpents) and monster hunters are all given, either as allies or antagonists, along with stats for various mortal animals native to the mid-east, like scorpions and camels. And then there are also other Mummies as well. Ancient Mummies who lived since the dyas of Egypt, non-Egyptian Mummies (created from Greek translations of the Egyptian ritual), Incan Mummies from the mountains of South America and immortal Taoist sages from China are all presented, with just enough for you to play them or incorporate them into your games.
All in all, this is an extremely useful book for STs and Players alike, whether you intend to run an all Mummy game or run a cross over game. Or even if you just want to add a Mummy or two into your game as NPCs. Even without Mummies, there is a wealth of information about Middle Eastern culture and settings provided in this book, with a specific emphasis on Egypt. If you run a Vampire game with lots of Assamites, or a Mage game focusing on Hermetic lore from ancient Egypt, you might find this game extremely useful, even without Mummies.

Mummy: The Resurrection, like Kindred of the East, is an add-on sourcebook for the World of Darkness, and also like Kindred of the East, it's hands-down some of the finest work ever done by White Wolf.

The showpiece of the book, of course, is the new breed of mummy which has appeared in the World of Darkness. In the wake of the Year of the Reckoning, Osiris has stirred from his long slumber, and for the first time in millennia, he has sanctioned the creation of new mummies. They are known as Amenti, and are born from the fusion of an ancient soul and a modern one. The Amenti are far more dynamic and interesting than the older mummies you might remember from WoD: Mummy Second Edition. (And no, they don't want around wrapped in toilet paper, either.)

The tone of Mummy is also much more positive than that of most other White Wolf games: Mummies are mortals who have been reborn as something more than human and given a second chance. They are beacons of light and hope in the World of Darkness, inspiring others through their example. While one can certainly play an all-Amenti chronicle, Mummy: The Resurrection really shines when used to run a crossover game. The Amenti can interact in the realms of vampires, werewolves, and other creatures in all sorts of interesting and flavorful ways: Adding a mummy to a coterie, pack, or coven will open up some great roleplaying opportunities. In addition, the balance issue present in WoD: Mummy Second Edition have been resolved, and the Amenti are now an excellent complement to other supernaturals. Their powers tend to be very subtle; they are not combat monsters or world-breakers, but they have many useful abilities such as healing, alchemy, and powers of the spirit world.

The book also includes tons of information on the Middle East, both in the present day and in the history of the World of Darkness, details on how the Amenti interact with vampires, werewolves, mages, and other supernaturals, as well as a whole chapter on other types of immortals from all around the world. Highly recommended.

I know mummies are far too powerful tu be simply added into a game... but get a good storyteller with a few good players and even the lousy i can do nothing 14th generation vampire can make a fun sidekik for a hundred years old mummy.
If you are into the white wolf storyteller system crossover is the whole idea behind it, so, yeah, it IS worth your money.

I would doubtlessly recommend Ivanhoe to read. History may be often dull but Sir Walter Scott makes history extremely exciting by romanticizing his novel. It directly deals with hatred between the Normans and the Saxons, the discrimination of the Jews, chivalry, and politics--but it is a unforgettable tale of heroism, honor, and love. I felt that the characters were so fascinating and fun to read about. I was enjoying and cheering on the good characters like Ivanhoe, King Richard, and Robin Hood to beat the hated and evil villains. I liked the idea of love added in the story, like how Rowena and Rebecca were both in love with Ivanhoe. I even felt a little sorry for Brian de Bois-Guilbert who would do anything for Rebecca's love but is constantly rejected. I thought how it was appealing how the author questions Ivanhoe and Rebecca's feelings for each other. Suspenseful and action sequences also added entertainment to the story. This book may be a little too detailed for some readers, but I didn't mind. I felt that the details were brilliantly used to decorate the story in an outstanding fashion. The old English wording made me feel like I was actually in the medieval England. I have to admit that it took a great deal of persistence for me to finish this book and it was a challenge for me to read. However, I found Ivanhoe to be a wonderful pleasure. It is no wonder that Ivanhoe is such a well-loved tale!

I enjoyed this adventure yarn on many levels.

I was glad to learn about the Knights of Templer and that they were crusaders. I always wondered how Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon knew that and it is because of this classic.

