V Books

This is it, the original manga that started a worldwide franchise. Before the anime, before the card game, before the video games, there was this.

Actually, this first volume is actually Volume 8 of Kazuki Takahashi's manga-meaning that readers will learn as much about Yugi's beginnings as they do from watching the first few episodes of the anime. The source material for the first season of Yu-Gi-Oh!, the manga follows Yugi and his friends from their first encounter with Maximillion J. Pegasus to their arrival on Duelist Kingdom (Yugi's first duel with Kaiba is left out). Those familiar with the anime will also be pleased to know that characters like Insector Haga (Weevil) and Mai Kujaku/Valentine will make appearances. Also featured is a rundown on the Duel Monsters cards used in the current storyline. While those who have watched the anime may not find much to talk about here, it's worth a look for those who want to know what all the buzz is about. But if you're a diehard fan who's got to have Yugi on the go, this is good place to start.

This book is rated T for Teen: Violence, Adult Situations

Ummm...Hello? Why are you people talking about volumes 2, 3, and 5 of the regular YGO manga series? This is Yu-Gi-Oh: Duelist, the original story line of the Duelist Kingdom tournament. It is rated teen...that's been established by my fellow YGO fans. Seriously, if you're a parent, don't get this book for your 7-year-old kid who thinks he knows everything about YGO...these are the mangas that you read backwards, so good luck explaining that to your child, and then there are some (...) situations in the other YGO books (there aren't really any in this one, that I remember). Actually, Mai Kujaku (Mai Valentine for all you dubbies) is very, VERY clad...her (...) are practically falling out of her "shirt." But anyway, I wasn't too enthusiastic about reading this because I own three versions of Duelist Kingdom including this, so I know what happens already. It's kind of hard for me to read through all the duels because I have practically memorized every duel in the DK saga. I am usually very tempted to skip the duels the first time I read this, but I didn't skip them, but now I only read through entire duels every once in a while...but I do really like this book!

i would give this book a A+ cuz its so cool to no the character's origins. as some of the other pple mentioned Seto Kiaba doesnt look to good though that doesnt matter to me since i like yami more. anyway the plot of this story sorta sounds like the episode where kiaba tore up Yugi's granfather's bwd(blue eyes white dragon). The only difference with that is that yugi doesn't duel kiaba right off the bat. i'm not gonna tell more cuz that's 4 u to find out.

another thing is that if ur under 12 u shouldn't read this. someone i no read this when he/she was 10 and wouldn't stop asking questions about it. It has a little bit of perverteness cuz of tristan/honda's nephew jojhi. dont get me mad if ur 7 years old and say u like yu gi oh cuz u dont even no the 1/2 of it.

anzu(tea 2 u unkwoning freaks) is not that bad in this manga. but she does draw the smiley face as the friendship sign and makes the litle speech. actually its the only speech she makes on friendship in the entire series. it's still a great book and i would recomend this book to all my friends if they read yu gi oh.

From the title of the item, I would have to say that this is the new Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duelist. The Duelist series is supposed to be based on what American viewers saw, Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, those things, without the annoyance of fillers like Noa's Arc and DOOM. This manga shows the first introduction of Pegasus, how Yugi-tachi got to the island, and the introduction of Mai and Insector Haga (Weevil Underwood for the American fans.) This is a lot more violent, though, as such, you should obey the "Teen" rating on the series.
Other than that, great book, great series, and help in the cause of getting pictures of the thing onto the Amazon.com site, so people will stop giving reviews for manga 2 and 5!

I really like this book. Well, I'm a big fan of Yugioh, so duh! This is the book in which we first see the Duel Monsters cards and meet the young CEO (though at the time we don't know he is one) Seto Kaiba and the mysterious Shadi.

Beware though, Seto, who usually looks all hot and sexy, doesn't look too spectacular. I'm not sure why, but some of the images of him look rather awkward, so if you are used to watching the anime, this is the manga, note the change. It's not like it matters to anyone but me anyway. (I'm an absessive Seto fangirl).

Also, if you are some silly little kid who's under ten and "thinks" he/she likes Yugioh, back away before I get angry. Don't even READ this if you're under 12.

I'm fourteen, and when I see f'ggin FIVE YEAR OLDS saying they like Yugioh I get real pissed...... So, if you are some baby, this book is too sophisticated for you. It is rated TEEN, whatever it says up there, and includes a lot of (minor) swears and violence and drugs and alcohol and more mature stuff.

Joey and Yugi and Honda (Tristen, to all you unknowing twerps) are known to pull perverted pranks. Once, they watched a movie that mentioned "censoured" girls and Joey trying to see through the censoring....O.O...... but that wasn't in this book, so don't worry about Yugi wanting to watch digitized porn.

Yugioh as a whole is awsome. It's my favorite anime for many reasons. It includes hot guys (SETO KAIBA!!! & Malik, Bakura, Yami), Millenium magic, dueling action (I love action/violence, I don't know why) and everyone else that makes it so unique and awsome.

Buy, or at least READ this book, (if you like Yugioh) because it is NOT some cheesy kid's book like the dubbed TV show has become. Now I'm going to get angry at 4kids and the dubbers..... *throws computer at dubbers, they scream and run, I follow them laughing like Yami Marik swinging the Millenium Rod DAGGER!!! (which, to all you unknowing dub-following YGO babies, DOES exist.... but any true Yugioh fan knows that, right?)*

I'm stunned this dictionary doesn't carry a new printing because it's light years ahead of any other, not because it's unabridged, but because of its idiomatic breadth. Even in 2007, there's no German term I've come across that wasn't here, even obscure variants are included. At this price, this is an invaluable resource for your personal library. Highly recommended.

