Insidious, he certainly is. Yes, he certainly is insidious. And to think he's a doctor, as well!

Fu Manchu is an outdated, appallingly politically-incorrect criminal mastermind who, in this intro to the author's famous series, basically goes on a killing spree to eliminate anyone even remotely threatening his plans for world domination. This simple plot device creates a fast-moving romp, but it does mean that brave and noble protagonist Nayland Smith, teamed with Petrie, the story's narrator, is mostly on defense throughout. If they are not trying to prevent a murder, then they are trying to solve a murder that has been done in some exotic way dreamed up by the elusive Fu. There are scads of locked-room or related scenarios popping up like done toast all through the story, and the reader is usually trying, along with Smith and Petrie, to figure out what poisonous creature got loosed in a dead fellow's study, or what trained killer, human or beast, made those weird marks out on the windowsill, three floors up.

Meanwhile, Fu Manchu is thankfully not one of those megalomaniacs who blindly trusts his lackeys to do all the dirty work; the big man himself is occasionally "on site" meaning the heroes can try to put the grab on him before he pulls a vanishing act. He is adept at slipping away, though, and has a knack for disguise. But the best parts of the book are arguably when Fu Manchu is directly confronting the heroes, sometimes when he's got them helpless.

So the book is essentially a frenzied cat-and-mouse game, not much slower than air whooshing out of a bellows. The better to tempt you on to the next installment, I suppose. For sex appeal, there is the good-guys' help on the inside: beautiful and exotic Karamaneh, she of the curves, who emerges from disguise, or the shadows, just long enough to intoxicate our narrator with her charms, and pass along snippets of info that keep Smith and Petrie on her master's trail. But--can she be trusted, or is Fu Manchu's hold on her too great? Once it becomes clear just how the evil genius keeps her in thrall, naturally our noble do-gooders seek to set her free.

This plot twist, among others, speeds us to our conclusion, where finally our staunch defenders of the free (that means British) world manage to go, definitively, on the offensive. A shame their own sense of honour, even in the face of a master villain, keeps them from fighting dirty, while said villain has no such qualms. The lesson: don't get stuck in such a position where you have promised Fu Manchu you'll put your gun down, because if you're an English Gentleman, you'll have to keep that oath (or feel just terrible about yourself later that night...assuming you survived after putting your gun down and hoping Fu's henchman will drop his knife).

Lots of thrills, a world famous villain, loads of politically incorrect descriptions of various races, murders and deathtraps, opium and assassination. It's all here, waiting to be breezed through before you have time to really pick at it.

I must say that I blush in confessing that reading this book gave me the chills.

One way to gauge a story is by the force of antagonism raised against the hero. In this book, the force of antagonism is perfectly ominous, artfully deadly, and rancidly horrific--the Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu rouses high expectations, and chapter after chapter it exceeds them. Everything that you would want from a mystery/suspense/action/adventure novel is here in this book, and it is here in high doses.

Brimming with intrigue, romance, mystery, murder, mayhem, zaps, traps, pitfalls, poisons, hair-breadth escapes and miraculous revivals, the 'Insidious Dr. Fu-Manchu' grabs you from the start and doesn't let you go 'til the end, and by that time you're so intoxicated from the deep pleasure this book has provided that you either A: Read this book again, and/or B: Yearn to get your hands on copies of the next books in the series (which, unfortunately, are hard to come by these days).

Have I mentioned that this book gave me the chills? Chills, thrills, and the greatest of heart-pounding, nail-biting, deviously sublime episodes of reading you'll ever have. Great fun!

Sax Rohmer dabbled in various types of writing but he is today best remembered for creating one of literature's great villains,Doctor Fu Manchu. Basically a product of the early 20th Century its fixation on saving the West from the "Yellow Peril" from the East might rile those suffering from political correctness. The stories though and some of their attitudes were not just Rohmer's but reflected his time's and its thinking (even among the so-called enlightened). Most folks though will by pass intellectual verbage and take these tales for what they are- grand old fashioned adventures. Inspector Nayland Smith matches both wits and brawn with with Doctor Fu Manchu to foil his various attempts at world conquest. The chase spans the globe and the action rarely pauses for breath. Rohmer's writing style is crisp and no nonsense just like his characters. All in all a great times and if you like this one there are plenty of others to satisfy your appetite.

