V Books


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V Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

V
TCP/IP Protocol Suite (McGraw-Hill Forouzan Networking)
Published in Hardcover by McGraw-Hill Science/Engineering/Math (2005-01-06)
Author: Behrouz A Forouzan
List price:
New price: $80.00
Used price: $30.00

Average review score:

clear and thorough
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-12
Well thought-out, clear and thorough book. I have several networks books, but this is by far the best I've ever used, even surpassing "Computer Networks: a systems approach". Another advantage of this book is that it has a website with quizzes and results to help reinforce the information displayed in it. A must have for anyone learning about networks.

A very useful reference and textbook
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-14
I had to use this book for a graduate course. It has been very suitable for this purpose. The level of details is good, but not to the point of a protocol standard. If you need to master the concepts and do not want to refer to very superficial practical references or detailed standards this book is right in the middle. Lecturers will find it very appropriate and students will easly grasp the concepts. One can still use some parts of the book as a reference. If the required information is not there some of the references to RFCs and standards will guide the reader to more information elsewhere.

Great in-depth explanation of the different TCP/IP protocols!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-15
Just recently, I began writing network drivers for my custom Operating System and found myself a little in-the-dark about the proper format for a TCP/IP packet. This book proved to be a great read, and also an extremely useful reference later on.
Two thumbs up.

Absolutely the best
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-12
This may be the best textbook I have ever used. The text is concise and to the point with no extra "fluff". The illustrations are fantastic. The author has spent a tremendous amount of time on these... they take you directly to the meaning of the text, and give a strong visual and intuitive foundation to what has been written. Example problems with answers are numerous, and seem to be placed at exactly the points where you need to stop and work through concepts with pencil and paper. I really can't say enough about this text, I've read it cover to cover. It imparts an amazing amount of technical information without being dry... again, I think it's the illustrations that are so helpful, and it's nice that the author's style is direct and not wordy. I don't think you can buy a better TCP/IP book, this one's worth twice the price.

Best beginner reference of TCP/IP
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-01
As a beginner, this book can deliver a full and clear picture about details of TCP/IP including each protocol alogorithm, characteristics and it's usage. One can easily understand the TCP/IP basic architecture even without any experience after reading.

V
The Third Rumpole Omnibus (Rumpole)
Published in Paperback by Penguin (Non-Classics) (1998-03-01)
Author: John Mortimer
List price: $20.00
New price: $10.50
Used price: $3.44

Average review score:

Rumpole is always great!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-19
What can I say, this is Rumpole III? As with one and two, always great reading! I miss the Rumpole's on PBS. I hope they rerun soon. The books, of course, are delightful.

Coleen from Kent, Wa

Rumpole fans, rejoice!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-23

(If you're not already a fan, you will be after you read these tales!) Clever, funny, and moving - as always!

Rumpole
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-27
I certainly don't need to review "Rumpole of the Bailey." You know all about it. So, I'll just mention that he's especially good company when you fly. You can read a well-crafted story in what, 30 minutes? Ideal for airports and airplanes. Do this, sit for an hour, do that, sit for another hour, etc.

And Yet More of the Great Rumpole
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-08-03
Horace Rumpole presents himself as just an Old Bailey hack doing run-of-the-mill burglary defenses and the odd car-heist case. In reality he defends the best in the Anglo-American legal traditions against modern forces (for example, the presumption of innocence) - and this was written 20+ years ago!

Rumpole is the lovable defender of the average man and foe to all stick-in-the-muds. His motto "Never plead guilty." It could just as well be comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Hilarious, warm, human, touching, self-effacing and ever-ready to pierce the pompous gasbag - that's Rumpole of the Bailey. Start with the First Rumpole Omnibus and work your way through the rest.

As an American lawyer, I wish someone would create an American legal hero to match Rumpole.

Guaranteed to tickle your funny bone and warm your heart.

