A well balanced, unique mix of ethology and sociobiology, with strong emphasis on the biologic and evolutionary sides of behaviour. It is concise but is easy reading. A must have, for those seriously interested in the field.

This is one of the few good book you can find, you can't find one like that easily. It is the best thing you can get that tells you all what you need to know on that topic, if you want a good book, buy this one.

The Mentalism Companion gives a very good listing of extra spells, professions, and training packages for the Rolemaster system. The professions and training packages are pretty cool, such as an Enchanter profession and the Dreamweaver Training Package. There are also some interesting new abilities, adrenal quick draw is a favorite of mine, it allows you to ready your weapon instantly. Overall this is a nice companion to have if you are into mentalism.

This book is very well translated and lays out the various techniques clearly (with a couple of exceptions). Students of Kung Fu, Kenpo, Ninjitsu, and similar styles will find much familiar material here, with some twists. Provides a good range of weapons defenses, from blades to handguns, and is quite comprehensive for its size.

The book is very complete, covers most of the field in protein NMR studies. The book is well organised, with plenty of figures to facilitate easy understanding of the subject. Overall, I find it is very helpful for anyone who will be interested in protein NMR research. I have actually seen quite a number of copies in a few NMR laboratories and I would recommand this book to all those who are looking for an complete introductory book in NMR and protein study.

This is one of my favorite operas but unfortunately this recording stinks. Scarpia probably had a hand in the engineering. While the performance is of high quality the dynamics are very poor. Whoever mixed it was playing the magic flute or intoxicated with the elixir of love. The quiet passages are recorded at such low levels that I have to increase the volume to hear them, but only to find myself forced to rush over to lower the drastically over amplified loud passages. As I have a much better recording (Caballe-Carreras-Wixell on Phillips) I end up looking at this book and playing the other. This was most disappointing since I also have the companion La Boheme and Butterfly and those are excellent. Save your money on this one.....

The score in this book is perfect, it's a copy of an Ricordi Edition, if you are a conductor you can use it, don't confuise with the comment of the hardcover edition, the hardcover dosn't have the full score of the opera only this book. it's a good edition, if you like this opera buy this book.

It was once said that Puccini's "La Boheme" was all music and no drama, while "Tosca" was all drama and no music. Yet, at least to modern listeners, "Tosca," with its resonating themes, its incredible orchestrations, and its compelling story line of love, lust, loyalty, and betrayal continues to fascinate. The full score will aid the discerning listener in enjoying the scope of Puccini's genius as music and drama come together in a breathtaking rush of melody, aria, and incredible pathos. One of opera's most detestable, yet evilly engaging, villains, Baron Scarpia, stalks with regal ominousness. Floria Tosca sings one of the most poignant arias, "Visa d'arte. Visa amore." And as the plot thickens, the listener is carried to new heights of musical drama as the lovers plan their escape. But Scarpia's evil hand reaches from beyond the veil of death to thwart their flight to love and freedom. Puccini's orchestrations, his soaring melodies, and his sense of place and time have thrilled audiences for generations. Enjoy it again with the full score, and your favorite recording!

I *love* amazon.com, and am an avid patron --- and of course I realize that (like Oliver Cromwell, who had to *order* the artist to be truthful and thorough when painting his portrait) this great site *has* more than a few warts, but they are seldom painted, and I keep coming back to the site. Well, wart-wise, this book has got to be one of the *biggest* blemishes amazon.com has...especially for real Romanov buffs! The text is sadly, embarassingly mundane, and quite obviously s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s to make what's written into a dull book of the "commercial quickie" variety; in fact, the book reads as though someone has taken some short (very short) essays turned in by Late Tsarist Russia 101 students, laid them out on a carpet, and figured out how to cobble them together and say "Look, folks! A book!" The early material covered (i.e., birth through Bolshevik Revolution) is very complex, has been done oh! these many times (and much better, by the way) and in this book, reads poorly as a bad sledge trying to cross the frozen Neva, and is just about as dull due to the skimpy, surface writing; the condensation of *years* of tumult into a few brief, brittle chapters. The majority of the book --- dealing with Xenia and her close *and* her extended family's lives post-Revolution --- is a bit more interesting (but unfortunately 90% of that interest comes not from any treatment of Xenia's real *self*, not from her fleshing-out as a woman with thoughts and emotions and social and political interests and efforts of her own, not from the effects *she* may have had on anything or anyone, but from the lives of the men and women who surround *her*.) There is no real Xenia in this book, only her surrounding context, and she moves through these pages like a hollow rag doll. You'll find a few photos --- if you're as unfortunate as I am, and actually buy this book --- but even here, some of the photos are nearly identical to each other, and set a page or two apart, or even on the *same* page. Given the padded, poorly written, poorly researched contents of this book, the price is outrageous...

