Games Books

I love starting the day with this, eveyone wants my old ones when I finish. I think Dilbert seems to relate to every office.

i look forward to getting to the office a little early, tearing off yesterday's sheet, reading today's calendar sheet, and laughing out loud. i use the old sheets to write notes for colleagues (instead of stick-it notes), which usually are apropros to the office goings on that day. i love adams' creativity - the ironies and utter stupidity are something that we all can really relate to at work! for the amount of laughter that this calendar has given me and my colleagues, it was well worth the price and i'm destined to purchase it again next year!

This daily comic helps to relieve the stress and tension in my office. Scott seems to have his finger firmly planted on the pulse of corporate America with Dilbert, Asok, the "pointy-haired guy", Dogbert the evil HR guy, Catbert and more. If you need a therapeutic laugh to make it through your sometimes insane days at work, this is the calendar for you.

You'd think Scott Adams would run out of material. Sadly, today's workplace seems to provide plenty of fodder. Good calendar.

I've had this on my desk the last 3 or so years. This time around I ordered the desk diary by mistake.
I tried to persuade myself that I could use that one, and do without the daily, but I caved in, and ordered this again. Makes the working day get off to a routinely funny start, always a chuckle. A great gift too.

I can't fault it.

This deck is wonderful for beginners. The illustrations are whimsical and fun while staying true to the archetypal symbols. The accompanying book is very well written and makes the cards easier to understand and interpret than most other books that come with decks. The descriptions are straightforward and fully explain the symbolism of each card in such a way that the "story" for the cards are easy to recall. This is simply a fun and happy deck.

I bought this deck after spotting it in a store 10 years ago, and though I thought it might be another theme deck, it goes above and beyond that!

The colours used in this deck are so vibrant and alive. They are so refreshing. The artwork, superb and evocative. The choices for the majors are truly inspried. I just love the Star, the Tower and the Chariot! A sense of humor also runs through this deck.

It very closely follows Rider-Waite symbolism so it can be read right out of the box by anyone remotely farmiliar with that system. But she has put in some interesting twists though in that framework. The idea of changing the suits too Imps, Bats, Ghosts and Pumpkins is brilliant! And how about those vegetable people? Love it!

The book that comes in the set is a must have if you love this deck. She gives you many tidbits and facts surrounding the history of Halloween. Each card is described and her prose is charming as well. Some of her takes on the cards a different and exciting!

This is a great all around deck, the artist and writer struck just the perfect note for lovers of old time Halloween. From the images,to the colours....even the font. I read this deck all year round, and it is a firm favourite. If you love Halloween, I can assure you you will not be disappointed in this purchase! Now I wish Kipling West would make more decks!!! Please?

The art for this deck is exquisite: lively, colorful, and detailed.

A must-have for black cat lovers. The black cat featured on the World card can be spotted wandering through the scene on every card in this deck! It's oh, so cute!

For those who intend to use the cards for divination but haven't yet memorized the major and minor arcana, I recommend the book that accompanies the deck for ease of reading tarot spreads. However, a very abbreviated booklet also accompanies the deck itself, but it is very general and contains very little deck-specific information.

What a fun set of tarot cards. This would definitely be a set I would bring out and use at Halloween. Images are fun. Not a set I would use on a daily basis.

I am getting back into tarot after a few years of not doing many readings. I started out with the RWS deck, but never really caught on to the meanings just by looking at the imagery and reading the LWB. I then moved onto the Tarot of the Cat people, which was about the same experience, with much better artwork, and a much better book, but the artwork was a bit bare/abstract for me to catch on just by looking at the images. Now I purchased this deck and book, and I have to say I wish this had been my first deck. The imagery is based on RWS to some extent, but it is also very easy for even a child to understand the halloween based imagery. I can look at the delightful, non-scary halloween imagery and imediately pick up on the meaning of the card just through the images. Also, the book is fantastic, and it explains the images used very well, and how they relate to the meaning of the card. The only complaint I have about these cards are that there are a few cards that have astrological symbols I would not normally associate with that card. Astrological reading is not a big part of my tarot reading though, and mostly the symbols are unobtrusively hidden, so it does not really detract from the deck as a whole. I think this is going to be my new fav deck!

