I own Sato's "The Japanese Sword : A Comprehensive Guide" as well as Yumoto's "Samurai Sword a Handbook", and they are clearly not as complete as that one (esp. Sato's.)

"The Craft of the Japanese Sword" is amazing in that it has a large number of extremely clear B&W pictures. Those are clear enough to show examples of the steel's grain, of what an utsuri looks like, of what makes nie different from nioi, of the appearance of the hamon at each stage of the polishing, etc. The clarity & quantity of the pictures is the main asset of this book to the katana enthusiast, be they interested in modern or antique swords, made in Japan or not.

The book is also great because of the info it provides on all the stages before the blade is forged (i.e., how to obtain the necessary steel ingot, or tamahagane) and after it is forged (polishing, of course, but also the craft of the scabbard, of the fittings, etc...)

This is a super dense book, packed with info, where not a single line is wasted. I cannot recommend it enough to anyone interested in the Japanese swords, be they swordsmiths, martial artists, or collectors. The book is geared toward the swordsmiths but provide so much info that a martial artist or collector planning to invest into a fine blade should absolutely read that book. This will prevent many a disappointment...

This book called The Dark Portal is about bloodthirty gangs of rats that roam the sewer tunnels. In the depths of blackness lies the mysterious god Jupiter. This god Jupiter is the lord of all the rats in the sewer and the most powerful.All Fear his wrath of evil. But one curious mouse named Audrey can't resist this evil place beyond the Grill. But before the altar of Jupiter himself, a small group of mice must face his evil of the entire city of London could be destroyed.
The part that I liked was at the end when they all came face to face with Jupiter. Here are some quotes, "Never" said Audrey. "But you must," murmured Jupiter. "My will is yours. Climb up, I command you." These quotes were from when Audrey was alone with Jupiter in his lair.
He was trying to make her worship him but she wouldn't. If she didn't worship him he would kill her. Finally the rest of the mice came to save but they would have to put up a fight to save her. He had fallen into the sewer water and said "You cannot defeat me" as he was digging his claws into the brickwork. But deep in the water there was something strange that had sank Jupiter to his death. It was every mouse that Jupiter had tortured that had came to get him.
My favorite part was basically the whole book. I say this because it was filled with a lot of drama,suspense,and terror. This book was filled with all these things which is what I like. This author Robin Jarvis is a terrific writer. Who has a great imagination for everyone to read and to love. He also has two more books on the same line as this one, which I will be reading soon I hope. I can truly say that this is my favorite book of all time.

Last year, at Thanksgiving, my daughter found a small multi-colored bear and a book. Although other similar purchases were soon cast aside, Peef has remained her fast friend for an entire year! This Thanksgiving, all her other stuffed animals got their own table and gave a birthday party for the bear loved for so much of a child's lifetime.

Perhaps this explains why the book has such a hold on us. It is one of the few children's books that still brings a mist to the eyes when read. The style , tone, and pace of the book are all excellent. My one wish? I do wish the publisher would produce a version where the child to whom Peef goes is a girl rather than a boy. I read it to my daughter and her friends that way sometimes...

As in the story, this Peef has made a child very happy. I like to think that he is too.

Piper writes about a God who is worth serving, worth going to the nations for, and who is worth suffering for. There is no greater cause in all the world than the glory of God and Piper eloquently describes how Missions is intimately connected to that cause.

Perhaps the most striking point in the book is the idea that God is passionate for his own glory. In fact that God is passionately establishing his glory in the nations. It is not that God is in constant need of affirmation, but that He knows that His glory is the "chief end of man"...and of God.

The chapter on Suffering is incredible. Piper's writing is as convicting as it is motivating. The reader is left asking the question "Do I believe in a God like this? Do I serve a God who is worth suffering for?"

God has honored his church with the privelege of joining Him in his work in the world. Piper is a man who understands this privilege, and who invites us to join Him as well.

Oh boy, did I ever get my wish! I soon discovered that "N-Space" is not a straightforward science fiction novel, but rather a mega-compilation of short stories, novellas, and outtakes from novels, spanning Niven's (apparently) decades-spanning SF career. I spent the fall and winter of 1992 totally falling in love with Niven's various universes, and the characters that inhabit them. Moreover, I fell in love with the 'hard' aspect of Niven's work, which compared to the space opera I had been previously reading, was rigorously rooted in the realities of physics and science. I was enchanted by the idea that you could stick to real science (mostly) and still tell amazing and adventurous science fiction stories. In fact, much of Niven's hard SF ranks superior to a great deal of softer material precisely because of its 'realistic' flavor. The generic, and often rubbery gadgets and technology of softer fare is religiously replaced in Niven's work by concrete extrapolations, based on what we understand about the universe in the present time.

