V Books

I own this series in Japanese, and it is a wonderful read! It has all the important elements of a good shoujo manga: it is romantic, twisted, with a shoujo (in the traditional meaning of the word) involved in finding a new family and love triangles galore. It is just a very fun read, no matter the language!

This was my favorite volume so far. I love Haru so much he is my favorite character. I got to read more about him and I also got to read about sorry-ful Ritsu and his childhood.......I love Fruits Basket so much. This is the best manga ever written.

I love the Fruits Basket series. I love how the book is well written and the humor in it. The characters personality is perfect chosen for each character and they all fit it great! I can't wait for the next volume!

Fruits Basket book 8 is the best one so far. I've read it about 12 times. If you're a fan of Haru, you'll love this book. You also meet Ritzu in this book . it's a must buy!

Haru Sohma's personality suddenly goes black in school and he begins tearing up the classroom for no obvious reason. Yuki attempts to get the reason for these actions only to learn of some dealings with Akito that Haru has had to suffer from lately. Ritsu Sohma shows up, dressed all in a pretty kimono, this Sohma member dazzles Tohru with her good looks, and horrifies her with her inherent anxiety attacks. But the truth of Ritsu lies under the surface, and Tohru is surprised to learn it. Besides that, Ritsu is also a zodiac member, the monkey, born in 1980 I estimate. Ritsu and Tohru bond after Ritsu confesses some personality flaws to Tohru. Yuki also checks up on Haru, to see how he is doing after turning black at school.

School parent/teacher conferences are coming up, and the Sohma house is all in a panic over it. Kyo and Yuki don't know who to ask to attend, and much time is spent agonizing over what their future plans are. Tohru also breaks down a bit under the stress of all of this.

A reoccurring dream of Yuki's past puts him into a foul mood, as does a surprise visit from his brother Ayami. In an attempt to heal their broken past Ayami offers to attend the school conferences in place of Yuki and his parents.

Summer vacation begins with a trip to the haunted mansion for everyone. For Tohru this is a disturbing experience, as she is terrified of haunted houses. Haru helps her through it with some creative thinking, much to Yuki and Kyo's annoyance.

More Haru...sigh... there simply isn't enough Haru in this series I'm afraid. But fans of him will get just enough of a peek into his life to be satisfied. Ritsu is a bit annoying, but you need that to balance out the strength of all the other characters... Still in love with this series though, who isn't by this point?

Earth shaking. Booty shaking. Think Archie for the Manga Generation and then some - that represents just one facet of this mindbending series. I picked this up on a whim but never expected how it would unfold. GTO # 1 is unassuming for the most part and as a series, truly twists and turns and reaches higher and higher - while maintaining its characters. Tohru Fujisawa is a master storyteller, who isn't afraid to use self referential, toilet humor, schoolgirl cliches, panty jokes, you name it - but keeps it relevant. Each volume is a cliffhanger which is what Manga is all about...Tohru, I salute you.

I've already watched the complete Anime TV series. I loved it so much that I did not expect that the Mange could have bin any better however the manga is much better then the TV series. It's about a punk biker who decides to become a teacher. There's comedy, action, love, brief nudity, mindless violence and everyone likes mindless violence... Just buy the damn thing.

This is the best manga ever written. The premice may sound questionable to you manga lovers out there,I know it does not have any magic but you will survive. Trust me buy it. Even if you have never read a manga before it may change your life. With its amazingly funny toilet humor and awsome well rounded characters. So just buy it, its a very quick read and very funny.

Tokyo Pop are know for quality, but GTO just blows every thing else away. The story is good, the art work is top class and it makes you laugh, but remains semi-believable. Tohru Fujisawa deserves so much respeck for both this and the rest of the GTO series. I would recommend this to everyone,I picked Vol. 1 up on a hunch and soon became a huge fan. If you like any manga and haven't read this you really have to. You will be left at the point you have to get (The 4-star rated by me and that's the worst!) Vol. 2. Get it now!

Great Teacher Onizuka, or GTO, for short, is one of the most popular mangas going, with over 37 million copies sold worldwide. I wouldn't really expect that, seeing as how it focuses on the life of a teacher. If you can imagine a cross between Marlon Brando as the Wild One and the beatnik attitude of Jack Kerouac along with the cool hipness of Japanese youth as a teacher. While being brillantly subversive, GTO succeeds as both entertainment and satire of the teaching establishment, much as Chaucer lampooned the Church in his Canterbury Tales.

