Agnew Books

While this book was obviously written as a manual on stretching for patients of physical therapists, it is written in a simple format. There are great descriptions of each stretch under each picture, and with a little practice I was able to go through the lower body stretches with great results. The theory here - Active Isolated Stretching by name - is really powerful and I found it incredibly safer than other forms of stretching. There is only a two-second hold with these stretches, so I couldn't believe the range I achieved after one set of the exercises. The best thing is it does not hurt to do these stretches! This manual may not be the prettiest thing to look at, but its exercises are powerful. I look forward to any DVD on this form of self-stretching!

this study guide is very interesting!! it has many jokes and useful examples to teach students the right way to get better grades! I would recommend it to any student who wants to get better grades.

I picked up a copy of Milton Agnew's book THE HOLY SPIRIT: FRIEND & COUNSELOR many years ago and have recently read through it again. I have found the book to be a delight to me about the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Agnew writes from a Wesleyan perspective but his views are biblically based and his chapters are short and quite easy to read. Agnew's thoughts are easily laid out for the reader to follow. The book is a book that both skilled theologians and new disciples can read and enjoy.

The only complaints I have against the book are that Agnew uses the King James Version as his standard text but he does balance this by using modern translations such as the New American Standard (NASB) and the New International Version (NIV) from time to time where his discussion needs the modern translations. This is a minor flaw to me. The second complaint I have is that Agnew spends two chapters dealing with the modern charismatic movement. Agnew, being Wesleyan, is anti-charismatic and he uses two chapters to voice this. Despite my agreements with some of what he writes about the modern charismatic movement, I felt that these two chapters were simply too much for a 160 page book.

Overall the book does a good job of presenting the person and work of the Holy Spirit. While you will find sections you will not fully agree with Agnew over, you be blessed by reading and studying the Holy Spirit and his ministry.

The role-playing game that won't die returns in another edition. While not as artfully presented as the original Bard Games guide, nor as weighty as Shooting Irons' big blue hardback, this current worldbook culls information from all the previous editions (resolving some discrepancies) and presents it in a readable volume that feels comphrehensive.

I mistakenly thought that this was a journal of the subject (Lady Agnew) and artist (John Singer Sargent) discussing her background and details of the sitting, etc. However, it is just blank pages for you to write your personal journal.

A good read for anyone trying to understand the geo-political situation in the past few years and more years to come in the future.

I'm terribly math-challenged/phobic and have a terrible time with "creative math", but this text has greatly eased my fears of calculating fertilizer amounts, etc. This is easy to read and to follow, using the model problems. Well worth the time invested in reading through from cover to cover.

I was a bit disappointed when I first got this book as I expected something totally different. With that said I'll try my best to make a fair review of this book.

If you watched the movies on your Open Water course and read your books, then you more or less already know what Scuba Diver's travel companion has to say. The author of the book is a master scuba diver with about 20 years of experience. This doesn't help when he has very little to add to the Open Water manual. The book itself is a black and white book with some drawings and no real pictures. In other words, don't expect this book to help you choose which dive site to visit next (it explains each dive site, but it's a bit boring to read). The book contains tons and tons of information that is just common sence. Things like: don't throw up upwind or you might get it in your face, and don't swim to the ladder until the diver in front of you has climbed up or else you might get his tank in your head if he falls down. It's not hard to guess where the author's from, and the book is a bit too much Americanized if you ask me.

The chapters goes like this:

Introduction - X
Tips for dive travel - 1
Worldwide dive destinations - 23
Airlines, packing, and local transport - 49
Masks, fins, snorkels, and exposure suits - 65
BC's, regulators, tanks, weights, and dive computers - 81
Weighting and bouyancy - 95
Dive equipment accessories - 103
Predive equipment checks - 123
Enchancing your dive skills - 137
Breathing gas underwater - 163
Hazardous marine life - 173
Care of dive equipment - 187
Expanding diving opportunities - 201
Appendix A: Resources for divers - 213
Appendix B: Dice checklists - 215
Index - 221
About the author - 227

Like I said earlier, if you've read your Open Water manual, you won't need this book. But it won't hurt reading it, it will probably make you remember thing better since repetition is the best way to remember things. And you'll most likely pick up a few tips and tricks.

