There is not, and to my knowledge has never been, a playwright like Wallace Shawn. His plays are not the least bit entertaining, nor were they intended to be. They are the intellectual equivalent of dining on razor blades.

This collection is a nice balance of his early, sexually and emotionally explicit plays -- imagine "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" meets "Oh, Calcutta" -- along with his two great works of political and moral philosophy, "Aunt Dan and Lemon" and "The Fever".

It's hard to describe the latter works, hard to convey their brilliance, difficulty, and, finally, their tremendous ability to disturb. "The Fever" is a monologue and "Aunt Dan and Lemon" relies as much on monologue as dialogue, so neither has ever been much of a hit with audiences used to soundbites and smash cuts. Both could also be said to be assaults on the audience, for you cannot sit through productions of them or read them without having some fundamental beliefs questioned and, if you've really paid attention, upset. At their heart, these works seek to undermine a simple belief which most of us take for granted: that we live a relatively moral, decent life and that we are, at heart, a good person.

There are very few writers who I think are truly necessary, writers without whose voices I would feel absolutely bereft, even less human. Wallace Shawn is one of those writers.

Wally Shawn is truly a genius, unsung, who has influenced a number of important playwrights and writers. Peremptorily odd plays and not for everyone, but artful, articulate, risky and amazing...he'll be appreciated postmortem, but read him now, and pray that he gets produced more often in the US.

Wallace Shawn doesn't get produced much in America; in fact several of his earlier plays were never produced and are now impossible to find. This must be because they're so unnervingly original. They take on subjects other playwrights fear (such as whether writing a play is worthwhile), and they include monologues which any actor would drool over. They also radicalize form, enabling a much wider range of topics and possibilities within a single play than I've ever seen elsewhere. I'm very excited that this book has reprinted one of Shawn's long-lost early plays (too ugly for the NEA!) along with his newer, starker work. I also strongly recommend his newest play "The Designated Mourner".

The Dwarven Nations Trilogy has been the best I've ever read.
Every time you read it, it just gets better and better.

This spirited second mainly deals with the coming together of the dwarven clans of Kal-Thax...and the beginings of what will soon be "Thorbardin". If you havent figured it out, this series takes place before the Catacylsm.

This is by far the best "History" series I've ever read. It keeps you coming back for more and more. Though sadly it is out of print, and you have to pay like 20.00 for every book, the price is well worth it.*

*Check Ebay, I've seen quiet a few sets of them on there for a really good price...

-Jon

Despite being the first Dragonlance book I ever read, and that this is the second part of a series, I loved it. I did however find it confusing the way the story flitted between locations but the characters were strong and scenery fantastic. The huge solar-powered (sort-of) caverns the fighters lived in. The battles are perfect length and keep you interested 'till the end. Good stuff.

This book is one of the best non-Weis and Hickman DL books. There was plenty of action (it was a bit slow in some parts) and magic for a good fantasy. I liked that it had a sence of imporance in it. This is the future of the Dwarven race. This is a must buy for any DL fan.

I love sports but never thought I would enjoy reading a book on sports as much as I enjoyed Hawai'i Sports. I didn't realized there was so much to learn. It was a great book and I highly recommend it to anyone with even the slightest sports interest. Congratulations to the author for his fine research and extensive knowledge!

I am an avid sports fan. This book gives a great sports history and champion information. I was surprised an enlightened. It is also great for touring Hawaii and knowing the key spots for optimum sporting adventure. Good job!

This book has mor information on any sport than i have ever seen it really lets you know whats going on in hawaii, sportswise. it tells about over 59 different sports that ive never heard of before. I verymuch reccomend this book to anyone who likes sports!!!

As a Christian for 30 years and an evangelical pastor/US Army chaplain and licensed Therapist, I have read lots and lots and lots of books. This book by Dan is truely one of the most profound books that I have ever read. It is worth reading and re-reading. His stories and narrative portions put images and real-life flesh and blood on our living out the true power of the Gospel and Christ's love into our own real-life worlds.

Chapter 8 has so much to offer. Hope in the biggest since. I love what Dan Alender does with words. Some things require deep meditation. As I read I feel myself coming alive in a way I never knew before. And as I read I think of all the hurting people I know who could be helped by reading, actually taking in this book and allowing themselves to be consumed by it. True healing does come and joy returns, or for some who have never experienced true joy, will expereince it for the first time. I think everyone should read this book. I want to put it into the hands of all of my loved ones. It has done me good. I wish to share the good with others. Thank You Dan Allender, you are my hero.

This book is a lighthouse to those who are dealing with various struggles. Dr. Allender communicates to the reader exactly how to begin travelling down that healing path. He will point you to where your focus needs to be, and help you through the process. I am so thankful that I chose to read this book!

