This is a small book packed with some great recipes and but lacking useful information about spices. The sesame roasted tuna and seared salmon in spicy ginger marinade (which we grill instead of bake) is worth the price of the book.

This is a great book for any new teacher who needs to learn about the special education realm. It has great info. on the various laws and various techniquest to assist the special needs student.

This was a great guide to the Arizona scenic highways. there were alot of choices and depending on which part of Arizona you were traveling, this book gives you a less "touristic" option. I myself did the Apache trail. This book gave an accurate description on how "hazardous" this trip would be. I wish I would've paid more attention to the recommended time for travel. As usual, I assumed I could travel "faster" and missed some sights by minutes. Anyway, I highly recommend this book. Wish they would come up with others. Arizona is a beautiful state and has plenty to offer in rgs to scenic highways.

A well-written beginning text on vibrations. The examples are clear and useful. Treatment of multiple degree of freedom problems could be more complete.

"Wayward Balloon" is a hard to find short story book about a young boy who gets carried in away in a helium balloon during a carnival in Bladen County North Carolina. I found it to be a cherished collectible as it is so hard to find, as well as, my interests are in Bladen County genealogy and folklore.

A unicorn, Starlight, lives on a remote island where the other animals are jealous of her and treat her badly. Starlight runs away and discovers there are other unicorns. They welcome her and for the first time she is really happy. So far, so good. But then: Starlight wishes for peace and harmony between the animals that treated her badly in the beginning. She sparkles with starlight and then races back to her old home. The animals gather around her ready to be mean with their jealous thoughts and hateful words, and she just looks at them. Suddenly, they all start smiling and acting friendly. Just a little bit of change to the ending and the story would have been satisfactory, but as it is there is no real resolution. The plot summary from the back of the book ("a young unicorn who learns how being different from others can actually lead to togetherness and a comforting sense of belonging after all") has nothing to do with the story.

The book does come with 24 beautiful stickers, though. 12 go in the book, and the rest are for you. I love stickers and unicorns, so the book gets three stars. ...

This book is Great for kids who like unicorns. I am twenty and actually got the book. It tells you about unicorns and it comes with some fun stickers that all kids, even twenty year old ones like. the stickers get the kids into the story by letting them follow along and put the stickers in place in the story, and it icludes a duplicate set of stickers to play with as well! I liked this book because it was interactive and instructional!

Beautifully Illistrated, as well as factual account of the creatues we call unicorns. Depicting these animals in various shapes, and sizes, with a variety of horns, chin scrufs, and tails. Dates and artists given when known. An education for the eye as well as the mind of renisaunce european art and lifestyles.

When I began to read "The Turn Of The Screw" by Henry James, I made the assumption this book would be different from all other books which I have read. I thought it would be different because it is considered an American literature classic. Although Henry James is among many great authors, he is without a doubt, a one of a kind.
In this book his unique writing style has me wondering why such thoughts went through his mind. His wordy and elaborate writing style presented his strange subject matter in a style that could be accepted in his time. While it is sometimes difficult to follow the story it allowed James to express what would have been a controversial topic.
At times in this story you become anxious and excited, while at other times you are left picking and choosing what you think is going on, and when you least expect something to happen you become surprised, and become more interested in the book.
The ending surprised me. What I thought was going to be a happy ending turned into a perverse finale and a total tragedy. From beginning to end, Henry James wrote a book that is different from all other books.

I've heard a great deal of criticism directed both at this novel and at Henry James himself. "The Turn of the Screw" has been derided as dull and uneventful, while James's writing is scornfully dismissed because of its complexity. I found myself quite surprised at this negative perspective - "The Turn of the Screw" is fascinating and remarkably entertaining.

The story itself is fairly simplistic on the surface. In the hands of a lesser writer, it would have been a simple "things that go bump in the night" ghost story of no consequence. However, the ambiguity of the narration brings the story a great deal of depth. Are we to trust the governess's story, or is the entire plot merely a figment of her imagination or a neurotic response to her sexuality? The brilliance here is in the wide range of interpretation. The entire novel can be taken either way (or both ways at once) equally well, which is fascinating.

