The Men-at Arms series continues in this volume on the Russian Infantry during the Napoleonic Wars. This book, while it does not go into depth about the history of the conflict, does provide a visual resource that is invaluable for history buffs and professional television and film designers alike. The book uses more second hand sources than one might wish, but all the information is clear and concise.

This is a handy if somewhat eclectic little collection, with works by some poets who are hard to find elsewhere, such as Henry Howard. If you don't have a copy of the long-out-of-print Hebel and Hudson anthology of English Renaissance Poetry, pick up this.

This book departs from the common pattern of displaying full dress uniforms. Most of the plates depict units in their campaign dress. If you are used to seeing Grenadiers a'Cheval with plumes and white Breeches, here you'll see a horse grenadier in cape, surtout, and muddied boots. Also depicted are the many allied units that particiapted in the invasion. Overall a tremendous study of the warrior on campaign

I'm a user of 3D Studio R4, and so I thought that I could easily transfer the lofting skills into 3ds max without too much of a problem. This book, however, doesn't use many of the techniques used in the Inside 3DStudioR4 book by New Riders. It's definitely not for beginning users looking to learn the fundamentals of using 3DSmax. I was disappointed at its learning curve, but I assume if you're comfortable with 3DSmax1, then this book might be for you. If somebody knows a book for 3DSmax2 that is in the same vein as Inside 3DStudio R4, then please email me ;)

Many books on the market will give you step by step instructions how how to create a scene, or create certain effects. Although this is sometimes handy, it doesn't easially allow the user to incorperate the skills they learned into their own work.

Inside 3D Studio Max shows you the concepts behind how the program works, and allows you to apply these concepts, and skills to your own work, rather than a preformatted tutorial. It is this fact, however, that makes the book not extremely useful for modelers who are new to the program. This book often speaks of the manual which ships with 3DS Max, and the writer made it clear that this was not yet ANOTHER MANUAL. Inside 3D Studio Max explores how to expand your ability.

If you have no prior modeling practice, read the manual which ships with Max, then buy this book. If you do that, you will appreciate what is taught in this massive book.

This is an overall GREAT book, and it has really helped me to become a much better 3D artist.

There's a thing common to all classic books: even if you've read one from cover to cover you discover something new every time you open it. Things that you glossed over earlier suddenly start to make sense. This book is no exception. Since 'Inside 3D Studio Rel. 3' the authors have provided an unique insight into the world's most popular 3D programs. This book raises the standard even further, providing enough grip for the novice and a treasure trove of knowledge of the professional. The best thing about this book is the explanation of the PRINCIPLES behind 3D Studio MAX. Instead of the 'do this-screen shot-do that' methodology, the authors have concentrated in the core ideas behind every tool and procedure. If you want MAX to be an extension to your right brain, get this book. Read it all the time. Do the tutorials. Keep referring to it for ideas. You'll discover what you were missing with other books -- the real goods on making MAX dance to your tune.

Stephen P Cohen contends that India's power is balanced and paradoxical. Its economy is thriving, yet it is likely to contain over half of the world's poorest people. Its strategic elite is ambitious, yet it has been unable to translate its civilization distinctiveness into international influence and respect. Further, while India has long been praised as the 'world's largest democracy', the logic of democracy has triggered a series of domestic revolutions that are transforming the economy, the unique institution of caste, the relationship between India's states and the central government, and India's very identity. Cohen further argues that the United States should build on the recent warming in the relations between the two countries to ensure that India does not turn hostile and threaten to block American policy initiatives.While India is now emerging as a major pan-Asian power, this evolution will be conditioned and shaped by a series of dramatic internal social and political developments that are transforming much of India. These developments will occupy the attention of Indian politicians for years. The author is of the view that as a strategic power, India is likely to continue its cautious policies toward China. India's relations with Pakistan present another area of vulnerability and that New Delhi seems unable to develop a strategy that would resolve the Kashmir crisis.The author has covered almost all aspects of the Indian History and suggested an overwhelming future but Economy of India has not been given due coverage. His entire thesis of emergence of India is based on the existing growth rate, which is about 6 %. However, Means of Production and Services Sector etc have not been covered with rationale. In this connection it is recommended that "The world in 2020" by Hamish McRae be read, which hardly shows any tangible change in the Indian Economy by the year 2020. An entire chapter dealing Economic aspects would have given the real picture of "future of India". In the book one finds a lot of repetition of events. Even some of the chapters could have been lumped together to provide concrete material. One finds most of the chapters without addressing the main issues. The author has not covered the various ongoing separatists' movements in India and their repercussions on the overall stability and the growth of India. Though he has touched upon the movements in Tamil Nadu and Kashmir. He has suggested that until Kashmir Dispute is not resolved the chances of status quo in the region remains. The author has given a lighter touch to the critical role of the RSS/BJP, their popular agenda and the future of the so-called Secular State. The dangerous consequences of this revivalist movement have not been appreciated fully.

