Columbia Games Books

This book is simply outstanding, the most perceptive analysis I have read to date concerning the significance of Central Asia to geopolitical games in the 21st Century. It's not cheap. (I had my university library buy a copy so that I could read it.) It's not a fast read, there's a lot of detail on each of the 370 pages. But don't worry, you certainly get what you pay for. It is quite simply the best survey of contemporary Central Asian political dynamics that I have read to date. Müllerson's goes inside the Central Asian mind and soul, as well as outside to the explore the motivations of various state and non-state actors in the drama surrounding what Mackinder called the "pivot point" of the Eurasian landmass.

Unlike some commentators who may indulge in emotionalism, name-calling, or blame-gaming, Mullerson takes a cool, calm and penetrating look at the ways Central Asians view their role in world affairs, and how other countries treat Central Asia. This book is deeply personal, filled with anecdotes and humane observations based on personal experience. No doubt his biography has made Müllerson uniquely qualified as a political analyst. Today, he is Professor and Chair of International Law at King's College, London (where he directs the MA Programme on International Peace and Security). Yet this is a book with heart. Müllerson understands the difficulties former Soviet republics have faced in adapting to change following the collapse of Communism. In 1991-92, he was First Deputy Foreign Minister of Estonia. And before that, Müllerson was Head of the International Law Department of the Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and Adviser to President Gorbachev. No wonder he appears to know the Russian mentality more clearly than any American author I have read. (He may also understand the Chinese, as the first review I found on Google of this book was by Sienho Yee, in The Chinese Journal of International Law). Finally, he understands the concerns of the international community and NGOs. For, Müllerson spent 2004 as UN Regional Adviser for Central Asia, and his published works include International Law: Rights and Politics (Routledge, 1994); Human Rights Diplomacy (Routledge, 1997) and Ordering Anarchy: International Law in International Society (Kluwer Law International, 2000). Quite simply, there is no better guide to explore this landscape with than Müllerson.

Central Asia-A Chessboard and Player in the New Great Game is written in deeply personal tone, sometimes reading like diary entries, sometimes like an academic monograph, sometimes like a legal brief. His goal is to contextualize developments by providing explanatory background. Mullerson tries to describe, rather than prescribe. He relates Central Asian reality to the wider context of world politics. In this way, he tries to present alternative perspectives on such issues as:Difficulties of democratization of Central Asian societies;The role and place of religion, especially Islam, in Central Asia;Threats of religiously based or motivated terrorism;American-Russian, American-Chinese and Chinese-Russian rivalries and cooperation in the region.

Müllerson takes Central Asia as a microcosm of post-Soviet international relations, explicating tendencies that have to date stood in the way of the peaceful and harmonious world predicted by pundits such as Francis Fukuyama or Thomas Friedman. Lord Curzon once famously recommended that one should be neither a Russophile nor a Russophobe, but a realist about Russia. One might say that in this book, Müllerson has taken Curzon's advice to heart and presented a realistic and heartfelt guide to the issues at stake today along the Great Silk Road.

This book is a must-read for anyone who thinks seriously about Central Asia. Ask your library to buy a copy today...

This book gives great overview and knowledge about the political and economics relations in Central Asia and help understand how far/close the religion is to governments decisions. Book introduced history of the area and legacies of several different political structures. I learnt that author approach is eclectic , functional and accuracy is noteworthy. It is a good reading for people who interesting in economic, politic , terrorism , human rights and even philosophy.

Vous passerez des heures à ficeler les figures proposées. Ce gros livre est le "must" des jeux de ficelle. Ce livre a environ 110 jeux de ficelle et 10 tours de ficelle. Les explications et les illustrations sont très claires. C'est un livre pour intermédiaires et avancés.

You'll spend hours to make the figures offered.
This big book is a must for all string figures's lovers.
This book have about 110 string games and 10 tricks.
The explanations and illustrations are clears.
The book is for intermediates and advanced.
Enjoy!

For fans of trivia books, this book is a must have. All questions are taken from the Columbia Encyclopedia, and range from easy to hard. There are a variety of topics. The answer to the questions are in the back of the book so you can't peek ahead. This book has instructions on how to use it to play a game. Highly entertaining.