The Collins German Dictionary, with 800,000 entries, has more words and definitions than other comparable dictionaries such as the Oxford Duden, the Langenscheidts and the Cassells (which should be avoided because it is so outdated). It also gives complete grammar explanations in the preface, and it includes a list of regular German noun endings, their genders, genitives, and plurals. There is also a handy reference of all the abbreviations, field labels, and style labels on the inside cover. It also includes the past and participial forms for all strong verbs, and it gives past subjunctives within the text. The Collins also gives declensions for pronouns such as "wer" and "jemand," and it lists proper nouns within the text. Verbs that differ from the stem of the infinitive are listed in their imperative singular form ("hilf," "sprich," etc.). The traditional orthography is given in the body of the dictionary, with a symbol indicating words that have changed on account of the spelling reform of 1996.

Its main drawback is that the binding tends to collapse with frequent use, even though it is a hardback.

While abbreviations are listed in alphabetical order in the text, their definitions are not given to you immediately. For example, if you look up "usf.," you are told that it is an abbreviation of "und so fort;" then you must look up fort to discover that "usf." means "and so forth." The Collins listing of German verbs is at the very end of the dictionary, which makes it hard to find.

Note that there are a variety of Collins dictionaries. The unabridged version has 800,000 entries, while the College Edition has 380,000 entries, and the Concise edition has 195,000 entries. Some of the smaller dictionaries have entries listed in red or in blue, which is helpful for finding words more quickly. If you are beginning to learn German, it is useful
to have a smaller dictionary to save time while looking up the
same word over and over again.

This could well be the best two-way dictionary of any language pair anywhere. As an avid student of several foreign languages (incl. English and German) for 20 years, I have come to know what constitutes a first-rate dictionary. It is nothing short of a masterpiece.

I had been using a predecessor edition (2nd ed., 1991) for some 10 years, and even when it was published it was the best of its kind and constantly on my desk. This 4th edition raises the bar by featuring improvements across the board. The benefits derived from the increased computerised analysis of the huge word corpora Bank of English and Deutsche Textbörse are increasingly visible. Vorsprung durch Technik, indeed.

1. This exhaustive dictionary embraces, on 1000 pages in either section, every register from formal officialese via the standard language right down to vulgar slang. But it is in the real-life language where Collins has the finger right on the pulse. Many word entries are awash with examples of usage/idioms/set phrases/proverbs as actually used by natives as well as their natural translations. (I wish there were a way to download all this information into my brain because I would be able to handle any situation in flying colours.)

2. Inclusion of German words like Kardanwelle, Rochade, das Pull-Down-Menü, Überlaufanzeige etc. indicate extensive coverage of specialist terms in many fields as well as loan-words from the 90s.

3. The English section is equally impressive, listing e.g. cyberpet, establishing shot, trick or treat, decontextualize, nuclear reprocessing plant, memory expansion card, look-in, supergrass, wicked (UK slang). The word "go" and its associated phrasal verbs have an astounding range of translations.

4. Idiomatic phrases such as "to get away with sth" and "jdm etwas zumuten" which are contextually dependent are given several alternative and appropriate translations.

5. Certain bon mots and expressions which are used mostly in situations on one side of the Channel (or those whose counterpart is much less colourful!) are well translated.
Examples: set piece, pub crawl, single-track mind, car-boot sale, off-the-record, stomping groud, pipe dream; Stammtisch, Führungszeugnis, Geheimtipp, Kuschelrock, Dreitagebart, Wohngemeinschaft, Dunkelziffer, nicht mehr der jüngste sein etc. In fact, even "Ich schau dir in die Augen, Kleines", the classic line from the dubbed version of Casablanca, is listed. Hut ab!

6. This edition includes an audio CD with pronunciation (because they understand that there is a practical limit to phonetic script). The layout has been given a face-lift with 3 columns per page instead of 2 resulting in improved readability.

7. The dictionary's vast scope, depth and usability for both English and German learners and speakers (in equal measure) leave virtually no room for valid criticism. Yet some words and expressions seem to have escaped the researchers' keen eye for detail (so far); missing English words are e.g. polenta, present/current value (Fin), brown-noser, case-sensitive. Im deutschen Teil sind die folgenden durchaus geläufigen Wörter nicht aufgeführt: Quereinsteiger, Marktabschottung, Kasslerbraten, Regelwerk, verhandlungssicher, Töff (CH). But this is nit-picking.

Summa summarum: Kudos to the team of meticulous professionals behind this work for having brought out the Mercedes S-Klasse - with all the optional extras - of dictionaries. It's also an exemplary cross-border collaboration optimally blending British practicality and German precision.

Buy this dictionary - you may still be using it in 2012.

While I used to swear by Langenscheidt's dictionaries, this one tops it as far as general purpose German/English English/German dictionaries are concerned.

Featuring up-to-date vocabularies, and a wide variety of idiomatic traslations, this dictionary is very helpful in giving clear guidance as to differences in meaning and usage.

If you are a translator or interpreter, or simply interested in the intricacies of either one or both of the languages, this book belongs on your desk.

