White Wolf has been alluding to the (somewhat ridiculous) term "Hedge magicians" for years, to distinguish these folks from True Mages. Finally they "clear it up." There's no real difference between the magic of a Sorcerer and that of an Awakened Mage. One is "linear" and the other is "affinative" (whatever THAT means.) Why then, if they cast the same spell, does a Mage incur paradox but a Sorcerer doesn't? Why wouldn't Mages study Sorcery, to have a few paradox-free tricks in their bag? The book even goes as far to claim that "trying to create divisions is a waste of time -- magicians have better things to do." Huh? The Order of Hermes NOT making divisions?

The second part of the book deals with Psychics -- neither Mages nor Sorcerors, who have powers markedly similar to Vampires (i.e. Obfuscate, Movement of Mind, etc.) I'm not sure how they connect to Mages or Sorcery, or if a connection was even intended.

Yet it's still a neat book. What's cool about Sorcerers is their independence -- no Traditions, no Ascension War, none of metaphysical pomp and circumstance of Mage. As far as magic goes, this IS your father's Oldsmobile: alchemy, hellfire, and broomsticks. But the system is coherent and interesting, and as a stand-alone game, Sorcerer might actually be fun.

This is a truly useful book. It describes Sorcerous societies and tells about the roll of Sorcerers in the World of Darkness. It now makes the distinctions between Sorcerers and Mages clear. One type of magic isn't necessarily more powerful than the other, yet the magic is learned differently: mages gain overarching understanding while Sorcerers gain their knowledge in a specific area a little bit a time. Best yet, the book can be used with any game just to give it a little extra flavor. Overall, if anyone is interested in Sorcery (or Linear Magic as the book calls it) or wants to add some extras to existing games, then this book is for you.

I frankly cannot understand how ANYONE could dislike this book. It is well laid-out, well-written, the rules are balanced nicely. Some of the skills are a bit lame, but that doesn't matter. It is an excellent book. I'd recommend you buy it.

That's the Cliff Note version for those of you, like me, who have this as required reading before a big 'brand summit'.

Everything else was rehashed, renamed, or retreaded.

Read it on the plane in about 30 minutes, regardless of the heft.

Don't let the somewhat intimidating word "operationalize" keep you from investigating the pages of Building The Brand-Driven Business: Operationalize Your Brand to Drive Profitable Growth (Jossey-Bass, 2002). What authors Scott Davis and Michael Dunn show is that brand-building can and should be supported through more than just MarCom initiatives. The retail clerk who actually smiles at and is helpful to customers does far more to support the brand than the priciest ad campaigns - as Wal-Mart has long-since discovered and McDonald's apparently has yet to grasp. The authors posit that building those supporting behaviors and mind-sets (not to mention systems and processes) and then using the brand promise as an integral measure for business decisions is what "operationalizing" is all about. It's interesting positioning that's perhaps ahead of its time - but certainly one that non-marketing, senior decision makers should relate to. There's a lot of confusion among non-marketers as to what "brand" is and isn't. The authors make a case for elevating it to an entirely different level in the organization.

Before I read this book, I never thought of a retail clerk or a customer service representative as a company's brand ambassador. But what the authors explain is that brand building should be supported by more than just the people in the marketing department. Certainly, brand has become the strategy du jour among marketing people these days, as evidenced by the number of books on the market. However, this book treats brand in a different context, defining it through the concept of "operationalizing" it, bringing it to life through a company's processes, systems and employees. It makes a great deal of sense that a company's senior executives must embrace the brand and its promise by linking it to the company's corporate strategy, so it becomes part of the culture. Several case studies in the book are helpful for understanding why so many well-known brand names have been successful by using similar techniques to bring their brand to life across the organization.

