Open

Volume 1 contains 170 queen pawn games between 1935-1970. Keres was one of the strongest Russian players between 1940-1955. This is a good games collection, but the analysis is often not deep enough.

The games are arranged by opening, and subdivided by variation so that the book works both as a collection of Keres queen pawn games AND as a manual of opening theory on queen pawn games- it can be used as an opening manual, and since the games are complete, you will see what middlegame/endgame positions develop from the openings, and how Keres, one of the best players in the history of the game, handled the positions. This book is essential for learning queen pawn openings- its better than the Mednis book on queen pawn opening strategy that is published by Dover. Originally published in 1987 this remains an essential chess book because its both a games collection and queen pawn opening manual all rolled into one. Contains 170 complete annotated games!

This Anne Rice book is very imaginative, creative on different levels and aspects, and beautiful in its poetic form. Triana and Stefan are the main characters in this book. Both of them have their own problems they have to deal with, and these problems are not little by any means.

This book is very carefully written. Triana is the first you learn about, and then Stefan's fantastic history is made to light later on in the book. But each character is connected by a perfect violin throughout. Eventually, their pains in life comes full circle at the end with resolve.

Their lives are fantastic and a bit unrealistic at the same time. But that is the gem of fiction. You can make the unrealistic realistic.

Mostly, I did enjoy the inclusion of great past figures like Mozart, Salieri, and even Beethoven. Music is the link between all these characters that are included. The music of a violin.

You might enjoy Triana in all her New Orleans glory and pain, and Stefan in his ghostly state. You might enjoy the descriptive poetry and lavish sights they take you to. Then again you might love the dream state the characters involve you in. Find your love in this book and enjoy your read.

Thanks,
Joy

This is an interesting tale, although at times I wanted to stop reading. The first third of the book bogs down a bit as we get long dialogues between Triana Becker and Stephan the ghost. It is a romantic kind of tale. Faced with the death of her second husband Karl from AIDS who left her a wealthy New Orleans widow, Triana lays in bed with the corpse for days lamenting until a mysterious stranger comes to serenade her with the beautiful violin. This is music so gorgeous, that it casts a spell that makes one seem to lose track of time and place. We discover as family comes and goes that the violinist is a ghost who was a pupil of Beethoven and died trying to rescue an especially rare long necked Stratavarius violin. Stephan sees into her mind, brings back memories of loss such as Triana's child Lily, her divorce from her first husband, the death of her alcoholic mother, the disappearance of her much-loved sister Faye, & the recriminations of her sister Katrinka. However, the haunting goes awry as Triana snatches the violin and will not return it. Here, the novel really picks up the pace as we are transported back centuries into Stephan's life in Vienna as the son of a wealthy Russian diplomat who funds Beethovan to educate his son. Triana and ghost Stephan step outside of this world of the past as they see the real-life memory Stephan rescue the violin from his father's burning palace, fight with his father when Stephan wants to study with Paganini, and murder his father after he smashes his fingers with a cane for the son's disobedience. We see Stephan murdered by guards and go through the discovery of his ghostly existence. All of this is punctuated by beautiful dream-like visions of Triana. Apparently, this is a contest of wills between the living and the dead. Triana is victorious and winds up mysteriously transported from her New Orleans home to Vienna, unable to explain the shadowland she has traversed. Triana becomes master of the violin, inherits Stephan's talent for music, and gives concerts globally. She becomes wealthy beyond her already considerable estate. The novel concludes in Rio, which is beautifully described. Ghostly dreams from the first part of the novel are brought into reality in Rio. Rice does a good job of bringing us through the second two-thirds of the book to the final resolution. While the pacing is not completely excellent, there is a lyrical quality to the way Anne describes the power of the music. All in all, this was an interesting tale, a mostly pleasant read. Enjoy!

In life, a 19th-century Viennese aristocrat who studied the violin with Beethoven, Stefan Stefanovsky, torments Triana with her lack of talent, then transports her into his own past, where she witnesses his death and hears performances by Beethoven and Paganini. Returning to the present, Triana makes a journey to Brazil where she believes her daughter may be reincarnated.

This is a really excellent story. Once I started reading it I did not want to put it down. I could not be more impressed by a book. It was a book that dealt with all of my emotions. I was very moved by the powerful words she used. Another great thing about the book is it offers something for people of all ages. I myself am young and I couldn't enjoy a book more than I did Violin.

