A Tale of Troy is the easy way of reading Homer's Iliad. It's the same story, but under 300 pages and is more user friendly. A Tale of Troy describes the beginning and end of the Trojan War. It retells from the Iliad the stories of Achilles, Hector, Odysseus and his later adventures home, and many other fascinating stories. The only downside to this book is that since it is a simplified version of The Iliad, to fully understand some of the dialoue and references a reader mus know some backround of Greeks and Roman mythology(You can still enjoy the book without even heard of Zeus before, but the story goes better when you know about The Olympian War etc.)This book is great for any young teen between 13-15 who likes adventure and action.

In this fantastic, beautifully-crafted story, mythology expert Roger Lancelyn Green weaves the tale of the last big "Hoorah" of the Heroic age. Green's colorfully-written portrayal of the fantastic battles fought by Greece against the wicked Troy is a must-have for any avid reader! He describes in vivid detail the bravest heroes of the age, from clever and cunning Odysseus to brave and strong Achilles, who fight zealously to win back the tender Helen, told to be the most beautiful woman in the world, but stolen by the evil city of Troy. Sit back and marvel as you witness the ongoing struggle between cities, each fight sequence written to put you right in the action in this absolutely fabulous book that will keep you on the edge of your seat!

This is a useful textbook to have as a handy, quick reference. Not optimal for studying or new learning, but a helpful review. The material is thoroughly researched & easily accessible. I give it a "B".

Treatment and diagnostic suggestions are catered for a fully-equipped ED. Less useful in an urgent care or similar environment. Otherwise an excellent resource.

This is a short-hand, easy to reference version of the full sized Rosen's. It is incredibly useful and easy to use. Great for use in the ED while on a shift or for reading quickly on a subject that you want to learn more about.

One of the things I've always envied about learners of Chinese and especially Japanese, is the relative wealth and quality teaching materials. Would-be learners of Korean have far fewer choices, and most of what is available isn't very good. College Korean does something to alleviate that problem by providing a solid introduction to the Korean language. However, I feel that the book is relatively simple and more appropriate for a high-school-level class than a college one. A serious student of Korean will find it quite inadequate: the dialogs are rather short, it could cover more grammar and vocabulary, and the choice to include a small number of Chinese characters is questionable. I personally feel that the complexity that Chinese characters add to the Korean writing system warrants at least a separate supplement, if not a separate text entirely. Notwithstanding, College Korean does represent a relatively inexpensive and up-to-date choice for someone interested in starting to learn Korean.

If you are interested in learning Korean, this is a MUST HAVE book. You can find all Korean words written in Han-gul. Grammar structures were explained clearly. I wish there were cassette tapes to go along with the book.

First of all, I am not a college or high school student so I didn't get this book for some school assignment which meant I had to learn everything on my own. Second, after I looked through this book, it seemed pretty easy to understand hangul and read in hangul. They teach you vowels and consonants which I believe is the first step to read in hangul. Also, there is a glossary in the back where you can look up the words in English and Korean. I personally think that this book can be used by high school students and up. It's very easy to read hangul scripts if you follow the grammar rules which is also very easy. The one thing that I have a problem with is the Chinese character section. I didn't get any part of that which kinda got me confused. It doesn't teach you how to pronounce them. But in other ways to describe this book, yeah, it is a good recomendation for beginners who wants to learn Korean. I would also like to recommend the "Rosetta Stone: Korean" CD-Rom because it also teaches you how to pronounce Korean words using real sounds and pictures.

