Syndicates Books

I loved this book!! It was fast paced and intense. I couldn't stop once I started. This is a must read!!!

This dictionary is fun because it takes you back to a simpler time. A time when a word had a meaning and not innuendo. The maps are interesting as well because it's not everyday most of us see a map of the world before WW II.

I ordered this book in large part because the library copy, also a paperback, had diagrams dipicting sailing ships and the names of each sail, rope, mast, etc. I presumed the original book had these diagrams and each copy as well. It is still a great story but it uses a lot of nautical terminology and without the diagram, I cannot fathom what is a stud sail, what is a ship, what is a brig.

This book has two distinct appeals--it is a compelling account of "the sailor's life" in 19th Century America as well as a historical account of 19th Century California. At the same time, this book is a classic and a thoroughly interesting narrative--one that influenced Herman Melville. It is also amazing to read the accounts of California before it was settled and became a state. It's pretty ironic that although the California coast is considered today to be one of the most beautiful parts of the country, the author and his crew thought of California as a wholly undesirable place. For those with an interest in the days of sail and/or the early history of California, you can't go wrong with this book.

1. "The first half of the book was great" makes the book worth three stars, not one. "If for whatever reason, you wish to find out exactly how a sailor lived, then go ahead, its a great book." makes it a 4 star book.

2. The second half is even better than the first. It's the ONLY account of Mexican California by an American, but the descriptions couldn't be better written or more interesting, and not just because I'm a "Californico" (Spanish for resident of old California). I'm also a history and geography buff. History and geography doesn't get better than this, with wonderful action and extraordinary description of the locations and people in Mexican California. Both halves together make this a 5 star book.

3. Did you miss that he switched ships (unheard of at the time)? His first ship, "The Pilgrim" was a coastal trader. A replica is at Dana Harbor in Orange County, CA, well worth visiting.

4. Dana's descriptions of the terrible floggings and other abuse of sailors by a brutish Captain and mate of the Pilgrim are totally not boring. Did you miss that Dana became a lawyer on his return to New England? He defended seamen in court pro bono for his entire long career, and was instrumental in getting the first laws passed giving merchant seamen legal rights and protections.

"Two Years" is must reading for anybody who loves a good story, true adventure, good narrative writing, or who loves California and America and wants to know more about who we are and how we got this way.

It took me quite a while to read this book; I wouldn't call it a page turner. But I'm quite sure I will remember it as vividly as almost any book I've ever read. It is a very detailed, true description of an exceptional, very-well-educated young man's two year stint on a trading ship which sailed from Boston around Cape Horn to a very primitive, pre-Gold-Rush, California and back. There isn't a whole lot of suspense because we know, since it's a true story, that the author makes it back. And there isn't a great deal of concern about his shipmates and the other people he meets in his amazing travels, because their characters are never consistently developed. Rather, Dana may spend a page on a specific person and then never refer much to that person again. But I believe that this is the way Dana intended it -- as a story of the sea, and merchant seamen as a class of people, and the incredible dangers and hardships they face on a daily basis. In that regard, the main character of the story becomes this universal seaman, sometimes Dana, sometimes an unnamed or named crew member (but often named just as Mr. S______ or the like), sometimes spoken of as a composite ("Jack"). This gives the tale a transcendent, universal feel and makes it all the more powerful -- rather than the typical bad-guy, good-guy approach. The details of how the ship and crew function and the operation of the sails, etc. are explained in great and loving detail in nautical/technical terms that were, in the beginning, often incomprehensible and boring to me -- but for which I gained a taste for reading as the story progressed, even if I still didn't know quite what was actually happening or what exactly he was describing. Especially memorable was his ship's return trip around unpredictable, fierce Cape Horn with an exhausted, ailing, too-small crew. The afterword that was written 24 years later when Dana returned to a post-Gold-Rush California and reviews the places where he had his adventure as a young man, including reacquaintance with some of the characters of the main story, was one of the best parts of the book; quite poignant. If you want to experience a completely different way of life in a very different time, this may be the book for you...

This is a good read for anyone who loves adventure and a great read for anyone interested in Californian history. More to the point, this book was *THE* book on California for Americans living between 1840 and 1860. Dana's insights into the culture, customs, and early history of California are fantastic, as are his predictions (one of which is that California would one day become an economic powerhouse).

