I'm using this book for my first college physics course. I find the text very dry and boring, and the problems at the end of each chapter are confusing and not well explained. For example, I'm doing my homework and one of the problems is "speculate on how gaseous diffusion works." Just that, does not explain what gaseous diffusion is. As with many of the problems in this book, the first thing that comes into my mind is "what the hell are you talking about??" Another question asks me to compare the length of something to "the diameter of a molecule." Huh? What molecule? Are all molecules the same diameter? And how the heck am I supposed to know what that diameter is? Gah. I do not recommend this book unless you like being confused.

Also, the discussion questions at the end of each chapter are very nice, but the answers are not provided anywhere. So how are you supposed to know if you answered them correctly? And another thing I really hate about this book, it will say "and why do you think this happens?" and then not tell you why. About 90% of the time my answer is "I have no clue why that happened." :/ This book makes me hate physics.

I bought this book because I thought is was "College Physics" by Sears. Well, it isn't. This looks, feels and reads like a high school textbook - if you're looking for a serious, academic-level introduction to physics, then don't buy this. Its full of pictures and "real life" examples that are intended to spare the student any effort and save him/her from abstract thought. Much is lost because of this, and we're left with a bunch of pictures and stories about the authors' flying hobby.

Don't buy this, please, I regret it everytime I see it sitting uselessly next to the open copy of the Sears book I loaned from the library.

Excellent!! I'm studying in Form 7 and going to take my Advanced Level Examinations this year. No other reference book avaliable in Hong Kong better than University Physics. The content are very well organized and the examples are extremely useful. I'm sure that you won't be disappointed after you buy this book.

I really loved the JLA as a kid and looked forward to sharing it with my son. This trade really disappointed me and on re-reading has disappointed me more.
Story lines: I guess they have run out of acceptable opponents--maybe cause they made the heroes so powerful. One story they confront 5th dimensional beings, in another, 6th dimensional beings. What's next 7th dimension?
Art work: Fancy colors but look at the characters: they are all standing around in muscle poses, hands on hips or arms crossed. The action seems cardboard. Those poses are fine for cover art but should't they look like they are doing things?

I just think things in comics have gone down hill--I will get my son as many reprints from the 50s and 60s and let him appreciate the genre as I have.

This graphic novels comprises three or so stories from the JLA. A couple are good and a couple seem to be written high on drugs. Grant Morrison is one of the most inconsistent writers. I don't know why he's praised so much. One of the highs for me was bringing in the living members of the JSA. It's great to see the old Flash, etc. back in action. And seeing Captain Marvel (Shazzam) and Superman battling each other was also a great moment. Too many of the stories don't coincide well. (Some of the action takes place during the "Batman: No Man's Land" era.)And some are there just to setup later stories. Overall, although a mixed bag... it was an entertaining read.

As an old timey comic reader who followed the JLA in the sixties, this book was a revelation. The artwork is detailed and dynamic, with some of the best coloring work I have ever seen! The stories are a notch above the original JLA stuff and except for the Shaggy Man concept are very engrossing. Bringing in the JSA was a nice touch. It is still my favorite super hero team with their neurosis and bickering thrown into the mix. At the end of the book, a reader can feel they got great bang for the buck. It really whets the appetite for the other TPB's in the series.

I enjoy all the interesting records held. I watch the T.V. program as well, I am amazed at what odd and dangerous hobbies people aquire. ( I have a collection of chicken wishbones I have been collecting for about four years. I have approx. 800 ) Will this get me in the Guiness Book?

I really like to read about cool amazing, and even gross facts and world records.It's fun to read The Guinness Book Of Records and then I get to go tell my friend and family.

ASAD's useless GUINNESS records (my fav's)

1) HEAVIEST NEWBORN
The heaviest viable baby on record of normal parentage was a boy of 22 lb 8 oz born to Signora Carmelina Fedele of Aversa, Italy, in Sept 1955.

