Overall, it is obvious Mr. Connelly is a fair writer. But, to be fair, this book is highly suspect in its authenticity. Those of us who have worked at Philmont find too many of the stories to be sheer fiction and/or just plain non-factual. Too many Philmont staff are still irked over this volume and its contents. A couple stories sure seem lifted off discussion boards from the Internet. If you just have to have everything Philmont related in your library, go ahead and spend the money; otherwise pass on this book.

Those who think that they are getting "true" ghost stories will be disappointed. Those who think that they are getting stories from someone close to Philmont will also be disappointed. Some stories did come from those close to the ranch, but have an air of hand-me-down oral folklore instead of firsthand experiences.

This book is fantastic full of great stories from real life experiences!! A+++

With this collection of seven stories (three of which are reprints from Asimov's) Lethem continues to befuddle me. I loved Motherless Brooklyn, Gun With Occasional Music, and a short story in the Best of Crank anthologyÑbut I hated Amnesia Moon and another story in Best of Crank. While all the stories in this collection benefit from brilliant premises and Lethem's dexterous prose only the two best two ("The Happy Man" and "Vanilla Dunk," both from Asimov's) have true "endings." The other five trail off into nothingness or incomprehensible weirdness that make me wonder if Lethem's subconscious is bound by the old writer's adage that no ending is better than a bad ending.

"The Happy Man" features a dead man who is raised from the dead so he can financially support his family, the catch is that his consciousness must reside in hell part of the time. There he has bizarre nightmares that lead to an unfortunately predictable denouement. In "Vanilla Dunk," professional basketball players are issued suits giving them skills of former greats. From this interesting idea, Lethem fabricates one of the best sports stories I've ever read, as an obnoxious white kid wins the "draft lottery" and gets to be the next Michael Jordan and racial tensions ensue. "Light and the Sufferer" follows a crack addict, his brother, and the mysterious alien who follows them around New York. The humans' story ends rather obviously, but the significance of the aliens is left somewhat obscure. "Forever, Said the Duck" is about a cocktail party inhabited by clones of everyone who's had sex with the two hosts. It's promising enough at first, but degenerates into a psychedelic nonsense. The nifty notion of "The Hardened Criminals" is that convicts are physically hardened and used as bricks for a massive prison tower. Lethem seemed totally unable to make anything out of the premise, however, and when a young criminal meets his father in the wall, the result is rather forced. "Five ..." presents the mystery of a woman who has sex with a man and "loses" two weeks of her life. Unfortunately, the story implodes rather than leading anywhere interesting. The final story, "Sleepy People" is simply odd and makes you wonder why it was included.

Lethem is certainly a creative genius, however, he's still pretty hit or miss in harnessing his creativity. Sometimes he doesn't seem to know what to do with it and ends up writing himself into a bizarre corner. Still, I'll continue to read him to catch the sparkling stuff.

I loved _Gun with Occasional Music_ and _Amnesia Moon_ but this collection didn't really do it for me. _The Happy Man_ was great, I liked _And Forever, said the Duck_, _Vanilla Dunk_ was fun even though I hate sports. But like another reviewer said, no real conclusions, more like story fragments. His quirky style is great, he just needs more room to develop it.

It is the sign of a true master that none of these short stories bears any resemblance to another, yet each is in its own way outstandingly audacious.

Some worked better than others, and from reading the other reviews here it seems the selection varies from reader to reader. Yet the range and boldness of his ideas nearly staggers the imagination, and to have pulled this off -- not once, but seven times -- is astonishing.

Although this book certainly has artistic merit, I would not have called it the "Best of". We have visited the area many times and are well aware of the various terrains. In some cases, the photographer seemed to choose the "ugliest of" and in even more cases, the photos could have been taken anywhere - there was nothing to indicate a particular location. Examples would be an animal running across an empty field. Fine if you're looking for nature, not very useful if you are trying to identify "Best of"/beautiful spots to visit. This was a gift for my husband and he was not very impressed...

This book has very enchanting photography. If you love nature, but are locked up in city life; This is a very nice book to have just to linger in and daydream of the wide open spaces. Of course it may get addictive and make you leave the city in search of a peaceful homestead to call home...

This book is not worth the price advertised. It has a few pages of color photos, the rest are poor quality black and white. The history of the airport was well done. Just wish that the photos could have been better.

I really enjoyed this book and thought that it was very informative. I never thought that a book about the history of an airport could be so interesting. I hope this is the first in a series of books about the major airports in the country. It would help past the time between flights to learn more about the airport I'm waiting in. Easy to read book with some really good photos!

I would also like to add a nother mistake made by the guide. During the second boulder chase in the red moon stone temple, the guide tells to to take a left turn to a chest, but instead it tells you to take a right... Not good. Guides should be solid with no errors. The depth of the guide aint too great either. If Brady Games were to do the guide, it would have been much better.

I loved Skies of Arcadia when it first came out on the Dreamcast, and many people who have played it are skeptical on whether or not to pick up the GC port. To sum it up, I think its worth playing again, and there are enough extra features to keep you going the second time through. Now for the strategy guide.

As for everything non-sidequest related, this book does it quite well. Only once can I remember there being a major mistake (by that i mean a mistake that doesn't involve an occasional missed chest or something minor like that), and that is in the Dark Rift. You'll probably figure out the mistake soon enough, as it involves taking the wrong 'vortex' but this should have been cleared up. I fortunately knew about this mistake before I got to the Dark Rift, but some people won't and it will probably lead to alot of confusion. So I'll give a 9/10 just on the main walkthrough.

Now for the sidequests... Concerning the Bounty Hunting sidequest, this walkthrough could have been better. Yes, it lists the names of the pirates, but you do not know where to find them. I was forced to consult another online guide for more information on this. Concerning the chams and moonfish, this guide does it pretty well, and lists all the locations. The Discoveries are all listed and there, with brief explanations on how to get them, but (maybe its just me) I still found myself consulting another guide for a few discoveries in hopes of a more detailed explanation. However, this was easily offset by the map Prima included, which contained every discovery, so if you were wondering if a discovery was on the north or south side of grid 6,3 for example, you could check the map and it'd be right there. This was a pretty welcome addition. Crew Members... hmmm... these were done shoddily. As with the bounty hunting, this guide lists the locations of crew members, but explanations are not given for some. For example, the guide doesn't mention that you need to talk to Hans, then leave and talk to him again in order to recruit him. It's little things like that which really lower the score in the sidequests area. I will give the sidequests portion of the guide a 6/10.

All in all, Prima constructed a good guide. I wanted to give this guide a 5/5 stars since I love the game so much, but unfortunately it just misses in a few key areas. If you love doing sidequests in games like I do, you'll probably be consulting an online guide for the occasional additional help.

-Joseph

This game is one of the best games out there. It is so fun and there are so many places to explore. The only reason I didn't give the game 5 stars is because it is VERY hard at certain points. Most of the time i have to heve my friend help me. I have already been stuck at the Exectioner and now I am stuck at the 2 rock people with the crystals in their head, while looking for Draact's treasure. I wish they had made it just a little easier.