This is another guide written in the same sort of format as Lets Go and Lonely Planet. It is a lot thicker than the Lets Go version and believe me, weight and space are important when lugging the thing around a whole continent. Let's Go also has a fair bit more information than Rough Guide in fewer pages. I also don't like the paper the pages are made of in this book as it's not a nice texture, is very thin and the pages stick together when the book's been inside a hot backpack and just don't feel nice turning the pages when it's a bit humid. Rough Guide is also rather opinionated on everything from each hostel to local information booth staff friendliness. I must say I do agree with some comments but a lot I never had the same experiences. That's the thing about travelling one person can have a great experience with a tourism operator and the next not so good. It depends who else is on the tour, in the room, which staff member you get and so on. If this was a constantly updated website that encourages feedback and changed the information regularly than I would see a place for it but not in a guide book. If you follow the author's opinion you'll miss out on some great experiences and even the places he recommends you may still have a bad time at. That's just the way tourism is. I'd recommend Lets Go over this for backpacking around Australia.

This book was a lifesaver for us on our three week vacation to Australia. The maps within it were fantastic especially on our four day drive up the coast. It was very helpful with regard to accommodation, and finding tourist information offices. We didn't leave our room without it on any day of our trip.

I love the fact that my son is into Batman Beyond for many reasons. One of those reasons, or so I thought was to encourage his desire to read. Not true with this book.

My son is almost 4 and loves books but this one has comic book style format on every page. He likes that he possesses such a book with Batman Beyond on the cover but loses interest when I try to read it to him. Maybe when he is older this will not be an issue.

My wife and I are doing everything we can to encourage our 7-year-old to read, and since he loves Batman Beyond, this book was a natural choice. The book tells the origin of "Batman Beyond" effectively, if very sketchily. It is presented in comic book (or maybe graphic novel) format, and the artwork is solid, standard, comic book style art.

Although the book is supposed to be targeted for children 4-8 years old, I'd narrow that range to 6-8. Your average first grader will have a bit of difficulty with many of the words.

The strongest recommendation I can make for this book is that my son read the entire book on his own initiative without any prompting or encouragment from us. That was the first time he ever read a book completely on his own, so needless to say, I'm thrilled.

A tough read but the book is particularily rewarding for the notes in the back. They give a great overview of the life and times of the characters.

The note's while being very thorough can be a little convoluted. At least twice I was refererred to notes on notes on notes!!

Sir Walter Scott's 1818 novel, "The Heart of Mid-Lothian" deals with events in the lives of the Deans family from 1736 to the early 1750's. The novel begins with the 1736 Porteous riots, in which disgruntled citizens of Edinburgh storm the local prison to take revenge on a needlessly cruel official. With Anglo-Scottish relations in a tailspin and Queen Caroline levying a rash of punishments against Edinburgh in the background, the action of "Mid-Lothian" commences.

The principle heroes of the novel are Jeanie Deans and her longtime suitor, Reuben Butler. The two rustic born youths are from differently oriented Presbyterian ancestry - their parents' religious differences force an almost interminable delay in the progress of their affections. Butler's extensive formal and ministerial education notwithstanding, his financial position is such that he cannot comfortably propose a union to Jeanie's father. Further complication arises when Jeanie's younger and more impulsive half-sister, Effie, is seduced and later accused of murdering her child. The majority of the novel details Jeanie's attempts to question the impropriety of the judgement against her sister, and her interactions with the world outside of provincial northern Scotland.

As always, Scott deals with a range of social, economic, political, and legal issues. Among these in "Mid-Lothian" is the right of the Scottish to control their own internal disputes - are Scottish law and British law compatible? On a related tip, the novel calls into question whether the governors of the people have sufficient sympathy with and understanding of all the people they govern. Scott also examines the nature of language - with plain English, various Scottish dialects, and quotations from classical Latin and the Bible - the characters in the novel often have to understand each other before they can adequately communicate.

