I found this piece of writing by Peck to be fascinating. I had a project paper to write on teen suicide, and it was very informative and helped a lot. I've lost many people to suicide, and this just gave me a better perspective of the whole situation. With such a sensitive topic that many people don't want to talk about, this book helped answer all the questions I had, because it was so detailed.

I agree with another reader in that it is unfortunate we don't have similar biographies of the later Roman emperors such as Hadrian, Trajan and Marcus Aurelius; but here in the book of twelve Caesars Suetonius captures at least some of the various emperor's characters including Julius Caesar, Augustus, Claudius and Vespasian as well as others up to and including Domitian, the last of the twelve. Some histories are quite detailed such as that of Augustus whereas the relatively short reigns of Otho, Galba and Vitellius are quite short by comparison. The interesting thing about this book is the way Suetonius writes about the emperors in the "warts and all" style letting the public know every detail of their, at times, dubious habits and cruelties. No one gets away scott-free not even Augustus. The account is very honest with little held back no matter how crude. The emperors' greatest weaknesses and strengths are laid bare. It is written in a less formal style to that of say Cassius Dio or even of Tacitus and as such is enjoyable by itself. It also brings to mind how similar the Empire was to the lifestyle of today especially when it comes to public servants and government officialdom and responsibility. It is obvious Roman law is carried over to modern versions very easily forming the backbone of later centuries. There are telltale differences such as the incredible power emperor's wielded, especially as regards their ability to execute or defame anyone at will. The collapse of Roman values becomes glaringly obvious as the emperors themselves no longer provide an adequate example to the people. Former titles and honours which meant something in earlier times are progressivley demeaned by emperors such as Nero or Domitian at their worst and upheld by Titus or Vespasian. Yet another excellent classic text in the Penguin range.

Suetonius, one of the great Roman historians, gives a detailed account of the lives and follies of twelve of the Roman Caesars. He goes not only into their political lives but their personal lives as well, looking at the faults and their sometimes humorous shortcomings. It is a very vivid and racy history, but that is what good history does, it exposes the innermost facets of the past, and like Suetonius, without being bias. This is an excellent book, not just for history students, but for any who would like a more personal and informative look at the men behind the deified personalities of Imperial Rome. Not only does it include the histories of the Caesars but also maps, genealogical tables, an index of names, and a helpful little key of names and places of the past and where the present day location is located. Overall this is a very good book that is well translated and very fun to read. It is both informative and amusing at the same time. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, and am glad to see that a high school student has read and taken the time to give a review. Not many high school students get a chance to read, let alone such authors as Suetonius and the like. I hope others will continue to read and encourage others to do the same.

If you have a fascination with Imperial Rome and its Caesars, this book will keep you enthralled. For anyone who's seen the visual performances on television of I, Claudius, this book will give you a greater insight as to what exactly happened. Keep in mind the style of writing is dated, but then again, the author Suetonius lived almost 2000 years ago, still, if you can see through the translation, there's a lot of interesting tidbits here.

I've been reading Munsch since childhood - but re-reading this book for a Children's Lit course was a delight. This book sets a fine example for children (and adults) about the value of role reversal and what it can teach us about the divide between the sexes. In theory, this is too complex for children to understand, yet it does send the message to children that girls can be heroes, too. And unlike the siliconed, pancaked Bond girls, the Paper Bag Princess comes through in fine style.

This was the first Munsch book that I bought and I quickly went out and bought a whole load more. He's an excellent writer with a wonderful range of stories and a beautifully simple and fluid style of writing that is both accessible to children and able to roll off the tongue of most adults.

As you'll see from the other reviews here, this tale is about a young girl who, filled with nothing but courage, charity and a fair bit of brains, goes off to rescue a young prince from a ferocious dragon. After using all of her cunning to defeat the dragon she discovers that the prince is a bit of a monster himself, and so she decides not to marry him after all.

Although I agree that the story has a wealth of small lessons for children to learn about boys and girls and expectations and disappointments, I think that one of its strongest points is that the book serves as a wonderful introduction to the fact that not all stories end the way we expect them to (it's still a happy ending, just a different one) and that sometimes a twist can be more satisfying anyway.

Highly recommended for children from 3 to 103.

