I found this book well-written and posessing good overall appearance, but lacking in useful content. Over 1/3 of the first part, which introduces the craft and weapons, is mostly the same information that can be found in the user's guide or on the freespace web site. Although the mission descriptions are good, they are not detailed enough to really present new, winning strategies. There were no references to awarded medals, and how to earn them all, and I noticed that at least several "hidden" objectives in some missions were not mentioned. 90% of the strategy and mission content was information I already knew from playing the game for about 20 hours. Overall, though not a bad book, I would not hold very high hopes for learning alot more about the strategies.

Official strategy guides of simulations or space combat simulations (like in our case) have a certain layout. Have used enough of them and be- lieve my saying. The work at hand, is a good to very good guide but it has some defects that make it fail the perfect 5 star rating: Colour. What's the matter ? Are they jealous of flushing, or they think readers can't recognise colours ? We want ship stats and pictures from the game and we want them in colour. Mission branching. Is not present. It's better to say where the player is led to by a certain outcome, and show it by a tree diagram, than to say alternative missions and just lay down words. Picture it to us. Describe to us the alternative mission in a separate chapter. Also, where are the loosing game paths ? Where is the backstory ? It's good to cut into the chase, but a portion of those who buy these books, need a backstory, a reasoning of playing in a certain way. Also a nice touch to exhibit the multiplayer missions, but since we get Acts and different cut scenes that get us into the story, it would be good to picture this information here (look at Official Guide to: Wing Commander 4 and Wing Com- mander 3 with the ISN inserts to get my meaning). Why I wrote the defects ? The book is complete to all other aspects and there's no need to re-tell them: ship stats, foe presentations, weapons, mis- siles, strategies, hints, mission descriptions and briefings, winning notes, just everything. Seems finally that writtings a perfect guide is not dif- ficult, but needs a better planning and a PC gamer attitude towards the final product.

Gives good mission descriptions, walkthroughs. The game is great, the book makes the perfect companion for the game. One problem with the book is the first section. I found the ship descriptions to be mostly useless, except for the speed information. The mission tree was great, allowing players to experience all levels of the game.

I am new to the internet so I needed a book written for a dummy. This book was not as easy for me to understand as some of the other books I checked out from the library. I got lost and fell asleep.

This book can take you from ground zero to up and running your own web page through its clear consise graphics and explanations. There are also plenty of easy-to-follow exercises that put the subject matter to use. I learned more in less time than with any other book I have seen on the subject

Mark Walker's TA Kingdoms strategy guide is very helpful for solving the 'Play the Adventure' section of the game, but rather sparse on the intricate details of the game.

For instance, sighting range, hit points, and weapon damage for each fighting unit are listed, but other details like unit velocity or weapon range are not.

The book spends a lot of space repeating what is already in the game and in the game manual. I was hoping for more information about how unit experience affects performance, why certain units cannot effectively battle other units (like Verunan war ships vs. Sky Knights), and other fine points of strategy and game design.

The book does include strategy pointers for multi-player campaigns and computer opponents; and the book is very well-written, laid out, and easy-to-read. However, I would only recommend spending the sixteen dollars if you get stuck on the 'Adventure'. Get the rest of your info on the TA web site or on newsgroups.

I think that this book was a great help to my completion of the game and how it gave me great tips on how to play very well online. I recently have moved up in status because of this.

If ever there was a case of stories in a collection getting better as they go along, this is it.

Ten stories, seven Doctors, one enigma. But it's all pretty formulaic, and kind of goofy, until 'The Book of Shadows' by Jim Mortimore, featuring the First Doctor, Barbara and Ian (barely Ian; accent on Barbara). This story is a bit of a re-working of the TV tale called The Aztecs--once again Barbara is mistaken for greatness and is bowed down to alot--but there are some nifty temporal oopsa-daisies going on here, and some powerful emotional content. Then, it's a fairly successful uphill ride as the stories stay fun and imaginative in the back half, the sole exception being a Fifth Doctor-and-Peri story called 'Fascination' that seems too magical, and sexual, for the Who universe. The highlight of the collection is the next entry, 'The Golden Door', which involves the Sixth and First Doctor untangling a bizarre and dangerous mystery from opposite ends (but will they meet??). I also liked the hard-hitting 'Prisoners of the Sun', plus 'Lackaday Express', which is successful even though it revisits some of the themes already dealt with in 'The Book of Shadows'; I'd rather have two interesting stories that are thematically similar than what is presented in the first few tales: zippy, forgettable ideas that may offer variety, but nothing of much consequence.

The final part of the book is the resolution of the framing story called 'Playback' which involves the Seventh Doctor visiting a private-eye, in 1947 LA, to get his memory back. This, in fact, is the ploy used to thrust us into the various short stories, once a medium is consulted to help the Doctor remember all his past lives. 'Playback', also the name of a Raymond Chandler novel, wraps up with a nice twist. It's also unexpectedly great at pulp detective-story mood--feels like a left-out portion of Hammett's Red Harvest, with the Doctor involved. Four stars for about half the contents of this book.

For the record, the First and Third Doctors shine best.

