The complete and virtually unabridged biography of the greatest band of all time is a must-have for any fan. It details the lifes of Freddie, Brian, John and Roger from their respective births, and leaves little out (apart from the malicious gossip that so frequently found in the tabloid papers about them).

The book is written by Jacky Smith (nee Gunn), the manageress of the Offical International Queen Fan Club (which is now the longesy running fan club of all time) and Jim Jenkins, a long time fan who was at most of the concerts Queen ever gave, so the authority from both people is a good one. You cane expect everything in the book to be completetly factual, and absolutley respectful to Queen and their families.

Since everyone else has given this book such good reviews i cant help doing the same, this book really explain the things worth to know about the legendarious rock band Queen. From their very first song and how Brian with his father built his very special guitar to the sad end for Freddie. A whole lot of pictures and things we fanatics really like. Just great book!

If you are a Queen 'FANATIC", or just a newbie looking into a possible interest in the band Queen, this book is for you. From the very beginning we see each band member grow up and come together. We see how this great enigma became, and how so tragically it ended. I have read this book more than 5 times, and plan to read it some more. Kudos to Jackie!!

This is a great story for anyone that is into imagination! Let Earl take you on an adventurous journey! The Trees have them down and out Blues and to resuce is no other than Outer Space Earl.

This book was exciting from the start! Earl and Grandpa are out to help save the tress because of their "Blues!" For my younger child the book was a great tool for helping her learn how to read, and most importantly she had enjoyed it!

This book is very well written and so much fun. Grandpa and Earl really keep you entertained with their silly tactics, and we cannot wait for the next adventure that Outer Space Earl takes us on! Love this book and these characters!

Let me tell you, my children read this book and the excitment that they recieved is out of this world! The characters, Ohff and Grote were absloutly amazing! The animation is fun and colorful! If my children loved it so will yours - Highly recommended!!!

I am a regular reader of the Chicago Parent Magazine, and just recently I read an article in the March 2002 edition that gives the Yuggs a great review! I purchased the book, and I could not even disagree a bit, I logged on and picked it up, absolutley amazing. This story is filled with great characters and very animated illustrations. This will definitly be able to fullfill the imagination of your children as it did for mine!

The illustrations were fantastic depicting a fun and goofy story! The story flows very well and the message is simple and understanding. A great book for all the young ones!

This audio tape is wonderful! I enjoyed every second. Bought it for a road trip with some friends and we ended up ordering their tapes during the trip and listening to them on the way back laughing when the tape nailed each of us to a "T." The tape is easy to follow and understand and the music throughout the tape even seemed to fit my sign. This is a great tape, don't think twice, for yourself, for gifts, whatever!

Who hasn't turned their nose up at all of those ubiquitous horoscopes that follow us from magazine to newspaper and back again. But Brian Hill has created an amazing tool for us to really use in our life, to be more of who we are, design a life around our strengths and, at the very least, minimize our weaknesses if not actually turn them more positive qualities. I hope this is just the start of information from Brian on reaching for our innate greatness.

This is one of the best guitar building books out there. It helps you with many doubts that arise during the process of building a guitar, plus details the construction of 3 major projects: A bolt on guitar, a set neck guitar, and a bass. Following every project step by step, you get coverage of mostly all processes involved in any kind of electric guitar building.
In my own project I had a strong doubt about neck angle, since I was using a TOM bridge, but this book helped me clear all that.

Filled with black and white illustrations all along, the book deals with designing a body, cutting it, binding it, building a neck from scratch, gluing or bolting it and dealing with electronics, to finally achieving high gloss finish. There is also a very useful set of templates for pickup routing of guitars and basses. In all, with this book and supported by the guitar maker's forums on the net, I was able to build my first guitar. Check my website for pics of my project.
Peace

While I was expecting a little more on the end of actual "blueprints" on guitar making (which this book has none of). It does have very helpful schematics for pickup wiring and very very useful tables on fret lengths of all guitar scales.

With the negative out of the way... This book is great. It will take you through the construction of three guitars. A solid-body attached neck PRS style guitar, a bolt-on neck Tele style and a neck-through style bass. Mr. Hiscock then goes on to show the limitless possibilities for combining the styles.

