Great! THis is the best book I've ever read

The paucity of literature on software consulting agreements has forced lawyers and business people to rely on technology licensing books. Such resources, however, fail to address the unique legal and business issues in consulting services and custom software development. This book is the first book I've found that provides meaningful information on such important software-specific issues as ownership of developments, warranties, and infringement indemnification. The disks that accompany the book provide lots of great form contracts to use. I highly recommend this book.

"Shortest Stories of Love and Death" is one title that cannot be seen without being examined. Whatis actually inside is less scintillating, while still being a moderately entertaining read and a very good idea.

The contents have short stories, written in fewer than 55 lines and written on the subject of love, death, or both. This "prose haiku" is known as a drabble, a story of under one hundred words, and is sometimes effective in evocating certain ideas.

A lot of the stories are quite amusing, like the bizarre "Bon Appetit," wry "Fire Next Time," wink-nod drabble "Gertrude's Soliquoy" for fans of Shakespeare, wryly dark "Plan B," and the hilarious "To Air is Human." But, in a collection of many people's stories, there are also the too-weird-to-be-amusing, the grisly, and sometimes the plain dumb. "Denial on his Lips" was something I simply did not understand. "Type-A Personality" was apparently supposed to be funny, but wasn't; likewise with "Top Bananas and Rotten Apples."

Like all short story collections written by many people, this is a very mixed bag with the good and the bad intermingled. Nevertheless, if readers are in the mood for some very brief reading, they might enjoy this.

This is a follow-up to the remarkable "The World's Shortest Stories." Each of these stories must contain 55 words or fewer, and the editors have rules that supposedly ensure that this 55 rule is obeyed. I don't think, however, that misspellings such as "alright," not being a word, should be allowed -- or they should be edited to the proper two words and the story revised by the author. As a writer, I can truly appreciate the craft of brevity. And as an editor I can appreciate the discipline when the story is told within sentence structure (some are NOT -- they cheat). Some of these are startling. Some I quite frankly don't "get." Some are a kind of prose haiku. Some have a lot of subtlety, saying things without saying them. This would make a good book for writing students, to get ideas about structure and brevity and learn how to think "outside the box" of writing. I read almost all of them at least twice. It's a keeper.

It's hard to imagine that a good story could be written with 55 words or less, but the fact is that it is, indeed, possible. These are not essays or poems, they are real stories with all of the following: a setting, at least one character, a conflict, and a resolution. It's incredible to read how creative some people can be with such a restriction on the number of words that are allowed in these stories. Well worth the read! At the end of the book, the publishers challenge the readers to write their own 55 word story and submit it for publication in their next book (which was how this book came about...from a challenge to the readers of the first "55" book!) The rules for this contest are also included (what constitutes a word, where to send your story, etc) This is a wickedly fun book (I say "wickedly fun" since so many of the stories deal with a twisted murder plot or some strange love relationship) that I highly recommend!!

This book should have been in the Fantasy section. Franklin wrote this book without much research or he belongs to the revisionist history class. Take away his false statements and attempt at reaching "white guilt" and this book would have been about ten pages long.

This book is the product of outstanding research produced by an internationally recognized historian, John Hope Franklin. Don't believe me and the other reviewers? Act like a historian and check out Duke University's website; read reviews of Franklin's work in the major journals of professional historians; and do this with an open mind, while trying to discover and weigh in against your own biases. The history of African Americans in the United States simply can't be told without discussing racism as a structure that many white people built through law, social segregation, economic practices, intimidation, and accepting the privileges of "the way things were done." _If_ you do _not_ want to learn about America in this light, if you want to close your mind to reality, do not read this book. But even if the idea of facing these ugly truths may tug at your soul a bit, there is so much more in this book. In a very readable, comprehensive, illustrated work, you can learn about men and women who worked, wrote, taught, served, healed, created, protested, died, dreamed, played, and were just human in every other imaginable way in America. If this is what you are looking for, read on.

Dr. Franklin is one of the greatest historians this country has ever produced. He holds degrees from Fisk and Harvard (two post graduate degrees from Cambridge). He has more honorary degrees than Carter has little pills (or I guess now, peanuts). This work, now in its eighth printing, is perhaps the greatest single reference work exploring the African American experience and the contributions of this race to American history, and has been so since the first edition was printed in 1947.

