Callas provides good musical guidance on many famous soprano arias. Reading the book almost brings her back to life.

This is a good book if you're looking for some musical insights from one of the greatest musicians. She talks about technique, expression, and the characters themselves. This book would probably not interest you if you're looking for a biography of Callas. This book is more focused on the music and her insights.

In 1971-72, several years absent from the operatic and performing stage, Maria Callas appeared in a series of master classes at Juilliard, which attracted attention far beyond the world of the admittedly famed music school at which they were held.

There were several reasons for this. At the time Callas was still the most famous opera singer in the world, as much for her entanglement in the lives of Aristotle Onassis and Jacqueline Kennedy as for her vocal and dramatic artistry. The format of the master class is a peculiar hybrid of individual lesson and public performance, both for the students and the teacher. As Ardoin and others have pointed out, whatever her concern for imparting her knowledge and experience to students, Callas undoubtedly saw the Juilliard classes as an opportunity to test the waters--appearing and even singing, under the guise of demonstrating, in public again to see if she could handle a possible return to her career.

Minus the extramusical baggage that surrounded them, and the excitement Callas' personal presence and vocal illustrations must have created, what remains of these master classes? These faithful transcriptions of many of the sessions give as good an idea as can be had without actually listening to tapes, and show that Callas was a scrupulous, detailed and demanding musical taskmaster. To operatic connoisseurs, there is much interest in the variants, cuts and cadenzas she suggests, illustrated in many musical examples which really need to be compared with published scores in order to obtain the clearest idea of her suggestions. One problem with the original edition was that the excerpts were riddled with printing mistakes--it remains to be seen how much, if any, of this has been rectified.

One is struck by the businesslike tone of much of the instruction, not at all like the embroidered scenarios of McNally's play, and how much Callas invokes her own teachers, such as Tullio Serafin, giving a real sense of the musical traditions of Italian opera. Ultimately, this book is mainly of interest to those who appreciate Callas the musician, not Callas the legendary diva. For such readers it repays careful perusal, though probably not all in one sitting. Amadeus Press is to be thanked for restoring this volume to the print catalogue.

The book was well written, but just did not meet my expectations. Wiht a new Brittany, and no experience training a gun dog, I was looking for more nuts and bolts. I was halfway through the book before we got to training. It was all about breeds, picking a puppy and a name, and selecting a collar and leash.

The whistle and hand signals section is helpful. The forced fetching instruction is good, and the training with pigeons is informative.

I only wish there was more step-by-step training guidelines "for dummies."

Gun Dogs: Playful Pup To Hunting Partner by master hunter and dog trainer John R. Falk is specifically written for anyone wanting to hunt with a canine companion, whether they are novice hunters and first-time dog owners or seasoned dog hunters with previous field-hunting experience. Superbly enhanced throughout with black and white photography, Gun Dogs comprehensively covers choosing a puppy (and naming it), the different breeds of dogs as the relate to hunting, the best training tools and equipment, selected a capable veterinarian, the basics of nonverbal communication, obedience training, and beginning field training. The debut title in the new Voyageur Press "Master Training Series" for training dogs, Gun Dogs is an invaluable and truly "user friendly" instructional reference for anyone wanting to hunt with dogs.

GURPS Y2K seems poised to be a good sourcebook for post-apocalyptic role-playing. Don't be put off by the name - this book contains much more than just the millennium bug.

Starting with a chapter on Y2K (which we know on 20-20 hindsight never became the calamity that some were predicting), there are ideas in this book for everything from a complete world-wide computer shutdown, to "Mad Max" type worlds, and even the biblical "Judgement Day", along with several others. There's also a section on a super-hero world suffering from post-apocalypse blues.

The "sidebars" (sections of the book along the sides of each page) contain even more material that can be used to put your game world in a state of chaos. Some of these sidebars beg to be put into whole worlds of their own.

But the book suffers slightly when it reads a little like a collection of articles about post-apocalypse scenarios in gaming, rather than a single world presented in RPG terms. The =nine= authors each contributed a section or two to this book, and only the excellent effort by Sean Punch to put it all together under one roof keeps this book from being merely a collection of unrelated after Armageddon articles.

I'd still recommend this book for people wanting to see what their campaign world would look like after a major catastrophe, or for people wanting to explore what happens after.

Well, overall the book was pretty well made. It touched upon many of the common topics and settings for a post holocaust envirnoment including everything from minor computer glitches to the Biblical apacalypse and "Mad Max" and "The Postman" type situations. Even alien invasion was discussed in the essays. All seven authors of the book provided well written source matterial. Y2k also gives information on realistic rioting and anarchy.

There was one point I did not like about the book though. It would make many references to other GURPS source books, some of which were out of print, for more material on a subject. I feel that some of the writing was judt put in a advertisements and "plug" for other books.