Given the weight of this hefty volume, it won't be in most people's luggage when travelling; for those occasions, I recommend to keep "Langenscheidt's Universal Dictionary - German" at hand instead.

While this is, overall, an excellent dictionary, it still has a few problems that I've also noticed in smaller dictionaries. I've run across a few words that are found in the English>German, but then the German word is not listed in the German>English section...or vice versa. I wouldn't have expected this in an "unabridged" dictionary. Having all the words in both sections is important in our household since I am from the US and my wife from Germany. We commonly rely on both German>English AND English>German translations. The missing translations can be bothersome.

Also, despite this being unabridged, I've run across several, fairly common, words that are not in here. For example, I could not find the word 'canola', as in 'canola oil', in the English>German. It doesn't seem like that is too obscure of a word...especially for an unabridged dictionary. There have been several more that, in bewilderment, I could not find. I see there is a 5th edition coming out in September 2004. Hopefully that may solve some of these issues.

All in all, among the unabridged German-English dictionaries, this one does seem to be the best one out there, and at a reasonable price.

I found this book very intreguing. I have read The Chronicles of Narnia completely several times as an adult and this book is right up there with it. The story was spell binding allegory. The princess, a prophecy, a secret, everything about it kept me reading. I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of his sequel, The Devil's Mouth, so that I can continue my journey into the seven kingdoms.

Thomas Williams is truly talented! This book got me from the first page till the last and I neglected much work while reading it as I couldn't put it down.Set in medievil times around two kingdoms and an awsome forrest it's fast paced , exiting and full of adventure.It has strong characters and a fantastic story line that I wished would never end. It will make you believe in love and honour and think about your own morals and strive to be better.I loved every word!

This book has wonderful allegory that compels one to be noble and pure. It is a page turner (especially the last half)that is in ways comparable to Tolkien's works. It has extensive characters which come to life and plot that is quite enjoyable.

I am excited about Tom Williams' new book, "The Crown of Eden," for several reasons. First, for those who enjoy medieval tales of brave knights and fair ladies and enchanted forests, Tom's story will thoroughly delight. The adventures of Princess Volanna and the gallant knight Aradon are woven together in twisting episodes of romance, terror, tragedy and triumph. The story begins by bringing the reader up to date concerning the great empire of Perivale whose victorious battle with the evil Morgultha united seven kingdoms. But Perivale disappears mysteriously and an ancient sage appears out of the enchanged Braegan's Wood to foretells the breakup of Perivale's empire. He delivers also a hopeful yet cryptic prophecy concerning the eventual restoration of Perivale's glory through an heir who will one day take the throne, reunite the kingdoms and reign over days even more glorious than those of his father. "The Crown of Eden" is the exciting story of the fulfillment of that prophecy.

The best thing one can say about "The Crown of Eden" is that it is a wonderfully told story. The chapters are short, revealing just enough surprises in the unfolding story that it is difficult to stop. More than once, as the reader is gaining speed toward some seemingly inevitable conclusion, Tom inserts an unexpected turn in the plot which leaves the reader delightfully off balance. And though one senses near the end of the story how it might end, the twists and turns keep coming even to the last few pages.

Tom has created dozens of wonderful characters in the story including the noble King Tallis, the loyal servants Kalley and Olstan, and the pathetically evil prince Lomar.but the story centers around two main characters, Princess Volanna and the commoner Aradon. Through these two characters Tom is able to not only tell a great story, but teach profound lessons in an effective and unintrusive way. Which is the next best thing about "The Crown of Eden." It does more than just tell a good story.

Interwoven amidst jousting festivals, harrowing escapes through murky swamps, rescues from dark and foreboding castles, there are scenes and conversations which allow Tom's characters to give articulate expression to various truths. King Tallis expounds on the puzzle of balancing God's sovereignty and man's freedom. Father Lucidis eloquently expounds on the virtues of pleasure, delight and ecstasy. Lord Aldemar wrestles with the tension of obedience to law and loving his country. Bogard gives some of the best advice to be found on choosing one's life mate.

Best of all, we find in Volanna and Aradon the embodiment of what it means to be a womand and a man. Tom is at his best when he describes the beauty of Volanna, a beauty that does not inflame illicit passion, but awakens the legitimate passions which lie all too dormant within us. If there is a weakness in "The Crown of Eden," it is that these "philosophical moments" in the story may linger a bit too long and distract at times from the story.

One last observation which made the book enjoyable was the way Tom has blended his own fantasy with the history of scripture. These characters and their kingdoms exist only in our minds, yet they are christians and as such often look to biblical stories to make meaning our of their own experience. The most intriguing example of this is the use of the strange biblical story of King Jephthah and his daughter which finds in "The Crown of Eden" a narrative commentary.

This tale, which hopefully will be the first of many in the The Seven Kingdom Chronicles, is a wonderful addition to the rapidly growing genre of Christian fantasy and as enjoyable as such established authors as Terry Brooks (of recent Star Wars fame.) Though Tom's single story does not merit comparisons with his literary mentors, Lewis and Tolkein, clearly his writing exhibits the best of their influence and the tales of the Seven Kingdoms certainly deserve to be on the same shelves alongside the tales of Narnia and
Middle-earth.

