Brian Books

Tired of dry-as-dirt chess books that lack humor and fail to show the glory of the game? Can't find a chess book that's actually FUN to read (without being dumbed down) and that is entertaining enough to attract both kids and adults alike to the game?

Well then, you just found your book. Run, don't walk, to order it. And the illustrations are excellent, and very funny, in a way that appeals to both adults and kids. Can't recommend this book highly enough.

I bought this book new [in 1974] and it has warmed a special place on my bookshelf ever since. This is one of the funniest, clearest written, best annotated books on chess there is. It sounds like it was written for children, and if you have a child....or ever WERE a child, you will see it's charm. However, adults will love this book too. It is both informative and very funny. The illustrations alone are enough reason to own this book, but the every day explanations, such as the one for Discovered Check which involves a little old lady selling flowers in a park.....with a revolver!!!....are enough to slay you.

This comic is 3rd in the Evil Ernie series of trade paper backs. First was Youth Gone Wild, then Resurrection, and now we see the 3rd adventure. He's searching for fresh meat, hunting down suckas as he does best. As usual they try and stop them but since Darkness Dwells in Chaos! well I'll leave the ending up to you. Highly recommended for Fiends, since NonFiends won't get the message. Evil proves to be archfiend as always, sworn to the black.

This volume reprints the original illustrated Chaos Comics comic book series Evil Ernie: Revenge #1-4 in a trade paperback, in which you discover Evil Ernie's (an undead teenaged psychopath capable of reanimating and controlling the dead) origins and background info on Ernie; see the destruction of New York City; and meet a religious zealot who is not terribly fond of Ernie. Definately not for younger readers. Highly enjoyable for fans of the horror and misfit hero comic book genre.

Before picking it up, at one hundred odd pages, I reckoned this would be a great book to finish before a weekend lunch. I thought I already knew the fundamentals of game theory and sociobiology, and this book would cement my knowledge. I ended up spending the whole day reading and mulling over each paragraph. I am impressed by how much Skyrms was able to cover in such a short space. Here is a check list of concepts, from the opening paragraph of the Postscript:

* Bargaining games and distributive justice
* Ultimatum games and commitment
* Prisoner's dilemma and mutual aid
* Hawk-dove and the origins of ownership
* Signaling games and the evolution of meaning

I have three minor complaints. The first is that title does not accurately reflect the contents of the book. There is no explicit discussion of the social contract. Few biological and no historical examples (I'm not counting the literary ones, such as from Dante). It is mostly logical/mathematical in content, while employing almost no equations, so anyone with sound reasoning skills should be able to follow. My second concern is that it is dense. Maybe padding it with more, illustrated examples would aid comprehension. My third concern is that the examples were a bit too abstract at times. Perhaps this reflects the author's background (Professor of Logic & Philosophy of Science and Economics). Althought it is gratifying to know that the mathematical tools can be applied so generally, concrete examples are easier to relate to. That said, some of the examples, especially those accompanied by diagrams made me want to verify the results by running a simulation myself. It turns out that the code and results are online; just search for them.

I originally picked up this book due to a glowing print review given to it by Freeman Dyson and I wasn't at all disapointed. I found it to be a really remarkably in-depth treatment of the subject matter considering the relatively meager length and yet it was simple, direct and unpretentious. ( I would preface this book, however, with a more inclusive work on Game theory if you're interested. It's not necessary to understand the thesis or learn from the experiments but there are many principal concepts in Game theory that he never defines completely- such as Nash Equilibrium. I suggest William Poundstone's "The Prisoner's Dilemma")

I think the final chapter is one of the most compelling explanations available in print of how differential reproduction can and does most frequently create environments where individuals of a species engage in activities that benefit the group at their own personal expense. He leads directly to the point of any given chapter without beating you over the head with it and by the time you get there, you realize that it was without resorting to extensive technical language or drawing on a huge number of oblique studies. It probably doesn't need to be said that this book doesn't provide much to the "rational choice social contract" thinkers and I think the title is more than enough to steer them away, anyway.

In summary, I think this book would be of tremendous interest to anyone interested in Game theory, Theoretical mathematics, sociology, political science, microeconomics or any of a number of different fields specifically because of the author's aversion to distilling the ideas presented in the book into a misleading one sentence conclusion. If you're looking for a brief yet salient discussion of the subject matter, this is both.

I found this book to be extremely informative. It was well outlined and easy to follow. I would highly recommend it to the health care professional.

This book is the only one of its kind, it informs health professional on topics of exercise and disease management. The workbooks that can be purchased separately are a key component for the management of patients.

