Builder

I have some experience in the AD&D game. I started 6 years ago, but i am not a veteran.

This book is great for building really BIG, vibrant worlds. I do not think it is suited for building a world starting from stratch. There's just too much information that would not come into play until much later.

This book has you select a core theme or "hook" (idea that makes it different from any other world) for your campaign first (a VERY good idea). The book then flips you to the revelant "starting" chapter, such as Mythology or legend. In the chapters, there is a host of revelant information. I did not like the idea of die-tables; to me it's a subsitute for imagination. But that's my opinion. I think it would have been better if Rich started out with the theme and then added on it enough to get your campaign off the ground and THEN in later chapters it addressed the details that you can add later.

All in all, it's a good book, although it tries to make a too realistic world as opposed to a fantastic one. But at the same time, saying throw the rules out the window and do your own thing. My score, good but not spectacular.

The title says it all. Rich Baker, part of the team that developed TSR's latest campaign world, provides the reader with the tools to either hand craft a world in all its' details or to put one together in an hour for a night's worth of gaming. The level of detail that this book provides at times is stagering. It is a chart lovers dream and has tables for just about anything you can imagin. The included pad includes sheets for every level of design and is almost worth the price of admission on it's own. In short, a useful book for every Dungeon Master; and at the price one that every one can afford.

This book is by far the best guide that I have seen for designing your own Fantasy worlds to play in. I cannot say enough about it, and it was definately worth what it cost. The template pads of hex grids are useful, although I have not used them all that much. But overall, definately worth it

Many photo books in my collection demand full concentration on every image, turning the pages oh, so slowly. Armando's "Body Builder", on the other hand, comes at me like a subway station full of porn stars racing to get up the escalator. The images are jammed 4 together on some pages, with in-your-face solo closeups filling other pages. There are actually foldouts in this book -- FACING foldouts that when deployed make a 3-foot wide display. BB is a panic of sensational, dynamic, sexy photos, extremely intense and shot in an action-packed confrontational style. I race through this book every time I pick it up, just for the speed thrill. Wow. And every time different pictures grab my attention. All the pictures are terrific, some are really frantic, all are black and white and Edition Stemmle did another terrific job with the reproduction, paper stock and binding. Armando's technical command of the medium is every bit as formidable as his riveting erotic content. BB is one of the top 5 photo books I've ever owned. (I now have more than 100 hardbound books by serious photographers of the nude.) I may buy another copy just in case I wear this one out.

Davide Armando is an incredible photographer. He captures such incredible beauty in every one of his photographs. The book is of the utmost quality. The printing is flawless, an overall excellant purchase. I couldn't have been more happy. Worth every penny. I would recommend this book to any lover of erotic photography. I will be setting this one out on the coffee table so that everyone can enjoy it!

A gorgeous undertaking into the sensuality of the human body. Lavishly reproduced images that convey a sense of arousal but hold to the aesthetic of nude photography as an art form. This is unlike any other book in its category, due to Armando's keen sense of camera angles, the unique and uninhibited posing of his models, and printing that captures the richness of skin tone. In essence, 'Body Builder' not only explores sensuality and the human form, it defines it.

I am a great fan of Henry Petroski, engineering professor and author of such minor classics as The Pencil and The Evolution of Useful Things. Perhaps it is because of these high expectations that I was so disappointed by Engineer of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America. In the end, Petroski seems much better at writing about engineering artifacts - pencils, paper clips, or, in this book, bridges - than the makers of those artifacts. Much of Petroski's "biography" here seemed nothing less than mere formula: you could almost see him filling in his computer template for "name, date and place of birth, school, mentor, etc." each time a new engineer was introduced. Further, he did not even attempt to vary the template from person to person, so that the repetitive style becomes unmistakable. This book is worth reading insofar as it provides a history of the bridges themselves, and the limits of engineering technique and imagination.

If you want to learn more about the best American bridge designers and their bridges, this is the book for you! In particular it has a very good chapter on Steinman (the designer of the Mackinac Bridge).

This book will tell you the stories and politics behind each one of the designers featured and their bridges.

