I was given this book as a gift and think the photographs in it are absolutely great! The text that accompanies all the photos is interesting, but I've noticed more than just a few spots in the book where the captions to the photos stops in mid-sentence. I still love the book and if those captions were complete; it would rate 5 stars.

This book was given to me as a Christmas gift this past year. As a writer of Spy Fiction ("The Malagasy Tortoise"), this book has given me a wonderful and exacting insight to the many gizmos and gadgets being used in the field of spying. From weapons to decoding devices "The Ultimate Spy" has it all. I recommend this book to anyone interested in anything clandestine or who is looking to expand their knowledge of the CIA, the FBI or the private sector of spying. This book is loaded with excellent photos of spy personalities, guns, secret hiding spots, good guys and bad guys -- everything is in here to make yourself a fantastic investigation. An exceptional book, one that I now keep right next to my computer.

This book--by a real expert in the field--has a unique combination of pictures, words, and topics. It is magnificently illustrated, making it easier to understand a complex subject. The text is accurate and informative, but not too wordy, and the reader can skip around to whichever topics interest him or her the most. The topics covered in this book range from the basics of espionage to the history of spying to examples of spy gear used over the last several decades to the latest in spy technology. This book will interest both those with little background in the world of spying and those who have already studied it a great deal. The collection of illustrations in this book is definitely the best available anywhere.

Wolf Valley is a murder mystery that unfolds in rugged Temecula, California, 1954. I was delighted to run across this gem of a book. A strong sense of time, place, and authenticity informs Wolf Valley throughout, and the author makes extremely clever use of real-life characters including the late mystery writer, Erle Stanley Gardner. The book's historical underpinnings, carefully explained in the author's foreward, are as fascinating and full of surprises as the story itself. As for the protagonist, it's a breath of fresh air to find one without the usual complement of exaggerated character flaws. The book's American Indian theme is fascinating and thoughtful without being overwrought. I thoroughly enjoyed being in Wolf Valley with private investigator Eric Lloyd and the colorful Uncle Erle.

Busenkell is excellent in his fusion of history and fiction. Makes a compelling read for regional history and mystery.

This is an outstanding first book. As a historian in the Temecula area in which the story takes place, I was amazed at Busenkell's skill interweaving local sites,weather patterns, geographical features, historic personages and events with mathmatic precision in an authentically Gardner-esque style fiction murder mystery. The fast-paced story defies the reader to lay it down until the unpredictable, satisfying finish.

Most of Wolf's early Regencies rate at least 3 stars from me. This book is a cut above them, with more believable interactions between the couple (even if they meet in a fantastic setting), and no long separations. The heroine Joanna Crewe is the niece of a duke (her father is *not* the duke, although the blurb on the back of my copy claims this to be the case). She is realistic about her life, in which her remarkably selfish father sacrifices his wife (almost literally) to his religious zeal as a missionary in what we now call sub-Saharan Africa. Joanna grows up disillusioned about her father, and determined to preserve her own individuality and her interests. Her father's death leads almost improbably to the slave markets in Cairo, from where she is rescued by an adventurer/explorer John Champernoun, himself the relative of an earl.

This is the first third of the book. In the second third, the heroine becomes engaged to a man, because she craves a normal life and she insists in denying to herself her real needs and interests. She is also marrying the man for his father and his house, as John Champernoun puts it. Enter the hero, now as earl, after his cousins all die heirless. Unfortunately for Joanna, the new earl is a close neighbor of her fiance's father.

The last third of the book is delightful, in which Joanna is forced to confront her hasty decisions and recognize that she has made a wrong choice based on her fears about John's lifestyle and her own ambivalent feelings about her late father. Her fiance acts honorably and agrees to break off the engagement. Joanna will marry her true love, the man who will allow her to be herself.

This was a pleasant read, far more compelling than two other early Wolfs I read at the same time (FOOL'S MASQUERADE and A DIFFICULT TRUCE). In intensity of feeling and tightness of plot, it does not quite match A LONDON SEASON but it is a well-knit and fast-moving plot. The only thing I did not like was the part where Joanna ends up on the slave market - a plot device that has been used by so many writers of purple prose. Fortunately, that part was quickly done.

