Yergin and Gustafson present a series of three conceivable roads of reform along which Russia may travel between 1994 and 2010. The first scenario, "Muddling Down," which precedes all other roads in their model, is described as "the scenario that extends the present" (pg. 140). It is characterized by a weak central government and a lack of legal infrastructure. The three roads from this point are "Two-Headed Eagle" (the return of a strong state composed of both new and old elites), "Time of Troubles" (chaos and unprecedented decentralization inevitably leading to restrictive nationalism with overtones), and "Chudo" (the economic miracle, compared with both Germany during the 1950's and with Alice in Wonderland). Regardless of the path taken, the authors believe that the outcome will be the same: by 2010 "a capitalist Russia seems almost certain" (pg. 300).

As I write this review, Russia is now six years further along its path than it was when the authors penned their book. Naturally, the material in this book is dated. The authors could have done a better job in making this book more accessible to a future audience -- especially that of a future in which none of these scenarios seem to be taking shape as expected. I would not rule out the possibility that some of the events discussed could still come to pass, but not within the timeframe proposed. For example, in one scenario, Yeltsin steps down in 1996 due to poor health. Looking back, he remained in power for another four years after that, despite heart surgery and repeated ailments. Could that particular scenario still be valid in the future? That depends on many other factors, of course.

In their discussions on Russia's policy towards non-Russians (at home and in the Near Abroad), the authors overplayed the potential for problems with Ukrainians and underplayed the potential for problems with Chechens and other non-Russians to the south. The first Russo-Chechen conflict broke out at about the same time that this book was updated and revised. Yet even before that, one could have foreseen the potential for conflict in the Caucasus. The Summer 1993 issue of Foreign Affairs featured an article by Samuel Huntington entitled, "The Clash of Civilizations?" Huntington's influential article proposed that armed conflicts tend to occur along fault lines between civilizations. A prime example of such a fault line is Yugoslavia, where Islamic, Western, and Slavic civilizations come together at one point. By this rationale, the Caucasus and Central Asia are also fault lines. Ukraine, however, is not a fault line. Despite Ukrainians' dislike of decades of rule by Moscow, Ukrainians and Russians have too much in common for a serious rift to occur. After all, America overcame its antipathy towards its former ruler to become England's greatest ally.

Overall, I would recommend this book with a cautionary note to the reader that the book is not as useful now as it might have been half a decade ago. That being said, the book does still hold water with respect to Russia's future and has certainly retained its value as an academic exercise in scenario-building.

This is not a bad book, especially if you are interested in ethnopolitics of Imperial Russia. The problem is that it's all over the place - the book is a series of chapters written by different people that doesn't come together well as a book. There is also precious little if you are interested in the non-Muslim peoples of the Empire. All the same, it is worth the read if you are at all interested in this topic.

I had been looking for a book like this to learn how to make twig furniture. I found it easy to read and understand. It kept my attention. I finished the entire book before putting it down. I now know how to make the furniture that my grandfather made. And without him here to teach me, this book was perfect. This book would be enjoyed by anyone. My opinion is, that any woodworkers bookshelf that does not have this book, is EMPTY.

Easily the finest president this nation has ever had (especially in light of the scumbag currently inhabiting that high office), and easily one of th e most enlightened and moral men at the time of the founding of the United States of America.

The authors not only do an excellent job of reviewing the background of Washington's farewell address, but they give interesting insight into the background and morality of President Washington. Well worth the money.

This book has been a source of endless delight for our young children.

In the style of the "Where's Waldo" series, Christian illustrator Daniel Hochstatter has pages of brightly coloured and entertaining pictures. Each page features various various characters or items that the children must find on the page. "Sammy the sheep" and his "shepherd" as well as their companions are hidden somewhere on each page.

Two beefs with this edition:

1. This omnibus is a collection of four "Seeking Sammy" titles. The organization is somewhat unfortunate, as pages from each separate have been randomly placed alongside each other. However, it must be conceded that each page is an independent challenge, and each page alone offers hours of amusement.

2. Some of the illustrations picture scenes from Bible narratives, eg Noah's ark, the dividing of the Red Sea. Hochstatter does this rather disrespectfully, confusing the modern with the ancient. See a jet powered boat with a water skier at the Red Sea is in my view a disrespectful anachronism. However, it must be conceded that with young children who don't realize that this is intending to picture a Bible story, this is not an issue.