Personally, I wish they had touched more on the "Mad Max," "Postman," and "Fallout" (a post-apacalyptic computer game) scenarios, but I do realize that the book was created for post Y2K campaigns and that everyone does not like what I like.

Overall, though, the book provides good post distaster material.

I enjoyed this book. The characters are engaging, the ideas are clever, and the mysteries are well crafted. There is nothing to dislike about this book!

On the other hand, there's nothing to set the book apart from hundreds of others I've read. It's not a "must read" book.

My advice: buy it and keep it around for the next time you need some light, escapist reading. You'll enjoy it, but you won't fall in love with it.

This book is two short stories, or novellas with a novel between them. I've had the pleasure of hearing Dalmas read "A Most Singular Murder," but even if I'd just read it in the book, I'd still rate it highly. All three stories are tightly written, but without the complications for the sake of complication of some writers. The mysteries are very intricate and involved, and require the space they're given. I don't accept Dalmas' premises as a world-view, but find them very satisfactory as basis for a story, and, once one even conditionally accepts the premises, the story runs logically from there. Dalmas introduces us to some fascinating people and the story never drags. More proof that Dalmas continues to grow as a writer.

Unlike Leo Fender,Orville Gibson or C.F.Martin not much is generally known about these D'Angelico or D'Aquisto even though they are regarded as the greatest archtop builders in history. This book individually traces the lives and guitars of each man and features many rare and beautiful photographs.I found this book to be a fascinating insight into lives and work of two men who could only be described as the true masters of their craft.

Victoria Jones is a 28-year old Anglo-Indian (mixed Indian and European blood) living in Bhowani in the turbulent months leading to Indian independence. This novel explores her search for where she will belong in the "new" India- she does her searching through her liaisons with a fellow Anglo-Indian, an Indian (Sikh) and a British officer. It is a very good book, especially reading it from a historical/feminist perspective. It falls well will other novels of the British Raj - where Anglo-Indian women are depicted as sexual objects. The movie version of the book starring Ava Gardner does it justice, but it is always better to read the book instead!

This book is a right start on obtaining ideas and a foundation to proceed for further studies and progress in the practice of General Constractor's Test.

I am familiar with the wisdom that is told by John Paul Christ in his book, 'I Am The Master.' I've read quite a few books, and this book pulls it all together better than most. It is very well written, very easy to read and enjoyable. This information could benefit anyone who's on their way to Mastery. I am glad that this book shows us how much God loves us. It's sad that many people are afraid of our loving Creator. To me, this book is a classic and it has been one of my greatest honors that I am able to write one of the first reviews of it. I pray that this book will be read by many. For if it is there shall be a great rejoicing. People realizing their own true nature, there is no greater discovery.

Thanks,
Jonathan Bennett

This book is the second of the trilogy. It is much better written than the first. It is a captivating way to learn of Beethoven's life and times, and his thoughts and reactions to the turbulent events going on in Europe around him. My only difficultly is sometimes trying to discern what is conjecture on the part of the author, and what is documented fact. Definitely recommended!

It is well-known that using clichés is considered poor form in writing. However, there is often a fine, essentially nonexistent line between a cliché and an old truism with a great deal of wisdom. The title of this book is one form of what is perhaps the best of all the words of wisdom, namely to be the best, you must learn from the best. No one knew this better than Niels Henrik Abel, Norway's greatest mathematician. He wrote the following in the margin of one of his notebooks,

"It appears to me that if one wants to make progress in mathematics one should study the masters."

This book is a publication of some of the papers presented at an international conference on the History of Mathematics held in Kristiansand, Norway in 1988. It is fitting that Abel lived in that area for some time.
Reading about the actions of the masters is always refreshing and helps to improve your self-esteem. To know that even the great ones struggled and made colossal errors reminds us that mathematical progress is not linear, but extremely chaotic. If a chart could be made of the development of mathematics, it would exhibit a gross upward movement. However, if one was to perform an expansion transformation, the local behavior would resemble Brownian motion. It is also sad to be informed about some of the spiteful actions that even geniuses are capable of.
The range of topics covered in this collection of papers is wide and includes some of the applied mathematical motivations in the development of new areas of mathematics. It is reasonable to argue that most of the development of mathematics throughout history originated in "simple" problems that had to be solved. Problems from the simplification of calculations to the trajectories of cannonballs to a set of bridges in the old city of Konigsberg all served as the impetus that led to the creation of new mathematics. Many of the papers also present problems that can be used in college classes. It is good for us all to occasionally revisit the historical origins of the topics that we present and re-present in class after class. Looking at it from the perspective of those who created it is sometimes the best way to get new insights into the material, and many such items are found in this book.

Published in Journal of Recreational Mathematics, reprinted with permission.