As an Education major and child care employee, I have scoured book stores and book fairs to find quality literature for use in the classroom. I often utilize the preschool children that I work with as "guinea pigs" and rate thier reactions to such literature. They loved the Paper Bag Princess! Although I brought the entire Munschworks collection to school last week, I was asked (and often ordered) to read only thie particular story each day, and often several times in a day.
The children were filled with laughter at various points in the story, especially when I would flip to the page in which Elizabeth tricks the dragon into using up all of his firey dragon breath-the children would instantly yell out, "He doesn't have enough dragon breath to cook a meatball...ha ha ha".
By the middle of the week, the children were reciting this story to thier friends and parents, and even acting it out (they enjoyed calling each other bums at the end). Munsch stories are truly a delight for any classroom or individual child's library!

Stephanie's Ponytail is hysterically funny. It is a book that keeps readers on their feet. Stephanie somehow gets everyone to copy her strange hairstyles from day to day until one day this back fires. She tells everyone at her school that she is tired of everyone copying her her ponytail styles. Sneaky Stephanie then tells everyone she is going to shave her head. Sure enough, the next day everyone shows up with a bald head. This story will capture the attention of anyone. I personally enjoyed Robert Munsch work.

Stephanie's ponytail is loved by children of all ages. The lesson to be taught in the book is Be a leader and not a follower. The book is very easy for any child to pick out the moral. The pictures are humerous and children can interact while you read. Great for learning sequencing.

A fun story that demonstrates the power of independence and a young girl's abilty to stand up for herself and what she believes in.It's a great book to shows kids that self assurance can be an asset and that conformity and being a copy cat my leave you bald and ugly.

Michael Shaara did an excellent job in describing in detail the Battle of Gettysburg without making it boring. His line by line account of the battle allows the reader to understand the emotions of the men fighting for their beliefs. Shaara shows the real men that fought, they weren't gods, just ordinary men who got homesick for their wives and children. While reading the book, the details create a vivid image that allows the reader to clearly understand the troubles of war. Food was scarce, weather was bad, and leaders were unreliable. The advantages in war were hard to obtain but lost so easily. Shaara also lets to reader into the minds of some of the key leaders at Gettysburg. Lee and Longstreet for the South, and Chamberlain and Buford for the North. Each man has a different view of the war, but each is equally interesting and important to the whole account of the battle. Overall the book was very good and captivating. It is easy to read, but informative. When looking for a detailed description of the Civil war, The Killer Angels is the book to read.

It was my privilege to be enrolled in Mike's Creative Writing class in college, but I had no idea what a successful novelist he would prove! This book actually makes me want to visit the historic site of Gettysburg--to see for myself the scene of so much suffering and sacrifice. Not only with my eyes, but now with my heart, thanks to the well-researched information presented in THE KILLER ANGELS. First President Lincoln and now master storyteller Shaara have honored the lives and courage of all those who fought valiantly for their regrettably-opposing views.

This novel is very intense: 355 pages stretched out over just three days. The first remarkable thing is the accuracy of Shaara's historic detail. Next we are impressed by his impartiality: each chapter focuses on one officer, but he switches "sides" easily, demonstrating absolute fairness to North and South. This style of the divine narrator leads us to realize that it is War itself which proves the real evil, since both sides espouse principals of honor. We are amazed that he can present such vivid word portraits of the officers who orchestrated the prolonged Battle of Gettysburg. Shaara takes us inside their heads--and their hearts. Their foibles, dreams, terrors, regrets, and private anguish are laid bare for the reader. We share the agony of mlitary decision, the loneliness of high command.

This novel also is impressive because it proves very readable--not the boring history text you might expect. One reason is the use of extensive dialogue. Some conversations seem to be scenes from a play; they remain with the reader long after the action has moved on. But the historical persons depicted appear very human, despite the intervening years. Even if you never cared for military history, this book will enlighten, touch and entertain you. Shaara provides great insight into why men will lay down their lives: for a Cause or for an Ideal. Fabulous literary and historical reading for all Americans!

This book helped to launch an entire genre of fiction, the "historical novel", in which the author invents dialogue and interaction among a group of real life characters who all act in a manner consistent with their real-life models. Here, Shaara brings the battle of Gettysburg to life in gripping, emotional, historically accurate detail. The book will move you like few other "non-fiction" accounts of the battle or the Civil War itself ever can.

