Overall, I wasn't too impressed by the television version of this episode. There was a lot of bad dialogue, it's hard to watch any season five episode with some of the voice actors they had and it was painful to watch the Brain attempting to be funny. However, the wonderful Stephen Krensky actually manages to make a bad story into one that's actually kind of fun to read. He does so by adding details that weren't in the television version and adding extra dialogue to enhance parts o the story. Also, he smartly removed a very bad gag involving Brain's brain telepathically communcating with other brains. A good read for all Arthur fans.

This book gives a thorough review of the chemistry of each particular class of heterocycles, covering structure, reactivity, and synthesis. Unique to this book is a coverage of the organometalic chemistry associated with each class. It is my opinion that this book is a touch better than the Thieme and Gilcrest heterocyclic books, based mostly on the organization of material. I do wish, however, that the authors had given aminoheterocycles a bit more attention!

I gave this book 4 stars because it is the only one on its subject anywhere. Smith gives a good general history of the Patrol, and fire salvage in general, but many photos are of poor quality, and there are no shots of the Patrol's more recently-purchased trucks.

Smith also writes in an interesting manner.

Every sentence is its own paragraph.

As you can see, this can be a bit annoying.

Despite its shortcomings, the book makes an important contribution to local history, and to the story of firefighting.

Pittsburgh Then and Now is one of the best pictoral historical books around. Everybody knows about the history of steel in Pittsburgh but few know about its local history. This book is one that tells both stories. The pictures shown range from the steel mills of the Pittsburgh area, to the different steps of the city. Each picture of the past is contrasted with a picture of the present.

During each scene there is a brief explaination about the history of the change, although each picture could easily be explained in more detail. Even though these explainations may not be in great depth they help you to decide what area of history you may want to research, such as the steel mills, the north side, or the bridges.

This book is one that I would recommend to anyone who would like to see the history of Pittsburgh. Each picture gives you a feeling of what many long time residents of Pittsburgh viewed during its change.

This is the first Tarot deck and "manual" I've purchased. I would not recommend it as a good single source for beginners. The enclosed "instruction" book is far too small to read easily (it's about the size of a deck of cards) and the interpretations/descriptions are a bit short on many of the cards. If you choose this as your first deck, buy a comprehensive book on Tarot reading as well.

The cards are very slick, and of heavy stock, making them a little difficult to handle for a beginner like me; though in their defense they are probably more durable because of this, and will last longer.

In comparison, I just bought the Celtic Dragon Tarot deck, and find the effort put into describing each card and its meaning much more comprehensive...still I'm sure that a comprehensive book on Tarot by one of the respected authors is the best step in learning to read any of the various decks.

My advice, for what it's worth is to remember that with any spiritual enlightment journey, each one's journey may take a different path, and be wary of criticizing how others go or of putting too much faith in the criticisms of others on any product in terms of its suitablity to meeting your spiritual needs.

The Rider-Waite-Smith is a classic deck, the most popular of all Tarots, and the de facto standard in the English-speaking world. This particular printing is rather interesting. Apparently, an attempt was made to faithfully reproduce one of the early decks made from the original plates. The most notable consequence is in the color rendition: these cards have a distinctly yellow-tan cast compared with other widely available printings. Whether this is good or bad, I suppose, is a matter of personal preference. It certainly gives the cards a rich patina, but cards with a lot of blue in them end up a dull shade of turquoise.

The set includes a tiny, but readable, copy of Waite's famous guide to the Tarot, sans illustrations. This makes the set a nice choice for someone who has a passing interest in what Waite wrote about the cards, but not enough to put a regular edition of his book on the shelf.

It is often recommended that Tarot beginners start with a Rider-Waite-Smith deck. If the color rendition of this printing appeals to you, this set can make a nice starter--although Waite's book will need to be accompanied by something a little more accessible and tutorial in flavor, such as Mary Greer's "Tarot for Your Self" or Rachel Pollack's "78 Degrees of Wisdom".

I think every student of Tarot should own the Rider Waite deck. It has set the standard in this century and is the most popular Tarot deck of all time. My favorite book for interpreting this deck is Tarot Plain and Simple by Anthony Louis, another classic of the Tarot literature.

The Rider-Waite tarot deck has Christian junk symbolism added to ancient Tarot symbols and hence it misleads in some ways. Also, this Giant deck of too big to shuffle thoroughly and easily.

If you are serious about Tarot, don't get this.

