Games Books

I wanted a nice and easy book to help me teach my students. I tried the dummies / idiots series. No good! This one is simply a class above everything else out there! This book is good for both adults and children! I love it!

"Alpha Teach Yourself Chess in 24 Hours" Zsuzsa Polgar ...et al, [...] ISBN 0 02 864408-5

Rates much above the typical beginner book, because Polgar ILLUSTRATES the point she is making, instead of giving you dull and boring, wordy paragraphs to read. When you see the illustration, you QUICKLY get the point of the lesson.

The author is SUSAN POLGAR, and "Zsuzsa" is the Hungarian form of our "Susan". Susan Polgar gives days and weeks of her personal time through the year, to promote chess. She is one of the most self-sacrificing chess celebrities in the entire world, totally committed to enlarge human experience through chess. She has a heart of gold where chess is concerned.

For example, the weend of 13-14 May 2006, Susan Polgar attended the annual Bert Lerner National Championships for children grades Kindergarten through 6th Grade. Many of the children taking home trophies, had the honor of having Susan Polgar appear on stage with them for photographs. Besides that, Ms. Polgar gave a simultaneous exhibition on Friday the 12th of May.

This book has a nice set of questions at the end of each chapter, with answers in the back. I also like the way Polgar has sample games that have a new diagram for EACH and EVERY MOVE in the sample games, and there are explanations for each and every move.

Chapter Nine must be mentioned, because it covers ENDGAMES. It is so important that all chess players get skills for the Endgames, and Susan gives them here.

This book is THOROUGH, and COMPLETE. I can recommend it to any chess BEGINNER as a "first book" on chess. --Bruce R. Bain, President, Denver Chess Club

When starting an elementary chess club, there were things I needed to learn and be able to teach. I have read alot of chess material, but this book by far had the best step by step outline of chess which was clear and extremely easy to follow. It also has a wonderful index in back which is terrific for easy reference for my club members. I recommend this book for beginners and intermediate players.

This is an exellent book. It's one of the best beginner's books in chess. I also recommend World Champion's Guide to Chess. Both are excellent, easy to follow and thorough.

Very good book for beginners. I especially like all the diagrams, make it easier to understand.

A mold garden? What a brilliant idea. As if mold isn't spreading fast enough already and ruining homes and wrecking lives and clogging the courts. Just Brilliant. The Book of MORON Craft: In Which the Apprentice Finds Kids, and makes them into MORONS.
http://www.mold-help.org/

Very cool book - my 10 year old loves it and wants to make everything in it. Neat padded cover - great for the Harry Potter generation. Wish this was around when I was 10!

I loved this book and it's has very interesting stories also! I love making all the things in this book and it's fun stuff to do on a rainy day. I am just adoring this book! I work on my projects from The Book of Wizard Craft all the time! I would definitly get this book for serious fun! And it's a great hobby!

This book is fantastic. We received the book today in the mail. My two children and I looked at the book from cover to cover. They told me they want to start tomorrow on making the crafts that are in the book.

This book is perfect for Harry Potter fans. From robes, to wands, potions, hiding boxes, crystal balls..you name it.

The way the author has written this book is funny. You can just feel the author enjoyed writing this book.

My children loved it as soon as I turned the first page.

I personally would recommend this book to anybody, Harry Potter fan or not. This is a great book, and it tells how to make two different kinds of wands, robes, cloaks, crystal balls, potions, a wizard's hat, turban, and more! It also tells how to make a wizard party, etc.

I got this book for my birthday about two years ago, and I've read it through at least ten times since then. If I have nothing to do, I just sit down and read it. It's got lots of stories, so if you just feel like reading, it's the right book.

I hope this was helpful!

My 6 year old loves reading this book. It shows how children around the world dress, live, and play. It is interesting to see what other children like to do for fun, or what they like to eat. It is also teaching her about the different countries around the world.

This awesome book shows children around the world and what their everyday life is like (homes, schools, families, pets, friends, churches, food). Having a daughter adopted internationally,this book helps us learn more about her birth country and about all the children of the world. We've started giving this as birthday gifts to her friends.

