Opening

This is at once a pragmatic and a bold book. Combining urgency and optimism, it calls for higher education to take religious diversity seriously, and uses examples from the author's long career as a professor of applied ethics and philosophy of education to explore what this might mean for teaching and administrative practice.

In particular, Nash suggests that fostering a dialogue culture within the academy, in which students learn to 'imagine the world from the other side of the barricade', can promote shared respect, disseminate information, sharpen critical thinking skills, and ultimately, serve wider societal goals regarding the maintenance of a secular, pluralist society. Much of his book outlines how this might be achieved, centring around the activity of story telling. Nash encourages students to narrate their construals of meaning and value, and to develop an approach to their own and others' stories / convictions that is respectful and (in the best sense of the word) critical.

Religious Pluralism in the Academy will be of interest and relevance to those working in religious studies (and cognate disciplines), and teacher education, and to all those interested in widening participation and in education's role in the development of civil society. In short, it is a good book to 'think with', and a welcome offering in a much neglected field.

"Opening All of the Doors" works on two or three levels. I thought the most interesting part was the sense of getting to know people that the author met in Romania; not just the important and powerful people, but also the common every day people.

It was interesting to find out what they think -- and sometimes HOW they think.

Some of the stories about life under an insane communist dictator are chilling, especially when they pop up unexpectedly among the normal daily events. I think a reader would be surprised at the hospitality extended to an American scholar and his wife by the Romanian people.

The biggest thing I got from this book, however, is an awareness of how communism warped the values and the mindset of the people. Imagine every business, every office and every classroom run with the efficiency and courtesy of the DMV. While people adapted to and survived it, you get the impression that some scars are buried deep inside the national psyche.

It's a pretty interesting read, bouncing back and forth between travelogue, and political / business / social observer.

I am a U.S.C.F. LIFE - Master. I teach chess for a living. I do a lot of teaching nowadays on the Internet. One of my former local students got this book. We spent a lot of time going over the lines and explanations in it. This is one of the better books of its type in the field. The author, a former World Champion, tells you about the opening. You get a brief history of the line, and often he will tell you about some of the general plans in key positions. If you are looking to play these types of openings from either side - or you are just looking for a general book on openings of this type; I can not help but think you will benefit from a careful study of the material presented in this book. Get it! Study! And get better!!

Indepth analysis of various lines. It will improve your chances greatly with Blk and offer you more opportunities with white to attack. Notation is a bit hard to handle. Also, some games were not in my database. Easy to follow (C/B)

Glenn Flear has provided the reader with all the information necessary to master the basic Slav. While more recent books are available, GM Flear's book remains topical because he includes complete games with explanations of plans. He does not really discuss the popular ...a6 lines (this was published before a6 was really tested), but his comments will help players who face the main lines from either side. I was especially impressed with his chapter on the Exchange Slav and various anti-Slav variations. This is an excellent example of how to write a good opening book!

Oz's most recent work is a series of essays on literature.
The title translates as The Story Begins, and the essays focus on the beginnings and openings of stories,
Which Oz argues are as important to the fabric of a story as endings.
By analyzing the opening sections of novels and short stories by such writers as Gogol, Kafka, Chekhov and Raymond Carver.
Oz demonstrates how authors make promises they may not deliver on, or deliver promises in unexpected ways, or deliver more than they have promised.

This book is a must buy for tournament players who play the Pirc. Having gone through parts of this book I found the use to be typical for standard opening books. Although you have an obligitory introduction to each section that involves text, I found the conclusions to be fair, honest and reasonably thorough. What set the book apart from the rest is that it is from John Nunn. I feel that I can trust his opinions given his past work. It would have been nice and indeed enlightning, if John Nunn put in more text.

This book is an interesting overview of openings that range from the slightly unusual (Budapest Gambit) to some of the most hilariously awful openings in existence. The book is a lot of fun, and there is a fair amount of light analysis, whose quality ranges from good to not-so-good. The authors would have been a little more charming had they saved their political commentary for some other book, but that's a minor flaw. Considering that co-author Schiller's other books are uniformly wretched, this book comes as a pleasant surprise. The only major omission is the Douchenberg Gambit (1.c4, b5!?).

The beauty of the Closed Sicilian is that someone with only a little knowledge can play the opening with confidence. Lane presents lots of annotated games to explain how and why White should develop his pieces. The emphasis is on creating a plan which means there is no need to learn a maze of variations. It certainly works because in my own games I have played in the same style of Spassky thanks to the author's clear explanation. I already own several of Lane's books and this is one of the best.

Instead of going into the more well-trodden paths, surprise your opponents as early as move 3. Playing 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 your opponent is probably expecting 3.Bb5 or 3.Bc4 but why not try 3.d4 which would seem to be a delayed Centre Game. Garry Kasparov has added a lot new tactical ideas which author Gary Lane points out. There are 4 main systems covered in 15 chapters. The only thing missing is The Goring Gambit. Also a good way to prepare for the lines as Black in case your opponent tries to sneak this one in on you.