Despite the pitfalls of trying to accurately and completely represent a bird species using just one or two photographs, the original 3-volume Audubon Master Guide was a ground-breaking resource for intermediate to advanced birding, with information on many rare and/or hard-to-identify species. Unfortunately, the guide is really showing its age. I used to use it on every birding trip, but so many new species have been recorded, so many names have changed, and so many new resources have become available that the Master Guide has been collecting dust on my bookshelf for several years now. I now rely on such specialty guides as A Field Guide to Advanced Birding, A Guide to the Identification and Natural History of Sparrows of the United States and Canada, A Photographic Guide to North American Raptors, and A Field Guide to Warblers. I'm also anxiously awaiting the release this year of the Audubon Master Guide by David Sibley (which despite its name will bear very little resemblance to this 3-volume set) and the forthcoming "back-to-basics" field guide by Ken Kaufman.

Every serious birder should have the Master Guide. Unforntunately it is out of print and until the publisher decides to release it again so that one can have the complete set of all three volumes, it will leave a void in one's birding library. It might be out of date (1983), but the photographs for the most part as well as the text are extremely helpful when used in conjunction with other field guides. Sometimes it is the guide that will finally answer the question of what bird was that when the other guides have left you guessing. Here's hoping the publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, will release all three volumes again real soon! stormpetrel@msn.com

I looked for a long time for the best book with photos not someones idea what the birds look like. Also it gives excellent data on identification, breeding, habitat and comparisons

I studied Ben Graham, Warren Buffett and Phil Fisher fairly carefully and came to this book after the fact. And I was surprised how thoroughly John Train neatly encapsulates the approaches of these investment masters. The chapter on Ben Graham may in fact be the definitive place to start one's study of this great thinker's initially intimidating body of work.

I'd give the book 5 stars, but the author sometimes uses finance terms loosely when clarity is absolutely critical (when he's describing key financial insights). For instance, in the chapter on Warren Buffett, Train notes that one of the ways Buffett distinguishes winners from losers via the balance sheet is to make sure payables are more than offset by receivables. Train's description appears to provide a key insight, but it's vague to the point of being meaningless. (He does it again in his follow-up book THE NEW MONEY MASTERS when in a discription of how Train's firm estimates approximate growth in unit sales from financial statements, he writes that he multiplies "the retained operating margin on sales and the turnover rate of gross operating assets.")

If you want to read a concise book about the investment styles and philosophies of historic "golden age" investors this book might be the one for you. Any student considering asset management as a career should read this one as well as The New Money Masters, its counterpart that highlights investors post 1975 or so.

I would encourage everyone to understand the difference from this book and its latter brother, the NEW MONEY MASTERS. This book is primarily focused on investors that became household names via the companies that are their legacy such as T. Rowe Price, John Templeton and Warren Buffett. Other notable investors are Paul Cabot, Philip Fisher, Benjamin Graham, Stanley Kroll, Larry Tisch, and Robert Wilson. If you want to know how the experts do it, this is a great anthology to get you started. Listen to the best and forget the rest!

Both of Train's books are in the form of interviews he has with them. Train's writing is crisp and entertaining, and his interviews uncover many pearls of wisdom applicable to any investor's philosophy.

The Money Masters covers the origins of the value and growth philosophies of investing that many managers practice variations of today. The sections on Ben Graham and Sir John Templeton both outline the development of the fundamental approach to valuation as well as its original application in stock markets throughout the world. Phil Fisher and T. Rowe Price represent the two most celebrated proponents of what has come to be known as the growth strategy, adding the additional rigor of another layer of criteria to the value-style approach. Warren Buffett stands as one of the first great synthesizers of the ideas of both Graham and Fisher, while other investors like Larry Tisch represent variations on one particular strand, in Tisch's case that being value-investing.

If anyone is interested in books on the people behind the financial industry read Money Masters, New Money Masters, Predators Ball, Money Culture, Den of Theives and F.I.A.S.C.O. 25 Investment Classics and Goldman Sachs: the Culture of Success are other notable books. I gave the book 4 stars because; while it was very concise and well written I didn't find any information within the book that was of great help to me. It was entertaining and informative but not ground breaking or made me say "AH HAH" or have that light bulb go off in my head.