Tom Williams has a marvelous way of telling a story. You will actually fall in love with the main characters--and right along with them--feel their hurts, fears, disappointments, as well as their ultimate joy and exhilaration. There are profound lessons woven into the story, but they emerge from the characters' wrestling with decisions and their actions rather than tedious, preachy dialogs and monologs. Williams addresses some knotty theological questions, such as how the free will of men and women fits into an unfailing providence revealed in prophecy. But not to the detriment of a beautiful love story.

This book is masterpiece. It comes in second to none, including the works of George MacDonald, J. R. R. Tolkein, and C. S. Lewis.

The book is a very good reference with excellent example code. I was a beginner when I purchased it and it was invaluable. I look forward to using volume 2 of this book.

This combined with the subsequent Class Libraries AWT, beans and applet for 1.1 by the same authors are the best Java books I have purchased. Combined with the jdk 1.1 Nutshell book and VisualAge for Java from IBM...you are able to find methods quickly and easily...and then utilize them. Great Job!

If you are doing JDK 1.02 programming, this book is required. I can find anything I need about any class quicker with this book than with any other Java class reference. I need to know specific return values from methods, its there. I need to look at an example of how to use a class or method, it there. This is the easiest (but heaviest) Java reference book I have used.
However...

If you plan on coding exclusively with JDK 1.1 I would wait for the upcoming two volume set (by the same title) from these authors. If they are as good as this volume, they will be worth the money in the time that they save.

This is a great book, but you want the second edition, which covers up to Java 1.1. Its ISBN is different.

I have the book by my side at all times when working on my Java code. It is indispensable. All the classes are list alphabetically which helps in locating what you need. The 2nd edition is out now that covers Java 1.1 classes. A must have!!!

This book is highly recommended for those individuals who are seeking their true identity.

The Author who herself has had an aristocratic bearing also explores and sheds light onto one of the pasts most important and intriguing European dynasties: The Ottomans

Albeit, currently she is plainly refered to as Ms. Kenize Mourad, the authors full name is Her Imperial Highness, Princess Kenize Mourad, Princess of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, shes is in the best position to reflect on such empire.

She is the daughter of His Imperial Majesty, The Grand Sultan, Mourad V, whose titles included: Sovereign of the Imperial House of Osman, Sultan of Sultans, Khan of Khans, Commander (Caliph) of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe, Custodian of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, Caesar of the Roman Empire, Emperor of The Three Cities of Constantinople, Adrianople and Bursa, and of the Cities of Damascus and Cairo, of all Azerbaijan, of the Magris, of Barka, of Kairouan, of Aleppo, of Arabic Iraq and of Acem, of Basra, of Al-Hasa, of Dilen, of Ar Raqqah, of Mosul, of Parthia, of Diyarbakýr, of Cilicia, of the Vilayets of Erzurum, of Sivas, of Adana, of Karaman, Van, of Barbary, of Abyssinia, of Tunisia, of Tripoli, of Damascus, of Cyprus, of Rhodes, of Candia, of the Vilayet of the Morea, of the Marmara Sea, the Black Sea and also its coasts, of Anatolia, of Rumelia, Baghdad, Kurdistan, Greece, Turkistan, Tartary, Circassia, of the two regions of Kabarda, of Georgia, of the plain of Kypchak, of the whole country of the Tartars, of Kefe and of all the neighboring countries, of Bosnia and its dependencies, of the City and Fort of Belgrade, of the Vilayet of Serbia, with all the castles, forts and cities, of all Albania, of all Eflak and Bogdania, as well as all the dependencies and borders, and many others countries and cities.

Despite de jure claim to the aformentioned titles, she insistingly prefers to be refered to as simply Ms. Kenize Mourad.

Suave and sagacious she is a true symbol of magnanimity.

A book definately worthy of reading, from an individual whose life could be an inspiration for others.

I guess I was the only one who was not fond of this book (I read it in English, so maybe it's a bad translation).

I found the main character, her mother, to be a worthless human being who never did find her role in life. Her life was depressing to the max... no matter what she did, seems like she made things worse instead of better.

There were a lot of little mentions that never got followed up, which I found annoying (in particular, several hints at lesbianism, but then the characters involved either disappeared or were married off).

The history and perspective were interesting (justifications for slavery and creating eunuchs!), but I found it to be a bit of a slog through her trying to justify her existence.

The story is so intense and gripping that it carries the reader past whatever difficulties there may be in style. Since reading this several years ago, I have haunted the library waiting and looking for the promised second book. I don't know if that was ever translated from the French to English or not. Anyone interested in history or biography will find this book goes over the top in interest.

I had seen Regards From the Dead Princess for a number of years on the shelves at my town's public library. I never read it until after I travelled to Turkey as a tourist in 2003. I could barely put the book down. I came to admire Ms. Mourad's quest for her identity, the truth about her mother, and the origins of her family and how with the bits and pieces she was able to gather over the years she was able to write this wonderfully tragic tale. When I went back to Turkey in 2004 to teach English, I told my intermediate level students about this novel. Several expressed an interest in reading it.

Since the 8th grade, I have read about and studied the demise of the European dynasties after War World I, especially the Russian imperial family, but I had never seen anything about what happened to the Ottoman (Osmanli) family once Turkey became a republic. It was not until after my trip to Turkey that I decided to make Turkish and Ottoman history a part of my knowledge. This book was the beginning of my studies.

