Secrets of Rebel Cave was thouroughly enjoyable for my 10 year old daughter and I to read. The characters are realistic and convincing. We took turns reading it while on a vacation and had to take it out of the other's hands! The children in Rebel Cave are portrayed as hardworking and intelligent, but not unrealistically "perfect". The plot kept us both wishing to read the next chapter in anticipation of what the kids were going to discover next. I (THE MOM) appreciated that the book was wholesome and yet appealed to pre-teens. My daughter loved the vivid discriptions of inside the cave, but wished the kids would have made one more trip into the cave before the book ended (we'll just look forward to the sequel!) This is a realistic fiction story, with actual historical facts blended in the text. It is a delight for ages 6 and up!

All I can say is Wow! Welcome to Kit's World is fantastic! The Book exlpores life during the Great Depression, from how people saved money, to how Hollywood entertained them. Also has Amelia Earheart, talks about the Cincinnati Reds Baseball team, Ernie Lombardi, the Dust Bowl, the Roaring Twenties, hoboes and tramps, etc. An overall good book, but it does repeat parts of the Peek into the Past sections from other Kit books, and even recycles some of the pictures. But otherwise a good read, and not unlike the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness book series.

A more appropriate introduction would be any book by Hynek or Vallee. Young readers should also check the bookshelves at their schools. Avoid this one like the plague!!!!

Klass seems to offer intelligent points. Hynek and others find lack of hoax evidence as proof of authenticity but Klass reminds my students that SCIENCE calls for positive evidence to support a theory, not the lack of evidence to refute a theory. A good lesson in the SCIENTIFIC METHOD that teaches by showing real world mistakes and keeps students interested.

I used this book as a supplement to a UFO story in a reading textbook in a sixth grade class. The author's specific examples and explanations of UFO phenomena are concrete enough that an eleven-year-old can understand them--and enjoy the discovery of reasonable explanations, as my sixth graders did. I think a number of my students now understand that we don't have to swallow bizarre stories; we can analyze them and consider common-sense explanations. What an empowering small book!

I bought this book because I wanted to develop a better understanding of the music I was hearing at concerts. I was disappointed. The authors spent so much effort trying to make the book interesting that they didn't include the information I was seeking. I can understand the wordplay in the section headings, but I got VERY tired of the "Bet You Didn't Know" sections with tidbits like "Salmonella was reputed to be such a wonderful piano player because he had two left hands." I tried to just skip them, but the remainder of the text assumed the reader had read those sections.

The music theory portion of the book - the part I wanted to understand the most - is only 13 pages and still left me lost. Some of it may be from oversimplification. One question I had - and still have - is the meaning of a piece described as being In C Major. The book states that this is "the basic tone on which the rest of music is constructed." I don't know if that means the most common note, the midpoint, or something else. Examples of specific works would go a long way to making this discussion more useful.

This book might be an amusing resource if you're looking for biographical trivia about composers, singers, or performers. But I would not recommend it for someone struggling to understand the music.

This book is not bad at all. It may deserve 4 stars had I never read Classical Music for Dummies. A book on classical music ought to come with a sample CD. This one doesn't. And you won't know what you miss until you get the other book.

Ironically, I took up violin when I was four (like so many Asian kids) but gave it up after 13 years of continuous practice. Recently I realized that even though I could still play, I did not know much about classical music as a genre! So I bought this book and found it very informative. Let me just say that (after checking with my music history professor) everything you need to know about classical music is here, explained in a friendly and clear way. You'll learn how to appreciate classical music as well as who-is-who in the field.

Now, would someone care to write a "complete idiot's guide to Chinese music"? :)

Brave and Bold

Neil Philip writes the book, The Tale of Sir Gawain. He also is a critic who has written many other books such as: Guteesh and the King of France's Daughter and Drakesdail Visits the King. The story is made up of many different tales and legends that tell about Sir Gawain numerous ventures. The tales vary from quests, to banishment, marriage and death. Although it does have a few differences, the book doesn't have many contrasts. For one, it's the fact that the story is not based on King Arthur, but the brave and loyal knight Sir Gawain and the hardships he journeys through. He tells the story of his years at the round table, from his perspective.
I would not recommend this book for younger children because I think that the story is confusing and with so many of the tales, you can't tell who is speaking. I also believe that the word choice is also confusing from the way we speak today. I may not have enjoyed this book but they're still others who would be delighted to read this book.