Engineers of Dreams is a book I've read several times because it involves me in the history behind some of engineerings greatest triumphs... and failures. The story of great engineers with various combinations of vision and practicality, as well as perseverence in all cases, makes for a kind of drama. In some cases, we know how the story ended, with a great bridge we can see. In other cases, the story ends with a wreck and bodies. From the story of the San Francisco Bay Bridge to the story of the first Quebec Bridge, this book itself spans a range of ability and satisfaction that is a joy to perceive.

Devotees of Marian Keyes ("Watermelon," "Sushi for Beginners," et al.) will adore this collection of essays and columns, most of them previously published in The Irish Tattler--and some previously unpublished.

These simple, hilarious, and often very poignant peeks into the life of Keyes, which strongly resembles that of many of her main characters, makes the reader smile, sigh, and--in at least one heartfelt column about Keyes' triumph over alcoholism--weep. Those who follow her books will experience some strong deja vu, as whole sections of Keyes' truly baroque life seem to make their way sooner or later to her novels--eg, the famous mudbath that one main character took just before her wedding in order to fit into her dress!

The charm of this book is that it can be picked up and put down at random. Each essay functions on its own, and in fact, the author, in her preface, suggests that the reader simply browse and choose according to his or her mood at that moment. And so I did--and loved every single essay in the book.

A keeper!

Boy, I just love Marian Keyes! Her essays and her novels both acknowledge what it is to be just trying to live and dream and work, but at the same time feel hopelessly clumsy at it at times! I enjoyed reading her essays before reading her novel, Sushi for Beginners, because they gave me more insight into the author, and I was able to "see" her within her story.

What a joy ... just like finding a pot of gold under a rainbow! Marian Keyes has us longing for a return to the Emerald Isle with a fun book that is best read by sticking a finger in the pages and finding the start of a chapter!

From an author who writes in bed readers will be transposed into the Irish mindset and if you really try you can slow the pace of your life and be one with the Irish for a moment or two.

The anthology of columns shows that Marian's writing has great effect for a quickie read as well as being enveloped in her novels.

This book has the basics of "stronghold" construction, of course, and some of the rules are quite helpful, especially the advice on how and where to build a stronghold, and how and when to defend -- or attack! -- one. However, instead of providing solid historical examples of REAL strongholds and ACTUAL sieges, the authors pad the book in the typical 3rd edition style favored by WOTC ("Wizards of the Coast" -- D&D's current publisher).

For example, instead of saying that a spell is Reversible, as in 2nd edition, 3rd edition allows writers to simply rewrite the same basic paragraph over and over again. Millions of 2nd edition players were expected to be able to figure out that a reversible ward, or protection, or barrier against (e.g., Evil, Chaos, etc.) would work against the opposite alignment if the spell was simply reversed. In 3rd edition, these are ALL separate spells, not just variations on a theme, so if a spellcaster can place a Protection From Evil spell on a wall, for instance, the 3rd edition writers have the opportunity to insert three nearly identical paragraphs into the same section for the spells Protection Against Good, Protection Against Law, Protection Against Chaos, etc.

This cheating of readers (and especially buyers!) is carried on in the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook and amplified. The writers, for example, describe a "Bedroom, Basic," but don't add one or two sentences that "Fancy" and "Luxurious" variants take up this much extra space, cost this much extra gold, and need these staff members. Instead, we are treated to a separate section on "Bedroom, Fancy," and "Bedroom, Luxurious." ONCE might have been tolerable as an example, but this happens over and over again: we do not REALLY need, but the writers dump on us, repeated descriptions of "Basic," "Fancy," and "Luxurious" spaces in the stronghold for everything from bathrooms (despite the fact that, as the writers describe, the Medieval toilet was a "garderobe," a room with a hole which allowed the human waste to fall outside the castle wall) to throne rooms. ONE description of the difference between the three categories of space would have sufficed, but the reader must endure numerous repetitions of this type of room and that type of room as it ranges from a dirt floor with no staff member to one with marble floors and one or more servants.

All of the space wasted by repetitions could have been used for additional information about (for example) ALL of the staff needed for the stronghold and detailed descriptions of what their jobs are, or the many different types of siege equipment which might be brought in and the best ways to defend against them (there is a website for amateur siege engine makers which DOES provide that information, though -- just in case someone attacks your own, mundane home with a catapult or trebuchet!).

