This is the unofficial guide? It reads like the basic guide to San Francisco. Nothing new or exciting is revealed in this book.

This is a complete guide to visiting the city of San Francisco. The book is well written, very clear, and has a tremendous amount of information. It covers hotels, restaurants, attractions, etc. The authors provide several possible itineraries depending on what kind of trip you want and how long you intend to stay. In short, the book is an excellent tool to help you plan your entire trip.

The only drawback is that there are no pictures at all and SF is a visually exciting and diverse city. When deciding what you want to visit, a picture or two could go a long way in deciding what is a must see and what is not. For example, I had never heard of the Palace of Fine Arts but when I saw a picture of it in another book I knew I had to go there. This is an excellent book but it would be better still if they could add some color photos in the next edition.

Good advice about attractions. I like the way it divides SF into neighborhoods, and filters down to just the essential info, very practical for a single trip. We were pleased with the restaurant advice as well.

I got this book just for the heck of it, but it turned out to be an amazing WoD addition. It is very in depth, and is a must have for a WW:tA fan!

This special version of Werewolf has a bizarre but uniquely fasinating appeal all its own. And I do highly recommend it, and not just because of the new information it contains for more variety.....

While it *is* true that the new bits of info can be downloaded from various areas of the internet, there's a HUGE plus for Werewolf buffs to actually buy the book...IT HAS DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS ART DIRECTION! Even its cover is weirdly original (it has a fake bullet hole actually drilled through it!), and the illustrations, reproduced in traditional "western" brown on light-brown paper, are so beautiful that I simply can't take my eyes off of them--they are even more gorgeous (especially in the drawings of various werewolves) than most of the illustrations in the original "Apocalypse" books!

If short, get the book so you can experience the whole look and feel of Wild West, and not just the new rules! Fans of the game won't regret it.

The civil war draws to a close and the battle continues between the Weaver and the Wyrm. An ideal setting to play Werewolves... all the fun of kicking the crap out of bad-guys while not having to worry about cities full of bystanders. The West lends a more magical feel to the game than Apocalypse had. The lawlessness of the land contributes to a more straightforward kick-in-the-door style, while the lack of real exploration allows for a feeling of "who knows what could be out there?" One of White Wolf's best.

For anyone who has ever been to Alaska, this is a must read. I discovered it in a small bookstore in Ketchikan. Good fun. Has the author written anything else?

I loved this book. Wonderful sub plots. Rich characters. A good mix of dark humor and drama. There's not much I can put into words.Want to know anthing more?If so,read it yourself.

As parents of children we begin to learn of the desperate need for time. As grandparents we try to rationalize our use of time. Then when it is to late we learn, as Rob West points out through Richard O'Leary, time lost to any foolishness the human mind can create is just exactly that "LOST" . Make the most of time with your family and there will be no guilt.

While the author writes well and entertainingly, I had made the fatal assumption when I ordered this book that something subtitled <> would, in fact, discuss his life.

However, the book mentions Chaucer's wife only once in the main text, plus a mention in the chronology -- and doesn't even acknowledge that Chaucer had three known children, let alone discuss them -- though he does have a one-liner about the birth of Thomas Chaucer in the chronology. The cbronology, BTW, says Thomas was the first-born. An old book (1970s) I have says the first-born was Elizabeth. If that's been discredited, a short paragraph would have been most useful.

A book which omits the most important people in a subject's life is, to my mind, most definitely not a <> The omission is, for me, most frustrating, because there is or was a controversy about the paternity of Thomas Chaucer and perhaps Elizabeth on which I assumed this book would provide the latest insights.

I gave up about halfway through. IMO, the real subject of this book is a lengthy backgrounder on Chaucer's poetry. When my interest in what influenced Chaucer revives (as it frequently does), perhaps I'll give it another try.

