Puzzles Books

I admit that at first I was thinking this book would focus more on the game engine part of the toolset development in its title. I knew it wasn't REALLY about developing a game engine but even so, make sure you understand what you're getting.

That said, I really liked this book. I'm halfway through it already (it's a very quick read given how discrete each chapter is and the clear and easy to read print and examples).

I've read a number of game development books and you rarely get everything done right. This book gets close. The author describes the particular problem the chapter seeks to solve (e.g. encryption, batch processing, etc.) and goes through the steps of solving it.

The book is similar to those programming gems types of books that aren't organized in some linear fashion but are discrete chapters on specific topics that can be picked and chosen as you see fit.

The author does a very good job of putting the examples together and many of the chapters have been useful to me (I plan on implementing a number of the tools/frameworks he mentions).

If you're working on a game engine, I really suggest trying this book out. This assumes you're not already an expert game programmer who already built a lot of these sorts of tools before.

If you're looking for something that will help you build a full-fledged game engine, look for another book...then come back to this and get it to help you flesh out your toolset.

I just received my copy of Game Engine Toolset Development and I have been unable to put the book down. The author gives a good introduction to .NET 2.0 and relates it to toolset development for games. The chapters are easy to read and follow and he gives good advice on how to build good tools. He could have looked at other toolsets to make the book more complete, but I see this book as a way to introduce students to game programming who have a basic programming background (Java, C++, C, Alice 2.0, etc.).

I bought this book thinking it would help me write a new tool for, say, building 3d models, or some other general tool. When it arrived I got excited just by the shear size of it, it's huge!

However, I started flipping through it browsing each and every chapter (didn't read them all in detail of course, but quite a few) and it doesn't teach you how to make a NEW tool for your game, it teaches you how to make an EXISTING tool better. While that knowledge is extremely valuable (and the reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 3), it's not what the description of the book stated: "Readers are not required to have any experience developing game engine tools." If you have no experience developing a tool, you're going to have a little trouble getting started. If you know enough math and have good enough coding skills to get a game engine going, you'll be able to write a tool for your game, but you don't need this book to do it.

Now, with that said, this book IS quite good and worth your money so long as you don't expect to read this book and then write a tool, you're going to need more info. Get the book anyway and use it as a guide, it's usefull in that aspect.

This book is so good at making a tool better, most of it's "gems" can and should be applied to ANY application, game tool or not. Also, it covers some good highlevel (or lowlevel, depending on how you view it) .Net functionality such as interfacing with COM and code documentation, as well as few other excellent techniques. These "gems" are quite valuable on their own.

So, in conclusion, if you know nothing about writing a tool, or you don't know C#, hold off on buying this book (make sure to put it in your wish list however). If you have a tool but find it's difficult to work with, or you want to broaden it's appeal, or just simply make it better, get this book, you won't regret it.

This is an excellent book, which covers a lot of important aspects of game/engine tool development, but it is more like a recipe book, as each chapter subject is almost stands on its own - just like game programming gems series. My favorite is how to integrate native code into a managed application. The book is well written (one of the best I've read recently), and the only thing i missed is a few chapters on how-to integrate into an existing pipeline - like importer/exporter for a common 3d package at least. A better title for this book would be "(game)tool programming gems"

Then, as a hobbyist, I'll just let you know that this book not only teaches, but flat you gives you some great modular code that you can work into many different types of tools.

There's also some great design principles covered that have improved my workflow, even though i'm currently working solo.

If you're not inherently super outgoing but want to invite friends, neighbors, etc. to your home to socialize, this book will give you many, many ideas to choose from on how to create a warm, friendly atmosphere. Most of the icebreaker ideas and party games are practical and fun. This book is also great for school teachers looking for ways to break the ice in their classrooms on those first couple of awkward days. I confidently recommend this book to those of you who want to throw a party or have a get together, but are hesitating out of fear of what to do with your guests. It's truly a fun book and will bring people together.

The main reason I purchased the book was because I was out of ideas for good party games and activites. This book certainly solved that problem. It has a ton of things for great parties, not lame games either that people throw in just to fill space. This thing is 100% usable. And what else is nice its adaptable, and they show you how. Really great book worth every cent and more. I do have one problem with though. I only have one party to do right now and too many ideas !