I was surprised that it talked so much about Robin of Lockesley. The story of Ivanhoe seemed to be the same only told by Ivanhoe's friends and not Robin's.

I thought that the DeBracyn and the Knight of Templer Brian de Bois Guilbert were pretty evil guys which made the story interesting. They were weasels when they had their backs to the wall but did preform with honor when required like when Richard gets DeBracy.

I guess I did not understand the prejudice of the time because they treated the Jews like dirt and they were so sterotypical. I really thought that the Jewish girl Rebecca was going to end up with Ivanhoe instead of that Saxon Lady Roweana. I guess you have to appreciate the times that they lived in.

It was a different look the Richard/Prince John history.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this book, by Sir Walter Scott, was the progenitor of what was to become a venerable tradition in English letters (and in other European literatures as well): the historical romance. There have been many after IVANHOE, and frequently with a finer eye to the period in which the tale is set (for IVANHOE contains quite a number of anachronisms -- even Scott acknowledged it), but few have done it quite as well as Scott. He uses an archaic English to give voice to his characters, but one which is readily absorbed because of the speed & quality of the tale. So, though these people certainly wouldn't really have spoken as he has them speaking, they yet sound as though they should have. Peopled by many 'stock' characters and situations, this tale was fresh in its time & still reads well today -- a testament to Scott's skills as a teller of tales and a sketcher of marvelously wrought characters. In this tale of the 'disinherited knight' returning home to find the world he left turned upside down, young Ivanhoe, after a stint with King Richard in the Holy Land, must fight the enemies of his king and kinsmen anew. Yet the hero is oddly sidelined for much of the tale as events swirl around him and the brilliantly evoked villain, Sir Brian de Bois Gilbert, in the pay of Prince John, struggles to win treasure and the beautiful Rebeccah, who yet has eyes only for Ivanhoe, a knight she can never hope to win herself. There's lots of action and coincidences galore here and Robin Hood makes more than a cameo appearance, as does the noble Richard. In sum, this one's great fun, a great tale, and the progenitor of a whole genre. All those which came after owe their form to it. Worth the price and the read.

The story here is one of tenacity and determination at truly heroic levels; regardless on one's political opinions on Kennedy, it has to be granted that he made himself function despite medical problems and symptoms that would reduce most people to a distinctly sub-presidential level. "Tough" is a very fair word to use here. The story is made worse by questions regarding his treatment and doctors' competence. And this raises a big question with me: I am a physician and don't see how his war exploits were possible, even with a phony medical exam getting him into the military. All these problems and yet he was able to function in high-stress military operations in remote areas of the Western Pacific islands? How did he get all his medications when even normal mail must have been sporadic? If he did obtain them, no one noticed him taking them? Two days in salt water? Going many days without food or water (especially, in the tropics, water)? This is hard to reconcile with the medical problems he is said to have had as far back as prep school and college, much less service on a PT boat in the Phillipines. I'm not implying anything underhanded here but I don't get it.

I was raised to admire JFK- here was an Irish Catholic that made it. (Sounds corny, but you don't know my Ma). Even though my political beliefs differ from his I still see him through those childs eyes I had when I did a fifth grade report on his life. Dallek brought a humanity that has laced in my eyes; he opened up JFKs life to reveal, frankly, someone I still admire. It was so nice to read of JFKs problems and perceptions of life. He was just a reular guy (I know Dah!- but hey, he was president and most previous biographies focus on that). As for the book, the writing style kept me going. Dallek has a fluidity to his writing that I enjoyed. He brought in looks at JFKs life from his personal letters that revealed a lot about JFK. My only complaint is that Dallek points out JFKs "shyness" during his first political run, yet didn't make much reference to it during his look at JFKs early years (instead saying that JFK was quickly popular at his schools). I'd love to see how any shyness affected his early years- true his easy smile would have made up for it, but the author doesn't explore this. It's like he just tacked on a weakness in JFKs life that was reported to him. Other than that, the book is a good read.

Who'd think that there would be another Kennedy book with something left to say? Well, there is. This book is done in a scholarly way, but mostly readable. We are getting far away enough now to have some perspective on Kennedy. For those of us who were there when he ran, and saw him as the breath of fresh air that he was - for all the failings we hear about now - this is a must read. A lot of new information, concentration on his political career and what he fought for, and a new look at all his physical problems, make this book interesting from cover to cover.

