Opening

This is one of the few books I find to be written with great thought and care, the book is fluent with breaks where it should and it is amazing the way Aditya relates each move of the chess game with a real world in real time. There is truly magic in the book, the most realistic happenings seem uplifted, magical, and far out in the future. The book also makes artificial objects alive adding to this magical feeling. The "plastic" chess pieces are alive and so is artificial intelligence like the robots, that have a society of their own. The book is careful move by move comparison of a chess game to an imaginary real life situation of a war between the 16 humans and 16 robots. It is an "evolutionary" war where the robots are trying to steal the human "niche" while the top leaders of U.N. are trying to save the human world! Yes, I love this book.

This is a fine read -- for every great reader or writer. Donald Newlove has gathered from literature some of the finest first paragraphs ever written! The works of authors such as Isak Dinesen, Melville, and Hemingway are looked at in a wonderful way. This book is as energizing and inspiring as a savouring cup of coffee!

This book is composed of reprints of earlier volumes--as many of Merwin's volumes are now being combined and republished. The poems are beautiful and thought-provoking. Best are the poems from "The Compass Flower"--some of love, some of nature. A master poet.

Dary Northrup has written an excellent book that will be valuable for anyone who desires to help their church become a church that connects well with unchurched people. Since 85% of churches in America are plateaued or in decline (according to Barna) the need for this book is huge! Easy to understand, written in an enjoyable style, yet full of potent insights, this is a "must-read" for church leaders serious about meaningful ministry in this new millenium.

This is a very well written, photographed and illustrated book that reveals many little known truths about the origins of Kentucky and the migration west through Cumberland Gap. It is a must read for all students of early Kentucky history. Virtually every other page contains either a map, illustration or beautiful photograph. The photography by world-renowned photographer, Adam Jones, is simply stunning! In truth, it is the photography of Adam Jones that first attracted me to this outstanding book. As a student of early Kentucky history, I consider this book in particular to be indispensable to understanding the truth surrounding the opening of Kentucky and all points west. This is a truly great historical work, replete with bibliograhical references, indicative of the author's extensive research. Therefore, I highly recommend it!

This is an issue of great importance that has not been looked at enough. There are important stories and data that can not be ignored. The Health Care industry has a long way to go before they are responsive to difference of any kind; cultural, racial, sexual preference, gender. Negative experiences with the medical profession can cause people to not seek the screening and preventive care that could save their life. We need to empower people and get the message to the health care professionals.

The book is filled with imagery that takes the reader on an imagination filled journey through the experiences of the author. The unique style of Ms. Noethe affords the reader the ability to lose themselves in the writing. Many experiences in our lives are shared ones, yet rare is the author who can make them come to life for the reader. The book is full of hope and courage coupled with raw real life experiences, which provide pure ehjoyment for the reader.

I should not have read it as I did: cover to cover in one sitting. A brief sitting, for sure, for it is a tiny book (4 x 6 inches, the size of a standard photograph) of 200 pages, each containing the opening lines of a famous book. But oh, what an experience it was. Like eating the most exquisite candies, one by one, till the box was empty. Listen: "On top of everything, the cancer wing was number 13." Or this one: "It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosembergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York."

The book can be used as a trivia quiz, of course. I'm sure Solzhenitsyn and Sylvia Plath jumped at you in the above quotations. Game one would be to read an opening line and ask someone to identify it. Alternatively, one could play a far more advanced game: asking someone to cite the opening lines of, say, "Lady Chatterly's Lover." The book is wonderfully indexed; and because the pages that contain the quotations do not have the name of the author or of the book, the fist index is from page number, to authot, to book. The second index contains the alphabetical list of authors; and the third lists the books cited.

The book is cleverly organized with quotes arranged meaningfully whenever possible. Little did Vladimir Nabokov know that one day the opening of "Ada" would lie side by side with the opening of Anna Karenina, and that this would demonstrate that he, Nabokov, had forgotten Tolstoy's lines, and that no editor caught the slip. Said Tolstoy: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Nabokov's opening: "All happy families are more or less dissimilar; all unhappy ones are more or less alike, says a great Russian writer in the begining of a famous novel."

I found a single error (in Kafka's "The Trial," of course). The book quotes: "Someone must have traduced Joseph K., for without having done anything wrong he was arrested one fine morning." "Maligned" should be substituted for "traduced" and then all is well.

It is impossible to give awards for the best opening; and yet, there seems to be a consensus (or so I have read) that the most perfect opening of a novel, ever, belongs to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's first sentence in "One Hundred Years of Solitude." It is this: "Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aurelio Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."

This is a great little book. I dip into it more than I should, and its cover will not hold up much longer, but I have a sweet tooth for great writing. And, before I forget, Lady Chatterly opens thus: "Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically."

The Ruy Lopez or Spanish, 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 is one of the oldest openings, one of the most heavily analyzed, and one of the best weapons for the White player. How can an older book be of use to someone looking to play this sharp opening? Well, Taulbut's approach focused on the basic (fixed)principles of each line and allowed the reader to choose the specific variation that suited him. So, where other books are heavy on variations and thin on ideas, Taulbut stresses thematic plans that should be adopted by both sides, as well as examining how typical pawn structures and their significance for endgame play. In 15 chapters, the author covers variations such as The Closed Morphy Defence, The Marshall Attack And The Anti-Marshall, Open Variations, Slow Systems, Steinitz System, Exchange Systems, Berlin And Bird Defences, and so on. Only 124 pages, the book is an excellent (and non-intimidating) overview of a complicated opening. You may need (for you Master wannabees) a current book for "state-of-the-art" variations, but for plans? This is the place.

This book, "How to Play the Sicilian Defence" by Levy and O'Connell, is similar to--and as good as--the "Mastering the ..." series by Bellin and Ponzetto (and King). It considers different pawn structures chapter by chapter, and discusses ideas and strategies for both sides. Each chapter has a few instructive annotated games. Chapters are: The Maroczy Bind with ...P-KN3; The Maroczy Bind with ... P-K3; Little Centre; Dragon Positions; Positions with ... P-K4; Closed Positions; Positions with ... P-K3; B-KN5 Positions; and The Golden Rules of the Sicilian Defence. This book is a great instructive manual: it is very well-written, user-friendly, well-produced, and actually teaches you the concepts behind the Sicilian for black and white. I don't know how good Emms' recent Starting Out:the Sicilian is; but if this one were still in print, that one would be unnecessary.