The title is a little misleading. West does not focus on many of the more mundane aspects of Chaucer's life, nor does he spend much time in biographical matters (of which we know little). Rather, "Chaucer" is a wonderful introduction to the cultural and literary settings in which the great poet wrote.

West's "Chaucer" is an engaging introduction to the works of the man--great for beginners--but is not an academic work, or even a thorough, critical analysis on Chaucer's writings.

We know more about Chaucer than Shakespeare. Sure, Will gets all the press and accolades for his works in Modern English. "Modern", relative to Chaucer, anyway. Today's average reader can still dope out the Elizabethan English, even if he has to keep a dictionary handy or read a few footnotes. But reading Chaucer in the original idiom of "Middle" English requires extensive aids, such as a modern translation or enrollment in an upper-level college class.

Thus, other than the Prologue and maybe a Canterbury Tale or two (esp. the Miller's Tale), Chaucer is underappreciated as a writer whose works survived 600 years.

But Chaucer deserves a lot of literary credit as well. Chaucer, for example, set the stage for the modern novel. He was, to quote the author, "not just a pioneer but part of mainstream of European literature. . . [Chaucer] became a model or inspiration to subsequent poets, esp. Shakespeare. Troilus [and Cressida], even more than Canterbury Tales, allows us to think of Chaucer as a pioneer of the novel."

Readers of West's book will appreciate Chaucer as an innovator of the written word. In addition, the reader will learn a great deal about Chaucer's cultural and historical milieu. There are chapters dealing with the Black Plague and the Civil War of his time. Interestingly, the Plague seems less important, notwithstanding the opinion of another historian, Barbara Tuchmann.

Chaucer's life was intertwined with Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, whose lives were put on stage by the greatest playwright of all time who put these words in the mouth of Chaucer's patron, "Old John of Gaunt, time-honored Lancaster": "For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite The man that mocks at it and sets it light."

Perhaps he had Chaucer in mind.

If you don't have an affection for San Francisco history, you should have one after reading this short book. While I would have appreciated a few more anecdotes about San Francisco in this book, I really appreciated the breadth of history it was able to convey -- and in a reasonable length. Highly recommended.

I really can't recommend this book enough. Mr Richards is a fine writer who breathes life into San Francisco's history using an array of colouful (and often hilarious) anecdotes. I've read a number of other books on the the bay area's history and for sheer enjoyment this stands head-and-shoulders above the rest.

This is a very well-written and entertaining history/guidebook to San Francisco. The chapter on the Barbary Coast is especially interesting, as are the anecdotes from San Francisco's early history. Far better than the bilge offered by Lonely Planet and Time Out.

I thought that the book, was much too small, they sugar coated the bad parts of her life,I dont think they realize what an important, significant, figure that Dottie West was in the history of country music. When is someone going to have enough common sence to induct her in the country music hall of fame? Dottie had consistantly good hits in the 60's, 70's, and 80's, had she not died she would have had hits in the 90's, I do not understand why the powers that be, choose to totally disreguard and disrespect such a true legend, she was not only an increadible vocalist and songwriter, but she put on one hell of a show. If you saw Dottie in concert you would never forget it, and by the way, did I forget to mention that she was one of the most beautiful, and glamorous, women of country music.She helped to make careers for many stars. Please give Dottie the recognition and respect that she deserves. Love Jeff Gibson, Dottie's #1 fan, forever!

"Country Sunshine" is a lovingly told and quick reading biography of the late country music star, Dotty West (1932-1991). The cover specifies "An Unauthorized Biography" but CS struck this reviewer as thoroughly authentic. The authors had a connection with Dotty, I'm sure. CS concentrates on Dotty's early years, her incredibly hardscrabble childhood and struggle to become discovered. The abuse Dotty suffered from her so-called father is utterly staggering. How did she recover? Perhaps she never completely did. I always believed Dotty had pain in her voice. Just listen to "Here Comes My Baby" or "Would You Hold It Against Me?" The "good years" as a star receive minor treatment-all to the better enjoyment for the reader. We certainly learn about the real human being/hurt child behind the music. The final chapters tell not just of her difficult final years with bankruptcy, divorces and tragic death in a car crash but of her spirit to fight back and reclaim her career. I believe she would have made it. If she survived that childhood mostly intact, she could overcome anything! Unless you plan to be in Ernest Tubb's Record Shop anytime soon, I recommend adding both "Country Sunshine" and her CD, "The Essential Dotty West", to your shopping cart.

