For those seeking the famous tale on which the recent film wasbased, this will sorely disappoint. This is Scott's tale of a youngEnglishman, son of a prosperous middle class businessman, who is sent to live w/distant cousins in the north of England (just below the Scottish border) because of his failure to live up to his father's mercantile expectations of him. Here he becomes involved with all manner of intrigue and gets pulled into a vortex of events involving rebellion against the English crown, a scheming cousin, a beautiful girl and that famous Scottish outlaw and freedom fighter, Rob Roy. But the outlaw, certainly the most interesting character in the tale, is only a side player, so to speak, and makes a number of appearances, often in disguises ( a favorite Scott motif), only to guide and/or rescue our blundering hero. This is most definitely not a tale of high adventure and derring do, and the complex and twisted intrigues of the plot do not sustain the book adequately. For those who like period pieces or the works of the masters (and Scott was certainly one), this book might be okay. But this is one of those rare instances where the movie, based apparently on Scott's preface to his book (in which he sketches out the life and times of the historical Rob Roy), is better. And frankly the movie wasn't half bad; far superior, in fact, to that other film of historical Scotland of the same vintage with Mel Gibson. Oddly enough, the Rob Roy film did worse @ the box office. Who can account for some people's taste? -- Stuart W. Mirsky

Sir Walter Scott is widely acknowledged as the creator of the historical fiction genre. His best known book is Ivanhoe, which I have not read. I instead decided to read Rob Roy, a book I became familiar with due to the 1995 movie of the same name starring Liam Neeson and Tim Roth. Rob Roy, written in 1817, takes us back in time to the 1715 Jacobite uprising.

Surprisingly, Rob Roy is not the main character of the book. Rob Roy's appearances in the book are spotty, at best. Instead, Francis Osbaldistone is both narrator and main character. Francis, we quickly find out, is more interested in poetry than in business. His father, who hoped for Francis to take over the family business, becomes angry with his son and banishes him to his brother's estate, Osbaldistone Hall. Francis's relatives are all country hicks, with the exception of Diana Vernon, an astonishingly beautiful "cousin" who stays with the Osbaldistones for reasons best left unrevealed here. Francis also encounters the treacherous Rashleigh Osbaldistone, the cousin who is to replace Francis at his father's business. Francis soon becomes embroiled in several adventures, usually with Scottish sidekick/groundskeeper Andrew Fairservice and Glasgow businessman Nicol Jarvie at his side. Needless to say, Francis falls in love with Diana Vernon and becomes entangled in the machinations of the Jacobite rebellion.

I found myself amazed at Scott's depictions of women in this book. Diana Vernon is not only beautiful; she's smart, self-assured, and a very dominant figure. Rob Roy's wife, Helen MacGregor, also is presented as strong and domineering. I find this fascinating in a novel written in the early 19th century. Even more surprising is Francis; he is depicted as weak and easily dominated. Between Rashleigh, Rob Roy, and Diana, Francis never seems to know what is happening and is easily brought to emotional frenzies by the other characters. You quickly begin to wonder how this guy can get anything done.

There are two minor problems in Rob Roy. First, I'll mention the Scottish dialect. Scott, in an effort to be authentic, makes liberal use of the Scottish accent. This isn't much of a problem in the first part of the book, but in the second half it becomes a serious issue. Even worse, Scott uses the Scottish characters to reveal major plot points. Therefore, if you can't read the dialect, you're in trouble. This wouldn't be bad if a glossary had been included in the book, but there isn't one. After awhile, I realized that "bluid" was blood, and that "muckle" meant much, but the inclusion of many Scottish idioms had me totally dumbfounded. Other Scott novels in the Penguin series include a glossary of Scottish terms, but not their edition of Rob Roy.

Second, the pacing of the book is most unusual. For some 200 pages, nothing much happens. I've read many novels from this time period, and most move faster than Scott. This doesn't make Rob Roy a bad book, but it does take patience to get to the end. Even when the plot starts to thicken, Scott still takes a lot of time to unfold events. In some aspects, this lends a distinct quaintness to the book. At other times, it can become annoying. It is easy to understand how many people would lose patience with the book and give up.