Perhaps the best place to start learning about investing. Read the conclusions first, then read the book, then re-read the conclusions. Peter Lynch said he read this book 3 times. I have read it probably 5 times over the years (Lynch may have caught up by now). I would give this more than 5 stars if I could. After reading the Money Masters, then you may be ready for The Intelligent Investor (Graham), A Random Walk down Wall St (Malkiel), & Where are the Customers Yachts (Schwed). then start investing for real. VERY readable, VERY enjoyable, BEST insights.

I happened to pick this book up at a local Half Price Book seller near my home. It had some great information I needed for a school report, by nearly any of my class understood it. It still has some great theories and is a great read!

Excellent presentation of the latest theories about the origin of the universe, like the 'no boundary condition' (Hawking and Hartle), the quantum origin, the inflation period (Guth) or superstrings.
This book is more a scientific explanation with charts and dwawings, but - not always easy - understandable for the layman.
I missed the speculation of a John Gribbin or a Martin Rees.
As in his other excellent book 'Theories of Everything', the author believes that "One day we may be able to say something about the origin of our own cosmic neighbourhood. But we can never know the origins of the universe. The deepest secrets are the ones that keep themselves."

For anyone that enjoyed A Brief History of Time this is a excellent follow up. Great explanation of inflation and the possibilty of a non-singularity beginning of the universe.

As one who has an extensive libary of MLM/Network Marketing books, I have to give this book a POOR review. This books' title leads one to believe that it'll help teach you how to prospect. Yet, all it does is re-iterate several of the principals that you'll find in practically every MLM/Network Marketing training book. It won't teach you anything that you can't find in a more complete book. There is alot of fluff that is put in there (in my opinion) that just takes up space. If you are reading this book to learn how to better prospector for your MLM/Networking business, you'll be better off looking elsewhere. There are lots of better books on the market.

I have read numerous books involving MLM, and found this to be the best yet. I have read other books by the late John Kalench and enjoy his style and attention grabing words.

This book really helped me. My downline has exploded and I have joined a company that signed up 11893 members in less than 30 days. We are flying.

If you desire to understand better the principles and processes involved with the preparation and delivery of the expository sermon, this is the book you need.

Athough the book is not a "How To" for expository preaching, it does give helpful advise for the study and preparation of the expository sermon. Never before did I realize all of the different elements that are involved in accurately proclaiming the Word of God. By applying these easy to understand principles of study and delivery, there is no doubt that my preaching has progressed to the next level.

If preaching the Word with accuracy and clarity is your desire in ministry, this book is a must.

The Master's Seminary Manual on Expository Preaching
The purpose of this 410-page comprehensive volume is "to motivate and equip this and the next generation of Christian leaders to provide wholesome spiritual nourishment for God's people from His Word." It is a compilation of essays by John MacArthur and eight members of his faculty at The Master's Seminary in Sun Valley, California. The volume is designed to be a condensed version of the seminary's expository preaching program. It is divided into five parts and nineteen chapters. The first section is essentially an apologetic for the necessity of expository preaching. Section two deals with the preacher as a man of God, a man of prayer and a man of the Word. The third section covers hermeneutics, exegesis, grammatical analysis, study tools, and study methods. Section four examines the preparation of the expository message. The final section looks at effectively delivering the message.

"Rediscovering Expository Preaching" is well written, thorough, challenging, inspiring, and instructional. Only those students proficient in Biblical languages would be capable of fully utilizing the book's instructions; Yet, any Christian hoping to improve his ability at interpreting and expounding Scriptural truth could benefit from this work. The authors guide you through the entire process of preparation to presentation of expository messages. Along the way you are given principles, guidelines, suggestions, motivations, and examples. You derive from this writing the highest regard for God's Word and a great sense of responsibility to proclaim it authentically, accurately and boldly. The authors present the material authoritatively, even on disputable matters. It isn't the first book I'd recommend on the subject of preaching but it is an outstanding presentation of the discipline and art of expository preaching.

