An absolute treasure!! A long overdue collection of one of the 20th century's most overlooked writers. His style and wit are of the highest caliber. Any lover of food, travel and style will have a field day with this.

This is an excellent study of John Paul II's difficult encyclical on faith and reason. Most of the contributions deal with the vexed issue of "Christian philosophy," a much disputed topic in the 1930s which has been given new life by our reigning philosopher-pope. Highlights are the fine essays by Avery Cardinal Dulles, placing the current issues in historical context, and the remrkable essay by David Meconi on the Marian dimension of philosophy.

This book is a great guide for both new X-philes as well as seasoned vets. Great background on all X-Files characters/actors. Excellent episode synopses, which always include comments that help fill in the gaps. This is one of the only books I've seen with a comprehensive review of all 4 previous seasons in one place. I was a new fan to the X-files this season (5th) and this book helped me locate and understand key episodes that I needed to see to understand the "conspiracy" storyline. I can't wait for the book for the 5th season!!

Barring none, MACWORLD MAC SECRETS is the best Macintosh book I have ever read, and there have been many:

•Macs for Dummies

•The Little Mac Book

•My iMac

•iMacs for Dummies

•Programming the Macintosh for Dummies

•The Mac is not a Typewriter....

Yet this book combines the information in all these books and adds some more. Some of the book's secrets aren't secrets just plain old useful knowledge. It goes through each item in the Apple Menu, the Control Panel, and the System Folder and tells what each is for (and what you can Trash).

But it does contain secrets. Lots of secrets never before printed. It also contains a plentiful amount of Easter eggs, and highlights some computer of Macs programing anomalies.

It also contains a CD which is worth the purchase price alone. While some of programs included on the CD are well known to veteran Mac users (the Ambrosia Software shareware games), others are not and some like author David Pogue's Holiday Spoofs are to be found only on the CD.

I regret to say that I would not order the previous editions because MacWorld Mac Secrets is a tad bit pricy & I am extremely frugal. Oh, alright, I'm a tight-fisted cheapskate. But after being told by so many people that I HAD to have the book, and with the overwhelming customer endorsements on amazon.com, I bought the book. I don't regret it.

This has become the most helpful & valuable of all my computer books. It's exceptionally well organized & written, and covers everything:

Hardware-- Every Mac & Powerbook from the beginning to the first generation G3's & iMacs

Operating Systems-- Each Mac operating system through 8.5 dissected and explained.

Software-- Lost of shortcuts for popular titles like Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.

Peripherals-- Printers, CD-ROM drives, ADB, USB, SCSI--you name it!

I purchased this book when I bought my first used Mac and had to be my own Tech Support person. It's got a GREAT troubleshooting section and has helped me out even more than the "Mac Upgrade & Repair Bible." The included CD is exceptional--full of useful stuff, including the 4th Edition of Mac Secrets in its entirety.

If you own an older Mac, don't be without this book. Newer Mac owners would definitely benefit from a 6th edition--this one does not cover the Blue & White G3's, G4's, iBook or operating systems 8.6, 9 or OSX. And some of the included software, though useful, has become a little dated.

However, if a 6th Edition comes out--I"ll be getting that one as well!

This book is outstanding! It is a plethora, a cornucopia, an incredible wealth of information. As a Macintosh software developer and consultant, I have found the "Mac Secrets" series an invaluable source of reference ever since I purchased the first edition in 1993. Whenever I've had a question regarding my Mac Plus, Quadra or iMac, I've found myself reaching for this book more than any other for a solution. The complimentary CD includes their previous edition which makes this the most comprehensive printing up-to-date. And the free included software makes this book a "best-buy"

Extraordinary Powers is an amazing book that tells a plausible story with likable main characters. And it makes your palms sweat, the clarity with which he describes frantic chases, gun fights and emotions.

The greatest triumph of the novel is its unpredictability. Admittedly, the beginning gave me what I had anticipated but from then onwards, every thing that goes is never what you expect. Just when you settle down for a respite from the intense action, Finder slaps you in the face and keeps you turning pages at ten pages a minute with another chase, more mind-reading and more uncovering of the conspiracy. A very well-crafted work.

That is where the story succeeds, in capturing your attention and keeping you reading on. The novel is utterly well crafted, the conspiracy completely probable and the action searingly hot. Most notable is the ending which is satisfying and better then at least half of the other books availible. Just when you least expect it, the dazzling suspense starts boiling again.

Like every other book, this one has its flaws, namely the fact that the dialogue is unconvincing. Every one talks in exactly the same way! Finder also tends to occassionaly drift away and end up overwhelming the reader with TOO much detail.

All this aside, Extraordinary Powers is one HELL OF A READ.

Two things caught my attention when I first picked up this book: First that it seemed to be a standard espionage thriller, treading a well-worn path; Second that it obviously isn't.

The difference is the sci-fi slant that the novel takes, whereby the hero (Ben Ellison) acquires the ability to read minds. It introduces a welcome break from the standard fare and gives the book an interesting twist, without which it might not have been quite the entertaining read it turned out to be.