If you find the artwork of the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck simple yet artistic, then buy this deck. Size does matters when it comes to artwork.

But for those who are thinking of using it to read fortunes for customers, you will find this deck rather "clumsy"; get the normal size deck instead.

Rider-Waite is the Tarot standard. Combine it with the sheer size of these jumbo cards and you get a higher impact reading. Holding and placing these cards becomes an act that is larger than life. I've found that clients touching these larger cards are more likely to say they feel a special sensation. If the table isn't big enough use the floor. In fact, for nervous first-time clients it's a great ice-breaker.

Crafted by a master of hyperbole, this author has mastered the art of bringing coffee table reading on genetics to the masses

This book has many interesting anecdotes as well as helpful checklists, tips and a useful appendix of self-tests. It's and easy read and a good introduction to leadership.

I would recommend this book to a person who can recognize at least 1,000 Chinese characters, for familiarity with characters is necessary for a smooth reading of the explanation of the proverbs. This book wasn't written as I expected, in that the author presents and translates proverbs in paragraph form . . . there must be thousands of proverbs in here! However, reading this book is a good practice not only in becoming more adept at character recognition but also in Chinese culture. The author emphasizes the influence of culture upon language and vice versa; however, the deficiency of detail in the explanations causes the reader to draw her own 'pictures' and 'stories' in interpreting. Ultimately, I read this book for as much the character-reading practice as the proverb-learning. (The author translates each Chinese proverb into English, but does not always give the pronunciation of each character.)

I was very disappointed with this book. I had thought we would get some insight into the failure and reasons for the failure of Andersen. This would have included why was David Duncan left in charge of the Enron audit after the restatement occurred, how could the shredding incident have occurred [did not Andersen know how to address potential litigation], where was the head of Andersen's risk practice, what did the practice do, how was the Houston office run if in fact Andersen's offices had considerable latitude to run engagements. None of this was covered.

What we get is chapter upon chapter of history with references to the Chicago Tribune, the Wall Street Journal and the First 60 Years of Arthur Andersen. Oh yeah, we also get comments from some manager in Asia about how he was surprised about the downfall of his firm.

No interviews with key members of the Enron engagement team or the Houston office. No insight on why the firm failed. The book tries to lead us to think that the creation of Andersen Consulting [Accenture] led to the firm's demise. Hardly, did not the other Big 5 all have consulting practices, and none of these firms has failed. What made Andersen different then the other Big 5? David Duncan did not bring in Enron as a client. Who did? Who were the members of the engagement team? How did Duncan, a relatively junior partner, get to be the lead partner on the engagement? Who was really running the show? [The book makes it sound like Duncan reported to a practice director, which was hardly the case. In fact, this practice director was not even part of the Houston office.]

Still considerable room for someone to step in and do some investigative journalism, and some real work to find out what caused the demise of Andersen stemming from the Houston Enron incident.

The majority of this book was a mere recast of the history of Andersen and a chronology of events. Comments by a few Andersen folks, most of whom go unnamed. [Who really cares what some manager in Asia thinks about the downfall of Andersen?]. Was keeping up with Accenture [Andersen Consulting] really the cause. AC was gone 3 years earlier. Footnote after footnote of references to the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune and Andersen's History Book.

As a past partner in the Houston office of Andersen [not involved in Enron], I can say that the book clearly misses the mark. To really know what was happening one should explore the culture of the Andersen Houston office, the key players and those who have not been highlighted in the press, the review process, the reason that management did not step in when there was an obvious problem [Enron restatement]. How could the shredding occur? Why did Andersen send down some flunky attorney to Houston[who was only with the firm 2 years and was not even a partner], rather then send the partner in charge of legal. Where were the procedures to replace/remove a partner when litigation was threatened? How could Dave Duncun be left in control? Isn't there a conflict here when Dave continues to run the engagement when litigation is threatened [and possibly against him] and he remains in charge? Where was the head of risk, and what was he doing? Was Dave Duncan really in charge of the audit, or was that just what the assignments showed? How did Dave Duncan, only a partner for about 5 years, get in charge of the Enron audit? certainly he did not sell the work.

There is so much missing, and the conclusions are, for the most part, unsupportable leaps.

Loved it! By taking the view of culture the authors hit at the marrow of the Arthur Andersen debacle. Arthur Andersen created a phenomenal franchise in a sector that demands integrity as a precept. The cultural erosion of that precept inside our public accounting sector is a particularly chilling realization for an average 401k investor.