In the late '90s, Marvel was going down the tubes, both financially and creatively. There was an enormous amount of dreck flooding the shelves, and no matter what schemes they tried, either with product or licensing, they were losing money like crazy. Before declaring bankruptcy, they released two trade paperback collections of their Golden Age material, presenting a selection of the best of that era. While they may not have been well-received by the younger crowd, it was one of the best ideas Marvel had in a while (definitely going against the grain), and it was a treat for fans of comic history. Once again, readers could enjoy the simplistic stories of classic WW-II Marvel characters such as Captain America, Sub-Mariner, the Angel, the Destroyer, Marvel Boy, the Fin, Citizen V, and the Human Torch.

The Golden Age of Marvel Comics, Volumes 1 and 2 can be considered Marvel's equivalent of a public service. It's historical preservation in a market that has a notoriously short attention span. When the majority of fans and retailers were demanding more high-octane heroes showering their foes with bullets, we got two beautiful yet affordable collections of Golden Age greats, showing readers that, while the stories and art of the Golden Age might not have been all that "golden", the characters and their appeal more than made up for it. You can clearly see the elements of these stories that fascinated aspiring writers and artists, leading to their expanding these characters in ways never dreamed of during Marvel's Silver Age and beyond. The covers for both volumes are beautiful: for 1, a battle scene by Ray Lago; for 2, a Kirby/Theakston image. The intros provide some very good historical perspective on the contents.

Marvel is now back on its feet, sort of, but don't expect these books to be reprinted anytime in the near future. The current crowd at Marvel seems to be even more out of touch than the previous one and apparently has no understanding of the treasure it is sitting on.

Released in 1997, The Golden Age of Marvel Comics volume 1 is a collection of early comic book stories from the Golden Age of comic books. Featuring Marvel Comics' Big Three: Captain America, The Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch, along with stories of other characters like The Vision, The Destroyer, The Angel, and the Black Knight, this is a book that every fan of old comic books will enjoy again and again.

Representing the works of writers and artists of the Golden Age like creators Joe Simon & Jack Kirby, Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, Russ Heath, Stan Lee, John Romita Sr., and others, this book is a great example of the early days of Marvel Comics' history, back then called Timely Comics. It shows how the art form of comic books was done in a time of war and depression. This is a worthwhile read.

This book was followed up with The Golden Age of Marvel Comics volume 2 released in 1999.

The Golden Age of Marvel Comics volume 2, released in 1999, is a collection of various stories from Marvel Comics' Golden Age era (the first volume of The Golden Age of Marvel Comics was released in 1997). Back then, Marvel Comics was known as Timely Comics, and would later go on to become one of the most successful comic book publishers (alongside longtime competitor, DC Comics).

This book features stories with Marvel's "big three": the original Human Torch, Captain America, and The Sub-Mariner, as well as lesser known, now obscure characters like The Fin, Red Raven, and The Vision (I don't think this is the same one as the android Vision now appearing in Marvel's The Avengers series), as well as a few others. These classics are by the writers and artists of comics' Golden Age: Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, and many others, including one story written by Stan Lee. The book also features an introduction by the legendary Mickey Spillane.

Overall, this book makes for an excellent read, especially for people interested in the early years of comic books. Most of the stories are set during World War II, so some people may be offended with the Germans and Japanese as the Nazis villains.

Well written and easy to read book describing Joe's unique trading patterns and methods. I liked his straight forward, no BS choice of words and his methods of fibonacci confluence does have some merit, but it isn't for everyone. This is best intended for a swing trader, as daytrading is likely to be too quick paced in order to figure out confluence areas.

There were some vague rules regarding his entry and exit methods with the Fibonacci numbers and when you actually start to apply his methods to your own trading, you will likely be left with more questions than answers. Not necessarily a bad thing, as all you can really ask from a book is a few new things to try out and see if it applies to your trading.

This is a well researched book by an experienced successful trader. I particularly liked the fact that he provides specific rules around his methodology.

This is the best book on trading I have ever read.The author shares his many years of trading experience with the readers.
His simple but POWERFUL trading tools in the book if followed, will put you in position to win at trading.
The book taught me money management, entry and exit placement , profit objectives and gave me a trading planto follow.
I have read a lot of trading books over the years, but since reading this book I have not had a need to read any others.
I'm a profitable trader now because of the information made
available in this book.

This is an excellent book, little-known, which should have a resurgence now that a nonfiction treatment of the same events, Heart of the Sea, is a bestseller. Told as a reminiscence from the point of view of Captain Pollard, The Jonah Man is primarily a character study, but doesn't lack for gripping action. The slightly distanced tone doesn't describe the horrors of months in an open boat graphically, but the mood comes across effectively nonetheless. After surviving shipwreck and near starvation, Pollard's real ordeal comes when he must face his fellow Nantucketers. Though I was a little confused as to the exact nature of the epiphany he experiences in the end, I found the book to be an interesting study of individualism, guilt and redemption. Here and there character dialogue and thoughts seemed a little too psychoanalytic to be period, but it was a minor flaw.

The Jonah Man is up there in my top 5 books read over the last decade. On the surface it's a great story line that keeps you turning the pages; but it also is a brilliant study on guilt and the toll guilt can take on a life. I highly recommend it!

Brandon Toropov has concocted a fun and illuminating guide to all of William Shakespeare's plays that admits to the huge gap between the Bard's language and our own, and bridges it nicely. Each play is summarized and analyzed, plot points outlined, and main quotes isolated for easy identification. In addition, each play contains its own "theme" for the accompanying illustrations: Laurel & Hardy, Woody Allen, and others help new modern readers to quickly identify what it's all about, while long-time Shakespeare fans should no doubt get some delightful chuckles out of the creative way the material has been presented. I was sad to see this is out of print, until I found the website for the publishers...

