They're back again! England's top SIS agents Tweed, Paula Grey and international foreign correspondent Bob Newman, along with ace sniper MArler and heavies Butler and Nield are facing a dangerous threat. Europe is under attack as various high ranking politicians seriously concerned with the lack of leadership and military spending in Europe are being taken out one by one. Tweed is on the list. Paula is almost kidnapped by Arab fundamentalists in Vienna. In Slovakia, Arab leader Hassan has made his residence and is planning a major military strike. Tanks and mechanised infantry are massing in Iraq. Tweed and his crew head for Geneva and then Austria on the train of HAssan and his professional female assassins, known as the Sisterhood. Not only that, one Emilio Vitorelli suspects English redhead Tina Langley is responsible for the death of his wife and is out for revenge, but just who can Tweed trust? Can they save Europe again?! Once again, Colin Forbes has delivered another gem of a novel which will keep you reading and entertained right to the end. Fast pacing, a good, steadily flowing narrative and well-researched locations contribute nicely to the interesting and rather plausible storyline.

In Colin Forbes's 25th novel, Britain's best MI6 secret agents Tweed, Paula Grey and Bob Newman are back, along with regular characters such as marksman Marler and heavies Butler and Nield. In the opening pages, the director of the CIA, Cord Dillon, is saved from a bullet by Paula Grey. The Prime Minister is assassinated by a mystery sniper known only to MI6 as The Phantom(!). Then chaos reigns in London as terrorist bombs explode at power stations, department stores and in Oxford Street. Who are the protagonists? The action moves from the UK and the county of Kent across Europe to Switzerland and Germany's Black Forest, where the good guys discover a frightening conspiracy so audacious it seems only a miracle will prevent it . . . and why is Tweed faced with open hostility at the US Embassy while investigating the attempt on Cord Dillon's Life? Read on and you will find out! Top US diplomat Werner Morgenstern and also Sharon Mandeville, a woman of mystery with connections high up in thw White House seem to know more than they let on. The story takes on a dramatic twist as Morgenstern presents Tweed with an additional conspiracy theory: the US is planning to incorporate Britain into its own system as its 51st state. Hmmm. Overall, in spite of a blatant anti-American stance in parts, this book is still worth five stars due to an intriguing plot(if somewhat unoriginal in places, borrowed in part from Robert Ludlum's THE PARSIFAL MOSIAC with its high-up-in-the-White-House corruptibles), a fast paced narrative, well researched locations and all the regular characters drinking plenty of champagne and staying in the best hotels as ever! Good old Colin Forbes!

If it was 25 pages longer, I would have given "Snapshots" five stars! It's a wonderful treasure trove of fascinating, previously unseen photos, interviews, first person narratives and long-lost song lyrics. If you're a Hank Williams fan, you know what an impressive researcher is Colin Escott. His earlier bio of Hank stands as the most complete picture we're likely to have of a singer who, almost without fail, gave complete heart and soul in the recording studio. Finally, we have a book that attempts far more than a grim post-mortem on Hank's well-documented personal miseries. This is a celebration of Hank Williams: musician and performer. Wait until you see all the incredible photos of Hank and the Drifting Cowboys on stage, playing to excited, packed houses in places as far flung as San Jose and Ottawa. By all accounts, Hank was the most charismatic live performer of his time. Many of the hand-written scraps of unpublished song lyrics are very moving, especially "I Wish I Had A Dad." If only Hank had been given enough time to put the words to music and record them, his string of classic hits would have, without doubt, continued. I am not a starry-eyed admirer. I realize that Hank was abusive to his wives, often cruel and secretive. (By the way, photos here show what a teenaged knock-out was Hank's second wife, Billie Jean.) The "hillbilly Shakespeare" lived most of his brief adult life as a tortured, late-stage alcoholic. But "Snapshots" takes care to balance the picture, too. It depicts Hank Williams as millions of record-buying fans saw him: an enomorously gifted singer/songwriter and electrifying showman. I hope that Colin Escott and Kira Florita keep searching for hidden treasures: "More Snapshots From The Lost Highway" would be welcomed by this reader! Also needed is a single volume that details (as much as possible) all of Hank's live perfomances, TV and radio appearances, such as Mark Lewisohn's "Complete Beatles Chronicle" and the book on Elvis' live perfomances, "King On The Road." Please buy "Hank Williams: The Original Singles Collection...Plus" (CD), Escott's biography and "Snapshots From The Lost Highway." Escott and Florita are "settin' the woods on fire"!