This book was listed by National Geographic as one of the 100 best adventure books written. The adventure portions are definitely interesting (clinging to life ropes 100 feet above deck during a blizzard at Cape Horn is hard to beat for a real-life experience), but the nautical jargon is a bit pedantic at times. It is the small pauses between the sailing that hold the most interest, at least to this reader. And the final, bittersweet return to California in 1859 holds perhaps the most interesting passages. It is here we see Dana come to grips with a common theme - the reconciliation of nostalgia with progress. (And what a quick progress it is - from a single shanty in 1835 to 100,000 citizens in San Fransisco in 1859!)

My personal favorite passage is a comment that is probably as true today as it was in his time - the difficulty in understanding a life other than your own if you fail to adventure once in a while. "His is one of those cases which are more numerous than those suppose who have never lived anywhere but in their own homes and never walked but in one line from their cradles to their graves."

The guild creator (and probably the same guy who is hocking this book + wrote it) runs The Syndicate like a business, not like a guild. It's a sad dilution of what the word "Guild" actually means. Basically he cares more for the reputation of his "pet creation" than the individual people/members that make it what it is. If you've ever been a part of The Syndicate you'll see how the turnover rate is that of Mcdonald's and it is quite the mass of cluster soup.

This book should be used as a blueprint for how to build a guild in a MMORPG. Yes, The Syndicate started in the perfect storm, but it was true leadership from Dragons and others that built this group into the power and friends they are now.

The book covers the history of gaming as well as the guild, worth the read for that "insiders" look at the Syndicate.

I picked up this book after reading about it on Slashdot. I play World of Warcraft and help manage a guild, so I was interested in the subject matter.


The story and history of the guild is interesting, as is the explanation of the guild structure and how they've managed to last for more than ten years (which is remarkable).

The book, however, was hard to read. The author writes in the third person about himself, which made for awkward reading and promoted a certain self-satisfied tone that I really had trouble with. As other people have mentioned, the editing is atrocious. Typos, missing words in sentences, etc. A lot of the chapters feel like standalone essays that were pieced together to make a book, so there is some repetition.

I would recommend this book if you're interested in learning about guild structure and management, but I didn't enjoy reading it.

The Legend of the Sydicate, while a good book overall for the MMO Industry, didn't live up to my expectations. The book goes over the same few topics over and over. In addition, there are TONS of 'facts' within' the book do not appear to have been researched. For example, they list they are the 1st guild to last 10 years, which is incorrect. It is just a bunch of little things, that add up for me to not reccomend the book. If you are just interested in MMO's in general then it will be a good read.

If your going to base claims, you need to be sure that you are correct when you write them in a book, otherwise you look a little foolish.

This book really embodies a great idea that suffers from a very amateurish execution. This is one of the first (if not only) books focused on describing the history of an online gaming guild, and its an ambitious aim that I'm sure we'll see much more of in the future. To his credit, the author clearly knows a great deal about his subject matter, and his passion and enthusiasm for the guild being described is evident.

The biggest problem unfortunately stems from the author's enthusiasm, as it tremendously colors the story. The author literally has nothing negative to say about the Syndicate, and every decision Dragons (the syndicate's leader, and the author) makes is one that ultimately leads to the triumph that is the guild today. The tone of this book reminds me of an autobiography of Kim Jong Il published by the North Korean government...in reality, a guild this long running must have had more interesting situations than the way they are described here (which is invariably 1) Crisis happens, 2) Dragons presciently thinks it over and decides on the best course of action, 3) said course leads gloriously to today's wonderful guild). Ultimately, the consistently glowing descriptions of everything involved with the guild are just boring.

The less said about the tiresome fantasy sections, where the author describes the guild's activities as if it was a fantasy novel, the better. Suffice to say, your 12 dollars could get you two good fantasy paperbacks, and about 100 times more value if your looking for fantasy stories.

On a more technical level, the writing and especially editing is really haphazard. In addition to numerous typos, grammar errors, etc, the chapters don't flow particularly well together, and occasionally it veers off into tangents that can't possibly be of interest to the casual reader; several chapters, for instance, are basically just recounts of happenings at the various conferences the guild has organized ("John got drunk thursday night", "the hotel guards let us use the pool late," etc.) A quick google search seems to indicate the publisher is an arm of this guild (their only other published book is a fantasy story by one of their guild members); the book definitely could have used the services of a professional publisher.

The basic idea here is a good one (describing the history of a long running fantasy guild). Hopefully it will pave the way for other books like it that will benefit from a more experienced author and more professional development. I'd save your money for those.