Shaara doesn't appear to take sides in telling the story, as he cuts back and forth between extra-ordinary depictions of characters like Lee, Longstreet, Stuart on the Confederate side as well as Union participants like Joshua Chamberlain and George Meade. I especially enjoyed the interaction between Lee and Longstreet, who tried to talk Lee out of a frontal assault at Gettysburg in favor of a defensive maneuver in which the southern armies stood in the path of Washington D.C., as well as the heroic exploits of Virginia's Lewis Armistead, who gallantly charged under General Pickett hoping he wouldn't be forced to confront his good friend, Union General Win Hancock. The novel is filled with gripping, true to life storylines where generals and their inferior officers came to life in Shaara's skillful hands.

The research done to support The Killer Angels was obviously meticulous, and the book includes maps to give the reader a sense of the overall development of the battle, to accompany the personal interactions of the participants. If you are a Civil War buff you owe it to yourself to read this book, which is far superior to the later, similar novels written about the war, both pre- and post-Gettysburg, by the late author's son Jeff Shaara. If you are not all that interested in the War Between the States, read The Killer Angels anyway, and you may find yourself looking for more, like the 3 part history of the war by Shelby Foote, which this novel inspired me to read. I give it an enthusiastic five stars.

Being a seasoned RPG player (20 years + exp.) I'm always interested to try new games on the market. Since a few years a buzz had been starting on the internet and among RPG fan about this new vampire horror game. When they put the second edition out, I decided it was past time that I check it out. I'm certainly glad I did! The game is simple (only using 10 sided dice and very easy character advancement)it's also skill based. The greatest achievement of this game is in it's ability to convey a mood of gothic horror "à la perfection (perfectly)" something no other RPG had been able to achieve successfully in the past. This success may be due to the "mature language and content of the game", the terrific illustrations all through the book or to the well written descriptions of the different fiends and all their complex powers.For whatever reason there's a chilling mood of wickedness, perversity and dark horror all through the book.
My only complaint has to do with the long historic background in the book. Having studied history for a while in university, I find that the evolution of vampire through history section at the end of the volume doesn't really add anything, all they do is make a quick resume of all the different time period and adding the word vampire in it... not really necessary...
All in all it still a great book with magnificient illustration and a well written interesting content. I would recomend this game not only to RPG players but to vampire lovers everywhere !!!

Vampire is a very interesting game. When I was in 4th Grade me and my friends used to make up games in our heads but something was lacking a cohesive setting. By the time I was in 7th Grade we decided to buy an RPG book, just to get the gist of things. We ended up buing Vampire, and I must say it is great! I've bought 40 other books by White-Wolf in the last few years.

This game is a modern game in the Modern World, not a D&D type of Fantasy. Vampires are real in this game, they live in all the major cities, they pull the strings of politics. They hide from Humanity though, because they fear discovery. Yet they have to interact with humans, because as Vampires they eternally need blood to survive and even more to power their dark powers.

Vampires are arranged into clans, 13 to be exact all created by Ancient founders. These clans are divided into three groups. The first is the Camarilla, most obsessed with secrecy and having 7 of the Vampire clans. The next is the Sabbat, a group of Vampires who believe they should rule humanity and arch-Rivals of the Camarilla. They only consist of two clans but their are other clan members who have decided to join. Finally their are 4 Independent clans who try to avoid keeping any alligence to anyone.

The Rules of this game are simple as well. All a person needs is a copy of the sheets, a pencil and maybe ten 10-sided dice. The rule system is rather simple and the game doesn't revolve around pointless hours of combat but story purposes. This adds more enjoyment to the game, if your interested in weaving a story.

The Vampire game is a good introduction to White-Wolf RPG's and it is not only an interesting play, it is an interesting read as well. I have bought many books just to read them, and even if you don't have a group, their is a huge online community.

"By becoming a monster, one learns what it is to be human"

I'm probably the only person who bought this book with no intention of using it as it was meant to be used--as a role-playing guide to the "Vampire: The Masquerade" game. I don't play role-playing games--I even have an aversion to games in general (mostly video ones)--but I really love vampires, so I had to buy this book. Probably the thing I like the most about it is all of the beautiful black-and-white drawings inside. They really get the imagination juices flowing.