One area where there was a huge gap was the failure to establish the "Siege Engineer" as a prestige class (a gap filled by an article in "Dragon" magazine, which allowed the company to rake in even more money by filling a gap which they themselves had created).

Another huge gap which this reviewer noticed was the description of the counter-siege: an encirclement of a besieging army by allies of those besieged in a stronghold; many times in history a besieging army has been driven off or destroyed by a counter-siege, but we're talking about PC's and NPC's here, and they deserve to be told (or reminded) that one of Julius Caesar's greatest victories was in a siege directed against the Gallic King Vercingetorix and the counter-siege laid around Caesar's army by the tribes allied to Vercingetorix; although caught between the hammer and the anvil, Caesar and his men defeated the allied force AND took Vercingetorix and his fortress -- just the sort of inspirational story a player needs to know of, even if it is rephrased in Dragonlance or Forgotten Realms terms.

Still another huge failing is the lack of information about the realities of BEING a castellan -- how are the farmers treated? Are they free peasants or serfs, or slaves? Are the field workers marched off with the castellan's army when s/he goes off to wage war? What is the appropriate tax level which a Lawful Good castellan may impose? What about swearing fealty to the local Lord or Monarch? Players interested in those details should skip this book and buy the game "Stronghold," available for both the Mac and (broken) Windows. At $4 or $5 --used -- this book isn't a bad buy (bearing in mind that the "Siege Engineer" and who knows what else were published separately in "Dragon"). Anyone who can afford to pay full price, however, should look instead at books on war and fighting published by AEG, Mongoose, and other D20 System publishers -- the information in their books is fully compatible with D&D, and THEY don't pad their books with endless repetitions (bad grammar and typos, maybe, but not endless repetitions!).

Good solid work on how to construct keeps and buildings where some players might like to spend their time.
I assume it is not very interesting for a DM to know what a given Keep is going to cost, but for those players who want to build their own castle, this is vital information. The rules on this are clearly thought out in such a way that it is still sort of realistic, but simple enough to be workable.
For the DM this book could very well be less interesting, but it still gives you a lot of back-ground information and it gives you a general idea of how big the different areas should be compared to each other. (If you want to feed 100 people you need a dining room about this large and of course a kitchen, which would employ about this number of cooks and needs about this area in floorspace.)

Besides information on buidling and protecting your new household, there also is information on how to take over the stronghold of a opposing power and how to go about at making sure that this opponent does not walk straight back in to kick you out again.

In short: a very good resource, that covers much more then just building a stronghold.

This is a great resource for dungeon master who wants players to use their excess gold on something other than trying to purchase excess magic items.

The book describes how to create everything from a castle or tower to a store or inn. It also explains how existing dungeons can be retrofitted by an enterprising party. The best part is that the book contains a lot of cool stuff that costs a lot of money and thus entices players to reduce their gold pieces in a way that does not imbalance your game.

The best part is that this book will give players options at nearly any stage of their careers. A player can start an inn/tavern for under 15,000 gp... or blow 100,000 gp on that platform of telekinesis they need to impress their friends.

This book enticed my players to spend over 1.5 million excess gold pieces accumulated over nearly 5 years... this alone has gone a long way in balancing the campaign again and made them interested in finding more treasure to improve their strongholds.

English: This kind of book (teach yourself in 24 hours, 21 days , etc) always have been suspect for me. But Kent Reisdorph's "Teach Yourself Borland C++ Builder 4 in 24 Hours" is a very good publication, specially for beginner/intermediate level. It starts with an explanation about C language, then goes to OOP and C++ and finally covers C++ Builder 4, always well-explained. Kent is also a member of TeamB, Borland's online volunteer support group. It really worths its price !