Is it an action-packed, edge-of-your-seat thriller? No. But it is a story of young love and learning to help each other through issues you can't control. If you are looking for a nice break from adult romance with a side order of time travel then this is the book for you.

I'll definitely look for other books by Sherryl Jordan.

This book is about a girl who partnered with a shy artist, uses thought to convey messages to him to draw what she sees, They end up going through time in a sorts, back to the time when woman were persecuted for being "witches" This book is a great read and i really enjoyed it. I picked it up when i was in middle school from the library (im going into college now) so my memory of it is a bit warped. But the title of the book and what it was mainly about has stuck with me for so long its in with my favorites, and if i ever come across it again i will be sure to pick it up.

I first read this book in 6th grade and instantly fell in love with it. It was one of the very few books I was not only able to get through, but couldn't put down. I woke up early to read it during breakfast before school, I read it during recess, and then hurried to the library after school to read it in privacy. It isn't the kind of book I can go back to now as a college student and enjoy as much, but at the time I was happy to read it over and over. It really is a very imaginative story with many interesting subjects intertwined. I would especially recommend it to girls in 6th - 9th grade who are interested in history and the fantastic.

I picked up this book from this book sale, and from the sound of it, it seemed pretty exciting. But once I started reading, it didn't sit well with me. ESP and medieval 'time travelling' is great and all that, but it didn't have the emotional aspect of it. The 'link' Juniper and Dylan shared weren't exaclty expressed properly. Overall, it wasn't what I was expecting. You may like it, but it wasn't my type of book.

I bought and read this book about eight years ago. I still have it and have read it many times. The mind is a wonderful tool and this book was one of the first pieces I ever read that had anything to do with the ways of the it, and the ignoring of the norms associated with the use of the mind. Spirituality and mind and body energies are essential to many people today. I fell in love with the personality of the characters... I have since reading this book, made a promise to myself to name my first daughter after Juniper.It is a great book for any ages.

Most of the planes in the book were very easy to fly, and the children had fun making them. I also liked the extra activities and information included to help them learn more about flying.

My son just turned 8 and has really been having fun with this book recently. He got it as a gift when he was 5 (despite the recommended age range of 9+) and would always get frustrated when he tried to do one himself because he couldn't fold it as precisely as required and then it didn't turn out right. So he lost interest in it, but discovered it again recently - now he can do all of the airplanes himself and is having great fun. He does like to make paper airplanes out of just about anything, but this book has neat patterns and different shapes to try. Fun for littler ones too if they don't mind a grown up helping (and if you don't mind if they squish it after all your hard work!).

this was a Christmas gift for my 11 yr. old grandson. We have had so much fun doing this together and his father joined in to add even more fun. Winter has flown by much faster with this FAMILY TIME craft project. We are looking forward to logging our flight distances as soon as the weather warms a bit. Quiet time together becames lots of laughs and individual creative juices began to flow. who knew paper airplanes could be so much fun.

They have some planes with preprinted pictures that I would have prefered they left out like a vampire and ghoul. I don't know why they have to make stuff which doesn't need to be scary.

The paper in my printer has been stolen, all the loose paper in the house has gone the same route. Flying through the air and landing in various places like behind the couch, under the tables, into the closets, and onto the bookshelves.

At 43 years old I too was wondering if this was just for kids, but it definitely is not. It opens your mind to move beyond the following the step by step instructions in most all the other books out there. One must remember the kit was called Mindstorms for a reason, so you can develop your own ingenious creations. This book helps you do just that. As for the story, it is written in a mature fashion and is integrated perfectly to hold your interest, adult or child. My mind drifts back to those old movies with the Mummy, and pyramids and tombs. Hootloads of fun!

did you really write this book have not read it yet but it's being shipped to my house.

I bought this to introduce my grandchildren to science projects. Their ages are 7 and 10. We have no special contest or competition to enter. Not sure exactly what I expected but I was not disappointed. This has awesome potential for learning. Actually, my grandkids were impressively advanced in what they could accomplish. The suggested robot to build was fairly complicated. My 10 yo took charge, with the 7 yo taking his turn. When completed I could not get close to the control computer. They took over!!! The kit could use some better instructions. I recommend one of several additional books to get a better feel for it. Next we will try the programming. Good way to spend lots of quality time with your kids. Just make sure you have big blocks set aside! Love it!

