I'm lucky, see, because I live in the same town as Kim Underwood and get to read his Sunday newspaper column.

Why do people like Kim's writing? It's joyous. He is joyous. Compassion seems all out of fashion nowadays, and cynicism has boldly taken its place. Thankfully, we still have a few books out there to bring our attention to ubiquitous things. To celebrate the mundane. To contemplate the everyday matters of life.

Dope on a Rope is a very guy-next-door take on life. He a well-versed snacker. His dog Buster (aka "his dogness") figures prominently in his life. And I'm pretty sure that he makes up at least one new word each week. Many of his essays read like short homilies on the state of his life. This makes perfect sense, being as he probably picked up a few techniques from his father, the minister.

Everyone who wants to be a better neighbor needs to read Dope on a Rope. Good neighbors pay attention to one another and the life around them. Makes you wish Kim would buy the house next door.

I grew up in New York reading almost daily columnists like Buchwald, Hamill, and Wilson Sr. I remember the "Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight as a novel and not a former class of the St. John's basketball team. So when DOPE ON A ROPE arrived, I felt comfortable reading a compilation of what I expected to be small town columns written for the Winston Salem Journal's by Kim Underwood.

Talk about New York stereotyping, I found a warm, often humorous but sometimes serious look at life that could been written anywhere in this country. Don't worry Mr. Underwood, I will not tell the world about your mauve (not purple) shirt or what dope jumps from a hot air balloon attached to a bungee rope even if a Playmate is accompanying them. This compilation is fun, well written while readers gain insight into the "oddments from the mind" of a writer who makes his personal look at life a lot more interesting than canned asparagus (think what those shoots look like) or is it spinach? DOPE ON A ROPE is plain ole fun.

Harriet Klausner

I think the BBC television shows of Reggie are the funniest TV shows ever, so when I learned that the show was adapted from a book I had to read it. Sometimes a movie is better than the book or vice versa; in this case, I think that both book and TV show are wonderful, each playing to their particular medium's strengths. After my many years working in business, I find Reggie's life to be hauntingly familiar. The humor can be very subtle at times and some people may not get it. I didn't get where I am today without knowing that this is one of the funniest books I've ever read.

The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is the funniest book I have read in a long time. After getting used to the British slang and unusual mood of the book, I was hooked. It takes a while to realize what is going on, and when you do - that is when the situations are funny. The humor is slight and you have to pay attention to get the jokes; especially the insults he gives to his family and co-workers. The ending is hard to accept, untill you realize it is the perfect mix-up to this mans mid-life crisis.

When I started training in Family practice I searched for a large reference book to study from. I choose this text because it was written so well. The Language is direct, the explanations are clear and the advice is well founded. Now that I am in training the book is not as helpful as I hoped. Most of the time I find the treatment on any given topic too shallow for what I have to learn. I belive this is the result of a compromise between size and completness. I now wish I had saved my money and bought three textbooks - Harrison, Williams and Nelson as opposed to trying to find one book to cover all of internal medicine, obstetrics, and pediatrics.

This book is designed in a practical and understandable approach to family practice. It is an excellent text and a comprehensive reference especially useful for a nurse practitioner/graduate student in family practice. Not only does it provide treatment and management of common medical conditions but also includes psychosocial aspects of caring for clients and their families.

GURPS Y2K seems poised to be a good sourcebook for post-apocalyptic role-playing. Don't be put off by the name - this book contains much more than just the millennium bug.

Starting with a chapter on Y2K (which we know on 20-20 hindsight never became the calamity that some were predicting), there are ideas in this book for everything from a complete world-wide computer shutdown, to "Mad Max" type worlds, and even the biblical "Judgement Day", along with several others. There's also a section on a super-hero world suffering from post-apocalypse blues.

The "sidebars" (sections of the book along the sides of each page) contain even more material that can be used to put your game world in a state of chaos. Some of these sidebars beg to be put into whole worlds of their own.

But the book suffers slightly when it reads a little like a collection of articles about post-apocalypse scenarios in gaming, rather than a single world presented in RPG terms. The =nine= authors each contributed a section or two to this book, and only the excellent effort by Sean Punch to put it all together under one roof keeps this book from being merely a collection of unrelated after Armageddon articles.

I'd still recommend this book for people wanting to see what their campaign world would look like after a major catastrophe, or for people wanting to explore what happens after.

Well, overall the book was pretty well made. It touched upon many of the common topics and settings for a post holocaust envirnoment including everything from minor computer glitches to the Biblical apacalypse and "Mad Max" and "The Postman" type situations. Even alien invasion was discussed in the essays. All seven authors of the book provided well written source matterial. Y2k also gives information on realistic rioting and anarchy.

There was one point I did not like about the book though. It would make many references to other GURPS source books, some of which were out of print, for more material on a subject. I feel that some of the writing was judt put in a advertisements and "plug" for other books.

Personally, I wish they had touched more on the "Mad Max," "Postman," and "Fallout" (a post-apacalyptic computer game) scenarios, but I do realize that the book was created for post Y2K campaigns and that everyone does not like what I like.

Overall, though, the book provides good post distaster material.

