I don't like the endnotes vs. footnotes which are very hard to access and deal with, and I don't like the way the apostrophes are taken out and the words are 'modernized' as it breaks up the flows and rhythms of the works.

The anonymous review from "reader from the UK" has a slight whiff about it, I can't help but think - does the reviewer work at the publishers? I wouldn't quite go as far as he/she has in my praise. This is a good version, if not exactly the best. The poetry of course is unchallengeable - it's what's been done with the poetry that is important. The text is clear and easy to read; the notes are put at the back of the book, which is always a mixed blessing, but is probably the only practical option with a decently-annotated Milton. This version is cheaper than the definitive Fowler and Carey versions, and probably better for the non-specialist reader. The notes are good enough, but I would like more narrative guidance (in Paradise Lost particularly); occasionally some of his notes feel incomplete or unclear, and sometimes he leaves things out which I myself would have liked him to have mentioned or which I've seen mentioned (or reinterpreted) by someone else. I would also prefer a longer and more detailed introduction. But mostly the version is good, and is probably the first stop for most readers wanting to get to grips with Milton. My advice is only to go on from here, to other sources to give you a more detailed background.

Excellent, concise notes, thoroughly readable and informative about language (puns etc.) and historical context. Best choice for undergraduates and rivals Fowler as best choice for graduates.

The book is well written, and covers the subject matter well enough. However, the book focuses almost exclusively on UK and European model cars. Only a few pages and two pictures are on U.S. domestic models. (Both pictures commented on how certain aspects of the American versions made them unattractive!) Since the technical specifications, performance, options, and even trim packages on the U.S. Federal models are generally different from the U.K. and European models, the book is not all that useful for us Yankees. Most of the book is black and white, with a few color pages.

The book is a good value though. So if you own a Non-Fedral model ("grey market" in the U.S.), or are running out of books to buy on SL's, it is worth buying.

It says it right on the cover: "Osprey Expert Histories." And that's what this is. There's great info on the history of these cars, with insights on how they evolved technically and stylistically, and how their marketing changed over the years. The typeface is a little on the large side, but that just means there are more pages to print photos on: Virtually every page has at least one. I would say this book is a good value.

Note that this is not a buyer's guide; there are no side-by-side charts of features and horsepower and units sold, and no commentary on what to look out for.

Also note that its coverage is limited to the pagoda (1960s) and W107 cars (70s-80s). There are a couple of pages on the early 300SL, and none on the new (post-W107) styles of SL/SLK.

The coverage here is of the 230sl through later 107 cars. Very little is included on the original 300SL, subsequent roadster and 190SL but these are better covered in texts devoted to this period in MB history. The reviewed and photographically documented cars are higher performance european models without the bastardized DOT additions such as cheapo sidemarkers, funky looking bumpers, and performance robbing and ineffective emission controls. The majority of model changes and options available are clearly called out. There are also a few shots of proper SL interiors the way the Mercedes designers intended them. This book would be helpful to readers trying to decide on which model Sl they might seek to purchase as well as those deciding the path they want to take in a proper restoration of their vehicle.

This book might be good, but only for one who has previous experience in playing Jazz piano. It really does not teach you the principles and help you learn jazz. Its more like an exercise book to help improve a already-know-how-to jazz pianist w/ tons of songs inside for practise (and by the way, you would have to have the sheet music for the songs inside to refer to). I personally do not recommend it for beginners.

Mehegan's book is written for piano players, but will be valuable to other musicians as well. The book presents a large number of standards for study, focusing on thinking from the harmonic structure. I has lots of ideas to guide practice and study, but it is for serious work only: unlike some books that can be approached at various levels and still offer some rewards, this one requires that you sit down and work. It does offer rewards, though

This serious, authoritative book turned me on to jazz. The author presents the material in bite size chunks. He has a gift for pulling structure from the chaos. This is not Jazz-For-Dummies. The reader is expected to be hard working, but needs no previous experience with jazz. The reader should have access to a piano to play the various chord sequences, but the lessons are invaluable to all instrumentalists.

One downside to this book it that you have to learn the author's unusual notation (figured bass), but the power of this notation is also the book's greatest strength. The notation reveals the structure of jazz and the similarities between the songs. And, hey, Bach used the same notation, so it can't be all bad.

The author gives the chord changes to many common jazz songs. Usually no particular artist or recording is referenced. So, the reader has to hunt around to find performances that resemble the changes the author has given.

Once again, this is my favorite book on the subject. It is never unnecessarily pedantic. It never waters down difficult concepts. The way the book talks about music is how musicians think about music. If this book is not enough, other books in this series by John Mehegan pick up where this one leaves off.

Ritson tries to demonstate the simplicity of the swing (one side pulls back, other side pulls through) but also provides discussion of more complex aspects of tweaking the swing for different situations. Lots of clear photos follow the text. Both beginners and more advanced golfers should find plenty of food for thought in this volume. Perhaps the best endorsement of this book would be this: I have shot two 80s in my life and both came on the morning following a full reading of this book. Hope it works for you.