Carp's book has some interesting info, but he shoots himself in the foot by decrying the lack of hard scientific evidence and research on the part of any group whose arguments HE doesn't like. After all, the book makes clear that almost NO ONE on ANY side of the sealed records debate has hard scientific evidence and research about anything concerning adoption, trauma, etc. Also, his constant use of the words "emotional," "drama," and "therapeutic entertainment" when he discusses adoptees in search (most of whom are female) and birthmothers is suspicious to the point of smelling like misogyny. This book tried to be even-handed, but the lack of gendered analysis renders many of his insights useless to any ongoing project of justice and ethics in adoption.

I've read Carp's book very carefully and I can say without hesitation that it is one of a handful of the most important books on adoption published in the last 25 years. As the co-author of two editions of The Encyclopedia of Adoption (Facts on File) and the Executive Editor of three editions of Adoption Factbook, I have had the opportunity to become familiar with the full range of writing on adoption. Carp's book is outstanding.
I say this despite some of the book's flaws -- some minor errors that might have been avoided if the author had interviewed one of the individuals he credits with being a major player during the last two decades, yours truly. I'm not sure that any such interview would have changed Carp's mind: he strikes me, in what he has written in this book and what he has said in public fora, as a typical academic -- stubbornly wedded to the facts he has unearthed. And facts he's unearthed are so critical to the history of adoption in this country that his book should be required reading in every school of social work, in every family law course and for every judge that ever hears an adoption case. His recitation of the history of the role played by the women in the U.S. Children's Bureau is worth the price of the book all by itself. His central contribution, however, is to say in much more detail what Alfred Kadushin said years earlier in his textbook, CHILD WELFARE. Like Kadushin, Carp finds no evidence to support the junk science that underlies most of what passes for "professional practice" in today's social work and related fields. If only Carp had written his work 20 years earlier, adoption of newborn infants in the U.S. today might well be still flourishing instead of hanging on by a thread. As the last two editions of Adoption Factbook pointed out, the number of pregnancies which end in adoption is about one out of every hundred. For some, such as the collection of cranks and quacks that make up the "Adoption Reform Movement," such a statistic is evidence of victory. But it is no victory for children or parents who are unwilling or unable to raise children. Perhaps Carp will turn his attention next to the most pernicious and deadly aspect of the "Adoption Reform Movement," the crew of self-anointed "counselors" who invent new psychiatric labels and then proceed to try to heal them. I speak here of those like the "rebirthing" therapists who smothered a girl to death. Such a book may take a psychiatrist with Carp's gift for research. In sum, Carp's book is a very good read. The only tragedy is that it has been so widely ignored, the victim of a planned campaign by those whose empty agenda is so clearly revealed by Carp's detective work.

As Parliament has finally determined to find families for children who have been languishing in care, I was keen to see if there were any favourable accounts about adoption in the U.S. that might be of interest. A search of the Amazon.com site led me to the Carp book, which I confess I read at my university library. It is an altogether fascinating tale, one that is uniquely American, of course. As a student of some of the fostering homes set up here, back as far as those of Rev. Muller in Bristol, I could not put the book down. I must say that the question of privacy was handled in an altogether fresh way for me. In particular, I found the academic examination of the claims that children adopted as infants suffer all sorts of trauma very helpful. It seems that the U.K. took quite a wrong turn when we set about changing our system based on wholly inadequate research. Many thanks to Mr Carp for his fine book.

I would have to say that this book was a disappointment in the extreme. Most of the ideas are old, tried, and true - there is nothing new in here, and her constant "name dropping" becomes quite annoying.

If you REALLY want a wonderful book... try Stoddard's "Living A Beautiful Life". It is much more worthwhile.

I really like the way Mrs.Stoddard writes, very clear, simple and full of delightful details for the readers to understand what she means. You don't have to have a lot of money to live a beautiful life, just commonsense, beauty thoughts and a will to truly express yourself in your everyday life. This book, like all the others that I've read written by her, were a delight to read and a very good guide for those who want to improve their day-to-day life, paying more attention to minor details that really make a difference. Congratulations, Mrs.Stoddard, on your words, your thoughts shared with us, the way you put the words, tha quotations that you use as examples, the presentation of the books.I'm a big fan of yours and if I have the opportunity one day, I'll attend one of your lectures. Thank you for sharing your ideas with all of us.

very informative. a pleasure to read. alexandra is a postive person and it shows in her words. great pictures of her own home...

