Reviews Books

I had no idea the spectrum of videos available until I read this book. It's also the perfect book if you want to get a video to watch with your lover and tells you how to introduce the idea to them. Plus it tells you who the good filmmakers are. Comprehensive and highly recommended.

I always thought I would watch adult movies if only there were any good ones! I was never very excited about adult movies but I am a fan of the author, and the video guide is not only her best book to date but made me want to go out and rent some of these movies. As a woman I am used to being insulted by adult movies, but the guide is written by an intelligent woman and she's pointed the way for me to find hot movies, and her recommendations have been right on the mark. She gives the reader a guide with which they can make informed decisions about what they do and do not want to watch. How refreshing.

This is a great book! My girlfriend and I love it, and she's now happily put herself in charge of renting our videos. Violet Blue's tone is warm, funny, and excited about sex and adult videos, and she takes no prisoners in her hilarious video reviews. There are hundreds of films in this book and she explains how to find the good stuff. My girlfriend liked where Blue explained how to avoid seeing things that are offensive and we cracked each other up reading the "porn glossary" out loud to each other. It's nice to see a guide that takes us readers and porn watchers seriously. It's a great book for us couples. Don't read it alone! Thank you Violet Blue!

This is the ultimate consumer guide to porn and it's perfect for women and couples. The female perspecitve is utmost here and it shows you how to steer clear of low quality and female degredation while still finding really hot porn. This is an encyclopedia of modern adult film and nothing has been left out. History, backstories, profiles on interesting people in the business, lots of women-made erotic films and even softcore and mainstream titles are covered here. Nice sections on finding and selecting porn to suit individual's tastes. This book is a welcome relief and is intelligent, funny and free of the usual judgement and stigma in other porn writing. Blue treates porn like an independent film genre, and it's about time.

As someone who has been recommending intimate videos to my girlfriends for years, I was anxious to see what I might learn from Violet Blue's, `The Ultimate Guide to Adult Videos.' As it turns out - if you're an experienced porn watcher - not much! (More on why not later.) But if you're a newbie, this book actually has a lot to offer!

For those of you who might be hesitant to watch porn, this book offers many reassurances, such as - people who watch porn are NOT compulsive masturbators, or - porn watchers DO enjoy regular sex with their partners, and, most significantly - watching porn will NOT affect your ability to have a meaningful relationship but, in fact, it might do just the opposite! (Hear, hear!)

On the positive side, the book also provides many GOOD reasons for watching porn, such as - to satisfy one's curiosity (and to expand one's horizons), as education, as entertainment before (or during) sex, or quite simply - to get off! On this last point, Violet offers a lot of encouragement particularly to women - to allow themselves to masturbate while watching porn - which, for men, is only second nature (like breathing)! Lastly, for couples, this tome does review the sensitive issue of how to view porn with a partner - especially when one partner is reluctant. (Luckily, my husband has never had this problem!)

Violet also reassures us - that it's not always necessary to attempt (in one's own bed) everything we might see in porn - and that it's ok for certain types of action to remain in the realm of `fantasy.' In fact, one of porn's strongest roles - is to dimensionalize (add realism) to our sexual fantasies. So even if your boyfriend watches some of the raunchiest porn imaginable - that doesn't require you to try it (or even admit to liking it, even if you do) - so long as he's able to separate fantasy from reality (which most men are surprisingly able to do.)

Probably the most useful sections of the book deals with the types of porn available, such as - feature films, educational videos, all-sex videos (all sex, no plot), to name just a few - as well as my favorite, girl/girl -- which is sometimes called lesbian videos, even though most of the performers are not true lesbians. So if you're unsure of what to watch, this book can add structure to the sometimes bewildering array of porn that's available.

On the downside, this book was published in 2003 -- just a few years ago - but a long time, unfortunately, in porn years! As a result, most of the movie titles it recommends - which make up about 2/3rds of the book - may be difficult, if not impossible, to find today (unless one looks in the classics or marked-down sections). Fortunately, some of the directors, studios, and series listed -- may still be around in some later incarnation.

There's also very little mention of one of the hottest new genres - gonzo -- in which the director interacts (verbally) with the actors -- which saves cost, since there's no script and no rehearsing - but results in some of the hottest, most spontaneous action you'll ever see on screen.