I hope that all children can someday enjoy this book with their friends and caring adults. It makes real the lives of children all around the world - their hopes, their dreams, their families and their daily routines. It's a delight to see our similarities and a great lesson to learn about our differences. Thank you to the authors and publishers.

My family and I love this book so much I bought one for every set of cousins on our Christmas list. Our three year old daughter doesn't watch TV so this is a fantastic way for her to get a sense of the wider world....She's fascinated by the photos and stories of the children who dress and live so differently from her. And our older cousins can read the materials themselves. We very enthusiastically recommend this one!

I purchased this book for my son Ben when he was 2 1/2 yrs. old. He is now 10 and my daughter Maria reads it continuously. This book is by far the best young children's awareness book about the differences and similarities between all children on this earth. I work for the YMCA and have purchased it for our summer camp so that the children coming to stay at Camp Silver Beach can learn more about the childhoods of the international counselors who are role models for them during the summer. At 2 1/2 years, my son knew the continents and could point out where "Ari or Celena" lived and tell me their favorite toys or food and point to the countries in which they live. This book is colorful and timeless expanding a child's view of the world and helping to instill the compassion we need to get along with all kinds of people.

I love starting the day with this, eveyone wants my old ones when I finish. I think Dilbert seems to relate to every office.

This daily comic helps to relieve the stress and tension in my office. Scott seems to have his finger firmly planted on the pulse of corporate America with Dilbert, Asok, the "pointy-haired guy", Dogbert the evil HR guy, Catbert and more. If you need a therapeutic laugh to make it through your sometimes insane days at work, this is the calendar for you.

You'd think Scott Adams would run out of material. Sadly, today's workplace seems to provide plenty of fodder. Good calendar.

i look forward to getting to the office a little early, tearing off yesterday's sheet, reading today's calendar sheet, and laughing out loud. i use the old sheets to write notes for colleagues (instead of stick-it notes), which usually are apropros to the office goings on that day. i love adams' creativity - the ironies and utter stupidity are something that we all can really relate to at work! for the amount of laughter that this calendar has given me and my colleagues, it was well worth the price and i'm destined to purchase it again next year!

I've had this on my desk the last 3 or so years. This time around I ordered the desk diary by mistake.
I tried to persuade myself that I could use that one, and do without the daily, but I caved in, and ordered this again. Makes the working day get off to a routinely funny start, always a chuckle. A great gift too.

I can't fault it.

As an adult Model Rocketeer for the past 16 years, I can say that every Rocketeer should have this in their library. It is indeed "the Bible" of Model Rocketry. It is a goldmine of information and technical know-how, and will lead a beginning Rocketeer on the right path. Even someone who's just curious about Model Rocketry will learn a lot from it.

This is without a doubt the best book on model rocketry I've ever seen, and I read it from cover to cover. It deals with every aspect of rocketry in a very accessible manner (for example, presenting formulas for various calculations, but not requiring their use). It is organized so that the reader can focus on single aspects of a rocketry program (for example, separate chapters on aerodynamics, rocket propulsion, recovery systems, altitude measurement). I am a science teacher and coach to two Team America Rocketry Challenge teams, and I keep copies of this book available for my teams as reference. I wish it had more information on electronic payloads, but that is a more advanced topic, so it is very forgivable. If you own only one book on rocketry, this is the one to buy.

Great reference for all levels. Perfect for schools or curriculums that have a model rocketry club.

Very detailed, easy to understand, its rocketry 101 and much more.

Model rocketry has come a long way since this book's first edition was published and the book does a great job of covering the basics of "How to get started" while addressing the ever expanding set of topics being introduced 40+ years later. The book provides some of the hobby's history and the 'hows and whys' of model rocketry. The book balances detail such as mathematics to compute aeronautical computations with rules of thumb one can use if science and math are not as interesting as building and safely launching a cool model rocket. While the book does not comprehensively cover mid and high power model rocketry topics, it does address some of the basics for those 'moving up'. Photos and illustrations are great.