Portuguese: Apesar do nome gerar suspeitas (sempre desconfiei de títulos aprenda em 21 dias ou 24 horas), é um livro muito bom. Começa com uma visão geral da linguagem C, depois entra no C++ com todos os conceitos de OOP e depois entra no Builder 4. Na realidade são 24 capítulos que o autor chamou de 24 horas. É o mesmo autor de C++ Builder Unleashed(este é um livro para nível mais avançado) e faz parte do TeamB da Borland. Este livro vem ainda com um CD com todos os exemplos e um trial do Builder 4 por 60 dias

This book is by know means an in-depth view of C++ or C++ Builder 4. It simply cuts to the chase. I am an Visual Basic programmer struggling to learn C++. This book was ideal for me. It explained essential topics and I was able to be up and running with C++ Builder in hours. The authors humor was refreshing to all those other very dry C++ books that I've choked down. Thank you Kent Reisdorph, Brian Gill and thank you Borland for a best C++ tool to date.

In the beginning of the book, Chaper 1-7, the author starts with teaching C++ in a CONSOLE APPLICATION. This is really great, because when I want to learn to program, I don't want to place all kinds of objects on a form and customize those. Instead, I just want to see all plain text in one view. This section of the book I find very brilliantly written: exactly my level of depth I want to read in a starters book, without too-exhaustive examples.

From chapter 8 on, the 'Builder' environment is described. I like best reading this part before sleeping or when travelling: Because I find the Builder environment so intuitive, it is in my opinion not needed to explain all 'obvious' stuff. But I guess for people not familiar with a Windows environment, this will be a great help. But for me, I only read it for those 'magical' lines of code (like how to read a line from a Memo component, which I found very hard to find out alone).

Chapter 20 is filled handy 'programming tips', like the use of 'ALT-[' or 'ALT-]' to find corresponding curly brackets.

Chapter 23 is about the debugger, which was also a need-to-read section for me.

Concluding, I find the book superficial in its most positive sense: it describes what a beginning programmer needs to know to start with, without going into not-needed details or falling into exhaustive examples. It gives you all you need to know to start with.

VOYAGES OF THE PYRAMID BUILDERS by Robert Schoch is the geologist famous for re-dating the Sphinx (with John Anthony West) thousands of years earlier than Egyptologists had determined. However, Schoch is not much of a writer, and even with a co-author, this book is about as exciting as your college physics textbook. The problem is over-research. I get the feeling the Schoch is so used to writing academic papers that he feels that every single fact must be documented and footnoted. In the popular press, the reader is willing to go along with some ideas as long as they are documented now and then.

Once you get past the format, it's not hard to apprehend Schoch's primary theme. He believes that the pyramid structure has not popped up all over the globe by accident, but that ancient mariners brought the ideas with them. He won't date the time of this migration, but it sounds quite a bit like an Atlantean diffusion. Schoch finds pyramids in China, India, Africa, the Mid-east and the Americas. There also are the mounds in North America.

Schoch is convinced that the American pyramids came from China, although his reasoning here is not easy to follow. When even the Mayan legends themselves speak of settlers from the East, Schoch opines that the settlers actually came across the Pacific and worked their way east to the Yucatan. This I find completely unbelievable, especially in light of the underwater findings that have been sighted near Cuba. Clearly the migration was from east to west. Another problem is that Schoch sees pyramids where I can only make out conical towers. He claims that many Indonesian structures are pyramids, but they don't even resemble the stepped or triangular structures to me.

His last chapter refutes those who refute his Sphinx dating. It's dry in the extreme, but he certainly has the academic goods on his detractors. As a skilled geologist, he can easily rebuff Egyptologist Mark Lehner's absurb peeling and scaling theory.

This is a book to skim. It drags where it should inspire and reiterates what we already know. As for ancient boat migration, all he had to do was refer to Thor Heyerdahl's Ra and Kon-Tiki experiments. There's some good information here, but much of it is material you'll want to skip.

The title's provocative phrase "The True Origins of the Pyramids..." does not indicate a proposed alternate civilization of pyramid-builders; instead, it is about the possible common historical origins of the various pyramid-builder (and other) civilizations around the world.

Schoch, a geologist, is perhaps best known for his re-dating of the Sphinx back to 4700-7000 BC, based on weathering and climactic patterns. (This book has an Appendix where Schoch replies cogently to various critics of his Sphinx theory and cites some additional support.)

The main premise in this book is that there are enough distinct threads of evidence to support the theory that the proto-civilization for many of the notable cultures of the past (such as the ancient Egyptions, Mayans, and so on) was based in a time when the sea-levels were much lower in a region called "Sundaland". This region is now mainly underwater due to glacial melting since the last Ice Age and stretches from Indochina to Borneo and Timor.

