Euro

Ion Davidov has got to be one of the most handsome Bel Ami models of all. These color images of him alone and with other Bel Ami models are beautifully done, and quite stunning. Ion knows how to react with the camera and display his inner and outer beauty in the fullest. These are relaxed very natural poses, and some are extremely erotic. Another great book in the Euros Edition Series. Of all the 17 books published in the Euros Series this is probably Number #1 on my list. A must for the collection!

Excellent photo book of Ion Davidov. Nicely toned and sculpted physique, photos are in a variety of settings showing Ion both alone and with other models. As with most of the Euros series there are no hardcore shots. Most shots are in color and well done. 4 Stars and highly recommended for any collector of Male Erotica.

Full of pictures of Bel Ami film star Ion Davidov.

You don't need a roommate to share the cost of travel when you can stay in a delightful Paris hotel for just $50 per night, with a private bath. Margo Classe does our homework for us, finding the little gems that even travel agents don't know about. These are small, Mom & Pop places that are not even listed on the Internet. This book lists the charming, affordable hotels in cities throughout France. Each listing perfectly describes the place in great detail, giving contact info. Her other books do the same for Spain, Italy and Britain & Ireland. If only her books covered the world!

This is the best book I've ever used for finding hotels in Paris and Mont-St. Michel. The rooms were great, clean, well located, and the detailed descriptions of each hotel and best rooms were greatly appreciated and right on the money.

I am the author of Eating & Drinking in France and I have used all of Margo Classe's guides, including Hello France! This guide is thorough and the author adds a personal touch when she describes in detail each hotel she has visited. Hello France! is a must for the independent, budget traveler.

These photographs were taken by Frank DiLeo between 1970 & 1980, and as stated in the book, there's a cultural-historical feel to these dated images. They remind me of Von Gloeden, but in black & white. These young long haired well-endowed, dark, Mediterranean type models he photographed are beautiful to look at. They seem very happy posing for the camera, and most are smiling. I think photographs from this period show much more sexual attitude & emotion than current photographer's works. Or maybe it's just that we have been more over-exposed over the last two decades to so many male nude photography books they have lost their spark of originality and excitement.

I like Frank's photography images & enjoyed this collection. My only complaint again, as in other Euros Series books, is that there is no real biography of this photographer, just a few words about his style. We're left with a lot of questions about him & his life's work. Recommended.

Another excellent photobook in the Euros series. Black and white photography of young men taken during the period of 1970-1980 in both Sicily and Puerto Rico, wonderful photos of real people instead of self-conscious models. The end notes by Don H. Mader help to put the photos in perspective and will give you a deeper appreciation of them. Nothing hardcore here, just superb photography. If you are a serious collector of male photography and feel like your drowning in a sea of the pornographic and the pretentious, DiLeo is a breath of fresh air. Highly recommended.

Mediterranean and Latino young men aboud in this collection of plates actually taken in the '70s and '80s but seen here for the first time.

Clearly the best book on Eurodollar futures and options. The book is a must for anyone involved in fixed income securities.

Having just finished reading the author's treatment of bond futures in the 'Treasury Bond Basis,' I was happy to see that Burghardt was updating some of his material from the early 1990s on Eurodollar futures. The 'Bond Basis' was an excellent and thorough analysis, and 'The Eurodollar Futures and Options Handbook' follows the same trend.

He provides an excellent overview of the institutional details of Eurodollars and their uses. The book is at its strongest when dealing with issues of the convexity bias and also scores high by not neglecting important issues like the stub period. Perhaps my favorite chapter was on callable bonds and the extension/compression risk, which, while a little misplaced in a book on Eurodollars, still provided a very lucid explanation of the relevant issues.

With regard to options, the author touches upon some of the interest strategic combinations using serial and mid-curve options, but I feel that he could've delved a bit deeper in this part of the book. It's the only area in which I felt the book was somewhat lacking.

Having said all that, if you're looking to learn about Eurodollar futures, I can't imagine there's a better book out there. This is an excellent compilation of a number of Burghardt's research from the 1990s together with more recent updates. Even if Eurodollars are not your main area of expertise, this book will still help you to gain a more solid understanding of many of the pertinent topics in fixed income.