The beginning part of the book is basically an introduction to VtM, familiarizing the reader with the basic rules, its Gothic-Punk setting, vocabulary, and tips on effective storytelling. Then it goes deeper into dice rolling, character creation, and bloodlines. This latter part is my favorite in the book, describing the attributes and abilities of the seven clans of the Camarilla: Brujah, Nosferatu, Tremere, Ventrue, Gangrel, Toreador, and Malkavian. (But if you really want further insight into these clans, then I'd highly recommend any--or all--of the Clanbooks.) There is also a character sheet at the end of the book you can Xerox, as well as an example story to further help players.

I think I've read this thing about half a dozen times (though not usually from front to back), and it takes about that many times to thoroughly comprehend and memorize all of the above--rules, guidelines, etc.--without having to refer to the book all the time (unless you're a fast learner). If you enjoy role-playing games--or if you're like me and just like anything vampire-oriented--then I highly recommend this book. It's well worth your time and money.

Robert Pinsky brilliantly translates into terza rima, the difficult rhyme scheme Dante wrote the Divine Comedy in, & does it with such grace, such linguistic precision & genius that the reader almost doesn't feel like it was difficult at all. This is something I don't know of any other translations that have been able to do in this work that's notoriously very difficult to translate. This amalgamation of the great timeless & inspired genius of Dante & the brilliance & severe dedication to poetic mastery of Robert Pinsky is far & away my favorite translation of the Inferno. Pinsky makes it so much more fun to read than other translations I know! Pinsky's version is great poetry, rife with perfect rhythms & mellifluous music.

It goes without saying that The Inferno is one of the great masterpieces of Western culture. That being the case, Pinksy, not Dante, is the focus of my review. This was the third translation of The Inferno that I have read (Mandelbaum and Ciardi being the others), and it is by far the most graceful of the group. I was particularly impressed with his handling of that ever present problem: the rhyme scheme. His solution to the problem is fluid and faithful to the original text (something Mandelbaum's rhyme-free translation lacks), without being distracting (as I found Ciardi's to be). But, what is truly amazing is that he is able to maintain this scheme without ever sounding forced or contrived. This allows Pinsky's tranlsation to remain first and foremost, a poem, which is so crucial in realizing the true genious of Dante's work. I was also pleased with Pinsky's decision to put a line of white space between each triplet. This really helped to accentuate the pacing and structure that make terza rima so important. The inclusion of the Italian text is also a nice touch. Finally, the notes are concise and informative. While Mandelbaum's notes seemed to me a little too thorough, often glossing the obvious, these give pertinent information without ever condescending to the reader. My only complaint would be that Pinksy stopped at the Inferno. I firmly believe that one must experience a work of art in its entirety in order to fully experience its brilliance. This is very true of the Divine Comedy. While there are certainly plenty of Purgatorios and Paradisos out there, I would very much have liked to have been able to maintain the continuity of a single translator. While there is a long list of translators who provide this option, I regret that Pinksy is not among them.

It says a lot that of all the books we read during the year in a rigorous English curriculum, many of my best readers picked the Pinksy Inferno as their favorite book of the year. I'm a Mandelbaum fan too (I still like his Aeneid since it's by far the closest to Virgil's Latin and was even helpful when I worked on translating books 4 and 6), but I prefer Pinsky's rendition of Dante's poem. It makes the text alive for generations of new readers. My class appreciated Nicole Pinsky's notes at the end of the book which add greatly to students' comprehension of historical background and context. Hats off to Pinsky for a great work of art that has made Dante more accessible to a new generation of potential fans.

The wedding of Luke and Mara's something I've been waiting for for years, and I was finally glad to be able to see it. It's still a little hard for me to swallow the tough-as-nails Mara as getting soft and romantic as she was in these comics, but not impossible-- it was well done here. It was far from perfect, though: perhaps I'm spoiled by the art in the "By the Emperor's Hand" comics, but I thought the art in this series was far from above par, especially with the portrayals of previously established characters: they barely looked like them, and the characters I didn't know so well from the other novels all blended together with very little to tell them apart (except in a few select places). And the so-called added 'conflict' of the Imperials crashing the wedding was pretty weak, though to be fair there's really not much room to develop a deep conflict with a four-issue series and half of that is spent on Luke/Mara mush. It really just seemed like a 'token' conflict, just a conflict to stick in there so the whole story line was not a continuous stream of nothing but happy wedding stuff for Luke and Mara. I enjoyed reading it-- as I previously said I loved the romance, it was about time Luke really got some!-- and I don't regret spending the money on it; but it's still definitely not the best SW story I've read.