The Amazon.com entry for this book recommends it as reading for ages 4-8. This book is grossly inappropriate for young children. This novel tells the entire cycle of Arthurian legend from the point of view of the dying Sir Gawain who is dictating his memoirs to his young squire. As such, the novel focuses on the violence and sexuality inherent in the subject matter and uses sophisticated language appropriate for the young adult (12-14 and above), but not for the pre-school and elementary school set. For the right audience, this is a very interesting and unusual take on the legend of Arthur and well worth the reading. And Charles Keeping's illustrations (too intense for the very young) are a bonus for those old enough to appreciate them.

This is a great book! I being an adult enjoyed it and I feel that it would be enjoyed just as much by a young child as well. This book gives the reflections of Sir Gawain as he lies dying outside Lancelot's castle towards the end of the time of arthur

Rawson's "The Art of Southeast Asia" was written in 1967, almost forty years ago. The current edition is a 1990 reissue in paperback; no changes or updates were made to the original text, and therein lies a real problem.

In the last three decades, there have been tremendous advances in the study of the art and archaeology of SE Asia. This new knowledge has left Rawson's book sadly out of date. (By the way, this is not a criticism of Rawson's scholarship, just a recognition that time marches on.) Unfortunately many of Rawson's interpretations and identifications, which seemed quite reasonable given what was known in the 1960's, are no longer considered correct. For this reason, the book cannot be recommended for most readers.

(And yes, as another reviewer has noted, the photographs really are awful...)

The Good -- Covers a lot of territory in a short space. Rawson points out the most important features of the most significant works, and traces artistic developments leading up to them. For each country, Rawson provides a brief historical overview, running from the earliest known history through the the periods of (in his view) the most significant artistic acheivements. This overview is surprisingly helpful in trying to understand the significance that the works (particularly the monuments) had in the societies in which they were created. Rawson also makes some insightful comments about how religious doctrines have shaped artistic development. If you are going to Southeast Asia, this book will give you a basic idea of what to look for. If you are beginning a serious study of Southeast Asian art, this will give you an overview and a context in which to place further studies.

The Bad -- Covers a lot of territory in a short space. As a result, Rawson cannot mention much more than universally acknowledged masterpieces. With the exception of one modern Indonesian painter and a few 14th Century Thai bronzes, one would gather from Rawson that art stopped in Southeast Asia about 1200. This book was originally published in 1967, and a number of Rawson's opinions and his general attitude seem somewhat out of date. Rawson does not like his buildings "overly" decorated, which seems to me a matter of taste -- a taste clearly not shared by most of the societies he describes. He provides almost no description of the "craft" arts, and very little cross-cultural comparison.

The Ugly -- The photographs of the architectural monuments are almost all atrocious. It's conceivable that these were the best available in 1967, but Thames & Hudson should have done something to update them when they reprinted the book in 1993. In addition to simply upgrading the quality of the photographs, some of the monuments have been significantly restored in the intervening years, so more modern pictures would also provide a better of idea of what the buildings were intended to look like. Worst of all, a number of the photographs are split over 2 pages -- the binding down the middle makes it almost impossible to get a decent look at the picture without breaking the book's back.

I actually read a much older edition of this book however I feel sure the contents are much the same.

The author certainly has the credentials of a scholar of SE Asian art and having writtten other titles such as "Indian Painting" and "Indian Sculpture" he has deep knowledge of his subject matter as anyone who bothers to read the biographical details and academeic qualifications .

This is not a coffee table type book, however it would genuinely interest anyone who has visited anywhere in SE Asia and seeks a deeper understanding of the many ancient temples and sculpture they will have seen. Certainly a must before visiting any of the great historical sites of Asia such as Angkor Wat or Bodhgaya.

Rawsons text is quite an easy an entertaining read making the sometimes detailed descriptions accessable and interesting.

The book principally deals with the religious sculpture and architecture of the Khmers, Burma and Java and Bali. Vietnam and Thailand receive a fairly brief summary and Laos gets only a brief mention of a page or two. For those readers looking for information on Thailand,Laos and Vietnam the book is still a valuable read because the culture of Cambodia, Burma and Java underpins much of great artistic achievements of SE Asia. Rawson also explains the immense contribution of India to the art of SE Asia and the historical background of the major kingdoms and empires is fascinating.

I would suggest that this book is an ideal beginning for more detailed study of this subject.

I enjoyed this book principally because the authors writng style, the very relevant and numerous illustrations and photographs and of course the wealth of interesting information that has opened up a deeper understanding of this subject for me.

A smart-alecky adolescent wants to prove that if God is almighty as Jews claim, He could have impregnated Mary with Jesus. Thus, in his mind, and apparently from the author's perspective, the Jews are to blame for inter-religious strife arising from their bigoted refusal to give creedence to fundamental Christian precepts.