Many reviewers have (unfavorably) commented on the writing style of Henry James, noting its complexity and verbosity. While his prose can be difficult to master (I had to read several sentences multiple times to decipher them), the complex language does not merely use extra words for the sake of making the story longer. Instead, every bit of detail in the sentences modifies and elaborates on the text, helping greatly to create the haziness that permeates "The Turn of the Screw." I thoroughly enjoyed the style of writing here, and this is coming from somebody who criticized the language in "Wuthering Heights" and "Tess of the D'Urbervilles." The complexity enhances the novel, rather than weakening it.

All in all, I was astonished by the great quality of "The Turn of the Screw." One last note - I highly recommend the Norton Critical Edition, featuring authorial commentary, reviews, and criticism. An excellent choice.

This book begins with a retelling of a sinister tale from the past: a young woman in Victorian age England securing a job as governess to two orphan children. As she arrives at her new post, she feels uneasy even though all seems well and the future looks bright. Despite attempts at optimism, the presence of evil continues until the governess begins to experience regular and terrifying sightings. The horror rapidly grows when the reason behind these visitations is realized.

Although this book is short, its impact is nevertheless profound. The story's setting is surrealistic, leaving many factors open to speculation and debate. The end is at the same time chilling and mysterious. The enigmatic nature of the story adds to the mystery and terror and this book is sure not to disappoint any reader looking for a haunting and unforgettable story.

War Dragons was a good try from a group of writers who usually hit the mark with their novels, but this one isn't up to their usual standards. For one thing, I agree with the other reviewers that Kirk and Sulu should have had separate books. I also don't think that Sulu is really popular enough to merit his own book, but that's another topic. It took me a while to finish this book. Definitely easy to put down. I've read the first five books in the Captain's Table series, and this one is my least favorite. It's worth reading, but only if you're a real Star Trek fan. And here's a thought: Since Uhura played such a large role in this novel, why not tell the story in her voice?

The first "Star Trek" novel to be told from the first person perspective through the eyes of captains James T. Kirk and Hikaru Sulu is a treat to read. Each character takes turns telling his story and it works rather well. Graf has captured both captains well and getting to hear their takes on things is a real treat. The best part is the first half of Kirk's story that deals with his first days as captain of the Enterprise and the building of the legendary crew as a unit, working together. After that story ends, it's a rather pedestrian affair to stop insterstellar war in the movie era. However, based on the strength of Kirk's narrative in the first half of the novel, I highly recommend it.

At first, I was not sure how readable this book would be with two captains telling a story from two different perspectives. They take turns alternating between the "distant past"; the beginning of Kirk's five year mission and the "recent past"; Sulu taking command of his own ship. However, the method worked very well. The book was not only readable, but exciting and action packed. Its returns to the "present", the bar where the captains sit and tell their story, were not overused and made good transitions from one part of the story to another.The story never became disjointed. I always like when the books tie up loose ends that the series left open, and this book answered many questions about Kirk's first days of command. This is a must read for all Trek fans and especially the fans of the original series.

If you want to enjoy Smith's work, please buy ANY other book of his before this one. Especially the new edition of "The Probability Broach," the essays in "Lever Action," or his richly told "Forge of the Elders" saga.

~ Two massive terrorist acts have the detective protagonist, Win Bear, and his circle showing very little emotional reaction to them, beyond initial revulsion and bone-weariness. This rings false. Thousands have died instantly, and in a culture that is wholly unaccustomed to it. Win's lack of feeling undercuts one basic point Smith has made: that such mutual support flourishes, rather than wilts, in an individualistic and non-political culture.

~ The "stranger in a strange land" focus is weakened by a lack of vivid hints of the statist America(s) from which those in the "Zone" have escaped. Smith's stellar "Pallas" is clearly set in an alternate universe where that fact is never brought up, and his "Broach" makes this escape into one of high contrast -- and both novels are far stronger in that respect. This one is in a mushy middle ground.

~ Too many allusions are made to current American pop culture. These wrench us back too quickly to a dreary this-world present -- and we don't see how they're transmitted, nor from which alternate America.

~ The statist villains here are caricatures, introduced too quickly and pulled off stage too abruptly. Compare this to the luxurious portrait of John Jay Madison in "Broach," where you want to know him better, even while you mentally hiss him as in an old-time melodrama.

~ Names are too often tortured concoctions and are pulled too closely from "real" figures, without the intended satiric effect. "Bennett Williams" is made into a simpleton of an ideologue. William Bennett is not like this, despite his massive faults, and the point is lost.

