The Long Night... Mind's Eye Theatre... Vampire... The Dark Ages... has to be good right? Well, it is. Some of the flaws of Laws of the night are corrected within. It is fairly well written. The only complaint is that at times it seems to muddle the Table-top with the LARP, which can be mildly confusing (especially to those with no experience with the Table-top). On the whole though definitely a good buy.

The Long Night is the live-action version of Vampire:the Dark Ages. It is about the world of vampires in the year 1197. This book has corrected one of the major flaws(in my opinion) of Laws of the Night(the modern day live-action Vampire game) by bringing back the ten step system of roads, codes of conduct which each person follows. With new and improved Disciplines(powers), this book and game is a must for any live-action player, and might even convince tabletop players to try a live-action game or two.

The title is somewhat misleading. This is a guide book, a tour of four Mexican states that focuses almost exclusively on eclisiastical buildings. Useful if you are interested in architecture and are touring in Michoacan, Jalisco, Guanajuatao, and Quertaro. Line drawings are nice, obviously drawn off of photos.

The book is large in format (so a bit awkward to travel with) and the design of the book is mediocre -- headline fonts are quite unattractive.

I would only recommend this book to those with a deep interest in religious architecture and architectural decoration in Mexico.

As a frequent visitor to many of the towns and cities covered in this guide, I thought that I knew a good deal about their history. Not so.

This is Richard Perry's fourth book in a series of illustrated regional guidebooks from the Espadaña Press capturing the unique quality of Mexico's colonial architecture. In 'Blue Lakes' we accompany the author on a winding journey across a broad swathe of west central Mexico that includes the states of Michoacán, Jalisco, Guanajuato, and Querétaro.

We are first introduced to some of the key historical figures of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, such as Bishop Vasco de Quiroga and a small group of architects whose names become more familiar as we encounter their work through 272 pages.

Special attention is given to the major colonial centres such as Pátzcuaro, Morelia, Guadalajara, Guanajuato, Querétaro, and San Miguel de Allende, with observations that will enrich any walking tour. The surrounding landscape is also dotted with colonial gems, many of them given little distinction or ignored completely in many guides. Here, less well-known towns ("off the beaten track") are equally well accounted for, and there is a welcome chapter on the missions of the Sierra Gorda in the state of Querétaro. The scope of this large format paperback is comprehensive, and the text is accessible, engaging and peppered with fascinating and sometimes surprising details. But what makes this guide special are the author's own precise line drawings that compliment the absorbing text - more than 200 of them in all. Thus not only does Richard Perry deliver us a fine piece of travel writing but his architectural drawings make their subjects far more vivid than the photos in most conventional guidebooks - in short he is the perfect guide and the book, an excellent companion to any journey to Mexico's colonial heartland.

As well as being ideal for those intending to spend a week or two in the region on a cultural holiday, if you are more knowledgeable about the colonial treasures of central Mexico, then this also becomes an indispensable reference book. I myself was very grateful for the two-page glossary at the back.

On my visits to Mexico I'm inclined to head straight for the nearest market to get my senses bombarded with colour and exotic aromas - or perhaps I might get diverted by a craft shop. Reading this guide, I've made myself a promise: to willingly retrace my steps; where before I skipped passed a church, 'looking but not seeing' (or being able to interpret) a splendid carved facade or nipped inside but missed a mural or ornate altar, in future I will pay more attention, ponder where before I would have barely paused, and generally be more open and receptive to this important chapter in Mexico's rich history.

Thank you Richard Perry. Highly recommended.

Blue Lakes and Silver Cities is an engagingly-written, large-format account of the most outstanding colonial architecture and treasures in Western Mexico, illustrated with over 200 original line drawings by the author. This is Richard Perry's fourth book in a series capturing the unique quality of Mexico's colonial architecture and the best yet! I know personally most of the places Perry describes and cannot believe that anyone is likely to improve substantially on his painstaking research and attention to detail in a very long time. There is virtually nothing else in English on this topic. A wonderful achievement and a fascinating read.

