For anyone studying European History, this book is a must-have. I used it last year in my college-level history course, and it quickly became my best friend. It contains all the necessary information, and tons more besides. But because the book contains so much useful information, it is quite heavy reading. Its vocabulary and content is intended for the serious historical inquiry, not for people with a casual interest in the subject matter. Still, being a history major, I love this book, and can appreciate its breadth, its depth, its accuracy, and its recounting of history. By far, this is the best and most comprehensive look at European history I've ever seen.

Lovely book of letters: best read in conjunction with "Christopher and His Kind" by Isherwood (to get the other side of the story).

This is a really nifty collection of Stoker's lesser known works. I contains numerous short stories from different periods of his career as well as some from Sir Henry Irving.

It also contains the original ending to "The Jewel of the Seven Stars." This portion alone is enough to purchase the book in my opinion.

If you are a fan of Bram Stoker or like Victorian/Edwardian literature, this one is for you.

Christopher Lee does an excellent job of "voicing" Poe's extraordinary works. His recitation of THE RAVEN is the best to date (would've been even better if they used the special effects used with Walken's - weaker - rendition). HOPFROG, THE TELL-TALE HEART, and THE MURDERS OF THE RUE MORGUE are some of the masterpieces included in this creepfest.

If you have any knowledge of data mining then this book is a disappointment. It seemed more of thinly veiled advertisement for the software included in the book. I can see it having value for the neophyte who might need an introduction that includes software and actual examples, but professionals should skip it.

This is a well written and interesting book on a complex topic. I especially appreciated the first four chapters, which provide a good overview of estimation and classification, and chapters 10 through 12 which describe the main algorithms, training and testing and troubleshooting.

This was the text I've been looking for over the last year. It is organized in a very logical manner, first outlining the foundation knowledge necessary to begin understanding the data mining field. It then proceeds to outline the methods and models driving this exciting new field. My only complaint is that the CD Rom at the back requires a non-toll free phone call to get the necessary password before you can use the software, and then only for a finite period of time. But its of little significance compared to the wealth of information contained in this book for both experts and novices.

The Punisher has always been a one dimensional character, here he is turned into a character who looks like somethin borrowed from the Buffy tv show. Anyway, this is a story of the Punisher and Wolverine trying to save a young mutant girl whose powers are slowly destroying her. The plot is right out of the daytime soaps, which doesn't add too much, and the artwork is horrid. Needless to say this new version of the Punisher was changed back when Garth Ennis took over the stories.

New York is dying. There is an underground threat that kills dozens of citizens by the minute. After the resurrection of Frank Castle (the Punisher), he swore to protect someone. Both he and the feral bone-claw Wolverine lose somebody special due to this same underground threat.

So, they team up. And together, they will find the cause of this mystery to put an end to it. But the task at hand appears to be much harder than anticipated.

The story is okay and is mostly about morals and innocence. The writing is very good, especially the monologues. And the colouring by Angelo Tsang and Pat Lee is excellent. They look like still images of some Manga animated fest, but drawn by Marvel. This is one of the few books that really made the images animate in my mind. Logan is drawn kinda weird though, but that didn't spoil the beauty of the colouring.

The characters make this a winner. All characters are given alot of depth. Especially Frank Castle, who seemed very flat and linear before. I especially love the first chapter. Wolverine's narration is great in that one. Highly recommended!

I do not know much about the Marvel Universe, but this book will appeal to all. It is interesting to see the Punisher as a honest-to goodness hero for once. The heroine, Revelation, is one of the most original characters produced for a limited series. Revelation is a mutant who, after being released from a cyrogenic chamber deep under New York, begins to affect them with a virus which emits from her. Wolverine and the Punisher must try to find a way to stop Revelation before she reaches the surface. It is interesting to see how Wolverine and the Punisher get along as a team. The strange things about the Punisher are the weapons that he uses. I just don't get how angels can make guns in Heaven. When you read this book, you may notice some references to the Bible.

This is not one of Jack Higgins best. The Story was too long and plot was terrible. The ending was very confusing. Read Khufa Run instead.

Think of this book as a love story draped in bandoliers. The gunfights and outlaws are only there to dress up the plot. At its heart, this book is the story of a violent man redeemed by the love of a good woman. It is about how in a dark time, two people help each other reclaim their humanity.