This is still an entertaining book, and I highly recommend it to those interested in historical fiction. Despite a few problems I had with the book, I would like to read more of Scott's work in the future. I shall certainly look for editions with glossaries so I can navigate the Scottish words. By the way, the man on the cover of the Penguin edition is William, 18th Earl of Sutherland.

Robert Louis Stevenson called "Rob Roy" Sir Walter Scott's finest achievement. I do not disagree. Set shortly after the unification of 1707, Scott tells the tale of the protestant Francis Osbaldistone as he bids adieu to his father's London commercial interests and enters, as an exile, the baronial home of his papist relations in the north. His cousin Rashleigh assumes the commercial role intended for Frank and uses his newfound access to stir loyalist feelings in the Scottish Highlands by ruining the far-flung credit of the Osbaldistone business. Frank, upon uncovering the conspiracy, sets forth to Glasgow with the mercurial gardner, Andrew Fairservice, as his guide to right the wrongs of the scheming Rashleigh. Ever dependent on the outlaw, Rob Roy MacGregor, to intervene in his behalf, Francis Osbaldistone leaps from one adventurous situation to another in his fight to clear his family name. Along the way, Frank meets and falls in love with the outspoken and beautiful Diana Vernon who aids him in his plight. Though a fair portion of this book is related in the Scottish vernacular, there is a glossary in the back of this edition that will easily point the way. Even so, the reader will confidently understand the vernacular when one-third through the book. This is a classic that can be enjoyed by anyone, particularly those interested in period and place.

This is a flawed book in many ways. It claims to be written for people who know little about basketball, but there are too many diagrams of plays and tips for coaching. There also is too much information about statistics. Nowhere in this book do you find anything that conveys the sheer joy of watching two excellent teams battle it out for the conference championship. It also is a big mistake to put in so many Notre Dame references; couldn't Digger have asked some of his many coaching friends for anecdotes? (And what's with all the plugs for Bookstore Basketball?) The only Dummies here are the people who buy this book!

Digger Phelps' attempt to write a book for the novice fan to player to budding coach is a success. "Basketball for Dummies" may be the title, however any hoop fan or coach will find its contents helpful and useful. Perhaps one of the best skills development sections in print. There's enough good basketball information in there that anyone can benefit from.

Don't be affraid to place this on your bookshelf.

I remember watching some Notre Dame games that Digger Phelps coached. The games were always entertaining and top notch. You could tell Phelps was excellent at getting the most from his teams. This book is a continuation of that, he combines his knowledge and occasionally humor to write an excellent guide about the sport. In an early chapter, he points out that you can play the game almost anywhere and equipment costs are low. Who wouldn't enjoy it? In later chapters, he discusses rules, stats, shooting fundamentals and offense, defense and rebounding, specific plays run during games, the various levels of play (from pickup games up to the pros and international basketball), as well as chapters on coaching and getting into "playing shape." He even lists his choices for "Ten Greatest Games" and "Ten (well eleven) Greatest Players." The book even contains a glossary of terms and drills to use in practices.

Truly a complete "instructional guide" to basketball (if there ever was such a thing).

As an immense fan of Michael Moorcock, I picked this graphic novel up as a completionist tendency. Comics are not my usual choice of reading, yet it was written by Moorcock, so I really did not know what to expect. What I found was something doomed to failure from the beginning. It is the comic format that kills this experiment in mediums. The story itself is actually three initially insular tales that ultimately weave together. If written as three separate short stories and published in a pure textual format they would have constituted rather typical Moorcock "Eternal Champion" tales. In one story we have Rose from his novel "Revenge of the Rose", and Sam Oakenhurst from "Blood". In another we have Sir Seaton Begg heralding from Moorcock's much chronicled von Bek/Begg family histories. In the third we have his most famous character, Elric. And tying them all together in a narrative frame we see Jack Karaquazian (once again, from "Blood") and Moorcock himself. If one were not already intimately familiar with Moorcock's vast works chronicling the many facets of the Eternal Champion, I am not sure any sense could be made of this rather opaque telling.