I bought this baby as the background for an advanced level international econ paper on the fluctuations of the Euro, and it is wicked good. It hands out the basic knowledge like the Rams hand out touchdown balls, and even though it was written before the Euro's current problems, you can easily piece together the reasons behind the malaise.

The only caveat is that if you're really into the mathematical and graphical side of economics -- this puppy ain't for you. If you look at the overload of math that Krugman's International Economics textbook gives you, this pales in comparison. I wish it had more of that, if only so that on those nights I can't sleep, I have one more resource to use. But that's what I have my girlfriend's stories for.

Anyway, go buy it. It's good.

I have read 2 other books about the Euro and this one is by far the best. It offers an unbiased view of the Euro unlike most other books. It is very easy to read, informative, well organized... I could go on and on. If you want to learn about the Euro if you are a student or businessman, get this book.

This is an excellent introductory book. It is very easy to read and is very concise. It is written from a general rather than a particualar nationalist view as are several other books on the EURO. It also has a large listing of web sites where other interesting information is available.

Johann Paulik looks young, boyish, and innocent. If you've seen him in film, you know he's young and boyish. These beautiful photographs capture his zest and playfulness and the twinkle in his eyes in erotic, natural, nude poses, some with fellow Bon Ami actors. There are only good angles for this young man, and these pictures show all of him in all of them!

This book excels itself, both as an excellent example of photographs of an extremely sexy model and also as an example of the quality of these Editon Euros imprints.

I imagine that most guys will have seen Johan at some time, principally in the Bel Ami videos which are themselves outstanding. Most of the images are of Johan, although there are some of him with other Bel Ami boys. How they find these beauties is a mystery. As always, Johan just exudes "sex" from every page. He and the others seem to truly enjoy their modelling and that sense is captured in every photograph.

I would draw your attention to Howard Roffman's book of photos entitled "Johan", which let us glimpse this 'wunderkind' some years later in his life, and you can see his body becoming slightly more rounded and adult - much more sexy in my view.

There is almost a "Hamilton-esque" style to many of these pictures - not in the poses, but in the feel, the lighting etc. They could almost be 'misty'.

Despite the colour (I prefer B&W) this book makes a welcome entry onto my bookshelves.

It's really difficult to NOT like this book! Johan Paulik serves up some lovely images of himself, and then signs the last page "Love, Johan." One of the many things I like about Bel Ami is the huge amount of affection these guys show for one another, something which can be totally absent from American gay material ("not butch enough").

Enjoy!

I disagree with the previous reviewer on one point...many people buying this product certainly will be using it to speak with Italian friends, or to spend more than just a few days or weeks in Italy. Even at this rudimentary level, it's important to learn the second personal singular informal forms, which are used more than perhaps you might think in everyday usage. (Believe or not after speaking for a short while with someone in a social situation in Italy, it's not uncommon to ask the equivalent of "can I use the "tu" form with you?".) Italians are also rather forgiving with foreigners trying to learn their native tongue, and I think the situation of having to use the "Lei" form with close friends seems more awkward than using the "tu" form with strangers (who will be impressed you're able to say anything at all).

Other than that this is a pretty good way to learn a language (yes, a short grammar guide/word list would have been awesome). I recommend "Italian Verb Drills" and "Teach Yourself Italian"-- which is this cute if antiquated book (replace all the "egli" and "essa" with "lui" and "lei" if you're trying to learn how to speak). For vocabulary, do the Vocabulearn series. Do get a grammar book, it helps with the prepositions etc. which can be tricky.

I have used Pimsler for both Italian and French to the II level. The formats are identical. They're easy to listen to driving back and forth to work, especially if your trip happens to be 30 minutes each way. The Pimsler method of repetition and reinforcement seems to work well enough, but it doesn't leave you with a vocabulary suited to tourism. You get a good sense or "feel" for how the language is spoken; you get essential verbs but not a very extensive vocabulary.