Although this book really wasn't designed as a field guide (i.e. field use), its functional role in reptile and amphibian literature pertaining to the exotics of Florida is just that. In other words, it beats everything else currently out there on the subject and should be carried in the field. The pictures are decent (though not great) and there are very helpful county maps for each species, along with species descriptions, similar species comparisons, histories of introductions, habitat and habits details (very useful), diet information, known predators, and reproduction data, if available. I would have been completely lost on a recent herping trip to Florida if I didn't have this book with me to identify the non-natives I encountered. Although other Florida exotic publications exist, this one is the most current and I'd say the best. Beware that most field guides include only a small portion of the species this book encompasses. This is a must-have for anyone herping in Florida.

Meshaka, Butterfield, and Hauge accurately and comprehensively described the many species of introduced herpetofauna that have found there way into the Florida ecosystem. A great supplement to any field guide, this book answers many of those "Why isn't this thing in Petersons?" questions that have plagued many a herper traveling through Florida. Complete with maps outlining known localities of specific species, some fine photography, as well as historical perspectives on these introduced species, this book has not only found its way into the field with me, but has also made its way to my coffee table. I hope this spark causes a wildfire of descriptive field guides which begin to accurately identify and bring attention to the growing concern of introduced species throughout the United States.

Explore Western Europe is a consumable, educational activity book intended especially for children. A wide variety of activities that teach children ages 4 to 8 some basic facts about Western Europe including pictures and flags that can be colored, mazes to solve, grids that aid in drawing, quizzes, word finds for capital cities, and much more. The solutions to the puzzles are all in the back of the book. Explore Western Europe is an enriching and recommended activities book for rainy day fun, long car trips, or for something to do when there's nothing worthwhile on television!

I've compiled my experience through Western Europe into a "Travel Activity Book" that brings social studies, history, geography and seven languages to children 4-8 years through activity games making learning fun. "Playful Learning" is the key. No other activity book teaches kids about the world in this way. Most activity books have 4-5 different activities, Explore Western Europe has 31 different activities that brings out the essence of whats actually there. From running with the bulls in Pamplona and winning the Tour de France, to finishing the Mona Lisa and climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Its a fun-filled experience, i know, I lived it.

Theres a great big world out there, EXPLORE it!

I've read a few Special Forces books but this one is by far and away the best one yet. There's so much in it that one doesn't usually hear about and also I enjoyed 'Billy's' sense of humour which crops up now and again. Tremendous read.

Similar in some respects to Mike Curtis' 'CQB', this is an account of the author's SAS career, having joined via the parachute regiment in the 1970s. It divides up into three distinct battlefields - Oman, the Falklands the the Gulf, with the meat of the book taking place in the latter area. The first two sections are fairly run-of-the-mill, although it's interesting to compare the Falklands section with Max Hastings' 'Battle for the Falklands' and the aforementioned 'CQB', as one particular moment - in which an SAS soldier shoots down an Argentine aircraft with a Stinger - pops up in all three books, each from a slightly different perspective.
It's the coverage of the Gulf war that's particularly interesting, though, as Ratcliffe took part in an SAS operation that's been gone over comprehensively in other books, books which he has read. Consequently, like some real-life 'Rashomon', he points out the exaggerations and untruths in 'Bravo Two Zero', 'Sabre Squadron' and others, all books which you can find elsewhere on Amazon.com. Whilst he seems slightly petulant at times (his account of leading a patrol gives the impression that he was blissfully unaware that he might come across as being, well, smug), it makes for fascinating reading...

Fairfax, Images of America, is a well written pictorial and historical review of this lovely little town. A good brief history of the land grants which formed the town and the early settlers, the background of the Marin Town and Country Club (Pastori's), local schools and churches, the downtown area, the importance of the railroad, the incline railroad, Arequipa, etc. Considerable rare photos from the 20s-50s. My brother recognized many of the boy scouts on page 106 with whom he went to school. A marvelous treasury of photos and history. If you lived in Fairfax, grew up there, went to school, or just summered or visited, this book will touch your heart.

I bought this book for my mother, who grew up in San Anselmo and spent much of her time in Fairfax. She has been raving about the book and how all of the pictures and stories brought back such wonderful memories. She told me that she wished the book would go on forever and that she was so sad to have finished it! She is now lending it to a childhood friend, and will read it again when she gets it back..

I'm fresh from seeing the revival starring Ralph Fiennes, Cherry Jones and Ian McDiarmid--and was completely blown away. Friel manages an almost Rashomon-like effect, in showing the same events from the very different memories of the three characters.

Brian Friel, one of Ireland's leading contemporary dramatists, creates an unusual and absorbing drama about "The Fantastic Francis Hardy," a faith healer originally from Ireland, who has been traveling the small towns of England, Wales, and Scotland with his wife Grace and his manager Teddy. On some nights several people in a small audience may be healed, but, nine times out of ten, no one is. "Am I endowed with a unique and awesome gift?" Frank wonders. "Am I a conman?" He believes he falls somewhere "between those absurd exaggerations."