His reasoning for not putting in an "blueprints" for a guitar were simple. #1, a custom made guitar is like a fingerprint. It is unique and personal to you. You make what is comfortable and good for you. If he gave you blueprints, you'd just be recreating a Melvyn Hiscock guitar. #2 (not mentioned, but implied) Copyright reasons. He can't go around telling you how to make a Fender Strat... That would just be bad news for him if Fender ever found out.

Anyway, 4-1/2 stars... but I can't do that here, so 5.

From constructing the neck to designing and gluing the body together, Hiscock leads you through the whole process. If you've been playing with the though of making your own guitar but need a push, this book will give you the courage and the inspiration you need. Mind you that constructing your own guitar will not be a simple task. Even with the book in hand you still need to put your own brains to work because this book will not give you a blueprint. Instead you are encouraged to make you own design though if you really want to, you can make the guitar look similar as the one the author makes.

What I really like about this book is that it does not describe the making of just one electric guitar. The author will lead you through 3 guitar designs, a Gibson style guitar and a Fender style guitar. The big difference between the two is how the neck is attached to the body, glued versus bold on. Also Hiscock explains the making of a through-neck 8 string bass guitar. This will give you the knowledge of starting to experiment on your own and you will be able to truly make a guitar to your own likings.

This is in my opinion the best book if you would like to make your own electric guitar. However the "relaxed" style of writing can be a little annoying sometimes. For those of you who never seen the TV series Catweasel (broadcasted in Great Britain in the 70ties), and few have in the US, a title like Electrickery will not be understood. If you know that you can not buy elephant tusk in the USA unless it was imported before (I believe) 1970, then a picture of a elephant to show that tusk looks better on a elephant than on a guitar is just plain weird. But let's blame it on the famous British humor. And if I may nitpick, the font used for the paragraphs is ill chosen.

I give this book 5 stars because of it's detail and Hiscock explains things very clear. Still if you don't know your chisel from your bandsaw, constructing a guitar may not be the best choice for your first project. But combine some basic woodworking skills and a little common sense and this book will enable you to make a guitar that is structurally sound and a joy to play.

I''ve tried a number of systems to learn Japanse from the Pimsleur tapes (good if all you need to do is speak & understand) to Japanese for Busy People and some online systems. I really like the Interactive Japanese approach of mixing in the kana (Japanese characters) from the start. Not only does it help as you pursue the language further, it gives visual learners one more handle to grab onto. Great coverage of the culture and geography, as well. I really wish this series could have been continued.

I highly recommend this for those wishing to learn Japanese in a short period of time. It teaches practical Japanese in an easy, readable way. Although it is for use in the classroom, I have found that it also works great for self-study. It teaches you the Hiragana, one of the three forms of Japanese writing, from the start and some of the common Kanji. But I highly recommend that you obtain both the book and the tapes as it is difficult to learn correct pronunciation without hearing it being spoken.

I used this method (book and tape) to teach myself Japanese, not that I speak it fluently (I would need to move to Japan for a while for this) but it worked beautifully well.

First the approach is pleasant and fun. After having tried several other teaching methods, this is the one that clicked for me. Mostly because it does not give you a choice: you learn to spell a word in Hiragana, Katakana or Kanji and next time you come across the word it is no longer spelled out in Latin alphabet. This way you HAVE to assimilate alphabet, spelling and meaning before you can move forward.

Highly recommended.

1 star for the language learning, could have 4 or 5 for the communicational purpose. This might be a very good guide for a person wanting to go to Japan, it teaches lot's of communicational situations, but of he language itself it teaches almost nothing, almost no (!) grammar and only a part of the script. At this rithym you'll need until volume 20.

Interactive Japanese 1 makes learning Japanese fairly easy considering the difficulties this language presents to the beginner. Despite its title, Interactive Japanese 1 is excellent for studying the language on your own (as I am doing). It definitely makes you learn the hiragana and a couple of kanjis as you go along but misses out on the katakana. However, it is a little slow in its progress in discussing grammatical issues. Now, I am waiting for volume 2!

