Rather coplete book but-alas-full of mistakes in entries concerning German and Austrian porcelain.Take for example the Meissen porcelain:the authors put together in one large pile Meissen proper,Thieme factory,Fr.Hirsch,Helena Wolfsohn and other factories,though these are absolutely different things.The authors should make a bit of research before starting the project:What amazes me is that this is the 46th edition of the book and nobody ever corrected those mistakes.

As with the Kovels other books, this reference is very exhaustive and complete. There are, perhaps, some mistakes, but given the volume of information here that is to be expected. I find I reach for this book first when I'm trying to identify a piece of this age group, and usually find what I'm looking for here. Easy to travel with, from antique shop to auction. A good buy.

Good research, accurate information, and voluminous (if not exhaustive) representation of marks. Brief yet succinct information identifying maker, circa date and geographical location are offered with marks. Don't expect a good read or scholarly discourse. Small and light; easy to take on the road.

This book picks up right after the hallaballo has died down from Tom and Huck's triumphal return. Tom kinda craves notoriety as he competes for the unofficial title of Hannibal's First Traveler. Kidnapped by a mad inventor Tom, Huck and Jim
find themselves sailing in a hot-air balloon. They eventually realize that they are alone over the Atlantic, but when they sight land, it is not Europe! This first-person story is narrated with youthful zest and slangy vocabulary by an admiring Huck, so that he can praise Tom's leadership skills and power of argument.

The three unprepared argonauts finally understand that they are floating over the vast Sahara Desert, where they experience a variety of adventures--interspersed with juvenile deductions and lively debate. Their challenges are right out of the Arabian Nights: no magic lamp or genies, but Twain serves up caravans, lions, mirages, warring Bedouin tribes, and a devastating sand storm. All this action is spiced with his wry humor, as he slips in snide remarks about more serious social issues (spoken through the mouths of babes). Although this tale is Plot Lite, there's plenty of lively dialogue, as the boys argue using kid logic, while indulging in youthful dreams of sudden fortune. A fun read with sly social criticism. But really, Mark Twain--tigers--in Africa?

I was surprised to discover the existance of these two books: Tom Sawyer Abroad and Tom Sawyer Detective. Apparently, they were both very popular back when they were first published, in the late 1890s, but have become mostly forgotten. They're more novellas than anything; Detective isn't even 100 pages long. The illustrations are really good, and I plan on buying the other volumes in the Mark Twain Library, each of which include the original illustrations that were present in the first editions. Both Abroad and Detective are entertaining, but they're not in the mold of the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. You know how in Huckleberry Finn, Huck goes through all these little misadventures, all the while growing up and gaining all kinds of wisdom, and then in the end, the book takes a harsh turn and goes back to the juvenile exploits of Tom Sawyer, when he and Huck try to free Jim? It's like the end of the book really doesn't have much to do with the rest of it, it's just Huck and Tom doing dumb, yet funny, kid stuff. Well, both Abroad and Detective are like that; only very occasionally do you get any of Huck's unique flashes of insight. Jim himself only appears in Abroad, which is a fantasy tale in which he, Tom, and Huck happen to be kidnapped onto a high-tech balloon (!) and go across the Atlantic to Africa. There's really not much of a plot or resolution, they just float along over the desert, Tom tells them about the Arabian Nights, and Jim gets stranded on the head of the Sphinx for a little while. Abroad picks up not long after the events in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and apparently Detective picks up not long after Abroad, though the events that transpired in Abroad are never mentioned in Tom Sawyer, Detective. Maybe Twain considered Abroad more of a whimsical tale, something that never really happened. Who knows...but I think Detective was the better of the two, even though Jim doesn't even appear in the book, and it's more of a mystery novel than anything. Huck basically plays the role of the reporter in Detective, just relating all of the incidents he witnessed in an unusual murder/crime, and describing Tom Sawyer's scene-stealing exploits in the trial that follows. Many of the characters that appeared in the last half of Adv. of Huck Finn make a return appearance in Detective. But anyway, both books are enjoyable to read, especially considering that both are written in the 1st person, from Huck's perspective, yet don't read them expecting the depth and emotion that are found in the Adv. of Huck Finn. I think these books were written for a younger audience, and that's how they read. But, for a frustrating, yet very interesting look into what might have been, had Twain finished his other two planned sequels to Huckleberry Finn, you should check out the book "Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer Among the Indians," which contains two unfinished sequels that are both heads and tails better than Abroad and Detective: Among the Indians and Tom Sawyer's Conspiracy. But that's all I have to say about that.