This is the thrid and final book in a often detailed and sometime glossy overview of the last decade of the Doctor - the 1980's. The book chronicles the end of Tom Baker as the 4th Doctor and the rise of Peter Davidson as the 5th and the decline and fall of the series with Colin Baker (who in my book was never given the chance or the material to really shine) and Sylvester McCoy. The books gives behind the scenes details into the stories, the people, public intrest (and sometimes disinterest), as well as ending chapters on all the merchandise (with layouts and cool pictures) produced during the 1980's. As a whole the entire collection is a must for every Doctor Who fan, on it's own, the material is solid, well written and worth the price. The only downside perhaps is that the material can get a bit thin in places, and sometimes leaving wanting to know more. But this is not very often. Pick up the 1960's first to really get the full effect.

Among my prides and joys is my collection of Broadway shows and operettas on CD. Therefore I very much like the (Gramophone Publications Limited, 1998) with its 264 pages of comments about just about every Broadway show ever committed to CDs. Where there are several versions, the editors have selected either all or some, in the latter case referring us to a list of "Also available" recordings. Therefore this guide makes no pretense to being complete in any sense.

Nevertheless it is quite valuable for what it does review. There remains the question of what is not. Although I debate the inclusion of Gilbert & Sullivan into "musicals," I do think that as long as they are included, more of the available recordings should get full treatment and not merely listed as "also available." Another problem is that many CDs available only in Great Britain are included and given glowing reviews, increasing my frustration level greatly.

On the positive side, the guide is organized by composer in alphabetical order with a short biography before the reviews proper; and there is an index of shows in alphabetical order to make life easier. (How many musicals are there with composers whose names spring to mind?) I also appreciate having the timings for each CD, which allows us to pass up an expensive import that runs (say) only 35 minutes. I like reading about the concert entries such as the "Kiri Sings ..." series and the soundtracks such as that of the 1946 "Ziegfeld Follies." Yes, their use of "musicals" is not limited to stage presentations, and includes screen versions of musicals as well as compilations such as "Lullaby of Broadway" that offers up selections from Busby Berkeley films.And for those who already own earlier editions, each new review is labeled as such.

So like its big brother, "The Gramophone Classical Good CD Guide," this is not a perfect but a very useful tool for the collector. I even find it fun to read! But to each his own.

this book dives into the science of the nazi war machine. it was very interesting for those of you who appreciate political science. it eliminates the myth of nazi's as shown through propiganda, and goes into the bare facts of this group. overall for fans of nazi writings, this is a must read

I really found this book interesting from start to finish. There are the usual behind the scenes explanations and in particular the debacle between Michael Grade and the programme is explored in detail.

Personally I found the Colin Baker years some of the most interesting times on Doctor Who. Probably because of when I was growing up I suppose! The stories are described in detail and reviewed by the authors. Revelation of the Daleks (my favourite all time story along with Trial of a Timelord) is chosen for an in-depth analysis.

An interview with Nicola Bryant (Peri) is also included relating to her career and how she saw the character.

It's a good read if you're into the background of the programme.

This book, written by a vet, is an good overview of the genre of Vietnam Veteran films. After reading this one will realize exactly how stereotyped Vietnam Vets have been over the years. These depictions (crazed nuts, maladjusted losers, one man armies) are those that most likely escape most film goers. Another interesting aspect of the book is that the author breaks with other film critics and gives a good mark to the much-slammed John Wayne movie, The Green Berets, since it was the only film for quite a while that portrayed Vietnam soldiers as anything other than psychos. This book is probably best suited for those interested in the Vietnam War and film buffs.

If you play campaigns and need help, this is the book for you. Over 2/3's of the book is devoted to walking you through the campaigns. If however, if campaigns are a thing of the past for you and you are trying to refine your skills to play against other people... this book is of little help. There are a couple of pages detailing the newest civs to TC, not much more info is offered than what comes with the aoe documentation. There are a few strategies that are described that are pretty basic and are useful if you've never or hardly played before. There is a section that supposedly has tips from the actual ES testers (3 I think)...pretty weak because everyone's preferences are always debatable. Anyway, they pretty much just give their opinions on what civ, what unit and combinations they like best. (To kill your curiosity, most chose Mayans for the archer/eagle scout combo.) Adding links in the book to aoe websites is a waste of space. You're better off going to Google and typing in 'AOK TC' and getting hundreds of links to sites that people actually use. So... since I don't really play campaigns anymore and I am a person trying to find resources to get better playing against other people, I found this book a waste of money. I only gave it an extra star because it details the campaigns pretty good.

This is a great book IF you are already aware of all the existing strengths and weaknesses of the civilizations that are not new to the Conquerors Edition. In other words, you better have the previous book if you want complete knowledge of all the civilizations.

That having been said, the depth of the analysis for each of the new civilizations is impressive. It tells you everything you need to do to use a civilization's strengths to their best advantage.

There is very little general training here, and so is not the right book for 'beginners'. I makes a fine addition to the knowledge base of an already experienced user who needs depth on what's NEW in this edition.

Age Of Empires expansion The Conquerors is the best. I thought the first was the best game of the year but now i have seen it all. It has alot more groups you can pick, the farmers are smarter. bigger and better buildings. More mind blowing scenes and graphics. If your looking for a good PC game buy this one.