Wonderful, witty, urbane fiction
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-22
The Rumpole books are wonderfully entertaining and well-written mysteries that revolve around an aging English lawyer named Rumpole.

For readers not familiar with the author, John Mortimer, and this series of short stories and novels revolving around Rumpole, the central character, I offer the following introduction.

The author, Mortimer, was an English lawyer who also is well known for his writing. He has written popular British screenplays and television adaptations such as Brideshead revisited. He has written novels. And he has written a series of short stories with a few longer stories about an aging English lawyer named Horace Rumpole. Mortimer's background makes him uniquely qualified for this series.

Rumpole's stories are usually interesting cases the title character has been involved in. The judges, various attorneys, the defendants (Rumpole only takes defense cases), acquaintances and family members are constant characters throughout the series. Rumpole is a cynic who sees the humour (British spelling in honour of Rumpole) and absurdity of modern life. These tales are also quite ingenious mysteries. These tales are loosely chronological, but you can read any of the stories in any order and still get what's happening because Mortimer always reintorduces Rumpole briefly at the start of each collection. Rumpole's wife, Hilda, - referred to by Rumpole as 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' - is a wonderful foil to Rumpole's cynical humor and obstinance.

The collections of short stories came out individually in books containing several stories, and later as a collection of a trio of these books called Omnibus editions. The first three collections - Rumpole of the Bailey, The Trials of Rumpole, and Rumpole's Return - are in the First Rumpole Omnibus. The next three collections - Rumpole for the Defence, Rumpole and the Golden Thread, and Rumpole's Last Case - are in the Second Omnibus Edition. The last of the Omnibus editions, the Third (and the one being reviewed here) contains the collections Rumpole and the Age of Miracles, Rumpole a la carte, and Rumpole and the Angel of Death. There are four other collections that are only available singly, Rumpole on Trial, Rumpole Rests His Case, Rumpole and the Primrose Path, and a prequel Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders. Every single one of these books is a joy to read. Finishing this series left me almost tearful that there were no more of these books and this splendid writing left to read.

Now this volume contains stories that revolve around more modern issues like euthanasia, civil rights in a world of terrorism and the like. But my favorite stories usually involve the humorous foibles of Rumpole's circle. 'Rumpole and the Tap End' is a rollicking story about mis-steps of Rumpole's former Head of Chambers who is now a judge. I love the character developments of these kinds of stories.

I often give Rumpole books as gifts and I re-read these stories occasionally when my spirits need a lift from paying the taxman, wondering where my youth went, filling out forms at work, watching my waistline expand as my hopes and dreams dwindle, and wondering why all the inferior beings around me seem to be so much more successful than me. I recommend these stories, and specifically this volume highly. There is also an old TV series that is extremely well done available if your tastes run more to watching than reading.

V
The universe and Dr. Einstein
Published in Unknown Binding by V. Gollancz (1949)
Author: Lincoln Barnett
List price:
Used price: $15.85

Average review score:

The Universe and Dr. Einstein
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-17
Who would believe that a book on the Theory of Relativity could be written for the masses? Well it was, and this is it. The concepts that the book conveys are mind boggling, yet quite understandable at the same time. You'll never view space, time and the world around you the same again. It's a quick read, but as you'll learn, time is relative.

Equivalence of gravitation and inertia
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2004-12-04
Suppose all matter in the universe is expanding at a uniform rate and that "gravity" doesn't exist. Also imagine standing atop the Leaning Tower of Pisa and releasing two cannon balls. One weighs one ounce and the other ten pounds. Because the earth is rushing up to meet the balls, both seem to fall to the ground at the same rate. A cannon ball fired into the air seems to follow a curved trajectory back to the earth as the ground rushes up to meet it. A comet passing close to the earth seems to be "attracted" to the earth as we are pushed upwards towards it. Einstein says "gravity" is the effect on the path of a moving object caused by distortions in the geometric structure of the space-time continuum caused by mass. But space is "nothing," so how can "nothing" be distorted? Could the earth and all matter be expanding uniformly and unnoticed by us? Could this expansion be the real cause of what we call "gravity" and not the distortion of "nothing"?