Eikichi Onizuka is the 22 year old ex-leader of a biker gang who has found out that he's not going to be able to goof off his whole life. He has to find a job. Having a fetish for young girls in uniform, he decides to become a teacher. He finds out that his impulsive decision is going to take a lot more courage than he thought. This first volume is basically his origin story as he is disappointed by his dreams of becoming something great and having to reevaluate his life as he begins his teacher training. It also begins a pattern that will continue in the following books, namely that he has to use his wits to escape the plots of hateful students and a vice-principal who would like nothing more than to fire him.

This book was great. What can I say? If you are a teacher, you'll really get a kick out of seeing a cartoon character fulfill your wishes. Who doesn't want to karate kick their bonehead students sometimes? While Onizuka's attraction to high school girls seems lurid, we find out that he becomes overwhelmed with trying to help his students rather than wanting to seduce them in the end. I think it's just a Japanese thing to be attracted to girls in school uniforms. I think anyone with a sense of humor and semi-lewdness would find these manga entertaining and funny. I would especially recommend it to teachers.

Y LA FELICIDAD EN LAS PAREJAS.. Y este libro es eso, justamente:
UN MANUAL DE PERFECTO ENTENDIMIENTO ENTRE HOMBRE Y MUJER

sobre las diferencias emocionales entre la pareja..PERO JAMÁS UNO COMO ESTE, QUE SE AVOCA DE FRENTE A LA INTELIGENCIA EMOCIONAL para resolver esas diferencias y zanjar problemas

Y LA FELICIDAD EN LAS PAREJAS.. Y este libro es eso, justamente:
UN MANUAL DE PERFECTO ENTENDIMIENTO ENTRE HOMBRE Y MUJER

RELACIÓN DE PAREJA...
Este libro es LA CLAVE INFALIBLE !

but could never understand her... And we were both desperate.
She didn't understand me either.
We read this book by the reccomendation of our Marriage Counselor!
Now I wonder why we didn't do it before!
WE ARE HAPPIER THAN EVER..
It was so easy with Jungham

I found this book is very useful for my buddhism study, the chapters are arranged in a very organized way. the contents are consise and accurate, it is like a notebook for most of the buddhism concepts and principles.

I really like it, and appreciate the English translation. it's great!

I tried to read Gunther's translation of Gampopa's classic, but was unable to relate to it. If it weren't for Ken McLeod's podcast of his Then And Now class (www.unfetteredmind.com/audio, then go to the Classes dropdown), this translation would fair no better with me. Ken's podcast classes are helping in my developing an experiential relationship with the subject matter. This book, although written in medieval Tibet, deals with the questions of human confusion and struggle that impact us today, and provide direction on freeing us of this confusion and struggle, especially when Ken's podcasts are used as a study guide.

This is a 1958 translation of a classic basic text for Tibetan Buddhist students. I have owned the text before and studied it. It is humbling to 'review' a classic.

This text presents the Mahayana approach with a few references to tantric elements. I use it to review ideas I need to refresh in my mind. The approach is to study the text, think about it and then meditate on what you have read. This is a source book for those persons beginning the approach to Tibetan Buddhism. I find it inexhaustible.

The author, Gampopa, was a disciple of Milarepa and Gampopa's disciples started one of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is one of the standard ways to study the path leading to tantra. It is best, of course, to have a teacher or spiritual friend, to use the standard term.

Most people I know are using to say "that's a hard time to live in". But they change nothing in their lifes, day after day, they weak up and do the same old things...I don't understand why.
Lord Gampopa, in his kindeness, show us a very effective way to review this unhappy situation. This book is a gift from the most elevate kind of intelligence the mankind alredy had made. But it's just for the braves, cause that's a kind of adventure.

I was introduced to this book 18 months ago as I began a four-year Marig Munsel class at Tashi Choling on Mount Ashland. It served as our introductory text, and I've read it cover to cover at least three times. It is most thorough and accessible. I appreciate how topics are introduced, defined, then illustrated with numerous clear examples. Glossary material and appendices are especially impressive. Often the text reads like religious or found poetry, which I find especially appealing and endearing. But my greatest compliment for this text is the simple acknowledgement that my personal spiritual practice took shape and deepened considerably as a result of reading and re-reading and referring to this text.

I highly recommend it for any serious-minded spiritual student, not just those interested in Tibetan Buddhism.

--Robert McDowell, author of the forthcoming Poetry In Spiritual Practice

This is another good book of logo ideas. Great for inspiration. Nicely laid out and the pages are of good quality glossy paper. Very nice book for my collection.