One of Higgins earlier works. Good action tale set in Central American during the 1920's. The characters are well developed and the plot takes its own unique twists. Basis for an MGM film in 1972.

This is a delightful adaptation of "The Little Red Hen" retold with Digger Pig in the lead role. Digger requests help to make a turnip pie from three barn yard friends: Chirper Chick, Quacker Duck and Bow-Wow Dog. They each refuse to help every step of the way, except when it comes to eating the pie. Digger Pig then refuses them a piece of pie and she and her piglets settle in to eat the pie. The message of sharing and assisting is subtle and not preachy. This is a good book for beginning readers because of the repetition. The colored pencil illustations work well with the story. I'd recommend this book to children, however, don't miss a chance to read the original Little Red Hen classic.

I found this book in the library when looking for information on the 1931 film Dracula, and was rewarded with all the material I wanted. The bulk of the book is about portrayals of Dracula on stage, screen, and in literature; although there are a couple of early chapters on the historical fact behind the legends they add little to what is generally known about Vlad the impaler, and make no attempt to trace vampire legends any earlier. Although one of the chapters is titled "The Ancestors of Dracula", this chapter is about literary ancestors of Bram Stoker's character. The main limitation to this book is that its publication date precedes much of the more recent interest in vampires, probably spawned by the success of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. No mention is made of vampiric representations or appearances in the visual arts or music--an updating of the book might well cover the several versions of Dracula that have been done as operas or ballet. But as a reference to various media presentations of the Count up to 1975, this is fairly good.

To be candid, this had to be the worsdt Higgins I've read to date and hard to believe this waste of time came from the writer who gave us The Eagle Has Landed, Storm Warning and so on. This book was a real chore and difficult to get into. More importantly, it was extremely difficult to stay with. I could put it down and not miss it. Eventually, I thought I'd pick it up and finish and finally said, "oh forget it, why waste the time?"

This is not even worth a look as a beach book or if you're snowed in. Try one of his other titles, this is just a plodding, dreary waste of time.

My New Year's resolution was to submit reviews only to books I could give a 4 or 5 to---in order to spread the word on reading treats.

However, this book needs a warning label.

Plodding, boring, tedious, just a chore to read.

Had I not been stuck in a doctor's waiting room for nearly an hour and a half I would have chucked this one and moved on to another book.

The book lacks the usual intiguing plotting Mr. Higgins is known for. Also missing is the normally ferocious pace that makes you almost break your arm turning pages in his novels.

Life is too short for a bad book. Avoid this one. His repertoire is crammed with exciting reads---try one of those.

i read this book and i just can't understand how somebody can give this book 5 stars, altough mr. higgins is claimed to be an excelent wirter this book is just a hub hub of dreams, there is absolutly no story-line at all..... the book goes like this somebody washed ashore on a lonley island with a mission to destroy the german outpost there.... then bla bla bla the reader discovers that he was part of a bigger group of commandoes which were sent by....?? to destroy the germans... and all of them were captured and imprisoned.... then the story starts draging on on their dayes in prison.... bla..bla. don't you yawn already......
the book drags on without any action at all, the commandos help the germans de-arm the mines they attached to the ships on harbor. bla... bla... bla...
then comes the dramatic "end" of the so called "militery action story" there is a ship out there which is supposed to bring the new german governor to the island (who will order the execution of the commandoes per his orders) and the ship get's cought in a terrible storm and the guy who got washed up ashore (i don't remember his name?!) in conjunction with the commandoes stages a rescue effort?!.... the author spends about 50 pages describimg the terrible storm and the heroic rescue attempt... bla...bla.. with excrutiating boring detail.... then in the middle of it the so called german governor to be dies on the strugling-sinking ship from his wounds. and here the story ends.
maby this book is all about a bizare and nonsense sea rescue then it belongs in a totaly different catagory of sea rescue.. and the title should reflect that. also can somebody explain me why for the heck should those commandoes despretly rescue a german official who is on the way to order there excution.
i mean the whole book is totaly totaly wired.... nothing makes sense, you read it feels like the author was havinng a storemy dream when he wrote this book.