The only review I ever read on Silent Coup was in the Los Angeles Times when the book was first published, and the review took up an entire page in the book review section. The best version of the book is the paperback, where the authors tell of what happened after the hardback version was published. As an example, Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes read the book and wanted to do a report, but the higher-ups at CBS told him he couldn't do it. Wallace tried several times afterward to do a 60 Minutes story, but was stopped each time. Because of the author's statements in the book, John Dean launched a 50 million dollar lawsuit, but his lawyer, after reviewing the book and the author's notes and interviews, dropped the lawsuit. Why? In the view of the two authors, John Dean was the total insider (and more) of the Watergate scandal, because he was the only one granted full access to the investigation, and this was under Nixon's direct order. The author's premise of taking all the books, all the magazine articles, all the newspaper stories and putting them in chronological order is the basis for the book and tells the reader that out of all the people involved in Watergate, there are two individules whose stories do not match the overall timeline established by the author's investigation. Nixon was not one of them. There are many conclusions to be drawn from the book, but the one that stands out to me the most is this one. Why did the Democratic-controlled congressional committee running the investigation seal certain evidence in the national archives FOREVER (and is it still there?)! You'll have to read the book (the paperback version is the better choice for the entire story) to find out. The liberal media has never given this book any credence, and possibly for good reason. They just might have got it all wrong! I believe so.

I have never liked John Dean and this book gave me 450 more pages of reasons to dislike him. Ok that might be a bit much, but the authors basically blame Dean and Haig for most of Nixon's problems. The book gives the reader a great overview of the Watergate scandal and what took place behind the scenes. If you have read a number of books on this topic then this one has a new and interesting look at what really happened. Not to give too much away but the authors make a claim that it was actually a few people that were on the Presidents staff that pushed, tricked and caused Nixon to make the mistakes he did which resulted in him resigning. We also get their guess at who good old Deep Throat was.

The authors do a very good job in detailing out all of the research they did to come to their conclusions. It looks like they read every book on the subject and talked to about 90% of the key players in the event. They give us all the instances where the statements that Dean made were just not completely correct and detail the many instances where Dean was completely wrong in many of his statements. They also have an interesting dup in the form of Woodward, which was an interesting tidbit. Overall it is hard to completely take all responsibility away from Nixon. The statements he made on tape and the full range of dirty tricks and abuse of power items that Nixon did just went too far to think that the issues around a Watergate cover up would be beyond him. The book is very interesting and is full of great insight into the administration. If you are interested at all in Watergate then you will really enjoy this book

"Silent Coup" is the result of one of the most important journalistic research efforts of the modern era. It details an alternative view of the Watergate Affair, and blows a mile-wide hole in the commonly-accepted account of Woodward & Bernstein.

As distasteful as it may be to some readers, the work generally supports the long-held claims of the G. Gordon Liddy camp, i.e. that Woodward & Bernstein's accounts in "The Washington Post" and their following books were merely an extension of John Dean's version of Watergate, wherein Dean is innocent and everyone else is guilty. However, while the book vindicates Liddy's testimony as to fact, it does not paint much of a flattering picture of the convicted felon otherwise.

Colodny & Gettlin expose Dean's supposed role of "fall guy" for what it is: self-serving lies, and lies that were (or should have been) known to the Watergate prosecutors who used his perjured testimony, given in exchange for leniency, to bring down the Nixon Administration. A carefully researched and meticulously documented thesis is posited by the authors, namely that Dean essentially sent the White House up the river in order to save his own neck and conceal his own critical involvement in literally every aspect of the Watergate crimes and cover-ups.

Specifically, an overwhelming case is made that Dean, in order to squash his own involvement in a seperate legal matter pertaining to the surreptitious use of DNC headquarters in Washington as a front for a high-class call-girl service, and in which his own future wife Mo was complicit, instigated the burglaries at the DNC in hopes of removing evidence belying his association therein. The DNC burglaries were conveniently tucked into the overall dirty tricks program against the advice of most of the operative conspirators, who, as Liddy has stated, saw no value in hitting the DNC. The value of the break-in, the authors show, was to Dean and Dean alone.

The other primary bombshell dropped in "Silent Coup" is the very under-reported fact that journalist Bob Woodward was, astonishingly, a former Naval Officer involved in extremely sensitive communications intelligence, and that Woodward almost certainly briefed Alexander Haig and others in the Nixon White House in an official capacity prior to his departure from the Navy and rapid rise to the unlikely position of star reporter for the Post, and, conveniently, the lead newsbreaker in the Watergate matter! This direct link between Woodward and the Nixon White House should have disqualified Woodward from reporting on the matter. It did not disqualify him, because those who should have known about the link apparently either didn't know, or didn't care.