2) GREATEST WEIGHT DIFFERENTIAL
The greatest recorded for a married couple is 922 lb in the case of Mills Darden (1020 lb) of North Carolina and his wife Mary (98 lb). Despite her diminutiveness, however, Mrs. Darden bore her husband three children before her death in 1837.

3) WORST TONGUE TWISTER:
The most difficult tongue-twister is deemed by Ken Parkin of Teesside, England, to be "The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick" - especially when spoken quickly.

4) EARLIEST MAN
The greatest age attributed to fossils of the genus "Homo" is for the remains of 8 adults and 3 children discovered in the summer of 1975 at Laetolil, Tanzania, by Dr. Mary Leakey, and dated by the University of Calif at Berkeley to between 3,350,000 and 3,750,000 B.C..

5) MOST REJECTIONS (AUTHOR):
The greatest recorded number of publisher's rejections for a manuscript is 137 for "One Man Versus the Establishment" by William E. E. Owens of Street, Somerset, England.

6) MOST CHILDREN (by one women)
The greatest officially recorded number of children produced by a mother is 69 by the first of the 2 wives of Feodor Vassilyev (b 1707-fl. 1782), a peasant from Shuya, 150 miles east of Moscow. In 27 confinements she gave birth to 16 pairs of twins, 7 sets of triplets and 4 sets of quadruplets. The children, were born in the period c. 1725-1765.

7) RAREST DISEASE
Kuru, or laughing sickness, afflicts only the Fore tribe of eastern New Guinea and is 100% fatal. This was formally attributed to the cannibalistic practice of eating human brains.

8) 100 x 1 MILE RELAY (MEN)
The record for 100 miles by 100 runners belonging to one team is 7 hours 56 min 55.6 sec (4:46 avg/runner) by Shore Athletic Club of New Jersey, on June 5, 1977.

(...)

Lucas Books latched on to a brilliant concept for telling the stories from ancient Jedi lore. Instead of telling these stories in book form, which could be a bit much in terms of asking the fan base to learn and empathize with new characters, they contracted with Dark Horse Comics to tell these stories in graphic novel format. The series was called "Tales of the Jedi". "The Sith War" was the first of these graphic novels that I read and it is also one of most compelling, involved, and relevant tales of the old Jedi order. The time of the events in this story takes place some 4000 years before the original trilogy and the events and characters involved will have an impact in the modern Star Wars universe.

"The Sith War" focuses on the evil machinations of a corrupt Jedi named Exar Kun (who will play a major role in the "Jedi Academy Trilogy" books) who has become poisoned by the seductive dark side power of the Sith. Kun used his influence to corrupt a number of good Jedi with this power. One of these Jedi, named Ulic Qel-Droma, was so perverted by Kun's influence that he turned on his family, friends, and the entire Republic and was responsible for actions that thrust the galaxy into a devastating war. Qel-Droma is not an evil man, just a vulnerable man corrupted by the pure evil of Exar Kun. He comes to realize, to his horror, the consequences of his actions and tries to fight back at against Kun at great consequence to himself.

"The Sith War" provides a continuation of earlier "Tales of the Jedi" stories and answers many questions that readers may have from reading the current Star Wars novels. "The Sith War" is notable for showing the culmination of this bloody conflict, while also explaining what happened to Exar Kun. In addition, the warrior who was the inspiration for Boba Fett and the armor he wore is introduced here. A brilliant military strategist named Mandalore (the inspiration of Fett's Mandalorian Armor) allied himself with Kun and Qel-Droma in this war and fought valiantly. This graphic novel is one that the reader will go back to time and time again to read about the events of that war and to try and pick up on additional details they may have missed the first time around. It is definitely worth getting.

This story is great! Everything you can expect from a battle against good and evil. You can see was Exar Kun was like before the Jedi Academt trilogy. Good story plot. They got rid of the characters that the fans wanted to get rid of. It portrays a chapter in Ulic-Qel-Droma story and how he was after he turned the dark side and the price he payed for returning to the light side. The art work was pretty good, except the book cover art. A real action triller. A must read for Star Wars fans.