This problem, somewhat simplified here, has been bothering me since I first read this book some forty years ago; if anybody can help enlighten me on this, I'd be glad to hear from you!

Non-scientists tell it Better
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-29
Mr. Barnett, a journalist, crossed over into the arena of science, a subject that he had not studied in college. And to the world's amazement, he captured on paper a clear and easy to read explanation of the genius and elegance of Dr. Einstein's theories concerning the very small (quanta) and the very large (space and time).

"Simply" Perfect
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-06
I feel that this book is a must for any home library. If you are experienced in physics, this book is extremely interesting because it delves deaply into the philosophy that brought Dr. Einstein to his great accomplishments. For those that have little knowledge of relativity, the universe, and quantum matters it offers a great introduction with a minimum of complex math. A simple way to understand how Dr. Einstein changed the entire universe. I have studied Albert for years. This is the first time I have read anything that gave me such an insight to his personality and thought processes. HONESTLY, the best book I have ever read.

A Page Turner! Excellent Intro to a Difficult Concept
Helpful Votes: 9 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-11
This is absolutely the best book on any scientific topic intended for the general reader that I have ever read. It is one of very few books about science I have ever read that I could seriously call a "page turner". Einstein's theories are presented in such a manner that anyone reading the book can understand the concepts without trying. I have read other books that discussed Einstein's theories, but none of them presented the ideas with such lucidity and simplicity, while at the same time not losing the depth and profundity of the concepts.

V
Acoso Sexual (Sexual Harassment)
Published in Paperback by Encuadernacion Geminis S.A. DE C.V. (2002-01-06)
Authors: Alma James and Stavros James
List price: $15.80

Average review score:

COMO CUIDARTE DE TU AGRESOR
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-12
Este libro te dá las armas para poder enfrentarte ante tu agresor, ya sea en el trabajo o en tu escuela o en cualquier lugar, porque hoy en día la perversidad del hombre a aumentado y tenemos que cuidarnos de todos... Este libro es ideal, ya que te enseñará métodos para poder GUARDARTE CON INTELIGENCIA DE TODO PELIGRO..

¿SABES QUÉ, AMIGA ?
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-05-18
SI VAS A ENTRAR A TRABAJAR...ESTE LIBRO TE ES INDISPENSABLE !
Te lo digo por amarga experiencia ...

HACE UN AÃ`O, UNA AMIGA ME HABLÃ" DE ESTE LIBRO,
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-03-25
y me rei como tonta !
A mis 30 años, adopté la posición inmadura de una adolescente,me sentí Superman !
¿VIERAS QUÉ CORRETIZA ME PUSO UNO DE LOS ABOGADOS DEL DESPACHO DONDE ENTRE A TRABAJAR ???
Si hubiera leído esta obra, habría visto los "síntomas " a tiempo...no que, a la mera hora, perdí el empleo y el tipo me alcanzó a tocar un poco !

Great tool 4 the Spanish Speaking Working Girl !!!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-07-21
I love books that are teaching tools. This is a fantastic book to present the Spanish speaking woman entering the work force, especially for that high school student who will soon be entering into the work force so that they can be aware of Sexual Harrassment and how be prepared to avoid or respond to such behavior, such as key words,"accidental contact",looks and more. A welcome addition to a well rounded education.

NUESTRA HIJA ENTRO A TRABAJAR A LOS 17 AÃ`OS,
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-04-14
Y NO QUERIAMOS DARLE PERMISO...
Pero su abuela la dotó de este libro y LA VERDAD ES QUE FUNCIONO..porque la chica detectó al agresor a las primeras de cambio...Y LO RECHAZO CON TANTA INTELIGENCIA COMO LE ENSEÑO ESTE LIBRO!
¡ES SU DEFENSA Y TU TRANQUILIDAD !
y le enseña a detectar a tiempo y a no dejar que las cosas lleguen mas lejos...