For the experienced porn watcher, this book also seriously dates itself by pointing out that the most prevalent and brazen type of (male) climax available at the time - were facials (an ejaculation served across a woman's face) - which are as useless and degrading back then as they are today! (Ladies, honestly, how often have you asked your lover to do this for you? If you're like me - how about NEVER!) Let's get real!

Fortunately, achieving a climax within a woman's body (on screen) is much more accepted and commonplace in porn today - which makes the action more realistic, more romantic - and much more emotionally satisfying to watch! (It's about time!)

As another nit, the book sadly has only a brief chapter on lesbian and girl/girl videos, which is a shame. And it mixes them with bi-videos (where the men do it with both men and women) which have an entirely different audience and a much more limited appeal.

Luckily, the author, Violet Blue, has a new book coming out, `The Smart Girls Guide to Porn,' which sounds well targeted - since its women who will probably seek out this type of info, especially in a book!

As a happily married (bisexual) female, here are my suggestions for what I'd like to see included in her new book - which this present edition was sorely lacking:

There are now genres of porn - which explore the lovingness of every orifice (such as oral and anal) - and the creative after-climax uses for a man's output (such as swallowing, swapping, and cream pies which is the oozing of ejaculant out of the orifice where it was deposited, plus other combinations of the above).

The natural eroticism of girl/girl should be more strongly highlighted - especially for women. In my own experiences, I've yet to meet a girl who doesn't like to watch two cute babes making love to each other. And I've also found that a woman's enjoyment of porn will increase tremendously - after she discovers girl/girl, which only makes sense since porn is about women - and women have always had an appreciation for the beauty of the fairer sex. (Said differently, it's harder to believe that porn exploits women, and to restrict one's own enjoyment - when pretty girls can now be an object of desire - for both men and women!)

Needless to say, a section of the book should be added to reassure MEN - that watching girl/girl videos will NOT turn their girlfriends or wives into lesbians! (Take it from me -- they won't!) Unfortunately, the most common reason I've found to explain why some women DON'T watch girl-only videos - is because their men don't (yet) approve. Fortunately, that attitude is quickly changing.

I didn't say this earlier, but back in 2003 - it was also taboo to mix boy/girl and girl/girl action - in the same scene. The thinking was (and still is) that guys will be turned off. But one of my favorite type of videos today is girl/girl/boy threesomes, where the girls are free to make love to each other early on (usually in the segment's opening) - and later all throughout the scene - even after their guy has joined in, which is pretty heady stuff!

As further expansion, the nastiest and most romantic of these girl/girl/boy threesome titles are probably more easily recognized under the `swapping' genre where the girls do just that orally with their lover's output - which, for me, is a great heterosexual reassurance - which allows the intimacy of the girl/girl action to go even higher! (As a watch-out, these videos are probably better suited to the more advanced porn watcher - but they are items which I suggest quite often - to my girlfriends who really enjoy porn!)

In conclusion, Violet Blue's `Ultimate Guide to Adult Videos' offers some timeless advice to overcome one's hesitation when it comes to watching porn. The plethora of videos it recommends, though - are hopelessly out-of-date! Fortunately, porn just keeps getting better and better - for both men and women! Enjoy.

Tess Slesinger's The Unpossessed (1934), her only novel, published when she was only 29, is so bright, so playfully and angrily intellectual, so intelligently experimental, so sharp and sensitive, satirical and forgiving, and unforgiving. It is a condemnation of the generation older than her, although it seems written by someone much older, and it is certainly not sympathetic to the younger. It is dark, and gets darker and darker, especially in terms of intellectuals and the wealthy they depend on, their isolation mentally, physically, and emotionally, even from themselves. It's such a tragedy that so wise a woman, who could write such incredible sentences,turned instead to screenplays, and then died young.

With her keen ability to delve into human psychology, Tess Slesinger is a worthy successor to Henry James and Virginia Woolf. Oops! I hope I haven't ruined this book for the general reader because--once you get beyond the first fifteen pages or so and catch on to what Slesinger is up to--you won't put the book down. In terms of literary Modernism and the writing craft, Slesinger builds on the accomplishments of Woolf and James, two of the acknowledged masters of interior psychological processes: Tess Slesinger adds wit, irony, and charm. And, she is thoroughly American in the pace and comedic timing of her work--the very *sound* of this novel is American.