John MacArthur's Rediscovering Expository Preaching was a very good book. It presents insights into preaching that are valuable to both the prospective preacher and to the non-preacher. I've found it interesting to listen to sermons after reading the book. Just as you enjoy and get more out of a sporting event when you understand the game, I believe that I am a better listener to sermons as a result of reading the book. I can better appreciate the effort put in by the preacher to try to make his message clear to the listeners. I can also use the knowledge I've gained by reading to book to more easily pull the key points out of the message. In addition to being a better listener, I feel that I am better prepared to evaluate other churches if we ever find ourselves in a situation, such as moving, where we have to look for a church. I am now in a better position to evaluate the quality of the preaching based on understanding the fundamentals of sound expository preaching.

Rediscovering Expository Preaching presented the historical and theological basis for expository preaching. A commitment to the inerrancy and sufficiency of scripture is one of the key motivators for the use of an expository approach to preaching. It was interesting to learn what expository preaching is not. It was also interesting to learn of the various benefits of preaching expositionally, most importantly being forced to deal with the whole of scripture.

Rediscovering Expository Preaching was also motivating. It made me want to be used of God through the preaching of His Word, if it is His will. I want to work hard to understand the Bible and be bold enough to proclaim it faithfully whether it is in season or not. The book presented both the responsibility and the privilege associated with preaching God's word. It is clearly not something to be taken lightly. Preaching is done in the presence of God and for His glory. There is no more serious business.

Rediscovering Expository Preaching also presents tips, techniques, and methods for studying the Bible, preparing your sermon, and finally presenting it. The information was easily accessible and practical. It will not be hard to put the methods taught in the book into practice.

GURPS: Who's Who I - the first volume of a (currently) two volume set of some of history's greatest and worst characters, make 52 people from history come to life for your GURPS and gaming campaigns.

Although another reviewer has listed all the characters that are covered by this book, it should be noted that they are not in alphabetical order in the book. Rather, they are in time period order, making it slightly harder to find a specific character unless you already have a good idea of when that character lived. Admittedly, there is a good Table of Contents and a good Index should you wish to find specific people who were written up using the GURPS RPG system for this book.

The book covers people who lived in the Ancient World and Dark Ages, The Middle Ages, The Renaissance, and the modern era. There are two small appendixes in the back that cover a few other characters and how the GURPS game mechanics were used to recreate these famous and infamous people.

And that is the strength of this book. These people were real people from history. It is very enlightening to see how real people are seen when measuring up to GURPS standards. Most people, when making themselves as a player character, or when creating historical NPC's for campaigns, tend to overestimate the amount of points that would be necessary to create that character.

There are also adventure seeds for each character, as well as a small group of people who never were that changed the history of their worlds. These "alternate earths" make a wonderful addition to this book, showing how history could be changed in strange ways by only one person.

I'd highly recommend this book to GURPS GM's that have historically based campaigns, and recommend this book to any student of history that might want to try to recreate a historical figure for another campaign. Non-GURPS GM's wil find the character stats fairly easy to convert to their favorite systems.

Note that these are 'most intriguing', not necessarily 'most influential', although many of them were pivotal historical figures. This book is interested in characters who would be fun and interesting in games - not just 'remove this person and the world would change forever'.

The book lists them in chronological order. In alphabetical order, they are: Akhenaten, Alexander the Great, Alexius I, Aristotle, Boudica, Tycho Brahe, Aaron Burr, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Byron, Julius Caesar, Chaucer, Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, Clive of India, "Two-Gun" Cohen, Constantine the Great, Cortes, Cromwell, Cyrus the Great, Darwin, David ben-Jesse, da Vinci, John Dee, Catherine di Medici, Alberto Santos Dumont, Einstein, Elizabeth I, Harald Hardradi, Ibn Battuta, Joan of Arc, Justinian I, Kipling, Leif Eriksson, Lovecraft, William Marshal, Mata Hari, Lola Montez, Mozart, Emperor Norton, Paracelsus, Peter the Great, Richelieu, Bartholomew Roberts, Shakespeare, Sei Shonagon, Tesla, Theodora, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Harriet Tubman, Vlad the Impaler, Xenophon, Shaka Zulu.

On the front cover of this edition are shown (clockwise from upper left, starting below the title): "Two-Gun" Cohen, Ahkenaten, Lovecraft, John Dee, Bartholomew Roberts, Mata Hari, ?, ?, Kipling, and Justinian.