This book about the life and death of Dottie West is an informative look at the singer's struggles. It contains a lot of family history and information on her challenging upbringing. The book has a dim tone, because it focuses mainly on the troubles in her life, more than it does the accomplishments.

Dottie West had a long, successful career that is often over-looked and under-rated by the music community. This book does a great job of telling people more about the artist's roots, but is not lengthy on detail or content. The writer leaves you wanting many more pages.

I started this book with much anticipation and for the first couple of hundred pages or so it did not disappoint. The discussion of and facts concerning the interaction of Johnson and Nixon with the people around them was extremely interesting, and revealed much about their "hubris" (i.e. how each of them treated their families and associates was very interesting). Then... well the author began an ethics lesson with painfully long discussions at the beginning of each chapter regarding the various levels of hubris without really, in my opinion, applying them clearly to Johnson or Nixon. In second half of the book, he continually referenced to their respective actions regarding Vietnam and Watergate (in Nixon's case), as examples of hubris. Clearly Johnson and Nixon displayed hubris in how each acted during and in response to such events and clearly such events were huge during that time, but how often can you reference to the same events as examples of hubris. In addition, I'd be surprised if the author missed any historical quote regarding hubris, even remotely, from any recognizable historical figure.. there were, it seemed, hundreds of quotes, which slowed me down considerably. Finally, there were some glaring incorrect statments in the book such as, for example, toward the end there is a passage about a possible Nixon impeachment trial in the Senate before Chief Justice Rehnquist!!!!! Warren Burger would have presided.

Again, not bad, but too long and bogged down with repetition, ethical sermonizing and needless and endless quotes.

I've just put down Richard Curtis' book, "Hubris and the Presidency," and it has left me with a great sadness. It leaves one with a sense of shame, almost,that such a glorious conception as democracy has become so subverted, and perverted, as to have become a battle between two almost indistinguishable groups of politicians intent on maintaining their positions of power, and access to the money derived thereby. What makes me the saddest, however, is the realization, through the examples Curtis has chosen, that it might be said that any president (or other politician) will pay the price of overwhelming hubris eventually even if he was not born with traits that encouraged the development of that hubris in the extreme in the presidency.

The quote on page 613 by David Frost, in trying to pin Nixon down on how he justified the illegalities he (Nixon) had resorted to, tells a great deal about my hypothesis: "Nixon's answer will probably resonate throughout history as the epitome of an hubristic president: 'Well, when the president does it, that means it is not illegal.'"

Since I was teethed on the age of FDR, and have lived through many and varying types of presidencies since then, we feel most acutely the risk that any mere man must run if he is to persuade his party he can persuade the electorate to make him president. Although few presidents have reached the horrifying levels of pure criminality permitted by that hubris as LBJ and RMN with Vietnam and Watergate, if the lives and deeds of others before and after them were examined as closely as Curtis does these two, the similarities, I am sure, would be even more striking than appears to us through limited memory alone.

I am also mightily impressed by the sheer volume of research, from details of their lives to the quotes of those who "knew them when." More significantly, I am impressed with Richard Curtis' ability to pull it all together in such a masterly way that one can read through the whole thing and find a sense of continuity, a nice flow, as it were, to the narration in support of his thesis, that one can indeed finish such a lengthy book, and one of such intensity, without flinging one's hands up in despair at the sheer volume of the material. I am really impressed!