The Gentiles who read the story consider it a noble proclamation for religious tolerance. But the blood that spilled in the two thousand years since the death of Jesus has been the blood of Jews, hideously, brutally murdered by Christians believing they were doing the word of their lord. Roth attempts to create a totally false impression that he alone among the Jews is sufficiently wise and broad-minded to preach respect for tenets of other religions. But in fact it has always been a first principle of Judaism that any religion teaching belief in one God and charity and requiring just dealings among mankind is a valid religion. {These are the laws that the Jews' God imposed on the sons of Noah.) Christianity, by contrast, historically has deemed itself the one true faith, and many non-believers suffered awful deaths as a result.

Roth wrote this story to broaden his readership beyond the small population of Jews in America -- who would find his charicatures of themeslves funny--so that he could sell his work to wider audiences. For Roth, the royalties he sought justified his trashing the truths about his people and supplying ammunition to those who would ridicule my brothers and sisters. I detest him.

I felt that this story illustrated creative thematic continuity. The plot is precisely orchestrated. The symbolism is clear and allegoric. Both Old and New Testament allusions flow between the lines. The theme is intense and unified. The setting is literal, yet transcends figurative meanings.

The narrator's point of view is dramatic. The theme is both illustrative and moving. The style is connotative of much deeper meanings. The diction is creatively suggestive. The characters are plausible and consistent.

I think this is a masterpiece! The conclusion is strong and symbolic. Throughout the story, Roth saturates and consistently reinforces his theme in a satire of religious hypocrisy. I give you ten stars for this one! **********

Patty Stroe

I thought that the book " Reluctant Hero" was an excellent book for a sneak peak at the United States around 1802. Although some of the wording was rather unusual, it also help to add to the reader's view of the time in which this book was set. The author could have gone a little bit more into some of the unfamiliar objects and places in the book, but what he did was ok.

I thought with such a blockbuster title, this book would be impossible to put down... but instaed, at thirty nine thousand pages, it's impossible to pick up! As for the text itself, well, frankly, I had come to expect more from Mr Scully, whose previous efforts in the genre ("Allievial Homochromes: Diminished Thrip Fixage") kept me home on Saturday nights, to the dismay of my cocktail-party-loving wife. I will admit the work contains valuable reference materials, and a lot of good charts, particularly on incipient gonad malformation; but even this topic is drier than one might hope.

I will always anticipate Sully's latest work, though I would suggest that neophytes might be better served picking up any of his 1970s efforts ("Regenerative Dysphasiac Therapies: Slock Nodes" for starters) before picking up this one.

The book is poorly written and is boring.
It uses sex gratuitously to I guess try to justify writing it.
It is overpriced. I would reccomend that you not buy this book or anything else by this author.
I intend to take it down to the used book exchange and get it out of my home.
I should have read more of the reviews when I ordered it. Certainly the one written for sold by Amazon does not reveal its sexual nature.

Author Phillip Kerr has written some amazingly diverse stories over the years, from the Phillip Marlowe-meets-the-Third Reich Berlin Noir trilogy to the high tech horror of "The Grid." Set in the year 2069, "Second Angel" is Kerr's stab at Near Bad Future science fiction. Unfortunately, it falls way short of expectations. Kerr is a master at creating memorable characters and scenes. This time out, however, his story is populated by a group of people who fail to generate much interest (even his main villian is just your standard issue bad guy and is bumped off well before the climax).

The backdrop against which the story is set has some interesting aspects. There's a computer generated assistant who is also a marital aid as well as a deadly Aids-like virus that has infected over 80% of the Eath's population, making unifected blood a commodity more valuable than gold. The polt, however, unfolds slowly, stalls and never really regain momentum. Annoying grammatical embellishments like the numerous footnotes (bizarre in a work of fiction) and the "author-narrator" repeatedly injecting himself into the story serve mainly as irritating distractions.

Overall, this is a disappointing work from an author who has produced many excellent works in the past.

Honestly, I did not know what to expect when someone on the SF-Lit internet group recommended this book. I was unaware of Phillip Kerr. What we have here is an engrossing, tightly plotted science fictional thriller. It is set in a future society where blood is a cherished and valuable resource. Kerr must be aplauded for his depth of characterization, swiftly moving plot and science. No, it wasn't boring, I have read alot of science fiction over the years and this ranks as one of the best I have read. I was really sad when the book ended because I left the world that Kerr had created for me. I hope he continues to write science fiction. The book was not marketed as science fiction but surely was. One of the most engrossing and engaging books that I have ever read.