Although he never made it to 30 and died nearly a half-century ago, singer/songwriter Hank Williams continues to exert tremendous influence on all spheres of popular music. The country crooner also continues to invite biographical treatment. In 1998, music historian Escott (Hank Williams: A Biography) and Florita, former marketer of the Hank Williams catalog for Mercury Records Nashville, produced the Grammy-winning, ten-CD set The Complete Hank Williams. While working on that project, they amassed a huge number of photographs, documents, and published and unpublished song lyrics. That iconography forms the basis of Hank Williams: Snapshots from the Lost Highway, an appealing coffee-table book that is being cross-promoted with the tribute album, Timeless. Composed of captions by the authors and excerpts of interviews with Williams and his family and friends, the text is somewhat sparse but to the point and well written. Rick Bragg also contributes an elegant foreword. Koon's Hank Williams, So Lonesome was first published as Hank Williams: A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood, 1993). This second take features expanded biographical coverage and important discussions of Williams's songs. Also significant are the author's attempts to separate the facts of Williams's life and work from the mythology of the musician and his thoughtful assessment of sources. In eliminating the reference-book qualities of the earlier Greenwood volume, Koons has made a significant contribution to Williams literature for fans and scholars. As a pair, these books nearly perfectly complement each other, but, unfortunately, neither contains a discography. In addition, the Escott and Florita volume lacks a bibliography (perfectly acceptable for a work of this kind), and the Koons book contains only a scaled-back one. Despite these shortcomings, both books avoid sensationalizing their complex subject and are highly recommended for public libraries and academic libraries with a popular culture focus

In assembling 1998's 10-CD The Complete Hank Williams, Kira Florita and Colin Escott found far more material than their box set's book could contain. As a result, they put together this book, a behind-the-scenes look to hold his devotees spell-bound.

Fans who've read Escott's biography Hank Williams will treasure the new material: an extensive collection of informal photos, long-sealed court depositions, the accounting ledger with the $30,000 payoff to his naïve teenaged bride Billie Jean to abandon her claim to his estate, etc.

Among the handwritten copies of 30 unpublished songs and song fragments ("I Wish I Had A Dad," "The Broken Marriage") is "Then Came That Fatal Day" found on the floor of the Cadillac where he died en route to a December 31, 1952, concert. The newly revealed lyrics capture his love-hate relationship with his first wife, Audrey. Meanwhile, a draft of "Cold Cold Heart" accompanies Hank's and Audrey's conflicting accounts as to whether it was "inspired" by an abortion.

Numerous details emerge in the book, like Billie Jean's humor, and Hank's problems with excess measures in song lines. Letters from his publisher/co-author/editor Fred Rose (a recovered alcoholic who tried to curb Hank's substance abuse) find Rose trying to help the volatile marriage to Audrey while - like many others - harshly assessing her.

Audrey, who died in 1975, was an ambitious woman who attempted plenty of spin on her exhusband's legend, but she was probably right in saying, "If some woman, equally as strong as I am, had not come along, there never would have been a Hank Williams. He did not want to live when I met him."

It's an intriguing cast of characters, which build upon the already colorful Hank Williams legend. Check it out today!

I just finished reading this biography of Mr. Williams, and came away feeling very sad for Hank and his son Hank, Jr. Although the book chronicles the real contributions that Hank's mother and wife Audrey made in starting his career, the two women seemed to use Hank as a gravy train, with little love shown for this sad, lonely man. Particularly disgusting was the vulture like behavior exhibited immediately following his tragic death. Thank heaven he had Billie Jean, if even for a short while. She seems to be the only woman in his life that really loved him. Between his back pain and loneliness, it's no wonder he drank.

There was a lot of interesting detail in the book, sometimes too much info for my taste. Mr. Escott went into exhausting detail giving the background of practically every soul Hank ever met. It also seemed Mr. Escott disliked Roy Acuff, which I found interesting, since he has always been portrayed as a virtual saint. Also, Mr. Escott's descriptions of what would have become of Hank and his career had he lived were very interesting, and probably true.