I'll start with the good. The artwork is excellent. There is a rich and addicting story line. The characters have enduring personalities. I really love this series. I typically always start reading Manga and then watch the anime if it goes that far. However, with Inuyasha it was the opposite for me. One of the reasons I was originally hesitant to read the manga was that it goes from front to back instead of back to front. This means the manga has bad editing issues. Basically to do this the editors have to flip every single image and reverse the image order. At first it wasn't too bad, but there is always a character like Sesshomaru... Every time he is in the manga it's like nails on a chalkboard. Because of the flipping everything about him just screams 'Those idiot American Editors Abused me!' His fluffy and armor are on the wrong side. His crescent moon is backwards. And Because of the flipping he always looks like his right arm was cut off and not the left. Because of this technical glitch the manga appears sloppy. However, the poor choice of flipping the contents doesn't take away from the amazing story. It is still a really good read. One just has to get over all the glitches.

I won't spill anything but this second book is very actiony for a second book. Be sure to read all the booms and other thinks like that (it's kinda fun) (^-^). I hope you buy it you won't be sorry

In Inuyasha volume 2, the story of Inuyasha and Kagome continues. If you haven't read volume 1 and haven't seen the anime, go read it! otherwise you won't understand the following review:

Our two main heroes Inuyasha and Kagome return to the Feudal Era to confront Yura, an evil being that has the power to control hair. Such a power might not seem too dangerous, but she really is deadly! How will our heroes fair in their first fight as a team?

When the volume continues, we are introduced to several new characters, but very important ones since they'll be in the story for its remainder. First, an old flea named Myoga,a vassal to his late demon father, tells Inuyasha someone is trying to break into his father's tomb to steal his treasure. As Myoga explains what's happening, Inuyasha's late mortal mother is also discussed.

Just who is the theif? Why it's Sesshomaru, Inuyasha's older full demon brother! Sesshomaru is arguably the most popular character in the series and definitely my favorite. He has brought with him his toad like servant Jaken who wields the Staff of Two Heads(sometimes referred to as Staff of the Skulls) to locate the tomb. It soon becomes clear that Sesshomaru will have to confront Inuyasha to get to their father's treasure. This makes for a very interesting and emotional meeting leaving you with a sense of Sesshomaru's huge level of cruelty(for now).

Just what is the treasure though? It's the Tetsusaiga, a sword made from a fang of Inuyasha's father! The powerful sword can slay 100 demons in one sweep, but it rejects Sesshomaru. When Inuyasha is also unable to get it, Kagome surprises all! Inuyasha eventually gets the weapon, but now that Sesshomaru has transformed into his full demon form, can Inuyasha win?

Overall, this is a roughly 200 page terrific installment of Inuyasha. It reads from left to right which may bother some, though not me personally. I suggest this for all 13 and up as their is nudity and much violence including multiple decapitations. This volume is EXTREMELY action packed. The volume has much fighting, but does a nice job of blending emotion and character introductions. This volume definitely has a great story, introduces interesting new characters, and has much action. The story will only continue to get better!

When I first saw InuYasha, it was about a year ago on TV, and I thought it was the weirdest show(of course, I had no idea it was Inuyasha, I was flipping channels. I discovered that recently when they re-aired the episode.). Some guy with long white hair and fangs? Demons weren't my thing. Then, about three weeks ago, after recently getting hooked onto Japanese manga, I was browsing the designated aisle at Borders, and the bright yellow spine caught my eye. I had remembered my little brother going on about it, and so curiosity got the better of me, and I started reading it in the store. I was immediately hooked. It's a thrilling tale, really, with humor, a bit of bad language, and innocent romance. And that's why, after three days of no trips to Borders, I couldn't take it. I resorted to Amazon. It came in pretty quick too, I was surprised. Afterward I got myself hooked on the show, but I'm not here to review that, am I? Anyways, a long review short, it's a great story by a great author, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The first half of this volume concerns the continuing battle with Yura of the Hair, a witch who is able to puppeteer corpses and use her hair to cut off body parts. Yes, she's always having a bad hair day! Sorry about that. In what I believe will be an ongoing trend, Inuyasha finds that he can't defeat Yura alone because only Kagome can see Yura's strands of hair. In the second story arc in this volume, a talking flea named Myoga, with the inappropriate title "Divine Grace" shows up to tell Inuyasha that someone is trying to rob his father's grave! That would-be graverobber is Sessho-Maru, Inuyasha's half-brother and full-blooded demon, which makes him more powerful than our anti-hero. Let's just say there's no love lost between the two, because there isn't any love at all! Looks like Inuyasha might have to call on Kagome again as the two square off.

