I am a Chinese and until recently did I finish this book written 13 years ago,now in retrospect some point of this book is not seeing through enough,Daniel overestimated Japan's awesome financial power in surface,while neglected its hidden bubble economy,much of Japanese asset was built on that overexpanding bubble economy,esp. sky-rocketing high real estate price in Tokyo and other major Japanese cities. When bubble broke,Japanese myth broke in one night,its asset shrank dramatically,but anyway it's an alarming good book,helps remind us to keep vigilent at any time.

Did you ever wonder what Santa did on Hannukah? Did you know that he speaks Yiddish? It seems that he visits Jewish homes and feasts on traditional Jewish cooking on the last day Hannukah (I guess that's how he gets the energy for Christmas Eve). A thoroughly enjoyable and humorous satire on the beloved poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas" that includes several Yiddish words and phrases with their translations. Excellent for young and old readers alike. Especially enjoyable for interfaith families.

Yobgorgle is a charming children's book written by Daniel Pinkwater. The story follows a young boy's summer with relatives in upstate NY while hunting Yobgorgle, a "monster" supposedly residing in Lake Ontario. Along the way, there are many fun adventures and for those of you who live in Upstate NY, a lot of references to the area, especially around Rochester and the Lake Ontario area. A great read, very imaginative!

Young Adults is a miscellany of Pinkwater's writings for young adults (though bigger kids will appreciate it, too). It includes his long 1982 story, "Young Adult Novel", about a group of five junior-high-school friends who have devoted their lives to the art movement of Dadaism, and whose classmates and administrators do not understand their passion for the bizarre. Young Adults is a hearty dose of Pinkwater's offbeat humor, though darker and more morbid than many of his other works. If you appreciate grim and esoteric, though wacky, humor, then you may enjoy Young Adults as much as I did, which was lots.

Daniel Pinkwater writes charming and understated books for children,and somehow manages to portray the the fantasies realistically as a result. He admits to children the scary aspects of polar bears- they eat stinky food, they're really big, their mothers (and fathers) treat the cubs harshly, but Larry ends up as a likable character anyway. Anyone who asks his brother "so, do you think we can fend?" has a pretty good sense of himself. When Larry arrives in New Jersey (!) he quickly learns from "A Human" what it takes to get what he wants in this new and exciting culture. He settles down to do what needs to be done- earn money to buy muffins. No one seems to think twice about his outer bearsona for some time. Somehow, Daniel Pinkwater pulls that off, and my daughters have never questioned it.

This wasn't the first "Larry" book we owned, but I think it is the most charming of them. They all do have their charms and phrases that stay with you, and my daughters like them all. This would be a good gift for a book loving child because they are not too likely to already own it; it isn't one of the books you can find everywhere, but it's worth looking for.

Zagat survey's are a great way of finding out "what's hot" when visiting a new city. The rankings are usually fairly accurate in large cities like New York. This version takes the top picks from local guides across the country. This can be a little misleading if you try to compare 2 restraunts in different cities, since the rankings are do in large part to the opinions of locals. For example, the highest score for food for a New York restaurant is 28 out of 30. Seattle on the other hand, has a restaurant ranked at 29. Does Seattle have a restaurant with better food than New York's finest? Absolutely not. If you keep this in mind and look at the relative ranking within each city, you will be much happier.

I read this book right after reading "Atheism: The case against God", by George H. Smith. I have to say, this book was defenitely easier to read, and had it's good points, such as the "Refuting God" chapter which includes the main debate questions between theists and atheists. These questions include how was the earth created, and the accuracy of the bible. However there are some parts of the book which I, even as an atheist, would have to doubt. These parts include the question of whether Jesus existed or not, and the bible contradiction chapter. I'm sure that christians have readily available refutations to these arguments. Overall, I would reccommend this book to any atheist who wants to read an easily readable atheistic book. If you are the type of person who wants to read a comprehensive refutation of Christian theology though, I would reccommend "Atheism: The Case Against God", By George H. Smith.

Dan Barker's book is partly an autobiography, partly a critique of religious irrationality, and partly an exploration and analysis of the freethought/humanist worldview. It takes the form of a series of essays, many of which previously appeared in Freethought Today, a newspaper published monthly by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. Five chapters, including two major ones, are original to the book. The tone is often light and sometimes openly humorous, but the message is serious, firmly grounded in research, and consistently well-reasoned.

Raised in a strong religious environment, Barker became an ordained traveling minister, wrote religious songs and musicals, and used his keyboard skills to back up other performers (including, on one occasion, Pat Boone). Initial doubts launched a five-year transition period (1979 through 1983) in which he questioned and studied his way from committed Christian to liberated atheist. We learn in considerable detail how he handled the task of turning over not just a new leaf, but a new life.