Unless already know the name of the maker, it's fairly difficult to look up a unknown, cryptic mark. I have to thumb through the whole book to find the mark I'm searching for. There is no cross reference section.
The book is organized and alphabetized by maker.
Unfortunately, there's very little information about the maker him/herself. Just circa and location. That's it. If I wanted to know more about a specific maker, I would have to refer to the bibliography section and buy another book.
I expected much more from Kovels.

While not the definitive reference that Jackson's book is on English silver, the Kovels do provide an extensive listing of American silversmiths and manufacturers. A person cannot be a serious collector of American antique silver without this book.

This book is a must-have if you collect American silver. It's an exhaustive reference of marks and makers, with over 400 pages of information. Silver makers are listed both alphabetically as well as cross-referenced by monograms or marks. More than 10,000 silversmiths, from 1650 to the present are included, and the book makes it easy to identify a piece or its maker. There are shape guides (for things like spoons and coffeepots), as well as hand-drawn images of marks (no photos in this book). All in all this book is an extremely useful reference for the collector or dealing of American silver. Don't hesitate, buy it!

As has been said before this book is not a field guide but nor is it a book of science either as Lockwood does not review the literature nor provide any details as to why so and so a species is considered common, uncommon etc.
For the lay visitor its a great addition to your library but do not consider it your answer to a good ornithological treatment nor field guide to the region.

Birds of the Texas Hill Country is not a field guide and anyone reading the description of the book should realize that. It is a status and distribution work that covers all of the birds recorded from the Edwards Plateau region of Texas. It was a lengthy introduction that is excellent. My favorite part is the section about early ornithological investigations. Anyone truly interested in the avifauna of this region will want a copy of this book.

This book is not a field guide and anyone who read the description of it would know that before purchasing it. What it does cover is the status and distribution of birds on the Edwards Plateau. It is the only book that covers this topic and it is clear that the author is very familiar with the area. The introduction is fairly lengthy and is a real bonus for a book of this type. Anyone wanting to learn more about the avifauna of this region will want a copy of this book.

Very good help in the little practicum.

This book is good for someone just entering the world of church history and evengelism. It is very easy to read and is a ready reference for some of those hard to remember periods in church history. The book rightly begins with our model for evangelism, the living Son of God, Jesus Christ. It then proceeds to follow evangelistic history from Christ forward. The first twelve chapters provide the historic background of evangelism. The last three chapters discuss more recent developments; youth, personal and media forms of evangelism.

One of the most helpful features was the inclusion of study questions at the end of each chapter. This feature is especially helpful for a neophyte evangelist attempting to remember pertinent information.

The last chapter of the book is more of a criticism of televangelists than anything else. The final study question on the last page of the book reads: "What are the problems with television evangelism?"(210) Granted, there are numerous problems with television evangelism, but prior to this final chapter Terry had maintained a more upbeat approach. He broke from the form he used during the first 14 chapters when he wrote this final chapter. While the chapter is important, I would not have placed it as the final chapter in this book nor would I have broken from the form I had established in the previous 14 chapters.

This book is a good place to start for those interested in evangelism and its place in church history. Although no bibliography is present, footnotes are included for those desiring more depth of study. I will keep this book in my library as a ready and easily accessible reference.

Semper fi & agape, Ed D.

I think this book will be interesting to kids who like science, mysteries, and CSI-type shows (though the book is definitely for a younger audience than CSI!). I like the way it takes the kids step by step through an investigation and gives them an idea of just how many pieces of evidence are left behind at the scene of a crime and how police are able to glean information from them. The major drawback I found as I read through the book was that it would really have helped to have had pictures of the various instruments described. For instance, it mentions several types of microscopes. For those of us who are used to seeing only the basic microscope used in a school science lab, it would have made things clearer to see how those are different from a stereoscopic microscope, an electron microscope, a comparison microscope, and a polarizing microscope. Similarly, when pictures are shown of an image from one of those microscopes, it would be helpful to have labels showing what (for example) is the hair and what is the shampoo, or what is the bark and what is the pollen.