The book also have some positive sides. I liked the chapter about hazardous marine life. It will tell you about what to stay away from, and how to treat an "attack" by any of these animals. My Open Water book lacked this as far as I can remember. The book also have some nice checklists for packing, pre-dive, equipment and so on. The book also explains some things a bit more in depth than the Open Water manual, like the chapter that deals with care of dive equipment.

I love this book and idea. It's a wonderful blast from the past. Thanks to the TTA Team for bringing back my favorite childhood Sci-Fi book series and creating a fun and workable RPG system. The art work is great and the background is well thought out and interesting. Buy the other books from the TTA for more background and additional art work.

This is Morrigan's second title in their attempt to restore the Terran Trade Authority to our shops and bookshelves. Their first effort, "Spacecraft 2100-2200 AD" was packed with errata and typos, and I am pleased to say that this book is an improvement on that front. Having said that much of the initial history section is simply a cut and paste from the earlier title. Consequently you get the same duplicated paragraph in the text, and the Alphans still feel compelled to declare "was" on Proxima rather than war. There are other typos as well that demonstrate that Morrigan still has not fully grasped the concept of proofreading.

The first thing that struck me on receipt of the book was it's size. It's dimensions are only 15cm by 23cm. The original TTA books were all large hard bound books, and this smallish soft cover doesn't really inspire. There is a nice CGI piece of artwork on the cover, but that's pretty much the limit of the high level artwork. Frankly, for a product based on some fairly impressive artwork books, it's disappointing to see the artwork here. There are a number of black and white ink drawings, which look like they have been badly photocopied prior to inclusion in the book. There are also several instances of CGI artwork that has been shrunk down, to fit on the small pages, and converted to grey. Needless to say such artwork does not adapt well to this format, and you get some pretty grey and indistinct images. There are a number of anatomically correct drawings of the species concerned, and these are pretty good, plus a number of conceptual artwork sketches, which at least help you picture the races concerned.

The new things in the book are detailed descriptions of the three known spacefaring races (Humans, Alphans & Proximans)and their home systems, which are good. However Traveller players may groan a little when they read that apparrently all three races come from the same genetic heritage somewhere in the past (hopefully this won't the Ancients all over again). There is also a new section which gives an overview of some of the biggest corporations in known space, plus a quick mention of some of the smaller ones. Sure enough Morrigan is mentioned as a large corporation in the TTA future.

A bit of a treat is a foreword by Stewart Cowley, which is nice, and gives a little more insight into the creative process behind the original four books.

The rest of the book largely concerns the Omni RPG system, which I gather is the set of house rules used by Morrigan. It uses a system of skills and character quirks as a part of it's game mechanics, however I'll leave a detailed breakdown of the rules to a more gearhead orientated reviewer. The book contains all the equipment and stats that you'd expect for an RPG, plus several of the classic ships converted into game stats.

Frankly, in many ways this book is the worst of all worlds. It doesn't add alot to the universe background. It's all either cut and paste from the first book, or taken more or less directly from the original TTA material. Fans of the artwork are going to be seriously disappointed with all the small, badly copied, pieces of artwork. RPG gamers will find that a small soft cover book is awkward and annoying for use in an RPG. Larger hardcover books are far easier to leave open on specific pages for quick reference during a gaming session.

In summary, there is some new material on the Alphans, Proximans, and humans, plus some fleshing out of the solar systems and some of the TTA corporate world. Other than that the artwork is generally poor, the history is recycled from the originals or the first book, and the book size is inconvenient for use in RPG play. This book should only be purchased by folk who are keen to run a campaign in the TTA universe. All the good artwork will be appearing in the artwork books, and I have a feeling that we'll be seeing all the history and new material about the TTA Universe again and again and again in later books.