To the general reader, I would say that The Unpossessed is not a consciously arty, literary novel. I'm convinced that there was no other way to write this work, no way to say what had to be said in any technique or structure other than the one in which Tess Slesinger wrote it. The author wanted to approximate reality, modern 1930's life (Depression Era, intellectual activism), and to exactly recreate each character's thoughts. To do that, Slesinger, like Woolf, had to master the use of parentheses and italics in order to show simultaneous thoughts, to show what characters are thinking when another character is speaking. Italics and parenthetical statements are necessary to give the reader the feeling of real life--as lived in the moment. And because every person is so mentally active, each has an interior consciousness which they bring to bear on the social predicament.

In Bruno Leonard, Slesinger has given us a university professor who is as idiosyncratic and witty as they come--the type of erudite, gentleman intellectual who has been largely killed off by mass delivery of education in the new diploma factories. And, in Elizabeth Leonard, Bruno's cousin, we have a young woman who is as engaging as she is sexy and mixed up. The "Black Sheep"--Emmett Middleton, and Cornelia and Firman--are as timeless as any intelligent, active college students frustrated with the times in which they live (with the poverty of the Depression Era, and the unequal sharing of wealth in the U.S.). They are genuinely hoping that the work of Karl Marx can show Americans a way toward a more just society. Emmett Middleton seems to be the stable, moral center of The Unpossessed.

In terms of language and style, The Unpossessed approaches poetry. In Slesinger's characteristically poignant and biting prose, she writes from inside Emmett's conflicted consciousness, "Emmett had hated the word 'business' since he was three years old; it came out of his father's mouth tobacco-stained and dry, slightly nasal; the combination of the zz sound with the n went the wrong way up his nostrils like burning sulphur off a kitchen match. 'He s-says I look too much like a girl scout for his racket anyway.' He thought with relief how since knowing Bruno he had relinquished the vain attempt to gain his father's approbation" (139).

Slesinger's willingness to let the English language carry her into poetic realms makes The Unpossessed soar above the polemical novel; her work has humor and grace in it. To be so young as Tess, so aware of the interior of the human soul, to write only one novel--and then to die so young!

And, dear reader, don't be led astray or fooled by Slesinger's at-times cool, emotionally distant prose. Underneath--and running throughout--is a plea from the heart: Intellectuals and activists must connect to life; while we are reading Engels and Marx and examining the direction of our nation, we must allow life to happen. Yes, be an intellectual with integrity, commit to a cause and be active with it--but go ahead, fall in love, get married, have a baby. These are not bourgeois concepts. They are life, too.

Finally, I don't know why this novel isn't on every undergraduate reading list along with Fitzgerald and Hemingway. This is truly a 20th-century masterpiece--and suitable for the times in which we live.

I knew within the first five pages of this book that I was going to love it. This is because Tess Slesinger's writing is beautiful and atmospheric. The narrator is third person omniscient, so we get a range of character's points of view in a flowing fashion. In this way it is similar to narrative like Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway.

The basic premise is that there are these Greenwich Village leftists who want to start up a communist newsletter. This, however, is merely the basis for the larger group interactions. There are also deep dysfunctional relationships between the couples that make up the larger group and the shiftiing dynamic between man and woman. This novel looks hard at the mind of a woman of the time and what it is that she wants and whether or not she even knows what she wants anymore. It also looks at the men around them and how they percieve these "new" and "independant" women. It is a fascinating look at the relationship between the sexes.

I recommend getting not this verison, but the Feminist Press version because the Feminist Press edition has a very interesting forward.

We read this book for our book club. The first half is tough--it was challenging to get into the rhythm of the glib repartee, double meanings and quirky jargon, much less get all the characters straight. Then, at about the halfway point, the group convenes for a meeting, and it's off to the races!! Slesinger has (OK, had) a remarkable flair for capturing the times, a remarkable ear for dialog, and a grand ability to skewer different "types" with deadly accuracy. The climax of the book is a party scene you'll never forget--picturing the shabbily dressed baby-communist collegians rubbing elbows with wealthy society mavens who are ignorant of the cause they find themselves supporting still cracks me up--a very rich and VERY funny novel.