If you already have his autiobiography (Take Me Home) and any other greatest hits songbook, save your money (although it does have one of my photos, uncredited, of course) :)

The 2CV is chronicled and detailed from its design brief to the last model to roll off the assembly line in 1990. The title of this book implies that the history of the 2CV is an ongoing saga and of course it is, in fact we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of the 2CV next year. The conception and birth of the 2CV was not an easy delivery. The gestation period was delayed by the advent of World War II, and the Citroen designers used this period to perfect a design that was being rushed for the 1939 Paris Auto Salon. Citroen 2CV documents the design considerations that were part of the 2CVs development and led to the birth of a 2CV, in 1948, that was quite a bit different from the 2CV that would have appeared at the 1939 Salon. The further evolution of the 2CV is detailed with model changes and special versions explained. The 2CVs family relations; the Sahara, The Mehari, and the Vans are presented along with the AMI-6 & AMI-8 and the Dyane. The Parentage of the 2CV is explored with an excellent chapter on Pierre-Jules Boulanger, André Lefebvre, Flamino Bertoni, and Walter Becchia. If you do not now recognize this names, you most certainly will from now on. The 2CV in the UK is well presented with great photos of the 2CV pick-up that was used by the Royal Marines and the most unlikely 2CV of all, the Bijou, a British attempt at an up-market 2CV. We next get a quick look at the 2CVs adventures, 2 CV advertising and to put the 2CV in context, its contemporary competitors Fiat, Simca, Renault and VW. The book concludes with a look at the last days of the 2CV production line. Citroen 2CV will be enjoyed by all. Review from Citroen Quarterly Vol 15#4, Oct 1997

After purchasing this audio novel I was initially upset because it was only an hour long. I much prefer my audio novels to be at least 2 hours long. With a foul mode in place I began to listen to the tape. In a few short minutes I was quickly swept up into the story, recogizing my favorite Star Trek actors as they played their parts. The audio novel although short has an excellant production quality. The story is concise and easy to follow. I would like to thank John DeLancie for directing this project and for the participaction of the other actors. I would not hesitate to recommend this audio novel and look forward to others from John DeLancy, Lenard Nimoy and the rest of the Star Trek gang. (The RAMA science fiction series would be great.) Please make them at least 2 hours though.

James Wambaugh has a long and somewhat successful history of writing both fictional and non-fictional stories. From Onionfield to The Blooding his style remains the same, detailed but fast-paced enough to always keep the reader interested with the feeling that he has been there and done all this before. The greatest criticism of Wambaugh is his sometimes quirky use of syntax, which leaves the reader with the question of what is the meaning of his sentence or paragraph. Putting that aside, as in The Blooding, Wambaugh makes a factual and sometimes boring story come alive for the reader of Fire Lover. He even did quite well in the middle of the book when he had to cover the second trial and all of its detail without being too repetitious and going over all that went on in the first trial. After all there is only so much you can write about a fire and keep the reader's interest alive. In all, I liked the book and give it my recommendation.

Joseph Wambaugh said a couple books ago that he would never write nonfiction again since he always got sued. I'm glad he decided differently, because I really enjoyed FIRE LOVER. The writing is good, it's gripping, and a good character study, too. It does slow down a bit during the trial, but obviously the prosecuting of the crimes is going to be less rivetting than the actually comitting of the crimes. An inadvertant red herring is thrown into the mix, that disappoints in the end. But Wambaugh couldn't change the facts just to suit me. But overall a fine book. I thought the GOLDEN ORANGE was so bad, I'd given up on Wambaugh and didn't bother to read FINNEGAN'S WEEK. But I'm glad I bothered to read FIRE LOVER. In reference to a previous comment of why didn't Wambaugh include photos and diagrams; Wambaugh has always based the style of his nonfiction books on Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD. When Wambaugh asked Capote why he didn't include photos, Capote said he wanted IN COLD BLOOD to read like novel, and have the narrative alone serve the reader, and Wambaugh has followed Capote's lead ever since.

I have always enjoyed Joseph Wambaugh. It seems a few years ago, he went through a "dark" period when his books were almost if not actually depressing. But "Fire Lover" is a very good book. What I like about Wambaugh is his insight into people and organizations. The interplay between the police departments, the fire departsments, the Federal Arson invesigators, etc, is very very interesting. Fire lover is a true story about a serial arsonist who is also the arson investigator for Glendale, California. He may have been the most prolific arsonist of the 20th century.

My only complaint is that the trial part of the book might be too long. But as usual, Wambaugh shows his insights into how the system works, or sometimes does not work. The system worked here, but it was a very long journey.

I think over the writing career of Joseph Wambaugh, we owe him a debt for telling us outsiders how police departments and now fire departments actually work. I feel we owe them a debt that they do work. The book is a very good read.