V
Amor a si mismo y A Los Demàs
Published in Mass Market Paperback by Editorial y Distribuidora Leo, S.A. de C.V. (2001-01-06)
Author: Georgina Greco
List price: $18.50
New price: $18.50
Used price: $5.95

Average review score:

¿CÃ"MO CREO DIOS A LA MADRE ?
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-04-15
NO TE LO PIERDAS, AMIGA !
LO HE LEIDO COMO 20 VECES, Y SIEMPRE ME HACE LLORAR DE EMOCION Y DE TERNURA...

EL LIBRO QUE NO SE OLVIDA
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-25
Y que nos ilumina el espìritu hacièndonos comprender las diferencias que hay entre los seres humanos..
¡BELLÌSIMO !

Great intuitive self help book to loving ones self
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-07-26
THis is a great self help book. Inspirational.Insiteful. Intelegent. If we cannot find the love of self how can we share love with those around us or even strangers. This book helps those of faith to see how the Creator sees us and places in each of us our gifts and callings.Helps one to see their purpose for being created as a human. Many special prayers too, for the teacher,secretary,barber and more.

QUE LIBRO MAS DIVINO !
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-06-09
NO TE LO PIERDAS..
LO COMPRE LA SEMANA PASADA Y YA LO LEI TRES VECES..Y CADA VEZ, ME GUSTA MAS !

Wouldn't you love to have a good look at
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2002-10-16
HOW THE LORD CREATED EACH CREATURE?
A sensitive, perceptive and poetic book ...
You'll never forget it!

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Blade of the Immortal: Cry of the Worm Vol.2
Published in Paperback by Dark Horse (1998-04-01)
Author: Hiroaki Samura
List price: $14.95
New price: $600.98
Used price: $15.49

Average review score:

Manga Collector
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2000-06-02
Blade of the Immortal: Cry of the Worm, was the first manga I read in the series. It is also one of the first manga I started out with when I began my collection of Japanese anime. I find that the artist is decent and respectable, not to mention suspenseful. Despite that I came upon the second in the series of the trade paperbacks, did not ruin the plot at all. All elements are revisited enough so that the words have depth behind them, but not too much that it ruins the current story and takes to much time. Every character seems well thought out and intricate, each with thier own history to bring to the main plot. Not all bad guy/ good guy roles are clear cut. Which makes this the thinking person's manga. The mix of tradition, history, fantasy, comic relief, and superb art pulled me out of this world and into that one. The art is so visually effective that one will realize that it's not just drawings in a book. Subtle morals in the book make the reader parallel feudal Japan with the modern world. The translation is good, but I can just imagine the effect each panel would have in the original Japanese. I recommend this for anyone who is looking for a masterpiece of work to become the trophy of thier collection.

The Burden of Forever
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2002-10-15
Having been introduced to Rin and Manji in Volume 1 ('Death of a Thousand'), and given a taste of the nature of their confrontation with the Itto-Ryu sword school, we now enter the real rhythm of the story telling. At first glance, we are tempted to write this off as yet another samurai slasher, with its clear-cut division between good and evil. But Hiroaki Samura has other plans, and 'Cry of the Worm' is his first step in muddying the waters.

In the first episode ('The Fanatic'), Rin sees Magatsu Taito, one of the assassins, having her dead father's sword sharpened. When she voices her outrage, she catapults Manji into another fight sequence, this time to recover the weapon. Manji's method of regaining the sword is painful (to say the least), and young Rin begins to understand that her desire for vengeance has a price.

Manji's immortality depends on a type of bloodworm that cares for its host by healing all wounds. Manji has yet to deal with the long-term effects of gift, and is not completely prepared when he meets Erika Shizuma, another Itto-Ryu at a way station inn. Shizuma tries to involve Manji in a plot to overthrow the leader of the Itto-Ryu. Properly suspicious, Manji refuses, and in the following scuffle discovers that Shizuma is also infected with the worms.