This book has lots of good ideas and gives ways to adapt them or change them to suit almost anyones needs. In the back, the games are broken down by category (for ex, icebreakers, pre-party games, quiet games, hunts, etc...) and then another section has them organized by name. It has a nice section on party planning, things to think about when throwing a party and motivating guests that will be helpful to any newcomer to party throwing. There are no risque games but lots of them are easily adaptable and can be made less "family oriented" if that is your crowd. The majority of these games are for ADULTS not kids.

This book revolutionized my parties. It is chockfull of practical suggestions for organizing a party, energizing your guests and making your party the talk of the town. I love how the author not only suggests great games, but has the games categorized by what kind they are and when they should be played. Lots of helpful advice on how to warm up your group. I was absolutely amazed at how ENTHUSED my guests became the first time I followed her advice and used the games to make them mingle, break the ice, split a part couples, and get them laughing. It is a hoot. Double thumbs up.

It's so hard to get people together, once they are together you want to keep them occupied and happy. This book was my savior. I had fun gathering all of the supplies and making the games as well as playing them.

Essential to any bettor's library. This book has cut my handicapping time in half as I eliminate the absolute non contenders in minutes. Combined with form analysis, this book also points out the strong favorites and chalk in just a bit more time.

This is the most valuable book I own on horse racing. James Quinn writes so clear and knows so much about the sport. This books tells you all the different types of races and what horse is most qualified to win those races. It has helped me out so much. I don't bet, but I enter contest online and you have to be prepared for every type of race when you enter them. An excellent read for everyone.

I've read several books on handicapping and wagering on racing. Some have been very good and very helpful.
None were as helpful as this.
As a casual handicapper, you learn to look at speed figures and try to guess who's fastest. But the fastest horse doesn't always win. Class and form are sometimes overlooked.
This book taught me to look at who belongs and who doesn't. And who was meant to win this particular race.
After you read this book, you won't miss as much regarding class and form. This will likely lead you to more live horses at longer odds. Especially when so many others use speed as their primary criteria and create short prices for the horses with the highest Beyers.
And the appendicies are a tremendous tool for day-to-day handicapping. A must-read for any serious handicapper.

This book is awesome, and simply the best as it pertains to condition, class, and form. A must have, will simply improve your handicapping skills by leaps and bounds.

As you can see from the others reviews; all positve, all five stars plus!!!

Quinn takes class evaluation of thoroughbreds to a new level and backs it all up with statistical data to prove which horses are best suited for each race and it's conditions. Quinn explains in exceptional detail how to seperate contenders from pretenders. I don't think you want to throw a true beginner into this, but novices can substantially improve their understanding and win percentages by mining this volume for ideas of what to look for. The Appendix summarizing what kind of horse to look for in each type of race is worth it's weight in gold and is something almost anyone with even limited experience can apply to their handicapping. I can honestly say that I believe my handicapping is going to a new level as I read and re-read this book to absorb the material.

In Nunn's Learn Chess Tactics the exercises are organized by theme. Each section has an introduction where the theme is explained, a few examples are given, and then a series of tactical puzzles organized in order of increasing difficulty is provided.
Most sections, and certainly the most relevant ones (like the ones on pins and forks), provide a wide array of puzzles that ranges from beginner level to challenging (for me at least - a class C player). The solutions are clear and as far as I could see with no omission of major lines. The last section is a very good collection of puzzles of every theme, excellent for training your tactical vision.
The breadth of the themes that are presented not only strengthened my overall tactical vision (and my rating), but helped me pinpoint my blind-spots (for example, troubles spotting possibilities of trapping pieces, or tactical moves that are defensive in nature) and work on them.
I recommend this book without hesitation.

John Nunn's style is one of those we can name moralizing and lecturing. It's helpful in the way that it makes a man think of his / her every move. There's a plan of the game, tactics, strategy, and your personal goal as to the game. The book provides you with lots of information about the opening, middle game and endspiel routine, but the most important is how YOU would like to move in this or that position. You and the book become a union, which then helps you to escape the possible blunders.

This book give numerous tactical themes and plenty of exercises. Very highly recommended.