What a perfect novel! A hero and heroine which are intelligent, kind and perfect to each other. A real conflict, historical accuracy, wonderfull characterization, exotic places, all in some very fast 200 pages. One of Joan Wolf's better books, if not the best. This, by the way, is saying a lot.

This book is a reasonable rules set for the larp folks. It's not a thrilling read, being mostly rules and mechanics, however it doesn't claim to be anything different. There are a lot of things it leaves out which I feel should be included, such as Hunters, Magi, Garou, the Faithful, and other world constructs, however these are published in other books, presumably to rake more cash out of the roleplayers. And while it's not the most clearly written of any White Wolf product, it's not cryptic. If you like vampires and live action, pick this book up.

If you larp as a vampire, you need this book. Contained within are rules for most of the likely situations- combat, diablerie, etc.-, the ranks and offices of the Camarilla, as well as all the clans with all their disciplines. My only complaint is that there are higher levels of the disciplines that are not listed in these larp rules. Definitely a must have for live action gamers.

umm.. I like it. it will make dwiggit happy.

I enjoyed reading this book as a layperson, not having gone to medical school. I have a number of minor skin problems and this book allowed me to differentiate the insignificant ones from the ones I need to pay attention to. I think that this book should be in every household, because a person or parent should know what skin affliction(s) they have and how serious they are before they rush off to the doctor. One thing that should have been elaborated on more is the sub-section on The Nails as Clues to Multiorgan Disease. There are only a few pages of examples of this, yet there are dozens of correlations between abnormal fingernails and systemic disease. The book only gives blantant and graphic examples of serious nail problems and then gives the possible associated underlying disease. It should be expanded to include more "soft sign" nail problems to help doctors make educated guesses about what tests to run.

This is the best quick reference dermatology book available. It is concise and well organized. The pictures are excellent. There are great explanations, differential diagnosis, and treatments. This is an absolute necessity in every resident/medical student library.

I am Dr.Azeem Alam Khan,a consultant dermatologist from Pakistan.I have consulted this book alot while doing my M.Sc in clinical dermatology from St.John's Institute of Dermatology.It really helped me alot!.I find it an excellent book for undergraduate as well as postgraduate students.I shall be grateful If somebody can donate some of its copies for our hospital library.

I did not like it. It is a bad story. Wolfs are not bad like in the story. Peter doesnt listen to his grandpa, so it is a bad example.

If you are familiar with the Prokofiev symphony, this book makes a good companion to the music. It puts into visual images the story of Peter and the Wolf. What I like most about the book is that, in the end, the duck lives. The ending varies somewhat depending on the version of the recording or book. In this book, it's a happy ending, which is better for younger readers.

We use the book by itself sometimes. Other times, my child will read along while we listen to the symphony.

Our children, 3 year old twins, love the music of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. In searching for an age appropriate book to show them the musical instruments that play each of the characters, we found this one illustrated by Ian Beck. Not only are the illustrations lovely, the colors and clothing of Peter, the hunters and the grandfather are interesting to a child. Also, each page shows the instrument played for that part of the story (find it in the box around the text), and in the back a page illustrates each instrument. We cannot recommend this lovely book enough to parents of young children discovering the beauty of music!

To my knowledge this is the best clanbook. I haven't seen such indepth history of a clan from any of the others, plus it has all those cool merits/flaws, and the neat templates that give you good hints as to the type of personality a setite would have. The Setites are one of the coolest clans and although they aren't "GOOD" persay they aren't the run of the mill, flat as paper background baddies either.

It just leaves the mind to wonder how any clan could compete with the setites :) shnoogens!

You have to love the Setites, mainly because they have something I feel the others don't, an honest to goodness goal. And they aren't the "evil" little things you would love to turn into a belt or anything (but they are by no means "good"). This book gave a detailed history on the clan's history, offers clan merits/flaws, and has a few stories that bring on the laughter. I felt the authors could have elaborated more on Set himself, but nevertheless, this is an excellant buy.