Nonetheless, the entertainment value of this book makes it most desireable. Very highly recommended!

Here is Satan is a Mathematician, a collection of poems, dating from as far back as 1980, but mostly from the 1990's, which cover a wide range of subjects, science-fictional, fantastical, horrific, and scientific. Keith Allen Daniels is an interesting poet, and at the high end of his range is very fine.

The book is subtitled "Poems of the Weird, Surreal, and Fantastic", which is pretty much what we get. In a previous draft of this review I dithered about trying to define "SF poetry", or "Fantastic poetry". To some extent I was interested in disproving the existence of such a beast: after all, poetry is about sound and emotion (and ideas), and at least the first two seem not to be definable in genre terms. But then, some poems really are about ideas, and ideas, famously, are the stuff of much science fiction. And some emotions are perhaps best evoked by images from SF or the fantastic. A trivial conclusion, I'm afraid. I will say, though, that it seems to me that I read poetry of all sorts for the same reasons: sound and emotion, while I read science fiction, at times, for explicitly different (neither superior or inferior) reasons than I read mainstream fiction. Enough, though. What of the poems at hand?

One of my favorites is "The Poetasters' Cafe", which takes a harsh look at the contemporary "coffeehouse" fashion for poetry readings and overly confessional writing. It's a fine poem, but it's not SF, unless the use of vocabulary such as "coelecanth" and "phagocyte" is sufficient to so mark a poem. On the other hand, "Sciomancy Nights", another fine effort, uses an explicitly fantastical device, raising the spirits of the dead to speak to them, to consider, in a slightly humorous manner, four historical figures (Bierce, Archimedes, Aldous Huxley, Lincoln). Another angle Daniels uses is pure science: "The Discourse of the Stones" imagines "deep time" through the history of rock. Not SF poetry, perhaps, but "geology poetry".

On the whole these are interesting poems. Occasionally Daniels seems to believe that an exotic use of vocabulary is sufficient to make a sequence of words poetry; on other occasions, the poems seem not much but doggerel. But that is to complain about the lesser works of what is, after, quite a long collection by poetry standards. The best poems here are very good. For example, "Leap to Infinity" is a lovely double haiku: "A doe's leg, fractured/ in mid-leap and torn in half/ hangs from the barbed wire. On the ground beneath/ her body has fallen far/ behind her spirit." Or the fine extended metaphor in "Lithic": "in caverns of the forebrain/ suffering forms grottos/ of fanciful dripstone ...". Or from "The Poetasters' Café": "There the poets are mired in self/ like insects in pitcher plants/ of their own device."

Anyone interested in contemporary poetry would do well to check out this book. And if you are also interested in SF and fantasy, attuned to the vocabulary and images of science and "the weird, surreal, and fantastic", you'll be even more likely to be attracted by Keith Allen Daniels' favored image sets.

As with other Schaum's outlines, this one has lots of exercises for students to practice with. I was confused because I thought this book and Schaum's "theory and probs of english grammar" were different. In fact, they are the same (basically), but this one is simply an earlier edition... Perhaps the earliest??

Caroline Tate has been searching for her missing son Ethan for three long agonizing years. No one has seen or heard from her son or the man that kidnapped him, her ex-husband. The phone call came from out of the blue telling her that she can come get her son.

Noah Garrett needs Caroline to stay in town with her son who is now the key witness to the murder of his father. Noah never expected that he would have to keep her at his house and protect her and her son himself. Noah has avoided any emotional attachments since the death of his wife and daughter, but Caroline and her son need him, even if he hates the feelings and emotions that they stir in him.

For once it was the male character that drew me to this story more than any other character. Noah has had to deal with more than any one person should have to. I thought his pain came through loud and clear when Caroline told him his wife and child would not want him to torture himself and he simply stated to Caroline that it was easy enough for her to say, because at least she had her child. His pain practically leaps off of the pages. As the reader you really want to see Noah with a happy ending.

The story takes you on an emotional rollercoaster with all of the characters. My problem was with the ending. It was flat and wrapped things up to quickly. I believe that after everything these characters went through that they deserved a better written ending.