What a great book packed with pictures. The design is very modern and unconventional (read expensive). This is a very fun book to review. If you can't afford the architecture costs there are many ideas you can incorporate into a more typical home design.

Coffee table book showing all the nicest spots in the Bay Area. The spread on the family compound in Sonoma is worth the price alone!

The gorgeous black & white photography of Mario DiGirolamo brought me to the edge of tears. His mastering of the medium was even more appreciated in realizing these photos were taken over 4 decades of his life. His eye for tone and contrast is intelligent and expressive. The candid shots almost seem like theater.

Not only is this book a forum for the artistry of a well-seasoned photographer, but it serves as a history book that captures an opportunity to experience moments with folks I'd have loved to have known and places I'd loved to have been. This belongs on the shelf of every photography collector and anyone with a passion for Italy.

A loving and muscular portrait of the places and faces of Italy. Dr. DiGirolamo's black and white stills conjure the nostalgic power of Cartier-Bresson, DeSica and Rossellini's neo-realism. Stare and ponder over and over again.

As you can easily guess from the title of this seventh Mario Balzic mystery, Christmas is threatening Rocksburg, Pennsylvania and it becomes obvious fairly quickly in "Upon Some Midnights Clear" that Balzic has good reason for dreading the holidays. Ed Sitko, the chief of the city's volunteer firefighters calls to tell Balzic about Mrs. Gabin, who was mugged of...in Christmas money and demands to know what the chief of police is going to do about it. But before Balzic can get around to investigating the case Sitko has his men out collecting money for the victim and the more Balzic looks into what happened, the less he likes it. However, Balzic's life is nothing if not extremely complicated and in trying to clean up this mess he has to deal not only with the bigoted fire chief but a newspaper columnist who has little regard for the truth unless it suits her needs, an alienated Vietnam vet and his friends who are tired of being blamed for losing the war, and a small time criminal who always manages to worm his way out of trouble. When Balzic finds himself in Musconi's listening to the old crime boss give him advice, he knows that Christmas is going to be anything but merry.

"Upon Some Midnights Clear" is the Mario Balzic mystery that K.C. Constantine needed to write at this point in the series because the character had been dangerously close to wallowing in self-pity. Certainly he has been ignoring his family way too much in the last few novels, whose plot lines have threatened to consume his soul. When you have a character who able to enforce his sense of justice on those around him not just because of his personality but because of his position of power it becomes important for the reader to feel such a person is connected to the real world and not off rambling around their own little kingdom. Being nice to the wife and kids is important because of the grounding it provides Balzic.

Constantine's approach remains the same. Balzic engages in a series of conversations in order to work his way to the truth of a given situation. This time around he is haunted by more than his usual share of doubts, which compels him to several key moments of self-reflection. Maybe just writing about Christmas was enough to get Constantine to lighten up a bit with regards to both Balzic and what happens in Rocksburg, because I certainly did not have the sense of wallowing in dirt and filth like I had after some of these novels, especially the previous effort, "Always a Body to Trade." Something approaching a happy ending, even if it means justice comes in the form of a man getting away with a crime for which he is guilty being punished for one in which he is innocent, is definitely a welcome relief. Balzic will almost certainly be back in the trenches, but at least this time around he gets the most important thing right.

I read this every year during the holidays and it's a crime (no pun intended) that it's out of print. The theft of an old lady's Christmas Club money leads to. . . well, you'll have to find out for yourself. Constantine's pitch-perfect depiction of a western Pennsylvania XMAS (i.e., gloom, cold and slush) captures a side of the holiday that most would choose to ignore. And his old ladies can't be beat. Usually, they do the beating. (see Grievance, his most recent mystery.) It's time for a reissue.

This superbly-annotated collection of more than 300 letters between Verdi and his librettist Arrigo Boito shows not only an insight into musical creativeness but also the workings of generous and selfless friendship. Boito invested an immense amount of time and effort in his own opera Mefistofele; as those who witnessed its revival at the English National Opera a few years ago will attest, it is a hack work that can only successfully be portrayed as parody. In these letters, Verdi is ceaselessly encouraging and interested in the work, though he must have known that it was not a work of art. For his part, Boito is touchingly appreciative of his colleague's talent - he habitually addresses Verdi as 'Dearest Maestro' - and in their exchanges the reader can gain a glimpse into the creative workings that, Wagner not withstanding, produced the finest body of 19th-century opera.

There is real spine to the work of Verdi and Boito: it encompasses politics, religion, pathos and tragedy. These letters are testament to the men's friendship and genius; it is a moving and important work, and I strongly recommend it.

Perhaps the most delightful surprise in reading this book is the number of deep-down belly-laughs experienced in reading the letters of Verdi and Boito. The text between the letters often creates suspense even for those moments when we know the outcome. This is a book to own.

I admit this guide was very good. Detailed maps, good boss strategies, and coverage of classic Mario.

