Oblivion, the pocket sized LARP rulebook for Wraith: The Oblivion is right on par with Laws of the Wild as a fantastic, well compiled book. Oblivion contains information on all Guilds (including the especially illegal 3), a habit I wish White-Wolf would take toward it's tabletop books instead of relying on infinite sourcebooks.

The system is the same one as in all the other books, which is good, because it's a well thought out system. Shadowguiding remains a concern of mine, however. In Live Action, having a player also play someone elses Shadow just isn't always practical. If you have six or so people, it's definately worth having half of them play Shadows, pure and simple.

In short, it's as good a book as Laws of the Night and Laws of the Wild. If you enjoyed them (especially Wild, to which it enjoys more similarities) you should like this.

(ps. And contrary to popular opinion, Wraith and Oblivion do NOT have to be overly depressing. Play it any way you like!)

The LARP rules for Wraith, I thought would be more again to the LARP rules for mage.. Impossible to make believable in a Live Action Setting. Although, Some of the Wraith powers are a hard to pull off live, MET does it very well. I am EXTREMELY impressed. Also, the condensed approach to the rules and setting includes more than the original base tabletop book did for about half the price. A great buy for any LARPer.

If you're looking for another "Dune", be warned: This book takes place on Earth, albiet an Earth that is about to go through some huge changes.

Our story opens with the death of the wife and children of brilliant biochemical researcher John O'Neill at the hands of terrorists. O'Neil is driven mad with grief and unleashes a biochemically engineered plague on the world, one that is 100% fatal to women.

While not Herbert's best book, it is still fantastic. Frank paints a horrific picture of governments racing first against each other to be the first to find a cure, and soon realilsing that a cure will only come with cooperation. Each country deals with the plague differently and the sweep of the story stretches around the world and back to the beginning as O'Neil admires his handiwork.

The story is quite action driven for a Herbert book. With most women dying off, the planet soon becomes unrecognizable. Will a cure be found in time? What form will it take? How will humanity survive? Herbert's trademark philosophical ruminations are there, just below the surface for plucking if you're interested. I will say, though, that the irony of thousand-year-old cultures having to re-write themselves overnight in the name of survival wasn't lost on me.

Even more tantalizing is the ending which will leave you wondering what will happen next. Not that there's a cliffhanger, but the world is so different you imagine a sequal would have done very well.

This is a really good book. It may drag a bit in spots and some of the science involved is a bit dated, but it is still very enjoyable. There's something wrong when a book as good as this one written by a author as popular as Herbert is out of print. Surely there must be some publishing company out there willing to cash in on the writings of a man whose works have been brought to the screen twice (soon to be three times, with "Children of Dune"). Anyone?

Until that happens, pick up a copy at a used bookstore. You won't regret it.

Herbert weaves a wonderfully chilling tale of loss and revenge in this biotech centered sci-fi offering.

In the book, the main character (a molecular biologist) loses his wife to a random terrorist bombing in Ireland. Fed up with the endless violence and loss of innocent life due to chronic IRA-British conflicts in Ireland, the scientist uses methods of genetic engineering to develop a virus that he plans to release in Ireland. He sends notice to the world of his intentions, and releases the virus.

The virus kills only women. Ireland is devastated, but, of course, the virus escapes and the white plague becomes a pandemic.

The technology certainly exists to develop genetically engineered viral vectors (i.e., viruses that carry genetically engineered DNA or RNA). Is such a plague possible? Technically, yes. That's what makes the tale so chilling.

The spread of the disease in the book and efforts to protect uninfected women are described as effort after effort to stop the virus fail.

This is great summer time reading for anyone who enjoys techno-sci-fi books. The story line is convincing, the scientific premises of the book are within the reach of feasibility, and the potential consequences of such an act are mind boggling.

Please re-issue this book. There are certainly people out there who would enjoy it.

5 stars!

Alan Holyoak

It is tremendously frightening that this might someday soon become a book for our times. A molecular biologist watches from a building window as his wife and two daughters get blown to bits during a terrorist bombing on the street below. This triggers a vengeful madness that culminates in his developing a disease and infecting those he sees as responsible: The countries of Ireland, Libya, and England.

I have met many Frank Herbert fans online, especially on usenet. There is some argument as to what is Herbert's greatest work. Many who have never read the White Plague insist that nothing could top Dune. Many who have read Dune insist that The White Plague is his crowning achievement.

I leave it to you to decide.

This book is a great way to flashback to the early mid-twenties thirties. You can see all the characters, just like a great old movie, they each have their own little personality qwerk. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a mystery or the ole gangster era. I found this book because I am related to this man. My father remembers him as being "Bigger than Life", he had a big following and they just love him in Texas - wonder why?