This is a masterpiece! Though some say that this Sith War has no "Sith" or "war" in it, they are dead wrong. The Sith portion of it is littered all throughout, in Exar Kun's powers and ancient weapons. As for the "war" part, there are several battles: 1. Raid of Foerost Shipyards 2. Assault on Coruscant 3. Destruction of Kemplex Nine 4. Battle of the Cron Drift 5. Evacuation of Ossus 6. Invasion of Onderon 7. Showdown at Yavin 4 . . . not to mention the Jedi assassinations! I think that perhaps Kevin J. Anderson weakened the end, when Exar Kun was defeated; it was only 5 comic book pages long! I rate Exar Kun as the most powerful dark Jedi in the Star Wars universe thus far, for, without any resources but himself, it took 14 Jedi to destroy him in "Star Wars: Champions of the Force", whereas even Emperor Palpatine took only two Jedi to defeat him (Luke and Leia in "Dark Empire"). Exar Kun's personal power, plus his hundreds of darkside-focusing pyramids ("Sith temples") meant that it took ALL the Jedi - thousands upon thousands - to defeat him! Plus, in this book, Anderson adds the story of the Mandalorian warriors, whose armor is also Boba Fett's trademark 4000 years later. This is definitely a MUST-READ!

More `adult' re-imagination of the formation of Marvel's premier super team The Avengers, which begins with the final World War II mission of Captain America and touches on the ups and downs of the founding members, Giant Man, The Wasp, Iron Man, The Hulk, and Thor, throwing in Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

The art is quite good, and while the story moved well, I had some problems with a few of the characterizations (though these could be a matter of personal taste). The author plays around a bit with established canon for the sake of this new universe, and that is understandable, but changing the Hulk into a raging, oversexed skirt-chaser was a little bit...well, dumb to me. I also didn't care for Nick Fury's recasting. The art and the writing SO made him look and seem like Sam Jackson that it kind've didn't ring true for me that this was supposed to be Nick Fury. He was too suave and cool. The authors of The Ultimates seemed to have a good time casting their characters with real life actors (there is one sequence where the newly discovered by the media team sits around and speculates on who would portray each of them in a Hollywood adaptation.), but personally, I didn't care for all the pop references (reverences?). I'd like to think that a molecular biologist and the leader of Shield would be a little less like fanboys. Fury's supposed to be this grizzled cigar chomping ex-GI a la Sgt. Rock, but he comes off more as Tony Stark with an eyepatch here (for the record, Tony Stark doesn't look anything like Johnny Depp in his rendering, either - he looks more like Jonathan Frakes from Star Trek). Most of the other characterizations didn't bother me. Portraying the Wasp and Giant Man as having such extensive, violent domestic troubles went a long way to humanize them, and turning Jarvis, Tony Stark's faithful butler into an aging homosexual (wearing a colorful vest to gain Thor and Cap's attention...) was pretty daring. Didn't like Tony Stark's Iron Man armor though - he looked like a Micronaut. I would have liked to have seen more of Thor, but I'm not sure I cared for his reinvention as a hippie pacifist eco-warrior - the Norse god of Thunder??? At Ragnarok this guy drowned in the venom of a giant serpent he slew, and here we find him hanging out with that guy with the guitar on the stairs in Animal House...