Hubris and the Presidency: The Abuse of Power by Johnson and Nixon is an intriguing and well-balanced book about the modern American presidency.

The central thesis of Hubris is that excessive pride and self-confidence (what the Ancient Greeks called "hubris") intoxicates American presidents and eventually is the cause of their eventual downfall and self-destruction.

There are thirteen concepts that comprise hubris in Curtis's schema ranging from delegation and confrontation to paranoia, isolation and "immolation" (being consumed by the flames of political ambition and misdeeds.) Curtis devotes a chapter on each concept to both Johnson and Nixon. What results from this parallel, back-to-back presentation is a careful and examination of the characters and foilables of each man and how thier egos, inflexibility and faulty decisions consumed them.

Secondly, what emerges from the book is an interesting blend of history, psychology and political analysis, written in a lively story-telling style that appeals both to the scholarly, as well as the general reader. There are a lot of interesting facts about the Office of the President that are both revealing and illustrative of how the ever-increasing costs, complexity and power of the Office contribute to hubris. Patterns of presidential behavior, which at the time seemed unreasonable, with hindsight, fit the hubris model.

Finally, one clear conclusion of Hubris is how complicated the modern American presidency has become. It is no longer the stuff of great national myths. Instead, it has become a window for showcasing national character flaws and to pillory any individual who holds the office and dares to damage the American mystique.

Not to put the previous reviewer down, but which culture hasn't studied the constelations ("fixed stars") & plenets ("wandering stars") for centuries?

This is a great book. The wording is very practical and down to earth. The subject matter in most of these chapters is formidable (given the limited space), and allows dialog between the reader & writer. What I enjoyed the most was not the diversity that was braught to the book, but the depth of knowledge that was braught to it. The chapter written about Chinese "Five-Element" Astroloy was my favorite. For more info about "this stuff"; I recomend anything written by DEREK WALTERS.

Now if you'll me let complane (which is what most of the critiques on Amazon.com do), I'll share with you what I don't like about most practicing astrologers. Most people (including Fagan) try to dispute the validity of using one Zodiac over another (sidereal vs. tropical). But the fact is that some Zodiacs don't even use the ecliptic! Incuding Chinese astrology. Or the Nakshatras, which most western astrologers "throw in"! And this is my point, that these Zodiacs are a cration. Our creation! And that's what makes astrology valid! Remember Arroyo. Don't forget Arroyo. He said, "If astrology is in fact an emination of universal mind or 'Collective Unconscious' or anything like that, then instead of imposing foreign dogma on astrology, I would say, let us open our eyes to what astrology already is! Let's acknowledge its inherent, extremely sophisticated, psychological [soulful] dimentions. It's all there. It's a tremendous tool, a language of consciousness and inner experience... This is one reason why traditional astrology has become quite meaningless to many of us; the astrology has not for the most part evolved to keep pace with our growth [in] consciousness. And it's why every culture has it's own astrology-the consciousness of that culture determines what level of understanding they can have of astrology."

I really need to emphisise this feeling I have about these truths! It seems as though all we need to do is look up and astrology becomes valid, alive because we are!

For another "good read" try The Origin of The Zodiac by Rupert Gleadow.

This is a book about astrology from China, India and Tibet. I do not know of any other book in which there are so many different astrological techniques from the East. Everything is clearly explained. In this book, you will find the wisdom of the sages of the East who have spotted the stars and planets for centuries. Now you can learn about their insights.

The Price is a well thought out story of human growth. It is a story of family relationships, particularly one that has collapsed over the years. When forced to come together once and for all, the brothers reunite and are able to find some common ground if any over the price of their own old furniture which is to be sold to a dealer. Far more prominent in this novel is the lesson that relationships need love and attention to flourish, and one cannot put a price on them. This book is fabulously written by the famous author, Arthur Miller who has also written such reknown plays as Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. If you didn't pass up a chance to read those classics, you won't want to pass up a chance to read this one.