As might be expected in view of his background, Barker places considerable emphasis on detailed criticisms of Christianity and the Bible. Included are descriptions of many interesting and illuminating exchanges with Christian friends and relatives both before and after his announced deconversion. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that Barker's overall case is limited to any particular brand or flavor of religion. His reasoning is general and applies just as well to Unitarians or Zoroastrians as to Christian fundamentalists. Built into his thesis is the recognition that successful critical thinking frees a person from all forms of irrational assumptions, not just selected sets of them. He counters the frequent charge that atheism is merely another form of religion by pointing out that atheists reject the one defining ingredient essential to every religion -- belief based on faith alone.

Barker doesn't shrink from the controversial topic of morality without religion. He freely acknowledges that atheism itself does not address morality, but he goes on to explain how humanism does. For example, a humanist point of view allows us to perform logical triage on the famous ten commandments. It is easily seen that the doctrinal commandments, one through four, are self-absorbed religious edicts having no discernible relevance to practical morality. Five through ten, on the other hand, are social interaction rules which would be very familiar to anyone (religious or not) who has grown up in the company of other people. They cover several obvious cases but do not address the many subtle issues of kindness, decency, trust and personal responsibility we face in everyday life. Barker maintains that it is both possible and desirable for comprehensive human morality to have a human source.

One of the major chapters in LFIF looks beyond the overrated ten commandments to examine the general moral and ethical scope of the Bible. Having carefully read both Old and New Testaments rather recently, I was in a position to agree or disagree with Barker's observations on a reasonably well-informed basis. I found that he hit point after point which had disturbed me enough to scribble emphatic notes in the margins and on the flyleaves of my copy. The people of Biblical times can readily be pardoned for being morally naive and retrograde, but by definition their creator and teacher has no excuses. When he orders the slaughter of children, passes punishment across generations, fails to condemn slavery, concocts original sin to demean and revile women forever, stoops to favoritism and jealous feuding, and instigates a monumentally selfish cult of personality, he earns himself a failing grade in Morals and Ethics 101. By the same actions, he calls into serious question his existence as anything more than a fictional character. The kinder and gentler-appearing Jesus seems benign by comparison until you look carefully, as Barker does, at his teachings. The son repeatedly and unequivocally declares his support for the Old Testament regime and all its attendant injustices. No one has put it more succinctly than Barker when he concludes, "On the whole, the Bible does not have a grasp of ethics."

Although Barker devotes a substantial portion of his book to well-justified criticism of the irrational core underlying religious beliefs, his baseline message is far from negative. He emphasizes that humanism and freethought offer a means for each of us to step away from superstition and make the most of our one-and-only natural life. As he says, "We are a movement, but a new kind of movement: one without followers. Every freethinker is a leader."

This is Dan Barker's account of his conversion from Christian to Athiest and the motives for that change. Over many years Mr.Barker has become a veteran atheistic debater and representative for the Freedom from Religion Foundation, whose goals include the reinforcement of Church and State seperation. The arguments contained in LFIF specifically address the Christian mythos. If you prefer a more general refutation of a "supreme being", I suggest something by Michael Martin, George H. Smith, or Anthony Flew (who are also convincing but don't rely on the Problem of Evil). Nevertheless, Christians present a pervasive challenge and to meet them in debate requires you to speak a "language" they can understand. Dan uses the Bible extensively and effectively to this end. Unlike "A reader from Alabama", I nor any thoughtful person believes that reality is in any way necessarily reflected in the majority opinion. Fortunately, Dan Barker doesn't waste valuable paper giving this ludicrous position, and others like it, consideration.

This book had so much potential. Cornwell crafted a great plot with this one. I agree with an earlier reviewer that there were several things that were unrealistic in this one. However, the plot was so good and the action was pretty tense, so I was willing to overlook those details.

I was honestly enjoying the book. Then I came to the ending. I had read the Scarpetta series in order from Postmortem to this one. Her serial killer Gault appears in several of the prior books, and the Scarpetta vs. Gualt finale happens here. I won't give it away, but let me say I was so disappointed that I quit reading the series.

The poor ending of this book, combined with the unrealistic events and general lack of research by the author in all her books has made me decide not to read anymore from Cornwell. With books I haven't read by better authors like DeMille, Deaver, Connelly, and Crais I don't want to waste my time with below average books.

Upon finding the dead, unidentified body of a woman in Central Park, Kay Scarpetta immedialtely recognizes the gruesome work of Temple Gault. Temple Gault has been murdering people for many years. He hasn't struck for a while, and everyone, including Kay Scarpetta, dreads the horrid day when he does. Kay Scarpetta is the chief medical examiner of Virginia and consulting forensic pathologist for the FBI.