This series is a must have for any designer. Not only is it great for ideas, but a nice tool to have when a wishy-washy client just isn't sure what they want. If you are a serious designer, you must own all the Logo Lounge books.

Always a fan, the assemblage of brands from every corner is impressive and helpful. The Lounge has always been and continues to be a wonderful resource for jump-starting logo block.

Great book for inspiration and search for the right ideas. This time RockPub. is making few more pages showing how the logos work in the graphic design environment.

I was excited to see foreign companies using the latest styles in advertisement, like the russian phone company "BeeLine."

Wold highly recoment this book for a graphic design major and advertisement.

Whether you are fresh out of college or a seasoned Senior designer, you will find this book an amazing resource of ideas, trends and just plain good design.

We actually have purchased every volume and they keep getting better and better. Logo Lounge 3 is no different in terms of the unique talent chosen to be showcased in this edition.

If you need a design spark look no further, this is the book of choice.

[...]

I first read Danusha Goska's Love Me More when it initially came out in 2003, and what excited me about the book then was its energy. It reminded me of the writers I read and loved growing up, Jack Keruoac and Saul Bellow and Nelson Algren. It had that same sort of high-octane energy that drew you along and made you want to listen to a voice alternately whispering and screaming and laughing in your ear. I couldn't stop reading. Her voice was a Roman candle lighting up a night that sometimes was desperate and battered, and sometimes was as lonely and dark as a cold desert on a moonless night.

It was a book I admired and one that I've recommended to my friends.

Coming back to it after four years, I wasn't sure what I would find. The novel that goes off like a Roman candle seldom does it twice. You go back to Kerouac's On the Road after a handful of years and you wonder about who you were and why you responded so strongly to a novel that seems to be moving too slowly to finish. I imagine we've all had that experience, but I was happily surprised that Ms. Goska's novel is still the same strong and compelling and unique novel it was when I first read it.

It's the kind of book that's always surprising, full of insights and feelings and observations that always seem new.

john guzlowski
author of Lightning and Ashes
and The Third Winter of War: Buchenwald

Ms. Goska writes extraordinarily clear, fresh prose. She brings me along with her descriptions of her life. The only problem I have is that I'm just a bit tired of this view of life - the one held by 99.9% of the population.

It's a perception of reality where it all happens out there, rather than in the specific past each of us brings to life. Perhaps I am misunderstanding (bringing my past to her writing) and if so, please forgive me. I would love to hear her words from another interpretation - standing in life as choice - generated or lived from past interpretations. I would love to have her paint that world! Judi

Let us now praise famous authors--and those authors who deserve to be famous, particularly Danusha Goska, author of "Love Me More: An Addict's Diary"! This novel-as-diary is about Miroswava Hudak, daughter and sister in a struggling, troubled Polish family, still new to America and about her direct, prolonged and courageous examination of her past and present. This novel doesn't follow familiar, expected formulae; it is more complex than any of them: the good guys may not always be so good and the bad guys may not always be so bad and maybe a little more effort all around at trying to understand other people would be a good idea. Though not everyone has Miraswava's experiences of world travel and of being a teacher, her diary deals with subjects and experiences many readers will recognize and recall from their own lives and readers can gain new insights and outlooks for themselves. Goska's novel is mainly about a specific character's experiences and responses but they will be of interest to readers of different (or not so different after all) backgrounds. "Love Me More: An Addict's Diary" lends itself exceptionally well to the medium of motion pictures and it is hoped that a film maker of respect and integrity will eventually translate Danusha Goska's book into a movie. Apart from Miraswava herself there are other characters that would be "dream roles" for many actresses and actors. "Love Me More: An Addict's Diary" is not short nor is it casual reading but it makes the reader think and consider and while it is an engrossing book it is also edifying and ennobling.

It is easy in a first novel to fall into the trap of preaching, or manufacturing drama. It is easy to create a main character who is, even in her struggles, perfect and saintlike.

Goska creates a character whose journey is sometimes hard to watch, sometimes painful to read. It is not as neat and warm and fuzzy as, say, a pleasant afternoon read for the Oprah crowd. Sometimes her main character is open, honest and giving-- in other moments, she can be a self-ceneterd jerk.

But at all times this woman is real and believable and completely absorbing, and her struggles to find a love and purpose and hope that can fill her up are moving and touching and altogether real.

This is a challenging work, but it is a challenge worth meeting.