Regards From the Dead Princess is the story of Selma, a granddaughter of the last Ottoman Turkish sultan (padishah). Selma grows up happy, but cloistered in the family's palace in Istanbul. She dreams of marrying General Mustapha Kemal, a celebrated Turkish general who helps saves the Turkish mainland from being partitioned by the victors of World War I. She and others call him the "Golden Rose" because of his unusual blonde hair. Selma says that when she grows up, she will marry the "Golden Rose." Little does she know that once this same war hero comes to power as the first president of Turkey that her family will be sent into exile. This is one of the earliest betrayals and disappointments which Selma will face in her short and tragic life.

Selma is a victim of history. Her family had ruled Turkey for 500 years. She and her family must learn to live as near penniless exiles whereever they are accepted in the world. Selma finds that she never quite belongs anywhere. That is her ultimate tragedy. Selma's beauty, depression, and loneliness could not be more beautifully told.

This intense novel was written by a journalist, Kenize Mourad, and it makes the reader travel through different historic periods.
It is the true story of a granddaughter of the last Sultan of Turkey, Mourad V .The Turkish Princess was exiled from Turkey during the stablishment of the Turkish Republic in 1918, spent her chilhood in Beirut during the French occupation and married to an Indian, Rajad, in the last years of the British Empire in India. She ended up in Paris during the Nazi occupation.
It was one of the most complete books I've read. I really recommend it to lovers of historical novels from teens to adults.

This, the second volume of an awesome collective work, catalogues in rich detail the events and achievements of ancient Greece. But more than that, it tells the story about how the events unfold and gives insight into how science and philosophy came into being for the first time in civilization. For a long time, I had only a very scattered understanding of the ancient Greek world. This work gives me a much clearer view of the whole picture. There were a few sections where I did get stuck on the details - in the enumeration of people, places, and events - but it wasn't very often and it was probably due more to a lack of imagination on my part.

In trying to make a overly short synopsis, the book can be viewed as divided into three parts covering three different eras in Greek civilization. The first part delves into indefinite origins that can be traced back to the culture of ancient Crete, then the Mycenaean civilization, the Achaeans and the Homeric epic of Troy - which the archeologist Schliemann found actually existed in Asia Minor - and then the Dorian invasion. The second part concerns the Persian War and the coming of age of the city-states including Athens, it's friends and foes; and also the great advances in art, literature, science, philosophy and law as well as the decline that results mainly from the Peloponnesian War. The third part concerns the decay of mainland Greece but the diffusion of it's great culture to most of the known world through especially the conquests of Alexander the Great.

Vital to the development of Greek culture was the city-state, which grew in mainland Greece after the Dorian invasion (1100-950BC), and spread across the Aegean to the many islands and far-off shores of the Mediterranean. The city-states were separated and protected by mountainous terrain, which made it difficult to assert centralized control. They were linked principally by the waterways of the Aegean, and this linkage stimulated trade and preserved a common heritage, despite the many squabbles and wars. It was the burgeoning of trade and the opportunity for people to interact with others of different cultures that helped shake some of the ingrained beliefs and traditions and stimulate the inquiring mind. The Greeks were also freed to question supernatural explanations of the universe - and therefore develop science and philosophy - because they did not have a powerful priestly class, and thus were not so readily subject to persecution for the shattering of old myths. They were really quite ingenious in an age that had a very narrow view of the world. For example, Eratrosthenes made calculations concerning the curvature of the earth and computed the circumference of the earth to be very close to what we know it today.

One of the remarkable facts of the Golden Age of Periclean Athens (but not uncommon in those days) is that of the total population of Attica, some 315,000 peope, something like 115,000 were slaves. Of that difference consider, too, the number of woman, who were not participants in the political process. With that kind of distribution - more than half were not eligible - democracy had to be tenuous and fragile at best. For much of the history of the Greek city-states, there was this back-and-forth struggle between an obligarchy, the very richest and the aristocratic, and free citizens, who managed from time to time to rise above menial labor and assert themselves. During the time of Pericles, somehow a significant number of free citizens became active participants in government, signifying the dawning of a democratic process. But it did not last for long.

This is the second of the multi-volume work by the Durant's. It is as good as the first (and not wanting to give anything away, chuckle), they only get better and better. The author's prose is almost as wonderful as the actual historical work. The author apparently spent fifty years in writing these books and it certainly was worth the effort. He, and his wife, make history come alive. Now granted, I am a history buff and simply cannot get enough of it. I realize that not all share my love for the subject, but I truely feel that the entire work should be required reading in our schools. Not only are they superior to any and all text I am familiar with, they are truely a joy to read. This particular volume gave me much more insight to the ancient Greeks, their culture, art and philosophy than any work I have read, thereby giving me a much better understanding to our own culture, etc. It's just me, I know, but an added joy to this work was prowling used book stores and finding these things one by one to add to my collection. Highly recommend these books.

My set of Durants The Story of Civilization was purchased at a garage sale. Poor fools, they did not know what they were selling. Their loss is my gain. Volume Two, however, was missing, a situation that was remedied when I wandered into a used bookstore and there, on a shelf was Volume Two- The Life of Greece calling my name. I immediately forked out eight bucks and headed down to the local coffee house and began a fascinating and enjoyable read.

Having read through Volume 5, The Age of Faith, this has to be the best volume thus far- I could hardly put it down. To be sure there are areas that one has to plow through, that is to be expected of a work of this scope; but Durant has filled my world with the genius, history and drama of ancient Greece.