The book is weird. I got it, mainly because of the namesake. And he is not exactly a professional writer. But as I began, I felt urged to keep reading. And knowing it really happened gave it an extra nudge. I liked it a great deal, and strongly recommend it.

This book gives an excellent summary of viscous flow and is a valuable addition to any engineers bookshelf. A good knowledge of fluid mechanic fundamentals is essential to understand the material presented. This book is definitely not for a freshman. The author quickly covers the fundamental equations of fluid motion and then proceeds to discuss the viscous flow and boundary layer theory. Laminar boundary layers, transition, turbulent boundary layers and compressible boundary layers each receive a chapter. Each topic is reviewed and examples are given. The treatment is a little terse, which makes reading the book a tough job. Alot of excellent references are given and I would advise anybody serious about viscous flow to review this material as Whites treatment can be skimpy. The chapter on turbulent flow provides an excellent summary of useful empirical correlations and an introduction to the K-epsilon model. In summary, this is an excellent and reasonably comprehensive reference book(weak on boundary layers in rotating flows), but a poor book to learn from.

"Viscous Fluid Flow" is quite thorough and well thought out. I won't go so far as to say that it reads like a novel, but it flows quite nicely. This book is for senior undergraduate or first-year graduates. The topics contained within are quite advanced in comparison to typical undergraduate Fluid Mechanics. The only problem I had with this text is that at times (not often) the hierarchy of the topics would get jumbled. For example, the explanation for a topic might come before the topic was even introduced leading to some confusion. Regardless, this textbook is REQUIRED for the bookshelf of any serious Fluid Dynamicist.

Captain Frank M. Myers tells an interesting and detailed history of White's Battalion of the 35th Virginia Cavalry. Though in the preface Myers claims to be no man of letters, it is clear that he has a way with words and an eye for detail.

This book is a good read for anyone interested in the gritty day-to-day existence of the Confederate soldier. Myers' decriptions are clear and concise. He maps the movements of the Comanches through pine forest and cotton field, from Loudoun County, Virginia to Leesburg; Hamilton's Crossing to Centreville.

Interspersed with command correspondences, anecdotes and excellent scenes of battle, this is a very personal history of terrible conflict.

An interesting book indeed. But what Dr. Stranges doesn't realize is that the "white" planet he is talking about is NIBIRU, the 12th planet that's mentioned by Dr. Malachi Z. York and Zecharia Sitchin. The reason why it's cubed shape is because that's Nibiru's force field. Even Dr. Sitchin is mistaken when he says Nibiru is a "planet", for Dr. York says it's a Mothership that's 4 times bigger than earth that came from the direction of the Orion Constellation. Scientists who are charting it now call it Rylo 7 and will be within our solar system by August 2003, so keep your eyes to the sky!

As a student of Aerospace Engineering, fluid mechanics is A-B-C. This is certainly the most useful book I have EVER used on the subject - It is easy to understand, user-friendly, and truly a treasure- cache for all engineers, as it covers every aspect of F. Mech. one could think up.

I was taught using this text book, and now, as an experience fluid process engineer, I highly recommend it for those who are starting into the field for Mechanical or Fluid Process Engineering and have a stong desire to learn about thermal processing and fluid systems! Great book! I refer to it daily in my work!

I learned fluid mechanics from this book in college, tutored undergraduates with the help of this book in grad school, and used it as a reference for my advanced fluids class. In all cases, it was clearer and more understandable than other references I was recommended. I'm not saying this book is perfect - the description of the Navier Stokes equations, a fundamental concept in fluid mechanics, skips too many mathematical steps, as White is prone to do - but overall, if you are strong enough in math, this is a very good reference/first time book for fluid mehanics. White also has a good more advanced text on viscous fluid flow. If you are learning fluid mechanics for the first time, I would also recommend a Schaum's outline to supplement your textbook.

I enjoyed listening to Frank Wu on CSPAN. I agree with him in many ways that people automatically assume things about you when you are of a certain ethinic stereotype. But a strongly agree with another reviewer about including South Asians and Hispanics (Hispanics who are actually the largest minority race). South Asians for many reasons because they go through the exact same things as others have...and especially after Sept. 11...the "Middle Eastern" profile...that's just dispicable. Those of the South Asian countries such as India, Nepal and Sri Lanka are all non-Muslim but still get stereotyper just because of their skin color. It goes to show how ignorant most Americans are. Also I don't believe at all in hyphinating Americans. But all people of color share a common bond that they have ALL been discriminated against by whites. And that's the plain and outright truth whether the whites want to hear it or not. Not only have they been discriminated against in America but their own countries which goes to prove that racism exists in all and it's most cruel forms. But, I'm glad to see white America changing. And the fact is that white America is the one that needs to assimilate into the multi-ethnic culture, which is the true represenatative culture of this great nation. Politically correct has nothing to do with it.