Not to bad. It's a bit difficult to follow, but goes into pretty good detail.

This book helped me understand my initial international relations module at college. It is concise, informative and provides detailed analysis of key issues, and sets out typologies on how best to understand international issues.

I'm a master degree student from Colombia. I was searching an international relations book focused in globalization matters and I found it. It is very clear, easy to understand. I'm very happy to pourchased it. I recommend you !

If your a Kevin Smith fan, and interested in film in general check this book out. Despite many..many type-o's the book is worth a read.

An Askew View: The Films Of Kevin Smith by film and television journalist and expert John Kenneth Muir is an insightful commentary on Kevin Smith's cinematic works that have gone on to achieve a kind of cult-following, including his films: "Clerks," "Chasing Amy," and "Dogma", as well as such efforts as "Mallrats" and the ill-fated "Clerks: the Animated Series" (which was ultimately killed to make room for the then-megahit "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" game show). Interviews with Kevin Smith and other filmmakers form the backbone of this fascinating companion book that is highly recommended reading for students of filmmaking, as well as the legions of Kevin Smith fans.

This is a really fun book, loaded with new interviews with all the View Askew regulars, including Scott Mosier, Walt Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Jeff Anderson, Brian O'Halloran, Vincent Pereira Dwight Ewell, Ethan Suplee and others. And their stories are hysterical! More to the point, the book goes behind the scenes to reveal new stories behind the movies - direct from the horses' mouths, including some of the really early ideas behind CLERKS. A highly amusing and funny read. I laughed out loud so many times reading this book that people around me thought I was crazy. I've already let one of my friends borrow it and now I want my copy back...

This book deals with the conversion of John Smith from one Christian movement to another. Mr. Smith starts from his early life of predestination beliefs to the acceptance of a God wo wills that all men come to Him. It is written in a novel format, but basically is a life story.

This book deals with the conversion of John Smith from one Christian movement to another. Mr. Smith starts from his early life of predestination beliefs to the acceptance of a God wo wills that all men come to Him. It is written in a novel format, but basically is a life story.

The only biography of John Smith published since the 19th century, the book tells of Smith's spiritual journey as well as his evangelical journeys through the Kentucky wilderness during the Restoration Movement. Donaldson's book provides not only excellent church history, but a valuable account of pioneer life on the Kentucky frontier. The book is of interest to both religious and secular readers.

"I am John Smith, from Stockton's Valley. In more recent years I have lived in Wayne, among the rocks and hills of the Cumberland. Down there, saltpeter caves abound, and raccoons make their homes. . . . I stand before you today a man without an education. But my brethern, even in that ill-favored region, the Lord, in good time, found me. He showed me His wondrous grace, and called me to preach the everlasting gospel of His Son." --1815 in Crab Orchard, Kentucky.

I've had the Moon Oracle for a year now, and made much use of it since my gushing first review. Using it has shown me both its positive points and its flaws.

I still love the art, which manages to be evocative and intuitive while remaining very simple and spare. Another fine point is the historical info about the moon mansions, which can add nuance to a reading. I find that the Moon Oracle is especially accurate when doing a short-term reading. Because the moon changes phases and signs every few days, the oracle is well-suited to questions concerning the immediate future--"Should I go to this party?" "How should I deal with work tomorrow?"

I have, however, noticed a flaw in the accompanying book. The back of the book claims to present an accurate chart of the moon's phases and signs--but the authors say that if the current date falls between two entries, to use the earlier one, which leads to inaccuracy. For example, if the Gibbous Moon is in Scorpio, and the Full is in Capricorn, you might consult the oracle between those two dates and think the current moon is in Scorpio, when it might well be in Sagittarius or even Capricorn. It all depends on how picky you want to be. It bugged me. I recommend a Witches' Almanac, or if you want to get REALLY specific, Pharr's _Moon Wise_, which lets you calculate the actual degrees you are into each sign, so you can even look up what moon mansion you're in.

I just bought this deck yesterday, and I'm already catching on to the meanings of the cards. I find it so much easier than trying to bang into my head the meanings of the Minor Arcana! The authors put a lot of thought into their deck, and every card is beautiful, meaningful, and easy to understand.