Schoch uses a myriad of types of circumstantial evidence such as commonality of flood myths, linguistic comparisons, genetics, geologic, tree-ring data, archeological remains, ancient math and astronomical knowledge, and so forth to piece together support for his theory. Some of it is robust, some of it is a bit tenuous, but all in all, I find it worth considering.

In pulling together these disparate trails of evidence into a prehistorical timeline, I do not think Schoch has reached beyond plausibility; indeed, I consider some of mainstream archeology to be more ardently ideological and consist of far more speculative story-telling than what Schoch proposes here.

This book is a worthwhile read for someone interested in the idea that civilization did not spring up suddenly in the last 5-6,000 years. To me, it is far more parsimonious that the homo sapien mind of 10,000, 20,000, or even 40,000 or more years ago - a mind which was identical in capability to ours - had societies and cultures which acted as significant sources of knowledge and influence on the later cultures we know historically. Whether Sundaland was indeed the site of one of these proto-civilizations is something that will likely never be provable to a high degree of certainty, but perhaps this book will at least stir more investigation.

A logical sequence to Voices of the Rocks. Although I am Professor Schoch's webmaster, how could anyone expect me to write a review other than a good one? Questioning my objective views of the book would be legitimate, however, he has obtained good reviews from the skeptics.
Although he centers his book around the pyramids of the world, he also describes how it was possible that these ancient people could have sailed from their country to another after a catastrophic event that ripped apart their culture, taking with them the knowledge they used and seeding a new culture. Thus, leaving temples and other architectural works that show striking similarities with other cultures.
I could go on, but I only have 1,000 words. What I can tell you is that anyone with an interest in this subject, will not be disappointed.

"I was disappointed with this book. Dr. Crabb states that a man's greatest need is significance and a woman's greatest need is security. My understanding of the Bible is that the single greatest need for both men and women is salvation and sanctification. Not only is the assessment of man's need wrong, he says that this must be dealt with BEFORE Biblical principles can be applied. A better approach would be to apply biblical principles to the lives of men and women and allow the Holy Spirit to work in them so that they will find their security and significance in Christ alone."

I found the book quite a help. It concentrates on getting your head straight about a relationship that's bound to have issues. But a warning: it's not a "handy fix-it" for relationships. Nor is it a how-to, to minister to a spouse with problems. It focuses on personal responsibilities and ministry and (by inference) where those responsibilities cross into influence and then manipulation.

As far as I could tell, there was no heavy pressuring into traditional roles in the book. What it did say is that there are limits in the marriage relationship: in what you can reasonably expect from a partner, and in what you can do to make things happen. There is no handy way of "doing stuff" to make a marriage perfect. But there is still a realistic approach to your responsibilities and ministries in a relationship.

I've read quite a few marriage and relationship books during my long engagement. This book stands out from the rest in that it addresses issues MUCH DEEPER than communication or listening skills. Why should my wife care how good of a listener I am in the middle of a heated argument when I intend to manipulate her rather than minister to her?
The author develops the concepts of Oneness (spirit, soul and body) and helps the reader clarify his or her goals in marriage.

Based on the previous reviewer comment, I wonder if we read the same book. This is NOT a "get rich quick" book - it's polar opposite. Perhaps "get rich slowly" would be more appropriate. I've read both this book, and Maverick Investing which is written by Doug Fabian (Dick's son). If choosing between the two, this much better. (However, Maverick Investing does a better job discussing setting proper stop-losses based on your tolerance for risk. I recommend reading both books). An excellent read on taking control of your investments. It provides step by step instruction as to how to set goals for your investments via mutual funds, select the right funds, track those funds, and when to buy and sell. He uses a very simple technique to get you in an out of the market by tracking your funds against two indexes - a broad market index, and another index reflecting the type of funds you own. You track your funds by using 39 Week Average Readings (more commonly known as the 200 day moving averages - which can be found anywhere on the web). In a nutshell, his technique will not get you into the market at the very bottom, and won't get you out at the very top. But he will get you in and out somewhere in between which is a far more realistic approach for positive long term results. The opposite of get rich quick, it simply shows that by setting realistic goals, and learning to recognize existing trends, how very small investments over a long period will result extrodinary wealth. For those who already have a healthy retirement nest egg, he shows you how to pay yourself during retirement while still growing your principal. This is a great introductory book on investing using a proven approach which only requires a few minutes a week to maintain. The book's has two shortfalls. First, he could have provided more information about available online resources (such as Morningstar.com) which will make it even easier to screen and select the proper mutual funds. Secondly, he could have spent more time emphasizing the need to select a track your funds against their appropriate indexes.