This book is a wonderful introduction into program and design with the NXT, and yes, we've been using the RCX as well. The book is well laid out. The story is engaging and gives the tasks purpose.

I really like the templates provided in the book. It gives anyone a method of organizing their thoughts, so they can go ahead with the building and programming and know they're headed down the right path.

I bought this for my children because I have no interest in robotics or programming, and I've enjoyed it as much as they have.

The value of this book is not in the number of documented designs, but how it teaches you the process to come up with your own designs. It even does it in a much more entertaining way then my engineering classes did. Understanding the design process allows you to create any number of robots that do what you want them to do and this is an invaluable life skill. That is what this book teaches you. It allows you to try to come up with the solutions on your own, or build the solutions the author came up with. My son and I plan on going through the book a second time and using the processes taught come up with our own solutions. This book is definitely worth having.

I came into the Mego world a bit late as a wee lad in the early 1980s. But I still remember having the Batman, Stretch Spidey, Dukes of Hazzard, and Incredible Hulk Mego action figures. This book really takes me back to those glory days!

This book is a Mego collector's dream guide! Full of charts, checklists, rare photos and more. Extremely thorough and well researched, if you are a Mego fan, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!

A good looking and very informative book full of great photos of the Mego super-hero figure toy line. It's a must for any Mego toy collector and well worth the price of admission!

Simply put this is a fantastic book. It is a walk down memory lane for Mego fans who had the pleasure to grow up with these wonderful action figures in the 1970s. The photographs are splendid and bring to life Mego's WGSH line. The author's attention to detail cannot be matched by any other book out there that purports to touch upon this fine line of Mego action figures. If you are debating between Mego books to buy, please don't pass this book up. It is a decision you will regret a year or so from now when you are trying to track down this book from online auction sites, etc. For anyone looking for a wonderful trip into the past, jump on and enjoy the ride!!!

I had all of the items shown in the book as a kid so paging through it was a big trip down memory lane. It reminded me of a lot of fun times.

This book does not cover everything Mego, but its a wonderful collection of photos and important information. I recommend the book for any Mego collector.

This was the first deck I ever had and I learned on this deck when I was 16. I totally agree that the back of the deck is a bit mundane and drab, but that is not where the power of the cards lay. The Morgan-Greer cards are the most intuitive and informative deck I have used. I have several other decks, but this one will always be my favorite. The R/W is nice, but this one, I feel is superior in several ways as far as detail and symbolism. Even in the reverse, M/G deck is easier to read. Get it, try it. I think you will love it as I.
Merry met.

Wow, loooove how the pictures are so vivid and deep in color, and that there are no borders!

Since getting this deck, nearly EVERY reading I have given becomes VERY detailed and usually pleasantly surprises the person being Read.

These are now one of my 'standard' decks I grab when someone wants a Reading! (And I'm a beginner!).

I've been reading Tarot and teaching Tarot for 25 years and probably own a dozen different Tarot decks. The Morgan-Greer is my all-time favorite. No matter how many other decks I try to work with, this is the one I always return to. The colors are so vibrant and the artwork so beautiful, this deck truly speaks to me. The people illustrated on these cards are handsome, extremely appealing, and reflect each aspect of life clearly. If your intuitive or psychic abilities are stimulated by visuals, this is the perfect deck for you!

This deck was the one I learned to read with. The graphics on the cards are bold and tend to jump out to your eye. I went from this deck to the Thoth deck but end up using this one regularly as I have a rapport with it. I don't think the cards look dated at all.

This is a great deck. The cards are vivd and the people are memorable in the cards. The lack of a border gives the cards expansiveness and the bright, deep, and rich colors pop out at you. The cards also give great readings.

hi all,

i have read the first one of the three and i haver just start reading the green book, i think they are very useful to starting players because he aproximate us to the mind of a poker player.

he knows how to take the attemption of the reader and you can read it very fast because it is very easy to read and very interesting.