My young chess player says this book gives a great overview of each chess tactic. It begins the lessons with easy tactics and advances to harder and more difficult lessons rather quickly. A person who has been playing for about a year would find this book helpful. This book is not really for more experienced players. It will help the beginner become a better chess player (if you manage to work through all the exercises). And peeking at the answers without working through the problems won't do the trick.

I have quite a few books on tactics and if I had to start all over again I would start by this book. Not that this book presents a huge collection of problems, which it does not, but because it explains the concepts behind tactic motifs very well.
Each chapter starts with a clear explanation of what the tactic motif is. Quoting: "Like the fork, the discovered attack is a way of creating 2 threats at the same time. Unlike the fork, the discovered attack involves 2 attacking pieces".
After the explanation there are a series of real life examples, mostly taken from GM games, all of them very instructive. Diagrams start very simple with chessbase-style threat arrows, clearly showing the combination principles, and then going into harder and harder to find combinations in diagrams without arrows. Solutions are given with nice verbose explanations, leaving nothing behind if you didn't find the complete solution at the diagram.
The chapter introduction is followed by 50 exercises about the tactical motif. Again, diagrams start VERY simple (I would say beginners level) and slowly migrate toward VERY difficult positions (I would say over ELO 1800). Each problem was picked from real life and has an interesting call (example taken from a Fork exercise: Should Black regain the sacrificed piece with 11...f6 or 11...h6?). Unlike most tactic books, sometimes the combination goal in the harder exercises is only a positional plus or a pawn and I found this particularly interesting. The solution to each exercise is also very instructive for instead a short line Nunn takes time to explain what should white or black have played (sine lines included when the solutions allows it) and the what happened in the tragedy of real life (pretty funny sometimes... just like my ICC games).
Finally, a scramble chapter (66 diagrams with side to move) where you are in the dark and have to found the correct tactical motif(s) and/or combination of them in the correct order.
The book itself is of high quality, as all other GAMBIT books around. So far I could not find a typo or analysis error, the diagrams are of excellent quality and the book biding lets it open easily without leaving pages on the floor. Not the cheapest book around but the book material worths the price.
I give 5 stars for the didactics and quality of the contents. 5 stars for the book itself. 4 stars for the problem collection (as all greedy chess readers, I would love to have a bigger problem collection, specially so well explained as the ones already presented).

If you never studied tactics, pick this book first, then go elsewhere find other problem collections.

There have probably been thousands of books written about corporate culture in the last thirty years. Those that make it to the best seller lists have often been written by well known culture gurus, and many of these books are sequels or follow-ons.

Making Culture Pay is the first book written by Jerry Haney. I only know that because I worked for him for many years in the 70's and 80's. What sets this book apart for me is how the author provides nuts and bolts procedures for establishing the right atmosphere for cultural development, and then gives step-by-step instructions for implementing cultural change.

If anything is missing from this book, it may be the importance of the right leadership in accomplishing cultural change. While the author provides a terrific blueprint for successful establishment of cultural change, and packs in lots of examples and stories from his long experience, I think he understates the importance of having the right leader to inspire employees to want to change, to embrace change and to profit from it.

It's a quick read, well-organized, and builds in a logical sequence, folowing all the steps necessary to implement real change in any organization, regardless of size. I recommend it to executives in organizations from ten to ten thousand employees. I guarantee you will get something from it that you can use to improve your organization's culture.

Excellent timing for the first decade of the new century! As a consultant, trainer and coach for 25 years to business leaders and owners, I have found that my clients want processes that "pay" in productivity, performance, team alignment, creative ideas, harmony and profitability. Jerry Haney has "nailed it" in his new book "Making Culture Pay".

Corporate CULTURE is so relevant in today's business climate. Companies have often identified one of their major objectives to be: "Attract, retain and motivate top talent". The culture of a company or an organization can have a profound effect on meeting that objective.
I got excited as I read "Making Culture Pay" because it went beyond philosophy and theory to provide a practical approach to culture. I found Jerry Haney's "6 Critical Elements of a High Performance Workplace Culture" an excellent foundation for the book. The author takes these 6 elements and dedicates a chapter to each so the reader can both understand and apply the information provided. I also appreciated the final chapter in the book providing summary key points made throughout the book. The points are offered in a question-and-answer format that is very helpful.
Overall, I found Jerry Haney's book to be very relevant, informative and practical. I would highly recommend "Making Culture Pay" to anyone, no matter at what level you are in your organization.