Personally, I would have liked that Luke and Mara's wedding be in a novel form, but having a comic like "Union" is, does have its pluses. For one, we actually could see the characters and what they were doing. The dialogue at times can be confusing (like the bar room brawl and the people plotting against the wedding), but overall it makes sense and Michael Stackpole does a good job at it. The biggest problem I have with the comic was the picturing and drawings. Certainly the known characters we know from the movie trilogy look like they should look like (though at times, I think Luke and Han could have been drawn better), but I felt that the drawings weren't as good as some of the past comics, like the comic adaption of the Timothy Zahn book, "Dark Force Rising", which I feel is the best comic version out of almost all of them. With the drawings, Mara herself could have looked much better, which brings back the comic of DFR, which I felt had Mara down to the hilt of the way that Zahn wrote her. Besides that, "Union" was a excellent entry into the Star Wars universe with the marriage of probably the most famous person from the original movie trilogy, Luke Skywalker (duh!). It does have some problems (which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 stars), but it is a refresher before the New Jedi Order book series, which I hate overall (the exception being the birth of Luke and Mara's son Ben).

At last, that momentous event in which Mara Jade will wed Luke Skywalker. An excellent story, but rather poor graphics. While I may be spoiled by the artistry in Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand, the pictures in this comic are not very good. The story however, is full of excellent twists. We finally get to see that hard stone heart of Mara's melt into compassion. We also see the passionate side of Luke, ddeeply in love with his bride to be. A truely excellent comic book, a MUST have.

Michael Baden's 'Confessions', of course, are not confessions at all,but the book is a fascinating discussion (in no particular order) of many of the very high profile (and not high profile) cases he has handled over the years. The book is more anecdotal in style, moving along at a brisk pace, covering the forensic points quite well , with little wasted verbage. Along the way, he attacks his past critics, and confesses no sins of his own. Baden provides a useful discussion as to how politicians , prosecutors and the police bias sometimes affect, influence and even corrupt the independent judgenent of a the coroner's office. He makes a strong case for establishing nationwide standards. The recent explosion of TVs shows such as CSI (and its immitators) will hopefully attract highly talented physicians to this forensic science,which science not only helps convict the guilty, but frees the innocent, as long as the ME remains independent (and not an appendage of the prosecutor).
While many of the cases have been covered well in other
books or are familiar to true crime buffs, Baden discusses
the forensic points of each case quite well and succcintly.
The creation of 'chapters' for this book was gratuitious, as
there does not seem to be any real order to the book. Still,
I would highly recommend this book for anyone interested as to
what the victim's body tells a forensic pathologist about the victim's death, and in a homicide, what it tells about the
killer

If you are an avid reader of true crime, this is a hard to put down book. And if the HBO special "autopsy" held you on the edge of your seat, this is just a continuation. It has everything in here, from celebrity autopsies, to everyday people. It is not morbid and creepy, although some aspects may make the weak queasy, its realism and therefore compelling. It amazes as to how a medical examiner can solve a crime and pin point time and cause of death. Just a interest-keeper of a read, not only for anyone in the medical field, or forensics, but simply everyone.

A great book!! One of my all time favorites that easily explains complex situations and extremely compilcated medical jargon into a everyday conversation!! Great stories!! Mr Baden has a gift for allowing the reader to understand the trumatic events and terrible crimes we human- beings inflict on one another! Understanding the forensics science involved can surely overwhelm the common individual but not in this book as we learn from Mr. Baden! I would not hesitate to both endorse and encourage any one to read this book for themselves and not walk away disappointed! In my 9 years in L.A.County Cornoner's Office as a volunteer Forensic tech, I am more than happy to ask that Mr. Baden write at least another book to follow up this masterpiece!!