For me, the upshot is a re-reading of `A Lifelong Passion: Nicholas And Alexandra'. Now even in the 20 years of letters that are mostly by Nicholas and Alexandra to each other, there are numerous letters/excerpts from and to Xenia in `A Lifelong Passion' which give a *much* better idea and feel of "Xenia" than *this* bland lollipop of a book! And meanwhile, I'll just go on waiting for someone to come along and write Xenia's *real* biography...

This book is the first full length biography of Tsar Nicholas II's sister Xenia. Xenia is less well known than her brothers Nicholas and Michael or her younger sister Olga, whose biography/memoir The Last Grand Duchess by Ian Vorres, was published in 1964 and recently republished in paperback. Part of the reason for this is that Xenia was the "good girl" of the Romanov family. She married young to her cousin Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and raised a family that included one daughter and six rambunctious boys. She was not a rebel like Olga or Michael, both of whom had very public marital difficulties and tended to be embarrassments to the Tsar before the Revolution. Nor was she in the spotlight like the Tsar and his family, so that her life was exhaustively chronicled. She and her husband Sandro married for love, later fell out of love and conducted discreet affairs with others, and in general lived quiet lives. During the Revolution they escaped to their palace in the Crimea where they lived until rescued in 1919. From then on Xenia lived quietly, mainly on the charity of her cousin King George V of England, until her death in 1960. She seems primarily to be of interest because she was the Tsar's sister and the mother-in-law of Prince Felix Yussoupov, one of Rasputin's murderers.

This book tends to be a bit dull because there is very little first hand information that come directly from Xenia. We never get the full names of her lover or lovers, for example. Much of what we are told is extrapolated, for instance we are told that Xenia was shocked by Rasputin, but there seems to be no evidence that she ever met him! (Olga's memories of Rasputin are among the most compelling sections of The Last Grand Duchess). Because there seems to be so little real information about Xenia's own personality, the authors spend an inordinate amount of time on unnecessary details, like for example, who her visitors were on her birthdays and what they wrote to her in letters (Few of Xenia's own letters seem to have been located and used.)

So this is a fairly interesting book with some new details about Xenia's life and family, but by reading it you are not going to feel that you knew her or have any real sense of what she was like as a person.

Grand Duchess Xenia is usually a shadowy figure in most books about the Romanovs. She usually gets a mention as Nicholas 2nd'sister and will appear in some of the family portraits, along with a mention that she spent the years after the revolution in a grace and favour flat in London. Past this information is usually scanty.

This is the first full biography of Xenia's life. The first section dealing with her life as a member of the imperial family in Russia is not terribly enlightening. This is probably a reflection of lack of documentation available, and the fact that Xenia was naturally a shy and retiring person.

Where this book comes into it's own and provides masses of new information is in dealing with Xenia (and the Royal families) experience in the Russian revolution and in her life in exile after the revolution. Xenia became the hub of a large family and the focal point of many émigrés in her long exile and this book brings that into focus at last.

This book also has a pile of new Romanov illustrations, though sadly missing any of Xenia in all her court finery, we do get to see photos her large extended family at last.

This book is actually a UK publication, and can be bought cheaper at amazon.co.uk

If you are interested in the life of the Romanov survivors after the revolution this a book worth buying.

This is a pretty good book for it's price. Please be advised that it is very specific and it is only on picking up chicks. After you get her number or whatever, what are you going to do? Good luck, this book doesn't tell you! I must say, I followed the advice in this book very religiously and it works like a charm. It is so easy to get numbers, but guess what? Most of the time, the girl is just being courteous or don't have the heart to tell you the truth. Only 1% of the numbers turn out to be dates. And I still have no clue on what to do during the date because I have yet to find a good book on that topic! The book doesn't cost that much, but if you want to save a few bucks, here is the secret to picking up chicks. Ready? (Drumroll)....confidence. One of the points the book makes is that the idea of girls liking jerks is partially true. The fact is, most of the nice guys are weak and not confident enough, that is why they lose out. In case you don't know, girls do like jerks because most jerks are also very attractive guys. But if you act tough and confident, you have a better chance. The other thing the book says is when girls say they want someone more mature, they really mean someone more confident. Once again, it is all about confidence. For those who do not know what this is, it is doing something based on your own free will without any validation from anyone. It is sticking to and hanging to your own judgement when the whole world seems to be against you. I've lost a really special girl because I did not understand this.