Turkus did a ton in uncovering this layer of the inner workings of the mob. The Syndicate was a real threat that, when organized, was dangerous for anyone involved, which was anyone they wanted to involve themselves with. Introducing the Brownsville gang was a great backdrop to laying the foundation to the National Syndicate.

Interesting, though, is that Turkus uncovered so much, and yet when Valachi sang more than a decade later it turned out that Turkus had missed a completely different organized crime with much more secrecy involved around it. This makes sense, in a way, since most of the men testifying and being put away were unable to be "made" men and thus not privy to the inner workings of the real mafia that held the power.

Otherwise a great telling of the Syndication and the 7 executions that resulted from the Canary that couldn't fly. Seeing Lepke go down was amazing, and you can truly see the power of an Anastasia at work when Reles mysteriously jumped/fell out a sixth story window.

A little curious though. Turkus made a big deal about Anastasia's role in Marinzano's death, that he had an Ace of Diamonds in his hand, and yet the cover of the books has a dead man with an Ace of Spades. Is this Maranzano or another death? And if so why the striking similarities? I would have liked to have had these questions answered.

All in all, I would recommend. Read before or in conjunction with The Valachi Papers.

5 stars.

Burton Turkus (1903-1982) was assistant district attorney for Kings County, New York (Brooklyn) in the early 1940's, and successfully prosecuted a number of members of Murder,Inc., sending seven of them to the electric chair. This is the chronicle of his efforts to try to bring down this organization of professional killers. I would have liked this book even more if a section of photos of the main characters had been included, but there aren't any. This is an interesting story, well told and, as the expression goes, it has the added advantage of being true. Readers need to bear in mind that the book was written in 1951 and some of the figures, like Anastasia, were still alive at the time. Later scholarship has disproven some of Turkus' theories about the mob organizations, but that still doesn't detract from the entertainment value of this book.

Glad that I did not live in that era!!A good account of men's cruelty.

Very interesting in that the style of writing reminds one of gangster movies of the period. Definitely a classic of the genre that has stood the test of time.

This book is not just a history of the mob but is part of that history, as Tukus was a prosecutor of the first big cases against the mob. As a prosecutor of the criminals Tukus is hardly objective in his views of them, their lives and so forth. Their horrific deeds speak for themselves but he feels the need to condemn them often, as if preaching to the jury. The stlye is overwhelmed by the 50s journalistic background of the co-author, and I like others find it annoying in its excess of adjectives.
Nevertheless, if you want to know the subject, this is a must read. And with all its flaws, it is still really fun.

Reading this really makes you want to get away, just like Tom does in the story. Although this is sort of a longish fairy tale, it is delightful and intriguing. For me, though, this book's biggest selling point is the illustrations by Warwick Goble. As a fairy tale fan, I first came across Goble in The Moon Maiden and Other Japanese Fairy Tales, where all the color illustrations are in the middle of the book. Here, they are sprinkled throughout the book, more closely accompanying the story, and adding that much more to the reader's enjoyment. While the text is crisply printed on stone-white paper, the color illustrations have a glossy finish that really makes them pop. Old and young should derive plenty of satisfaction from this book.

I read this book nearly half a century ago in my native England, then I read it to my American step daughter, and saw the same sense of wonder and delight in her face that I probably had on mine. It taught me Karma, it taught me the value of home, that kindness can be a gift; and it still provides the subtitles to emotions I feel today - "to the sea, to the sea". Perhaps it struck a chord with me, the father of another man's child, rereading Tom's struggles to find his way without a parent. It was a sweet return.

This is a classic British "children's" story and is more for adults or older children. It was written in the 1860's. It's a charming look at the transformation of a dirty chimney sweep into a clean 4" water-baby, but on a higher plane also a look at the death of children during this Industrial Revolution time period. Beware: some of the author's prejudices come out in this book especially when it comes to the Irish which he represents as dishonest and magical. There is also an abridged version, and if you use this book with children, you might want to use the abridged version or explain these things to them. If you are an adult, you should read the unabridged version. Charles Kingsley had a good time writing this book!

I had to review this book because I was absolutely obsessed with it as a child. I can't count the number of times I must have read it. I'm not sure what my reaction would have been if I'd read it as an adult, as this work was meant for children, but based on my childhood memories, it's a great kid's book! I only knocked off one star based on some of the anti-Irish, anti-American references that were edited out of my childhood copy but are present in some printings.