The prominent flaw of this work is the miserly allowances for textual explanation in the comic format. Moorcock is a rather verbose author with a tendency for flourish and poetry. When reduced to word balloons on a handful of panels per page, all of his stylistic strengths are annihilated. The end result is quite frankly a mass of confused hokum. It becomes impossible to understand what he was really attempting to communicate as the story panels sweep us along much too expeditiously. Compounded with the maelstrom of psychedelic artwork, I found myself unable to take it seriously as a narrative. The three stories as told by the narrative frame seemed more the destruction of a skilled raconteur than an entertaining romp through the multiverse. While I am not a connoisseur of comic art, I felt that the images by themselves were often striking and powerful statements, but failed as proper tools of story telling. Often I wished that one of the more striking images could have been painted in a more serious manner and used as a frontispiece for one of Moorcock's novels instead of as another page in a confounding comic.

My frustration with this work perhaps stems from the fact that I do not read comics and thus found it bewildering. I would be very interested in reading a review from someone who picked this up because they are a fan of the graphic novel medium, and not necessarily Moorcock. And more so, I would be interested in knowing if someone without prior knowledge of the Moorcockian Multiverse could actually make heads or tails of this. I hypothesize that one could not, and that those who can will not like it because of the medium. And that leaves no real audience.

This is a classic Moorcock irony, to bury much of the core material of his multiverse theories in a graphic novel. Where another might have written a philosophical text, or at very least a novel, Moorcock decided that the place to set out the fundamentals of his multiverse theories was in a monthly comic book (collected here without the letters and features, which is a pity). The final sequences are faultlessly coherent as they move towards the central redemption, showing how, why and where the Cosmic Balance is at last restored. And there's some wonderfully off-beat humor -- the vast battles which involve different types of music (rock and roll versus Andrew Lloyd Webber) -- the London trams on which the aliens arrive for the Final Game -- the introduction of Moorcock himself (and Walter Simonson -- here with his best work to date -- though his current Orion work is also superb -- maybe even better) into the stories as the game within a game within a game is played out. This is RPG for keeps! Great, stuff. Moorcock will hide the key to a theme in a rock and roll song, a comic book or a throw-away newspaper piece but sooner or later, if you read for long enough, you'll come across it -- or it won't matter, because sometimes you didn't even know there WERE answers to those questions. Or that the questions were there to be asked! Check out the WW2 Lancaster bomber crewed entirely by existentialist philosophers (including Wrongway Heidegger); check out the rhyming couplets frequently found in the dialogue. Read in conjunction with The War Amongst the Angels and the books in that sequence, this is the work of a brilliantly original mind as able to draw characters as he is able to come up with stunning scientific notions! Brain candy, maybe. Addictive, maybe. A bizarre stimulant, maybe. But nourishing, through and through. A metaphysical meal at Mr Moorcock's Terminal Cafe always leaves the customers satisfied!

If you want to sample some of the artwork before you buy, please visit my website, where I have a few scanned in images of the comic. But I'm not making it easy on you; you'll have to hunt them out on the official Michael Moorcock website.

This is a good basic pathology book with good black and white photos. The strength of this book is that all of the features are illustrated with pointers to the significant feature. The drawbacks are that the photomicrographs are not in color and the text is not all encompassing. Some of the newer immunohistochemical staining techniques are not fully explained.

This book fills a special niche in the field of dermatopathology texts. Many excellent texts are available unfortunately the average student or resident cannot afford to buy color illustrated large volume texts. This selection is affordable and well designed to teach dermatopathology to the pathology resident, dermatology resident or interested student. The illustrations are clear and easy to follow with the accompanying arrows. While the range of entities discussed is not encyclopedic the full range of expected entities are present. Overall a good value and useful book for someone just introduced to the field.

* John Walter's MODERN MACHINE GUNS provides a tidy survey of
machine-gun technology in a handy compact book format. It is
mostly focused on modern machine guns, ranging from squad
support weapons to heavy machine guns but not including heavy
automatic cannon. Over 140 types are discussed, each with a
set of specs and good illustrations (no color plates though).
The discussions range from about 1 to 6 pages, depending on
the importance of the weapon.

The only fly in the pie with this book is that it is a bit
brief for the hardcore gun enthusiast, who might prefer
something a little more intensive, while it is somewhat
written over the head of the novice. Although it does have a
nice short introductory chapter on the history of machine guns,
it then goes on to discuss individual weapons in terms of
details that are not always explained. I was particularly
unclear on breech-locking mechanisms.

