Convoluted stories of master criminals whose devious and clever schemes hoodwinked people for centuries. Sounds like a good plot for a novel, but it also accurately describes those 'stranger than fiction' types of stories to be found in Rosenblum's book.

Focusing on literary forgeries, he enlightens us to both the motives and the methods used by nine talented if devious men: George Psalamanzar, James Macpherson, Thomas Chatterton, Willim-Henry Ireland, John Payne Collier, George Gordon Byron, Vrain-Denis Lucas, Thomas James Wiese and Mark William Hoffman. While Rosenblum acknowledges that most of them worked for financial gain, the other complicated motives, fooling colleagues with whom they had grudges, manufacturing evidence to support a critical thesis, and just seeing if it could be done, make for interesting reading. I was especially fascinated with the first story in the book as George Psalamanzar manufactured 'information' about China and Formosa at t time when little actual information was available in Europe.

As a Sinologist by training, I have been much fascinated by early travel accounts of Europeans in the far East whose worldviews limited them interpreting the evidence before them in very peculiar ways.like the British who compared the 'red Indian's' to the Irish in the 18th and 19th centuries. George must have seem just as valid to his readers and auditors as many of those actual travelers, even though he had never left England. Rosenblum's introduction places these rogues in the context of other famous forgers, "From Antiquity to 1700", and reminds us that the current, financially-motivated reasons for forgery are time-bound. We think of literature too much as a financial property to really understand historical views of this activity such as 1) that it takes a great deal of talent to forge Shakespearean dramas such as did Ireland and Collier or to forge something in Ancient Greek or Latin that will be convincing to educated scholars. 2) That for many eras and civilizations plagiarism and forgery were considered a kind of compliment and the literary text was not separated from history, philosophy and other 'belles lettres' until very recently in the history of civilization.

While entertaining to read, then, Rosenblum's book is also extremely interesting and full of insights on the nature of authentication and the literary text. It should be required reading in library schools and graduate literary programs, and, I think, would be more useful and educational than many of the critical works that make up reading lists for MA's and Ph.D.s in our universities.

Jan Bogstad, Reviewer

The author layes a solid foundation going into detail on decompression theory and how the dive tables were derived. A comparison between the various no-decompression algorithyms and the computers using them is discussed. Multilevel and repetitive diving is covered and decompression theory is addressed but not in great detail. The explanations are clear and thorough even to the non-technical reader and should be required reading for future rescue divers and dive masters or anyone interested in purchasing a dive computer. The information is still accurate but the computers shown are dated. All the current computers still utilize the theory presented in the book

I found this book to be the perfect tool for putting together that "catch phrase" that will bring customers running to your door. Organized by subject matter instead of alphabet, this book helps you find just what you wanted to say!

Roget was born in England of French parentage and made the development of an English Language Thesaurus his life's work. He gained little recognition in his own lifetime but the results of his endeavours have been diligently embellished and supplemented by generations of academics so that now, when we need another word for the one in our mind, when we are seeking a word but it won't come to mind, when we want to put together that "catch phrase" that will bring our customers running to our door, we reach instinctively for Roget's Thesaurus. They're even a standard part of the kit for most Word Processing programs.

Organized both by subject matter and alphabetically, my Thesaurus is a pleasure to dive into. If I have one problem with it, it's that, having found the word I want, I keep reaing for the pure joy of the language. It's my firm belief that Roget has help keep the English language a rich, multi-cultural language that is understood worldwide.

I purchased a copy of Samsara at the Los Angeles Festival of Books and highly recommend for anyone who appreciates great writing. It is a thrilling tale of love, hate, and revenge that kept me turning pages all night. I loved all of the characters, the good, bad, and ugly. And, I loved the beauty of the read, even with the underlying violence. I think that's what impressed me the most, being transported to an exotic land populated by memorable characters. I've read Lewis' other books (Basha, Opal Eye Devil), and his writing lives on in my mind.

I first read the "Silver Kings: The Lives and Times of MacKay, Fair, Flood, and O'Brien, Lords of the Nevada Comstock Lode", because there was a family story that James G. Fair might be a lost relative. If he is it's quite distant, but the book was so interesting that I've since read everything I could get my hands on about the Comstock Lode and it's characters. Virginia City really did more as the birth place of the myths and truths of the Old West than did Tombstone or Dodge City. I am also an "Earp" buff and have read much available on the "Gun Fight" related characters. Even Samuel Clemens, later known as Mark Twain, was a reporter for the Virginia City newspaper during his early days. The book was fantastic. I'm glad to see it in reprint as I will give it as gifts to some of my friends. I had hunted long and hard for my old copy. If you like stories of the Old West you will enjoy this one. And the stories are true.
Senator Mike Fair
Oklahoma State Senator

This book "The Spiritual Canticle of the Soul and the Bridegroom written by St. John of the Cross is very beautiful and draws one very close to Christ. It tells of how we are each Christ's Beloved.

I purchased the Study Guide from a local bookstore the other day. It is very informative for the modern high school student, as I am. Although it is very detailed, I imagine the reader should read the poem for themselves, and interpret it to their views and use the guide as a reference guide. Somoene who loves poetry, I highly reccomend Paradise Lost as long as Paradise Regained. Both beautifully done, as I said in a previous review, "Milton is an absolute genius"

This book is stunningly simple and beautiful. Davidson's photographs capture the essence of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Each photograph tells a story and is worth pondering. The publisher did a great job reproducing the images. If the topic interests you, this is a "must have" collection of photographs by one of the great photographers of our time.

I have not had an opportunity to review the eight edition of Neil D. Van Sickle's "Modern Airmanship," but I can state unequivocally it is a first class publication. I was privileged to have contributed to several chapters of a previous edition and, thereby, know the accuracy and quality that goes into this book.

Myron W. Collier