This is a highly useful book. The information in it can be applied to almost any genre or campaign. The listing of martial arts is comprehensive and there are rules to design your own new ones. I use this book more often than almost any other gurps book that I own. The only downside is the increase in complexity for combat. Extra realism brings extra complexity as usual. Note: you must have the gurps basic set to use this book.

GURPS Martial Arts is a well-written, informative supplement for every serious (or otherwise) GURPS layer or GM. As with so many other GURPS books, however, it is an excellent resources in and of itself, and knowldge of the base system is NOT needed to enjoy this publication. For GURPS, however, this book includes rules for a new type of combat, with manuvers, spin-offs of base skills. There are rules for Realistic and Cinematic/Chambara styles, as well as weapons, history and campaign ideas, making this book one of the best of its kind.

I have been interested in GURPS and Martial Arts for a long time. This book contains tons of styles and the rules for skills and manuvers are very nicely done. Although it doesn't have Every martial art in existance it does have a wide selection and rules for creating/integrating your own. I integrated Taido in and it worked really well. This book can add flavor to GURPS combat even if it is weapon-oriented (a lot of martial arts are.) However I would recommend the 2nd Edition but overall I loved it! The possiblities are pretty much limitless and that is what makes it so good

Hey I really liked this graphic novel! Dan Berger's Gutwallow the Gingerbread Man is a fun read with great art and a swell cast of likable characters. While Gutwallow himself can sometimes be more annoying than cute (and he bares a striking resemblance to Cerebus) in the end he will finally win you over. The bonus back up stories are especially fun to read. If you like Bone, Disney cartoons, magic, aliens and gingerbread men, this is the comic for you!

Dwayne

Gutwallow is a great book. It's about the adventures of a little gingerbread man named gutwallow and his friends (as is you couldn't tell that from the title). I must really recomend this to people who want to give a non-superhero comic to a child, but it's also great for alduts who want a cute and funny adventure story.

If you think comic books are all about Superman, Batman, or Spider-Man beating up on their latest nemesis, then gutwallow the gingerbread man is a must read for you.

This collection takes you a grand journey through the realm of fantasy with elves and necromancers and talking trees and wizards and walking gingerbread men.

If you enjoy fantasy, then you should read this. If you enjoyed the Hobbit, then you should read this. If you are looking for something to read to your children at night, then you should read this.

It's difficult to find original material in most security books. "Hack Proofing Your Network, 2nd Edition" (HPYN2E) breaks that trend. Responding to feedback on the first edition, the authors have made numerous improvements in the second edition. If you're looking for relatively novel content in a security book, read the sections of HPYN2E I discuss next.

HPYN2E shines in many respects. The "laws of security" in chapter 2 are accurate and enlightening. Chapter 4 helps teach secure programming techniques by comparing insecure and secure code snippets. Chapter 4 also demonstrates debugging and disassembling code, usually not seen in security texts. Chapter 8 probably contains the most advanced coverage of buffer overflows I've read in a book. By actually showing and explaining stack traces, the authors share a level of detail sufficient to satisfy all but the most elite coders. Chapters on "diffing" (5) and format strings (9) are robust. Hardware hacking, thoroughly described in chapter 14, is fascinating. The author cared enough to include numerous clear photographs of disassembled equipment, and mentioned many helpful external web references.

While these great chapters comprise more than half of HPYN2E, the remainder is not exceptional. I was not happy with the rambling, wordy chapters on spoofing (12) and tunneling (13). Spare us the quotes from Dante's "Divine Comedy"! Still, this material is easily skimmed.

Because HPYN2E is written more from an intruder's point of view, the title doesn't seem to reflect the material. The book isn't exactly a "how to hack" manual, but it expertly illuminates many facets of compromising information resources.

When I read the first edition of this book, was truly disappointed. I was wondering how such people could have written such book. Not that the book was worthless, but too 'standard' to met the expectations I had from these guys.
Still the idea was very interesting (information directly from the real experts), and I kept waiting for a new edition.
Well the second edition is now out, and not only fulfills, but exceeds all my original expectations !!

Let's take a look:

The Approach:

Understanding attacks and vulnerabilities, by understanding 'how to hack' (good hacking of course. . . .ahem )

The Book:

Rewritten, expanded and improved, the book consists of 800+ pages well structured into 18 chapters (against 450+ pages and 15 chapters of the first edition).
Well written, well presented, with a real fancy table of contents, the chapters include url's, a FAQ section and a SOLUTIONS FAST TRACK one.
A lot of CLEVER code is included as well as helpful 'Tool & Traps' and 'Notes from the Underground. . . ' outlines.

The new sections (all outstanding) include:
- Hardware Hacking (otherwise only found in papers)
- Tunneling (excellent)
- IDS evasion (very easily explained)
- Format strings attacks

The Intended Audience:

People willing to become network security pros.