A Game To Play On The Tracks by Lorna Jackson begins with Arden, a mother who has some very serious problems with alcohol and self-absorption. Arden's struggle to resume her life of country music at the British Columbia bar scene but is faltering. Her husband has a Peter Pan complex and talks in bad poems. When Arden doesn't survive the road, both her husband and son are left behind to make sense of an often insane and unjust world. An engaging and thoughtful read, A Game To Play On The Tracks is a sophisticated, albeit moody, reflection on the inequalities and distant dreams of one human life.

Harn box set is a good overveiw of the Fantasy RPG world of Harn. It includes more information than most fantasy settings and has several plot ideas and open ended situations. In addition there are several detail moduales available for the kingdoms and cities as well as a very stong fan community that makes Harn the most detailed fantasy world for RPG. Much of the material is very general in nature and can be used with several systems.

I did not know anything about the world of model aircrafts until I picked up this book. This book does a wonderful job of interweaving the history of the Air and Space collection with the role model aircrafts played in the war effort. I would be remised if I did not strongly encourage the reader to really take the time to look at each picture in the book. Some of the pictures give you up close detail information on the the intricate work involved in the models (i.e. maps in the cockpits). This book gives you a new appreciation to a hobby that is finally getting the respect it deserves.

As a fan of football, Michael Richman's Redskins Encyclopedia is a must on my bookshelf. This comprehensive volume is the result of seven years of Richman's extensive and detailed research into his beloved Redskins. Organized chronologically, the volume begins with the birth of the team in 1932 as the "Boston Braves" and follows the history and lore of one of the most storied franchises in all of the National Football League through the 2006 season.

The level of detail in this book is truly extraordinary. Filled with anectodes, stories, data and quotes, The Redskins Encyclopedia is nirvana for any Hog. Hogs, in particular, will revel in the chapters on the George Allen era and delight in reading about the 80's when their beloved Skins become part of the NFL elite under the helm of Joe Gibbs.

For me, however, what makes this volume so special is the most incredible Appendix I have ever come across. It includes "all team records, rosters, coaches, game results, draft picks and players; year-by-year results, Monday Night Lights and the Ring of Fame." In short, Richman has assembled the most comprehensive set of statistics and historical data on the Redskins out there and it is exceptionally user friendly.

If you love the Redskins, you are going to love this book!

The Redskins Encyclopedia is a great book if you're a football fanatic.
I found it to be very resourceful and full of stats and recaps of past seasons and important playoff games. There are a couple of glitches I found (i.e. referring to the Arizona/Phoenix Cardinals as St. Louis during the mid-ninties). But if you're a dyed in the wool 'skins fan, then this is a must have. I had a lot of fun reading it. If you love football as much as I do, then do yourself a favor and buy a copy of this
book. I have read a quite a few football reference books and this happens to be one of the better ones.

Highly recommended.

This book is a keeper -- a coffee table book that will not just "Sit There", this is a great reference and a historical document as well.

The Redskins' Encyclopediea is divided into sections that give a foretaste of the Redskins' history and legends in rather descriptive terms "Born... Surviving.... Transforming... Ominous.... Sonny Days... Winning Flair... Redskins-Cowboy Rivalry... Elite... Mediocrity...").

It also singles out specific players throughout the Redskins' history in 2 special chapters "Washington Monuments" and "Best of the Rest", AND has a great Appendix of Records, Rosters, Coaches, Draft Picks and other very relevant stats... this book is a Redskins' history "play-by-play: a great reference, and also just FUN TO READ -- just open it to any chapter, and read on.

The dust-jacket is an attention getter. Too bad all the book's photos are black and white -- it could have used some half or full-page on-the-field action shots in color. And because of the exceptional wealth of information -- this book really needs an Index.

Some photos stand out more than others -- specifically: Redskins Spring Training -- 1940 style- on the Washington Monument grounds. Then contrast this with the aerial shot of the "State of the Art-Practice Facility: Redskin Park"

The "Washington Monuments" Section -- an alphabetical compendium of Redskin greats -- covered players as well as coaches, including the chapter on Sammy Baugh -- a great player, a true gentleman, a fan-pleaser -- and who woulda known that in addition to his stellar performance on the field, he also starred off the field as the "King of the Texas Rangers". (I also enjoyed the wry humor of that the photo of his uniform sitting by the fireplace.)

Of special note was "The Snap Seen Round the World" -- Joe Theisman's career-ending injury, and his first-person account of his painful rehabilitation period. I personally hope he makes it into the Hall of Fame.

The Redskins Encyclopedia would make a great gift for any Redskins (and other!) football fan.