Each character is profiled at a specific point in his or her life, with character generation information as well as a brief (usually 2-page) biography. The authors are careful to note which statistics need to be modified if the character is to be younger or older, or if you choose to use a different spin than GURPS did. A sidebar is generally included as well, speculating on how tampering with this character would change history.

For instance, the basic profile of Akhenaten just states that he's ugly. (The picture on the cover is incredibly flattering, compared with some statues.) Some of the alternate possibilities then listed are: Marfan's syndrome (add Bad Sight), Froelich's syndrome (add Sterile and figure out who fathered his children), a woman (add Secret, account for the kids), eunuch (possible Secret, again account for the kids). If you've never heard of him, he is the legendary heretic pharaoh, husband of Nefertiti; Tut succeeded him. If he had never lived, or had died young, Egypt might have continued as a strong empire for a much longer time, but the history of the world's religions might be quite different.

The GURPS basic profiles here are fairly neutral and objective (for instance, while they'll tell you how to put an Illuminated conspiracy-theory spin on a character, the base profile statistics don't make that kind of assumption).

Other books that might interest you:

- For examples of a *really* Illuminated Burton and Ch'in Shi Huang Ti, try Robert Doherty's _Area 51_ novels.

- For Emperor Norton (the first and only Emperor of the United States), see Neil Gaiman's _Brief Lives_ and (for a cameo, not mentioned in Who's Who) Barbara Hambly's _Ishmael_.

- Terry Pratchett's Leonard da Quirm is an even closer parody of da Vinci than he seems, once you've read about da Vinci's eccentricities. (See especially Pratchett's _Jingo_.)

- For a time-travelling spin on Caesar, try _The Cleopatra Crisis_ by Simon Hawke.

- For women in the Montez mold, try Rex Stout's _Under the Andes_.

This is another great resource book for GURPS. You know, if you are a medium-time GURPS player, it is often intriguing to figure out a normal person or even a historical one in atributes, advantages and disadvantages, skills, etc. This book just hands you out lots of information on those historical figures so you can know how much you should fear them (or not!). Well, anyway, i just loved this book, and i sure would advise you to seize the opportunity!