The conflict between Manji and Shizuma become an inquest into the realities of immortal life. He is a mirror that forces Manji to look at own commitments. In addition, he provides a somewhat different insight into the Itto-Ryu than we have had so far. If their tactics are grim, their motives are not completely selfish. They are a natural reaction to the excessive complexities of the sword school system and the excesses of the samurai class, which is more about show and politics than it is about the disciplines of fighting.

In this second volume of the series, we are not so much asked to resolve the questions as to take note of them. As this series builds, the violence of the quest will play in counterpoint to these musings about meaning. Gradually the inner dialog will play a more and more vital part.

The best manga translation on the stands.
Helpful Votes: 15 out of 15 total.
Review Date: 2000-08-15
I stumbled onto "Blade of the Immortal" translations in comic book format. Attracted by the art, and the unusally deep dialogue between the opponents (as dramatic as Kazou Kioke's "Lone Wolf and Cub", but much more up-to-date in sensibility and subject matter) I immediately began looking for back issues, which was difficult. Many retailers don't seem to order many issues of this book. Fortunately the trade paperbacks started coming out soon after.

"Blade of the Immortal" starts off as a fairly typical samurai revenge story, with some unusual horror movie twists. We meet Manji, a guilt-ridden outlaw and expert swordsman, who is cursed with an odd form of immortality. No matter how grievously he is injured, he cannot die. Manji makes a deal with a magical buddhist nun. He will gain the release of death, if he slays 1000 evil men. Soon we meet Rin, a young girl, the daughter of a swordsmanship teacher who witnessed the horrific murder of her parents at the hands of the Itto-Ryu, a renegade sword school. Tortured by nightmares, she seeks revenge, but realizing she has no hope of surviving a direct confrontation with even one Itto-Ryu swordsman, she convinces Manji to serve as her bodyguard and stand in. Taking up Rin's quest seems a perfect confluence of both of their desires: her need to put her parents memory to rest, his to earn his redemption.

The stories take you through dramatic encounters with various members of the sword school. All are dangerous swordsmen with unique styles of combat. Some are quite literally monsters. Each has a unique story, an unique reason for having become a renegade, and this becomes the source of much thought provoking drama before, during and after the battles. All are memorable characters, in particular Shimuzu (Book Two: "Cry of the Worm"), a fellow immortal and Maki, a swordswoman forced into prostitution who fights like the wind (Book 3: "Dreamsong").

Harioki Samura has great timing, the panel layouts make the fight scenes breathtaking and exciting. Also wonderful is the developing relationship between Manji and Rin, a kind of older brother, little sister dynamic that lends the book much humor and necessary warmth (given the bloodiness of the battles).

Beginning with "Rins Bane" (Book 4) Rin's internal debate about the morality and human costs of her quest, takes center stage, and make this one of the deepest and most interesting books to cross the Pacific in years. There's still plenty of action, and the relationship between Rin and Manji continues to deepen, but it's the debates about the sanity of the bushido code, about memory, about filial duty, and hints of political intrigue to come, that make this book an thought provoking and engrossing read.

If you have any taste for the high drama and action, as well as the deeper issues running through comic books like "the Authority", you have to give "Blade" a try. This is the best dramatic manga translation I've read, and it compares favorably with "Lone Wolf & Cub" and "Neon Genesis Evangelion". I really don't think you will be disappointed.

AMAZING
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-03-07
This is a beautiful manga. It is very interesting and the art is spectacular. It has a pencil sketched quality to it and is very unique. The plot is also one of the best I've ever read. . This may be a manga for guys but that doesn't mean that females can't enjoy this as well. The fight scenes are detailed (though sometimes confusing with the sketch pictures) and really fun to read.

WARNING Blade of the Immortal is about a guy that is....umm....immortal. That means he won't die. That means the bad guys are gonna do all in their power to kill him, slash him, decapitate him, stab him and so forth. VERY GORY is what I'm getting at.