Mr Haney has captured the essence of the importance of "culture" in the success of a business. Whether you are an established organization or a start-up, you need to be aware of the impact of culture on the bottom line. Written by a man that has been there! Strongly recommended.

This book thoroughly examines the importance and difference individual, and collective leadership, can provide in determining the overall environment and culture created to build a high performing business unit and company. Just as each of us, as individuals, are in control of, and determine, our own attitudes; leaders at any level of a business can determine and control the environment and culture they create in the part of the business for which they are responsible. Thus, Jerry discusses the key elements of creating and implementing a positive, high performance culture, and also addresses questions we all have as to why some companies, or departments of companies, are the places people are drawn toward to want to work because they are viewed as highly successful, career building and rewarding places to be. Given today's competitive environment, where very little differentiates products and services, the organization with the "best" culture will win every time, as they will retain more existing customers, get more new customers (and most importantly) they will hire, train, develop and retain more of the best people available than their competition.

masquerade caused a frenzy when first published in england. kit williams book was the first ever 'real' treasure hunt, with a 'real' prize buried somewhere in england. masquerade is no longer available, which is a shame, but, this little book not only covers the orignal story, but explains the answers to the puzzle of masquerade. this is a wonderful book for all ages to love and enjoy. buy it!!

I received the original hardback book as a gift when it first came out and spent hours and hours picking out all the clues that were hidden in the text, boarders and luscious illustrations. I wanted that beautiful, detailed hare pendant with it's terra cotta case so bad. I never figured that living in America I would actually be able to find it. I came a lot closer with just a guess about the clue that's on the second page than I ever thought I would.

One of my favorites.

The illustrations are great, plus it is very fun to try to solve all of the riddles. I had no idea that the jewl was found until i got the book, and my family and I never figured out the answer, but I did find all of the rabbits. The origanal book is very good, and if you have one, you should hold on to it, so in 40 years you can go to the Antiques Road Show, and get lots of money!!!

I first learned of this by reading a book with information on treasure hunts. It told the answers, and I thought, "How hard could this be?" As soon as I could, I checked Masquerade out from the library. I read it, tried to put the answers with the pages, and it was hard! I would definitely recommend this book.

Ever since first reading this book in my local library in 1980, I'd been itching to discover the location of the buried Masquerade jewel--not for the prize itself, which was found long ago, but for the sport of deciphering Kit Williams' paintings, which contained clues. Driven mad by the author's early assertion that it was "so simple, a ten year old could solve it," I worked at it periodically in the years that followed and finally caved in when I saw that amazon.com sold a version that contained the solution. I purchased the book merely to end my twenty years of suffering.

How close did I come to solving it? Not nearly as close as I would have liked--as an American, I have very little knowledge of England's geography (mandatory to solving the puzzle, despite the previous disclaimers). I did have part of the solution correct; I knew the letters that bordered each painting spelled out locations, but the method was not as simple as the author pretended. Needless to say, I feel much better now that I know this.

That having been said, let me conclude by stating that the story of Jack Hare's journey is enjoyable, the paintings are absolutely exquisite and the mystery is still intriguing, whether the jewel is still in the ground or not. I recommend it to anyone who loves puzzles--just be prepared to work hard at the solution; it's not easy!

I brought this book for my 4 year old granddaughter, and she loves it. The pictures that appear in the maze make it easy to teach the concept of mazes. For example, the first maze has a hedge bordering all sections of the maze. My granddaughter understood following a path when I told her "you can't jump over or go through the hedge". She had so much fun that she just about finished the book in one sitting.

Purchased for my niece and she loves these mazes. Each page is double sided with an easy maze on the front and a harder maze on the back. She finds the harder maze a little difficult so I place numbered clues throughout the maze for her to follow.

She prefers working with the the pages out of the book, which you can do if you work on it a little. Instead of cutting, you can pull the front cover all the way back until the seam is exposed, and remove the pages one by one without ripping any pages.