If I have one critisism of Finder, it's the annoyingly explicit detail he goes to in describing a scene or event. You are bombarded with line after line of irrelevant detail that seems to do little to build characters or locations.

This aside, 'Extraordinary Powers' is an exciting read, with the pace and plot building up steam as the story progresses. As you near the end of the book you'll find it becomes irresistable, demanding that you finish it to iron out all of the plot's wrinkles.

An enthralling, captivating read with a clever plot and engaging characters. Highly recommended

High Crimes is the latest (last?) in Finder's collection of four (to date) outstanding novels which, upon investigation, reveal some of the most enlightening political info and predictions of our time. His first book, Moscow Club, accurately predicted the Soviet coup just before its occurrence. His second, Extraordinary Powers, accurately predicted the exposure of a high ranking CIA mole. His third, Zero Hour, explains the pitiful security of the world's finance system (and thank God it hasnt come true yet!), and his latest High Crimes pre-dates by three years a remarkably similar tale as the one recently uncovered concerning former Senator Bob Kerrey's command in Vietnam. A truly informative and knowledgeable man with a knack for fantastic presentation, Finder's books are some of the finest around. Pick them up, and you won't ever want to put them down.

This book is an invaluable resource for any serious practitioner of molecular biology. Content is detailed and comprehensive. Highly recommended reference source. All credit to the authors for what is a thorough revision of this latest testament of what is undoubtedly the revealed scripture of molecular biology. The website gives you access to all the printable protocols from the book and is perfect for lab bound grad student.

Molecular cloning has been a lab staple for years. Now reprinted so you can update the old lab copy worn out by years of student use! Its a must have for any lab serious about molecular biology. Its also useful for student training. Many times there are simple explanations for the lab techniques we have adopted as dogma, but are unsure why. Molecular cloning has the answers and is a great resource. I highly recommend this book for its depth and breadth of protocols and guidance in the complicated realm of cloning!

So few and so much to say about this bible of Biology at the bench...
You'll really find everything you want in it, including the composition of all the buffers and solutions, the new protocols for high-tech biology (FLIM-FRET), some paragraphs about bioinformatics and more.Incredibly precise, this book is consequently a big book (3 huge volumes), so better know exactly wath you're looking for before opening it!
The must have of every lab!

"Titus Andronicus" is the most notorious and least performed play of Shakespeare's. T.S. Eliot once called it the worst play written in the English language and not even the loyalist Shakespeare scholars have stood by it. Not until the movie "Titus" came out, have I heard anyone mention it. All I knew before I finally saw it was that it was extremely over the top violent. In fact, when the rare times it had been performed to modern audiences, many audience members started laughing at how absurd and over the top violent it was. I am a very serious moody theater person but even I couldn't help laugh at some of these scenes. However, I am very curious to suspect, as Harold Bloom did, that Shakespeare might've wrote "Titus Andronicus" as a spoof on his contemporaries. The play's content, plot, and characters are exactly equal to Seneca's plays. Seneca's plays however were never performed and we have no evidence that Shakespeare read Seneca's plays. So perhaps it was a jab at Kyd or Marlowe. The movie "Titus" seemed to use a lot of parody at many times. When I saw it the audience was laughing. I think it is safe to say that that theory may be correct. Although even if it was a parody, the play is still flat and doesn't do much for the audience. There are moments though where we can see Shakespeare developing as a dramatist. I couldn't help but think of "Macbeth" and "King Lear" during parts of Titus' monologues. Actually "Titus Andronicus" at best is a great study on the audience. 'Titus' was well received and performed in Shakespeare's day. Shakespeare was delivering to the audience, giving them a bloody Revenge tragedy that was popular in Elizabethan times. I am very surprise in an age when we make films that can depict a man cutting his face off and feeding it to his dogs("Hannibal"), that 'Titus' wouldn't be more popular. I imagine that Shakespeare was trying to shift from comedian to tragedian and wrote a little experiment called "Titus Andronicus." 'Titus' is worth reading for those who want to read all of Shakespeare but to the average reader, I would say pass and read "KIng Lear" or "Macbeth." To give this play more than three stars would be an insult to Shakespeare's masterpieces.

For my fellow reviewers who choose to simply pass this play over because of the prevelant violence, I must point out the complex, witty character of Aaron the Moor. Shakespeare either intended for this play to be a parody of Marlowe/Kyd, or he wanted to experiment with a character, Aaron, to evoke every possible feeling from his audience. And, in my humble opinion, Shakespeare succeeded at this. Aaron is, at the same time, evil and cunny, witty and horrifying, and compassionate and stoic. His final lines, as he is buried up to his neck, left to starve, are some of the best confessions ever produced by the bard. It takes a truly cruel and uncaring individual to not feel for Aaron, who gives up his life for his child's, and who hopelessly and blindly loves a cruel witch of a woman. This play is worth reading, or seeing if you should be so lucky, simply to indulge yourself in the character of Aaron the Moor.