I really felt there was an excessive emphasis on "familiar" (use only to friends, relatives, small children) verb forms. Nobody who uses this course will end up "conversational" in the sense that they'll be pleasantly chatting with Italian friends. So the familiar verb forms are not likely to be anything a tourist or businessman will either hear or speak. Those situations will necessarily call for "formal" verb forms.

My daughter is taking advanced level Italian language courses at the University of Colorado, and she states that familiar verb forms are barely mentioned, because they aren't useful to someone at that level of proficiency.

I'm a tourist with foreseeable needs in Italy like making my way around airports, train stations, markets and museums, renting a hotel room or car, ordering in a restaurant and forth. At the end of Italian II, I should have a vocabulary and dialogues at least minimally suited for those kinds of purposes, but I don't. The course has no "tourist" vocabulary or outlook at all. The focus is more on things like playing tennis with "friends" and other improbable "familiar" situations that are essentially useless to someone focused on traveling.

But I'm buying Italian III anyway because I've come this far with the Pimsler system and it seems to work with the above limitations. If you're planning to use this course to prepare for travel in Italy, you should also carry a Rough Guide dictionary phrasebood ("Italian - A Rough Guide Phrasebood," ...) available through Amazon. It contains "dialogues" more relevant to the traveler, which you can readily adopt after completing Pimsler Italian II.

I do a lot of driving around and I feel I am making good use of my time. I don't have experience with other tapes, but the Pimsleur method seems good. One point that I would like to make is that you must listen to the tapes many times to really grasp what you have learned. Some lessons that involve conjugating in the past tense must be repeated over and over to catch the verb tenses. I use 501 Italian verbs as a point of reference, which I think is necessary to get the whole picture of what Pimsluer is teaching. This is the third foreign language that I have learned. At the stage of life I am at (kids, carpools) sitting in a classroom is out of the question. I consider Pimsleur a good way of learning, but I do agree that it lacks tourist situations. However I feel I have gained the tools to figure out what I need to know when I return to Italy.

This book is really great. A must-have for all Lukas Ridgeston fans as well as male erotica photograph books enthusiasts. High quality pictures that will forever be imprinted on your wildest fantasies. Lukas is picture perfect! The book is hard bound so it will last a thousand times of browsing. Kudos to Bel Ami and to Bruno Gmunder!!!

Lukas Ridgeston is incredibly beautufil, with a very hot body. This book shows that gorgeous body to full effect. If you enjoy drooling over hot guys, this is a good place to start. Only Johan Paulik is more beautiful.

The images say more than any poor words could convey.
Each turning of the page is a new revelation of
intense beauty and desire. To do better justice,
perhaps this:
I've looked on beauty so much
that my vision overflows with it.
The body's lines. Red lips. Sensual limbs.
Hair as though stolen from Greek statues,
always lovely, even uncombed,
and falling slightly over pale foreheads.
Figures of love, as my poetry desired them
....in the nights when I was young,
encountered secretly in my nights.
-- C.P. Cavafy. -C.P. Cavafy: Collected
Poems-. Translated by Edmund Keeley & Philip
Sherrard. Edited by George Savidis. Princeton
University Press. 1975.
--------------------------
-- Robert Kilgore.

I used the complete Pimsleur course: I - III and German Plus. It gave me exactly what I needed--practice and confidence in conversation. It was all review for me, as I'd studied German before, a considerable amount of study on my own. I found that the cassettes were perfect for my long daily commute. I would listen to two lessons in the morning and listen to the same two in the evening. Although the course didn't really add a lot to my vocabulary and very little to my knowledge of grammar, the conversation practice was great. Especially for those like me, who have studied a lot on their own, conversation can be difficult. Practice is invaluable in breaking down what I call the brain-tongue barrier. (So many times listening to the tapes, I had the answer in my head but just couldn't get it out of my mouth in time!)

Having said that, I would hate for this course to be my introduction to German. I would hate to do this course without knowing some grammar and the principles of German pronunciation. In addition, I find that the words and phrases chosen for special help with pronunciation were not consistent. In effect, some of the simpler words were emphasized like this, but more complex words like "Dolmetscher" were breezed over in conversations. And some of the basics in vocabulary were not covered--for instance, I don't think the complete list of months was covered, and learning all seven days took quite a few lessons!