What made this book so fascinating is that, over and over again, Durant brought us into the lives of these men. We are not merely dealing with historical figures, but real people who lived, made love, made war, wrote masterpieces and who could act with courage, fall to cowardice or just make stupid mistakes. By far my favorite chapter was The Suicide of Greece. It told how a great civilization could fall. The story of Alcibiades was absolutely riveting. Both a brilliant leader and a scoundrel, he pushed Athens towards destruction by his fraternity style pranks that doomed his invasion of Sicily contributing significantly to the downfall of Athens as a power.

Consistent with all his volumes, Durant again shows us the cycle of civilization. He shows us again that the life of thought endangers every civilization that it adores. He writes:

As civilization develops, as customs, institutions, laws, and morals more and more restrict the operation of natural impulses, action gives way to thought, achievement to imagination, directness to subtlety, expression to concealment, cruelty to sympathy, belief to doubt the unity of character common to animal and primitive men passes away; behavior becomes fragmentary and hesitant, conscious and calculating; the willingness to fight subsides into a disposition to infinite argument. Few nations have been able to reach intellectual refinement and esthetic sensitivity without sacrificing so much in virility and unity that their wealth presents an irresitble temptation to impecunious barbarians. Around every Rome hover the Gauls; around ever Athens some Macedon.

I hope that Durant has not just written our epitaph as a great nation.

Durant paints a fascinating portrait of Greek life and culture as well as the history of a country that provided a foundation for modern thought and politics in the modern world. Highly recommend for history buffs as well as serious students.

Authors Dr. Will & Ariel Durant have compiled the history of ancient Greece in this, the second volume of The Story of Civilization.

At over >700 pages in length, the Durants launch into great detail about: The mysterious lost civilization of the island of Crete, land of the Minotaur and the labyrinth. The violent society of Homer's Iliad. The rise of classical Greece; a society of traders and navigators, explorers and colonists, soliders, sailors, and settlers. The origins of democracy and the political legacy to the Western world. The heroic battles against the Persians. The golden age of Athens. Backgrounds of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and the birth of the Academy, and of course....Alexander the Great! Plus much more including plates and maps.

As with all of the volumes of The Story of Civilization, these books were written to stand alone and most likely will be read by the more serious students of history, however, they are composed and written to be understood by the layperson as well. In short, these books are for everyone! I rate it at five stars as the Durant's Magnum Opus!

When Trevanian passed away last December, I was intrigued by the descriptions of his thrillers in the obituaries, and decided to try them out. Though I haven't yet read his most famous book, Shibumi, I've now completed Incident at Twenty-Mile and The Summer of Katya.

I found both books gripping. Trevanian likes to play with pacing, point-of-view, and plot twists in such a way as to draw you relentlessly on, even as you're aware on some level that you're being had.

At the same time, neither book delivers in the end on the suspense that has been so well crafted. Instead, the plots in both novels are resolved by eruptions of violence that arise randomly, rather than organically from the story and characters. And I was surprised to find that both books relied on the hoary device of an amnesiac killer.

I was reluctant to read this book. I got into Trevanian because of his pre-X-gen notion. "Nothing matters", no holds barred. This one became a page-turner. Damn me and Trevanian! Too many good books...He gets me every time, no matter what! I imagined, the Iternational-Espionage Master bringing me into an exciting World of the Fearless. This one goes somewhere else. Can't explain...you just gotta read.

He tested things I could never imagine. Turns out Trevanian has a heart. This book will fool you if you know the author. A good read, for sure. Romantic at least, confusing at best. You don't know the story until the end...it's tragic, sort of. Won't give away the end...a good journey. There is no side-show. Something else comes into play here...and it writes beautifully.

I came across The Summer of Katya by accident, and am happy to have discovered both the author and the novel. This is a witty, often amusing little story, with dialog that you can practically hear and a mystery that remains a tantalizing, just-out-of-reach secret until the end. Both of the male characters are vitally human - Katya, the love interest, is superficially charming but strangely wooden, the first clue that something is seriously wrong with this picture. The plot epitomizes the old adage that love is blind; although the reader is not sure what the problem is, you know there is one, a discovery that Jean-Marc stubbornly refuses to see until it is literally forced upon him. This book is a little known gem; a quick, enthralling reading experience.

Trevanian is a wonderful writer, best known for spy thrillers, his artistry however, is most impeccable in this mysterious love story. As it opens, Jean-Marc Montjean, begins telling his story and it flows from there with casual, yet poetic prose, evolving like the day, bright with possibilities in the early hours, full of hope, yet soon twists to the inevitable dark of evening. The reader feels compelled back in time and into the shoes of the narrator. It is tight, organic and fluid. Goes down in history as a classic along side Rebecca and Wuthering Heights.

This really is a work of genious. A love shadowed by the burdens of a painful past. A must read!

Having purchased The Three Musketeers and The Man in The Iron Mask I realised that there were three intermediate novels pulling the story together.Twenty Years After, The Vicomte De Bragelonne and Louise de La Valliere bring the complete story of the musketeers into focus. To gain the most from these stories they need to be read as virtually one book in five large chapters.

