Cure

At least, that was Pandolfini's intent. However, I think that the pages with just words (which accounts for half the total) are TOO wordy and unnecessary. And the headline (the "ailment") for each one makes the solution to the diagrammed position a bit less challenging than it otherwise would be.

But these are minor quibbles. It's easy enough to skip the text. The puzzles are quite interesting if they are at your level. What level? Well, I estimate about 1250-1350, and you absolutely must have read a simple endgame book first. (Pandolfini's Endgame Course is perfect preparation, but anything that covers King + Pawn v. King will do.) And be comfortable with simple tactics as well.

With just that much preparation, you can get a lot out of this book. It will build on your knowledge. For example, if you understand a few fundamental endgame positions, then you'll see why it makes sense to aim for, or avoid, such an ending via trades.

I suggest that you read this book out of order. Start with Section 2, continue through 3 and 4, and finally return to Section 1 on Openings, easily the most advanced part of the book with the longest analyses and most subtle explanations.

On the whole, the book is worth reading. Unfortunately, the price is rather high for only 100 simple puzzles. So look for it used. It's not a bad gift though.

I was simply unable to finish the book - the plot is weak, the characters one-dimensional and the writing style poor. The story is rather hackneyed and parts of it read like a badly-written romance novel.

While Robinson is clearly writing more of an American detective story rather than his characteristic British procedural series, I found it hard to believe that such a mediocre book could have been written by this author.

The story centres around a British actress, Sarah Broughton, starring on a hit American police series. The TV detective finds herself in a real-life crisis after receiving threatening and explicit letters from a deranged stalker, and the situation rapidly escalates to murder.

While the book is relatively fast-paced, it leaves very little time for character development. This results in extremely clichéd characters that seem to appear straight out of a third-rate American cop show! The dialogue is banal, the prose repetitive, and the story generally unexciting.

Overall, I found No Cure for Love clearly lacking, and a patent departure from Robinson's usual quality of writing.

I'd recommend this book only to die-hard Robinson fans.

Unfortunately Alan Barbour's book has nothing to offer the patient, caretaker or public that the 3 best selling Lyme disease books do. Referring to authors Denise Lang, Polly Murray and Karen Forschner.

For scientific information and hard facts Forschner's book comes out on top over Barbour's.

When reading the book one gets the feeling as when sitting in a doctors office. Not the compassionate family doc, nor the reserved but informative specialist, but rather the second opinion doctor. The one who makes an unsuccessful attempt at not criticizing your primary physcian while proclaiming his own agenda.

Barbour seems to ride the medical fence concerning the controversies of Lyme disease, telling us nothing new, in detail or subtly supporting theories that are not proven, such as Post-Lyme Syndrome. The word "cure" is curious in the book's title.

In conclusion the 258 pages could easily be condensed to about 25 for actual worthwhile information.

Alan Barbour M.D. is an esteemed scientist whom may want to consider confining his literary work to peer-reviewed medical journals.