Rumiko Takahashi is a true manga genius. Her artwork is beautiful. You find yourself actually seeing an anime in your head when you read her manga, because they are so exquisitely detailed, and the characters spring to life. The action is never confusing, and she never shrinks from realistic blood. There is also a sort of warm charm in the relationship between Inuyasha and Kagome that seems more real than even most shojo. Classic series.

hi all,

i have read the first one of the three and i haver just start reading the green book, i think they are very useful to starting players because he aproximate us to the mind of a poker player.

he knows how to take the attemption of the reader and you can read it very fast because it is very easy to read and very interesting.

Excellent three book set that starts Black)with a beginners guide. The Green book is or will be a classic. Blue present problems and solutions. A great read.

For begginers and expirience players!

The black book: Begginers

The green book: Expirienced

The blue book: Professionals

I have won a number of important hands after reading this book. It let's you know what the pros are thinking. I know a lot of ambitious amatuers have this book. Pick it up, read it and apply it!

This box set will cover the absolute beginner up to a fairly strong player. Gordon writes in an engaging and lively style and admits his bad moves when he plays them. Like the titles say, these are little books, so they are quick reads. Great for reading a few pages before bed. That does make them a little less dense with helpful information--combined with writing style and size, Harrington's books seem fuller. The green book is probably the one that you will be refering back to the most as it deals with core play, with the blue book a close second for information on particular situations. Like most books out there, it focuses most of its ink by far on tournament play. I wish it had more information on shorthanded and low-stakes cash games. The black book does touch upon low-stakes games, but really glosses over strategy there.

BTW, if you are living abroad, this box set is a great deal. Not only do you have a bigger discount than buying the three books individually, but also the box set counts as one item when shipping, not three. So saved ten dollars on shipping.

As a child of the 60's growing up in England, I was exposed to a lot of American popular culture and toys.
"Major Matt Mason" and "Zeroids" were some of my favourites. This book gives me an excellent reminder not only of what I had, but also stuff I never saw or even knew existed!
This book is well produced with magnificent colourful photos, but they are let down a little by the matte paper used for the pages that dulls their brilliance. Also, some images suffer from "the jaggies" caused by low resolution of the originals.
Likewise, the layout and text is often jumbled and there are some annoying factual errors.
Also, if the author had a rudimentary knowledge of 50's Hollywood monsters he would have recognised the inspiration for many of the Colorforms Outer Space Men.
Apart from these minor annoyances, this is the book I have been waiting for, for almost fourty years!
"Space Toys of the 60's" is worth every cent, even if only for the photos of the magnificent package and box art!
Those colourful boxes are always the first thing to be discarded by young hands too eager for adventure in space!

This oversized, full color paperback is not a glossy coffee table book. Neither is it a collector's price guide. Instead it's an impassioned and informative discussion of three collectible toy lines: Major Matt Mason (Mattell's Man in Space), Colorforms aliens and my favorite, Ideal's Mighty Zeroids.

I read and learned a lot about the other two toy lines, but I used this book when buying a Zintar Zeroid on E-Bay (for only thirty times the original price of $5, which shows how rare they are). Before that I read the book over and over, looking at the photos and dioramas from catalogs. Gillam even includes pre-release pictures from wholesale toy guides of what these toys might have looked like, as well as extensive photos of alternate versions.

Interest in Matt Mason has never flagged, and Zeroids are once again coming into their own in the world of retro toys (see the Zeroid movie link under Robot Links at alivingdog.com). They represented a high point in Ideal's Motorific line of cars and later boats and cleverly ran on the same replaceable motor. Anyone interested in these three lines, or the history of toys, or just taking a trip down memory lane will enjoy this inexpensive and captivating book.

I bought this book on ebay from the author and I am very happy with it. It is loaded with pictures of each space toy and has nice text. Some toys are shown in their original package. Best book I have bought in a long while.