From the standpoint of a lifelong fan of the classic TTA series, there are a number of things to like, and some not to like, about the new Morrigan series in general, and this book in particular.

On the down side, when the game reimagines material that already existed, it leads to occasionally questionable decisions and a small raft of consistency issues, both within the Morrigan line, and in relation to the classic books. For example, the DeVass Generator is described as working the old way in the introduction (because the introduction reprints the text of the classic book), but a different way in chapter six.

While it's fair to say the original books were not bastions of consistency themselves, it's probably not a good idea to introduce new discrepancies by making what sometimes seem to be unnecessary changes. This also increases the risk of long time fans viewing the book less favorably than they otherwise might, since after nearly three decades they likely have their own very well established ideas of how things work.

There are a few other serious (but easily fixed) problems, such as Pluto in the planetary distance table; it is listed as two different, extremely large, and incorrect distances from the sun -- a largish issue when all warp jumps must take place outside Pluto's orbit.

Where this book shines best, and where it will be most useful to me, is where it adds original material to the setting. For example, the level of detail in the Alphan and Proximan sections, and the content itself, is all that I could hope for. The cultures are interesting, sufficiently alien, and detailed enough to breath life into an aspect of the setting that the old books mostly only addressed indirectly, through the mirror of their spacecraft designs.

And, of course, the book has a foreword by Stewart Cowley, the author of the classic books, which many a TTA fan should find of interest.

Though there is artistic nudity and descriptions of the aliens' sexuality in the book, the treatment here is as a naturalist's illustrations and an overview of the aliens' physiology/way of life rather than something provocative. (And it is amusing to read the Terran entry, which is presented in much the same tone.) This is relevant and potentially useful information, due to the theorized relationship between the three races, and the possibility of interspecies liasons in an RPG campaign. I can't see many (mature) people having a problem with it, but they do need to be aware it is there.

Overall, I think the RPG is worth getting for any TTA fan with an interest in roleplaying in the setting (if not, go for "Local Space" instead), but I hope that in the future, the line will play to its strengths and move away from significant revision of the existing material to focus more on adding to the setting. Luckily, that seems more likely over time.

Finally, be aware that the version of the book on Amazon contains greyscale interior art. The PDF version and the upcoming limited edition on the publisher's site both should have color interior art.

I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the TTA RPG since I first heard about it. I grew up on Spacecraft 2000-2100AD, and I was delighted to hear that it and the entire universe it that was set in (which until then I was unaware of) was being given a new lease of life. I have not been disappointed.

The background is by far worth the admission price. It has been very intelligently written throughout. I feel it is as close to the flavour of the original as is reasonably feasible, given the difficulty of having to flesh out the gaps and answer some of the mysterious questions that made the original books so captivating.

The first section consists of a rerun of the timeline and background presented in Spacecraft 2100-2200AD (a necessary evil, for those who may not own the original), but from there expands into more detail about the three main systems: Sol, Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri. Earth and the Sol system get the lion's share here, but as the game system is the *Terran* Trade Authority after all, Morrigan can be forgiven for starting out in this initial book by giving a solid base for the more familiar elements.

The detail on the races is excellent. It is clear that there has been a great deal of thought put into them; the nitty-gritty details of biology will please the natural history buff. Much effort has been put into describing the languages and worlds and the culture itself. The Alphans and Proximians both come out as well thought-out alien cultures, without being so alien as to be incomprehensible. In addition, neither are truly `global' cultures; there is ethnic diversity, which goes a long way to make them more believable than many of the aliens in popular sci-fi (or even the fantasy races in many RPGs) that sometimes fall into `humans with bits stuck on and some special powers' category.