When they find this unidentified body, they know immedidately that it is a Gault killing......for only he murders and them puts the victim in a sitting position. This time Kay and her team are determined to find and kill Gault, no matter what the cost. But this time is different, Gault seems to be chasing Kay and her computer expert niece Lucy. Lucy, however, tries to beat him at his own game. She tries to trap him on the computer long enough so that they can find out where Gault is located.

From Potter's Field, by, Patricia Cornwell, starts out pretty slow, but soon reaches the action part and takes off from there. It is a very well written, chilling and suspenseful book that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

I really enjoyed this book not only because it was well written, but because it was a mystery. If you like mysteries and semi-horrifying books, I suggest that you read this book.

"With each book, her scalpel is getting sharper," the praise from Newsweek on the inside cover claims. After reading "From Potter's Field", as well as six other novels by Patricia Cornwell, I must agree with the reviewer's statement. Cornwell has yet to write a book that disappoints me--so far, each book I have read has been more thrilling and stimulating than the last! This book was no exception. In "From Potter's Field", Kay Scarpetta, Lucy, Marino, and Benton Wesley return to once again match forces with Temple Gault, a notorious serial killer who first surfaced in "Cruel and Unusual", the fourth book in the Scarpetta series. As usual, Cornwell's elements of obvious research, superb characterization, and plot developement were present, making the story seem very realistic. Everytime something new is introduced into the plot, it all builds up until everything comes together at the end. It was fun to reread parts of the book and figure out how it fit into the picture. Overall, just another great Cornwell book. I don't know what else I can say about it that has not already been said.

The Tesseract is the second novel from Alex Garland, author of the popular The Beach, which was also made into a movie starring Leonardo diCaprio. Set in the Phillipines it is split into three basic parts with a few subplots thrown in for good measure. The first story has Sean waiting for gangster Don Pepe in a small cramped hotel room, not knowing what will become of him. This first part is particularly well evoked, with Sean panicking and trying to guess how his predecessor died. This has the most similar narrative style of Garland's previous book, as it is both fast-paced and deceptively descriptive, managing to convey perfectly what's going on in very few words.

The second part involves a long series of flashbacks of a middle-class Phillipino woman named Rosa as she pieces together her past. This is much more gently written, with a constant contrast between who Rosa is and who she used to be. Garland ensures that when the climax of the story does come that it's not only shocking but makes the reader reevaluate what has gone on before.

The final story is about two street kids, how they came to live on the streets and their relationship with one another. This is definitely the most gritty part of the novel and Garland ensures us that this is not the backpacker's paradise that The Beach was but an urban hell. Thankfully though Garland refrains from dipping into sentimentality, preferring to unflinchingly describe the inner turmoil of his characters than exploit their depressions.

The Tesseract is one of those books that will definitely keep you hooked but unfortunately it does suffer when compared to The Beach, which was just that little bit more exciting. Also unfortunate is the book's very format which virtually forces its reader to pick a favourite story and character. Still, that doesn't take away from the fact that compared to most modern novels this is excellent and is well worth picking up.

The Tesseract is a brilliant book ... rich and multilayered, subtly playing on the ideas of destiny and fate without directly introducing them.

It is divided into three main sections, following first Sean, waiting to meet the gangster Don Pepe in a roach-infested motel; Rosa, a doctor haunted by her past and first love Lito; and Vincente, an intelligent and thoughtful kid cast adrift on the rough streets of Manila. The back of the book says something like 'in three hours, their destinies will violently collide.' - which pretty much sums it up.

The Tesseract is a sophisticated book about fate but also anti-fate - it's recurring theme is the possibilities of destiny (along with the other themes of expendability, and random unfairness, of life) without being directly about destiny. It can't have been easy to get this right - but Alex Garland did, to perfection.

I would recommend it to anyone. At any level, it's enjoyable. At the very least it's an interesting, thought-provoking read and a gritty look at Manila. Read it a little deeper and all sorts of subtleties, links and themes become apparent - and it's all these apparently inconsequential details that bring the book together. Mr Garland really is an excellent writer who has created a carefully crafted and detailed story about three interlocking lives. I suggest you give it a try.

I am surprised that so many people on Amazon did not like this book. The purpose of the novel is not to illustrate the Philippines for those of us who want to travel there nor is it supposed to be a mere thriller. Granted, it may be too complex and elaborate at a few points, but these points help serve the ideas behind the novel. It is about the chaotic nature of how lives come together for absolutely no reason and how we come to explain the tragedies that occur in our lives. Some of the characters use religion(corazon) while others subscribe to sciense (alfredo), but what I think Garland was trying to do was show how senseless life can seem at times and how we deal with that. It is very compassionate and mature, and for those who wanted more of "The Beach" I can only say that to expect that of an author is very narrow minded and not realistic. It you have the time check out The Tesseract because it is an interesting and unique read that is both exciting and intelligent.