A Collector's Guide to Major Matt Mason, Mighty Zeroid Robots and Colorforms Outer Space Men. Veteran collector and author James Gillam details the story of toys inspired by NASA ventures into space.

SPACE TOYS OF THE 60's could have been the Major Matt Mason collector's dream come true. However, be warned that the quality of the paper and the image quality of the photos is not very good. I wish the publisher had done a much better job and creating some high quality images that I would want to look at over and over again. Looking at these pictures, as a substitute for expanding my collection, is not fullfilling.

All in all though, being the ONLY book out there right now with any information on Major Matt Mason, this is a pretty good book. At leaset it has photos of all of Mattel's Major Matt Mason - Man in Space figures, vehicles and buildings with detailed descriptions, construction and instruction sheets, product catalogs, collector's reminiscences, prototype information, and company histories.

If you can find a used copy for around $5 it's worth adding to the library as a reference.

...than this "Time Machine" that Mr. Gillam has produced. He left no stone unturned. Covered ALL details and variations very thoroughly. I discovered 3 OUTER SPACE MEN in my attic and a Scorpio in my basement. When I was looking for a reference guide to these 60's Spacemen, I coincidentally saw "SPACE TOYS OF THE 60's" on EBay. I said it, you'll say it: "That's how I would have done it!"

Bought this book used from amazon. It is an exceelent and easy read that will improve your game immediately. I am still plowing through it but already I see improvement. Some of the photos could be a little sharper but none are so bad that you can't determine what it depicts. Highly recommend it.

When this book came out 30 years ago it raised the bar for pool and three cushion billiards instruction manuals. Earlier books, such as Ray Martin' 99 Critical Shots, were badly flawed by the gross inaccuracies of their diagrams. Byrne introduced large and accurate scale diagrams, even including parabolic paths for cue balls struck with draw or follow. The last half of the book covers the elegant game of 3-cushion, which is now enjoying a renaissance. It contains by far the best, and nearly the only, explanation of "the diamond system" for calculating multiple rail bank shots. Even a rudimentary familiarity with it should help virtually any pool player. The entire book is leavened with Byrne's characteristic dry wit. I've been recommending this book to students for decades.

Hey, it may be a good book, I don't own it. But looking at the cover page, should not the 8 ball be in place of the 10?

The Chilton Book of pool, Byrne's New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards is a must have for anyone who plays pool.

I read the book page by page and practiced with it. My game is 300% better. This book is for every tipe of player.

CDB! (Stories to Go!)

I was very excited to find this book for my grandbaby. We had great fun with it when her aunts were small. Who would have thought back then that William Stieg invented 'text speak'. I even stumped my youngest daughter with NQ!

I ordered this since my sister received it and thought it was a great book. Unfortunately, this copy does not come with the answers. Look for the hard cover version, that has the answers in the back.

This book is as intriguing and entertaining was it was 25+ years ago when I read it to my children. As an educator, I discovered this book to be a source of entertainment and challenge to my children as well as a wonderful tool to help my students as they struggle with reading skills. I recently purchased it again for my grandchildren since my copy was misplaced over the years...and they love it as their mother when she was their age.
Buy it and use...it will help dust off the gray matter and delay alzehemier. :)

smart! adorable! unexpected! (the book, not my kids...)
This book really has us rolling in laughter. My sons (ages 4 and 6) and I have been playing with an electronic toy: push a letter and the thing says the letter's name. We had been using it to make word sounds -- pressing U R A Q T for "you are a cutie" and so forth. When I saw this book I just had to get it. It is amazingly clever -- and to think it was written in 1968. It's fresh, not at all dated. My sons are very good readers for their respective ages, but it is definitely appropriate for them. I had to explain a phrase or two (they didn't know the word "ecstacy" when they saw X-T-C) but otherwise it was totally on their level. I still crack up reading it, and I've read it at least ten times. The watercolor illustrations are perfect. Stieg conveys a lot of emotion and expression with just a few brush strokes. When a boy sees someone with a lollipop and tells him "I N-V U," you can see the envy.
I won't mind if my kids want to read this one again and again. I M N X-T-C 2!

This book helped me learn to read when i was 3 years old. As long as you know the alphabet you can read this book, which makes it perfect for children who are learning to read.