I agree 100% with the reader who writes that Leonard's prose is borderline incoherent. Borderline is too nice! It's vulgar mania dressed up to look like a real literary style. What rubbish! I'm less offended by Leonard's tiresome, slack, unexercised, undemanding leftism (though anyone who can call Giuliani's reign in New York "Mussolini meantime", as Leonard does in his Grace Paly piece, is not only being morally offesnive, but shows that he simply doesan't respect the weight and actual meaning of words: in itself, a disqualification for a man who poses as a critic.) No, it's not the politics so much that offends me as the vulgar literary sensibility, whipping itself up into hysterias, so that readers are fooled into thinking that here is a journalistic Thomas Pynchon. The prose is truly crass, tin-eared, clumsy, and exhibitionist. What this man thinks of a "poetry" is just the kind of foolish, bumbling-but-apparently-flashy language that rock stars put on the backs of records, and that rock journalists use in publications like NME. God help us that this man has set himself up as a critic. (But then, this is someone who thinks that Barbara Kingsolver is "our very own Gordimer or Lessing": q.e.d., not a literary mind.)

I found this book to be one of the more unusual things I've ever read. It had multiple personalities; Entertaining, Enlightening, Humbling, Compelling, Strange, Compelling, and I'm sure I'm missing a few. The vocabulary is unbelievable. Don't touch this book without a dictionary in-hand. However, the writing is captivating. It alone is worth the price of reading about writers and works you've never heard of, with attendant feelings of functional illiteracy. I put this book down often. But, I always picked it back up. It was a unique read.

It's not a word I use lightly, but there's no better way to describe John Leonard than to say he's a genius. He certainly won't appeal to everyone's taste, but if you like essays written by a man whose mind ranges over the whole course of human history and knowledge, and who isn't afraid to bring all that knowledge together in a single sentence, then here's the guy for you. Not only is he a genius, but he's also terribly witty, and you don't get that from a lot of geniuses.

But you won't like Leonard if all you want from an essay about a book is an answer to the question, "Should I read it?" or if you are a fan of such folks as Newt Gingrich, Ronald Reagan, or Attila the Hun. (But don't think Leonard's leftism is knee-jerk; there's a wonderful essay in here about smoking, in which he confesses, "I stick burning leaves in my foodhole," and goes on to explore his life as a social pariah among all of his purer-than-thou lefty friends.)

Every page herein is suffused with a stunning literacy, and Leonard drops titles the way most of us shed skin. I would love to spy on him for a day, because I don't know how he has crammed so much knowledge into himself. He writes brilliantly about the whole history of cyberpunk, then goes on to fine surveys of African literature, Israeli literature, and everything that ever hit a page in the USA. But Leonard knows more than books, for he seems to have seen at least one episode of every television show ever created and made it to all of the major movies of the past fifty years or so. He's got a good grasp of American political history, and he seems to have some sort of social life. He's even got time for AA meetings.

I don't know how he does it, but thank whatever deity you can imagine for him. He's a wizard with words, an encyclopedia of everything, but more than that he's got vision, scruples, morality. And he wants to find the same in other people. He writes, "I like to be reminded that once there were writers for whom the convulsions of our time were a revelation, an insult or a wound, instead of a thesis topic cross-linked in a Nexis search to syndicate a rant."

Sure, Leonard's references sometimes cross themselves into a feedback loop, and he's got a love of paragraph-long lists, and he has a tendency to recycle himself from previous books and articles (having read all of Leonard's collections of essays over the years, I've heard that satire means "never having to say you're sorry", as does arch-conservatism, while standard liberalism means "always having to say you're sorry", but the phrase is so great I don't mind Leonard's apparent determination to keep it in perpetual print). His indulgences and habits are a part of his charm, and I wouldn't want him to lose any of it. There is not and has never been a critic like John Leonard -- perhaps there has never even been any sort of writer like him. But I haven't read quite enough to speak authoritatively on every writer who ever lived; Leonard has, though, so I'll defer to him.

Bought this book a while ago but just started reading it.

This book is unique in that it seems to use the proper proportion of prose, formula and examples and yet somehow manages to be totally opaque to me. Maybe its my frame of mind or something but after going through one chapter I simply cannot force myself to read it any more. The oddest part is that I'm reasonably familiar with the material that I've already read.

The authors provide a graduate level (masters level) text for Bayesian methods. In the first chapter they introduce Fisherian statistical concepts and emphasize the likelihood methods. As Bayesian methods are introduced they often show how similar they are to the Fisherian methods when the prior distributions are diffuse or the sample size is large.

The techniques are illustrated through many practical examples. This book is also intended for practitioners of statistical methods who might find use for Bayesian methods. Jimmie Savage's normative theory for decision making is introduced in Chapter 4. Expected utility is the basis for optimum decisions in the Bayesian framework. However, expected utility is not always a sensible procedure and the authors offer modifications.

Topics include inference on single parameter and multiparameter distributions, linear models, categorical data analysis and time series methods. In Chapter 6 nonlinear models are considered and techniques for approximating the multidimensional integrals that need to be evaluated for Bayesian posterior and predictive distributions are given. These include numerical and Monte Carlo integration, Laplacian methods, importance sampling and Markov Chain Monte Carlo Methods. A nice list of references is provided in the back of the book.

Reading it, you could understand more detail about its industrial application. It was very nice guidebook on Bayesian analysis. I thought that this book was able to on your desktop for helping you work or research.