But these are minor quibbles, again, possibly a matter of my own personal taste. There is a lot to like about The Ultimates - a lot to make it stand above the normal superhero fare. The rivalry between Dr. (Giant Man) Pym and Bruce (The Hulk) Banner is very well played out - the frustrations and the pettiness of these two in their race to perfect the next big superhuman for the team is like watching Dr. Jekyll try to outdo Dr. Frankenstein. Pym comes off as a selfish egomaniac who will posture and fabricate to protect his reputation, whereas the more honest Banner is something of a maladjusted loser. Both are well realized and interesting to watch. Its a great juxtaposition when you consider that Pym is something of a monster (which is apparent in the final pages - that scene with him wearing the ant helmet `You shouldn't have made me look small...' creepy!) trying to be a good man, and Banner is a good man who wants to be a monster. The motivation for Tony Stark's desire to join the team as Iron Man is revealed in a touching manner (possibly the best dramatic scene of the book, toward the end where Thor, Stark, and Cap are sharing dinner at Stark's penthouse apartment) and goes a long way in making me like the playboy, who I will confess never interested me much in the past. Captain America and his story arc comes off the best (which as an ardent fan of ol Winghead, is fine by me) - the reunion with an elderly Bucky (I know, I know, Bucky's dead!... But it didn't bother me) near the beginning of the book is heartfelt and nicely done. There's a good sense of humor to this story too - Giant Man's embarrassing habit of growing beyond the capacity of his clothes (and the dismay of his colleagues), Cap's mistaking Fury and Stark and the Marines for Nazi agents when he awakes, The Hulk's rage at Freddy Prinze Jr. (go get him, Mr. Fixit! Captain America, indeed. I, along with Millar, see no one but Brad Pitt behind the big round shield), and those few panels where George W. Bush meets Steve Rogers made me smile (the Prez's expression is hilarious - `Cool or Uncool?').

In closing, an interesting read, but I was put off by The Hulk and Sam -I mean Nick Fury. And all the pop culture references can be done away with. Underneath the foil and hologram is a good read, that interested me enough to want to see where these characters are going. Keep in mind that this is more of an adult read - at least age fourteen and up. Oh, and in spite of my dislike of casting, I can't resist - Valdmir Kulich (Buliwyf from The 13th Warrior) as Thor...

What if super-heroes actually existed in 21st Century America? This retelling of Marvel's classic Avengers characters (The Hulk, Iron Man, Wasp, Thor, and Giant Man) sets out to answer that question. Instead of high-flying heroics and do-goodery, we see a glimpse into the lives of these all too normal people who happen to have abilities beyond the normal -- likening them to celebrities instead of morally superior "heroes".

Mark Millar (story) and Brian Hitch (art) paint an intense, shocking, and often hilarious picture of these classic heroes, truly redefining them for the new generation.

This trade paperback collects The Ultimates issues #1-#6. It is an excellent read, and a good jumping-on point for people who don't want to wade through the piles of continuity that bog down many of the Marvel titles. Possibly the best comic that Marvel produces today, and certainly one of my favorites.

I recommend this for older readers, 16+ years of age.

I cant see how anybody doesnt like this book, its really a great accomplishment in restructuring the marvel world. Opposed to the squeaky clean, and thus boring Avengers, the Ultimates actually have humanity behind the tights and primary colors. As for the complaint that the book is rushed in its plot, I dont really agree with that either. Most people reading this book already know the standard marvel histories for these characters, and so dont need the full Captain America origin for about the millionth time. Discovering the differences in this world from the Marvel universe I am used to is what keeps me interested in the book, I think the book wouldn't be nearly as interesting if they did a regular "origin story". Ultimate Spiderman I think really suffers from the fact they are just exploring his origin, a story most readers know all too well. Not to say Ultimate-Spidey is a bad book in any way, I am just more intrigued with Ultimates and Ultimate-Xmen because not everything is completely reavealed.

A nonlinear story that can get confusing if you are unaware of the JLA. I thought it was a little hard to follow a times with all of it's "wild" layout.

With the Midsummer's Nightmare the league is returned to greatness. No more second stringers only the big guns. This book reprints the entire three issue limited series form 1996 the year heroes returned fromt he dark ages.

IT is no longer an era of grim and gritty heroes who you are not sure if you should be rooting for. This book shows you that heroes are good and are looking to save the world. A really fun story that captures the imagination with its wide scope and properly using all seven of the Justice Leaguers. After reading this you will know something about each one that you may not have known before. The Justice League is now a group of the most powerful heroes on the planet, they may not always like each other but they can put those differences aside to save the world. I recomend this book to anyone who is a fan of the heroes. Anyone who always said the League is cool but they just aren't breathtaking. Well this book is certainly a start int he right direction not just for the Justice League but comics in general.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: A MIDSUMMER'S NIGHTMARE accomplished what I wanted it to do, re-establish the true core of the Justice League of America. Originally purchased in the mini-series format, it combines the Super Seven against Doctor Destiny to unwrap the loopy world they have been all trapped on. Definitely for the hard-core JLA fan, of which I am. This version of the team is the best one out of the three that have existed so far.