"A Visual Journey of Wartime Patriotism United We Stand" by Richard J. Perry is an outstanding piece on World War II. I reccomend it as a must see for anyone interested in WWII. It presents a stunning display of images, as well as some interseting and insightful tidbits of text. I am excited to use this book in my social studies classroom.

I picked up this book because of it's eyecatching front cover and enjoyed flipping through it over and over again. This book is a great way to look back on the history of campaigning in hard times for the support of our soldiers. I personally enjoyed the quotes from people all over the United States remembering small details of the life and times during WWII. Although the book does not have a lot of articles or descriptions of the era, it was not meant to lecture on the life and times but rather give vignettes of history. The pictures remind you of going through a box hidden in your grandmother's basement of old keepsakes. It is obvious from the author, a U.S. Navy veteran, that a lot of care went into this collection.

"United We Stand" by Richard Perry is a wonderful look at an earlier era when, like today, the country stood together to face a common enemy. Not only is the book a visual delight and a capsule of memories for those who lived through the war, but it clearly illustrates the differences in warfare between then and now. Today we have a professional and technologically sophisticated military that can strike with surgical precision with few American lives lost. Currently, unless one has a relative or friend in the military or was involved in the destruction of the World Trade Center; we experience little personal sacrifice as the war on terrorism progresses.

Perry graphically demonstrates that WW II affected everyone on a very personal level and that symbols of the war and patriotism thoroughly permeated society. Particularly poignant were the reminders of how the role of women changed during the war, how the population dealt with common experience of rationing and the personalization of instruments and the environment of war with reminders of why one was fighting (pictures and fanciful images of "the girl back home". Finally, the book reminds us of our own government's propaganda during the conflict. While brimming with nostalgia, this book plays an important role by illustrating how 60 years has changed the country's united response to military conflict.

This is an adult version of the Arabian Nights tales that most kids grow up with. By adult I do not mean that it contains a lot of sexual material, however there is some, so this book is probably not appropriate for children. Stories like "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" and "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp" are included in here, along with some more obscure stories like "The Hunchback's Tale". If you're interested in learning about stories from the middle east, this is the book for you.

This is a sometimes brutal, mostly wonderful, anthology of tales weaved into the story of a corageous young woman who uses her enchanting narration as a means of survival. All of the magical stories take place in a long gone world with cultural differences that might offend sensitive readers. Yet the morals of the book never clash with our present values and it provides us with a look into a world since forgotten. The tales and fables are ingeniously connected, stories within stories, and are captivating and full of fantastic characters, wonderful places and legendary creatures. This is the source of many common children stories such as Aladin and the Genie, The travels of Sinbad, and Ali-Baba and the forty thieves. I recomend it as a nightly read for small children during story time, with a small warning for mature content.

We are all familiar with the stories of Ali Baba, Aladdin, and Sinbad. But where did these tales come from? The answer lies in this wonderful (condensed) volume known as the 'Arabian Nights.'
The story is of a woman, Scheherazade, who marries a king. The king's custom is to spend one night with a woman and execute her in the morning. To avoid this, Scheherazade tells him a tale, but leaves part of it unfinished, thus gaining the king's interest and insuring her survival for another day so she can finish the tale. Being clever, she never finishes it, but keeps it continuously going, until the king finally spares her life.
The stories presented here, though often somewhat crude, have great moral lessons to be learned. The serve as a sort of moral reminder as to how a good person should act.
When Richard Burton translated the Nights, he collected as many manuscripts as possible and pieced together the tales. Many had been created centuries earlier, and were often told during gatherings among friends. Burton, through his unparalelled knack for translation, managed to capture all the magic and mystery that are the Arabian Nights.
Besides the delightful stories and good lessons to be learned, the Nights serve another purpose--they provide an intimate look at the culture of the time. By examining their legends, one can gain a basic understanding of how Arabic culture functions. There is as much to be learned about the people who tell these stories as there is from the stories themselves.
I read this book for historical and cultural value, and found it to be abundant in both. Besides that, though, I encountered a mesmerizing set of tales which will be entertaining to any audience, even (after some revision and editing) children.