After writing The Three Musketeers and Twenty Years after, Dumas wrote a third installment to the trilogy. It is probably the most controvercial book in the trilogy, as can be revealed by reading many of the reviews. For starters, it's LONG: over 200 chapters. As a result, the English-speaking world has split it into three books: The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valiere and The Man in the Iron Mask (the most famous volume). The length is certainly a problem, in fact is it THE major flaw in the conclusion of the trilogy. Dumas is never terse or concise, but in this three-part book, he produces an monolith. This was largely due to him overcomitting himself and having to write this much for financial reasons. However, while this is a major setback, the three books still have elements of great, almost sublime Dumas left in them, which can be extracted if approached in the right way.

The final installment of the trilogy represents the dear old Athos, d'Artagnan, Porthos and Aramis maturing and growing old. The trilogy thus moves from more active and straightforward swashbuckling to a more complex and sombre picture. Like the previous book Twenty Years After, it is not completely clear as to who's in the right and who isn't, only this time it is more so. Like the previous book, age has placed the former Musketeers in a somewhat divided situation, this time involving many a clandestine dealing of state and international level. Finally, in this three-part saga, we are introduced to a huge number of characters while our Four at times take a back seat for several hundred pages. This has been criticised as well, but has a point.

In terms of this specific volume (The Vicomte de Bragelonne), it is the most historical one, as initially d'Artagnan and Athos are brought out of retirement, united in their royalist causes. After completing an adventure reminiscent of their former, more "action-packed" years, the intrigue of the newly-ascended Louis XIV begins. It is here that we can see Dumas as painting a brilliantly detailed picture of what he sees as France moving towards a more centralised, efficient yet pedestrian autocracy from Richeleu to Mazarin to Louis XIV. For the first time, d'Artagnan finds himself serving (and appreciated by) the king, however, the novel asks the question of whether this is at all a good thing. In the power-struggles of the court, we see the irony that the "detractors" of progress are often more honourable than its supporters.

If you only expect more action involving the Four, then don't bother reading this at all. However, if you persevere, you will get to see sublime glimpses of what a long way the Musketeers of old have come (for better or worse), what they think about the entire society they live in and what Dumas thinks. As well as some of the old-fashioned-style adventure. I think that the fact that this is obscured by an overly-drawn-out style, while annoying, does not detract from this being an honourable conclusion to the trilogy.

While the main characters of the Musketeers saga are present here, The Vicomte de Bragelonne does not make nearly so good use of them as in the previous two books. While true that the characters have aged along with Alexander Dumas, they retain their flair for adventure and their basically upright personalities. What fails, unfortunately, is the writing itself. Bragelonne is the first of three novels that make up the trilogy ending in The Man in the Iron Mask. But while the last installment is well known worldwide, the first two (this one and Louise de la Valliere, the latter of which I've not yet read) remain obscure. At least in this case, there's a reason for that.

First, the plot is scattered. Even by Dumas's normal standard there is little coherence. The first third of the book, roughly speaking, is fully up to the normal Musketeer standard, involving two of our heroes in military intrigue during the restoration of King Charles II to the English throne. Bravo all around for that. But after that, the story devolves into somewhat stale palace politicking in the new reign of Louis XIV. We start to see some hints of the broader schemes involving the full cast, but not enough to grab our attention.

Finally, to put it bluntly, there's just something stale about the style this time around. Dumas has yet to find his proper voice for this installment, and hence he loses the reader. I'm assuming he finds it again by the end of the trilogy, but it's just not present here.

If you are reading this review, you have probably already read the Three Musketeers and Twenty Years After. You are wondering if it is worth it to continue with the series. If you decide to go on, you have three more 600+ page novels ahead of you. That is a lot of time and energy.

If you are foremost into the swashbuckling aspect of the Musketeer stories, I would not go forward. The Musketeers are now in their late 50's. They are still vital characters but they are no longer young men looking for any excuse to duel with the Cardinal's Guard. From this point on, there is a lot less sword play and campaigning. The focus of the story moves to the intrigues of Louis XIV court.

I am continuing with the series because I like the characters. I want to find out what happens to the four friends. In this novel, D'Artagnan and Athos are the principal characters. Aramis and Porthos do not show up for the first few hundred pages. Dumas has kept me entertained for the first two thousand pages of this saga and I am counting on him to keep me entertained for the next 1500 pages.

This book is part one of a three part series, the next two being the Louise de la Valliere, and the final being the more well known Man in the Iron Mask. I understand this was originally one HUGE book, but is now more commonly broken up into these three books.

This book starts about ten years from where Twenty Years After (Oxford World's Classics) ended. Although the book is titled the Vicomte de Bragelonne (who is the son of Athos), we don't see much of him except for the first and last parts of the book. The rest is filled with the adventures of D'Artagnan and Athos while they separately scheme (unbeknownst to the other) to aid Charles II of England to claim his throne. LOL, D'Artagnan's scheme in regards to General Monk. Aramis and Porthos are up to something mysterious and make only the briefest of appearances. The rest of the novel is filled with the mysteries and intrigues of the French court, and ends with the marriage of Henrietta (Charles II's sister) to Louis XIV's younger brother, Phillip.

If you loved the musketeers, history and intrique it is well worth your time to spend on these books.

This is a wonderful book -- but the price is ridiculous. I purchased a paperback copy of "The Awk Programming Language" about 15 years ago, and its price was in the $20 range. Times change, and prices go up, but $73 for a 200-page book, even if it is a hardcover, verges on outright theft.

Which is a shame, because this is a great book, written by the men who developed the language. In addition to a lengthy tutorial, it contains many examples of sophisticated programs that can be constructed from the simple tools provided by Awk. Anyone who supports computers for a living, whether in the Unix or Windows environment, can find valuable ideas here.