This book is a continuation of Mark Fisher's best-seller "The Instant Millionaire. It reads in a similar style, but is less surreal than the first book.

In fact, "Millionaire's Secrets" includes some romantic love, some (all-important) Real World challenges for the young millionaire and even a bit of skulduggery, Hollywood style.

If you're going to read this book, read "Instant Millionaire" first. "Millionaire's Secrets", while covering many similar topics, lacks the all- important Six Year Formula laid out in "Instant" and, therefore there is a proper order that this material should be discovered in.

To be quite honest, when I began applying the principles laid out in Fisher's books, I got the strongest results early on. I had some intriguing 'glimpses' that were utterly bewitching. I can't be more specific, because it's hard to put those experiences into words.

I will definitely persevere with this path, despite the sporadic hit-and-miss results.

I strongly recommend "Secrets of the Rainmaker" (Success Without Stress) to accompany the Fisher Millionaire books. "Rainmaker", written by Chin Ning Chu, covers similar topics again, but it does so with a more scientific approach, helping you understand what is actually going on (within you) while you do your concentration and meditation exercises.

Mark Fisher's books are enjoyable to read, making it clear that, until you have your mind in proper shape, nothing good will start to happen.

It must be said that the premise of "Millionaire's Secrets" is less believable than "Instant Millionaire", but if you can get it to work for you, then by all means. I read the book in one sitting - around 5 hours, give or take, and will no doubt refer back to it frequently.

The book ends on a mysterious note, suggesting there'll be more to come. Perhaps there's another book already, one I'm not familiar with.

The bottom line is: read Fisher's books. I found "Rainmaker" to answer a lot of questions I had, fitting in neatly with the Millionaire titles, and I am glad there are many books around of similar subject matter. Obviously it creates repetition, but readers of Mark Fisher books should know by now just how good repetition can be for you!

You've nothing to lose. Read this book. It flows well, is entertaining and is much easier to wade through than many other personal development, / goal setting / prosperity consciousness books.

Let's face it, a LOT of people seem to relate closely to the young struggling hopeful who is detailed in this book. I suspect you may be one of them yourself!

However, those flashes

I generally read only textual, step-by-step, how-to self-help books. This one was different. It is fictional and yet the author does an excellent job of offering advise on self-improvement. I read this book after reading The Instant Millionaire (also by Mark Fisher). This book went into a little more detail concerning changes we must make, but also rambled on a little more than needed. I liked one readers analogy, comparing this book to The Celestine Prophecy. I completely agree, however, I liked this book and loathed The Celestine Prophecy. All in all this book had many redeeming qualities and I do recommend that you read it.

I think the author was genious to think of using age-old pholosophies on success and incorporating them into a story. I have read many books on success, but this one was very refreshing. I am working on a project and this story breathed new life into me, at a time when I needed it! I'm ready to tackle my days in a different way. It was very motivational!It was so inspiring...I had to read it again a day later! I came across this book by shear accident and I'm glad I did! I had no idea it was a story! It's very educational and lessons for us all to use. I saw someone rated this book a one and said it was the worst book he had ever read. I disagree! There is a lot of viable information one can learn from reading this book. My philosophy is, even if you learn one thing from reading a book, magazine, news paper, etc.....it was worth the price it cost! Obviously, this person missed the entire message the author was conveying. I am going to buy copies for my friends. It's light easy reading with dynomite lessons for all to learn! Good work Mark... :)