As India became an independent nation in 1947, it became the world's second largest country in population and the world's larges democracies. Cohen in India:Emerging Power looks at how India has been advancing since 1947. Cohen looks at the different influences on India such as non-alliance, the Nehru view, and the Gandhi view. Cohen also deals deals with India's interactions with other countries such as the Soviet Union and later Russia, United States, Africa, China and other South Asian countries. Cohen also looks at some of the more well known issues of India such as its military. It relied on Soviet Aid for a long time but was never able to get as much as it wanted. Cohen looks at American influences on the Indian military and its desire to become an arms exporter. Cohen also looks at India's nuclear program and its relations with Pakistan. He goes through the history of the conflict and how nuclear weapons. It also deals with INdia's relations to the United states and about how the two countries can work togheter.

Its one of the best book in the market about South Asia
And i agree with the author that India is going to be a Power in South Asia
As USA and the free World have one thing common with India and that is Democracy and to work hard and live in a civilized world

The software basically covers the SAME EXACT INFO as the book and 99.99% of the times its word for word the same. Why spend extra money ? Just get the book. Also, on my computer there were about 15 - 20 test questions where some html tags were not interpreted properly and were therefore indecipherable in some cases (I do know HTML). The book is great. Just get the book. The authors could have did a lot more with this concept, but sadly they didn't. I did pass the SCJP test and their book helped a lot.

Worthwhile complement to "Complete Java 2 Certification." Offers practice and timed exams. Keeps statistics. Allows review of answered questions. Provides explanation for each question. Good investment.

This is an excellent tool not only for learning ALL of the Java Certification material but also for charting the progress of your study.

It allows you instantly to review your progress. And with it's comprehensive review questions it's very useful for helping to pinpoint troublespots or missing areas in your study.

This is the only tool I've come across that easily helps you determine if what you THINK you know is the same as what you ACTUALLY know.

After completing all of the many review questions and practice tests contained in this product, the Exam itself was almost an anti-climax!

It deals especially well with some topics like Threads and IO which are really not covered all that well with other guides.

Initially I was somewhat concerned with the rather steep cost of this guide but as it turned out it was well worth the price!

First, a confession: I became a "Dickhead" last year, and ended up reading every single title ever published by Philip K. Dick. Once I finished the last book (including the Selected Letters), I was looking for some form of closure so I could get on with my life and read other authors. I found that closure in "The Secret Ascension."

Obviously written by a fan of PKD's work and personality, Bishop writes a book that is funny and imaginative, while mimicking, in a form of tribute, the style of PKD.

While the actual delivery of the story lacks the power of PKD's writing, there are many funny moments and tidbits of PKD for fans to enjoy. Bishop employs the multiple narrative technique and the breakdown of commonplace reality that fans of PKD expected with each novel.

The ending is quite satisfying, with a respectful nod to PKD's contribution to our "koinos cosmos." A must-read for any true PKD fan.

Here the author set out to write his own Philip K. Dick novel. The characters resemble Philip Dick characters (my favorite is the guy with the obsession for Frank Miller DAREDEVIL comics): the protagonists are alienated misfits, the antagonists are mostly government authorities and wealthy people. The setting involves an oppressive regime in a slightly alternate world that nonetheless strongly resembles the contemporary United States. Paranoia genuinely bubbles out of the plot, and of course weird, metaphysical stuff happens toward the end of the story.

Philip Dick and his novels are subjects of discussion among the characters. PKD himself appears in the story ("Horsy Stout"), as he does in his own novels RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH and VALIS; although here he's more in the background.