This is a somewhat exasperating omission since adding maybe ten
or so more pages would have made the whole book much
clearer. In sum, this is a nice little book (if you don't
have any objections to instruments of destruction) but the
author might have put a bit more thought into who his target
reader was supposed to be.

Modern Machine Guns is a thorough look at machine guns listed by the country that uses them. The book itself is on the small side, which makes it fantastick for quick reference and travel. It contains many high quality black and white pictures, as well as basic information including caliber, weight, cyclic rate, ect. It also includes licenced variations and in what country they are used. There is also a diagram section that shows the mechanics behind machine gun operation. I gave this book 5 stars because the author did a really good job at packing this small book with as much information as it can handle. The descriptions are concise, the history is informative, and the appendix gives popular ammo types. For it's size, this book is excellent.

The problem with this guide is it was written in the 30's and the trailhead info is not totally reliable. For hardcore JMT fans this is a must-read.

Having grown up in the John Muir Wilderness as a Boy Scout, I can attest to the greatness of the guide. Its size and intricate, step ny step trial guidance is second-to-none. An absolute must-read for anyone even remotely contemplating a trek between Mount Whitney and Yosemite. Despite the fact that the information in the guide originates in the 1930's, it is still relevant today and provides a very sound planning tool for Scouters and "civilians" alike. I recommend it highly for another reason: It fits in the outer pocket of my backpack!

Harrelson's scholarship I do not question. He exegetes each of the ten commandments with quite a degree of skill. His knowledge of the Hebrew grammar is impressive, and his grasp of Christian theology is adequate to his task.

What I object to is Harrelson's setting up of Moses as a sort of Thomas Jefferson figure. He bucks mainline scholarship by attributing much of the decalogue to Moses, but he does not go so far as to say the God of the Hebrews told him to say these things. The result is that Moses emerges as a sort of religio-political genius who set about to establish a new civilization. While this in itself is not objectionable as a story, it does lead to some misguided conclusions.

First of all, Harrelson "translates" the first commandment for the pluralistic masses, saying that for it to do work in our world it ought to read something like "You shall have only one ultimate master." This seems utterly misguided. The commandment comes in the context of a God rescuing a people from an oppressor. That God is not talking to the folks back in Egypt. I'm sure that there were plenty of single-minded folks back in Egypt. That's not the point of the commandment. By abstracting "principles" from the commandments, Harrelson strips them of their ability to speak to concrete historical situations. What we need is an act of imagination, not a disposal of history.

On the exegetical end I give Harrelson thumbs up. When he tries to make Moses head of the UN I have to object.

Harrelson, a scholar that exhibits expert knowledge of the 10 Commandments, offers valuable insight into the role of the guidelines in modern society. According to the author, these ten commandments can provide "ground rules" that may stabilize society. He offers clear definition of the intent of each commandment and looks at the implication that each could have in social ethics. Harrelson demonstrates excellent knowledge of the topic and a sensitivity to pluralism. This is not an evangelically driven text. This text centers on this issue of human rights ... not theology. He offers historical and cultural anecdotes that clarify his appreciation of the commandments and their role in society. In general, this is a great conversation piece that offers insights to people everywhere. The only caution I have is that the language used in the book, at times, gets somewhat complex. This is not leisure reading by any extent of the imagination.

This book is a set of essays, based on presentations at a workshop. One wonderful feature is that the Q&A discussion after each paper is also included -- so you can actually see some of the top Anglo-Saxon scholars struggling with an issue.

I thought all of the essays were very good (a rarity in collections like this) and some, such as Charles-Edwards on kinship were outstanding.

Out of the variously titled "Guns of the Old, Wild or Whatever West" books, this is one of the better ones in terms of describing the guns and putting the overall historical picture into perspective. HOWEVER, it is very short on illustrations and photographs. I'd recommend it to anyone who has any of the other references that are strong on two page color layouts of a whole mess of guns, but very little meat about them as a sort of companion volume, but wouldn't recommend it very strongly as a stand-alone reference. Maybe the most valuable feedback I can give is that I already have most of the available books on the topic, got tired of checking this one out of the library and finally bought my own copy.

This book was cool. It certainly lists a lot of songs...but if you have the knack for it, you could make up a lot that are better than some listed. But all in all it really helped my campaign, I wouldn't say it is a must buy but it does help.