"Mid-Lothian" has a number of quirky and interesting minor characters: from the soft-spoken, yet intently-staring Dumbiedikes, to the hardline theologian-father David Deans, to the rake George Robertson, to the tragically mysterious Madge Wildfire, to the courtly, wistful Duke of Argyle. These minor characters add substance, humor, and diversity to Scott's intricate plot. In "The Heart of Mid-Lothian," Jeanie Deans, an unpretentious young woman, takes on a world beyond the enclosed experience of her home, bearing the troubles of her family, her community, and her nation on her back. The result is a great, if sometimes gregarious novel which you will certainly enjoy.

David Scott has produces a series of stories in a style reminiscent of that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in writing the original Sherlock Holmes series. This, combined with elements from Doyle's own stories, should mean that regular Sherlock Holmes readers will feel comfortable with this book.

Having said that, it should also be noted that the stories do not push any boundaries of the Holmes canon, and so while comfortably reassuring in their familiarity, are unlikely to spark strong passions.

A satisfying if unchallenging read for Holmes enthusiasts.

This book is a bit brief, but other than that has much to recommend it. The author seems to have a good feel for Holmes (at least as good as many other current pastiche authors). The key, for me at least, in deciding whether a pastiche is good or not is if I would want to read further Holmes adventures written by the author. In this case, the answer is a definite "Yes". Well worth the money.

This audio collection contains two cassettes and unabridged versions of many of the short stories in Guterson's collection, but not all stories are included in the audio version. Sorry I can't tell you which ones are here, cause the cover for some reason has no contents listed, and narrator Campbell Scott often moved so fast from one story to the next I never heard the title of half of them.

By and large, I liked the stories on tape number one, especially the poignant tale of two brothers growing up in the 1960's whose family leaves their Oregon coastal motel and moves to Seattle. I think that one was titled "Day of the Moonwalk" or something like that. There is a real sense of nostalgia here, and the interplay between the brothers was heartwarming as they realized they didn't share a bedroom anymore, and as they scoured downtown Seatlle for a basketball hoop.

I also enjoyed the duckhunting tale (probably "Opening Day"), as well as the doomed romance between a bookish young girl and a minor league pitching prospect. I thought the book was narrated effectively by actor Campbell Scott (he of the movie "Singles"), who handled dialogue especially well.

However, especially once we get to tape two, Guterson sometimes lapses into an overly descriptive, somewhat experimental style that probably would give creative writing professors nationwide fits. I was particularly appalled by the story involving the young guy who wanders over an old man's land in Massachusetts, on his way to a nursing home to care for the elderly. Throughout the story, Guterson bombards the reader with an endless array of adjectives and adverbs, over-extending his sentences with unnecessary verbal flourishes that ruined the otherwise mediocre story for me. Hemingway, always a proponent of lean, unflowery prose, would have spun in his grave had he heard this one.

I really liked Snow Falling on Cedars, and Guterson has a knack for writing about the Pacific Northwest and using the setting as an integral part of the story. These stories show a young writer first experimenting and finding his voice, with a handful of successes surrounded by an occasional clunker.

I'm surprised how many really did NOT like his stories. It seems that after reading his novel, they wanted greater things from these early short stories. I found lots of promise in these short stories with much of the subtle style that he uses later in Snow Falling. The strongest stories in the collection involve young boys growing up in the Northwest. Although the action is lots of hunting and fishing, there is a major undercurrent of emotional tension and frustration. In some ways, these remind me of some of Hemingway's early stories, not so much in terms of style, but setting. The Hunters, for instance, brought back images of Hemingway's The Battler. If I could have given this collection 3 1/2 stars, I would have, but it's just short of 4. Still, I enjoyed almost every story in the collection. Guterson is a "show" not tell type of writer, so I suspect some readers weren't watching closely enough. There's beauty and depth in some of these stories.