My son loves these mazes. I've had great luck with all of the Kumon books. This one is really great for teaching pencil skills. It holds my son's interest and the book is structured to give a high success rate - staring with simpler mazes and progressing. I'm a teacher and I'm very impresed with this and all of the other Kumon books I've tried.

This book is pegged for children ages 3 - 5, and that seems about right. My three year old son had a blast working these delightful (and sometimes challenging) mazes. There are 80 mazes in the book, and there is a certificate of achievement at the back of the book.

Highly recommended.

My 3-year old grand daughter loves doing these mazes. It's geared for 3 - 5 year olds and she wants to try all of them. She can do about half but never gets bored.

A great book for paper enthusiasists. No matter you're a novice or an expert, you'll find challenges in this wonderful book. Mr Montroll is really brilliant in this book, the illustration and step-by-step explaination is easy to follow and yet challenging. Take out a piece of square paper and begin folding to appreciate his creation. It's not simply origami, it's truly paper engineering.

This book contains some wonderful models. Being a dinosaur enthusiast (what kid isn't?) in my younger years, this book provided a great amount of fun and challenge.

My sole complaint with these models are their relatively dated perspective on dinosaurs. These greatly resemble older views of dinosaurs where sluggish lizards lumber through swamps and marshes with their tails dragging on the ground. Of course, this gave me ample opportunity to try diversifying my skills by "improving" the final result.

I would highly recommend this book to both beginner and advanced folders. While the models might not be as challenging as those produced by Lang and Brill, the final results are well worth it.

I had the honor of proof reading the diagrams in this book before it went to print. (I'm the second Mark in the dedication). John Montroll is a brilliant author. His style is amazing, achieving maximum model size from the paper. This is a great book for everyone who enjoys dinosaurs and origami.

When i saw a dinosaur origami book i didn't think twice before buying it! I was bored with simple books making kitties and ducks, but these designs are very ORIGINAL! They are tricky and i often get frustrated with the complicated folds, but when i get a folded dinosaur all of my own in the end, I am so happy!! (No, I'm not a child either i just love dinosaurs!) I own a few origami books and have found this one is a favorite pick, besides the dinosaurs, i just love complicated folds! If you love dinosdaurs, origami, and a stiff challenge this book is for YOU!

A book about dinosaurs folded from paper, a simple idea, really. But take a deeper look, and this is one of the most engaging origami books on the subject ever-for that matter, perhaps it is one of the best origami books ever. I know it is one of my top ten books. Enough praise, you want to know what's in it. Well, as Montroll usually does, the beginning models are so easy, I think you could fold them from sheet metal...an egg, mountain, and tree. Soon though, the dinosaurs begin, and slowly but surely the difficulty rises, until culminating with a Stegosaurus. Other dinosaurs include, T-rex, a bunch of gliding dinos, and others such as Dimetrodon and Spinosaurus. I would recommend this to any Dinosaur fan, and/or origami fan. However, a true beginner would find this book to be boring, because after the three 'sheet metal' models, the difficulty rises 2 or 3 fold. If you can make the first 4 or 5, you can probably learn to make them all. In short, a great buy!

the massager of science and religion is and exelent book thad have many diferent points of view.Iam very happy with this book thank you.

I read the book three times before righting this review,this book is incredible, mind boggling and as it states it has that missing piece of the perfect puzzle! ...
Stephen W. Boston, is the one who brought me to G-D, and also has enlightened my life with Truth, and now has given me a map to the path of awareness. This book is essential to anyone who
is on a journey with G-D.
Thank you Stephen I cherish all you have taught me.

The website is so vast, that it was almost inconceivable to imagine that a book relatively small as this one, would do justice to the premise that all religions as well as science have to be seen together to uncover the truth.
But the Drs. Boston have managed to produce just that! The Reluctant Messenger is a book that satisfies the reader of a skeptical Chester's adventures with religion and science with the Master, which are on the website, and introduces a new juxtaposition: that of Lydia who is a believer of one religion alone. Coming together in a debate spirals each into a search for peace; in two differing directions: one in remote areas of India, and the other within the remote areas of conventional religion. The seeming innocuousness of the physical setting hides the breathtaking journeys each of them takes to the far reaches of human belief, faith and knowledge.
Those who have made a study of religion and/or of science, will not be disappointed: this book is a masterly progression of elegantly presented word diagrams that explain just how the different religions as well as science do fit together into a magnificent picture. There is a masterly change of pace from the sublime to the mundane: descriptions of a meditation of different dimensions and the clearing up of a breakfast table.
The tolerant among us are used to thinking that each religion leads to God- but that all religions together do that; and that science is not just a re-discovery of old facts but a re-presentation of them: that is indeed a unique perspective.
But what of the stories of Lydia and Chester? Do they come together once again? As the book progresses, so do they; and as we are caught up in their lives, it appears that we will need a sequel to find that out!