If you have the reasonable expectation that the author of any book on race is unlikely to share all your views, then I'd recommend that you read this book. I like this book because it provides one viewpoint that is unique in many ways and is therefore a good addition to any person's collection of thoughts on race relations (whether you agree with Wu or not). By the way, Wu's opinions are his own, as he points out himself, and do not represent THE "Asian" viewpoint (there's no such thing). The following arguments are particularly interesting:

1. Wu argues that Asian-Americans ought to support affirmative action for underrepresented minority groups even if they themselves are not included, saying that this will put the needs of the nation at large ahead of self-centered gain. (Contrast this with the writings of K. Anthony Appiah, Dinesh D'Souza and Shelby Steele, for example, for 4 incredibly disparate views of affirmative action by 4 people of color).
2. Wu also presents a case against racial profiling in spite of the fact that he thinks it is sometimes both rational and non-racist (!)
3. Wu dissects the question "Where are you really from?" and explains how it reflects the "perpetual foreigner" stereotype of people of Asian descent.

Overall, this book was a thought-provoking, sometimes troubling, always interesting read.

I would have thought that after the Murrah building disaster in 1995(at the hands of a non-hyphenated white man), you might be able to take the illiterate Okie out of some people. I guess not.

Medical Virology is not an ideal book for students new to virology. It is currently the prescribed text for an undergraduate course that I am taking, and unfortunately, the book is not well done. Fortunately for me, I've had other courses that provided the background that this book doesn't present in a coherent manner. The book introduces a topic, starts to explain it, and then just drops it. While it might be a good overview for people familiar with virology, students just starting out would be better served by buying Fundamental Virology.

While at first approach I backed away from this book, I later went back to it and found it to be the book to learn virology from. I've tried other books and they fail in comparison. This book teaches you a great amount of information on virology and has a special part for information on the different virus types. This book is highly recommended to students or hobbyists - though beware some information on genetics, chemistry and regular biology might be useful and come in handy, it is not required - just skip any technical parts in the book.

As I have made out in my title, this is the best way I can describe this book. Its small size contradicts its vast amount of information within. With respect to the other reviewer the book I find is excellent at delivering highly detailed information in the fewest words - cutting to the chase - however like the other reviewer comments, its detail can be off putting without sufficient back up by other texts. In this respect the book is probably best thought of as reference material for instant access to cutting edge information on viruses. The book also has sections that individually deal with the virus families and allow the reader to quickly access information regarding viruses belonging to each family, which is particularly useful considering the quagmire of virus names.

After reading all four books in The Once and Future King, I was eager to read The Book of Merlyn. But the book scarcely mentioned the characters found in TOFK; instead, White strays off on tangents and writes endlessly and blantantly his anti-war political views. The very last chapter--about 8 pages-- actually finishes the story by telling what becomes of Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the rest. I wonder if anyone calling this book "stunning" has actually read it. I read the whole book, but really only got something from the last chapter. It is well written, but has little to do with Arthurian Legend. Not "exciting conclusion" here, just passive political commentary.

The Book of Merlyn was an incredible book, once again proving the genius of T.H. White. This book is the only sensible conclusion to the Once and Future King and should have been included in the original printing. In The Book of Merlyn, we revisit King Arthur on the night before his final battle with his son, Mordred. Feeling dejected and alone, Arthur's mentor, the lovably eccentric and ingenious Merlyn, returns and whisks the king away to learn two final lessons from the animals he knew as a child. This book is not merely a childish fairytale, but rather an in-depth dissection of human nature in which the human condition is explored in depth and the ever-elusive meaning of life is hinted at. A book for the serious reader or any serious fan of Arthur and Merlyn, The Book of Merlyn is a masterpiece from the mind of one of the greatest writers of the past one hundred years.

If you like the Once and Future King as an amuzing story, then watch out, this book is not for you. Here White elevates his discussions to probe humanity's own lack of humanity. Having witnessed the horrors of World War II, White brilliantly exploits the Arthurian legend to analyze and discuss humans: are we as grand as we think we are? Is there hope? Are King Arthur's efforts (or, archetypally, the efforts of any human who is engaged in helping out the human race) fruitful or simply futile?

This is a humanistic work that dares to challenge the assumptions of humanism. Merlyn uses strong polemic to not only argue that humans are bad for nature (this is an incomplete understanding of the text) but that we have less "humanity" than vrtually all other animals. This view seems to be in direct conflict to Arthur's wish to salvage humanity. Yet Merlyn does not see it as a fatalistic view, he very much still shows hope.

The Book of Merlyn is a top-down, ideological examination of humanism enveloped in the archetypal Arthurian myth. It is not a bed-time story. It is not about lovely castles and romantic imagery.

It is about humanity.