In the 1970s, when I was a student at a very Dispensationalist higher educational institution, I was told that Dispensationalism was, at that time, "in a state of stasis." On the one hand, stasis can denote stability, which can be a good thing. On the other hand, it can simply mean that nothing was happening to worsen an already unstable situation (as we see in some science fiction movies when an extremely sick patient is placed into stasis). Unfortunately for Dispensationalism, all evidence now points to the latter as being the true nature of the situation. ¶ Several years after I heard that remark, the chickens came home to roost on the house-of-cards that would later come to be known as "Revised Dispensationalism" -- revised to patch up some problems inherited from those who came to be known as "Classical Dispensationalists" -- and the inherent instability became apparent. Within a short time a "new, improved" brand of Dispensationalism hit the bookstore shelves: Progressive Dispensationalism. Time will tell whether the cards were replaced by something truly more substantial and enduring. ¶ One of the architects of Revised Dispensationalism, Charles C. Ryrie, was the consulting editor of the book under review here, "Issues in Dispensationalism." In the 1960s he wrote an irenic apologetic entitled "Dispensationalism Today." At that time Dispensationalism presented a unified front, and all of its opponents were to be found outside that system, mostly within Covenant theology camp of Reformed churches, and thus Ryrie's apologetic was directed at them. But the situation has changed dramatically since then, and now Ryrie's brand of Dispensationalism must contend with new opponents from within the camp -- even from the very institution where Ryrie himself was schooled in the system, and where he held court as one of its preeminent instructors for many years. ¶ On the back cover of the book we read a quote from Ryrie: "Dispensationalism dying? Hardly -- read on." Unfortunately, the book as a whole does not confirm Ryrie's confidence. If the older forms of Dispensationalism are not actually dying, they are certainly suffering from advanced hardening of the arteries and even severe atrophy. A patient in such a condition cannot have high hopes for longevity. This new volume could easily be subtitled "Dispensationalism Yesterday" for all the hope it extends to the future of the system it defends. Some of its more noteworthy essays are as follows: ¶ Ryrie's own "Update on Dispensationalism," which forms the first chapter, attempts to address what he believes are the weakest points of the new Progressive Dispensationalism (PD). Here he is strongest when he questions whether PD truly qualifies as Dispensationalism at all, and this is an issue that will have to be discussed and explored in future literature. But he is weakest when he challenges PD on its individual conclusions. ¶ Ryrie's rather icy contribution is followed by "Dispensational Hermeneutics," by Thomas Ice, who defends the method of literal interpretation, but does not deal with historic Dispensationalism's own failure to consistently apply that method. ¶ "The Biblical Meaning of Fulfillment," by Charles Dyer, is somewhat better, but disappoints by failing to deal with the crucial issue of initial or partial fulfillment. The Dispensational bias of using the Old Testament as its hermeneutical starting point also comes through loud and clear, which simply begs the very important question of whether this is the most appropriate place to start when defining "fulfillment" in the New Testament sense of the word. ¶ John F. Walvoord's "Biblical Kingdoms Compared and Contrasted" is helpful, but the questions he's raised have been answered in the book "Progressive Dispensationalism," by Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock. ¶ By far the worst contribution to this volume is found in "The New Covenant," by John R. Master, who very nearly (if not actually) returns to Lewis Sperry Chafer's long-discredited "Two New Covenant" theory to explain how the New Testament could apply the language of Jer. 31:31-34 (a prophecy addressed to ethnic Israel) to the church. ¶ Zane C. Hodges is up to his usual habits of incendiary overstatement in "A Dispensational Understanding of Acts 2." The credibility of his essay decreases as his use of hyper-emotional rhetorical slams increases. ¶ It's not that this book is a totally lost cause. There is some good stuff here, and even some tentative attempts at dialogue with the PD viewpoint, even though they sometimes seem artificial, and perhaps forced by the fact that the advocates of Classical and Revised Dispensationalism may feel backed into a corner, and are beginning to notice the substantial thinning of their ranks. ¶ Meanwhile the book serves the useful purpose of providing us with something to gauge the size of the fault-lines along which the world of Dispensationalism is currently dividing. It also shows how as paradigms shift, thought patterns that refuse to jump over to the new paradigm begin to harden and fossilize. The main question, I believe, is: as conservative evangelicals continue to make progress in the field of biblical hermeneutics, will Dispensationalists have any share in that progress, or will they be left behind? At this point the train is leaving the station, and many have yet to climb on board.

I've checked out this book from the library many times and am saddened to see that it's out of print. I would very much like to have my own copy of this book. Although it is nearly 10 years old, and thus deals with issues occurring back then (this is why I only give it 4 stars), it will help the Bible student answer some questions regarding dispensationalism and the kingdom of God. In fact, a reading of this book might cause those who are considering progressive dispensationalism (is it actually dispensationalism?) to see why the traditional view of dispensationalism makes good sense of history and the future. It answers some of the errors of progressive dispensationalism in advance, showing that Christ is not presently seated on the Davidic throne. (Progressives have yet to demonstrate where Scripture shows the Davidic throne as a heavenly throne; it is always pictured as a purely earthly throne.) This book is extremely helpful for those who are seriously considering the implications and some of the issues of Dispensationalism.

A valuable overview of a wide variety of Dispensational thought by many competent scholars within the Dispensational Community. I especially like the chapters on "Dispensational Hermeneutics" and "Israel and the Church."