This fine history of the Watergate era covers many other pertinent related topics, including the establishment of a top-secret communications "back channel", which Nixon instituted in order to sidestep the State Department and Pentagon in sensitive dealings with the former USSR, Red China, and in the prosecution and settlement of the Vietnam War. The evidence shows that the back channel was illegally compromised by Haig and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The implications with respect to the larger Watergate scandal are addressed in detail by the authors.

The work also touches many historical issues exposed by the Watergate investigations, not the least of which is the implication that Nixon may have known the truth behind the Kennedy Assassination, and that some those connected to Watergate may have been directly involved, namely E. Howard Hunt, Frank Sturgis, and perhaps some of the Cuban "Plumbers". Again, this history encompasses more than just Watergate by virtue of the enormous amount of studious research that was necessary to document the central arguments contained within.

The importance of this book is further magnified by the fact that a large number of the players in the Watergate affair are deceased; fortunately for history, the authors had the opportunity to interview most of the now-dead key players prior to their passing.

This book is must reading for anyone interested in Watergate. The book's radical rethinking of the common wisdom of Watergate is both refreshing and disturbing, not only in its treatment of the facts of the case, but as an expose' of the secret agenda of Bob Woodward.

I have to give all the short story novels 3 stars. There are some stories you won't like but they'll 2-4 really great ones that will make the books worth the price.

... I actually liked three stories in this book. The poem is worthless, and a few more were downright too hard to read and boring, but if I had the desire to stick with them they might have been worthy. Get this book! If not for the stories, get it for the last story written by Weis and Hickman. You will be surprised that a Hero of the Lance makes an appearance! I can't wait to read the next book. Even though the poem in this was horrible, it was better than most early dragonlance books I have read, but I must say Knaak finally has a good story. Unlike his Huma and Kaz books. Bravo Knaak. Maybe he should always write short stories, but he did leave me wanting more for once. GET THIS BOOK!

As I am not a huge fan of short stories, I was surprised to find most of these excellent. 'Colors of Belief' was an further insight as to how the Games of Istar worked after Caramon's experiences in the Legends. 'Kender Stew' was very funny and a nice little story. 'The Goblin's Wish' was my favourite, a saddening tale of how different races banded together to fight Istar. 'The Three Lives of Horgan Oxthrall' was not so good. The scribe's narration is just silly, I think Douglas Niles could've just told the story and got on with it. Far and away the worst story was 'Filling the Empty Places'. I find myself being more and more disappointed by Nancy Berberick's work. Stormblade was okay, but her writing style has definitely gone downhill since. 'Off Day' was hilarious. And finally, 'The Silken Threads' again showcased Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's wonderful talent which puts them at the forefront of the DL world.
Those disappointed by the other Tales books will find this a better one, with more information into a neglected part of Krynn's history.

This book is a very interesting book. It talks about the past five major extinctions in the past, and how the Earth's organisms that survive rebound. Today, there is more species diversity than ever before, but we find ourselves in another mass extiction: one caused by humans. This book explains how humans are throwing nature into chaos, and Leakey gives insight to get humans back on track to peace with nature.

The Sixth Extinction by Richard Leakey outlined the five past major extinctions in the history of the Earth and the trends toward a sixth extinction of the Homo Sapien species. Leakey emphasized negative effects humans have on species diversity. He also stressed the importance of species diversity in the stability of ecosystems. With 30,000 species going extinct every year, humans are having adverse effects on the life on Earth, and eventually it will effect the human race. The book was intuitive and tied together wonderfully with references to many studies and research by various other scientists and philosophers.