Why read this book? This beautifully written story is compelling and yet thorny, like a wild rose, with all the lingering after-taste of great poetry. Danusha Goska somehow hammers nails into places in my mind that I never knew I had; yet in other places she plants healing kisses. Nothing is predictable, not the main character, not the plot, not the time progression. This book is a roller-coaster of emotion and experience and thought that you will never forget.

Miraswava had me angry enough to throw the book down, aching enough to pick it back up, and laughing hard enough to draw stares. I am placing "Love Me More" among the Keepers on my shelf. This is definitely a book you will want to keep, because portions of it will haunt your thoughts and force you to go back and read it all again.

I honestly don't know what to say about this book. It's written by a prominent Christian philosopher, Thomas Morris, who draws on Pascal's Pensees to give an analysis of faith, reason and the human condition. The writing is clear and conversational, the topics are profound, and some sections -- such as the discussion of skepticism -- are gems of lucidity. But boiled down to its essentials, the Pascal/Morris argument goes like this:

-- People without faith in God are unhappy and wretched, and spend most of their time covering up and denying their unhappiness and wretchedness;

-- Therefore, God must exist, because believing in Him makes people happy and ensures they'll be cared for in the afterlife;

-- In fact, God must be the Christian God, the father of Jesus and one of the Trinity, since hoary old "miracles" and "prophecies" attest to the authority of the Bible.

That's Pascal's argument in a nutshell. Really. It's that flimsy. All the focus is on knocking down atheism as an untenable way of life. Once that's accomplished, a fairly doctrinaire form of Christianity is treated as the natural default position. No consideration is given to other religious options -- even though most religious traditions can boast "miracles" and "prophecies" of their own. No consideration is given to the possibility of forging an atheistic life of courage and decency. Bad faith reigns supreme: Pascal appeals to Christians looking for practical reasons to keep up Christian practice even though they suspect Christianity is false.

I love the Pensees, but their elegant aphorisms and sharp insights can obscure the absurdity of the total argument. The same is true of Morris's book. It's a good reminder that Christian philosophers should keep their philosophy separate from their Christianity.

this is a very insightful philosophical/theological book dealing with the plight of humanity in relation to faith in God and the meaning of life. There are a few things herein that will no doubt be disagreed with by many readers, but the many deep insights otherwise are well worth it.

This is a great book, which takes diverse sources such as Pascal and Woody Allen and probes the reasons why most of us waste our lives on trifles and baubles, distracting ourselves from our mortality and avoiding life's big questions. The book is part fun, part serious as it makes Pascal's inquiries into human nature very readable. The Christian and nonChristian alike should enjoy this study of how people waste their lives and how they can find meaning. Two great companions to this book, though more secular, are Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning and Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving.

Tom Morris is a gifted writer and philosopher. This book amplifies Pascal in ways you may not have thought about before, and it clearly intriques the critical mind about the possibility of the Truth behind Christianity. The leap from mind to faith doesn't seem all that large after reading this enticing book.

Making Sense Of It All is one the best books I have ever read on the topic of Christian philosophy and apologetics. This book is unique both in its organization and content. Morris utilizes some of the scientific, philosophical, and apologetic statements of the great Christian thinker Blaise Pascal (from Pascal's book Pensees) and shows how faith in Jesus Christ is the unique answer to mankind's deepest yearnings for meaning, purpose, significance, and life eternal. This book skillfully and successfully answers many of the existential objections that people give for not believing. Morris weaves together many of Pascal's brilliant insights into a significant and powerful Christian apologetic work.

Though covering a lot philosophical and theological ground, this book is remarkably readable and at places quite humorous. It addresses philosophical, theological, and apologetic issues with tremendous clarity and in an engaging style. This volume provides deep insight into why people living in today's world avoid thinking about ultimate issues. I only wish the book contained a bibliography and/or notes for further reading.

Thomas V. Morris has been called one of Christianity's finest contemporary philosophers (former Notre Dame professor). This book is indeed evidence of his first rate philosophical ability.

If quantum mechanics and all of its philosophical implications tickles your fancy, BUY THIS BOOK! Heisenberg jumps off the pages with an eloquence long forgotten in our day.

This is an excellent work due in large part to Heisenberg's acumen both as a physicist and a philosopher. Unfortunately, even some of the great physicists have been somewhat shallow philosophers. For whatever reason(probably the fact that his father was a professor of classical studies), Heisenberg had a very good grasp of many philosophical viewpoints. He was able to mostly avoid the cartesian bifurcation that traps most physicists even to this day. He understood that much of the "trouble" with Quantum Mechanics was caused by our unwillingness to let go of the bad metaphysical assumptions that became implicit in classical physics. Overall, this is an excellent book for anyone who wants to understand the beauty of Quantum Mechanics with eyes wide open.