The title of this book should be "How to succeed when almost every other method will surely fail." Dick Fabian is as much psychologist and motivator as he is "savvy investor advisor." And I say "investor" here because that's where Fabian puts the emphasis. He shows that the investor's worst enemy is himself, and that his second and third worst enemies are the media and "investment" advisors. As an astute student of the stock market and human behavior, Fabian has catalogued every way an investor can fail (and there are many), and he has also devised a simple, but diligent, approach to investing that prevents that failure. The result, if one follows his method, is almost certain success. The first part of the book is investor psychology. Many will be tempted to skip it and move on to the simple investing technique. That's one of the ways to fail. This is a profound book that can change lives. Read the whole thing, start to finish, then read it again. Then put what you learn into action. It's all there -- the complete formula for success!

This latest book by Mr. Dick Fabian will explain how to become a better investor using a time tested method. The concepts and ideas of the Fabian philosophy have remained the same and continue to work. Mr. Fabian's common sense approach to controlling your emotions with set rules in place at all times, will make you a successful investor. You will not find a simpler method for investing. This book not only explains how you can become a better investor, but will also show you how the power of compounded earnings can grow your savings into huge amounts of money for your future. It's very easy to understand and will change the way you invest in the future.

If you are a new investor, are not satisfied with the results of the plan you are presently following, or have been badly hurt by following a buy and hold method in the past year, this book will give you the ideas to make changes so you will become a much improved investor. I feel that anyone who is serious about investing needs to review the ideas and past history of the stock market that are explained in this book. You won't find an easier or less emotional method to follow. It has worked for years and will continue to work in the future. This book will educate you, don't pass this up.

I have followed the concepts, ideas, and investing principles of the Fabian newsletter for over 17 years. It has been one of the best decisions that I ever made.

Don't buy this book! The stories, of course, are classic Mark Twain- one of the most thoughtful, humorous, and clear thinking writers ever born. But the Bantam edition is unreadable.
To save money, the margins run from 1/4 to 1/8 an inch. Not too bad on the outside edges, but on the inside edge near the spine the words are nearly hidden by the curve of the page. Either you break the spine to read the words, or you are forced to slide your thumb along the inner edge to reveal Twain's words. Find another edition.

Ok, now I don't think I need to go on about Mark Twain's genius and how it is essential reading for anyone who fancies themselves a fan of classic American literature, he's number two on my list of great American writers. His work is of the sort that will make you laugh out loud no matter how much you try to hold it in. It's easy to look crazy when reading Mark Twain in public. Now about the edition...is it bad? Well not in this reader's opinion and certainly not to the extent that like a fellow reviewer I'd give it 1 star. The content is there and is far from the exaggerated description given in other reviews. You don't have to tear the book apart to read it's contents. This is a compact edition and fitting lots of stories in only 600 pages for a very affordable price. Quantity versus quality? Ever heard quantity has a quality all it's own? It applies here. You can get all these stories for one low price. You can even toss it around and not have a guilty conscience that you are dismembering a treasure.

It is hard to believe that one writer could create such a diverse group of stories on all kinds of subject matter; each one written with Mark Twain's unique sense of humor and extraordinary gift of imagination.
These stories also stand the test of time as they are every bit as entertaining now as they were over 100 years ago.
Some of the ones that I enjoyed the most;
The Canvasser' Tale; the story of a man's collection of echoes
The Diary of Adam and Eve; a humorous look at what Adam and Eve's first thoughts of each other and the world around them.
The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm.
The Californian's Tale with a twist at the end.

This collection is writing at its very best; a treasure of American story telling.