I wish Hank, Jr. could have known his father, it was obvious that Hank loved him, but addictions and circumstance kept them apart.

I'll listen to Hank's music with a much deeper knowledge of the pain that influenced his songs.

Wonderful biography of ole Hank! Not to harsh and not to patronizing. Editors notes were great. I couldn't wait to get to the next page. Even if your not a big reader, this book will hook you, and you won't put it down until its finished, then you'll read it again. Great pictures. The history of "ole Hank's" family, really explains why he was so great and had such a tragic departure from life. Great book. FIVE STARS to the author!!! Highly recommended reading.

There are a few passages in the book where Colin Escott explains the dilemma of writing a book on Hank Williams: Even the people who were close to him said that they didn't know him very well (and a lot of people claimed to know him). And, a good majority of the people in the book have passed away, so Escott is left to interpret the facts.

The obvious problem with that is that you never feel like you know what Hank was going through or how he felt. So what happens is that there's a lot of "Hank did this" or "Hank did that." He never let anyone know what he was thinking or how he felt. He left that for his songs.

The book doesn't paint Hank as a saint, but nor does it trash him (most biographers would be tempted to go either way). Escott mostly stuck with the facts, and for the most part leaves it up to you to form your own opinion.

I enjoyed reading this book and it only took me two days. I'm a relatively new listener of Hank Williams, but when I saw that Colin Escott wrote this book, I didn't hesitate to buy it. I presumed, and correctly, that Escott would give an authoritative biography. I also knew that Escott was an avid fan of the music, so it would be loaded with the type of stuff that fans want to know, such as first recording dates, sessions, important concerts, last appearances, etc. Recommended.

How different could 3 actors be? Lionel Atwill,a highly respected stage actor that made a specialty out of playing off-beat mad doctor roles and whom his friends called 'Pinky'. Colin Clive, another star of the stage who detested his horror movie roles and drank himself to death. George Zucco, an actor that worked on stage with Colin Clive, made a living acting in everything from Grade 'A' feature films to poverty row Grade 'Z' pictures. I knew something of the lives of Atwill and Clive, but the bio of Zucco was especially interesting. While Atwill was the host of 'adult' parties in his home, and Clive spiralled into an early alcohol-induced death, Zucco comes across as a gentleman. This book was most interesting, and not only taught me the differences in the three men, but also the one thing they had in common. All three were fine actors with backgrounds on the stage who(especially for Atwill and Zucco) always strived to give a good performance, no matter what the picture they were involved with.

I just finished reading Gregory William Mank's "Hollywood's Maddest Doctors," and I must hand it to Mr. Mank. He has done a fine job.

The three subjects of the volume-Lionel Atwill, Colin Clive, and George Zucco-were extraordinary stage-trained actors who became legendary players in the great Universal Studios' horror classics of the 1930's and early 1940's. Even more interesting is the fact that each man was far more interesting in real life than he was in the roles he played on stage and screen. Each in his own way was a tortured soul.

Atwill, the great matinee idol of the British and American stages of the 1920's, was a powerful character actor whose lead roles in such classics as "Dr. X" and "The Mystery of the Wax Museum" elevated him to the same pedestal as Karloff and Lugosi in the horror genre. However, in real life he was a self-destructive free spirit whose sexual escapades led to his downfall. Bitter in his last years, he died an outcast in an industry that was appalled at his unabashed sexual proclivities.

Colin Clive, whose masterful portrayal of Dr. Frankenstein ranks as one of the best pieces of acting in any genre, was a tormented soul who lacked self-confidence and took refuge in the bottle. He would die tragically at the age of 37 from kidney and liver failure, his talent only partially tapped.

Finally, there is the gentlemanly George Zucco who could play virtually any role with equal skill and grace, but who nevertheless was stereotyped in "mad doctor" roles to his everlasting chagrin. Zucco would die unfulfilled, wondering to the last how his career might have been different if only he had gotten more diverse dramatic and comedy roles.

Mank does a super job in bringing out the irony in each man's career-we remember them best for the mad, often tragic characters they portrayed on film. Yet it was in real life that these men played out their most genuinely tragic roles.