Try this passage, not quite at random:

"`I'm the Bruno Leonard all-purpose one-man three-ring self-kidding self-perpetuating exhibitionistic circus divided like all Gaul into partes tres. One part sour grapes, one part wish-fulfillment, nine parts subconscious. And the greatest of these, according to the antediluvian Chinese, is the subconscious. This way, ladies and pessimistic gents, for the J. J. stream-line crooner, for old Doc Leonard the campaigning fool, watch hin frisk, watch him scamper, watch him catch his fleas in public. Don't feed him peanuts feed him opiates, buy your tablets at the gate from Miss Diamond who has given many years of service, who sacrificed her vacations, her virtue, that this firm might go on.' He subsided, to his own relief; collapsed into the chair that Nora drew up for him. `To sex and its many ramifications,' he said, and raised his glass."

Okay, it is out of context. But in context or out, I defy anyone to catch all the layers of meaning there, at least not on first reading. It's not precisely obscure (although I don't think I catch everything), not Joycean or Kafkaesque. It's more like a James Wood movie monologue: the narrator has no skin at all and she process on six channels at once, certainly the quickest-witted observer you could want to imagine. Or a "Simpsons" tape, where you know you will catch something new at second look, and some of the music gags will still go clean on past you.

Try it again for the rhythm. Can you get it? I cannot quite, but I am pretty sure it is there: all gnarly and snarky, all elbows and knees, a mind and a sensibility all its own. Just to get in the swing of things, I found I had to read it out loud, but no matter: it was better that way, and it lasted longer.

Tess Slesinger subtitles it "A Novel of the Thirties," and that it is: an attempt at clear-eyed observation of her cronies and adversaries among leftwing New York intellectuals at the bottom of the Depression. She dedicated it "to my contemporaries." Elizabeth Hardwick, in her introduction to the NYRB edition, calls it "a kindly act of intellectual friendship," and that it is not-indeed Hardwick's is one of the wildest misjudgments I can possibly imagine. It may be "friendship" in that she cares enough about these people that she wishes she could save them. But it is not in the least way kindly. Rather, this is an act of prophecy: a calling down of God's (if there is a God) wrath upon a wayward Greenwich Village by one who loved it a great deal but understood it - to her dismay - even better. It's rich, it's full of life and it is tainted with the acrid aroma of doom. What a talent. What a sensibility. What an experience, as energetic and refractory as any novel you will read for a long time. Tess Slesinger died in 1945 at the age of 39. She never wrote another.

Probably the only work available that pairs a film scholar/interviewer with the masters of the screen. Obviously a must for any film enthusiast.

VOICES FROM THE SET is a MUST READ for all film historians, film students and cinephiles. Macklin gains amazing insight into the working lives of such screen legends as The Duke, Altman, Beatty and Peckinpah, all captured in rare form. This is an excellent read.

When teaching film and television in Los Angeles, I had the luxury of having top industry professionals visit my classes. This is simply not possible at universities distant from the major centers of production. However, with Tony Macklin's unique and special tome, I can have many of the all-time greats "visit" my class anywhere. VOICES FROM THE SET will be required reading for all future "Masters of American Cinema" courses I teach-- anywhere...ever.

Voices From the Set is Tony Macklin's collection of interviews from the magazine he edited, the Film Heritage series. Exploring an underappreciated era in film, the early to mid 1970s, Macklin gathered interviews with directors, actors, producers, writers, even film critics who blazened a trail for independent cinema between the twilight years of the studio system and the birth of the blockbuster. The book is meant to be savored one interview at a time, and should give you a great list of films to rent if you're not familiar with them. In his introduction, Macklin calls this particular group of interviews "precious cameos that gain more value as time passes." His discussions include several maverick filmmakers still influential today, such as Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Sam Peckinpah and Warren Beatty. Voices also captures the essence of legendary directors and actors Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Charlton Heston and Macklin's favorite, John Wayne. Macklin artfully probes below the surface and discusses the artists' feelings and visions, not just dry facts and dates. In the Scorsese interview, Macklin asks him for his opinion on "the new Hollywood" during the early to mid '70s. Scorsese talks at length about this group of influential filmmakers graduating from universities, himself numbering amoung them. He succinctly sums up the era and the reason for reading this book: "They [the old Hollywood] took it as a job...we come in from a whole different level...The old day is dying out, and there is a new Hollywood..."

Tony Macklin's collection of interviews, Voices from the Set, provides us remarkable reflections by some of Hollywood's greats--reflections of a Hollywood balanced at the crossroads of its artistic Golden Age and the modern-day blockbuster. Macklin's interviews with such influential film greats as Hitchcock, Altman, Scorsese, Heston, Hawks, Peckinpah, Wayne, and Beatty give us a fresh look at many of old Hollywood's most powerful, while providing us a peek at some of new Hollywood's up-and-comers.