Well, I bought this book 'cause I wanted to learn some about Shakespeare and his creations. You can find a lot of funny cartons that will help you to understand better this genius.This book is an easy way to discover Shakespeare's play and probaly thoghts.

This book does give a great introduction to a subject that is rather 'grey' in nature, in that the lines blur in Eastern Philosophy. The author did a marvelous job when it came to definitions. The author took the subject/historical approach to presenting the material. That is, he split eastern philosophy up into it's geological categories, then traced the historical development of each one. Something I noted about this book is that the author didn't give special treatment to any one form of eastern philosophy, as many do. When I read it, it appeared objective to me. The illustrations were great. If you get this book, look for Alice and the Caterpillar. This book is easy to read, and technical terms are kept to a minimum, and defined well when used.

I would definately recommend this book to someone who wanted to know more about Eastern Philosophy.

"Eastern Philosophy for Beginners" by Jim Powell [Writers & Readers Publishing, NY, 2000, 181 pages] is a delightful book, commended to beginners interested in learning the basics of eastern philosophy and religion, as well as to experts inclined to enjoy a refreshing new look at the subject. In spite of its unassuming title, the book is quite comprehensive, and charmingly illustrated. The concepts are lucidly presented, along with descriptions of the historical and cultural contexts. Reader's questions are anticipated and answered by way of frequent dialogs between an intrepid learner, "Alice," and her very-much-in-the-know companion, "Caterpillar." The book begins with an introductory orientation, and a fascinating exposition of the philosophies and religions of India, followed by those of China, then those of Japan, and finally of Tibet. The index is thorough. There is a brief bibliography for those desirous of further reading.
Arthur Hubbard
Santa Barbara Science Project
November 2001

This book made me aware of how much I do not know about Eastern philosophies and religious systems. For, instance, I had thought that vegetarianism originated with the Hindus. In fact, as Powell points out, the Hindus adopted it from the Jains. This book packs a lot of insight into a deceptively facile genre.

Based upon the editors description I thought I was getting a detailed field book describing specific parts that make up as-designed M1's. Not so. The specific information is sketchy, it includes almost no parts photos, only low quality line drawings. Much detail is left out and few exceptions to the general rules are mentioned. Some of the factual information is suspect ("The round operating rod spring was the same for all manufacturers and did not change during its production life"). Personal experience with CMP issued rifles suggests this is not true. An "OK" book for beginners, serious collecters should search out a copy of the Duff manual.

Es un excelente libro para personas que estan interesadas en historia de armas, asi como para coleccionistas.

Beginning as a rank armature interested in collecting a WWII era M1 Garand, I purchased this book to assist me in my quest. With the help of this book, I was able to not only pick out a quality Garand from among the hundreds of pieces of junk out there, but I was able to restore it to "as issued" condition. This is quite simply the premiere resource book on the Garand for anyone looking to collect true collectable military Garands! From the correct rear sight, to the markings on the stock, right on down to which cleaning kit or bayonet was issued with a rifle of a certain series of receiver serial numbers, this book will make you a more savvy investor of the M1 Garand. I've referenced this book so many times that the binding is falling apart! There is even an inventory check-list which allows you to see at a glance, which parts on your rifle are historically "correct", and which needs replacing. Simply put, if you have a Grand and want to restore it to it's original "as issued" condition, or want to educate yourself before heading to the gun show, you could spend months in the library, or just buy this book!

I thought the book was exceptionally written despite the fact that it lost it's meaning many times throught the important sections.

This is a great collection of stories that features some of the lesser well known Marvel heroes; Captain America, Ka-Zar, Nick Fury of SHIELD, Namor; the Sub-Mariner, and Professor X. It starts with an early story on each of these heroes and then jumps forward to more recent continunity. Stan Lee,Mark Waid, Chris Claremont, Scott Lobdell, Mark Gruenwald, and John Byrne are among the writers whose work is reprinted in this volume and they are all great stories for any Marvel fan to enjoy.

If you are looking for new design ideas or if you have ever been curious about what the First Americans might have worn a couple of hundred years ago, this book offers a wealth of information.

Here you can find detailed drawings of blouses, skirts, men's shirts and leggings, moccasins and head coverings. Although the book doesn't include patterns per se, the written instructions appear to be detailed enough for most readers with some sewing experience to follow. (As a very amateur seamstress, I have to admit I would have liked more detailed explanations, espeically for the finger weaving section).

Since this book includes clothing of all the Great Lakes tribes, you can see the variations in design and construction between the peoples of that area. However, as Hartman points out, it is almost impossible to identify clothing as belonging to a specific tribe. Contact among these people offered the opportunity for trade as well as imitation of dress styles. Looking at the many drawings, you can see the influence that the French and other Europeans had on clothing and jewelry design.

However, this is more than just a sewing or design book. In addition to the pictures and how-to sections, Hartman also includes quite a bit of historical and cultural information. She briefly mentions the role of trade silver used for decoration. (If this is a subject that interests you, you may want to look at "The Covenant Chain, Indian Ceremonial and Trade Silver," by N. Jaye Fredrickson.)

I started my gnome as a gemcrafter, wondering if there was something I could do to make that skill useful. I took alchemy, and craft wonderous items as a lark. Turns out, I made the perfect pre-cursor to the Jewel-mage.

He started his elf as a wizard, in a dragon cult. He took all the other craft item feats for fun. Turns out, he also is the pre-cursor to a Dragon-mage.

If you're looking for something more to do with your character and the prestige classes you've seen so far just don't cut it, then check out this book!