This 1995 book by Leakey and Lewin, although very well written, ultimately proved to be somewhat of a disappointment to me. It is not that I disagree with any particular thesis in the book, as much as that I've read it all elsewhere. Those well read in Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, or David Raup will find nothing new here; which is not to say that the message does not bear repeating to the world. Leakey and Lewin observe that the current worldwide extinction rate of species equals that of various Mass Extinctions of geologic history. Their point is that we are experiencing, and will continue to experience a loss of bio-diversity that will have profound consequences for humanity. In order to establish this thesis, they give a brief review of the history of life on this planet, the rise of Darwinism, Uniformitarianism, and now Neo-Catastrophism. The extent and nature of past Mass Extinctions are examined, along with various theories as to their cause. They continue with a discussion on ecology and the current loss of species, bio-diversity, etc. Through the bulk of this book are scattered frequent refernces to the thinking of various authors, pro and con. One gets the creepy sensation that one is reading a college book report. The sole chapter of original contribution by Leakey himself (i.e. not a paraphrase of what he has read elsewhere) is that of today's plight of the modern elephant. While not a matter of pressing concern to the average person, it is symptomatic of the problem at large which is (or should be!) of concern to us all. This book thus serves as a compilation of alarm messages sounded by many others, and as such ought to serve a useful function. Leakey, who has had an active role in efforts to save the elephant, is exquisitely sensitive to the needs of expanding human population; but the book then breaks down in it's concluding pages by viewing the main problem to be that of ecology and species loss. It is that, of course, but the root causes and possible solutions are not simple. While the authors do note the exponential rise in human population, they choose not to discuss the obvious solution (birth control). Nor do they choose to dwell on the gloomy hopelessness of achieving a solution. We have achieved our success in large part by the efficiency with which we breed, and are (alas) slave to our evolutonary past. Unfortunately all the Goulds, Leakeys, and Lewins will not be persuasive enough to enable the uneducated masses to rise above the imperitives of their genes. But they can try, and this book is a grand attempt.

Vathek is another work in an endless series with the Faust myth as its backbone. Except here, instead of being set in Germany, the setting is the ancient middle east in which genies and devils inhabit the land.

Vathek is a caliph who is loved but also feared by his people. In fact, if he really loses his temper, just the sight of his gaze can cause death. His court makes The Satyricon look like a sunday school with its voluptuousness and excess. There are even five wings of his palace, with each one dedicated to a sense with names such as "The Delight of the Eyes" and "The Palace of Perfumes". Oh, the decadence! Of course someone as attached to physical gratification as Vathek is sure to stomp on the moral and religious boundaries of Allah and get in trouble.

Much like God and Yahweh in the Book of Job, Allah allows Vathek to be tempted and tried by demons as a bizarre test of his faith. Actually, maybe in both cases it was a test of God's faith in man. The faith that man will do the right thing in the end. That he will turn away from evil. That he will have an epiphany which will redeem him. Vathek isn't so lucky.

An evil being in the disguise of a man, called the Gaiour, comes to Vathek's court with all sorts of magical artifacts which seem to give their bearer otherworldy powers. Vathek becomes entranced by the thought of having powers over spirits and other men and begins to follow a direct line to eternal hell. In order to court evil spirits, Vathek becomes a mass murderer, a blasphemer, a betrayer, a killer of his own people. He is helped in this by his mother, Carathis, who hasn't even heard the word goodness. She constructs a tower much like the Tower of Babel, in order to reach to the gods and to serve as storage for her arcane items.

The book, much like Dante's Inferno, becomes a little much at times. I mean, how many deeds of evil can we experience before we go, "ok, he's going to Hell now!" Sometimes you sense that some of this is intentional and tongue in cheek. At other times, you're horrified at the evil that most of the characters do. Any characters that are good are trampled upon by the evil. The last couple of pages are truly disturbing. I liked this book and would recommend it to anyone that keeps an open mind about fantasy or who is interested in the question of how much knowledge is too much knowledge.

Those are the three categories that I've seen this story put in. Vathek tells the tale about a man with an exceedingly high tower. This man named Vathek is very greedy. The reading can be a little rough at times, which is why I took off one star, but there are some very memorable scenes. Two that really stick out in my mind are: When the stranger in the dungeon escapes. And when Vathek ascends his tall tower, thinking how tall he stands over his minions--then he looks up at the stars and grimaces, because the stars are still the same distance away. Both of these scenes are towards the beginning, which I think is the best part of the book. The middle details Vathek's journey to some far off place. But then it picks up again towards the end. I don't normally read Gothics--if this IS a Gothic, opinions vary--but it is a very good book and definitely one I plan on adding to my permanent collection. Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges gave enthusiastic mention to this book in one of his works.