Macklin, in skillfully eliciting responses that are compelling, honest, and human, allows us to witness a side of Hollywood that is rarely seen. Voices from the Set's subjects are willing to talk to Macklin, and Macklin is willing to give us the full transcripts of his interviews. No sound bite answers here. Macklin asks the tough, thought-provoking questions and we are rewarded with direct, insightful answers.

Both fans and students of film will not be disappointed in this book. Virtually every interview in Voices will sing to you.

Ms Vincenzi's books are wonderful This is the third I have read in three months and each one is unique with interseting characters and storylines.
Thank you very much

I found this book in a used book store and I could not put it down once I started it. I cannot find any of here books in the city I live in now. Is she still writing?

Like all of Penny Vincenzi's books this was another page turner and I love all the twists and turns she injects into her stories. I found this one was one of her best because of the changing storyline that had us following the American Side of the family in One Chapter and then over to the completly different way of life of the English wealthy family. I love the fact she writes nice long novels and this one didn't dissappoint and it was interesting to read about the English side of banking and then compare the American way. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes family sagas and a book with lots of twists and turns. I am looking forward to reading more of Penny!

This book combines "edge-of-the-seat" thrilling plotlines (to keep you turning the pages) with brilliant observations on human nature and the worlds of american banking and english aristocratic society. However, it is the superbly shocking revellations suddenly materialising on the pages when you least expect them which prove Penny Vincenzi to be a powerful force in modern literature. I would recommend this book to anyone.

This book follows one family and their unique twists of fate. A woman who has three children by different man, but in love with her husband, a man so obsessed with his title and home, that he will do anything to protect it..... Rich and privileged, but all haunted by some unhappiness. A really good, if not long, book. I really enjoyed "Wicked Pleasures" and I'll be back for more Penny Vincenzi books.

Wiley CPA Exam Review 2008: Financial Accounting and Reporting (Wiley Cpa Examination Review Financial Accounting and Reporting)
A comprehensive resource, for people who want to do extensive exercises and benefit from a comprehensive summary and guide in financial accounting principles.

The book conditions were excellent and I received it fast. I liked the service. Keep that way and you will keep your clients.

I don't have the 2008 version, I used the 2006 version and took FAR's exam on Nov. 2007 and the only thing that has really changed since then is Pensions.

As far as the Wiley material is concerned, I think that it will more than prepare you for the FAR's section. I used Wiley exclusively for the FAR's section and I used some Becker material for the REG section. I passed both on the first try, however, I got a 95 on the FARs section and an 83 on the REG section. But to be fair, I was in the middle of busy season when I took the REG section (and I'm also in Audit), but I also used the Wiley Focus Notes for that section as well. So if you are looking for a comprehensive book for any section, Wiley will do the job, as will Becker, but at a much higher price.

In addition to the Wiley book, I also had the Wiley 11.0 Software for multiple choice questions and simulations. The software had its limitations, and I would say that Becker certainly has the leg up on the software side of things. However, the new Wiley 13.0 software may address some of the problems (lack of research component, not as interactive while doing simulations), but I have yet to use it.

As far as readability is concerned, the Wiley books can be a little daunting at times. The gray paper that Wiley uses can make the words appear a little dull. You'll also notice that Becker material uses a lot of white space (blank) on each page, were Wiley crams a lot of information on one page. So I would give Becker the edge on presentation, but Wiley the edge on amount of material covered.

If you were to compare the books by the multiple choice questions provided, Wiley would win hands down. Every section has a bunch of multiple choice questions at the end, sometimes over 100+. Becker at most will have about 25. The majority of Becker's practice questions are in its software.

My only caution for the Wiley material is that you have to be very structured in your studying. If you do the Becker courses, they have everything laid out. If you are someone who needs a class environment (whether in a class or online), or are not good at just using books to study, then I would say go with Becker or some comparable CPA review course. If you can structure yourself, Wiley will work just fine.

In addition to the books, I would recommend you get the Focus Notes (if you decide to go with Wiley). I've seen both Becker's (flashcards) and Wiley's and I think the Wiley Focus Notes are much better and much cheaper.