He starts by revealing more knowledge that most people ever fathomed about the African experience in the pre-slavery centuries, with the greatness that was the African continent in Ghana, Songhay and the rest of Africa. The exploration of the "peculiar institution" of slavery, reconstruction and the post Civil War hope is complete and brilliantly done. The chapters on the Harlem Renaissance and the first half of the twentieth century alone is worth the price of the book.

Extraordinarily well researched. It is scholarly but never dry. It is objective, but never loses the passion for the subject. A must for any complete understanding of our history.

I first became intrigued with the Three Kingdoms's historical events when I played the game Dynasty Warriors 2 for PS2. Afterwards I was desperately searching to find the best novel translation and finally bought the 4-volume box set translated by Moss Roberts which is the UNABRIDGED version(make sure to get this edition as it tells the whole story w/o leaving anything out).I then set out to explore the 2200+ pages of Chinese history and I must say, it was a fascinating experience. I initially grasped what was going to happen in time but there was so much other details to the story and idealisms portrayed. Leadership, loyalty, heroism, military tactics and warfare, treason, and even romance play such a significant role in this epic novel. "The empire long united, must divide" and "the empire long divided, must unite" pretty much opens and closes the novel perfectly. Heroes such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and Huang Gai portray such loyalty that it would be kind of hard to imagine in today's society. From the other reviews I've read, most people think Liu Bei (Xuande) is the protaganist of the novel and this seems very true since Roberts lauds Bei's characteristics and portrays Cao Cao of the evil and cunning type. Personally, I think anyone can choose their personal protaganist and for me that would be Zhao Yun because of his undisputed bravery and loyalty. Another character that I admired was probably Zhuge Liang for his awe-aspiring military tactics. Zhuge was the best strategist of his time and he wrote several books on warfare but unfortunately, most were destroyed but you can still buy one of his famous books, "The Art of War." Warning, spoiler ahead:
This book has its sad moments particularly when someone important or someone who contributed a lot to his lord dies. You'll feel sympathetic towards those who fought hard as well as the ones who died. When the book starts, it's during the impending collapse of the Han then around 220 is when the real three kingdoms come into play: Shu, Wu, and Wei. It's sort of like a battle to the death of who would emerge victorious and indeed there was. Military tactics are exploited on each side and betrayal is widespread. In the end, it would be Sima Yi's family who would unite China under one rule, the Jin Dyansty.

Three Kingdoms is a terrific book on many levels. It can be read as a story book of the heroic culture of China in the past, or as a strategem. No matter how you may read the 3 Kingdoms, it is by far a book that almost any fan of literature will cherish. The book is centered around the destruction and rebuilding of a kingdom. The Shu in western China, led by Liu Bei; Wei in the northern heartland controlled by Cao Cao and Wu in the south that was established by Sun Jian, expanded by his son Sun Ce and later stabilized by his brother Sun Quan. The epic has at its core, filial duty, sacrifice, honor, and deception. I highly recommend reading Moss Roberts translation of the Three Kingdoms. By far it is the most comprehenisive edition translated into English. It is a must read to fully understand the ancient culture of China. By understanding the past culture of China, we can better understand the writings of post-modernist American-Chinese writers of the present.

First off, you have to read the full translation of this book. I read the 1976 abridged version of Three Kingdoms translated by Moss Roberts first and thought it was pretty good, but felt that the story wasn't developed enough and lacked cohesion. Then a few years ago I finally found and purchased the full unabridged version published by the University of California Press and also translated by Dr. Roberts. This is the full-blown epic from start to finish with all the details and many of the translation errors of the previous editions eliminated. The prose was also improved and flows eloquently throughout the book's entire 3000+ pages. Three Kingdoms is the tale (part historical, part legend and myth) of the fall of the Later Han Dynasty of China. It chronicles the lives of those feudal lords and their retainers who tried to either replace the empire or restore it. While the novel actually follows literally hundreds of characters, the focus is mainly on the 3 families who would eventually carve out the 3 kingdoms from the remnants of the Han. The Liu family in the Shu kingdom led by Liu Bei, The Cao family in Wei led by Cao Cao, and the Sun family in Wu eventually led by Sun Quan. The book deals with the plots, personal and army battles, intrigues, and struggles of these families to achieve dominance for almost 100 yrs. This book also gives you a sense of the way the Chinese view their history: cyclical rather than linear (as in the West). The first and last lines of the book sum this view up best: "The empire long united must divide..." and "The empire long divided must unite..." If you are at least a little interested in Chinese history (ancient or modern) and culture this book is a must read.