Terrans warrant their own section as well, which is written in the same manner. This is not as redundant as it seems, as aspects of humans which the other races find notable are mentioned, which gives even greater insight into the (general) mindset of the aliens.

The artistry in the book, while good, suffers considerably from the greyscale format. Much of the artwork is either smaller reprints of Spacecraft 2100-2200AD artwork or updates in the same vein to the original Spacecraft 2000-2100AD artwork, all of which were in colour and, as such, have not made the transition to greyscale well. The race pictures are quite acceptable (they are nude, in an entirely clinical way, no worse than you might see in a book on the study of early humans). The line drawings are less good; they appear as more conceptual art than finished works, but then again, I never have cared for concept art-style in any case. In the equipment section there are a few obligatory equipment pictures (most of which have suffered far less from being in greyscale) and the starship section has several profiles and top-down views of many (though not all) of the spacecraft in 2100-2000AD. (Sadly, though, there is no scale, and the sizes of the vessels are described only by vague size categories rather than actual sizes.)

Finally, to the rules themselves. I found this to be the least good aspect of the book. There is not a great deal to say about the Omni rules system, since frankly, there just isn't a lot of it; it is a very rules-lite system (in that there few hard and fast rules or guidelines, unlike, say, Dungeons & Dragons 3.5). There is nothing *wrong* with the Omni mechanics as such, but they are, for my tastes, a little *too* rules-lite. The mechanics are very simple; roll a D20, add your skill or attribute modifier, and subtract a number based on the difficulty of the action (which often means the opposed skill of whoever you're trying to use the skill on). The net result is then looked up on Omni's one and only table to determine the margin of success or failure. This sequence is used for everything for piloting to attacks (damage is a fixed value determined by the weapon.) However, the system relies heavily on the GM to determine what the margin of success means. There are only a few areas, like combat, where the effects are a given. There are few examples of difficulties of various actions, less so than in any RPG game I've seen, forcing the GM to "wing" the difficulty every time. The game goes into great length as to how to be narrative, as it relies on narrative for the GM to be able to make judgements. While this will appeal to those fond of that kind of game, it is quite difficult for those of a less narrative bend to run without relying on almost entirely on GM fiat. A few sample difficulties for each skill would have made it much easier to adjudicate. Furthermore, the rules are not especially well-organised; for example, the computer section mentions sub-skills, and neglects to list them; it also wouldn't have hurt to repeat things occasionally in other sections (like the fact that starship weapons rely on the computer skill in the starship combat section, for example). Morrigan are obviously still going through the teething stage, too (there are a few noticeable typos). Though there is a character sheet online at the TTA website, including one with the book would have been helpful, too.

All that said, the system doesn't have any inherent flaws I could see, based on my reading the rules; I have not had chance to play-test it yet. However, there are a few places where the conversion from a fantasy genera shows through; it mentions a `day's ride' or `magical trinkets' on a couple of occasions; likewise the (optional) Psi section occasionally refers to things in terms derived from the magic system it was presumably based on.

Omni is a level-less system, so character generation is little more than picking a race, making some minor tweaks to the stats (the stats themselves are simply negative or positive modifiers from a base of 0, rather than a number that derives a bonus, or a value to roll under), adding a quirk or two and selecting skills. Selecting skills is done by selecting a number of `paths' which grant equipment, skill ranks to assign, and some stat bonuses. There are a fair number of paths, enough to get started and the GM is encouraged to create their own. The down-side to this type of system, of course, is that the more mechanics-minded roleplayer hasn't really got anywhere to `go' apart from increasing the level of skills. That also takes game time and picking up entirely new skills could take months to nearly a year of game time in addition to the experience cost.

The psi section is quite adequate, and entirely optional (really only included for the GM to use for new alien races as humans (etc!) with psi powers aren't really in the original flavour).

It should be noted, though, that even if you don't particularly care for the Omni system, the fact that is D20-based (and on modifiers at that), makes converting the source material and stats to other D20 systems trivial, (i.e. any of the D&D derivatives) or even to a percentage system like Spacemaster.