I just bought this book and set of cards today, thinking it would act as a replacement for a traditional Tarot set (which I have trouble using). They are extremely potent...the cards speak to the inner self with beauty and power. The book has excellent information about the Moon Herself, and the cards in the deck; however, when it comes to using the deck, it's a little more complicated than an ordinary Tarot reading, and I would have liked to see more detail go into the procedure. The cards themselves and the rest of the content in the book more than make up for this small omission though. Wonderful addition to any Pagan's tools!

this book is just a collection of too many thing without a deeper insight. at least for circuit design, john uyemura's book will give you a much organized presentation.

I strongly recommend this book after I read the first half one.
It contains lots of stuffs you need to understand if you are a circuit designer, or device engineer designing test structures.
The format in this book is very comfortible to readers, and you can also make notes on each page (lots of space for readers)!

Great book for beginners. I would recommend reading the first half of the book and then reading "Skew Tolerant Circuit Design" and then "Logical Effort." These books will give a circuit designer the basic tools to circuit design.

Since I have read a lot of praises about this book I bought it and was astonished to find out that the font size is so small that I have needed a good magnifying glass to have been able to read it. Its other disadvantage is that it's lacking the English-Latin part, so what then, if someone needs to translate from English to Latin s/he should buy another dictionary. It's not a good bargain and I would not recommend it to anyone.

I ordered this dictionary after reading the reviews. I agree with the reviewer from Little Rock; the dictionary is very useful and contains a wealth of information on Latin words. It has been a great help for me in translating poets like Martial and Statius. I have difficulty understanding why the reviewer from Israel did not know this was a Latin to English only dictionary; the title clearly explains the purpose of this book. Also, the entries are a standard dictionary size font; they are not unusually small. Unless you want to buy a copy of the Oxford Latin Dictionary... then this dictionary will suit the needs of translating from Latin into English.

As a teacher of Latin for over 30 years, I highly recommend this dictionary. It is the most complete resource for the money available!! Since serious scholars do not need English to Latin transfers, this should not be a concern. Not only are the number of English meanings for Latin words of large and complete extent, but there are quotations from ancient writers to support how the Latin is used in context. My students from grades 7 through graduate school have used this dictionary with success. The only better one is the large Lewis-Short hardback dictionary.

Disney Mouseworks seems to be moving to smaller books and it looks like the end of the line of the Disney Classics series. The new Read-Aloud Storybooks are shorter (by about 20 pages) and smaller (by an inch here and there). That's too bad for those of us who have been collecting the old series. The paper is nicer and the artwork is very good, though, so it's not a total loss.

The Edgar Rice Burroughs books are full of suspense, a perfect bedtime story. The best thing is that many (if not all of them) can be downloaded from from Project Gutenberg. Try reading the first one, Tarzan of the Apes, to your child as a serial bedtime story. They'll be begging to go to bed.

This version of Disney's Tarzan is clearly written and has accurate drawings true to the film's content. Rarely do you find a smaler version of the big books so well presented.

This TPB reprints Uncanny X-Men #168-176. It tells of Angel's kidnapping by the underground mutant outcast group known as the Morloks, Cyclops meets Madelyne Pyor (who is a clone of Jean Grey created by Sinister), Wolverine's marriage in Japan with Mariko and introduces Rogue into the X-Men.

This collection of stories is pretty good and the art is the standard of the time, which was in the early '80s. I still think Marvel charges way too much for their TPBs, but it doesn't really make your wallet bleed anywayz. But it's a pretty good read if you want to know some more background info on the X-Men.

A grieving Scott Summers lost his true love Jean Grey, when she killed herself to save the world from the overpowering Phoenix. Now he's met Madeline Pryor, who has an uncanny likeness to his former love...very uncanny!

Meanwhile, Wolverine prepares for his marriage to the Japanese beauty, Mariko; Storm gets a new look and becomes the leader of a unlikely group of mutants; Kitty starts exploring her love for Peter/Colossus; and an enemy seeks help from the X-Men.

I enjoy "From the Ashes." The artwork is classic and the story is entertaining and adventurous. And this is a highlight in Claremont storytelling.

If you're an X-Men fan, you'll like this.

I've been a fan of the X-Men for years and years now, and I have to say, this is one of my all time favorite X-Men graphic novels. It chronicles some truly great moments from X-Men history. The two chapters concerning the X-Men's visit to Japan, the tragic, failed wedding of Logan to Mariko, and Wolverine's ultimate battle with the Silver Samuraii, is the stuff that made X-Men one of the greatest dramatic-action comic book series of all time.