I would like to point out that in 2008 Broadview Press will publish my unabridged edition of The Water-Babies with the original illustrations by Linley Sambourne. There will be a substantial introduction to the work as well as works by Lewis Carroll, Kingsley himself, and other contemporary writers that help place Kingsley's work in context.

http://www.broadviewpress.com/product.php?productid=912&cat=0&page=1

A great great book. Booth has definitely done his homework. A fine historical text that's sure to satisfy anyone interested in the world of Chinese organized crime.

Insightful, comprehensive--Booth put in an incredible amount of research and also an unmatched sensitivity to the issues addressed. Initially when I saw this book, I questioned its authenticity due, I'm afraid to admit, in great part to the fact Booth is not Asian. But unlike the bulk of non-Asian authors writing about Asia, he has an incredible understanding of the culture and heritage--not the kind of understanding learned by a few quaint encounters or one from a sociology degree, but a well-rounded grasp.

A lot is covered in this book and I am more than pleased with my purchase. It serves as an invaluable reference in my library and I've recommended the book to everyone I know interested in the hak sh'e hui (triads).

Booth's book about the history of the Triads gives a decent account of the lore and background. However, it reads kind of dry- I'm not sure if it's because after awhile all the Chinese names all seem to run together, or what... The book reads like a very academic endeavor, which is fine- I've read a number of criminology books that take that approach. While very informative, "The Dragon Syndicates" isn't a gripping page turner by any stretch of the imagination.

This is an excellent book, giving a great insight into Triad culture and its history, and how both are intrinsicly linked to the Chinese mindset. At times it is a little dry, and especially for a Western reader, the names and locations can be introduced so expediently that you have to take a breath and put the names into perspective. However, it is a very solid background read and will have you wanting to read more into the subject matter and the particular persons of historical importance that are discussed.

Martin Booths "The Dragon Syndicates: The Global Phenomenon of the Triads" is a very comphrensive account of the Triads which starts with study of chinese history, and works its way all the way up to modern day Triad activity. This is a very informative type of read, at times may find it lengthy, but the author provides a very detailed account of the history of the Triads. The numerous accounts of secret societys of many types is fascinating, whether it be merchants banding toghether to protect themselves, or others fighting for patriotic causes, or as more recently criminal groups working to build wealth and wealth alone. I was surprised at how deeply involved these societies were/are involved in chinese politics, culture etc and at the extent to which the Triads have spread globally. I also liked the picture inserts in middle of book, which among other things showed Triad Cermonial ware, Weapons, surveillance pictures. Martin Booth's " The Dragon Syndicates: The Global Phenomenon" is a book worth having, one that you can reread many a time.

This book is very educational in nature an helps to fill in some of the gaps in studying some of the books not included in the Bible.

I've passed up this little red book on a number of occasions in favor of the NRSV Cambridge Annotated Study Apocrypha but I'm glad that I finally purchased a copy of this KJV translation.

A straight forward, bare-bones text, that gets right to the scriptures of the Apocrypha without a whole bunch of hoopla and boring translator notes that take up space and deplete my wallet.

This version contains the seven books of the Catholic Canon: Tobit, Judith (what a woman), 1 and 2 Maccabees, Baruch, Wisdom and Sirach, as well as the additions to Esther and Daniel. It also contains 1 and 2 Esdras and The Prayer of Mannessah from the Orthodox Canon as well.

I recommend this version highly as it is untainted with liberal word games like the NRSV version. Enjoy and be "manful" (read chapter 14 of 2 Maccabees if that went over your head).

We just purchased and donated this text to our parish library. This is a very basic, and affordable, copy of these books -- just the text itself really, and there are no additional scholarly comments that one might find with other copies of these texts. They are, however, very much a part of the original King James Version, and for persons who copies of the KJV lack these books, this nice little volume will restore these sacred texts right away. The KJV of 1611 did not include 3 & 4 Maccabees, nor Psalm 151, and this volume reflects that deficit, but these other texts of the LXX can be had from other sources. Of course, like the rest of the KJV, the language used in the translation is truly gorgeous.

The Bible I use-King James Version, by the way--doesn't have an Apocrypha in it, so I decided to pick up this copy, partly because this edition was the KJV version, and partly because it matched the size of my Bible. I'm in to the Bible so I am curious about anything and everything associated with the Book of Books. I find the canonization process to absolutely fascinating. Moreover, Thomas Aquinas, my favorite philosopher, frequently cites Apocryphal books in his writings, so it followed as a matter of course that I would want to get this book.

This is a "bottom of the line" version of the Apocrypha. So it just has a table of contents, the text, and nothing else. There is no introductory essay or background material to help understand why the Apocrypha was left in or left out various editions of the Bible. There aren't any footnotes or an index, either.