Excellent three book set that starts Black)with a beginners guide. The Green book is or will be a classic. Blue present problems and solutions. A great read.

For begginers and expirience players!

The black book: Begginers

The green book: Expirienced

The blue book: Professionals

This box set will cover the absolute beginner up to a fairly strong player. Gordon writes in an engaging and lively style and admits his bad moves when he plays them. Like the titles say, these are little books, so they are quick reads. Great for reading a few pages before bed. That does make them a little less dense with helpful information--combined with writing style and size, Harrington's books seem fuller. The green book is probably the one that you will be refering back to the most as it deals with core play, with the blue book a close second for information on particular situations. Like most books out there, it focuses most of its ink by far on tournament play. I wish it had more information on shorthanded and low-stakes cash games. The black book does touch upon low-stakes games, but really glosses over strategy there.

BTW, if you are living abroad, this box set is a great deal. Not only do you have a bigger discount than buying the three books individually, but also the box set counts as one item when shipping, not three. So saved ten dollars on shipping.

I have won a number of important hands after reading this book. It let's you know what the pros are thinking. I know a lot of ambitious amatuers have this book. Pick it up, read it and apply it!

I may not be a pool enthusiast, but there is much to like in Running the Table: The Legend of Kid Delicious, the Last Great American Pool Hustler by L. Jon Wertheim.

Danny Basavich is the most unlikely of heroes. A native of Manalapan, NJ, Basavich was an over-weight kid who suffered from bipolar disorder. He was repeatedly bullied by other kids, which led to a pattern of switching from school to school. Finally, he dropped out and got his high school diploma through an alternative program before he turned 16. Not having anything to occupy his time, he started hanging out at a local pool hall. The locals liked this amiable kid who had a natural talent for pool. After taking him as far as they were able, they then drove him up to Chicago Billiards in West Haven, CT--considered to be the "finishing school" of pool players. Here, Basavich learned to progress from pool player to a "pool thinker," allowing him to visualize a game of pool like a game of chess and thus, always looking toward future plays.

At Chicago Billiards, Basavich met Bristol Bob Begey. Together, they decided to take to the road and try to make a living hustling pool. Much of this book details their travels together, as well as Basavich's solo road trips. This is a fascinating lifestyle as they traveled all over the country. Sometimes, Basavich would make $5000 on a set of pool, and then make another $10-15,000 on side bets. But pool hustlers also tend to be compulsive gamblers, and they could lose the dough just as fast on cards, casino games, and other bets. Wertheim also talks about what makes a good hustler. Often times, Basavich would intentionally lose a game early to win a big pot later on. Once Basavich became fairly well known as a pool hustler in almost every state, he had little choice but to turn professional. Wertheim gives a short history of professional pool, which can best be described as unorganized, low-paying and dysfunctional. Basavich made much more money on the road than in any professional pool tournament.

L. Jon Wertheim is a writer for Sports Illustrated, and he writes in a style that shows off his love of sports (even though he knew little about pool when he began Running the Table). He describes players who worship at the felt green altar and who have "a mutually held belief in the truth and romance and righteousness and dignity to be found in hitting six-ounce balls across felt-covered slate into a half-dozen unforgiving leather pockets. That and a shared restlessness, a natural tropism for adventure and unpredictability."

Although I'm still not much of a pool fan, I found Running the Table to be totally enjoyable.

This book was hard for me to put down. I wanted to read a chapter per day but was hopelessly drawn into the book so much so that I finished it in a couple of days.
As a player, I could identify with some of the characters. Great story about Danny Basavich. May he be around a long, long, time.
There's talk about making a movie. Let's hope that the studio isn't short-sighted and it comes true.
Hey, "Delicious," if you need background players, lemme know...

This book is probably as accurate as you will find for the life of the beginning pool player. The fact is, unless you are a "Trust Fund" kid, you have to have a job, a wife that works, or you better be very good!

Big-H

Kid Delicious' story is moving -- at times tragic, heroic and beyond belief. He's part manic depressive, part obese food addict and part ultra-talented pool shark. His dedication to the game gave him solace from a world (New Jersey suburbs) that didn't have much sympathy for a fat, homely, smart-aleck kid with a sharp mind.