I was disappointed with the spacecraft combat section, which states the game is intended to be more about characters than vehicle combat; as a fan primarily of the superb starship artwork, I was hoping they would get rather more than what feels like passing attention. Still, I have yet to see an RPG system that has created a very satisfactory vehicle combat system, and the one here is no worse than most, if not especially spectacular.

In summary, a pretty good buy. There are some minor niggles and the actual RPG system, while functional, may not be to everyone's taste. The nature of the rules system, relying on heavy GM arbitration means that I would not recommend it to less experienced GMs (and, it must be said, considering the nature of the species pictures and some of their biological write-ups, it may not be appropriate for some younger GMs or players.)
Any negative factors, however, are far outweighed by the solid quality (and quantity) of the background source material.

When my husband and I saw the "Spacecraft 2100 to 2200 AD" book from Morrigan Press in our local bookstore this past September, we were excited to see a fond memory from our past. We had both enjoyed the Terran Trade Authority books when they were published in the 1970s, and had put the ideas into our Traveller role-playing games then. So we were especially excited to see an ad for the Terran Trade Authority RPG. We waited to see what it would be like, and were very happy to get a copy this past weekend.

The size is just right for a guidebook to the future, and the art is very interesting -- the ships have been updated and the aliens are fleshed out.
(And, yes, there is full frontal nudity, but it is not gratuitous, and it certainly isn't drawn in a titillating manner -- it is intended to showcase the differences between the three races, which it does quite well. I'm a grandmother, and I have no qualms about my grandchildren finding my copy of the book. It's just not an issue.) I'm not as fond of the equipment pictures, which seem more cartoonish than the others, but they do give a good overview of the different technologies of the three major races (Alphans, Proximans, and Terrans).

The future history and setting is expanded from the original art books' evocative prose, in what seems to be a plausible manner, given current world events. What I particularly like is the alienness of the Alphans and Proximans. Jeff Lilly said that he had taken a scientific approach to their development, placing Australopithecus afarensis in each environment, using rigorous scientific data on what each habitable planet might be like, and then pushing the clock forward three million years. So these aliens are not like your "Star Trek" bumpy foreheadian monocultures. They are as full and interesting a set of cultures as in any good science fiction novel.

The game system is simple, but elegant. I am looking forward to playing it. Soon.

Recently I read an article by Ben Stein about the sudden outpouring of books about Richard Nixon and his presidency. For the most part Stein focuses on Robert Dallek's excellent tome "Nixon and Kissinger" as well as Margaret MacMillan's somewhat tedious but thorough work, "Nixon and Mao." He referenced this book in passing and referred to Mr. Witcover as, "a third rate journalist." I beg to differ.

In examining the relationship between President Richard Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew, Witcover carefully examines one of the most overlooked aspects of his presidency. Witcover clearly draws on research he had done for previous books about Nixon and Agnew, but manages to distinguish this book from other Nixon books.

In the grand scheme of the Nixon presidency, Spiro Agnew is typically an afterthought as the focus usually falls on Watergate, Kissinger, the Vietnam War, the SALT agreement and opening relations with communist China. The book quickly makes clear that Agnew played a minor role, if any, in policy decisions. Witcover is at his best when he explores issues such as Nixon's own self-loathing and paranoia, which clearly fed into his decision to put Agnew on the '68 ticket. Mr. Whitcover also paints an interesting picture of Agnew's ability to offend an entire room in less than three sentences. And while he may have been far more elegant than George W. Bush in his ability to articiulate his ideas, it is also clear nearly ALL of his memorable soundbites (such as his reference to the press as "nattering nabobs of negativism")to William Safire and Pat Buchanan. Witcover's analysis and research makes also makes plain the irony of Nixon's treatment of Agnew, considering Nixon's own gripes about his limited role as Ike's VP.