On a superficial first reading, 'Titus Andronicus' is lesser Shakespeare - the language is generally simple and direct, with few convoluted similes and a lot of cliches. The plot, as with many contemporary plays, is so gruesome and bloody as to be comic - the hero, a Roman general, before the play has started has lost a wife and 21 sons; he kills another at their funeral, having dismembered and burnt the heroine's son as a 'sacrifice'; after her husband is murdered, his daughter is doubly raped and has her tongue and hands lopped off; Titus sacrifices his own hand to bail out two wrongfully accused sons - it is returned along with their heads. Et cetera. The play concludes with a grisly finale Peter Greenaway might have been proud of. The plot is basically a rehash of Kyd, Marlowe, Seneca and Ovid, although there are some striking stage effects.

Jonathan Bate in his exhaustive introduction almost convinces you of the play's greatness, as he discusses it theoretically, its sexual metaphors, obsessive misogyny, analysis of signs and reading etc. His introduction is exemplary and systematic - interpretation of content and staging; history of performance; origin and soures; textual history. Sometimes, as is often the case with Arden, the annotation is frustratingly pedantic, as you get caught in a web of previous editors' fetishistic analysing of punctuation and grammar. Mostly, though, it facilitates a smooth, enjoyable read.

David Wise writes the story of a spy thriller. Nerve Agents are actually only a side-line story. Much of the focus is on the FBI, HUMINT, and counter intel.

For those familiar with CBW, the story about dangling a deception such as Nerve Agent GJ, is intreging. GJ is not chemically identified, but presented as a protential Nerve Agent that would have required considerable efforts in binary weapons technology to ever be of any use. The author contends that this deception might have inadvertently lead the Soviets to create their Novichok class of agents. The discussion of GJ leads one to suspect it was a relative of the GV-series, such as Nerve Agent GP (GP11, or GV).

In the context of GJ, the author reveals that there were actually many more agents than just the familiar GA, GB, GD, GE, and GF. There G-series actually went all the way down to GH (isopentyl sarin). The treatment of Nerve Agents is conversational, and suits the purpose of his book.

David Wise made many interviews and performed as an investigative journalist to deliver a story that up to now has not been told. It does reveal the cultures of the people of the time, and is suggestive of many areas of future historic investigation.

Smoothly written and absorbing. Not my usual kind of book, but well worth picking up. In 1959, at the height of the Cold War, the FBI decided to dangle a prospect in front of a Soviet embassy employee named Polikarpov. Policarpov, a GRU officer, took the bait and enlisted Sergeant Joseph Cassidy as a for-cash agent. The relationship continued for twenty-three years, during which Cassidy solicited information that netted ten other Soviet spies and funneled an enormous mass of true, false, misleading, and trivial intelligence eastward. Much of the intelligence concerned the nerve gas research and production facility at Edgewood Arsenal, and may have led the Soviets into expensive and dangerous blind alleys. Details of the operation, especially the capture and release of two Mexican nationals who were confessed spies, make an interesting account of a US intelligence success not previously publicized.

This is an amazing story from the very real (and too soon slipping from memory) Cold War. It is principally the story of Joe Cassidy, a rather normal sergeant in the US Army, who was recruited to become a dangle for a Soviet Agent. The ploy worked and Cassidy became a double agent for more than twenty years. Of course, these kinds of stories rather quickly become rather entangled with lots of personalities and different threads of action. The author, David Wise, does an especially fine job in telling this tale and helping us keep straight who is doing what when and to whom.

The details of surveillance and spycraft are fascinating because they are so mundane but in their context seem so strange. This story demonstrates so many of the critical factors in running a counter intelligence operation: the importance of selecting the right agent (in this case Joe Cassidy), the necessity of patience and letting some things slip away in order to keep after the big thing, the chess like thinking of move and countermove in planning operations, the never-quite-sure aspects of whom to trust and what is real or what is a plant, and the role of just plain dumb luck. It isn't like Hollywood, but in many ways is more strange than a movie. If you tried to put some of this stuff in a movie people would complain that it was too far fetched. Yet this is all real.

The book also has some rather chilling information on Nerve Agents, which was the whole point of this many year effort by the FBI and other government agencies. It also has a lot of fascinating information on the devices of spy tradecraft including hollow rocks, rollover cameras, dead drops, micro dots, secret writing, and more.

Because the book is so well written it is a rather easy read. This is a real achievement because of the complexity of the story, but David Wise has long experience as a skilled reporter and writer about intelligence work and knows how to tell these tales. I recommend this book to everyone because it is just plain interesting, because I believe we should keep the reality and sacrifices of the Cold War in our collective memory, and because real people paid with their lives for our security.

Excellent faced paced mystery/thriller. State Supreme Court judge is married to the President of the US. She is blackmailed by the attorney for a mafia "businessman" on trial in her courtroom for murder of another judge. A real page turner! Highly recommend.

This is a great book, well-written, with a well-developed plot, and compelling characters.
Just two minor bloopers -- the bed in the White House Lincoln Bedroom does not date back to Lincoln's presidency, and it's unlikely that a federal trial judge would rotate courtroom observers every 15 or 30 minutes during a trial. Courtroom attendance is usually first-come, first-served, with space reserved for press (which would probably be on a pool basis).

From the author of "The Acolyte" (aka: Executive Sanction), this well-researched thriller set in Washington D.C. is a great read! Fast-paced, interesting characters with some great plot twists.