This is by far the best book of its kind. I am very happy that I bought it. It is an excellent reference book that I often pick up and read through if I feel a little rusty at talking to girls.

The authors definitely know their stuff. With more than 40 different topics and sub-headings, the book has plenty of information. It is written in a casual, relaxed tone which makes for a fun read.

I am a little disturbed by anyone who would give it a bad review on this Amazon site. It is not an expensive book and you certainly get your $6.95 worth. It appears that some anonymous guy from Chicago keeps putting up a negative review after someone puts up a good one. He mostly likely didn't even read the book since he talks about things that aren't even in it. For example, there is no reference to picking up girls at a sporting event in the book. Did he write a competing book? Why would he keep checking the book's site to make sure that his negative review is the last one? Very strange.

Oh well, Amazon is what it is. Anyway, this book is the real deal. No disappointment for me. Happy hunting all!

Let's face it, even women at times are not sure why guys don't come up to them in bars. So why not write a funny, attitudinal book EXCLUSIVELY about picking up women, and help everyone out?

This book is an inspirational read, if nothing more than the sheer fact that it's so short and to the point. It gives you sampler lines, a mode of thought, a way to stop the crap by not even going there--i.e. her switch is off--plus that ever so important thing we all must remember: there are women out there who hang out in bars, clubs, parties, JUST so they will meet a guy who has enough confidence and verve to ask them out.

I think it floors a woman when the guy that she just smiled and doesn't come up to her. The writers of this book know that. So what if they're trying to make real men out of all of us?

The dating scene is a tough world. Let them.

keep my from rating it any higher. Olga is occasionally noted as being the oldest daughter of Alexander III; several pages later she's identified as the youngest (which she is). People in the pictures are also mis-identified. While the text is fairly entertaining, don't read this book for factual information. Still, probably a must-read for Romanov addicts.

To the descendants of Rurik, the Romanovs were social-climbing parvenus when the first of them -- Michael, a nephew-by-marriage of Ivan IV "the Terrible" -- came to the throne in 1613. But for the next three centuries, the family ruled the largest nation on earth. Among their number were weaklings and ironhanded autocrats, murderers and religious mystics, certifiable idiots and world-class leaders of great vision. Even the ablest, though, such as Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, were victims of the Russian national irony: All their accomplishments were undone within a generation. This saga of mysterious and violent death, insatiable appetites of all kinds, and intrafamilial scheming rivals TV soap operas for plot twists. A well-documented "life and times" narrative.

This collection of John Burke's own stories should not be confused with a collection of other writers' stories edited by Burke called Tales of Unease (Pan Books, 1966). Unfortunately, many of these stories are rather undistinguished (which accounts for the 2-star rating above). Burke's collection of his own stories, which I haven't read, sounds much more intriguing.

John Burke is probably best known for the film novelisations he wrote in the 1960s including the Hammer Horror Film Omnibus (Volumes 1 & 2) and Dr Terror's House of Horrors. He was also the European story editor for Twentieth Century-Fox and wrote the screenplay for the 1967 Boris Karloff film "The Sorcerers". During his long career he has also written a number of short stories, 22 of which are collected here. Subtitled 'Tales of Unease', this is one of the latest collections by small press publisher Ash Tree, who have been responsible for reprinting some excellent (and some not-quite-so-excellent) collections over the past few years. Thankfully, this is one of their more worthwhile ventures, and there are quite a few gems to be discovered (or rediscovered) here. 'A Comedy of Terrors' is a snappy sick little satire of the 1960s British horror movie industry. 'For You, the Possessed' is the ultimate paranoia tale, and 'Collaboration' is a lovely story about a lady becoming a best-selling author with the help of her ghost-in-residence. The book is rounded off by 'And Cannot Come Again', written by Burke one clear sunny day in Prague. Like a couple of other stories in this collection, political machinations have a part to play in the themes of unease and desperation which develop as the story progresses. Another highly recommended collection from this particular publishing house.