The collaborative effort of Stephen and Evelyn Boston, The Reluctant Messenger Of Science And Religion is an original and enthralling novel about two people caught amidst revelations that threaten both their personal lives and the world itself. Paradoxes between conflicting world religions, the seeming contradictions between science and faith, inspiration and desperation, all meld into a tautly written saga that makes for rapt, involving reading from beginning to end.

"The Reluctant Messenger of Science and Religion" is a study in how science and the world religions are not in conflict with each other and need each other to form a complete picture. To make it less of a laborious read it is presented in the format of a novel. It starts with two members of debate societies debating over whether science is correct about the creation of the earth or religion is correct. From there we follow both the losing and winning debater through a series of life changing and illuminating events that effectively illustrate the authors' beliefs. It is very well written for a book of this sort and teaches the viewpoint that there are other interpretations of various Bible passages that are not in conflict with science. In fact there are several areas where the teachings are actually a return to the older beliefs. The book also freely examines other religious views from Islam to Hinduism, Buddhism to Sufi and brings them into the discussion.

Strong conservatives from almost any religious teaching will probably have a problem with this book as it attempts to bring harmony between the various beliefs and show that they are all parts of a more complete whole. Since most conservatives by definition believe that their view is right and any other is blasphemy I would expect them to have at least some difficulties. On the other hand, those with an open spirit will probably find it one of their favorite books.

Having said this, I would be failing my obligation to my readers if I did not point out that there are several editing problems of a nature that I would not expect in a finished product. While I did not make a note of them as I went along there are maybe ten to fifteen in the book - far more than the two to three maximum that I expect. As an example, page 235 has the sentence "Chester spoke to know one in particular". Although annoying, they don't interrupt the flow of the book too much and the authors make their point very clearly. It is only because of these errors that this is a recommended read and not a highly recommended read.

One of the better chess books that I've read and I've read alot of them. Well, I've bought a lot, haven't gotten around to reading them all :). Probably not much use to Master level players. I'm a "B" player and learned a lot from this book, particularly in organizing my thoughts during a game. The biography of Purdy in the first part of the book isn't terribly compelling. A nice addition to any collection of chess books, especially for players below 2000.

this book is a classic just like " MY SYSTEM " by NIMZOVICH. EVERY SERIOUS PLAYER OF CHESS MUST READ IT

AUTHOR (1906-79) was an international master,first correspondence world chess champion ,many times australian national chess champion and editor/writer in chess magazines(mostly australian chess magazines).this book of about 300 pages has three parts .his detailed biography (about 25 pages),his excellent chess articles(about 39 in number consisting of 184 pages)and annotation or commentry to his 50 games(about 83 pages).main strength of this book is his excellently written chess articles.in my humble opinion there are few chess teachers/authors of his strength.this book is not for beginners but for intermediate strength chess players (uscf rating 1300 and above )with at least a couple years of chess playind experience

If this book were Juliet, I'd be it's Romeo. There aren't enough superlatives I could lavish on Purdy's writing. There were so many "AHA!" moments when reading that my wife thought I was having an epileptic fit! Purdy's prose is superior yet completely comprehensible. The reader immediately sees his point. Beg, borrow or steal this book, it IS that good. The only negative (and it is a very small one) is the publisher's annoying advertisements spread throughout the book.

This is for me the first book on chess I have encountered that really puts first things first and explains a systematic method for thinking about any chess position. Even though the author makes very interesting remarks about strategical points he never forgets to remind you about the tactical problems on the board and a systematic way of taking care of these. For me definetely the most helpful book on chess that I ever read.