SO far using Wiley books alone and not using any other material I got a 82 AUD, 85 AUD, and 87 BEC. This is also considering the fact I took my last accounting courses over 8 years ago. These books are all you will need.

The only drawbacks are that it is a very complicated book that sums up everything with few words. Every CPA exam so far I took after using this books seemed like a babies test, this book is way more complicated than the exam. This can be good or bad, because going into the CPA exam you will be prepared for much harder questions. Bad is that you will sometimes be overwhelmed when using this book.

Material is about the right depth and difficulty for the exam. The content is straightforward, and the price is just great. I would use in conjunction with the prep software for additional practice questions. I've noticed various minor editing errors, but nothing that significantly detracts from the overall value of the product.

I have several other books on vocabulary. I rate this one is the best and now most indispensable.

Hi--does anyone know if this is also suitable for preparing for the GRE General Exam? Thanks!

wonderful book for students especially for sat students.... not that hard but still useful

Word Smart: Building an Educated Vocabulary
Word Smart II: How to Build a More Powerful Vocabulary
by Adam Robinson
Word Smart for Business: Cultivating a Six Figure Vocabulary
by Paul West Brook

These three books are permanently placed on my working desk, next to my portable computer. I find them very useful as reference guides to writing smart.

The first two books have a combined inventory of almost 1,700 important words. They have been written by Adam Robinson & The Princeton Review Team. As some readers may know, Adam Robinson happens to be also the author of 'What Smart Students Know' a very good book about smart study techniques. The two books are originally targetted at students preparing for SAT & other standardised tests, but I find them very useful for working professionals.

The third book has an inventory of over 4,000 important business terms, covering quite a broad spectrum of business disciplines. It has been written by a noted financial planning expert.

I enjoy browsing these three books from time to time. I often refer to them as I write my daily business correspondence as well as my reviews on amazon website.

I strongly recommend these three books to readers who want to communicate effectively, be more persuasive & more importantly, get more from your reading.

I used to work as a professional SAT Reading coach, making big bucks; the key issue for most of my students was vocabulary. Rather, VOCABULARY. (The other is slowing down and thinking as--not after--they read.)

Many questions on the SAT reading section amount to vocabulary questions.

What this means is that if you want to improve your SAT scores, if you are an ambitious student trying to get into one of the top schools, there is no two ways about it: you have to study vocabulary.

And study vocabulary.

And study vocabulary.

You cannot study simply one book, or even one series of books. You have to study several series.

However, the Princeton Review Word Smart series is the best that I know of. You should start here. Even if you think you have a good vocabulary, start here just to be on the safe side, and you can move on later.

You would recommend studying any of the vocabulary books that I've ever seen--but I recommend mastering the Word Smart series. These really are by far the best--if you are shopping here, it probably means you need these books.

If you were one of my students, your parents paying lots of money, I would force you to master these books, and I would ride you like a horse until you did. And then your scores would come up, your parents would love me and tell all their friends, and I would get more jobs and more money. That's how it works.

Anyway, these are certainly the best vocabulary books on the market. Even if you're studying vocabulary for some other reason, these are probably still the best.

Good luck!

You Watch Too Much TV is more than just a television trivia book. It's fun you can share with your whole family! Each chapter has a short intro with interesting facts and TV history, followed by questions that range from simple to very difficult. (Depending on how much you watch tv...)

This book spans shows from The Honeymooners and I Love Lucy to Everybody Loves Raymond and Friends. It also includes an entire chapter of trivia questions about cartoons so your kids can play along too.

Even if you're not a trivia buff, or you don't watch quite enough TV, this book is sure to bring back fond memories of television shows we all used to love.

I just recieved this book and it really looks like it was done well! It has 50 sections with about 20 questions in each section. You Watch Too Much TV covers everything from Animation to Horror Related shows. The questions range anywhere from easy to Very Hard (atleast for me). I Highly Recommend this TV Trivia Book!

I bought this book for my husband for Christmas. He absolutely loved it, it was the hit of Christmas Day. The trivia-quiz style is well organized - it is fun to quiz yourself on your favorite shows and to learn new facts about other shows. And the trivia is really cool and interesting. "What a cool book!" was repeated several times.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves TV, especially those of us who watch too much of it!!

What a fun book to read. Not only did it bring back memories, it prompted conversations with our children about all the old shows. It was a great conversation starter and made our family trip this Thanksgiving a lot of fun.