The story is basically about Manji who had these worms put in him that make you immortal. They won't go away until he atones for his sins of killing 100 of the good guys (self defense I swear) by killing a thousand bad guys. He meets Rin who needs his help to avenge her parents who were murdered right before her eyes.

The thing that really holds this series together are the characters. Even the ones that are supposedly evil u find are not really evil but human. You almost don't want them to fight and get killed by the main guy, but then again u do because they are responsible for something horrible. You also feel immediately at home with nearly every other character introduced even after only a couple of pages.

This book Volume two, Cry of the Worm is my personal favorite. It was at my public library and the first I ever read of this great series. Rin finds a sword that once belonged to her father being owned by some (really cool, kinda looks like Vagita from DBZ only more realistic looking) samurai and she'll do anything to get it back. Later on they meet up with another immortal guy who wants Manji dead and being immortal himself he knows just the thing to do Manji in.

A great story
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2002-02-02
Plot wise, this is perhaps the strongest of the BOTI series. The villain is almost likeable, yet thoroughly hateable, and the end fight is imaginative. Kudos to Samura for this one.

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Blade of the Immortal: On Silent Wings, Volume 4
Published in Paperback by Dark Horse (1999-08-25)
Author: Hiroaki Samura
List price: $14.95
New price: $10.47
Used price: $7.15

Average review score:

An interesting story line, but no action.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-25
There aren't really any action scenes worth talking about in this novel. Rin does a few things, but she doesn't actually "fight". There is a story about this guy and his masks, but that isn't fully developed until the next volume.

This isn't a great place to start for your first volume. It mostly just develops story, but the story is important. Start somewhere else though. Get DREAMSONG if you can't fight a good seller for BLOOD OF A THOUSAND.

Those who already own the previous volumes of BOTI could skip this book and the next possibly. It develops Rin some, but I skipped it for a while and was fine.

How do you say "sweet!"
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2001-03-08
Dude this book is beast!! The best comic company ever (dark horse comics) has once again put out another comic that doesn't just raise the bar it obliterates it. Kudos to Hiroaki Samura for making the best comic book ever.

a must-get
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2001-03-19
this is one of the best comics i've ever read. it's about manji's job as a bodyguard for rin, who confronts Anotsu Kagehisa, who killed rin's father. she attemps to kill him, but does she really even stand a chance?this book was explosive and had a mix of action and explaining of the story for people who did not read any other of the Blade of the immortal series.

Beautiful art with an intellectual twist
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2001-07-25
The first time I looked at the Blade of the Immortal series, I seriously thought "Oh wonderful, another cheesy, gore ridden series with no plot and ... artwork." However, upon reading it I was taken aback by how wrong I truly was. The art is beautiful in its own way, unique and sketchy looking with no possible way it could be turned into an anime and still look as gorgeous. The story is also very nice, there is blood, but there is a good intellectual plot with the occasional twist of witty humor. It is an interesting mix of fact and fantasy, real and surreal all mixed in a historical setting. This series is set apart from others and I don't believe that I have any others quite like it. It never gets old. I highly recommend that, no matter what you're interested in, you should at least give this stunning series a try.

Review of Volume 1
Helpful Votes: 8 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2002-10-12
This volume and its sequel capture events from issues 19 through 28 of the manga comic books, and represents events in the earlier phases of the adventures of Rin and Manji. It contains two stories, "Rin's Bane," and the first part of "On Silent Wings." Both of these are strong stories that trace Rin's growth from a young girl hell-bent on vengeance for the murder of her parents into a woman who is beginning to understand the real price of retaliations.