I highly recommend Mr. Mank's book to all true fans of these three unsing heroes of early horror films. Each was very talented and very troubled. To his credit, Mank does an excellent job in illuminating both the professional and personal components of their lives. A fine job.

The Gothic Earth setting is by far the most realistic adventure setting from TSR in decades, but, as noted in another review, successful play requires a good knowledge of the late 19th century, its customs, technology, etiquette, etc. This is NOT beyond the scope of anything required by any "steampunk" RPG, such as "Space 1889" or "Castle Falkenstein" or the "Cthulhu by Gaslight" 1890s campaign. Any background research into "our" world which has been done for any of those games is just as valid for Gothic Earth, and this campaign setting should actually require less mental gymnastics than "Falkenstein" or "1889." The boxed set is VERY nice, and the maps and illustrations are unexpectedly beautiful (in a horrifically Gothic way, of course!), far above typical TSR standards, but the presentation and background of "the Red Death" entity (Gothic Earth's answer to the Voices of the Mists of Ravenloft) is rather feeble; most skilled GM's could come up with something better as a house rule. The mini-module, "The Red Death," which is included in the boxed set is, however, a very different matter; based upon Poe's "Masque of the Red Death," I adapted it to a "Falkenstein" game (it would have worked just as well in any other 19th century game) and shocked the heck out of my players; it is so obviously based upon the Poe story, however, that player knowledge can easily become a problem. By and large, it's worth the price, and far less grim than Ravenloft itself.

This is by far the most original campaign setting in the AD&D line. While all other campaign settings are rather hack and slash, medieval settings. This setting takes you to 19th century earth in the 1890's. Where you can fight the villians some of the lords of Ravenloft were based after. You can fight Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, Mummies in real Egyptian tombs, and many many more. The only problem is that to do a really good game of Masque, one must do a whole lot of research about the 1890's. I ended up reading 3 books about the History of L.A. where my campaign was taking place in. But if you love to do real good research for a campaign, this is the world for you! Oh, H.P. Lovecraft stories are really great adventure ideas for this setting!

Ever wondered whats like to play a Ravenloft campaign in the world we live in? This boxed set gives you everything you need to get started in gothic like horror role playing in Earth, in the year 1890. A general map, the character classes and abilities. Its just another good oportunity to role play something quite new... You'll love it.

I was given this book to read as part of my studies. It is useless information that you could get from your drunk grandmother on any given Sunday! It is nothing more than a retort of common sense, and a CEO's bragging about individual company's accomplishment out of context, with no real information or solutions offered.

I was particularly dismayed at Middle-school level comments such as "Our work with clients and with the analysis of markets suggests that growth energizes those firms and management groups that creates outstanding shareholder value." It's classic rhetoric that makes Dilbert's life a living hell, and shows just how headless large corporations really are.

An intellectual epic of the management movement in the global marketplace. A must read book for any business leaders who wants to gain market share, acheive product differentiation, increase shareholder value, manage KM or ride the wave of ecommerce. An insightful bilbilography backed by 29 prominent top executives in the international arena. The collection of articles provide a useful resource for MBA students and a valuable information tool for case studies.

The authors clearly have presented us top wisdom from these business leaders. The stories are fascinating and the ideas I got from the business leaders was numerous. Well done.

I also recommend a book my company uses successfully for its leadership development program - it has worked well with new and existing managers: "The Leader's Guide: 15 Essential Skills."

Straight from over thirty of today's most innovative CEOs come the ideas that are reshaping and reinvigorating the modern corporation-written exclusively for this book. Straight from the CEO is a major work, because the world rarely hears directly from the great contemporary business leaders-the chief movers and shakers of major corporations. Working closely with the Price Waterhouse management team, a wide variety of chief executives who are successfully managing today's rapid pace of economic change present their ideas about leading and motivating people, unleashing innovation and creativity, and learning from customers to revitalize their businesses. Among the CEOs represented in the book are the heads of British Airways, Compaq Computer, Monsanto, Royal Dutch/Shell, Enron, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Warner-Lambert. The scope is worldwide: from Bangkok to Jakarta, from Dusseldorf to Dallas. No ivory tower theorizing, no speeches, no "consultant speak," these are the practical insights of leaders who every day must find ways to test and validate new ideas, implement change to improve the bottom line, and ultimately focus on the core ideas that will truly reshape their corporation.

