This book is a dream. If you like warmth, wood, natural finishes, natural shapes, a relative degree of simplicity where humaness rather than layers of chinz fabric or in-human white lines rules, truth, age and interiors full of love, then this is the most wonderful book on the subject I have ever seen. Of course its dominated by hundreds of full page, color photographs, each one stunning.

The main body of the book (about two thirds) is dominataed by chapters which divide up interior looks according to different countries. Miller covers English Country style, American colonial, Scandinavian/Swedish, Italin and Spanish plus a couple of others. Under each country, we get a tour of a number of special houses which represent the country style of that land. Under Italy, a beautiful Tuscan villa is visited room by room. Under England, a mid-sized Elizabethan home. And so on.

The remainder of the book, is divided into chapters which look at country style according to different rooms: kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms etc. Also a brief, but enlightening tour of country style through the ages - ie by period.

What more could you ask for? Sensational, utterly inspiring photographs - (is the text EVER really that useful in these sort of books?) Incidentally, if you love wood for your interiors, I also HIGHLY recommend Wooden Houses by the same author. all just glorious and real and definitely make one want to either move out of the city or somehow bring the warmth and beauty of this style into one's town house.

Wild Cards 7, written by George R. R. Martin and John J. Miller is one of the best Wild Cards books so far. Eventhough I don't generally like the mosaic novels, this is a prime example on how it should be done.

It's possible that it is so succesful because there are only two writers, which clearly helps the pace. And ofcourse, the fact that half the book is written by my favorite writer George R. R. Martin, speaks for itself.

Dead Man's Hand is a 'parallel novel' to Wild Cards VI: Ace in the Hole. It follows a plotline that was mentioned in WC6, but not exploared - Chrysalis's murder, and the attempts by Martin's Jay 'Popinjay' Acroyd and Miller's 'Yeoman' Brennan to find the killer.

Popinjay, previously meerely a secondary character, proves to be a classic Martin hero - witty, clever and seemingly superficial, there is more to him than meets the eye, although that is only revealed slowly. I must admit I was disappointed that we won't see the Turtle in this story, but Jay was a suitable compensation.

Yeoman was a different story. Although I have allways liked him, his new love affair with Jennifer 'Wraith' Maloy, is not only unlikely but uninteresting, unlike his past relation with Chrysalis. Now Brennan is little but your average action hero running aroung beating people up and delivering one liners.

As a mystery, the novel works rather well. Certainly the identity of the killer is unexpected. On the other hand, the authors don't quite let you feel this is a Mystery novel - you're too focused on the action/thrilelr plots resolving the story of T-Malice, the master that enslaved so many Wild Cards characters, and the Shadow Fist gang - who try to benefit from Chrysalis's murder.

One of the things I liked best about this novel was the focus on jokers. Although the heros are an ace and a nat, there are more Jokers active in this Wild Cards novel than in any other, many of them showing strength and courage. The Wild Cards series tends to focus on Aces, but I personnaly like the Jokers at least as much, and quite possibly more. The dark side of the Virus, so to speak, can be more fascinating than the more obvious Superhero stuff.

Overall Dead Man's Hand is a thrilling ride, filled with action, advanture, cool ideas, and an extremely powerful climax, in which there is a confrontation between several major characters. The confrontation at the end is one of the Wild Cards' strongest moments, and this novel certainly holds up there with DOWN AND DIRTY, as the best of the Wild Cards so far.

This is a fantastically good book, which challenges some conventional misconceptions about both Freudianism and early Soviet communism.

I would have appreciated more material on the attitude of some of the dissident Freudians, like Reich, toward the new Soviet Union. But the emphasis is on the other side of the equation -- the way the Leninists viewed Freudianism, and the psychoanalysts within their own country.

The material is complicated, but Miller makes it as straightforward as humanly possible.

We recently re-visited Death Valley after a period of 30 years. This time, we had the help of the wonderful guide, "Geology of Death Valley" by Martin and Wright. The wonderful pictures really match the splendor of the Valley. The text offers a bit more insight into the world of geology than the usual "been there, done that" kind of guide book one usually finds on display for our national parks. The book forms a bridge between the world of every day living and the wonders of geologic time -- a guide to appreciating the stratigraphy of the valley.

Cooperative learning at its finest is the motto of this little marvel. This book is filled with reproducibles and extensions to each unit. Everyday items are collected and graphed while children anxiously await the outcome of the data tallies. I really enjoyed the ease of using this book and the excitement that was generated by "great graphing."

If you like the informality, ease and practicality of country style decorating but find you branch out a bit, adding new ideas to your old favorites, you'll love this book. Amazingly, diverse treatments from far flung areas as Britain and France prove that they can blend with traditional American country styles. The 400 full-color photos in the book offer inspiration for those who prefer to get their ideas from pictures or demonstrations and there is also detailed information on how to achieve each style - from wall treatments to furniture and accessories.

Briefly, I have been looking for a good non-Microsoft book that will offer a critical review of their latest OS - Win95. I had a client with a number of problems after an upgrade and I found the answers immediatly when I looked in the index. I then looked for other odd index topics and found reference to all of them. Other books, including MS Press titles, did not have reference or at least the depth that this book did. Buy it. Greg Barry

This book is an invaluable tool for the student or
doctor studying the foot and ankle. By far, one
of the most thorough out there. Do not hesitate
because of price... well worth it.

The story of "Miles Standish: Plymouth Colony Leader" is really the story of the Pilgrims from more of a military perspective. After all, Standish was the Colony's military leader, one of the "Strangers" who was never one of the "Saints," as the Pilgrims called themselves. In fact, Standish became the only leader of the Plymouth Colony who never joined the Pilgrim church. Young readers of Susan Martins Miller's juvenile biography will probably get a more detailed look at the relationship between the Pilgrims and the Indians than they have ever read before. Certainly Miller gets well beyond what little will be mentioned in an American History textbook, even touching upon Standish's infamous temper and his nickname of "Captain Shrimp." This book is illustrated with historic paintings, drawings and etchings of the Pilgrims (several of which actually depict Standish), as well as contemporary photographs of the Plymouth Plantation, the restored Pilgrim town where actors portray the colonists. One of the other volumes in the Colonial Leaders series focuses on William Bradford, the governor of the Plymouth Colony; it will be interesting to see how it serves as a complementary account of the religious and political story of the Pilgrims.

This book is more than just a price book. It uses a series of questions to help you nail down just what you are looking at. In the BASICS section you find the different types of inlays as Line inlay Marquetry, Parquetry, and Oyster-veneering. The book is small enough that I carry this with me.

Some of the highlights are:

Uses a unique question-and -answer approach to help you identify and date genuine antique glass

Deals with fakes, copies, condition and other factors that may confuse even experienced collectors

Analyses typical items that collectors can find in shops and auction houses

Gives Guidelines to values

Contains a wealth of background information, including an extensive glossary

Is a thorough introductory course for the beginner and also a superb refresher for those with some collecting experience.