In each of the four acts, one of the three characters appears alone on stage and speaks in a dramatic monologue. Talking in Act I about his days on the road with Grace and Teddy, Frank discusses his recent return to Ireland, where, in a local pub, he made two attempts at healing, but he refuses to say much more. The suspense builds in the next act, where the distraught speaker is Grace, a former lawyer who gave up everything to follow the charismatic Frank. As she tells of her love for Frank, his treatment of her, and the terrible conditions of life on the road, the audience is unsure why she and Frank have been living apart. The speaker in Act III, the devoted Teddy, fills in some gaps between the monologues of Frank and of Grace, though we still do not know what has happened--until Frank's final monologue.

In the hands of outstanding actors, these monologues are powerful theater. (James Mason was Frank in the 1979 New York run of the play.) Each speaker stands alone on an almost-bare stage, and all attention is riveted on him/her, what s/he says, and the glorious language in which s/he says it. In a repeating incantation, Frank and Grace "sing" the names of the small towns in Scotland and Wales to which they have journeyed, connecting their monologues through this repetition and through their different memories of the same events. Echoing through Teddy's monologue, are the lyrics to Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight," which Teddy uses as background music during Frank's healings, and which achieve great irony when he sings, "I will feel a glow just thinking of you..."

As the audience develops interest in and empathy for the speakers, the tension rises. Gradually they become aware that time has passed between these monologues. Frank's concluding monologue is stunning. Friel manages, somehow, to create an involving and powerful drama, despite the fact there is no on-stage interaction, and the characters flout the "rules" of theater by "telling about" events instead of reenacting them. Memorable and haunting, both as an overall play and as portraits of three individual characters, this is Friel in one of his most compelling and unusual plays. Mary Whipple

If, like me, you had Brian Friel down as some sort of bog-trotting hickster, an intellectually acceptable John B. Keane if you like, prepare to be astonished. 4 monologues, 3 characters, 2 ghosts, 2 crucial incidents. Faith healer, wife/mistress, Cockney manager. Visit minor villages of Celtic Britain doing their act - miscarriage; fatal confrontation with Donegal yokels. Crosscurrents of memory, self-interest, self-mythologising, and evasion litter witness-accounts, contradicting, negating, enriching.

You can read this remarkable text in a number of ways (it helps to remember the lovely James Mason played Frank in the first performance): as a Nabokov/Banville-like narrative of an amoral, charismatic monster with a beguiling way with words, whose very artistry facilitates some kind of transcendence; as an analysis of the artist, the necessary mixture of fraudulence and healing power; as a story of brutal men and the pain they wreak on their women. So much more. The play is full of words, rich, incantatory words that seem to spin a fragrant web of matchless b.s., and yet, at the end, dissolve phantasmogorically, transforming provincial crime into an enchanted, disembodied, visionary realm.

Brian Friel, one of Ireland's leading contemporary dramatists, creates an unusual and absorbing drama about "The Fantastic Francis Hardy," a faith healer originally from Ireland, who has been traveling the small towns of England, Wales, and Scotland with his wife Grace and his manager Teddy. On some nights several people in a small audience may be healed, but, nine times out of ten, no one is. "Am I endowed with a unique and awesome gift?" Frank wonders. "Am I a conman?" He believes he falls somewhere "between those absurd exaggerations."

The play has no interactive scenes. In separate monologues each character stands alone on an almost-bare stage, and all attention is riveted on him/her. In glorious language, each person reveals the problems which torment him/her. Talking about his days on the road with Grace and Teddy, Frank discusses his recent return to Ireland, where, in a local pub, he made two attempts at healing, but he refuses to say much more.

The suspense builds in the next act, as the distraught speaker is Grace, a former lawyer who gave up everything to follow the charismatic Frank. As she tells of her love for Frank, his treatment of her, and the terrible conditions of life on the road, the audience is unsure why they have been living apart. The third speaker, the devoted Teddy, fills in some gaps between the monologues of Frank and of Grace, though we still do not know what has happened--until Frank's final monologue.

In the hands of outstanding actors, these monologues are powerful theater. (James Mason was Frank in the 1979 New York run of the play.) In a repeating incantation, Frank and Grace "sing" the names of the small towns in Scotland and Wales to which they have journeyed, connecting their monologues through this repetition and different memories of the same events. Surprisingly, the lyrics of Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight," which Teddy uses as background music during Frank's healings, echo through Teddy's monologue, which achieves great irony when he sings, "I will feel a glow just thinking of you..."

As the audience develops interest in and empathy for the speakers, the tension rises. Gradually one becomes aware that time has passed between these monologues, and Frank's concluding monologue is stunning. Friel manages, somehow, to create an involving and powerful drama, despite the fact there is no on-stage interaction and the characters flout the "rules" of theater by "telling about" events instead of reenacting them. Memorable and haunting, both as an overall play and as close-ups of three individual characters, this is Friel in one of his most compelling and unusual plays. Mary Whipple