It will be my gift of choice to give family and friends this year.

So you think you know TV huh? Well don't be so sure of yourself until you read the fun new television trivia book "You Watch Too Much TV" by newcomer Ken Kessler. Within the pages you'll find 50 chapters of TV trivia that spans over multiple generations from the early black and white days to the the latest fad-Reality TV. It doesn't matter if you're a fan of American Idol or Love American Style. There's something in this book from everyone.

Sure TV trivia books may come and go but what makes this book unique is the way it is categorized. While lots of TV trivia books focus on certain eras, this book divides each chapter by categories such as TV theme songs, single parent-themed shows, and even cop shows. What character on Gilligan's Island is named in the theme song besides Gilligan? Who played Cagney in the pilot episode of Cagney and Lacey? What was Eddie's father's name on The Courtship of Eddie's Father? Don't know? It doesn't matter. You'll have fun learning.

The only flaw with this book is the fact that it expands across so many generations of television that some people may feel left out. After all, there are people who never even heard of My Favorite Martian, Bonanza, or even Fear Factor. Still with this minor distraction it will still be difficult to put this well researched book down. In fact, it wouldn't be a surprise to see the board game. Pick it up, gather the family around and just have fun with this book. This one is definitely a winner.

I have admired Gloria Steinem since I came to this country in the 70's to go to college. She has had to make some tough choices in her life and I respect her greatly for the path she took. I particularly liked to read about her early years, her childhood and family, prior to the more public New York life of the sophisticated writer and feminist persona she became. After reading this book, I feel that I understand much better where her strong motivation came from. The author deserves much praise for this biography.

I read this book nonstop while on a lengthy car trip. I found it to be incredibly interesting, informative, well-researched, and enjoyable to read. If you've ever wondered how Gloria Steinem got to be the icon that she is, this book explains it all. Whether you are researching Steinem or just looking for an interesting non-fiction, this book is for you!!

A sympathetic biography of one of the most famous leaders in the women's movement. According to Heilbrun, Steinem's beauty and ability to remain constantly in the public eye have been a constant source of irritation to other feminists. She presents Steinmen as a slightly naive, well-intentioned and empathetic individual who never intended to lead the feminist movement and indeed would have preferred remaining in the shadows as a reporter and writer.

Growing up in the early 80's, I had a vauge idea who Gloria Steinem was and what she did. I was delighted to pick up this book and read the first (and probaly most accurate)book on such a revolutionary leader.

Denounced by the extreme right and extreme left, Steinem's life has taken her from Ohio to Massachusetts to India, Washington DC and NY. Having cofounded Ms. the National Women's Political Caucus, the Women's Action Alliance and Voters for Choice, Steinem is truly an example of a good role model.

Heilbrum's superb prose takes us into the infamous resentment born by Betty Friedan and Kathie Sarahchild. Although both of these women are famous in their own right, their inexcusable and childish tantrums undid their own feminist reputation without any help from Steinem. Also deserving of their repuation is Betty Harris who's paranoid delusions and lax work ethic jepordaized the working environment at the early MS. Steinem is a saint for having dealt with these crazies and still keeping cool.

Gosetti-Ferencei's poetry is sterling: luminescent, pure, and honest; for the thinker it utters what needs to be said in a classical poetic style. This book should be in every private library.

This book makes me love poetry. It is so loving and sad and precise. It is unparaphraseable. It is sweeping and minute at the same time. There is little more I can say except: get this book. You will love it.

In Gosetti-Ferencei's immensely intelligent first book, the poems enter a Europe of the past and the imagination, a lost Europe, with its dead masters and decaying masterpieces, indeed its burnt palaces, its faded philosophers. Yet the poems' elegiac landscape thrives with a vitality drawn from the sublime
beauties of nature and the intricate forms of poetry itself (sonnets abound in the book, among other examples of Gosetti-Fercenei's prosodic virtuosity). From its first lovely lyric, through its dark and masterful sequences, to its final embrace of life ("More light!" Goethe is claimed to have cried at his
death), After the Palace Burns proves that "joy, though strained, is undeniable."

I picked up this book in passing while purchasing some other, more publicized, titles. This one blew the others away. There is a quiet sense of formality, even in the lyrics, that draws you into the rhythm of the book--it is easy to to read from beginning to end and feel as though you've been carried along by the work's momentum. Erudite, but never difficult or without grace, the poems invite readers to notice the delicate intermingling of the world we observe and the worlds we imagine.