If you like Danielle Steel's books, you'll probably enjoy Granny Dan. It's a cute story, extremely easy reading, and it has the predictable happy ending. It seems to me, though, that Ms. Steel's writing is getting more and more shallow as she keeps popping the books out. I agree with the one reader who felt that rather than trying to beat some sort of publishing record, Ms. Steel should take the time to write higher quality books. (Why in the world did she sign on to write THREE books a year? It's not like she needs the money!) Although I have been a loyal Danielle Steel reader for about fifteen years now, and will probably continue to be one for many more, I do feel a little cheated each time a new book comes out. I seem to remember her early books (The Ring, Crossings, Family Album) interlaced with more more character development, detailed descriptions, historical references.....and above all a little more editing! It seems that Ms. Steel's editor has with increasing frequency and blatancy been taking time off to do something other than read Ms. Steel's manuscripts! I honestly can't believe that a professional would allow something like Danielle's more recent books to slip by without some fine tuning! Ms. Steel repeats herself over and over in a continuous train of thought. She almost writes to her readers as though they were 12-year-olds, explaining obvious emotions and thought patterns that her characters experience....and then repeating them over and over again as if she thought we might forget she just said the same thing two paragraphs before! Perhaps her earlier work wasn't necessarily better, it was just that I began to read them about the time I was twelve, which is perhaps the maturity level of her intended reading audience! I mean honestly, in Granny Dan the heroine Danina's ballet instructor is at one point telling Danina's lover Nickolai Danina's sad background, including how many years Danina had been at the ballet school. Then, in the same conversation a few paragraphs later, Nickolai actually asks the instructor how many years Daninia had been at the ballet school, as if the instructor had never been talking at all! It is major oversights like this one throughout the book that distracts from the story. Perhaps, Ms. Steel (and her editor for that matter) have become a bit too big for their britches, thinking that Ms. Steel's writing need not go further than a first draft, for honestly, her published book seems like that's all it is: a first draft. The entire thing is a narrative with very little dialog, description, or research to make the story more believable. If Ms. Steel could at least take the time to perfect her novels, I'd feel a little less cheated.....because she does write a good story, albeit predictable. But that's what I've always liked about her books--they are very easy reading that requires no thinking, I can usually read them in a day or two, and they always have a happy ending. Certainly, with her juvenile writing style, Danielle Steel is no Diana Gabaldon or Judith McNaught, but she does tell good stories. I just wish she'd put a little more effort into her latest work--because if she were a first-time author there's no way in the world she'd come close to getting a publishing deal with the drafts she's putting out now!

I am not a romance fan. However, I've read a few of Danielle Steel's books and enjoyed them. Granny Dan was no exception. The story took place in the midst of World War I and the Russian Revolution. Danina Petroskova was brought to the Maryinksi Ballet when she was seven years old, while her family fought in the war. Frightened at first, she learned to love her new home and became obsessed with being a prima ballerina. At nineteen, she was stricken with the influenza virus which almost killed her. She survived it and was sent to live with the Czar and his family to recuperate. There, she falls in love with her doctor, Nikolai Obrajensky, who is married with children. That, their stations in life, and the war-ravaged world threaten to destroy their relationship.The reason I give this book a four star review? Because two thirds of the way into it, the story becomes repetitive. Should I leave and go with this man or should I stay with the ballet? I tore through the pages thinking, "Let's get on with it, already!"But then the story takes a climatic turn, forcing her into action. Granny Dan is a story within a story. The prologue involves Danina's granddaughter, who discovers her love letters in a box, among other things. The epilogue deals with what happened to Nikolai, her father and remaining brother, her mentor. Some of you might want to keep a box of kleenex handy.

Granny Dan was one of Danielle Steel's finest books. The truth behind the life of her grandmother and the fiction to create a story that keeps your heart in the book the whole time. It begins by the start of a young girls life, Danina Petroskova, at the ballet. The ballet is her home, she grew up with the atomospere of dance. As she grows older she takes on a devastating illness. Her illness makes her realize there is another life not of the ballet, and how to love someone. Her mother-like figure, Madame Markova, tries desperately to keep Danina under her wing and stay with the ballet. Danina has to make a crucial decision for her future life. This book really kept me in the circle. I could very much relate, I used to dance and I thought it was everything in my life. As i grew older my interests changed as did Danina's. At a point in the middle, Danielle Steel had lost the detailed focus she had used in the beginning but it gained strength in the end. Her usage of words and the entire story plot was wonderful and exciting. If your looking for a book to keep your interest of the ballet and a heart warming story of love than this is it.