Ugh, in this book we see Millar basically sully two of the best villian in the X-Men universe.
Sabretooth is turned into a [weak] Wolverine [copy]. He is even called a poor man's wolverine. That is no way to treat the guy who could in the cannon comic fight wolverine to stand still. In fact, I don't even believe that the character depicted here is Sabretooth, from now on he will be refered to as Dog Breath (see my Ultimate X-Men review to learn about Dog Breath).
Secondly.... wtf did Millar do to Juggernaut? He is just some big dumb MUTANT meat head. Where is the Ruby Gem of Cytorak? Where is his connection to Professor Xavier? Where is "Nothing Stops the Juggernaut"? Christ... I know Millar wanted to toss in recognizable X-villians in the Weapon X program, but why did he have to destroy a great X-villian to do it? He could have just tossed in Unus the Untouchable or one of the Mauraders (namely Blockbuster is he wanted a super strong character). But no, he had to bastardize one of the premier X-villians. You know what, I refuse to acknowledge that character as Juggernaut, he is now known as Dog Breath II.
Okay, besides the fact that Millar completely [messed] up two of the greatest X-villians of all time, this isn't a horrible read. I liked Nightcrawler, and it was cool to see Rogue sans Ms. Marvel powers. Most of all, I loved Fury. The opening scene where is parashoes in is just too classic for words. In this arc he truly is Marvel's James Bond.
All in all, a neat read. But it is becoming aparent that while Millar's revamps of the X-Men is good, his revamps of thier villians is suffering. We had Magneto the sociopath, Dog Breath the Wolverine Wanna-Be, and Dog Breath II the big dumb meat head. The only decent villian I have seen was Wraith, who A) wasn't an X-Men villian and B) is dead.
Of course Millar could redeme himself by having Wraith turn out to be Mystique or something cool like that. But I doubt he'd do that. Anyway, as I said, read this book for the X-Men, not the villians.

I subscribed to the ultimate Xmen as soon as it came out.. and here's what I think....

I thought this six part storyline rocked.. The Xmen are better than before and The Weapon X Project is a 100 times more evil and (This is important) credible than it's ever appeared in the 'Wolverine' books.

Originality is the key as while Millar draws on all the heroes and villains from marvels stock, but the story line keeps you on tether hooks till the end. Issue 12 was a finale..

Best line in the book 'First rule in a fight, Always protect your family jewels' and then Logan wises Sabretooth as to this old adage... hehehehh..

But...

A serious problem with the WHOLE Ultimate Xmen series is the static storyline..Too often I felt that there was more to say but i feel Millar was working under constraints.. Not enough space given to flesh out the charachters. This was a major bummer and hopefully something will be done by Millar in the upcoming issues.. ..

The art credits varied from the kubert bros and tom raney.. I found it sometimes too sketchy and imprecise (Interchanging looks between different charachters) and I did not understand at all the raid on the X-mansion.. however I loved the scenes of painted art mostly in the dream sequences. ...

When I looked at the shelves and saw Ultimate X-Men Vol.1 last year, I didn't know what to think. Then I opened the book and it grabbed me by surprise. I had to buy this book. After I read it when I got home, I was very pleased in how Mark Millar took hold of the X-Men legacy. I was very eager to buy Weapon X when it first came out, which ended up being a year later, but let me tell you it was well worth the wait. It brought familiar faces into Ultimate X-Men, and it had a terrific story line too. I liked this story better than the Weapon X story in the Wolverine comic books. This book has it all. It introduces new characters like: Rogue, Nightcrawler, Sabertooth, Juggarnut, and more from the Marvel Universe. And yes of course it also has Wolverine. Just like the first story arc this one also has a very jaw dropping ending, but I will not spoil it for you, you'll have to go buy the book and find out for yourself. Now I'm just patiently anticipating the next story arc to come out. I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I have.

I loved Bacheolo's art in this book. Really good stuff. Again Millar's poor writing of villains shows. Proteus just didn't have an "umph" behind him. Though he did get in his required body count (is it just me or do villains now aday have to kill like 300+ people an issue? Is it like a requirement to get their villain's license?). I will give Millar points for having Proteus being Xavier's son.
Still, over all, I wasn't as impressed with this book as I was Tomorrow People or even Return to Weapon-X. I think Millar is running out of steam. If you want a good telling of the Proteus Saga go pick up the original Claremont/Byrne one, it's worth it.