There is a haunting aesthetic power at work, culmintating in the sequence "A Realm of Vague Delights." The images stay with you:

"...a lady found entangled in the weeds,/while sky is darkening, and gulls have flown/and salt is blowing through the corridor" (Wedding Night for the Count of Sand).

"My table's plates disheveled, wine-soaked bread,/then open sky, the stars, oracular,/envelop night, and then the morning's fruit,/at breakfast, humming with a subtle fall" (The King as Concubine).

Simply the best poems I have read in ages.

The time and effort spent, and the attention to detail are represented on every page. Especially enjoyable where the essays featuring Parkins' own theories on some of Doctor Who's mysteries, and the section collecting all know references to the Doctor's own personal history. Whether you are a new fan looking for more info on the Doctor, or an old fan looking to put a little more order into his world, this book is for you.

One of the more interesting Dr. Who books, that catches everyone up to date at time of publication. Also covers material in Time Flight 1 and 2 (which are also worth picking up). This is good for Dr. Who fans, and just about anyone who bought their kid (or themselves) a cyberman talking helmet for Christmas. Along with sonic screw drivers, phone activated tardis, or the host of other doctor who memorabilia out there.

For those that missed most of the first, second and third doctors, this makes an interesting review into those characters and how they reacted, acted, and their part of the series.

Overall a very enjoyable book, and while there are debates on its true authenticity, it is still worth picking up and reading. I enjoyed it, but then I am also a rabid doctor who fan, and in relationship to the other books like Time Flight and others that came out in the last few years, it is an enjoyable book to read.

Ever wanted to know when the Cybermen were created? Or how about when the Daleks invaded Earth for the first time? Or perhaps how the universe began and how it will end? Well fans here's your chance with Ahistory (Second Edition). So is there a difference with the first edition? Oh yes and that difference is the reason enough to get this one.

This edition has been expanded to cover not just the books and Big Finish audios published after the first edition but the two series of the revived TV series featuring David Tennant plus Torchwood, The Sarah Jane Smith Adventures, and even the long running Doctor Who comic strip. Where has the first book contained 500 or so stories this one contains well over 800. It also presents interesting theories regarding continuity gaffs over the various stories.

One of the best things about the book is that it gives nice, neat little summaries of each story which is helpful when you're a fan seeking good stories. The summaries are usually filled with spoilers for the different stories so consider your-self officially warned.

While the spoilers aren't good for new fans, long-time fans should enjoy this. Full of theories and dates, this book should be helpful to any fan fiction writer looking for a good time to set a story at. Or if you're a die-hard Who fan seeking to know history according to the Doctor, it's just about as good as stepping into a real-life Tardis. Definitely recommended to Who fans.

"Ahistory" is the latest edition of Mr. Parkin's attempt at chronologizing Doctor Who. As such it is a humongous work with seemingly endless entries about every tiny nuance that ties individual episodes of Doctor Who together, along with the books and audio adventures of the same.

The trouble here is that everything is an enormous mess, because nobody really cared all that much about continuity in a show that was originally designed to be shown once and then taped over.

What makes it worse, according to "About Time" (which I recommend instead), Mr. Parkin seems to have actually written Doctor Who novels to cover plot holes in the continuity (such as Tegan not liking transmats when she'd never seen them before in the show -- surprise, there's a story he wrote where Tegan encounters transmats!)

There is much in this book. Far, far too much. Also it contradicts many things that are said in "The Discontinuity Guide" and "About Time". It even contradicts itself in places.

One gets the sense that it's all a bunch of fanboys arguing with one another, and not a respectable history (or even ahistory) that tries to be definitive.

So this is a terrible work for someone wanting an introduction to Who, but is great for those who want to write their own Who and would like to know what happens in the Somethingth Century so they can put their story there.

The major redeeming feature is that "The Discontinuity Guide" and "About Time" do not cover the books or audio adventures to any real extent, and "Ahistory" does. But even this can be seen as a handicap when there is still much debate over the canonicity of the books or audio adventures.

A purist will probably go for just the television series, as there is enough of that to last a lifetime (28 seasons so far), and will likely wish to pass on this book. But the rest of us; the completists, the people interested in what the novels are saying without wishing to actually read them, and the novelists and writers of fan fiction; these will want to have a crack at "Ahistory".