I purchased this book as the topic seemed innovative. But
as it turned out, neither the technology that addressed the subject nor the book was quite up there. I couldn't find anything interesting beyond the fact that it was just another Web Services book. Each chapter in the book read like incomplete articles.The only chapter that caught my eye was the one dealing with SOAP::Lite
For anyone serious about web services, i would recommend Java web Serices from ORA.

I bought this book for our library, as our guys usually like Wrox books.
(+) This book would be a quick tip help for those who would like to know about creating Web services using Python and PERL.
(-) Most implementations are obsolete ! Probable we bought this book little late.

This is a great read. Unlike so many computer books, its not filled with unnecessary introductory chapters for every topic. It is very practical as well as explaining the underlying technologies at a level you can understand them without getting bogged down on detail you only really need to know when you are actually coding.

As a member of the Open Web Application Security Project. I was especially interested in web services security and the practical examples were very well explained and well written.

This book sits high on my large pile of books so I can get to it easily!

Although I haven't read every travel book that has been published, I would be stunned if there was a worse one than this. Nelson tries (vainly) to pass off his tourist sight-seeing as "adventures" and himself as some kind of intrepid, trail blazing pioneer. He prides himself on his ability to "survive" and yet he is never in any real danger (he books all of his "adventures" through American travel agencies and always seems to have a pre-booked hotel room or lodge and drivers, interpreters & guides at his disposal on his arrival. He never caters for himself nor makes his own arrangements - that's not "living on the edge" by anyone's definition !!) His "insights" are neither witty nor particularly interesting and he relies far too heavily on exaggeration & superlatives("biggest", "best" etc.) rather than attempting to properly describe what he is seeing.
His attitudes to people and their cultures are also alarmingly one-sided; throughout the book, you are left with the impression that all Europeans are evil and exploitative and that all other non-Europeans are noble and spiritual, and to be admired. However, he reserves his own particular racism for the British - never missing an opportunity to "inform" his readers just how much everybody else in the world hates the Brits.
This book flatters to deceive even before you open the cover; the text on the jacket gives you the impression that you are about to meet Indiana Jones crossed with Bill Bryson, the result is neither. His exploits are neither original nor exciting and the writing is crass and unfunny.
Before you consider buying this book, please read the "Library Journal" & "Kirkus Reviews" in Amazon's "Editorial Reviews" section !!

This book is just God-Awful. I think a ten-year-old could have written a better travelouge than this yahoo. It is immature and ethnocentric and just plain all around boring. The author does a terrible of making his spoiled little touristy outings actually seem interesting and his sense of humor comes of as funny for about the first three pages and from then on sarcastic and trite for the rest. A huge waste of omey, avoid at all costs.

For those of you who have all condemned Craig's book, do any of you have senses of humor? Why would you want to read a travel book in which the writer simply says everything is nice, clean, interesting, pleasant and he loves every single person he encounters? I think this would make for an absolute bore. Craig writes as if he is an old friend telling you funny and beautiful tales of his travels and he lets you into his private thoughts that many would be to afraid to share because they may not be very PC. It you want a candy coated travel experience, go to a travel agent. If you want the truth, (at least as he sees it), go to a real traveler.

Clark Pinnock and openness theology neglects careful consideration of Christian orthodoxy's 2000-year-old wisdom. God's all powerful and all knowing activity in the world are well defined and defended by the pillars of Christian tradition (i.e Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Luther). Why does Pinnock not address these thinkers? The book is a modern attempt to wrestle with the problem of evil and find a new solution to the tension between the existence of evil and a good all-powerful God. The real "openness" of the theology is that it opens the door to liberal theological conceptions of autonomous man and his ability to reason and understand all that God thinks and does. Ultimately though, the thesis seems to stretch definitions of God's ability and "control" in order to satisfy modern understandings of justice and the human being. Reading this book I am reminded and humbled by God's question to Job: "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?" I would caution any Christian who reads this book to consider the greater and deeper tradition of Christian thinking on this important subject.