When talking about this play, arthur miller said "I don't write plays to conform to critical essays. I write about what interests me. That is my strength and that is my limitation." Yes, it had a very similar plot to DEATH OF A SALESMAN, but the character's, specifically the main character, were very different, which changed the theme of the play. I loved it. It made me think...got me more involved then death of a salesman did. It took serveral readings to get the full jist of it. Victor's sacrifice was for love: it didn't matter if there had been no love in his family--he brought love to it.

Miller's play surrounds the moral development of two brothers: one a dutiful policeman (Victor), the other a successful yet selfish surgeon (Walter). Their most recent encounter takes place during the sale of family furniture and heirlooms -- post a long and silent gap in their relationship catalyzed by an angry family breakup that completely separated the brothers.

During their encounter, Arthur Miller poignantly brings out each brother's personal ethics, and what moral debts each feels the other owes. The 'furniture' and it's price to be sold, which is their central concern (in addition to dealings with the only other two characters in the play - an appraiser (Solomon) and Victor's wife (Esther)) , is merely a bargaining object between the two - a prop - with which each may discover more fully the other's thoughts and ways of being, and somehow, at the end of the day, find some sort of salvation in each other.

Miller's play does have room for updating the "Say! What a swell..." type of older american-english diction for flow. This may be especially encouraging to those who may find some of the colloquialisms inappropriate.

The reader must keep in mind that this is not a novel, and really should not be read like one, word for word. This is more a basic screenplay type, where improvisation by actors who truly understand the characters - and Miller's intent - will ultimately bring the true and dramatic color to a wonderful and thought-provoking story.

My expectations were high but this is just a poorly written book. About half the narrative is about the characters who joined the Rough Riders. Very little of the book deals with the battles in Cuba and the sections that do make the exploits of the Rough Riders seem grossly over rated. Roosevelt seems to write withh the intent on securing his place in history. And, if that wasn't enough, he includes self-serving appendices that laud his conduct on the battlefield and support his yearning for the medal of honor. I found his writing style tedious and often repetitious--you'll encounter countless references to the smokeless ammunition used by the Spanish. Enough already!

My comments are based on the 1997 hardback version of this book.
The following may have been corrected in the 2000 paperback.

Richard Bak collected many photographs of the Rough Riders to illustrate Roosevelt's text, and this is good. However, he wasn't very careful with his captions.

For example, the photograph leading off Chapter One "Raising the Regiment" is captioned "Colonel Wood and Roosevelt in Texas. Roosevelt's paunch would disappear in Cuba after he lost twenty pounds in the tropical heat." However, other photographs of Roosevelt at this time do not show a paunchy man. Also, both he and Wood seem younger than the men in this photo.

Later in this chapter, there is a photograph again showing the an identified as Wood, captioned "Colonel Leonard Wood (second from right)..."

In the background of this photograph, there is an automobile (looking closer in style to a Model A than a Model T), and the other three men in the photograph are dressed in Army uniforms from the 1920s.

The conclusion is that these men are NOT Roosevelt and Wood, but the actors who played them in the 1927 silent movie about the Rough Riders that was filmed in San Antonio with the assistance of the US Army's Second Division stationed at Fort Sam Houston.

In the section "The Mystery of the Maine," the photograph identified as the Maine is not the Maine that blew up in Havana Harbor, which only had two smoke stacks. This is probably the later World War I Maine.

So, Roosevelt's text is good. The collection of photographs are good. But verify those captions and the conslusions based upon them.

The 1st USV (the Rough Riders) has to be one of the most interesting units in US military history. The collection of characters who filled its ranks could spawn dozens of other titles. This book is WELL written by Teddy Roosevelt, one of our most colorful persidents, is a frank and great account of the life of this unit. I found it quite enjoyable, and didn't feel that the book was TR blowing his own horn, he cared very much for his men and this shows through in this book. A must for any history buff.