Most of the novel retains the eerie, bleak, surreal edge that you can find in many PKD novels. I didn't like the ending quite as much as the first 90% of the story; but I can say that many of the PKD novels tend to disintegrate toward the end as well (e.g., DO ANDROIDS DREAM and PALMER ELDRITCH). But the ending to this one is harder to take seriously. And the whole thing's a bit too long (340 pages), considering that most of the PKD novels run to about 200 pages and never exceed 300 (not his science fiction).

On the whole, it's an entertaining psuedo-Dick novel. I haven't read anything else by Michael Bishop, but he certainly has done competent work with this story, I think.

Bobbitt's book, with its repetitive, self-referential structure and elegant literary ornamentation, resembles another Baroque production, the New Science of Vico. Maybe that's why the author's analysis is most convincing when he's talking about the 17th Century. The dish beneath the garnish is quite another meat, however; for the book's center is a hypertrophied version of a business strategy paperback like Reinventing the Corporation or Positioning. When discoursing about the history of the relationship between the nature of the state and the practice of war and diplomacy, Bobbitt sounds like an academic. When he plumps for his view of the present and heralds the somewhat anticlimactic wonders and challenges of what he calls the Market State, he sounds like a flack for the Chamber of Commerce struggling to generate some enthusiasm for the free enterprise system.

The Shield of Achilles is a very worthwhile read, but not because its conclusions wash. Reading a book like this, which, sarcasm aside, is a very intelligent production, is valuable more as an occasion for thought than as a historical TOE. What's vividly missing from the book is finally more important than what is in it. Bobbitt managed to write a 900-page book about the state, warfare, and politics without saying anything about who benefits and who loses. He is often very good about the what and the how of history but the question of who is absent without leave. Thus he manages to write about the contemporary situation at great length without noting that in America, at least, the disparity of wealth between the rich and poor is increasing markedly so that a regime supposedly dedicated to increasing opportunity is actually reducing opportunity for most people. He claims that the media are becoming more democratic when, in fact, five corporations control something like 80% of airtime. There is also no mention of the enormous growth of prisons in the U.S., a social fact that must have some relation to the author's thesis. More generally, Bobbitt writes about tendencies like deregulation or privatization as if the intentions of their promoters were irrelevant. It is also puzzling that Bobbitt seems to think that the transition from what he calls the nation state to the market state continues the Cold War triumph of democratic institutions when political participation rates and even the 2000 American election suggest that democracy is in general retreat.

This is a most impressive work. It is monumental -- intellectual, deep thinking, not light reading at all. Bobbitt starts with a premise with which I most heartily agree: humanity is entering a whole new era. He sees an evolution of states over the past millennium, each associated with a type of warfare and international environment, transitioning from one to the next due to an epochal war...this is a masterful work. Reading his words, listening to his thoughts, seeing how he structures his arguments, grasping the depth and breadth of his vision and how he pulls it all together into a single, coherent set of ideas, I am struck by the averageness of my intellect and almost overwhelmed by his.
His is profound thinking with far-reaching implications. It strikes home in our post-9/11 awakening. (Its publication was coincidental.) It takes longer to read than its 800+ pages would indicate because one must often stop and ponder his words. If you are willing to take this book on, you will be well rewarded. A resounding 5 stars.

This book postulates alternative scenarios for world order/disorder as we begin the 21st century. It draws on an insightful analysis of the evolutionary history of feudal-states, to imperial nation-states, to the struggle between communist/fascist/parliamentary nation-states whose objective was to "better material welfare of its citizens." It shows how the parliamentary-state form of government emerged triumphant in 1990 with the collapse of communism and how it is now transforming itself into a market-state structure whose objective is to "maximize the opportunity of its people."

Focusing on military strategy and technology, and international law and politics, considered by Bobbitt as "the makers of history", he reviews the major European wars from 1494 to 1990 and the major peace agreements that ended them. He also devotes a chapter to the recent war in Bosnia.

His insight into the methods, motivations, skillfulness, and ineptitude of the major players gives us new perceptions on the use of geopolitical power. He uses all this background to consider our current and probable world problems and then, using methods pioneered by Royal Dutch/Shell Group Planning, relates them to three alternative scenarios of how these new market-states may evolve and deal with these issues.

At 827 pages plus notes it is not short, nor is it light reading, but it's lessons are imperative for people involved in government, the military, foreign relations, and global strategic thinking. I also highly recommended it for anyone who desires a thoughtful analysis of what is likely to be in store for our civilization in the days ahead.