Now, with that in mind, I would caution younger or less experienced readers, where "N-Space" is concerned. Especially since the book is not a novel unto itself, it's easy to get lost or distracted in this book. So many different ideas, concepts, times, places, and characters, are all hurled at you at once. If you're not ready to hang on for the ride, you're liable to get thrown off! Thus, if you're brand new to science fiction, or if you were like I was, and only familiar with media SF or military/opera, you need to understand that "N-Space" is a very different kind of book that gives a very different kind of read.

Still, Niven has enormous talent, not just for telling hard SF stories, but for telling them with wit, insight into character, and not just a little humour. His imagination when it comes to world-creation is dazzling, and his alien races and places are some of the most memorable I have ever read. Like a smorgasbord, "N-Space" gives us a healthy portion from virtually all of Larry's playgrounds, both well known and obscure. By the time I was done with "N-Space" I launched voraciously into "Playgrounds Of The Mind", which is essentially the second half of "N-Space"; the two books serving as the first and second parts of one, giant collection.

I've since gone on to explore the majority of the works that "N-Space" touches upon, and after a decade of consuming Niven I consider him to be, perhaps, my all-time favorite SF writer. "N-Space" is not his best single work, it is the best from his best, and as such, makes an outstanding primer for anyone who has never read Niven, but wants to becoming broadly and deliciously acquainted with his work.

It has become, (and you have to trust me when i tell you that this is in context!), the most memorable part of my honeymoon. They were simply the most interesting and absorbing set of short "AC Clarke" type stories I had read.

My mouth fell open as I turned the pages. It seemed "real" without trying to be an extension of todays technology. The characters were cardboard in most ways - it was about what they had done, and their background. History.

This is what Niven does. He makes history in the future. Its not just one history either. Each story he writes applies to one of a set of "timelines" or I suppose the "scenarios" he has invented in his literal career.

Inventions cross these scenarios, so that the reader recognises instruments or precepts accross "scenarios".

This is why the book is called N-Space.

It is a space where certain good ideas cross literal boundries and where the story comes first and the reader comes second. I'll take second place.

If you dont buy the book, borrow/ steal it and read "The fourth proffesion" - without a doubt the best short sci-fi I have ever read .

Really - enjoy - It is exceptional stuff.

Just1nHolt@AOL.com

However, the book doesn't reveal much insight into the Braves or the game of baseball-just Tommy Glavine. It reads like a book rushed to print in order to capitalize on the 1995 World Series MVPship of Glavine; while the marketability of Glavine was high. Its a standard baseball auto/biography. The 3 stars isn't to belittle this book: its an average book getting an average rating.

Enjoy, I certainly did.

The problem I have with Hume is on resemblence and his treatment of ideas. I agree with him that there are resemblences in nature which humans tend to treat as the same--but then what is this resemblence based on? The nominalists have to account for why resemblence is there in the first place. Perceived identity must have its basis in reality somehow. And his treatment of ideas is just plain wrong--our ideas are not just images, although they can include images.

I obviously can't give a complete criticism of Hume's philosophy in a review, so if anyone wants to discuss this with me just email me. But I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in philosophy--any complete philosophical theory must challenge or incorporate Hume if it is to succeed.

The EHU is a concise and charmingly written presentation of Hume's views of the nature and particularly the limitations of human knowledge. The EHU presents Humes basic concepts of human thought, human pattern recognition, and then proceeds to Hume's revolutionary analysis of the problem of induction. Hume exposes our limitations in establishing certain cause and effect relations. Hume's analysis of this problem and its corollaries leads to ultimate skepticism about our ability to know the external world with certainty and undermines much of the basis for religion. Hume presents his ideas in an attractive style that owes much to famous 18th century essayists like Addison.

A fundamental work and very readable work.

It has been Whitewolf's tendency in the past to present the Mages' enemies as monolithic forces; mindless incarnations of evil. Very two-dimensional. The Technos are the evil government oppressors, the nephandi are all freddy kreuger wannabes.

While this is still the case with the Nephandi, this book added a good dash of flavor and depth to the Technocrats as PCs. This book is Mage: the Ascension for X-files affictionados.

Those who read Guide to the Technocracy will find themselves wondering if.. maybe -- just maybe -- we might be better off if the black hats actually won the war..

The first Chapters talk about who the Technocracy is. They aren't the monolith that the Tradition mages make them seem like. They are orginized enough to seem like a monolith but they aren't. Neither is the Technocracy people, their are people higher up in the Pyramid who are evil but most people are what would pass as normal people.

The next rules chapters are full of all types of treats. Tons of new backgrounds including Modifications (Cybernetics and Bioengineering), Patron and Requisitions. These all can lead to story ideas in themselves. Their are tons of technocratic rotes, that help a person to think of "magic" as anything but Magic. Tons of Devices, aka Talismans, are included with a wide variety of uses, and other odd "crunchy" statistical things. On the whole this book is very interesting and is almost as essential as the corebook if you want info on the other major faction of mages.