As I was reading this intelligent and provocative manuscript, I could not help think why this was not part of my undergraduate physics course. For anyone who wants to know how quantum physics came to be, this is certainly the book to read. I was completely surprised how many of the aspects of modern science we take for granted today would not be in the classroom if not for quantum physics. The linking to classical philosophy was equally stirring.

I am not sure that anyone truly appreciates the fundamentals of quantum physics. But, for someone who has done a great deal of reading on the topic and possesses an advanced degree in a relatively unrelated field (clinical psychology), this is a very readable book on Heisenberg's thinking related to quantum physics. For those who know anything about quantum physics, however, it cannot be overemphasized that this is, in fact, only one perspective on quantum physics (though, probably, the most accepted). Heisenberg was one of the originators (along with Wolfgang Pauli and, particulary, Niels Bohr) of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum physics. For anyone interested in a more deep analysis of the thought that went along with the development of this incredibly groundbreaking thoery, I recommend this book highly!

Since the 17th century, philosophers have been struggling with the implications science has for classical philosophical questions. In a way, the relationship between science and philosophy is one that has always occured in Western philosophy; Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and also the medievals grappled with science and what relation it had to philosophy, but with the apparent triumph of science in the 20th century as mankind's premier way of knowledge, the questions are all the more urgent.

While Heisenberg wrote this book seventy or so years ago, it remains a classic for two reasons. One, Heisenberg himself was one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics, and second, he is widely read in the Western philosophical tradition. He shows an excellent understanding of Aristotle and Kant, and proceeds to argue where he feels philosophers have it right, and wrong, in the light of science. Like many scientists he argues for a more process based approached to the world rather than seeing reality as a static and timeless entity, and that space is not really empty and that the microworld is different from the macroworld and is more a place of potentiality than actuality.

This work remains a beautiful exploration of the relationship between two ways of exploring the world and is essential reading for philosophers and scientists alike.

Every Genetics professional/student must have a copy of the Smith's.It is concise, clear and well organized.

This a great book with fantastic illustration of genetic diseases, a must for all in the genetic field.

Smith's Recognizable Patterns Of Human Malformation has always been one of the best textbooks for those health professionals who study and work on diagnosis or research in dismorphology, mainly pediatricians, pathologists and geneticists. Its 6th edition is 100% improved regarding illustrations, with nice color pictures as well as updated references and new concepts. Indispensable.

This is a totally new book. I purchased the fourth edition about 15 years ago. A long way has elapsed for medicine, pediatrics and genetics. This new edition incorporated all the new advances in the field of molecular genetics. Although the genetic syndromes are explained in the classic form, with Abnormalities, Natural History and Etiology, the recent advances in genomic medicine are fully explained for each genetic syndrome or disease. Also the pictures are now in color, they have always been great pictures but now with the color they bring much more to clarity and teaching. I like very much this book, not only because the depth and comprehensive review but because it is indeed a perfect picture of what has changed in the last years, and indeed, it is a new world, particularly in the field of genetics.
Dr. Ricardo Guraieb Ibarrola. Pediatrician. Mexico City

Nice guidebook to have to help you study cases of human malformation. Each syndrome comes with text information and corresponding pictures. The pictures help you relate a particular syndrome with actual patients. It also has an index which shows some of the more common dysmorphic features that you may see and lists the syndromes that usually present with these features. The only drawback is that the information about some syndromes are sometimes lacking, so you will need another reference to expound on these cases.

I can't count how many times I have read this book. I have three versions and the e-book. I have one copy in the washroom I read a little of it everyday. A must have Epic.