Anyway, the walkthrough is very well done with some VERY detailed maps. The maps showed the location of every enemy in that area, all the radishes and all the mushrooms and yoshi eggs.
The walkthrough would be better if they recommended somebody other than Toad all the time. It also could be better if there weren't so many errors on some of the later maps in the guide.
Boss strategies are great! Any other person could've have said "Catch birdo's eggs, throw them at him three times", but this guide goes deeper.

Many secrets on how to max out your lives make this something that you should consider in the future of the playing of this game. The secrets section isn't quite complete. I found out several more tricks you could perform just by simply doing stupid cheap things that people don't always consider doing.

The Classic Super Mario Bros. section is good, being that the guide tells you all the phases.

This was a good guide but I gave it 4-1/2 because of so many errors and because they sometimes made stupid jokes and always told you to go with Toad for a level and then when you read it you find out that Luigi or Peach could reach a shortcut.

I have seen alot of guides out at stores but this is the best one out there! It has everything you need to know to beat the game, where to take secret portals to another world. For example,if you find the secret warp in world 1-3 will warp you all the way to the fifth world! That can save alot of time and stress because of the very percise controls, beleve me, it's very stressful to die right near birdo (birdo is usually the boss at the end of each level) or to fall off a cliff. The best part is that it's the cheepest guide on the market! This is a MUST BUY guide!

As a member of a 12-step program and a minister as well, I am deeply impressed with the depth of sincerity (laced generously with levity) that carries the rather deep spiritual teachings of this book.
I highly recommend it to anyone who is seeking insight into and greater awareness of the shift in consciousness that is happening today.
Readers who are willing to listen with their intuition as they read the words on the pages will find a connection with the thoughts, feelings and possibilities that are now awakening throughout the soul of humanity.
Besides that, the cover art is captivating! Do yourself a favor and read this book.

Actually, I could review this three separate times with different ratings from one star through five stars according to perspective.

Thus, I am rating this from its value as metaphysical speculation and a look at what may well be an upward evolution of mankind. We are all familiar, I'm sure, with talk about the new generation of "Twilight Children". This takes the theory of current evolutionary advancements further and postulates that older generations, senior citizens in particular, are also partaking in this evolution. The concept should be familiar to those who saw the movie COCOON. However, this delves deeper into the spiritual evolution of mankind.

All this is explained to us by some very likeable fictional characters such as Barbara, an 88 year old woman who is apparantly in her 60's going on 40 something. The primary character, a painter in his mid 40's, is going through a spiritual crisis and is led to a group of seniors who explain to him what is happening in his life and guide him in dealing with it. These particular seniors are definitely evolving and in doing so, have ceased to age. Four select seniors are actually regressing in their ages, quite dramatically so. We are told clearly how this is happening through eight attunements.

Now, as a novel, this book is somewhat lacking. The plot, such as it is, takes second place to the philosophical treatises as to what is happening. And there are specific practices, primarily breathing and drinking lots of purified or distilled water. Anyway, the plot is on the slight side. However, the characters involved are likeable and believable.

As a whole, this book reminds me of THE CELESTINE PROPHECY, but in my opinion it is much clearer in its concept. The plot also is somewhat more engrossing than that in the better known book.

The upshot is that if you are interested in, and want to learn more about, the possible evolutionary process that we are undergoing, you will find this book quite engrossing and inspiring. However, if you're looking for a good entertaining novel, you might want to look elsewhere.

This really is one of the best yo-yo books out there. Each trick is described in step by step photographic detail as well as textual. There is also a real logic to the layout. Too many yo-yo books go straight from easy tricks like walk the dog to intermediate tricks like the three-leaf clover to advanced tricks like split the atom in less than three or four pages. I don't know about yo-yoers out there but I had to get a whole lot more practice and tricks under my belt before I could move from a walk the dog to a split the atom. The sections on yo-yo history are just fun to read and the tips on care and maintanance are helpful. Also the last section on competitions from the tricks you need to know to the general information on them is a major plus. I've seen a lot of other books and honestly the only other I have seen that matches up is The Yonomicon by Mark Mcbride, but that really for just advanced level play. This book is just a great all around book for all levels. Also there is a whole section on two-handed play, a real rarity in yo-yo books

I work with the kids who are pictured in this book and personally know two of the writers. The photo's are great and it is very explainitory. I would reccomend this book to anyone wanting to learn yo-yo tricks.

Great mix of robots in this book--some "standard" variations on familiar prototypes (using UBS parts) and some pretty out there ones as well that I would have never thought of. Excellent book. I've seen the RIS one that came before this but didn't buy it--I'm going to go back and get it now.

301 Legal forms and agreement

The book by Michael R.young on financial fraud and accounting irregularities is a commendable work. In the corporate world and financial management, some lessions are required to be learnt from this book.The book gives sophisticated advise on checking financial frauds. some of the learnt lessions can be applied to check related frauds in India.