Having fallen in love with Chung Kuo: The Middle Kingdom, I sought this book out with high expectations. Wingrove delievers again: well-planned characters in a rich future world where China rules. It seemed to me that Wingrove has definately read up on the philosophy, language and culture he has based Chung Kuo's society on.

Not to spoil it for anyone, but I will say this: I have read and own the entire series. This one is a keeper.

While the translator's forward might lead us to expect this to bear heavy influences of Asimov, Heinlein, and Arthur C. Clark, these three short novels are unmistakably Chinese. The cultural and historical backgrounds along with snatches of Taoism and a self-mocking attitude lend a quirkiness we of the Western hemisphere are not used to. One may well need to have read through the entire story told in the three tales before understanding many of the points of the narrative.

The city here is Sunlon City. We're told in an early footnote that the name is generally considered merely joining sun (the Hui-Hui's planet has a purple one) with "lon" from Babylon. However, as the footnote also tells us, Sun also means man and lon eat, thus Sunlon City can also be interpreted as "man-eating city".

In the prologue, we're told about the huge bronze statue that long predominated the city square, a statue that appeared to grow larger and more formidable with time, but which is ultimately destroyed. Yet many believe that the spirit of the statue persists, and such belief is encouraged by the Bronze Statue Cult.

The Hui-Huis share the planet with other races, especially the Serpent People, the Leopard People, and the lesser mentioned Feathered People. In addition, the city itself has several conflicting societies. All these are ruled by the Shan, invaders from another planet.

Miss Qi is a central figure as the city prepares for revolution. Through the three stories, we see the city torn by strife and the rise of a dictator. There are many battles and the question arises as to who is the true enemy of Sunlon City.

The story here obviously is allegorical, quite applicable to our times. But again, be prepared for Oriental thinking which is indeed not what most of us are used to. The various races may well seem outlandish, especially the chus whose faces are on the top of their heads. And there's a continual strange humor, one which often does appear to be self-mocking.

This book is well worth reading, but I didn't tell you it would be easy. (and it isn't)

I bought this book for my 12 year old to prepare for a computer literacy test he took to 'test out' of a required middle school course. While he uses computers a lot and I have for years, the illustrations helped both of us to better understand how computers work. I've suggested that our school purchase a set for the computer lab.

This book reviews and describes the uses for lasers in oral and maxillofacial surgery and dentistry. Purpose: The main purpose is to serve as an instructional guide and reference for the practitioner using laser surgery. Audience: The primary audience for this text is practicing oral and maxillofacial surgeons or plastic surgeons using laser surgery in the oral cavity. Features: The best features of this text are the color photos and illustrations. The book lacks adequate references. Assessment: This is a good supplemental book for practitioners using lasers in the oral cavity, but I do not feel it is good primary text for beginners.

My wife got this book for my kid at the library. When she brought it home and I looked at it, I had to get it. I've been playing for about 3-4 years, but this book goes from simple to advanced with lots of diagrams and pictures. It also suggests which artists to listen to if you want to play a certain type of music.

Harrison's "Long March to Power" is an excellent intro to the history of China's communist party. Out of the fractured and humiliated China of the 20's in spite of the "universal" appeal of marxism, Chinese communists retained a strong nationalistic bent throughout.

Especially good is the period covering the war with Japan. The KMD of Chiang Kei Shek is given little leeway by Harrison. Chiang was corrupt and so was the KMD. When the KMD could have rallied Chinese- it failed to leaving the CCP to recruit among the population. When the KMD might have fought the Japanese, it spent it's time with warlord struggles or against the CCP.

Harrison doesn't relent and shows the interparty rivalries and sometime viciousness of CCP politics. This is a densely written and fact filled book for those with an interest in the period.

This is a small and handy book about NDS the Novell Directory Service. It is fun, fast and easy to read. I found it trustworthy and helpful.

This book wonderfully describes the mysterious fish-like race of the Kuo-Tao. I have found, as a DM that this book adds greatly to my campaign. The only fault I have with it is that it is 1st edition.

A wonderful book, but seemed oriented (ha-ha)toward painting and ceramics. I would have liked to see more examples of jade and ivory carvings, as well as textiles.

It is a very good text that deals engineers in the complex field of analysis of non-linear structures with matrix and finite element method. The authors succeeded to conjugate a mathematically rigorous approach with an engineering vision of the kind of problem handled, covering the topic of geometric non-linearity, buckling and non-linear elastic materials.