The book was published in April 2000, which means it was probably written during late 1999 and early 2000, when the NASDAQ was soaring to 5000 and tech had no boundaries. Its tone of breathless enthusiasm is very representative of that time. The book does accurately state the e-potential, but like NASDAQ investors in March 2000 did, it extrapolates unsustainable trends into a ceaseless upswing. The Web is here, and it is a true revolution, but ultimately it is simply another communication channel for insurers and their stakeholders. This is a great read, but only to help understand what kind of carried-away thinking created the tech bubble.

this book opens with blackwood's great story: the wendigo. B is the master of the setting, noone can create the background and atmosphere like him. a very well written story from Brennan here. and Meloff's story is also an interesting read. derleth is at his best here. i don''t care that much for the guy, have never considered him to be HPL's great successor or anything, but he knows how to write, and i have always considered his story about Ithaqua to be his best contribution. the rest of the stories are well written. i don't think any of chaosium's anthologies contains of so much good writing than this. but good is not great. and the rest of the stories never turns out to be really good. the suspence killed by irrelevant writing going on for too long, mostly. sad. but the book is still wort reading

James P. Johnson (1894 - 1955) is one of the great neglected figures of 20th century American music. He composed the "Charleston", accompanied Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters, was the acknowledged champion of the Harlem stride school of jazz piano, taught piano to Fats Waller, influenced Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Thelonious Monk, and wrote some of the first symphonic music by an African-American that sought to fuse European and American music into a coherent whole.

This book is the only full scale biography of Johnson to be written so far. As such it is a valuable addition to our knowledge. It was originally written as a senior honors project at Yale, and although expanded, still bears signs of its origins. It is strong on the development of the Harlem stride piano style and has a good chapter on Johnson's pianistic approach.

However, it also has some flaws: it is based largely on secondary sources, has little to say about Johnson's "serious" music (most of which was not rediscovered until after 1986), is unbalanced in its emphasis on the 1920s while neglecting Johnson's jazz revival in the 1940s, and offers only limited analysis of his recordings.

Bob Hilbert's discography is a very useful addition, although it is now 15 years out of date and therefore omits both CD releases and some recent discoveries.

For Johnson fans or those interested in the history of stride piano or in the New York jazz scene of the 1920s, this is well worth getting. However, it is not the definitive scholarly biography that Johnson's stature ultimately deserves.

The synopsis says that Scott is the only anually published worldwide stamp catalog. There are at least 3 more Michel in German, Yvert and tellier in French, and Stanley Gibbons in English. I would rate Stanley gibbons and Michel much higher. they give more details, and more information. For American Stamps Scott is the best though. if you collect British Colonies, you will need Stanley Gibbons. To compare the four, you have to look at a country like Afghanistan, and there you will see that the amount of information from Gibbons and Michel is much greater. They will be harder to buy though.

I liked it, yes, but, I liked "Hollywood Lesbians" a bit better. It is a wonderful premise, talking to stars about their homosexuality, but, I believe that it should not have been written unless it was a bit more revealing in it's topic. Kudos to Mr. Hadleigh who is a knowledgable writer. I would have liked to know more though (a lot was hidden even still. the reader is told this. that right there gave me a sign that all is not right with this book).

Books like The Celluloid Closet and Hollywood Babylon abound with rumors about the sexual appetites of Hollywood stars. Boze Hadleigh's Gays in Hollywood, however, seeks to provide first-hand reports. An entertainment journalist since the 1960's, Hadleigh conducted volumes of off-the-record interviews with celebrities reputed to be gay or bisexual such as Cary Grant, Paul Lynde and Anthony Perkins, as well as less well-remembered actors like Randolph Scott and William Haines. In these interviews, often given only with the understanding that they would not be published during the star's life, Hadleigh attempts to get normally secretive actors to speak about their guarded sexual lives. The results vary widely, but even the "unsuccessful" interviews can be fascinating. Some stars like Paul Lynde, James Coco and Cesar Romero, speak freely and provide valuable accounts of what it was like to be gay in an industry filled with double lives and convenience marriages. Others like Cary Grant and Anthony Perkins are more elusive, but not without revelations about co-workers and peers. And one in particular is not so kind: at the end of his interview, an exceptionally ruffled Liberace expels Hadleigh from his mansion with imperial fury. Like his earlier volumes Conversations With My Elders and Lesbians in Hollywood, Hadleigh's work is somewhat journalistically suspect. He claims that for most of these interviews, he was not allowed to tape record or take notes, and frequently the questions seems stiltedly reconstructed and retroactively self-righteous. Still, the interviews are highly entertaining and provide an important alternative view of the film industry's social history. Recommended for both general readers and scholars of gay history / film studies.

Many reviewers seem quite upset by Grant's "out-ing," but if he wasn't at least bisexual, then PLEASE let me know why he lived with Randolph Scott--rather than his wives--throughout all five of his marriages (Only one of which lasted more than 5 years). He shared a house with his (male) lover fom 1933, a year before his first marriage, until his death in 1986--most straight pairings don't last that long--his didn't! And, while you're at it, explain photos of the two topless men hanging all over each other by their swimming pool. Being gay was as much of a career-booster as being communist in his Hollywood. There's a reason the man has two Oscars....

In these days of real terrorism, we need real books not rehashed grad school junk. Put this down and go for current journals. PL or PU?

There are only a few books that the scholar of "third world" nuclear doctrine will find helpful. This is one of the few. The chapter on Iraq's chemical arsenal, in partuclar, is very informative. This is not a history or even a strategic study of the dangers of proliferation. It is an attempt to understand how military doctrine integrates weapons of mass destruction in different institutional and political contexts. This edited volume is far from perfect, but it is the best broad survey of this particular subject.

This book is written in an academic style and format. Despite the exciting cover, it is *not* light reading, nor is it written for a popular audience.

Basically, each chapter is written by a different expert in the field. There's a chapter on terrorism, a chapter on the India-Pakistan nuclear dilemma, and so on.

I found this book to be fascinating because of the wealth of facts contained inside.

Is this book a page-turning thriller? Heck no! But is it full of useful research material and expert analyses seldom found elsewhere? You betcha.

This book is a preparation guide, only tell you some tricks but nothing else. This 'book' only have two review question for subject. If you are an expert user of Windows 2K Server maybe this book can help you, if you don't , save you time.I prefer the MCSE: Windows 2000 Server Study Guide from Sybex, that book really help me to pass the exam.

Interesting, colorfull, but not really needed by any serious or longtime USA collector. Maybe the novice USA collector will find this "entertaining", but you could certainly put the money you will spend on this book to better use "buying stamps", etc. It wouldn't surprise me if Scott subsidizes the printing of this book through their high retail prices for their yearly catalogues.