Having read the first two volumes of Mr. Richardson's "A Life Of Picasso," and having thoroughly enjoyed them, I went into this book with high expectations. Overall, I was disappointed. Granted, the book is a collection of some of the articles that Mr. Richardson has written for popular magazines over the past 30 years or so. The audience for, say, a "Vanity Fair" article is not the same as the audience for a scholarly journal. But Mr. Richardson acknowledges in the preface that he had hundreds of articles to choose from. He states that he made a conscious decision not to include his more academic essays. That is a shame. Because some of the material that is included, about such people as Lucien Freud and Brice Marden, for example, gives a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been. Here is Lucien Freud on why he chooses to paint nudes of, almost exclusively, close friends and relatives: "Aesthetic and biological truth-telling is what my painting is all about.....the fact that a model would never find himself or herself in this particular situation were it not at the painter's behest makes for vulnerability.....vulnerability would not be an issue if I used professional models. But I don't, because professional models have been stared at so much that they have grown another skin. When they take their clothes off, they are not naked; their skin has become another garment." I would like to have seen more keen insights into the artistic process, such as this one, and less of the following (this is from the essay on Salvador Dali and his wife Gala): "One of my responsibilities (as vice president of the firm that acted as Dali's dealer) was keeping the artist to the terms of his contract- a one-man show of new work, every two years. This was no easy task, given that his eye was so bleary and his hand so shaky that assistants had taken over most of his work. I could not help feeling sorry for the seedy old conjurer with his rhinoceros-horn wand, leopard-skin overcoat, and designer whiskers, not to speak of his surreal breath." For the most part, you can't see any reason to dredge these essays up and put them into book form. There is a lot of gossip, particularly about peoples' sex lives (The Dalis, Vita Sackville-West, Peggy Guggenheim, etc.) and there are several pieces where Mr. Richardson takes on subjects that are just too easy to ridicule, such as Dr. Barnes, The Sitwells and Armand Hammer. (Hence, the title of my review.) Since Mr. Richardson states that he and his assistants had to do a lot of work to update these essays, there is really no excuse for some of the blatant errors- such as writing (in the essay on the Merchant/Ivory movie "Surviving Picasso"- where Richardson is trying to make the point that moviemakers have done a poor job of portraying major artists) that Anthony Quinn played van Gogh. (He did not. In "Lust For Life" Kirk Douglas played van Gogh and Quinn played Paul Gauguin.) In another piece, the statement is made that the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize is made in Norway. That's wrong. It is made in Stockholm, Sweden. In the essay on Pablito Picasso, Pablo's grandson, Mr. Richardson writes that it took seven years to settle the Picasso estate. As Picasso died in 1973, this would bring us to 1980. But the essay informs us that the estate was divided up in 1990. This may seem as though I am nitpicking. But, remember, Mr. Richardson is working on the third volume of his Picasso biography. The first two volumes have been rightly hailed as a tremendous achievement. The cheap shots and silly errors contained in "Sacred Monsters, Sacred Masters" are beneath a scholar of Mr. Richardson's ability. I still give this book three-stars, as even though the collection is uneven, there are several good essays. Besides the pieces on Lucien Freud and Brice Marden, which I mentioned earlier, there are thoughtful articles on Klee, Miro and Braque, for example. On the whole, however, one gets the impression that Mr. Richardson's publisher wanted something from him while they were waiting for the third volume of "A Life Of Picasso." There's nothing wrong with that. It's just that a little more care should have been taken in deciding what that something was going to be.

Author of a biography of Picasso (two volumes of the trilogy have been published thus far) and a memoir, Richardson has earned and deserves a reputation for having accumulated a wide range of professional and personal relationships with many of the most famous (and infamous) celebrities during the past 30+ years. In this volume, he has assembled and updated more than two dozen sketches, articles, profiles, etc. which previously appeared in various magazines. His subjects include those identified in the subtitle, with one exception recognizable by their last name: Beaton, Capote, Dali, Picasso, (Lucian) Freud, and Warhol as well as others whom many readers will not recognize unless the full name is provided: Albert Barnes, Eugenia Errazuriz, Peggy Guggenheim, Domenica Guilliaume, Armand Hammer, Jan Morris, and Anais Nin. As Richardson shares his mostly negative opinions of them and others, I wondered why he bothered to spend any time with them in the first place. Reactions to this book will largely be determined by one's degree of curiosity about a specific culture and its inhabitants. If you don't immediately recognize the names of those listed previously, you probably won't enjoy reading this book. Those who do read it are urged to keep in mind that Richardson is neither a cultural historian nor an investigative reporter. Hardly a neutral, objective observer. He permits the reader to accompany him as he roams (via reminiscences) through a world to which most of us would otherwise not have access.

Sacred Monsters, Sacred Masters provides a mix of essays on artists, writers and tycoons, each illustrated with a photo or piece of art and selected by the author because they are about special people he's known. While non-artists are included, this is reviewed here for its focus on many of the fine artists Richardson has encountered, from Dali and Warhol to Marden and Picasso. Sacred Monsters, Sacred Masters is an intriguing collection of images and insights.