In "Rin's Bane," the young swordswoman, smarting from an argument with Manji over her fighting skills heads off into the woods to wash her hair. There she finds herself face to face with Kagehisa Anotsu, the leader of the Itto-Ryu swordsmen. Anotsu brushes aside her skills, and she is forced to face some very unpleasant truths about her beliefs. The lessons of this encounter haunt Rin in the next story, "On Silent Wings." Manji and Rin are at a local fair when the immortal swordsman suddenly finds that a local mask maker is another Itto-Ryu. In a parallel encounter, Rin risks her own life to prevent a haughty samurai from killing a young child. Manji barely avoids a public battle, and Rin is shocked to recognize the artist as the killer who defiled her mother.

As events proceed inexorably towards the second volume's part of the story, we sense the internal tensions in Rin and her swordsman as they confront the possible outcomes of their actions. Hiroaki Samura's tale again touches on complex moral issues rather than simply dishing out a violent samurai melodrama. The grim horror that counterpoints the lighter exchanges between Samura's main encounters provides the basis for much thought and consideration. One of the surprises in this series has been the quality of the translation, which manages to carry through the whole range of the dialog. Yet Japanese is preserved where it is part if the detailed and carefully composed artwork. This extremely high level of artistic integrity grows on the reader. "Blade of the Immortal" is much more a genuine graphic novel than it is a simple manga.

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Calculus of Variations
Published in Paperback by Dover Publications (2000-10-16)
Authors: I. M. Gelfand and S. V. Fomin
List price: $10.95
New price: $6.18
Used price: $5.87

Average review score:

Quite clear, straight-forward explanations
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-18
I like this book, certainly what I have read of it. I'm now digging around near page 75, and it struck me that for the first time I really "get it" - In particular, this was about the use of the Legendre transform. The authors start with a very gentle introduction of it, and then, while things become more abstract, the text never jumps too far and never leaves the reader too much in puzzling. It's ought to be studied though, and it's not "easy".

Calculus of Variations
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-14
This book is a "must have" for those wanting to study topics in functional analysis.

Great value...
Helpful Votes: 14 out of 14 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-24
Ok, not everyone needs to (or wants to) know calculus of variations. But if you are among the ones who, this is a great book to get started with (assuming you are in grad school and have a decent handle on calculus and some basis in dealing with differential equations). The text is clear and concise, and the financial investment is minimal. A good buy!

Great math book doesn't have to be expensive and pretentious.
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-20
As a physicist I want to find a book to refresh my memory on theoretical mechanics. I came across this one, and after reading its first 4 chapters in continuation, I kow I don't need any other book. What a treat! Written by a past master, the book costs you next to nothing; yet as it's written by sure hand, it hasn't slightest pretention, just plain and insightful, natural and smoth flow, leads you almost effortlessly fowward. Even though I learned the subject before, I don't know of or even imagine a better exposition. Wow, I started to love Russian mathematicians.

Review of Calculus of Variations
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-10
This is a classic text and I would recommend it to graduate students and mathematicians who need a review of the subject. Great for us physicists as well.

V
The Children of the Arbat: A Novel (Rybakov, Anatolii Naumovich. Arbat Trilogy, V. 1.)
Published in Hardcover by Little Brown & Co (T) (1988-05)
Author: Anatoli Naumovich Rybakov
List price: $19.45
New price: $8.67
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $19.45

Average review score:

A brilliant epic of Stalinist Russia
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-01-02
Rybakov does a masterful job of showing the complexities of the Stalinist Soviet Union. Through the eyes of a clique of young Soviet students in the 1930's we are caught up in the post-revolutionary euphoria as Stalin sought to build "socialism in one country." Gradually the sinister aspects of Stalinism become apparent, as each character must decide the path they will take. Some simply go along and hope for the best, some work within the system (joining the NKVD), others are exiled to Siberia. _Children of the Arbat_ has been righly compared to _Dr. Zhivago_. It is a masterpiece of contemporary Russian literature. Highly recommended.

Excellent book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-22
This book is excellent. It great for people like me who don't like history. Through this book you will go in the world of Russia in the time of Stalin. The history is interestingly incorporated in the lives of the Russian people. I hope that you will read this book because it's really great.