This book is quite literally an "introduction," in the sense of discussing the environment and the deficiencies of neoclassical economics as if the reader had not a clue that multinational corporations (and the powerful governments that aid them) are destroying the capacity of the biosphere to support life, including human life. The text is simple and easy to understand since the writing is at the level of that of the World Book Encyclopedia, with some of the same excessive optimism and a general failure to examine the effects of the law of compound interest and other increasing exponential functions in any mathematically useful way. The bibliography at the back of the book goes on for several pages, but cites dozens and dozens of titles by the same five people who group-authored this book. The citations in the text are usually to entire books, and not to specific passages (except in the case of periodical ariticles), making specific assertions difficult to verify. Obviously intended as a freshman or sophomore college text, it is overpriced and underuseful.

Far more helpful than this vacuous tome is the Worldwatch Institute series "State of the World," issued every year on selected topics edited by Lester R. Brown, with a variety of individually written well-footnoted articles, each on a specific aspect of development and its effects on the environment and people all over the earth. These volumes will remain useful for years to come, and you can get three of the latest books in the series for less than the cost of "An Introduction to Ecological Economics," which you won't want to keep after reading anyway.

Ecological economics is concerned with extending and integrating the study and management of "nature's household" (ecology) and "humankind's household" (economics). Resistance to this new perspective may come from academia as well as industry and governments. On page 10: "Today's market price to polluters for using atmospheric sink capacity for carbon dioxide disposal is zero, although the real opportunity cost may turn out to be astronomical. Economists are almost unanimous in persisting in externalizing the costs of CO2 emissions, even though by 1993 more than 180 nations had signed a treaty to internalize such costs." It would be difficult to praise this book too highly.

This collection is a travesty indeed. Great poems no doubt, but abysmally read. Furthermore they should have put all the introductions together separate and apart from the poems. It's nice to hear intros the first time around. But who wants to hear the intros everytime you listen to the poems? Sometimes I want to hear just a stream of poetry without any interuptions and this format makes that impossible. It's incredible that such a great concept could be so terribly executed.

I could not get this back to the store for a refund quickly enough. While the poem selection is great and the poem introductions are narrated well, the choice to use "modern poets" as the readers made this compilation utterly unlistenable. The only one that I found acceptable was Anthony Hect--the others were notably bad. In particular, I found Jorie Graham's "readings" to be abysmal. She reads each poem as if it were simply a string of unconnected words, giving equal stress to each, with halting pauses between them, never breaking out of a drowsy monotone. Other readers were not much better.

There are three major flaws in the readings:

1) The readers are no better than the average untrained person, and often much worse. (You've just got to hear them for yourself to appreciate how bad they are.)

2) Successive poems by the same poet are read by different "readers." It's jarring to hear 3 or 4 poems from Poet X, each in a wildly different voice.

3) No regard is given to matching the sex of the poet and reader. In general, it is really annoying to hear your favorite poet read by the wrong sex. In particular, making this mistake on "gender specific" poems (like having a woman read Poe's "Annabel Lee") is unforgivable.

Why is this all so upsetting? Because it is practically impossible to find poetry collections on CD, making this a serious waste of limited resources. If you are looking for a good collection on CD, buy "81 Famous Poems CD" by Audio Partners (ISBN 0-945353-82-0). It's a good collection on two CDs and is read by professionals: Alexander Scourby, Bramwell Fletcher, and Nancy Wickwire. In the meantime, we can only hope that the producers of this collection will eventually come to their senses and re-record the poems with the services of trained professionals.

If you are prepping for the GRE in literature or are trying to gain a basic understanding of literary periods and poets, this audio-collection is a must. It features a brief introduction about each poet's life. It also includes a brief introduction about the theme of each poem. The fact that you have to listen to these introductions before listening to the poem inculcate the poem and aids retention. If literature has turned into a cumbersome and overwhelming task, this collection will not only provide you with a sense of direction but will also make literature far more pleasurable.

scymanski has an ok story here. price has a good one about the gorgon. that one was very enjoyable, and had some lovely details. otherwise, this was dreary read. so many of these stories were not only badly invented, but seemed so uninspired to. i almost felt sorry for the writers, for making so bad stories. i think this is chaosium's worst.