Dick Perez does the cover painting of Johnny Bench making a play at the plate and the poster of the 20 Hall-of-Fame greats included in this second volume. Perez is pretty much the official artist of the Baseball Hall of Fame, however, the entries on the 20 players in this 1990 volume are illustrated with black & white photographs. As with the first volume, the collection of baseball greats covers old-timers like Grover Alexander, Willie Keeler and John McGraw to more recent stars like Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench and Brooks Robinson. It is nice to see that this time around they have included Oscar Charleston, one of the greats from the Negro Leagues. Each baseball immortal is given one or two pages of highlights from their career and their career statistics. These entries are just introductions to these Hall-of-Famers and a meant to just give you a sense for whey they were voted in at Cooperstown. I also have to admit I am slightly disappointed that something "official" like this from Cooperstown does not have better production values (and they should have included the photographs of the players's plaques like they did in the first volume).

I read this book and found it to be pretty worthwhile. It contains good information, but I don't think that it's completely thorough, though. What I like the most about this guide are the very good photographs that are in full color. You can't beat them. Dorling Kindersley always does an impressive job with the photos in all of their books that I have. One thing about this guide that I noticed is that it fails to discuss the nitrogen cycle. That's a very important subject that should have been included. Some of the various topics that are discussed are choosing your fish, aquarium equipment, and aquascaping. Also, information on several species of fish is included. This guide has some good basic information. It really just scratches the surface, though. I consider it to be a good reference guide, but not a definitive one. Worth a read.

This reference book provides pictures and the basic information on the most commonly available aquarium fish. It also briefly covers and discusses tank setup and maintenance disease, properly choosing fish, fish biology, and other information that would be useful to beginners. The book is arranged by scientific groupings and species. The common names are given with each fishes photo along with a written description of the species, its natural habitat, diet, tank swimming level, temperament, its full grown size, and more.

I have found that there are a couple species' temperament and size have been wrong but for the most part the rest of the information for each species is accurate.

Although I have read very few aquarium books, this is definitely a very useful resource for aquarists, either freshwater or marine. The book begins with a brief description of the history of fish-keeping, and a little about the physical characteristics and differences between freshwater and marine fish. It also supplies information about the holding capacity of different aquariums and how to set up both freshwater and marine tanks. The maintenance chart and the section on fish diseases and how to select healthy fish is very useful. Various diagrams are also helpful and informative. And the main body of the book has excellent fish photographs, information on max. size, diet, aggressiveness, etc. This is an especially good book for beginning aquarists, but also for those who have kept fish for years. I would reccomend this book to anyone interested in aquariums. Dick Mills did a very good job

When I saw the clever title of Toby Young's auto-biography, "How To Lose Friends and Alienate People", I immediatly picked the book up, expecting a hilarious novel of self-deprication and public humiliaton. Unfortunatly, all my money bought me was a 368 page psychatrist's session with occasional humourous name-droppings. There are actually a few funny moments inside this novel, but they are buried under seemingly endless complaints about his annoyingly pretentious collegues (he works for Vanity Fair, what does he expect?), his problems with women (which seem to be told by a very longwinded and unfunny version of Woody Allen), and his smug self-satisfaction that he has singlehandedly uncovered irony in the lives of Manhattan socialites (WOW!).

There are brief, shining moments in "How To Lose Friends and Alienate People", where Young makes some interesting commentary, but there's not enough. And most of Young's observations aren't even that original - they have been better told in the past by stand up comedians like Jerry Seinfeld and Paul Reiser (I would suggest reading Seinfeld's "SeinLanguage" and Reiser's "Couplehood" in lieu of this book).

So don't be fooled by the clever title, Young's novel doesn't deserve it, and unless you've got a morbid fascination with trashy coffee table magazines and the hacks who write for them - stay away from "How To Lose Friends and Alienate People".

Although some of the anecdotes included are hilarious, Young comes off as shallow and definitely someone you wouldn't want to get too close to. Appearing to be nobody's friend, not even his own, he still has some very good insights on America, democracy, and how seriously Americans take everything. Much of the book is drop dead funny, but his tendency towards whining about his personal life and his career, especially as compared to others, does not add anything much for the reader. The best parts of the book come when he relays anecdotes about the Conde Nasties and the NY social scene and the more thoughtful passages on democracy and his experiences while at Harvard. Overall, I did enjoy the book.

It is very rare these days that I find a book engrossing enough to read in one sitting and which also makes me laugh out loud. Toby Young, who has an unerring ability to focus on his own shortcomings, does an excellent job of explaining exactly how not to get on in New York. His waggish personality, a healthy appetite for drink and a large stock of off-colour jokes -- all attributes which would serve you well as a journalist in London -- ensure he makes a total mess of pretty much everything he does in Manhattan, the mothership of all that is politically correct in the United States. Indeed, when Vanity Fair boss Graydon Carter fires Young, he tells our hapless hero that he has a brown thumb. "Everything you touch turns to ****," he explains with a laugh. Young is the squarest of pegs in a world where all the holes are round and to make matters worse, a friend of his who went to Los Angeles at the same time strikes immediate and lucrative success. Young is also very funny about his total lack of success with American women, largely because they quickly realise he is broke (and has quite a few complexes, as well as an impressively large collection of appalling pick-up lines). Two-thirds of the way through, the book suddenly becomes more serious as Young realises he has hit rock bottom and starts groping for a way out. To say much more would give too much away but it's well worth sticking through to the end.

Overall, my students did not feel that this book really met their needs as readers. They struggled with relating to characters that were developed minimally. For example, Mai seems to jump back and forth between loving and hating Kien due to small actions on Kien's part. She forgives him quickly and returns to despising him pages later. There seems to be no feasible reason for this switching besides the contrived plot. Speaking of the plot, my students found it extremely predictable and a little sappy at the end. Overall, not a bad book for lower level readers, but do not expect to be thrilled by this story.

I teach a 7th grade English/Geography block class. A Boat to Nowhere was adopted by the English department before I arrived. In some ways it was a good choice. Wartski does a wonderful job with setting. She really paints a picture of the jungle of Vietnam and the isolated and tiny utopian village that Mai, the young protagonist, lives in with her grandfather and brother.

When Kien, the "monster" Mai and her brother Loc hear in the woods arrives, their peaceful way of life is over. Kien, an orphan from the war, brings news that the government will soon find this remote paradise and set up new rules. He is right, and when the govenment officials do arrive, it is Kien, surprisingly, who is able to help Mai, Loc and their grandfather, if he is willing.

Most of my students enjoyed reading this novel, so I would certainly recommend it. While studying Southeast Asia, we also read The Clay Marble (set in Cambodia) by Minfong Ho. Both were good novels; however, the characters in The Clay Marble seemed more fully developed.

I am 9 years old and I really loved this Vietnamese story. It paints a lot of pictures in my mind. It has a lot of exciting parts but no like Harry Potter where there's only one suspensful part...this book has it throughout the whole story. I felt like I was in the jungle and out at sea. I think this book is actually better for kids 9 and up. I also thought it was easy to read.

This is one of Dick Irvin's first outings as an author. The book details his rise as an broadcaster and his life in hockey from childhood to the present. While this is not quite as entertaining as some of Irvin's later books, it is a good compilation of stories which will hold the interest of Irvin and Hockey Night in Canada fans everywhere