I think that all Westerners should be exposed to this classic of the East. Without a doubt, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is one of the very best works of literary art that the human mind had ever produced.
A short synopsis is in order. The novel centers around a rather short, turbulent time in ancient China, following the collapse of the Han Dynasty and predating the rise of the Jin dynasty, the period known as the "Three Kingdoms". In order to rise up against the now-corrupt Han dynasty, the mystic Zhang Jiao began what is known as the "Yellow Turban rebellion". In response to this menace, heroes of China gathered in order to put down this threat. Among these heroes are the virtuous Liu Bei, the loyal and familial Sun Jian, and the cruel and wily (but talented) Cao Cao. After the Yellow Turban rebellion is put down, it is realized that the Han dynasty has grown horribly weak and corrupt, and the heroes leave for home with their own ambitions of ruling China. Liu Bei wishes for the old days (he is a distant relative of the Han line), Cao Cao wishes for personal glory and honor, and Sun Jian wishes to rule China in order to leave it to his sons. Many other players enter the drama (hundreds in fact!), but the story really revolves around these three and their spheres of influence.
The author, Luo Guan Zhong, wrote a book that is at once of strategy, history, psychology, warfare. Although battles are always present, even those readers not interested in warfare can find a great deal in this book. Inevitably, the reader will find himself siding with one of the great Kingdoms of Wei, Wu or Shu, and yet will still feel compelled to feel compassion, elation and sorrow for the others, as their fortunes rise and fall with the changing fates. Each time I read the book (six and counting!), I pull for Liu Bei, who brings himself from commoner status to the highest positions in the land despite his tragic flaw of being TOO virtuous! And yet, I cannot deny enjoying reading about Cao Cao, as he gains support and popularity until the battle of Chi Bi, at which point he falls and must rise again. Also, the ending is fabulous, and unexpected.
However, I must warn the first time reader of the complete deluge of names with which he will be accosted. To further complicate matters, different publishers of the book spell the names in different ways (e.g. Cao Cao=T'sao T'sao, Chuko Lee-ong=Zhuge Liang). I was aided in this struggle by the fact that I had played a game with these characters, so that I was familiar with some of them. The author revels in his knowledge of history, and expects the same of his readers, but the reader may feel completely overwhelmed. Just keep in mind the three main characters, and try to remember who follows whom, and you should do fine (however, it is frustrating when the character Xun Yu introduces the character Xun You, etc.).
"Empires wax and wane, states cleave asunder and coalesce". The first statement in the book is as true today as it was 2000 years ago. If you are a reader who prides himself on his knowledge of the classics, I can honestly say that your mental library is incomplete until you read this book. So, what are you waiting for?

humanity is everything in this book and only thing we have.

I can't finish all my compliment for this book in this short review. You are not gonna believe it is such a splendid book until you read it yourself. This book is a saga with so much wisdom and humanity. It is as good as ancient Greek epic (with all repect to Greek) if not better. The wisdom in it is uncommonly plentiful. Trojan horse looks children's game after you finished the book. Romance of three kingdoms is a part of Chinese lives and now becoming popular in the world. Many Japanese companies make this book as a must-read for management staff. Read this book and I garantee that your time will be delightfully spent.

Romance of Three Kingdoms is not just the novelized version of the history record "Three Kingdoms". It overtook the heart of both Chinese and Japanese. In Japan even younger generation who rarely read literature enjoy the story in the form of either comic books or in popular PC games. In China many of the Chinese Opera comes from the part of this story.

The story is based on the history of ancient China around late 2nd century to late 3rd century when the Chinese continent was divided by three strong kingdoms,Shu(Gui in Japanese),Wu(GO in Japanese) and Wei(SHOKU in Japanese).

I am familiar with the version of Eiji Yoshikawa, the author of Musashi, focusing more on the story of Liu Pei(Wei emperor),Kuan Yu, Chang Fei, and Chuko Kunming. Liu Pei, an heir of Han Dynasty ruling clan, is a humane leader supported by Kuan Yu, deft both in brain and might maybe eastern version of Knight, Chang Fei,short tempered but really strong warrior, and Chuko Kunming the master of strategy.

Rivaling Lie Pei is another giant Tsao Tsao outstanding ruler who nearly took hold of the whole Chinese continent but blocked by the allied forces of Wu and Wei in 208. Tsao Tsao is a bit demonized in this story but he is in fact one of the greatest rulers China ever had comparable to Napoleon. While Lie Pei who has little power gradually gains by charming a lot of talented people by his couteousness yet with propaganda tactics to demonize Tsao Tsao, Tsao Tsao took advantage of courting the Emperor and with the finest staff collected from the whole continent. Tsao Tsao's Shu finally unites the whole China after his death in 265, with the surrender of Wei but Lie Pei, Kuan Yu and Kunming are still loved and idealized by Chinese public. Wu survives by taking either rivaling sides and with excellent domestic and foreign affairs strategy.

On first reading you will be enjoying the way the characters outsmart the other camps. On second reading you will be struck by the humanity upon which the story is based. It is much more than a legend. It will surely get you closer to the mind of either Chinese and Japanese. But be careful. The way character name is pronounced differ between Chinese and Japanese. Such as Tsao Tsao is pronounced in Japanese as SOSO.