Kid Delicious (Danny Basavich) comes to dominate the pool hustling circuit, and you can't help but admire how he pursues/embraces his true love in spite of his profound psychological struggles. His success is a testament to putting everything you have into something you love, and his failures make him human and sympathetic.

If you like books like Playing Off the Rail or Positively Fifth Street, you'll love this one. Wertheim's research is very thorough and he writes like a true billiards fan, with a detailed understanding of the cadences of the game and the sundry characters who populate the dark, dank pool halls across our country.

Danny Basevich's life has certainly been a roller-coaster ride, and Wertheim captures its energy admirably. A phenomenal read.

A good read for players wanting a peak into the recent past of life on the road for money players, and an interesting character study of Kid Delicious. Fun for those who follow the pool scene these days. A revealing picture for those who don't. Doesn't exactly make me want to throw a cue in the trunk and head off for glory.

Very well written...I've already learned things that will change the way I play chess forever! Really helps you understand the precursors to attacks & to see how seemingly insignificant things can matter.

A small book ( only 160 pages ) but what a book !!! I can see why all the reviews have been either 4- or 5-stars. It is particularly suited for the intermediate players who want to tighten their game by a few notches. There aren't many books that can cut to the chase quickly and reveal the kernel of chessic wisdom - Simple Chess does. If one has vague ideas of some chess concepts, by the end of the book, they will not remain vague. But to be even handed, one definitely must have some idea of chess concepts ( however vague !) PRIOR to reading this book.

Simply the best! Important elements of Chess Strategy explained lucidly. A truly great book that introduces chess strategy to the masses. A must have book for the intermediate player.

If you see this in a bookstore look at his analysis of the first game in the introduction (Botvinnik-Szilagyi). If that doesn't sell you then nothing will.

This is the most instructive chess book I own (sadly, I own many). I have all the "standards" - Silman, Chernev etc - but this is simply the best. I won't dwell on its quality, because other reviewers have covered that. I will say that you will never look at the board the same way again after reading it.

The book does assume some previous reading on positional concepts, but it doesn't assume any competence (trust me). Everyone's read some inappropriate positional tome early in their career, so this shouldn't be a problem for most people.

Another reviewer has said something to the effect that every sentence has some instructive value, and I couldn't agree more. When I first read it I glossed over some things as I was caught up in the prose and the "main point", but on subsequent readings I realized that there is a whole second layer - a kind of indirect, subconscious instruction - in the writing when he sets context or alludes to alternatives. Take a relaxed read first up, by all means, but I urge you to give it a real serious word by word analysis subsequently. The prose is very deliberate. There are no throw away lines. It is a gold mine.

I remember reading that a publishing house was trying to do a new edition of the original (descriptive notation) edition in the late 90s but that Stean was uninterested. I am so glad he changed his mind. It is a pity that such a talent has remained silent for so long. I wish he would write again. Anything.

Study tactics, and read this. Maybe chess is simple after all.

I received this book in the mail and thought "another chess book for temporary amusement" -- then, to the shelf it would go to collect dust for years. I'm happy to say I was WAY wrong on that line of thinking!!

This is the most absorbing chess book I have ever read!

That said, it is not for beginners (stated many times before by others), and it is not for players who only enjoy tactics and suicidal attacks. This is the essence of positional chess in one book-- captured and explained in a very impressive manner by Stean.

My opinion is subjective -- I love positonal play and believe that's the reason to play the game! But I've already learned so many things (outposts, minority attack, etc.); my eyes have been opened to these "secrets" like never before. I feel like I have at least a small understanding of what GM's are looking for in their games, from a positional standpoint.

Also, I like the fact that the games are more recent than My System (which is very good)-- you get to see the Siclian and King's Indian and others, not just the Ruy Lopez and QGD of the early 1900's.

It's hard to put into words why this book is so choice, but I wish it was 500 pages-- I could live as a recluse with this book and a board!

To all my future opponents-- please ignore this book and stick with tactics and your kamikaze style play-- that might make our future battles so much easier for me!

Thank you Michael Stean-- a fantasic effort on your part!! Too bad it took me this long to discover it.