But the price: c'mon guys, you've got to be kidding. This book has been in print for 20 years now. You've long since made back the initial costs of publishing it. The authors are famous in computer science circles, and have written many other books. I'm sure they don't need the money. So I have to conclude that this is just a cash cow for the publishers.

If you're looking to learn about Awk, and you're on a budget, I would suggest "Effective Awk Programming" by Arnold Robbins. It's available in PDF form as a free download. If you'd like to support the author, buy a printed copy of the book, as I did. Published by O'Reilly, it's available in paperback at Amazon for about $26.

And if you can find a reasonably-priced copy of "The Awk Programming Language", by all means, grab it. It's a classic. Thanks to the publishers, however, it's a classic that's out of most people's reach.

I am torn about this book. My primary complaint is that this book costs so much. Its only a 200 page paper back book. I'm a sucker for classic books though. This text appears to be the original 1988 version by the authors. The actual text of the book is very good and being written by the authors of AWK, provides a certain view on the language and their intent that was well received. I do carry this book with me as a reference which I have found invaluable in my shell scripting endeavors. This book will give you a solid overview of the language. Be prepared for example references to the world of 1988 such as the USSR. Despite my complaints about the price, I have to admit that I enjoy owning this bit of Unix history and having the authors own words about AWK. From a practical standpoint however, I think that you can learn every bit as much about AWK by learning from freely available internet content on GNU/Linux versions of AWK (gawk). Since I have worked with Unix since about 1984, I have to concede being blinded by a bit of nostalgia. However, AWK is still a vital tool for anyone's shell scripting bag of tricks and this book will help you further develop your skills with AWK if you have only used it lightly in the past.

This is my choice for the answer to the question "If you were stranded on a deserted island and you could have only one programming book which book would you choose?". Over the years I have periodically returned to this book to read or work through for fun. "The AWK Programming Language" may be from 1988 but it is still outstanding! It has an incredible amount of depth for a book of only 200 or so pages. Well-written, concise, with great examples. Truly an enjoyable book to work through.

I've become a big fan of Awk. Some people may tell you that Awk is outdated and no longer useful; not with other languages such as Perl and Ruby available. Well, Awk does one thing and does it well. It does it "fast enough" most of the time, and does it with a very small language.

Perl and Ruby are fine, but if you lean towards "small is beautiful", you must learn Awk. For times when you need it, it's a Godsend. I've used it recently to automatically generate SQL insert statements from some flat files and to do automatic code generation for larger languages.

Some of the best tools have survived the test of time.

In this book, I feel like I learned all the things I need to know about Awk - all the way from beginner to advanced. It's a classic. Not a lot of books get five stars for me. This book fulfills it's goals perfectly, so deserves a perfect rating.

In Unix today, several scripting languages exist: awk, perl, tcl and python. Awk is a small, easy-to-learn, yet powerful programming language, and is language of choice for quick, think- and analyze-on-the-fly tasks. This book is written by the inventors of this wonderful language. It provides an excellent introduction to the language, with many practical examples for day-to-day use. Over many years, it has also served as a good reference to the language. In addition, this book gives concise introduction to numerous fundamental algorithms in computer science (interpreter, calculator, parser, sorting, graph algorithms, ..), which I consult for complex tasks even today.

Always a joy to read! Highly recommended.

This an Dr. Kunjufu's many other books are exceptional in the fact that he details the facts straight to the point. I enjoy his methods of writing without pullng any punches. I wish that I had read this before my son started grade school, but now he is in the 4th grade and he went from being placed in special education, to a 4.0 dean's list GPA. God bless the power of prayer and guidance. Anyone can change their situation. I also just finsihed my Associate in Business, and I am in my Bachelor's Degree program right now for Marketing. Of course I will go on to the Masters programs and Doctorates. Learn for life...

"Please share a priceless thought through literature" "Give God the glory"

Thank You Dr. Kunjufu

As an educator who strives to find direction on how to break the negative experience in pre K-12 education for a high number of Black male youth, I find this book, along with the other two in the series, to be informative and innovative when it comes to establishing a marker for administrators to use in order to monitor the teacher-student relationship and provide the positive environment that is necessary for all students, especially the Black male youth, to succeed.

This book is a must read for parents of African American boys and boys of color.

Reading this book revealed unfortunate truths that were not surprising to me at all. Serving as a public educator for over twelve years, it's sad but true as to why young black males at a very young age lose the desire, hope,and will to do better in school settings due to the facts listed in this book and many more since this book was written. I was overjoyed to see that Marcus Garvey Academy, a school that I taught at for eight years under the sincere leadership of Dr. Harvey Hambrick was mentioned. I was honored to read that Dr. Kunjufu took notice to how Marcus Garvey Academy in Detroit, Michigan and other schools assume pivotal roles in contributing to the solution to this horrible epidemic impededed on the futures and lives of young African American Males. Dr Jawanza Kunjufu did a great job at presenting multiple truths and the sad reality of how young black males are unfortunately targeted from the start.
Adra Young
Author of: The Everyday Living of Children & Teens Monologues

All of his books are supported by extreme measures that are evidentiary. He is always straightforward and inclined to share his analizations with his people so that they can be more aware of the system and the strategies that are used to destroy African American males. You should read it.