St. Augustine wrote: "He who dares to embark rashly and without order upon the study of those [philosophical] questions will become not studious but curious, not learned by credulous, not prudent but unbelieving." from "On Order"

Dear reader, don't let Laika from Western Sahara deter you from honest self-evaluation of your biases in favor of openness theology.

Read the Bible for yourself and don't be taken in by the criticism in this book against traditional conservative christian beliefs about God's attributes.

'Beyond the Bounds' and 'God Under Fire' are thought-provoking challenges to Ultra-Arminian philosophy by moderate Calvinists.
No Open Theist has yet answered the objections to its liberal hermenutics.

C.S. Lewis said "Anyone who believes in God at all believes He knows what you and I are going to do tomorrow."

The Bible says, "I declare the end from the beginning."
"I am telling you now before it happens so you will know that I AM."

The book title seems a misnomer. While some of the openists declare God Himself to be Open to Change (In Process of knowing, learning, growing, increasing awareness, building His divine fact base), others claim only the Future is open. Thus there is confusion in the ranks.

"A house divided against itself can not stand."

James Michener, a master of the epic historical novel, took a break in more ways than one when he wrote Legacy. For an author with more than his fair share of 1000+ page books, this is little more than a novelette: less than 200 pages of relatively big print (plus a copy of the Constitution and in my edition, a forty page preview of Alaska).

Written in the bicentennial year of the Constitution, Legacy is Michener's weak ode to the venerable document. In the mid-1980s, Major Norman Starr faces a crisis when called to face a Senate committee for his role in the Iran-Contra affair; as he prepares his defense, he reminisces on the roles his ancestors have played in history. This creates a series of banal biographies of fictional characters.

Good historical novels work one of two ways; either telling the story of a real historical figure or telling the tale of a purely fictional character who may meet real people, but whose own historical influence is minor. Michener goes a third, rather flawed way by having his fictional characters creating history.

I'm not sure who Michener was aiming this book towards. His usual fans would be put off by the bad history, complete with anachronistic speech (such as when an 18th century character uses the 19th century word, "millionaire"). As a tribute to the Constitution, it is rather tepid. For younger readers, the narrative is too slow and actionless to sustain interest. In short, this is a book for Michener completists only.

Legacy, written by James A. Michener, was a good fictional novel based on historical events. Even if the reader is the type of reader that does not enjoy reading historical stories, he will definitely like this one. Michener does a fantastic job of keeping the facts and events in order.

Legacy is a very factual book and an interesting book that will keep the reader on edge. Many people have heard about the gentlemen that signed the Constitution, but this gives Michener's audience a fictional account of things that could have happened at the meetings. The main character Norman Starr portrays the historical figures in this book. He tells his wife all there is to know about the Starr family.

Michener goes in order of the first Starr to serve America, Jared, and ends up telling about what Norman does in his life as a military major. Considering that there are not many facts documented on the Starrs, Michener ties facts and fiction together well.

Michener is an extraordinary writer. He is the kind of writer that uses many descriptive words. He tries to "drag" his readers into history. If Michener did not use as many descriptive phrases, he would not touch his audience in the same way. He pulls the reader into the book even when he is not interested in history. He makes the reader feel as if he is part of the Starr family history. Other writers of history, drag things out and make history dull, but not Michener. He wants people to enjoy his writing. He tries to tell them everything there is to know in one paragraph, though he does not do it in a way that will bore his readers.

When reading this book, Michener's audience will realize what our ancestors have really done and given for our country. People, just everyday citizens, have changed our lives dramatically. If you are ever in the mood to read about out country's history, definitely pick up a novel written by James A. Michener because everything he writes about stays true to the way history was played out.

Legacy is a well-written book that tells the story of a family and their involvement in the making of this country. The whole book is centered on our completely original and truly wonderful constitution, and how it governs our country.
I'll admit this is not Michener at his very best, but don't let that stop you from reading the book. It is well worth it.The description on the insert describes the book as "a powerful story to be read in an evening and remembered for a lifetime."
Most of Michener's books that are more than worth reading and this is one is no exception. As for the ending, I think that it is proper because it stays in tune with the entire novel.