On the nicer side, the cover is a nice fire engine red, and the printing is wonderful-I haven't found any typos, or faded text. So this review isn't a complete slam. Moreover, since I relish Shakespeare, I also have an affinity for the King James Translation. It just seems authoritative, like when you read the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution!

For more user-friendly version of the Apocrypha, I would recommend the Godspeed Translation, which has a modern English style, along the lines of the J. B. Phillips translation. The Cambridge NRSV Apocrypha has almost every conceivable Apocryphal book, such as Psalm 151, 3 and 4 Maccabees, and it is done in modern English style.

The Apocrypha is a fun book. Yes, theology is fun, since it is a form of learning. You a given a better perspective on how things went between Malachi and Matthew, and are exposed to profound wisdom literature. If you like proverbs, read "The Wisdom of Solomon," or "Eccelsiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach." My favorite book is Tobit, which has a wonderful Orphic love story.

Easy to read typeset...two-column pages...very nicely bound.

This is an interesting addition to your religious reference library.

This book is about many different famous characters. It tells myths about Theseus, The Pygmies, Antaeus, Hercules, Cadmus, Phoenix, Cilix, Europa, Ulysses, and many more. All of these characters complete many different tasks. I reccomend this book to people of all ages and especially to people that have an interest in mythology.

A wonderful collection of tales for children, however, the edition available from amazon does not have the wonderful illustrations which did so much to enhance the stories. Try to get the old version.

In 1853 Hawthorne followed up the moderate success of his first collection of children's stories with "Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys, Being a Second Wonder Book." Like the first "Wonder Book," this volume gathers six more Greek myths rendered "presentable to children."

In the process, the author strips away "everything that is most abhorrent to our Christianized moral sense," not the least of which is anything that might imply that the Greek gods are, well, gods. On the one hand, it's hard to agree with Hawthorne's argument that "the objectionable characteristics seem to be a parasitic growth, having no connection with the original fable." On the other hand, the six bowdlerized stories, like the predecessors still "raise the intellect and fancy to the level of childhood, in order to re-create the original myths." In recasting these tales, then, Hawthorne has made something new and rather glorious out of them.

The stories as a group are not as well-known to young readers as those in the earlier volume. You'll find the Minotaur and the labyrinth, as well as Jason and the Golden Fleece. But there are also Hercules and the Pygmies, Cadmus and the famous dragon's teeth (which have inspired as many literary references as they had spawned soldiers), Ulysses and the sorcery of Circe (book 10 of "The Odyssey"), and the abduction (sans rape) of Proserpina by Pluto.

Gone are the interludes found in the earlier volume that described a horde of precocious neighborhood children encouraging and teasing their young narrator, Eustace Bright. Instead, Hawthorne presents them as polished manuscripts that had been honed and approved by the children, who are "even more delighted with the contents of the present volume than with the specimens which have already been given to the world." The stories are wondrous, in no small part because they are not as familiar. One drawback, however--as a cursory examination of the six subjects hints--is that each tale carries on a bit about the journeys that lead to the adventure; some children might feel these stories feature less action and more questing. But they are still loads of fun, and great for kids of all ages.

I am 30-ish. When I was a child, my grandfather who lived overseas sent me "Tanglewood Tales." From the second I opened it, I was enthralled - not just by the stories, but by the fabulous illustrations. I agree wholeheartedly with the 79 year old reviewer who commented on how much good illustrations enhance a good book. But even without drawings, the book is well worth reading. I took that book with me on one of our family's summer holidays and the entire family spent many an evening before bedtime absorbed by the doings of the Gods.

Its a great historical record of the Stanley Tool Co. However I was looking for more about the individual product (tool) history and specs.

For the die-hard collector of antique tools, this book tells the behind-the-scenes story of empire building in Early America. Form the simplest manufacturing of a better mouse-trap, the lowly hinge, to a continental grasp of the hardware market. A marvelous journey of belief in the best of the free enterprise system and what rewards await a dedication to quality and perseverance. A classic of entreprenuership in our society.

I thought this was one of the best books I've read recently. I first picked it up because I enjoy woodworking and Stanley tools are something I learned to admire from my dad. As an entrepreneur, I found the story of a small company growing into a world class leader very interesting. The author did a great job of bringing history to life. The pictures from the past were fascinating. This is the kind of book you're proud to have on your bookshelf. I found it very well written and nicely put together. If you're interested in American history, business, or tools, this is a great book to own. I would highly recommend it