Given the wide variety in terms of quality that one finds in sports books and encyclopedias, it was hard for me to have very high expectations for THE REDSKINS ENCYCLOPEDIA. But if I had gone in hoping for something impressive, well-written and absorbing, then my hopes would have been entirely realized. This book is not a hastily constructed collection of cut-n-paste jobs; this is a throughly researched, incredibly detailed tome that should be informative and insightful no matter your level of Redskins fanaticism.

The first half of the book is devoted to a year by year history of the organization. For each year, all important on and off field events are discussed. Important games are described. And if the team made the post-season that year, a section is dedicated to each playoff game. While this portion of the book is factual in nature, there is also analysis and discussion of what went right and wrong. Case in point, the chapter dealing with the years 1981-1992 are labeled, "An Icon Among The NFL Elite", while the years 1993-2006 are titled, "Mediocrity, Redskins Style".

The rest of the book is given over to discussing individuals. Players who have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame receive a chapter of their own and a second chapter is given over to those players and coaches who weren't recognized by the League, but made a large local impact to the team and its lore.

Dropped in at almost random intervals are short essays discussing a variety of topics: the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry, the coaching style of Vince Lombardi, the nicknames of player cliques, to name a few. The only minor problem I had with this book was that these essays aren't in the table of contents so locating them again can be difficult.

When I first received this book, my immediate attention was on those teams and players that I watched while growing up in the 1980s. It was a great nostalgic and fun time I had reliving those glory days and seeing all the old names again: Darrell Green, Art Monk, Joe Theismann, Gary Clark. I next moved on to reading about the era between Joe Gibbs' two coaching stints, which was a much less fun experience. But even in the slow times of the post-1992 era there were always great moments to relieve (Mark Brunell to Sanatana Moss -- twice -- on Monday Night in Dallas, to mention one).

However, I had almost as much fun flipping back to the earlier sections of the book. I knew a little bit about Redskins history simply from the natural osmosis that occurs from being a sports fan and reading contemporary articles which contain off-hand mentions of glories from long ago. But the information I learned from this book is an absolute treasure. For example, I knew that Sammy Baugh was one of the early Redskin heroes, but I hadn't fully appreciated what an dominant player he was. As fun as it was to once again read the anecdote about John Riggins telling Sandra Day O'Connor to "loosen up, Sandy Baby", it was great to read about stuff that was completely new to me.

I've spent quite some time browsing through this volume, and I'm sure I'll spend even more time in the future. There's a lot of history in the Redskins organization and a corresponding wealth of information to unpack from this encyclopedia. I'm willing to bet that the next time the Redskins score a glorious win over the Dallas Cowboys, I'll be pulling this book from the shelf to mentally compare and contrast the present with the storied games from the past.

The Redskins Encyclopedia is definitely a must have for Redskins fans. I am not even a Redskins fan and I found it thoroughly engaging and interesting, which is quite a feat for a text heavy encyclopedic history of a professional football team I don't even root for.

The bulk of the book is dedicated to a chronological history of the Washington Redskins franchise from its origin in 1932 as the Boston Braves to the Joe Gibbs II regime through 2006. The book provides a review of each and every season in Redskins history, from the 1940's with Slinging Sammy Baugh and a few World Championships, to the topsy-turvy 1970's under coach George Allen when the team lost Super Bowl VII to the undefeated Miami Dolphins, to its heyday in the 1980's winning three Super Bowls under Joe Gibbs, and through the post-Gibbs and the recent Gibbs returns to save the franchise but fails mediocrity that persists today (and will like to continue to do so under the meddlesome owner Dan Snyder). During the journey you will meet the great players and characters throughout Redskins history and get an excellent feel for the deep history and historical ebbs and flows of this long tenured franchise.

One of the nice touches of this work is that it breaks Redskins history into eras and provides introductory insights into the franchise and where it was at and where it was headed before delving into season by season reviews, which provides context and continuity. It also uses text boxes to provide greater detail about seminal Redskins owners, executives, and players. This provides some excellent information while nicely breaking up the text, making it more reader friendly.

The next section of the book consists of mini-biographies of all the great Washington Redskins players, coaches, owners, and executives in the history of the franchise. I thought I would skim through this section quickly but it captured my attention so much I read through the entire section.

The last part of the book provides what most encyclopedias are supposed to provide, all-time team results, records, and other various statistics about the team.

Overall, I found this to be a very through and engaging treatment of the history of the Washington Redskins.