I generally check the reader reviews here on Amazon before I buy a book because regular readers seem to be a better gauge than the blurbs on the book jacket.

In my opinion, though, Ronald N. Truco's book did far better here than it deserves.

The subtitle of the book is "A Profile of the Hunter and the Hunted." Add "and the Story of My Life" to that. After suffering through 37 pages, I could not stand to hear any more about why Turco became a psychiatrist, why or how he became a cop, or how close the police brotherhood is. I thought I was getting a book about criminal profiling; instead I seem to have stumbles on an autobiography of someone who happens to have been involved in some interesting cases - and it's a poorly written autobiography at that. The theme wanders all over the place, the author makes questionable claims ("The organized serial killer was originally an FBI concept, although I developed the idea in 1968 when I worked on a series of San Francisco homicides"), and frankly, I really don't care about a snowball fight Turco had with his brother Salvy. I want profiling, criminal minds, and investigation, as the book jacket promises.

Another reviewer wrote, "This is a highly recommended page-turner, a real psychological suspense-thriller." I have to disagree. The only page-turning suspense I felt was wondering when we were going to get to the good part, and the only thrill I felt was finding the book for a few bucks instead of the shelf price of $14.95.

As a reader, I expect good writing, accuracy, and for the author to keep his promises. As a writer, I understand how hard it is to write a decent book. After giving Turco my full attention for 197 pages, I present this book to you, true crime reader, as evidence that some people should be writers and others should stick to their paid professions as lawyers, physicians, or pro football players.

Turco's book could just as well have been titled "All About Me." Psychiatrists and their brethren apparently cannot resist centering on the aches and pains of their profession, while the work they do and how they do it takes a poor second. If you are interested in his struggles -childhood, domestic, soul - this is the book for you. If you are interested in psychological profiling, perhaps now that Dr. Turco has gotten so much off his chest he will write that book.

Let me begin by saying that I have always been a true crime/forensic detection fan, and have read about every book available on the subject. Shortly after moving to Vancouver, Washington, where the murders committed by Wesley Allen Dodd took place, I happened upon this book (ok, my husband works in a book store!). I was fascinated reading about these crimes committed in my own community, and I must say it was nice to read an intelligent study of forensic psychiatry/detection that was NOT written by Robert Ressler or John Douglas (though I do enjoy their works as well). This is not your typical true crime story, so if Ann Rule is more your style, you probably will not enjoy this book. It is much more of a study of the workings of the minds of the people who perpetrate these horrible crimes, which I find very intriguing!

I don't think that the book One Sister Too Many by Carol Perry was very good. It had a really good meaning though. It was about two stepsisters that meet each other for the first time and all they do is fight. They eventually forget about everything they were fighting about. The things they fought about were pointless so I didn't like it very much. If you like books like that though, then this would be a good book for you.

I guess the reviews with 1 star bought the book and the reviews with 4 stars are the writer's friends. I happen to have bought it and returned it the next day. "jog in place while studying so you stay awake" ???? That's one thing this book tries to teach you. Please save your money and buy a real study book for these exams.

This book is a waste of paper and ink. A take-out menu is more informative about the test than this book. - Good Luck!

Richard Perry is a good writer. Possibly he is a good motivator. What he is not though, is helpful in passing either the series 7 or the 63. While I have passed both, I do not credit any of my success to this book, but rather my exhaustive studying of text books available. Mr. Perry's book is misleading. He claims to teach you secrets to pass the test. You learn no secrets of the test, just secrets on taking tests. He directs the reader to drink lots of water, eliminate stress, and sleep well. This lack of depth was by far my smallest gripe with this book though. My prominent objection is that only on the last page of the "$30 pamphlet" was the series 63 exam even mentioned. It would be well worth your time to spend the extra money and buy a real textbook here at Amazon instead.