Out of all the books I've bought to learn Japanese, this is by far the best. Instead of teaching first the hiragana, then the grammar, then the syntax, it combines little bits of each in each lesson. That way, instead of trying to learn by rote, you have a way to associate each hiragana with particular words, in a gradual manner. The homework is very good at making you learn the associated lessons. I did find one error. On page 63, there is a Practice #5.3 that has the seasons switched around. It makes it hard to know if you misunderstood something unless you have someone to ask. Other than that, I highly recommend this book to any Japanese language beginner.

I have read and re read this book and it enabled me to gain an insight into the person that is Brian May. It was easy to read and very informative but all second hand. There was no actual input by Brian himself just rehashing from other people who were there. It was not until I read the book that I realised he was himself a very well educated person. It offers insights into the music he writes and the angst he has experienced at several stages of his fairly public life. He comes across as a very nice and rather intense person. A wonderful book for die hard Queen and Brian May fans who want to get a little closer to their idol.

I was very disappointed with this TPB. The art and writing are both sub par. Especially the Ironman story which looks like it was written by a twelve year old and penciled by his kid brother. Really bad.
I think the Ultimate spider-man series is one of the best comics I've seen in years but this doesn't belong on the same shelf. The by-line says Bendis, but I don't believe it for a minute. I've read Bendis, I really like and respect Bendis. This is no Bendis (lol).
Seriously, do yourself a favor. Skip this one.

This hardcover edition of "Ultimate Marvel Team-up" encases the entire run of the series along with the "Ultimate Spider-man Super Special". If you want to see the artwork of a bevy of today's top comic talent, you have to buy this book. Ultimate Marvel Team-up was an anthology series, the artist changed with each story-arc, while the ever-dependable Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-man, Powers, Daredevil, Jinx) wrote each issue. Here's a quick outline of what to expect and why this book only get 4 stars from me:

THE GOOD: Everything after the 5th issue/chapter. Specifically issues 6-8, which contain the amazing Daredevil/Punisher story drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz. One of the best stories of the year and the real reason a comic fan has to own this book. Another huge highlight is the Jim Mahfood drawn Fantastic Four issue, it is hysterical, some of the funniest dialogue Bendis has ever written. The roster of artists for the "Ultimate Spider-man Super Special" is a who's who list of top artist's in the field today, and touches on nearly all the Marvel heroes not involved in the 16 issues of Team-Up.

THE BAD: Issues 2-5 are far from remarkable. When these issues originally came out, Bendis kept talking about a bigger picture, about these stories all going somewhere. Well, issues 2-5 were a setup for The Ultimates. 2 and 3 deal with the Hulk. 4 and 5 deal with Iron Man. The Hulk story isn't terrible, the art from Phil Hester(Green Arrow) is pretty good, but it doesn't live up to the stories following it. My biggest complaint with the Iron Man arc is that the art from Mike Allred(Madman, X-Force/X-Statix) was digitally colored, and Allred's retro style does not work with digital coloring. Why Laura Allred didn't do the coloring here is beyond me. The story's alright, but the coloring is beyond distracting.

THE UGLY: The first issue is awful, terrible, and every other negative word you can come up with. The story stinks and the art is wretched. Just skip it. Don't even read it. It's the one true eyesore in this beautiful book.

Ultimate Marvel Team-Up is the comic equivalent of a summer blockbuster movie- Lots of action, bare-bones plot, quick, hard-hitting fight sequences....

This beautiful book reprints Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #'s 1-16, featuring the young hero's meetings with Wolverine (Vs. Sabretooth), The Hulk, Iron Man, The Punisher and Daredevil, The Fantastic Four (Vs. The Skrulls), Man-Thing (& The Lizard), The X-Men, Doctor Strange (Vs. Xandu), The Black Widow, and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung-Fu. The art is by a wide variety of comic superstars, including Matt Wagner, Chynna Clugston-Major, Rick Mays, Terry Moore, Mike Allred, John Totleben, Ted McKeever, Bill Sienkiewicz, Phil Hester & Ande Parks, and many more. Writer Brian Michael Bendis continues his winning streak with some truly absorbing stories; How many writers can do a story where Spider-Man and the X-Men sit around in a mall food court TALKING and still make it a must-read? Truly superior stuff, highly recommended.