The younger generation of comics fans who got hooked during the wacky 1990's/Jim Lee/Rob Liefield/Image years will probably overlook the simplistic beauty of Paul Smith's artwork. But his subtle handling of facial expressions, his accuracy with human anatomy, and his technique for panel-to-panel storytelling is flawless. As a kid of the 80's who is now a working professional artist, I learned more about the basic craft of drawing comics from looking at Paul Smith's work in these stories than I did from "How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way."

Claremont's writing here is also superb, with a good balance between the everyday, normal lives of the X-Men, to their crazy, violent adventures, to their mixed-up, emotionally turbulant personal relationships. And of course, his interweaving of many tangled subplots. X-Men books became unnecessarily talky in later years, with dialogue and captions crowding the art, but this volume presents stories from the classic era when Claremont preferred to keep the chatter to a minimum and occasionally even shut up altogether and let the artwork tell the story by itself.

And finally, the fun front-and-back cover illustrations by Art Adams, are just the icing on the cake. This one is worth every nickel.

There is one genuinely exciting story in this book: the third prize winner, "Whatever You Do, Don't Read This story". Most of the other stories were either dull re-hashes of episodes (or briefly mentioned but unscreened incidents) from alternative view-points, or short and embarrassingly melodramatic vignettes. There were occasional points of interest: "Gift of the Mourners" contained an alien culture that was left without being rescued and enlightened by the Universal All American values of the USS Voyager. "Out of the Box, Thinking" was a plot-based story, which, after the gluey sentiment of several preceding stories, had a welcome vigour. "One of Forty-Seven" was an exciting display of imagery, but, as with many of the stories, petered out. Of course, this may be a flaw inherent to the rules of the competition, in which no major changes may be made to the Star Trek status quo. I know the talent is out there. I read fan fic. So why is this collection so unimpressive? Then again, the choice of the asinine "If I Lose Thee..." as the first prize winner makes me less than trusting of the editors' judgement. Of the two stars, one is for "Whatever You Do, Don't Read This Story".

This is the third installment of the on going series that the fans of TREK submit stories for publication. Strange New Worlds III is a good look into the talent of some of the fans and what their preception of the STAR TREK universe to be.

This volume contains 20 short stories and one is written in Klingon. The stories vary as to genre and are well written. As with other short stories, these help fill in some of the gaps to the story lines in films and televison series. And I must say that some are very inventive to say the least.

All in all, this collection of short stories is well worth your time in reading, as they are engaging, entertaining, and insightful. The fans know what they like to read and some talented fans know what to write. It is heart-warming to see new talent continue the dream of Gene Roddenberry. As long as there is fan involvement the dream will continue to grow and flurish.

Read this anthology and see the future writers of TREK evolve as they direct the course of TREK to new paths and fill in the gaps along the way. What an interesting future evolving on these pages, not only the storylines, but the grow to the authors themselves.

They say you should never judge a book by its cover and, boy is that the truth with this book. I had bought this book so I could learn the rules of the writing contest but for six months I never bothered to read it. It looked, on the outside, very campy and silly. I didn't want to admit to anyone that I would read such a book. Recently, however, I was home alone and bored. I had nothing new to read, so I took a look.

This book was great! A lot of credit must be given the editors who went through, they say, 10,000 submissions to come up with this book, the best of the lot. Star Trek III, Strange New Worlds, is broken into four parts to reflect the four different shows. From Star Trek to Voyager, we are treated to stories featuring all of our favorite characters.

I was most surprised by how consistently good the stories were. While there were one or two flops, most of the tales here are very interesting. About half of them were insights into stories we have already seen. So, for example, in the movie "First Contact" Lt. Hawk died after becoming a Borg. What really happened to him? Now we know. The other stories were totally originally.

My favorite stories were found in the Generations and Deep Space Nine Section. I especially liked the return of Mr. Barclay and Mr. Moriarty. My only real complaint, a small one, was my strong disagreement with the stories awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes. The second place winner was great. The other two were not as good or original as many of the great finds in this book. Still, since most of the stories were so good, I can see how the editors could have made this mistake. "Strange New Worlds," misnamed since it is really about returning old familiar ones, is a fun read.