Gods, you have got to love the Setites. The book shows how the Antideluvians have tricked all the other stupid clans into thinking poor innocent Set (those gods of darkness always get the bad raps you know..) is the bad guy. Set however, shows how much he looooves humans (in more than a yum yum smorgasborg kinda way) and that he is actually trying to prevent G'henna..or at least until his archenemy Ra burns out....that stupid sun. Once reading this clanbook, all will realize that those Setites are the true champions of justice! Go Set!

The first seven pages of this book made me believe it would be a real page turner. After that things went amiss. You never really discover what motivated certain main characters to behave the way they did, or why. You also never find out what happened to certain characters, they are just dropped. I also expected a book that involved werewolves throughout, although that too left me disappointed. The worst of it was all the type o's I found. It got to the point where I just wanted to start circleing them out of frustration. I could go on but then I would give away the entire story line and if any one is still interested in reading this book that would be unfair.

Gripping horror is often about the desires, both positive and negative, surrounding the family. Such is the case with Richard Leefs novel, a tale of brotherly competition gone bad illuminated by the supernatural. When a down-on-his-luck photographer accidentally shoots photos of a murder, he becomes the target for supernatural vengeancecor was he the target to begin with? The werewolf is perhaps one of those classic monsters most rich with symbolic possibilities, and Lee employs here an interesting conceit. When horror works, it not only scares us, it illuminates something dark in all of us. We look forward to more from this writer

Blood of the Wolf, left me panting for more! The characters where well developed and showed distinct, individual personality's that you either loved or hated!

The story line was very gripping, a real page turner! Richard is a very natural story teller and I look forward to more tales from this creative novelist!

L.A.Mackay

In this book, it gave us a new vision of international affair, gave us a new direction for the policymakers in thinking of national security.

To gain the economic security is not just keep one nation¡¦s scale or the firms as the big as possible. This book told us that biggest are not the key element for the economic dimensions of international system. To build up a related-capability is more important for global power like U.S.

One purpose for the authors is to emphasis the importance of economic instruments for national security in the post-cold era, which had been seen as ¡§low level politics¡¨ before!

It would be better to emphasis the ¡§Economic Security¡¨ in the title of this book, not just use the term like ¡§The Economic Dimension of National Security¡¨!

In the post-cold war era, we should re-think the national security from some other view. This book had made it!

I've recently returned from a journey to the rain country of western Oregon where I discovered "monistic idealism." It's about to become a philosophy of choice in the consciousness revolution.

I gathered this intelligence at the Eugene home of Amit Goswami, Professor of Physics at the Institute of Theoretical Studies at the University of Oregon. I arranged this special interview because of Goswami's new book, The Self-Aware Universe: How Consciousness Creates the Material World. (Tarcher/Putnam). I wanted to meet the person who authored such a book and to make sure I was correctly understanding its many profundities.

At first glance, the book appears to be one of those "new science" books that have become so popular. It does describe quite well the basic experiments of quantum physics, the ones that produce such paradoxes as the dual identity (wave and particle) of electrons and their ability to communicate at a distance with each other instantaneously (non-locality). But rather than simply leaving us with a "Gee, whiz, isn't this incredible?" impression that the real world isn't as we assumed, Goswami boldly, yet very thoughtfully, introduces us to monistic idealism and suggests we accept it as a foundation for a new, and quite compelling, worldview.

Monistic idealism is the academically correct name given to a philosophical position that once was considered pre-scientific. It existed before the advent of what philosophers today label as materialistic dualism,. or what we might call the current official scientific world view. Materialistic dualism is the assumption that physical matter is the primary reality and that mind is separate from, but dependent upon, matter. In this view, mind is a secondary phenomena, or, to use the favored term, is an "epiphenomenon," meaning that it is some kind of separate, extra stuff that bubbles harmlessly out of brains. Monistic idealism, however, turns things around. In this position (dating back to Plato in the West, to Hinduism and Buddhism in the East), there is but one mind and it is the primary reality. Matter is an expression of mind, not separate from mind, but mind manifested materially. The worldview expressed in Edgar Cayce's psychic readings is a perfect example of monistic idealism. Cayce's formula, "Spirit is the Life, Mind is the Builder, the Material is the Result," for example, gives consciousness a very creative role in manifesting the material world.