A sorry science fiction book (not a mystery novel in my judgement) not written by Ludlum but his name is on the cover to sell books (my viewpoint). The book takes advantage of todays terrorist threats and smallpox concerns to stir the readers interests but nothing in the book reflected the writings of Ludlum. I strongly suspect that Ludlum did not even write the outline for this book and the sorriest one, "The Paris Option".

I happened to like the Prometheus Deception, and therefore, fully expected to like this book too. Like the Prometheus Deception, you'll find action, suspense, and diabolical characters. However, unlike the Prometheus Deception, this book just didn't add up. It's more like a movie that you go to see that has so much action going on that you don't realize that there really is no compelling story until the end.

The plot was a familiar one and decent, but the events that took place -- at times, seemed a little far-fetched. There wasn't a lot of character development, but what was done was sufficient. However, the inclusion of characters from the earlier book seemed to be just to show continuity -- which isn't a bad thing, but it didn't seem necessary since there was no in-depth interaction among them. Despite its "faults", the book is entertaining enough to pass the time with and it is a decent read. And, there were some pretty good suspenseful scenes in the book that kept me on pins and needles.

If you read the book and don't expect the caliber of story you typically get from a Ludlum book, you'll be okay.

"The Cassandra Compact" is a very exciting and entertaining read. The plot sometimes stretches the bounds of credibility a bit much, but that is to be expected in an action-thriller like this. There are also times when Dr. Jon Smith (the protagonist) borders on becoming a superhero rather than a true character, but he is generally very likeable, if never quite realistic.

In the past I have read some of Philip Shelby's work and thought that he showed promise. I have been impressed by his skills as a wordsmith, but found his story ideas to be somewhat lacking. Combining his writing talents here with the imagination of Robert Ludlum, however, has produced a blockbuster of a novel. This is not great literature by any means, but it is an engrossing story that will definitely keep you turning the pages.

With his death earlier this year, Robert Ludlum left a huge void in the international suspense/thriller genre. Thankfully, we do have writers like Philip Shelby and Gayle Lynds who are eager to take up his mantle. If "The Cassandra Compact" never rises to the level of the best of Ludlum's work -- and it doesn't -- reading it is still a very pleasing way to pass some time.

--David Montgomery, Mystery Ink

I must confess that I only read this novel because it was by a Romanian author, and I had never read anything by a Romanian before. The story is nominally about a woman in an unnamed Eastern European country who has run afoul of the authorities and must report for questioning periodically. On her way to one such "appointment," she recounts her past (and though it the oppressive conditions of trying to simply stay sane while living in an authoritarian state) via a series of jumbled flashbacks. The flashbacks veer all over, from the deeds that landed her in trouble, to her first marriage, to her adulterous father, to a beautiful friend shot trying to flee the country, to past interrogations, and most compellingly, to her current relationship with an alcoholic and it's birth in a flea market where she was trying sell her wedding ring. While these sound interesting, their actual presentation in the book is too impressionistic and internal to really grab the reader. As Muller herself was the harassed by Ceausescu's secret police until her flight, the bitterness and hopelessness of it all rings particularly true. That said, the book doesn't really do much other than show the reader the bleakness of communist Romania, which doesn't seem particularly different from that of many other authoritarian regimes. It's certainly not a fun read (not that books need to be easy or fun reads), nor one I would recommend to anyone without a particular abiding interest in Romania.

Unlike many people, I don't like Picasso, because my artistical sense is not good enough to understand his paintings. After he abandoned realism while young, he was said to paint impressive portions of things here and there freely from logical structures.
This novel is very unique. Impressive things are described beautifully here and there freely from the time-line and logical consequences. It is like Picasso's paintings. My artistical sense is not good enough to understand this novel.

Beautifully written prose and an incredibly fitting cover photo, this is a fictional account of a Romanian factory worker punished for pinning notes into the pockets of outgoing clothing.

This 'why' quickly takes a back seat to the out-of-sequence internal flashbacks that slowly reveal most of her adult life and routine. Told in a manner both simple and complex, it's not unlike a self-confession, and in this I think it makes its mark. The goings-on of the particular appointment doesn't seem, at the end to matter, for as the speaker tells us, "The trick is not to go mad."