I'm aghast when I read the reviews of my fellow readers but then I take in account the common misperception that a short story is somehow easier to write or a lesser achievement than a novel. The truth is that short stories are more difficult to write, every sentence must punctuate, there is no breathing room. In the two novels I have read of Guterson, the endless pages of description are wonderful but can be top-heavy at times, whereas these stories are lean creations, leaving me wanting more. While it's no Pigeon Feathers, Guterson has been handed the wordsmithing baton from Updike, and the rich prose reminds me of Updike, satiating a yearn I have for quality short stories. I thoroughly enjoyed these, I liked them better than either of his novels, I hope he writes more.

All of the Batman movies had the weakest screenplays ever written for them. Batman Forever was no exception. The screenplay as written by Lee and Janet Batcher, was not the best that they could have done and Aliva Goldsman did a lot of rewrites to it, as a result the movie novel's author, Peter David was constantly frustrated that he was writing a novel with a lot of rewrites going into it, and the experience was not the most satisfying one for him. Not surprisingly the finished book is very difficult to read, and not very good.
The movie itself however is a bit easier to watch and better then many give credit for, because of it's colorful production and mostly solid performances of the cast.

Well, the movie was not up to par with the two first classic Tim Burton Bat-flicks, but the book is good. The film was hardly a serious approach. Fluffy, with Carrey extremelly silly and unfunny and with Tommy Lee Jones simply One-Dimensional. However, in this book, as absurd it may sound, Edward Nygma (Carrey's character) is presented as a sad person, who is frustrated by his ruthless boss and wants to payback as the Riddler. As for Tommy Lee Jones' character (Two-Face), he is presented as a tragic figure who is not a true villain but a victim of the circumstances. All in all, the book although follows the script of the film, it is a lot better, and makes me think that the reason that this film sucked was not its scriptwriter but its director.

This book blows away the movie. I could not put this book down. I'm serious; read it.

Tinnin's book lacked real information on fly fishing the creeks, rivers, and streams. It had too much general info. He also concentrates on all types of fish, not just trout and does a lot of explaining about the many lakes in Arizonia. I purchased this book thinking it was about the streams, creeks, and rivers, but to my surprise it was mainly about rivers and lakes. Also, I wanted it for trout fishing info, to my surprise he talks about all of the different fish. The book was a great book for the beginner to the inexperienced, but not for an expert.

This book provides the basis for someone not already familiar with flyfishing opportunitites in Arizona to get a handle on the primary areas of interest (with good maps). Trout are important, but that's not all of life, so Glenn covers the entire range of possibilities (this ain't Alaska!). If you're looking to see what's available, this is an excellent start; contact any of the good flyshops to get the details, current conditions, other options.

In fairness and response to the PA reader, I would like to point out that unlike the majority of the country, almost all fly fishing available is on lakes only, therefore Tinnin's focus. When the season does not support trout fishing (it gets hot here y'know) we concentrate on other species.

This is a cheap book with lots and lots of sample exam questions, but many, way too many errors -- dozens! Wrong answers. Answers that contradict the text on its own pages earlier in the book, and repeated questions on the same topic (at least once with two different answers!) And explanatory text on the various exam topics is nearly non-existent at times and very erratic in its depth of coverage.

This book is a good starting point for the newly revised Windows 95 (70-064) exam. I just took it and scored 857 (minimum passing score is 632). The book goes into detail on topics that are heavily covered on the exam (networking with NT and NetWare, printing, system policies), and this makes it a great place to start studying. However, the 95 exam is full of nitpicky questions that are NOT covered in this book; you need additional sources to be completely prepared. In addition to buying this book, I'd recommend downloading the Win95 Resource Kit from Microsoft's Web site and spending some time going through it, especially troubleshooting. Also search the web for "70-064" to turn up helpful links. This is one of the hardest exams in the MCSE sequence, but if you use these sources you should be in good shape.

.... to pass the Win95 exam. This book is like all others in this series: Each test objective is examined in a seperate section while numerous fairly difficult questions test your knowledge. In addition, there are hands on exercises to reinforce the material. There are no pretty pictures here but this obviously helps keep the price at a very reasonable $25.00. The other recommended references would be the win95 resource kit and your hands on experience. A highly recommended book.