I generally agree that the Pimsleur series is the best audio course around, but I had to knock off a star. Here are the shortcomings: 1)You don't get very far with the language for the considerable money. Too little return for your investment. 2)Too much time is wasted on repetition of simple pronunciations. I believe much of II is too easy for someone with even one days' previous exposure to German conversation and grammar. 3)It's aggrevating to not have the spelling or conjugation of the verbs with this course. I recommend buying not only buy a bilingual dictionary to supplement this course, but also a grammar book, and 501 German Verbs by Henry Strutz. 4)Most of the voices are easily understood, but the "trainer" has an annoying nasal voice which is difficult to understand. You need speakers with golden voices for maximum comprehension. 5) When you want to review your trouble spots at the end of the course, there is not even the simplest table of contents or index to refer to for figuring out where to return! This is a serious handicap.
I recommend starting with Pimsleur II or even III if you are at all self-taught, so great is the volume-to-volume overlap between lessons. And, as I found on my recent trip to Germany, these tapes only expose you to the ideal hochdeutsch. You can't learn it all here.

I have used Pimsleur German I, II and II and about to finish Pimsleur German Plus. The courses are great and I reccommend using them all. When followed seriously I found the courses better than private tutors and immersion classes (which I have also tried with limited success) Although I am not yet fully fluent in German I am able to communicate in general. Prior to using Pimsleur I had no background in German at all. However with Pimsleur, I learned only to speak and no grammar or reading whatsoever even when using the reading material. Therefore for those wanting to learn to read and write German I would also reccommed a good grammar book. The Themen Neu 1 and 2 workbooks seem to do the job but make sure you get the version with the English vocabulary and Grammer already in them. There also have a seperate computer based exercises which are also good. Amazon should carry these products also.

I have also tried Pimsleur for French and Mandarin Chinese and they are equally good. I just wish Pimsleur would add more advance courses as they have done for German in these two languages.

I wish Pimsleur would publish the transcripts for the audio lessons. These would be very helpful for review when not being able to repeat outloud (e.g. on a train full of people)It would also be great if Pimsleur had its own grammar and vocabulary books to accompany the audio.

I also wish Pimsleur would publish the courses on minidisc to make them lighter and more portable for travel and walking.

I have found that learning each lesson once is not sufficient. Two times is probably ideal: once in the morning and once at night. I found the pulisher's insturctions of doing only one lesson per day to be useful. However repeating the same lesson on the same day works great. Only when I have finished an entire course have I found it usefull to repeat several lessons in a row (for example on a long drive).

Overall I think Pimsluer has the best German audio learning tools. Anyone who wants to save a lot of time learning should try them. I am greatful they are available.

These models or friends of the photographer, Marc Bessange, are not in the least bit shy. All of these individuals seem very tough, daring the camera to keep photographing them. There are no nude shots here, but some of these guys present a very erotic, and tense image that's hard to ignore. These are French guys you would see everyday and be visually attracted in passing. Another great book from a photographer who is quite different than the others. Enjoyable!

'A kiss is not just a kiss as Bessange clearly captures, on black & white film, some of Europe's best young men in this book.'

With the publication of Edition Euros 12: Marc Bessange takes his place among a select group of photographers of the male image. By eschewing professional models, Bessange manages to capture from his subjects an innocence, a spontaneity and a vulnerability rarely seen. And yet there is an overwhelming sense of masculinity and maleness often missing in the work of others. These models seem to exude an unconscious sexuality. These are the images not of buffed circuit boys, but the boy next door. Not of gym bodies, but the bodies of natural athletes. And not the flawless faces of magazine models, but the face with the crooked smile that is ultimately far more sensuous. In short, these are the men we see and are visually attracted to everyday - walking down the street, sitting at the table across from ours at a cafe or playing soccer in the park. Marc Bessange is an emerging new talent well worth our attention.