Sadly out of print
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2002-07-15
This volume was first written in the 1960's Soviet Union under Krushchev's less onerous regime. By the time Children of the Arbat was ready for print Brezhnev had taken power and any dissent was supressed. Arbat was in fact, not printed until 1987.

The novel takes place in 30's Russia on the eve of the Great Purges under Stalin. The Arbat itself is street in Moscow which was once a bazaar and then (and now) the location of several cafe's and ourdoor music.

Children of the Arbat is great work combining literature and political commentary. Rybakov shows the impact of the terror on a small group of friends and relations. His portrayal of Stalin is on the mark, cold and ruthless.

An excellent novel of an era in Russia that should never be forgotten.

Gipping Account of Life in Stalinist Russia
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2003-12-03
I picked up this book after being told that it's a "must read" for anyone wishing to gain insight into life in 1930's Stalinist Russia. This is a gripping, though tragic, story of an idealistic boy who aspires to a life of service to the Soviet Union. His idealism is ultimately used against him, and his life thrown away by party members whose sole concern is self-protection and advancement. Unfortunately, while this is clearly the story of the author, the reader can't help but sense it's also the story of millions of youth in that time and place.

If you want a glimpse into the proverbial "Russian soul" and the factors that have shaped it, this book is an excellent place to start.

The Soviet Union on the Eve of the Great Terror
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2005-01-05
It is not always easy to keep track of the many threads in this sprawling 685 page novel about the Soviet Union in 1933 and 1934, on the eve of the murder of Kirov and the Reign of Terror. But it gives a superb picture of the period: a vivid portrait of Stalin and his thought processes, of the lives of young people in Moscow, of how it was already possible for devoted and loyal communists to be sent into political exile. (Most people know about the slave labour in the Gulags, but fewer know of what life was like for political exiles, who lived more freely among the villagers of Southern Siberia). Among the people we meet are idealistic and decent communists as well as ambitious and scheming ones. It stands up remarkably well in the light of all the new knowledge that has become available since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening of the archives. In particular, Rybakov's picture of Stalin is confirmed by Simon Sebag-Montefiore's chilling "Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar" (2003)


V
Cien Años de BOXEO (One Hundred Years of Box)
Published in Paperback by Encuadernacion Geminis S.A. DE C.V. (2003-01-30)
Author: Marcos Chávez Macías
List price: $15.98
Used price: $24.99

Average review score:

SI TE ATRAEN LAS HISTORIAS REALES
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2005-10-12
DE LUCHA Y TRIUNFO..ESTE LIBRO TE DEJARÁ MUY SATISFECHO...
Aunque no seas aficionado al box!

ESTE LIBRO CONTIENE TODO
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2003-08-12
LO QUE PENSE QUE NO ME INTERESABA SABER SOBRE EL BOX Y SUS CAMPEONES...

PERO ME CAUTIVO Y LO LEI HASTA EL FINAL !
AHORA SI PUEDO DISCUTIR DE BOX CON MI ESPOSO Y MIS CUÑADOS...¡Y HASTA CON MI SUEGRO, QUE ES EX BOXEADOR !

Un librazo que te deja KO !!!
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2003-08-05
Los mejores campeones, sus victorias, sus sacrificios...
FABULOSO !

POCAS COSAS TAN IMPACTANTES Y
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2003-05-18
LLENAS DE MOTIVACION, COMO LAS HISTORIAS DE ESTOS TIRUNFADORES QUE SON COMO MODERNOS GLADIADORES !

ME FASCINA LEER LA VIDA PROFESIONAL
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2003-04-28
Y TAMBIEN LA VIDA INTIMA DE LOS TRIUNFADORES...
Por eso me fascinó este libro que me regaló mi esposa !
Y seguro a mis cuantes tambien..porque alguno de ellos me "incautó " el libro !
YA DEVUELVELO, BRO!


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