By now it is clear that Wolverine is going to be on the cover of each and every trade paperback in the "Ultimate X-Men" series, and Volume 3, "World Tour," is no different. The character who should be on the cover would be Professor X, because he is the pivotal character in the major plot line of issues 13-13 of this comic book, which has to do with the X-Men coming face to face with David, his son with Moira MacTaggert, who has escaped from his confinement on Muir Island. In what is essentially the prologue to the story arc, "It Doesn't Have to Be This Way," we check up on the X-Men through the context of Xavier's article on mutants and learn that Magneto is not dead: the Professor has placed a mental block in his lower cerebrum to prevent him from remember who Erik Lensherr really is and how to use his mutant powers. Xavier's position is that he would not take the life of another living creature when a peaceful solution was possible. In the four-part "World Tour" story that follows, Xavier learns to rue his world and rethink his position.

Ultimately, "World Tour" is not simply a retelling of the Proteus story from Volume 1 of "The Uncanny X-Men" (issues 125-128), because the fact that Doctor MacTaggert's son is now also Charles Xavier's is a significant change and placed in the context of Xavier's attempt to blitz the world with a public relations effort in support of mutants forces a reconsideration of what Xavier is trying to do. Remember, in the "original" Proteus story Xavier was in a galaxy far, far away enjoying the first state ball hosted by the newly-crowned Empress Lilandra. The sub-plot, which has Colossus returning to Russia because of his disagreement with Xavier's tactics in general (and letting Magneto live in particular), provides a different take on the issue of responsibility for mutants. The epilogue, "Resignation," returns Xavier to the park when Erik Lensherr is playing where the Professor is entertaining a change of much more than heart.

This trade paperback volume also includes a two part story introducing Gambit as a street hustler who ends up using his mutant gifts to protect a young girl that he has met. The idea is apparently to explore those mutants who are not part of Xavier's School for Gifted Children, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, or another other organized group of merry mutants. These "Ultimate X-Men" stories are not, to date, superior to the original comic's glory days under Chris Claremont and John Byrne, but they are an entertaining take on the familiar characters in a slightly different context. Like the best of the Claremont-Byrne story lines it takes several issues to tell the story and for those who remember the X-Men (both the Stan Lee-Jack Kirby originals and the Claremont-Dave Cockrum next generation) it is interesting to see Mark Millar and Adam Kubert's twists on what we remember.

After countless attempts at creating a new universe, or continuum, the folks at Marvel finally hit on the right approach: recast their franchise characters as younger and more in tune with the issues of the day. Add top-notch writers and artists and voila! we have a hit. Though the story arcs are so far quite familiar to those with any sense of Marvel's history, the fresh approach to characters and the nifty art contribute to an overall great reading experience.

I would recommend this compilation to anyone who can't get enough of the Marvel universe or those who would like to start their trip into said universe. In short, recommended for any Marvel fan!

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, READ THIS BOOK! Dont get me wrong, but The Scarlet Letter is one of the most boring books out there. Even if it is assigned for a reading in class, dont bother. Your analysis will inevitably be incorrect. I dont care how bright you are.

okay. if you've read The House of Seven Gables, you probably already know how metaphor-happy Hawthorne can be. If not, get ready for page after page of in-depth metaphors. In other words, you get to read 3 consecutive pages about rosebushes, material, colors, etc. If you enjoy description (and there is a heck of a lot of it) by all means, buy this book. If you're like me, and get annoyed with over-analyzation, one-dimensional characters, and obvious plot endings, despite the themes of sin, blackmail, supernatural,etc, you should understand why this book was banned.

Yes, I suppose if you are into WCW "wrasslin" and collecting unemployment this book would not be your best bet. But, for those of us that have jobs and attention spans it is a wonderful novel about the "effects of sin". Something most of the other reviewers only see on Jerry Springer. So do not listen to these reviewers who tell you to "drop the class" if you are forced to read it...look where dropping classes got them. Yes, I WOULD like that super sized.