Contents:

- Introduction to Security, Attacks and related Methodologies.
- Cryptography.
- Unexpected Input, Buffer Overflow, Format Strings.
- Sniffing, Hijacking and Spoofing.
- Tunneling, Hardware Hacking, Viruses (et al.).
- IDS Evasion.
- Automated Tools.
- Reporting Security Problems.

The Bottom Line:

It is not just a good book, it is the best book among high level network security books, and the only that compares with specialized papers. Only quite easier.
I got more than 60 papers on buffer overflows. None compares with the classical 'Smashing The Stack For Fun And Profit' by Aleph One. IMHO, however, the corresponding chapter from this book, does compare and is really easier to understand.
Finally, the 'piece de resistance' of the book, is the chapter about Spoofing. Really enjoyed it, and by the way got surprised reading the innovative (to me) technique to 'Spoof Connectivity Through Asymmetric Firewalls'. Good Job Dan ;-)
As an added bonus, as an owner of this book, you'll find a lot of code files, applications and links...

I have the first edition of this book also, and I was really glad to see the second edition come out. There are some great hacking books out now, but I really think these ones are the best. I found in depth coverage on a lot of stuff you just can't find any place else. Some very cool info. on administering hosts locked behind a firewall and tips for making a "poor man's VPN". I also like that a lot of big names wrote the book, and their personalities really come through. A lot of tech. books can be a little dry even if they are well written. This one is actually entertaining also.

Now the theory is behind you and you are into Physical exams and History taking and diagnostics. This book is a must for you. In 397 Chapters it tells you about almost all human illnesses. Each chapter starts with theory (physiology), History taking, continues with Diagnosis and Treatment, it even tell you how to approach the patient what to look and what to disregard. Almost 2600 pages, takes two to carry, requires own stand in your home like Webster's dictionary but have more information compared to other 2600 page books due to fine print and unfortunately very minimal pictures or diagrams. You might want to get complete with pocket book edition for handiness when you need it. This book will not help in your diagnosis but when you think you had diagnosed than you can refer to this to see to confirm or rethink.

This is Harrison's textbook of medicine, known , read and loved the world over. Who really needs an introduction to this Medical Bible?

Harrison's is probably the best medical reference for medical professionals there is. As expected, the 14th edition of this authoritative reference lives up to its name. This book is not meant to be used as a textbook by medical students (or anyone for that matter). For those looking for a textbook, I suggest "Cecil's textbook of medicine", which does a beautiful job in that area. However, when you need to know the last say on any topic in Internal Medicine, your best bet remains Harrison's.

Hi, I am a student of Medical Science. And I need to know when the latest edition of Harrison's Principal of Internal Medicine will issued. Please let me inform to my mail address vsh12@hotmail.com. Thank you

This is a great book for young players who want to take their game to highest level in high school and prepare for soccer at the college or even professional level. It teaches some advanced moves, but its real strength is helping young players understand the discipline and love for the game it takes to play at the highest levels.

This is fantastic book for the young soccer player. The book is written to the level of a high school player and details the passion and discipline it takes to make it to the next level. The tips and drills to perform with friends and on your own,are with out a doubt, excellent and should be done on a daily basis. I highly recommend this to all youth soccer players and coaches.

When I first began reading the book by Paul Caligiuri, I could not put it down...I found my self reading the first paragraph of each chapter until I got to the end. Then over the next week, I read the book thru again twice. I have re-read it well over 5 times and pick up something new each time. I defy any serious soccerite to read this book only once!

A good book does not need to be complex. This one does a great job. You could read this book during one hour and learn more than in one semester of COS111. It is so simple. Comcepts are the most important thing to learn. They give meaning to programing. Without concepts, programing becomes meaningless.

This book explains the "magic" of computer programming as clearly as can be done. Outstanding use of graphics to illustrate difficult concepts. Concrete analogies to "real world" objects make the virtual world of programming much easier to wrap your mind around.

Outstanding introduction for middle-school, high school, even beginning college level students. Very clearly written, not a lot of unnecessary words - just the right level of explanation to get you thinking in the right direction and to see what the graphics are illustrating. My 13-year old loved it, and finally understands a bit more of what his Dad does all day. I've been doing this for 15 years -- and even I got a better grasp of some things.

Highly recommended.

this book is a fine introduction to computing. imagine a book with cogent, well-illustrated explanations of topics like (1) what a variable is (2) linked lists (3) pointers....

...that also discussed the plusses and minusses of various computer languages....

...and that was useful to a professional programmer, and entertaining for his 13-year-old kid.

that's this book. i occasionally teach introductory programming classes, and i've used this book as a source of handouts and overheads (within the bounds of "fair use" and the copyright laws, of course. :-) ) in my early days as a developer, i also pulled it off of the shelf more than once when i needed a quick graphical metaphor for something that i was trying to understand.