Ever since FASA discontinued their mediocre Star Trek game, I've been waiting for a new one. The folks over at Last Unicorn Games have done a great job with this one. Thier Icon gaming system is simple to learn, yest intricate enough to hold the interest of seasoned gamers.

Designing a player character for this game is a lot of fun. The templates and overlays are well thought out, and the advantages and disadvantages add the extra flavor to make all the characters in your campaign stand out.

The book can be a little wordy and confusing at times, but that point is barely even worth mentioning. Many more supplimental books are available and many more are scheduled to be released soon. A definate good buy.

this book is, in this moment all i needs

John and Beth Ross are naturalists who are moved to poetic writing, in the traditions of Thoreau, Annie Dillard, and of course Aldo Leopold. Their descriptions are both scientifically detailed and poetic. The Wisconsin prairie is their inspiration, which they have studied and explored for many years.

John Ross, the writer, is time conscious: the book is organized around solstices and equinoxes, and early on he admonishes us that to truly experience the prairie one must be up before dawn. As we follow him in this close adherence to time we find that he leads us to a sense of timelessness, even eternity. In the process, we come to see the seasons in our own lives, and feel a sense of place in our own universe.

At times Ross shows us the prairie close in, on hands and knees. Other times the perspective is larger and we see the prairie in the context of the world that encroaches it on all sides. Finally, he brings us to realize that the prairie reflects the cosmos.

Beth Ross' photos illustrate the book perfectly. These photos also bring a sense of timelessness. It seems that because she walks the prairie often, she can afford to wait for the perfect light, the moment of blossoming, and it clearly shows in the luminous photos.

If you love nature and want to know more about the prairie, or know the prairie and want to find a sense of awe and inspiration, this book is for you.

Ever-so-slightly concerned that my copy of John Ross' Tonatiuh's People would be confiscated at the border stop in Mexico City, I gutlessly stashed the novel in check-though luggage. The move was probably unnecessary. As it's in English, the Federales probably aren't yet hip to the journalist/poet Ross' first novel about Mexican politcs.

The are hip to Ross, though. He's a former Mexico correspondent for the San francisco Examiner, and currrent correspondent for alternative weeklies. Duck and cover has worked for him avoiding bursts of gunfire from the state's police--so far. About the time the book hit US bookstores, Ross' colleague Philip True was found strangled and dumped in a ditch. Being a Mexico correspondent has its drawbacks.

As a newspaper correspondent, Ross can only tell part of the story and his non-fiction books are for serious readers. But the droll and cynical poet in Ross hits stride in this necessarily bloody account of current Mexican politics.

Ross tells the story through a bottom-feeding freelancer for a small independent Northern California Weekly. Ross uses the fiction of the millennium, and a former, beloved president with 55 adopted male children, and one blood son--all doctors--but that's about all the real fiction there is here.

The rest--kidnapping, torture and massare by the long-running ruling party are all too real.

The blood-related child, Tonatiuh Galvan, now middle-aged, runs a long-shot campaign for president. On his press bus is Mickey Rause, the Northern California freelancer with little going for him except pass as a Los Angeles Times reporter. Through Rause, Ross paints a bloodshot vision of the countryside where life ends either in withered brown wisdom or in Aztec-style eviscerated bodies at the hands of the "secretos" (political secret police)or the military. Sort of a "Fear and Loathing on the Mexican Campaign Trail."

Although his anti-PRI (Mexico's ruling party) policts are clear, Ross gleefully skews both sides through wordplay. GE CNN DisneyMex runs the media; GallupMex does the polling. Pro-Mishubishi runs the oil business. Captain-Major Epidemio Guiterrez Mofo and General Warman Warman make brief appearances, as well as spin doctor Kip Herring.

Northern California readers will recognize Rause's lust for redwoods and Humboldt County herb.

While the most rural, dirt-rich and peso-poor Mexicans are empowered by Tonatiuh's political rise, they have no campaign contributions, only their bodies to add to the movement. On CNN DisneyMex Headline News, viewers are treated with the vision of "100,000 middle fingers extended like stiff candles of outrage before the darkened mansion" of the current president. The twist, however, is that computers running below ground like the ancient rivers in Mexico's southern states make or break the election.