Goswami's book basically says, "Look, if you'll adopt the viewpoint of monistic idealism, then everything--the paradoxes of quantum physics, the puzzle of individual consciousnesss and free will, the enigma of psychic abilities, the universals in spiritual teachings--everything falls into place!" His book is a journey of creative thinking, providing the most credible and complete tour of the worldview we call "The New Paradigm" that I've yet read.

One of the early warning signs of this new paradigm, which Goswami refers to as the "consciousness revolution," was Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: The observer affects the observed. The scientist looks into the microscope at nature to find nature responding to the observation. How did nature know there was a scientist looking? It takes an electron, it turns out, to know an electron. When the scientist flashes a light on atomic structures, the photons of light disrupt the atoms observed. This simplistic explanation, however, is misleading because it hides the greater truth. Goswami points out that we habitually use materialism to assume that there is a fixed material reality--independent of the observer--one that is simply rebuffed by our gaze. Reality is not fixed, however, and that is where the observing consciousness makes a difference. There is literally a quantum leap of creativity that comes into play as the observer, searching for the material electron "thing" within the etheric electronic wave activity, forces the many possibilities into a single, manifested actuality by the very act of observation The quantum leap is, according to Goswami, like an act of grace--creative, unpredictable, synchronistic and "non-local" (psychic). In talking with him, I realized that it took a quantum leap in my own imagination to fully digest all the implications of monistic idealism. It was easy to understand the ethical implication that we each have to take responsibility for our choices. Goswami emphasizes that it make a difference which ideals we live by, because they determine which potentialities in the unmanifest, quantum mind will materialize through the channel of our individual lives.

Individuality, by the way, especially in the context of a universal consciousness, becomes an intriguing question. Edgar Cayce once had a dream envisioning the mind as being like a single star with spokes radiating out to form individually functioning conscious minds. This model expresses exactly the transcendent, unitary mind assumed by monistic idealism. The spokes even anticipate Goswami's formulation as to how and why the unitary mind creates the impression of separate individual minds.

Why, if consciousness is truly unitive and singular, do we have the experience of separate minds? The brain, according to Goswami, is a measuring instrument. It collapses the non-local (a.k.a., infinite and eternal) quantum mind into concreteness and specificity as manifested through individual experience. Our individual "minds" are necessary to "realize" (make real) the material world. We are co-creators of reality, yet created ourselves to help reality become aware of itself. Goswami refers to the theory of "

There is not much I can add to the extremely thorough reviews already written, but I wanted to add my five stars to this remarkable integration of science, consciousness and spirituality. Although Goswami is hardly the first to attempt to link physics and spirituality, he goes beyond mere analogy and includes more science than some of the other efforts. I found the book thought-provoking and highly readable, with one caveat: the introductory chapters (first 20 pages or so) were a little tedious. Once he gets into the meat of the book, it's a fun read.

This book uses quantum mechanics to lay down a very satisfying theory. Many individual mysteries that I have pondered in philosophical conversations are naturally solved or illuminated by the concepts in this book. I consider myself a serious skeptic, but this picture of consciousness intuitively "feels" right. The concept of fragmenting the whole to create individual souls is also found in mystical traditions like Jewish Kabbalah. I was somewhat disappointed at the last few chapters in which the author gets a bit preachy toward his personal beliefs about war, religion, ETC. However, this in NO way spills over into the fundamental theory. I believe my faith in GOD and my faith in the human spirit was much enhanced by this book. I read this after reading two other books: THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE and INNER SPACE. What an unexpectedly great combination of books for the thinking believer!