This book was poorly researched, and is lacking in factual content. The Ruby Ridge incident was described with many errors, and the fact that this book was written 5 years after the incident occurred, when many of the actual facts were known, and proven in court, the author should have had the facts on this issue straight. If you are thoroughly knowledgeable about what happened at Ruby Ridge, you can begin to realize that this book is biased, and full of untruths. From the point of the Ruby Ridge description on, I did not take the book as factual or objectively written.

Who bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and why? Was it just a meth snorting, ex-soldier, down-and-out, government-hating punk, or is there more to this than that? Could the government itself be behind the attack or at least involved in some way? If you want a serious look at these questions then this book is definitely NOT what you want to read.

I found this book to be a very well written and clear reporting of the party line that Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols were solely responsible for the OKC bombing; them and no one else. This could be, but there is significant other evidence and testimony to the contrary that the government just doesn't want to address head on and this book doesn't either. The author does address some of this other evidence but only in the most cursory and unconvincing fashion. For instance, an Air Force general with a background in weapons systems claimed in writing that the bomb McVeigh supposedly used could NOT have done the kind of damage inflicted on the A. P. Murrah Federal Building and that there must have been more or different bombs involved. This stunning claim is waved off by the author with a single valueless sentence: "This thesis is disputed by physicists on the grounds that the five-thousand-pound truck bomb did have the capacity to blast upward and outward, like a balloon". What kind of "evidence" is that? Who are these physicists and why should they be believed? It's things like this (and there are other examples) that make this book seem like government spin doctoring and not a serious look at who is behind the biggest single act of terrorism on U.S. soil and why it was committed.

The author addresses the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents in a similarly odd way. He does say that the government botched both of those raids but he does so in the absolutely least offensive and most excusable way to downplay the government's mistakes. He leaves out critical details, downplays significant events and gets some things completely wrong that are not disputed facts regarding these cases. This kind of writing lacks credibility in my mind.

This author would have you believe that everything's just fine now that McVeigh has been caught and that you are a twit if you believe anybody but the government. Don't fall for this and, for that matter, don't fall for every conspiracy theory you hear either. By all means read this book but also read others like "The Oklahoma City Bombing and the Politics of Terror", "Others Unknown: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing Conspiracy" and others and then THINK about what is or isn't the truth based on credible evidence. There's more to this than we're being told and the folks who died in this attack deserve better from us than to just shrug our shoulders and go back to what we were doing just because the government says it's OK now.

I must admit that I was late to discover this book. What a pleasant surprise. Dr. Hamm presents important and insightful facts into the terrible crime that far too many researchers overlooked. History will treat this book well. It is a must read for any person who wants to understand the motivations behind McVeigh and his "brotherhood." JD Cash

Terry Kavanagh is one writer who does the most uninteresting stories in comics. He gave us the Spider-clone saga and a teenage Iron Man. This story where he supposedly gives us the origin of one of the X-Men's most dangerous foes has now been contradicted by current stories going on in the X-Men comics and must be placed as one of those false lead stoires like those that have shown Wolverine's origins,

For some reason, the movie "The Scorpion King" made me think of this book. Maybe it's because both of them contain muscle-bound, anti-heroes overthrowing an oppresive Egyptian Monarchy. There are even some scenes where The Rock, with his top-knot ponytail and overly buff physique sort of resembles Apocalypse without the blue facepaint.

Personally, I liked the artwork in "The Rise of Apocalypse". The lush character design and splash-page layouts tend to grab your attention.

Unfortunately, the story detracts from the experience as much as the artwork enhances it. As the other reviewer said, it's pretty poorly written. Apocalypse, who is (was) supposed to be one of the Marvel Universe's most powerful villians doesn't even get a decent backstory in his own origin. Terry Cavanaugh does a horrible job illustrating Apocalypse's mutant ability and an even worse job explaining the spark that sets off his millenia-old war on humanity.

Still...it's fun to look at. I'd give it 2.5 stars for the artwork alone.