Straight from the CEO is an important tool for managers at every level, focusing on such issues as creating loyalty to customers, organizing globally, fostering individual employee motivation, and leveraging corporate values to enhance performance. These are the pressing issues that face every manager who strives to sort out valuable contributions from impractical ideas, the gold from the dross, and then take action that gets results. As intellectually stimulating as it is practical, Straight from the CEO is an invaluable report from the executive trenches.

By necessity brief, the many pieces (I hesitate to call them chapters or even articles) lack depth, assume much and as a result are quite unstatisfying; but they do leave the reader hungry for more!

William Dauphinais is Vice Chairman, Human Capital for PricewaterhouseCoopers. He co-authored with Colin Price two previous books, The Paradox Principles and Better Change. He has 25 years of business experience covering a broad range of organizational change, business reengineering, financial planning, and information technology issues. He received both his undergraduate degree and his MBA from the University of Michigan. Colin Price was previously a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he oversaw a Strategic Change Consulting, a practice of 3,000 consultants working with global clients in managing large-scale corporate transformations. He has a BA in Economics and graduate degrees in Organizational Psychology. Married with one child, he lives outside London.

Reviewed by Azlan Adnan. Formerly Business Development Manager with KPMG, Azlan Adnan is currently Managing Partner of Azlan & Koh Knowledge and Professional Management Group, an education and management consulting practice based in Kota Kinabalu. He holds a Master's degree in International Business and Management from the Westminster Business School, London.

Very persuasive book, with new and bright ideas for the future. It has motivated me to become a more people oriented person. I will take closer looks and my employees needs and wants, taking care of the customer has become one of my greatest concerns. Thank you for the edge on life. Omar Cumberbatch, CEO Royal Family Pro.

Based on a collection of essays by global corporate leaders, the book is structured around 6 themes: globalisation, radical change, leadership, culture, innovation, and customer relationship. Percy Barnevik of ABB, explains how to balance global resources and local autonomy, Richard Evans of British Aerospace shows why radical changes required CEOs to get out of their ivory towers. The book is well illustred and easy to read. It doesn't contain academic theory or consultancy methods. It is a step by step guide explained by experienced CEO who can help solve your company's problems. Franck Renand, Prof. of Strategic Management, ISLA, Oporto, Portugal.

Despite the somewhat tacky title, this book is quite interesting with a history of the speedy, reckless and sometimes scary driver. There are plenty of action shots and some commentary from the man himself. Check it out, but only if you are a serious Colin/Subaru fan.

This book covers some interesting material; I especially liked the chapter which discussed obtaining the results of a quantum computation without actually running the computer. The authors also give some very complete explanations of fundamental concepts such as the workings of a quantum logic gate and RSA encryption. However, their explanations are also riddled with errors and undefined notation. Often, they will spend a great deal of time explaning rather trivial things, then in the next paragraph introduce the next step with a new notation and not define it!! The result is that the calculations are often hard to follow.

This book is a good read for those interesting in learning about the basics of quantum computers, but look elsewhere for a more rigourous treatment of the mathematics of quantum computing.

In spite of many interesting subjects described in the book, explanations about fundamentals of quantum theory seem to me quite insufficient, as like as they had been written in a hurry. I would have not understood many issues quoted in the book if I had not read before other publications about paradoxes raised by quantum physics. Another very strange choice is to place the chapter about interaction-free measurement at last, while I think this property is a necessary basic for a better understanding of properties of entanglement, above which the whole building of quantum computing relies. So, I wonder how readers without a previous knowledge of basic subjects can have dealt with the problems the book tries to explain. Surely, this book has been written for nonspecialists, as the editorial review states, but, taking into account the poor effort employed in explaining quantum theory, it could have detailed more facets about computing, and simply referencing other textbooks for physics arguments.

If you are interested in the promising field of quantum computing, this one is the primer to read. It's very well written, coherent, and goes deep enough as to challenge the reader's mind. However, don't be intimidated by the math. Even if one skips the mathematical concepts the reader will be able to understand the book and more importantly the concepts behind it. Good read, good buy.