Leaving aside the question of whether this book is a 'gothic' novel or not, it is a dark fantasy. It shares with its more conventionally gothic brethren a tale of dark deeds in an exotic setting, where an alien and exciting religion is practised.

In the standard Gothic tale, allusions to Roman Catholicism, thought of by respectable Englishmen as a dark, oppressive, and half-pagan faith, were part of the conventional apparatus. Beckford chose instead to imagine the world of Islam, an even more exotic milieu that added some flashes of bright colours to the dark and sorcerous background of his book. His choice of an even more exotic setting allowed him greater freedom in portraying characters who defied social convention and fell into exotic habits of mind.

My understanding is that it is a matter of some debate to what extent the English text of -Vathek- is a translation from the French, or an original English composition. I do not have the French text in front of me, but it has been represented to me that Beckford's "original" French is rather like the French of Oscar Wilde's -Salome-, and needed extensive editing to be acceptable to a French readership.

At any rate, -Vathek- is a prime example of early dark fantasy. The description, of course, will be richer than you are used to, but Beckford's prose actually seems to move quite quickly. Fans of H. P. Lovecraft or Clark Ashton Smith will find that it is quite easy to slip into. And the tale is indeed a vivid one, right up to the exceptional ending when Vathek and Carathis are damned to the halls of Eblis, their hearts seared with unquenchable fire.

This is a good edition of the story, and the notes and maps are helpful.

Sometimes you may be serving on the board of a nonprofit group and discover that your funder requires GAAP. Well what is that. This book will help you understand the nonprofit world of accounting. This work has been a resource that I have turned to at midnight myself aand have recommended many times. At times it is a little technical. But it helps to use some "accounting" language in the next board or committee meeting that you will be discussing budgets or finalcial presentatons.

Also, I have used this as a guideline when I consulted a small group that needed help with internal controls.

I felt this book was basically well written. It at times is a little too technical, but basically is easy to follow. I do find it an invaluable tool for reference information in the not-for-profit industry.

It was lucky to find this book. I'm a college student. I am preparing to take a AICPA exam. The library of my college doesn't have enough books about Not-for-Profit Organization accounting. This book gives me friendly and detailed explanations. well, a shortness of this book is a tedious text, such as one color text, no graphic figures. I just worried about objective judgements, because I didn't study other Not-fot-Profit books. Anyway, this book makes me come to Not-for-Profit accounting more closely. I'd like to recommend this book.

This book is fine if you want a brief survey into the field, but not very useful for reference into "hardcore" electrical engineering. As it turns out, courses taught in Berkeley (including the freshman course) delve much deeper into the topics dicussed in the book, so buy other reference books if this is required as a textbook.

Also, the labs turned out to be quite challenging for the introductory course and the given level of knowledge, but exploring telephones, sound amplifiers, radios, and such were interesting.

For a casual reader interested in the field, this book will help you get a general idea of RC circuits, MOSFETs, transistors, inductors, and other EE components, but otherwise, you should reconsider.

This book provides a nice overview for not-yet-geekie types, like yours truly. I especially like the analogies of electricity to water flow, which -- as a chemical engineer -- is how I've tried to envision the "juice" for years. The authors do have quite a few chapters off-the-subject of electricity, apparently in an effort to enrich the understanding and skills of the readers. I didn't buy the book for this, but it's somewhat interesting and helpful. At $50 for a paperback, this book is not for the casual reader or Holiday gift-giving.

I read Mr. Rogers book, and thought this must be the ultimate nice guy, who finally triumphs and gets the girl. However, I noted he never talked about his own relationship, and wondered did it work for him?

A tremendous guide to the tricky business of online dating. There's a wealth of detail on chatrooms and online dating agencies and even advice on how to progress your relationship offline (the trickiest part.) I found the tips invaluable when meeting a woman I had met online. The first date started terribly, with her taken aback by my pronounced gynecomastia, and conversation was more or less non-existent in the restaurant. But I followed the author's advice and we skipped dessert and headed on to an internet cafe and the juicy chat started flowing. First rate.