The reviewer, J.A. Savage, is an environmental/economics reporter in the San Francisco Bay Area

Adopting a dog is exciting; this book is not. Very very basic in its adoption advice and arrogent in support of its old-school training style, I found nothing compelling here. There are better books that don't have a "one method fits all" "only I know the right way" approach. Nor is it necessary (or mature) to insult others when advocating your own opinion.

Stick with Andrea Arden and Patricia McConnell, and give "So Your Dog's Not Lassie" a try -- it talks about independent or submissive or dominant dogs (several of the personalities you'll find when adopting) and how to cater your training style to your dog.

I found this book to be exptremely informative, easy to understand, and fun to read. There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to adopting a dog -- especially for us first-time dog owners. This book really tackled the big questions I had as well as had easy-to-follow step-by-step training exercises.

The author is obviously very much in favor of his own training methods, but he at least explains why he thinks they are the best in order for the reader to research and make up their own mind.

I would recommend reading this book to anyone thinking about adopting a dog!

As a 4 year volunteer dog walker/trainer at my local humane society and also the owner of two adopted dogs, I found this book useful and straightforward. At the shelter we see many people with unrealistic ideas of what to expect from our shelter dogs (this applies to any dog whether it's a shelter dog or from a responsible breeder or from any of the myriad of other sources.) This book explains some of the issues that can come up and gives practical advice on addressing the issues. I also like the fact that the owners give information on training a pet dog, rather than "obedience" training. This book gives solid advice to people who just want to have a good relationship with their new dog. The writers stress the importance of structure and clarity when communicating with your new dog.

As the owner of two adopted dogs, I will tell you that it takes effort and I will also tell you that I wouldn't have it any other way. What you get back from these dogs far outweighs the effort that goes in. If you are thinking of getting a dog, whether it be "adopted" or purchased, please do some homework first and understand the type of dog you are getting and examine your expectations and then decide if you want to go through with the decision which is a long commitment.

All that being said, if you decide you want to share your life with a dog, please VISIT YOUR LOCAL ANIMAL SHELTER and check out what they have. You'll be surprised. You will find purebred dogs, adult dogs who have good manners, young adult dogs "who need a little training", puppies and some marvelous mixes of all shapes and sizes. Some of these dogs have "baggage" and "issues" which will need some work, but many of them just got dealt a bad hand and it just didn't work out at their first home.All of these dogs just need a second chance! If you have your heart set on a particular breed which isn't at your shelter, look into breed rescues (cruise the web--you'll find a rescue for just about any breed)who work on re-homeing specific breeds which didn't work out at their first home.

Do some studying and if you decide to get a dog or add an additional dog to your pack, enjoy the journey--it's a very special adventure!! Not always easy, but always worth it!!

I bought this book assuming it was the solution guide to the Alternate Edition book (since Amazon.com had it listed as the solutions manual for the Alternate Edition) but it is completely different problems. This is to accompany ONLY the 10th Edition.

The solutions manual is helpful IF you already know what you are doing for the most part. The explanations are sometimes step-by-step, but many of them are not. This manual does not "hold your hand" like some of the others that I've had experience with.

I would still recommend purchasing this book because of its low price.

IS THERE AN ANSWER BOOK for the EVEN NUMBERED PROBLEMS? I need help with the EXPLORATIONS problems.
- Yi Sun

This book is a major overhaul of the earlier Digital Web book for Mage: The Ascension. It has lots of little detail-ey improvements over the first edition, and some nice thoughtful material about games in the web, and storytelling in general. I'm not sure I'd encourage anyone to buy it if they had the eariler edition, unless they're obsessed with running games in the Web. But a modern Mage game ought to have *some* Digital Web in it, and if you don't have any verion of this book, I highly reccomend it. Also hs plenty of cool terminology and saucy web culture tidbits, and an interesting piece of history on the "recent crash" of the Web.