I am a firm believer that understanding of the mechanics of a carving ski and of the forces transferred between the skis and the skier as he makes his way down the slope are necessary to better understand why one or another skier's action may help to intiate a turn, or shorten its radius, or, in contrast, will lead to a skidded turn. "The physics of skiing" is the only book I could find which addresses the mechanics and physics of skiing. It starts with the physical properties of snow and its formation in the atmosphere, then discusses the properties of snow equipment (mostly downhill skis, briefly snowboards and cross-country skis), and then goes into dynamics of gliding, wedging, and carving. The book is written as a college textbook with numerous (although fairly simple) equations and diagrams of forces. It requires a sufficiently strong background in physics. Although it contains a large amount of interesting data, I was not quite satisfied with it for two reasons. First, it lacks a concept. It is more a review of different literature sources on skiing-related topics than an analysis combining understanding of physics of skiing with a discussion of how this knowledge is applicable to modern skiing techniques. It provides the readers with the background theory, but does not lead to any suggestions how to benefit from this understanding and improve their skiing technique. Too bad that the authors did not have a good ski instructor in their company to make the book more useful and down-to-earth. Secondly, since it is based on references published between 1977 and 1997, part of the discussion is more applicable to the old almost straight skis than to modern supersidecut skis.

As a ski instructor the subject of how and why these damn things work as well as how to set up your skiis has always been of interest. This book will give you 95% of the answers to those questions. The book covers down hill, cross country as well as a catagory called adventure skiing. I will be ordering extra copies to give to my skiing friends
W. E. M.

Comics like "Two-Fisted Science" serve nothing but a good purpose. They remind us that comics - like other art forms - can be about anything, and are not captives of the humor, fantasy and adventure genres.

A science-themed comic is especially appropriate, as the art-text combination inherent to comics would seem perfect for conveying complex/cosmic ideas. This collection features some terrific artists - notably Bernie Mireault, David Lasky, Colleen Doran and Sean Bieri - but I was a bit disappointed in the writing. Ottaviani's stories so intent on being unorthodox and different that they instead become meandering and confusing. Oftentimes I was unsure of what exactly was at stake for each story and why we should care about what was being told. And I would expect to actually learn more about SCIENCE in such a book. Also, the organization of the book into seemingly random sections, and the clumsy, unimaginative publication design diminished the effect.

I give the book high marks for effort, nice artwork, and the especially interesting portraits of Richard Feynman, but overall I'd rate "Two-Fisted Science" a noble failure.

We have given this book to various friends who have enjoyed the hard science topics in the 'comic book' format. We also have given it to nieces and nephews, who may not realize that they are being exposed to science and history. We can chat with them about it later, to see how much they have absorbed and to encourage them to reread it (comics are fun after all).

Welcome to the realm of the most intriguing denizens of Ravenloft - the Vistani, the dream walkers, the gypsies of the mists... this sourcebook (for all levels) reveals their secrets, beliefs, customs, magic, and even (agh!) full materials on designing Vistani PCs, if your sanity can take it. A wonderful sourcebook that is easily converted to any AD&D world, adding a powerful, fascinating new race to supplement any campaign.

This is a must have book if your're interested in using Ravenloft's most colourful people. The vistani are the gypsy people for Ravenloft, and this book details how to use them: both as a DM and as a Player (yes, you can use a vistana as a PC... if your DM's up to it)

The CPG has the daunting task of making mortals viable characters in a system and setting in which things are stacked against them. It does an excellent job at this, elaborating on uniquely human abilities such as sorcery as well introducing options that level the playing field realistically and well. The discusion of human organisations and the role that humanity as a whole plays in the war is also very well done.

The book definetely has more bredth than depth, which leaves some parts of it feeling incomplete. All in all however the book is an effective tool kit and essential for any In-Nomine campaign that wants to have humans as more than just extras.

I thought it was a wonderful resource - has current and original values & pictures of every SV piece to date, including this years!

DAC is a welcome publication which will open new vistas for Asian and non-Asian readers.

Some 1260 articles cover the past story and present shape of Christianity from Pakistan east to the Pacific (with some material on west Asia in early centuries. A wide collection of contributors was assembled, with Asian writers supplying artiucles on areas of specifc interest as well as contributing, editorially, to the shape of the whole volume.

Articles cover significant features relating to Christianity as well as to its historical, political, econonomic, social and religious context. This scope makes DAC valuable beyond immediate interests of browsing or researching in the Christian story.

As might be expected in a first attempt at such a vast task, there are some problems. As a matter of definition,Protestant missionary societies, significant individual churches, theological colleges and other educational institutions are purposefully excluded. This produces some odd results - for example there is no separate article on the China Inland Mission (later to become OMF)which has been and remains, an important contributor to Protestant work in Asia. Some articles are of uneven quality - doubtless due to a paucity of sources and difficulty in finding contributors.

These are significant problems and affect the comprehesiveness and reliability of DAC. To some extent, they define the best use of this work as a tool for further reading and research rather than as a a normative standard.

Nevertheless, the significance of the publication and its value, should be noted. Put simply, there is nothing like it on the market and it opens up material that may otherwise remain hidden in local knowledge and lost over time.

DAC is a wonderful step in documenting the story of Asian Christianity and is a timely publication in what has been dubbed 'the Asian century'.