Jonathan Swift's 18th century satire, Gulliver's Travels, is an extraordinary tale of the adventures of an English ship surgeon. The ship surgeon, Gulliver, by a series of unfortunate events on each of his four voyages at sea, receives the chance to explore the cultures of the countries of Lilliput, Brobdingnag, Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg and the land of the Houyhnhnms. Each land is considerably different from the others, and creates quite an entertaining read.

While the story itself is particularly unusual, the satirical element which Swift applied to it adds another level of comprehension. If understood, one could have a nice chuckle at the way Swift mockingly portrays ideas and people through the various cultures which Gulliver encounters. Some similes, however, are intended to get a more serious meaning across. For example, in his first journey of the book, Gulliver finds himself in the country of Lilliput where the people are only six inches tall, save the king who is seven. In this land there are two groups which were distinguished by which side a person breaks their eggs on. One king published an edict commanding all his subjects to break their eggs on the small side, but many would've picked death over breaking their eggs on the 'wrong' side, so many did. By this, Swift meant to throw contempt on the exaggerated importance that people place on their differences, as on which side one breaks an egg is a very trivial thing. The two groups mentioned represent the Catholic and Protestant religions, between which were many wars and massacres during the 1500's when the Protestants first appeared.

Gulliver's Travels takes the reader to many lands, all different and unique ' each adding another perspective on traditional beliefs and ways of thinking. Gulliver changes as much as the scenery around him, and after each voyage he has changed dramatically. At the end he has transformed so much that I feel really sorry for his family ' although it's only love that could allow them to put up with his strange behaviors.

I would recommend this book to anyone with an appetite for literature, as Gulliver's Travels is an excellent satire of the ways of the thinking in the early 1700's. Also, the author does a good job in describing the lands which Gulliver visits in great detail. Although Swift may not have written this book with intense action scenes and steamy romance, it is definitely a work worthy of the people of today.

Lemuel Gulliver is a surgeon/ship¨ˆs captain who embarks on several intriguing adventures. His first endeavor takes him to Lilliput, where all inhabitants are six inches tall, but resemble normal humans in every other respect. His next voyage lands him on Brobdingnag, where a grown man is sixty feet tall, and even the shortest dwarf stands thirty feet tall. On his third trip, he travels to several locations, including a floating island. During Gulliver¨ˆs final voyage, he is abandoned by his mutinous crew on the island of the Houyhnhnms, which are extremely intelligent horses. No evil or concept of lying exists among these creatures. The island is also inhabited by Yahoos, savage, irrational human-like creatures who are kept as pets by the Houyhnhnms. Gulliver wishes to spend the rest of his life on this peaceful island, but he is banished and forced to return to England.
I really enjoyed this book, and I would recommend it to people 14 or older. Since the novel was written in the 1700¡¯s, the words, grammar and usage are a little confusing. The reader also must have prior knowledge of 18th-century politics to get a full image of what Swift is trying to convey. At some points, the author goes into detail about nautical terms and happenings, and that tends to drag. Overall, the book is well-written, slightly humorous, if not a little confusing.

I have trouble reading classic literature. I am an avid reader and I want to enjoy the classics, but just find it difficult to understand the meaning in some of the writing.

This, however, was a pleasant surprise. Although written in the early 1700s, the story itself was fairly easy to follow. Even towards the end, I began to see the underlying theme of the satire that Swift has been praised for in this work.

Being someone who reads primarily science fiction and fantasy novels, I thought this might be an opportunity to culture myself while also enjoying a good story. I was correct in my thinking. Even if you can't pick up on the satire, there is still a good classic fantasy story.

Essentially, the book details the travels of Lemuel Gulliver, who by several misfortunes, visits remote and unheard of lands. In each, Gulliver spends enough time to understand the language and culture of each of these land's inhabitants. He also details the difference in culture of his native England to the highest rulers of the visted nations. In his writing of these differences, he is able to show his dislike with the system of government of England. He does this by simply stating how things are in England and then uses the reaction of the strangers as outsiders looking in, showing their lack of respect for what Gulliver describes.

I found it very interesting to see that even as early as the 1700s there was a general dislike of government as well as lawyers.

I would recommend this book to anyone who reads the fantasy genre. Obviously, it's not an epic saga like so many most fantasy readers enjoy, but it's a nice break. I would also recommend this to high school students who are asked to pick a classic piece for a book report. It reads relatively quick and isn't as difficult to read as some of the others that I've tried to read.