The Digital Web 2.0 is a book full of information about de Digital Web and the virtual reality world that makes a good home for the Virtual Adepts. These creatures of magic, once followers of the traditions, now spend their time exploring this new realm. With the hope that some day they will bring all the human kind to the acension. The plans are to take all in to this digital web. The book itself doesn't explain how this will be posible, but explain te secrets areas of these realm, as well the most comon places to hang out and search for hot information. At the same time indicate waves of moving, fighting and hacking in the tree posibles ways of inmersion. The normal, the astral und the holistical. Each one have their advantages, and each one have their ones problems. The digital web, and his famous meeting place Spy Demise are the structural line of this book, and the structure is very good.

My feelings on this title are mixed. It is well written and organized. The idea is interesting (basically an rpg version of the Men in Black movie). It has very limited usefulness in any other type of campaign. The characters are very powerful (700 points). They do not cross well and are sort of hard to handle for a GM. Buy this is you loved Men in Black, but otherwise I would reccomend gurps illuminati.

This world book is a combination of diverse elements; it's part Illuminati, part Men in Black, part X-Files, part Call of Cthulhu, and part Paranoia-- all at the 700 point level! The book details The Company that works behind the scenes, and The Conspiracy that keeps it hidden. Players have the opportunity to become operatives working behind the scenes and handling situations that civillians just couldn't deal with. I feel somewhat Illuminated just from reading this book. I'm just itching to start a Black Ops campaign in my group!

Every single listing reads like an advertisement. You also have to be very wealthy to stay at the places listed. Not very practical

Mr. Ross obviously knows his fishing and he's a good writer to boot. He gives us vital facts and figures--species, seasons, rates, etc. - but he adds that evocative touch that makes you want to read each entry. You may never go to these lodges or rivers, but it fires your imagination to read Ross's lively prose. This is a well-researched description of both fishing and nearby accommodations, in varying price categories and varying degrees of luxury. I appreciated the inclusion of simple fishing camps along with pricey high-profile lodges. An altogether excellent book.

I've personally been investing in real estate since December 1996 and have bought over a million dollars worth of houses and apartments with no money down techniques. For the past year or so I've been trying to piece together a lease-purchase concept to use to buy large properties, so I had hopes this book would bring everything together.(No one in my area knows how to do these things! Population 60,000!) Unfortunately, the book ended up being a nice story, kind of a pep-talk for the concept. Some surface details were given about how much to get up front, what kind of ad might lead to a good prospect, etc., but no real substance like sample contract agreements, legal or tax considerations, what happens if the lease- purchasers back out and decide to sue you to get their option money back,-- all the real world details that seriously matter when trying to put these deals together. I'm going to give Mr. Ross the benefit-of-the-doubt and assume he really meant well when writing this book, but thank goodness it only costs $7-8, because it seriously lacks the real substance and technical details you need to get started.

I found Lease Purchase America very helpful and informative, and the concepts worked for me. I bought a real estate investment course which talked about the concepts of a lease with option to purchase, but there were still many gray areas left untouched. After reading Lease Purchase America, I was able to work out a deal on a four- family and get it with "no money down" (well, there was some money exchanged, but it came from my credit card in the form of the option payment, which the bank never knew about because I took out the mortgage loan a year later). I had the seller raise the price a little, and got a 50 percent rent credit. (The seller had to pay a little more in capital gains, but he still got full asking price--and without any real estate commission.) Since then, using the techniques, I've lease optioned a couple investment properties to others, getting full asking price. Ross explains lease options in simple detail for those getting started, and has many good ideas contained within his book; it really covers the nuts and bolts of buying and selling small properties with lease options. The only major problem with the book is that if you lend it to an investor friend, you might not see it again. (I'd give it 5 stars, but nothing is perfect.)

I have spent thousands of dollars on dozens of books and home study courses on how to get rich in real estate. I have found that the concepts and methods in Lease Purchase America are by for the simplest and easiest I have ever tried. I read the entire book in just a few hours and applied what I learned the next day on a property I had already made several offers on. I've made more money in three weeks than I had made in the previous year. Lease Purchase is now my full time business and I will never buy propeties any other way again. Everything I needed to know was in the book including a word for word presentation for buyers and sellers. The only way this does not work is if you don't do it. Thank you John Ross.