~ Details of gunsmithery get in the way. In "Broach," they furthered the story without bogging down in a collector's zest for minutiae. Here, they end up diluting the vital point about weapons of self-defense adding to human dignity.

~ The main characters are undercut by our knowing that they show up in a half-dozen Confederacy novels set after this one. It's like knowing Anakin Skywalker is never in mortal danger in "Star Wars" II, when we realize he already was in IV through VI. (This is more distracting, though, for long-time Smith fans.)

~ The copyeditor and proofreader were out to lunch on this one. Misspellings, mispunctuation, shifts of tense, and over-repeated character backgrounds are constant and distracting.

Neither author nor reader deserves to have this highly flawed book discourage newcomers from sampling Neil Smith's talent and enjoying his utter passion for human liberty.

In The Probability Broach we have a really good mystery set in the background of a world where libertarian ideas flourished. The book set up a foundation for future stories.
Yet in The American Zone we have a badly designed plot thrust into the background while the libertarian ideas are pushed to the foreground. What I would of enjoyed is less of Lucy jabbering, and pissing off people, and more of a real plot set in new areas of the Confederacy or other parts of the alternate world. Surely Europe and Asia have developed their own forms of libertarian governments based on their own ideas, culture and history?
I'm sorry but some of the chapters could of been removed from the book without hurting the plot at all, a sure sign of a book that was written for something else BESIDES the story.
Come on, your preaching to the chorus! Turn around and talk to the rest, deliver the ideas of freedom and liberty WITHOUT scaring the day-lights out of them.
Lets face it, Lucy is slightly forward, if not sometimes rude towards everybody and anything she does not like or believe in. I love her, but many people, even from the same political parties, sometimes don't see eye to eye, this is not the best way to present a Libertarian, even if she is a person of fiction.
I would suggest you start out with other books by L. Neil Smith.

A new North American Confederacy novel at last. After a hiatus following THE GALLATIN DIVERGENCE, L. Neil Smith has finally returned to his most popular creation, the alternate world first visited over twenty years ago in his classic novel THE PROBABILITY BROACH. As fate would have it, THE AMERICAN ZONE deals specifically with how a truly free society would handle a spate of terrorist attacks. In the wake on 9-11, the issues LNS deals with are incredibly relevant for Americans today. All our favorite characters return, including Lucy Kropotkin and Will Sanders, plus numerous figures from our own world (or similiar realities) appear under different names. Half the fun is realizing which real-world public figure LNS is skewering under another name. As always, there's plenty of action, lots of laughs, and a fine mystery along with the libertarian philosophy. If you can stand to take your freedoms straight, with no chaser, this is the novel for you! Read and enjoy.

It seems that everyone who reviews this book says to "forget the editing". Well, you CAN'T forget the editing, because it is so glaringly atrocious. Sentences chopped up, paragraphs cut in two, random (and not so random) misspellings, every instance of the word "crazy" capitalized. It was a chore to read, and if I hadn't been interested in the Rifts setting to begin with I'd have thrown it away after reading the first chapter.

My other complaint was with the writing itself. There is a very large cast of charecters with little to distinguish them from each other. Even their names are unmemorable: Mike, Dave, Dan, etc. I had to make up a "dramatis personae" list just to keep track of who was who. And please... military officers on first name basis with their troops?

The only redeeming feature of the book was that it did have some interesting descriptions of life in the Coalition States and the world of the Rifts role-playing game. But I've read much better gaming fiction for free on the internet. Sorry... two thumbs down.

Adam Chilson's first novel, Sonic Boom, is a must-have for all Rifts fans. Unfortunately, it's also a must-have for all copy editors, as it's what NOT to do when editing a book.

I had to deduct a whole two stars for the horrible and sloppy editing of the book, with all the spelling errors, fractured sentences, and misplaced words.

On the plus side, anyone who loves Rifts will enjoy the look into the Coalition States and the translation of the rules into a readable story.

The book also boosts a promising start into an exciting series and with many excellent and varied characters.

As any Rifts fan will tell you this book is a must have. What I would like to say is dont let the editng fool you. Once you have pushed your way through this title and on to the next in the series, you will be glad you did. The editing mistakes that are apparent in this title was due to a computer snafu at the printers (so it is said) and much editing was lost when this book went to print.

I still say this was an excellent book. The characters are true to the Rifts world and will bring new ideas to your game. read this and the other two in the series and you will not be disappointed.