But perhaps the most interesting and unique aspect of this book is the backstory of Nixon's relationship with John Connelly, and his desire to unite with Connelly (then still a Democrat) and start a third party that would shake up American politics as we know it. Nixon's desire to push Agnew off the 72 ticket and replace him with Connelly is well examined and documented by Mr. Witcover, who paints Connelly as one of the few people in Washington that Nixon was in awe of.

We all know how it ended, with Agnew's resignation, Ford's ascension to the VP-slot, and Nixon's own downfall. But if you are interested in a fresh take on an often forgotten chapter of the Nixon presidency, you can't do much better than this book.

Witcover has made a career of hate filled attacks on RN. This book is a cut and paste job with little new to offer.

Jules Witcover is an excellent writer who, unfortunately, sometimes lets his political and philosphical beliefs get in the way. There are various instances in this book where he is just as intent on criticizing conservatives and the Republican Party as criticizing the two main characters -- Nixon and Agnew.

It is obvious that he is and was no fan of President Nixon. In some respect, despite his dislike for Agnew there are places in the book where it seemed Witcover was sympathetic with him. One senses that Agnew, for all his flaws, wanted to be an important member of the Nixon Administration while Nixon and his staff grew to dislike him and tried to relegate him to obscurity. It is no secret that Nixon became enamored with John Connally and would have preferred Connally as his successor. Witcover sees a tormented vice president who wanted to be so much more than what the president would let him be. And then, skeletons came out of the closet to doom the vice president.

Two things stood out that keeps me from rating this higher. First, if Witcover would have left his biases out of the book -- or been more subtle with his biases -- it would have given his account more credibility. As it is, his little digs at not just Nixon and Agnew but the Republican Party and conservatives in general, gives this book more of a flavor of a hatchet job.

Second, and this may seem trivial, but there are no pictures. Other than the cover jacket there are none. Pictures really add a lot to a historical book such as this. I grew up in that era and remember well how the main characters -- Nixon, Agnew, Connally, Haldeman, Erlichman, etc -- looked. But to younger people, the failure to match a face with the people being written about detracts from the book. There could have been pictures of Nixon in the 1968 campaign, the 1968 GOP convention, Nixon and Agnew campaigning in both 1968 and 1972, Agnew giving speeches during the first administration, the investigators and culprits who destroyed Agnew in 1973, Agnew leaving the federal court in Baltimore as a former vice president, both men in their later years, etc. There were so many possibilities of where pictures would have added so much to this book. But there were none.

It seems that Mr. Whitcover has covered this before in two previous books. As a previous reviewer said, this is a hatchet job on two of the most misunderstood people to hold the two highest offices in the United States. Yes, they both certainly had their faults and deserved their eventual fates, but there was a lot more to the both of them and Whitcover misses it all. He just simply re hashes the obvious faults and does no other searching. Agnew for one is in dire need of a serious study of his Vice Presidency.

As I began to read Jules Witcover's revealing book about the Nixon-Agnew relationship, I thought that this book must have limited appeal....especially to those of us who grew up during that time. Indeed, the author alludes to this point in his preface, but then again, "Very Strange Bedfellows" has overtones for today. One hopes that Witcover has another book in mind as he has already set foot in one of those intriguing relationships from the past... Nixon and Agnew.

Luck more or less got Agnew off on his trajectory and lack of luck finished him off. I didn't know that Agnew had been a Rockefeller man until I began reading the book, and how quickly things changed. The stars were aligned for Agnew. It's no wonder, however, that the smallness of Agnew eventually got him, as Witcover so describes.

The author is the perfect person to write this book. Having assessed the potential of Nixon and Agnew, his narrative is terrific. I lived through that very period and followed the two closely, but Jules Witcover has written an account that covers it all. It's a walk down memory lane. I highly recommend "Very Strange Bedfellows". It uncovers the the behind-the-scenes look at one of the weirdest political connections.