This book provides an interesting overview of three men who were instrumental in guiding their disciplines into the modern age. Each of these men appear to have been fascinating characters, but they do not receive adequate coverage because of space limitations - some important details seem to have been glossed over or omitted entirely. The writing style is a little irritating in parts and there is a annoying lack of proofreading. However, it is still worth a read.

For an overview of three major arts, a little history, or just an enjoyable read, Stevens does an admirable job. Although he does have some slight bias toward Ueshiba and Aikido, the book is largely unbiased and provides a good, quick overview of Judo, Shotokan Karate, and Aikido. If you're looking for some basic understanding and that quick bit of history, this little book is a good choice.

This is an excellent historical work comparing the three great masters and founders of Judo, Karate, and Aikido.

John A. Wheeler is not only of the world's leading physicists but he is a great teacher. Besides writing an excellent popular introduction to Relativity theory "Gravity And Spacetime" he is co-writer of the most popular academic work on General Relativity "Gravitation" and also of a superb textbook introducing undergraduates to Special Relativity "Spacetime Physics". Both Professor's Wheeler popular works and text books are clear, user friendly expositions of Relativity Theory. So it was with great anticipation that I started Wheeler's collections of essays "At Home In The Universe".

Unfortunately many of the essays are directed at the professional scientist and are beyond the level of even the well read amateur. Reading some of Professor Wheeler's discussions of the philosophy of science is like being thrown into a discussion being conducted by people who have known each other for a very long time and have developed a special language. For instance, "With a slight rewording of Bohr's formulation, we say, 'The use of certain concepts in the description of nature automatically excludes the use of other concepts, which however, in another connection are equally necessary for the description of the phenomenon.'"

There are some gems in this book, though. John A. Wheeler seems to have personally known every great scientist of the Twentieth Century: Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Richard Feynman, Andrei Sakharov, Kurt Godel, John von Neumann, Steven Weinberg. His comments on them and their work are invaluable.

Wheeler also has some interesting comments on the risks of a nuclear energy. One does not need to accept his optimistic viewpoint in order to appreciate his insight.

"At Home In The Universe" is really two books: one for the professional scientist and another for the general public. If the volume was separated, we would have two excellent books instead of a single disappointing one.

John Archibald Wheeler is one of the landmark physicists of the 20th century. He has served as mentor to Richard Feynman, Kip Thorne and Hugh Everett (among others). He made significant contributions on the production of the A-bomb in WWII and also headed up the US efforts to make the H-bomb post WWII. He is, in a word, one of the most under-rated scientists of the current epoch.

In the present book, he spends most of his pages paying homage to people who dedicated their lives to science over the centuries. Such venerable names as Nicolaus Copernicus, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Hideki Yukawa, Maria Sklodowska Curie, Hermann Weyl and others form the objects of Wheeler's praise. Much of the book is made up of snippets of terse speeches which Wheeler has made at various symposiums and celebrations during his lengthy sojourn at Princeton. For example, there is a brief poem which he wrote for Joseph Henry which is included, as well as an oration on the "colleagueship at Princeton" which he delivered in 1966.

Interspersed throughout the book are essays which Wheeler has written on quantum mechanics, black holes, cosmology & the like. These are not the easiest pieces to read; I would suggest that readers browse through some preliminary books on QM before attempting to read Wheeler ("Taking The Quantum Leap" by Fred Alan Wolf might be a good place to start). The essays are well written & Wheeler uses some helpful analogies, but the going is still pretty rough. One of Wheeler's quotes which I really like (not from this book, though) is "If you haven't found something strange during the day, it hasn't been much of a day." One is sure to find many-a-strange scientific phenomenom in this book.

This book lacks a central, cohesive theme & the order in which it was put together does not follow any specific chronology or format. However, I don't think this takes away from the book's superb picture of what one of the premiere scientists of the 20th century spends his days thinking about. There are several passages in which he compares and contrasts science with philosophy as well as with the pragmatism of everyday existence. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in John Archibald Wheeler, physics, or the scientific community of Princeton university. Make yourself at home....