Very readable and easy to follow. However>>>>

Questions: If our free will limits God to nonawareness of our future choices to preserve genuine libertarian latitude, what's to preserve our freedom if God can know our present choices while we are real-time making them? Doesn't His awareness of what we are freely doing inhibit our freedom of action so we cannot now do otherwise than as He sees or foresees? If our futures must be private and secure from divine certitude, why not our presents? Isn't only the past beyond libertarian interference by divine knowledge?

Have you ever read a book recommended by someone only to be crushingly disappointed?

That's what happened to me! I was expecting the philosophy to be closely tied to exactly how the Bible is to be on its own terms understood. But this turned out to be a different, hetero-philosophy than the Bible could allow: God being ignorant about any subject.

The subject the author picks is: future free choices. This is a mystery to God's omniscient mind. He cannot know it except as "maybe this and maybe that or maybe not after all". Most of what God supposedly knows about our free futures is a big divine Maybe?

After all the casemaking and all the arguments and intellect and Bible quoting, I came away with "Maybe?" in the mind of God. In all my years as a Christian, I never imagined a deity who is limited in awareness of anything at all.

If you were to ask me before reading this, "Does anyone claiming to be Christian sincerely believe that anything is a Mystery, an Unknown or Unknowable to God?",I would have said no. I admit I was wrong. Looks like this writer is leading a small minority of renegade, fugitive, wayward seekers into just this system of philosophy.

I can only pray for the Holy Spirit's loving intervention to reach these brothers & sisters with what God Himself thinks about free futures, including theirs! Kyrie Eleison!

Boyd's very simple and easy-to-read introduction to open theism is slickly written for such an often heavy-handed topic. For those who have leanings towards the theology of open theists, this short book will be exclusively supportive of their viewpoints. Although somewhat simplistic and shortsighted in his conclusions, for the typical openness laymen, the evidence will be more than appealing. On the other side of the evangelical spectrum, however, for those who are aware of the direct implications and dangers of open theism, Boyd's book will hopefully be a "call to arms". Even for the layman of limited theological knowledge, it should be obvious that Boyd's thesis and model of biblical interpretation is contrary to orthodox theology and, to use a term that may seem harsh, is essentially well-dressed heresy. If, for the orthodox evangelical, every fiber in one's being cries out in protest against such a diminished god of openness theology, do not be surprised. After reading this book, the reality of the battle for correct understanding of God's sovereign nature should become readily apparent. As is stated above, this book is a good and powerful addition to the body of openness-friendly material that has been published thus far. But, with all due respect to Dr. Greg Boyd, this book is also yet another reason why the evangelical community needs to wake up and address the heresy that is so quickly spreading among us.

the only thing good about this book is probably the picture on the cover. everything else is not only speculation but really farfetched speculation. the guy has a website angryarab.blogspot.com, where all he does is attack the US and Israel. has nothing good to say about anybody or about any effort the US has put into Afghanistan or Iraq
would not recommend the book.. people can get better source of information from the internet or from the Times.. he is a classic example of the disenchanted arabs who have lost their identity and have replaced it with random systems of thought

The writer throws in an issue or a comment, such as Bernard Lewis receiving a chairship on NBC, and then goes on with allegations and personal opinions with no factual basis. He is totally unfair in his writing. The book is laden with the writers own opinions, makes too many conclusory statements, which, in academia, is often regarded as unprofessional. I would recommend that people look elswhere for fresh and intelligent perspectives on the war on terrorism.
look at Fareed Zakaria, Edward Said, and Alexander Cockburn.

Lebanese scholar As'ad AbuKhalil examines the roots of the September 11th crisis, the causes for antipathy, toward the United States, and the historical relations between the US and Islamic world. AbuKahlil also reviews the backgound of US entanglement with the Middle East, and how it catalyzed the militant fundamentalist networks that came to percieve the US as the enemy. Begining with an introduction on the legacy of Western misconceptions of Islam and Arabs, the book focuses on Islamic fundamentalism and US foreign policy, and the way both polarize the world into "good and evil" and "with us or against us" world view. Drawing heavily from Arabic language sources, AbuKahlil discuses the rise of Osama bin Ladin and Al-Qa'idah, the Saudi connection, the Arab-Israeli conflict, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the implications of America's New "War on Terrorism".