Opening

Sohmer, has written a truely great book here. He goes in deapth, using primary sources to explain the social climate during the opening of the Globe Theatre. Using these items Sohmer illuminates hidden themes in Shakespeare's work. He adds yet another wonderful dimension to the Bard.

Sohmer does an excellent job in this book detailing his idea of which play opened the Globe Theatre. Agree with him or not, this book is a wonderful exploration to the inner workings of Shakespeare's time and his plays. Sohmer goes into detail of the Elizabethian mind and how it relates to Shakespeare's work.

This is the best book I have seen on the accelerated dragon, including Silman and Donaldson's book, as well as Silman's Winning with the Sicilian Defence (actually, I like all these books). But this one is the best combination of complete games, lots of theory, enthusiasm, and good writing. It is one of those "labor of love" books. Highly recommended--you will be playing the accelerated dragon if you buy this book.

This book covers all lines of the Accelerated Dragon including the variety of systems played vs. the Maroczy Bind and alternative set-ups. It has the added plus of using research from an earlier book (Silman and Donaldson) on the same subject. While the use of complete games may not appeal to all readers, themes are covered and explained in every line and there are loads of suggestions with improvements in certain lines and reassessments of others. Both authors play the Accelerated and Heine-Nielsen, the 1999 Danish Champion, has a lot of his games on display.

While the book shows a bias for Black in that they try to prove that the opening is playable, they do evaluate the positions objectively and games feature wins and losses for both sides and clearly show critical lines, especially in the end of chapter summaries. In addition, the Hyper Accelerated Dragon with (2 ....g6) and the Semi Accelerated are covered (4 .... Nf6).

I noticed that a line in NCO in the Semi Accelerated was not given and it seemed superior to the line given by this book as a model. However, this is a well written and thorough guide on the Accelerated Dragon and related systems and is recommended if you need only opne book on the opening.

This is an awesome openings work; it is as if you are truly hearing about this opening form the source. The introduction chapter beautifully traces the history of the ...e5 Sicilian, and the remainder of the book is simply staggering in its energy and chess beauty. It reminds me of the works by Polugayevsky. I agree with the other reviewer that this is a truly great book.

After having played the Sveshnikov variation since 1980, I finally came across this book a few months ago. It didn't look much at first. The binding is tacky, typographically so-so. It had its fair portion of wear and tear as well. If the sayings about judging a book by its cover etc were all gobbledegook they are true now. It turned out to be an incredible work of knowledge, far exceeding any other book on openings in historical value. The way Evgeny Sveshnikov searches for truth in dazzling variations, never losing sight of the big picture, is most instructive. This book is obviously the fruit of enormous creativity, hard work, and a large dosis of perfectionism. If anybody is thinking about a reprint and thinks I may be of help, contact me by e-mail. I think this is the best opening book in existence and it will stand out in chess history.

I have read several books by the Friels, all of which have been good or great. This book is especially good because it shows how our refusal to move into adulthood plays out in our lives. I had a lot of great insights into my life on account of this book. Perhaps one of the best things is seeing that my refusing to grow up has really kept me from experiencing a lot of joy in life.
It is especially pertinent in light of the youth worship that characterizes modern american culture. When seen through the Friels' insightful book, the origin much of our angst can be traced to the loss of the value of adulthood. This book isn't about social change, but it isn't hard to extrapolate the experience of the individual and see the culture.
This book is very straight-forward and clearly written. It can be read in a day and is well worth it.

I highly recommend this book for all who want to gain understanding about life and what it means to "grow up". Just because our bodies get big, doesn't mean we become adults. Learning what it means to live as an adult, make wise choices for healthy living and gain a deeper connection with our soul, is what this book is all about. As a counselor, this book has been very helpful to many of my clients.

What a joy to read! I found myself nodding my head "Yes!" over and over again as I absorbed this book. Cheryl has written a warm, thoughtful and easy-to-understand book about subjects that can easily get confusing for most of us. It is easy to sense that she writes Soul Speak from her own experience, and directly from her heart. She says that there are several areas to be addressed if we want to be able to easily and naturally tap into our latent potentials as physical and spiritual Beings. These include examining our personal attitude, circumstances, history, health, and beliefs. Cheryl writes about each of them in a way that I find clear, direct and profound. She shows that learning to live in accord with Nature and Spirit is actually very simple and easy. She brings it all together with her personal story of her own awakening, demonstrating what is possible for every one of us. And that is the biggest message here - that the wonderful bliss, peace and contentment of living Soulfully is right here in front of us..... available right now.

An ordained minister, Animal Communicator, Medical Intuitive, conscious channeller, and Reiki II Practitioner, Cheryl Stoycoff draws upon her psychic abilities and experiences to share a kind of "blueprint" for spiritual transformation and understanding that will enable readers to access their own inner guidance, unlock intuitive abilities, understand and accept psychic abilities as a natural part of their humanity, tapping into the Divine wisdom of the soul and bringing that wisdom into every part of daily life. Soul Speak: Opening To Divine Guidance is a superb contribution to the growing library of New Age spirituality and metaphysical studies.

The best book on sexual lovemaking in a commited intimate love relationship. Easily beats out great books like John Gray's Mars and Venus in the Bedroom, or Charles and Caroline Muir's Tantra: The Art of Concious Loving. Adds a depth of wisdom, spirituality, practicality, and insight into men and women's sexual needs and their loving satisfaction that is missing from other books on sex. Its an easy to read book that has a lot of practical real life examples on how couples can better communicate and act to solve common sexual problems and use sacred sex to build a passionate, intimate, love relationship.

Soulful Sex is an unusual and heart-opening book. The author is a psychologist and sex therapist who uses stories from her practice to show us how we can become more joyful and passionate about sex. She explains what every man should know if he wants an eager, exciting partner!

The first time I saw this book was when my coach used it to show me some exciting games. I borrowed it and enjoyed playing through the games so much that I tried to avoid returning it. The solution was to buy my own copy. Mr Lane gives comments to lots of interesting games all of which finish within 25 moves. I have learned new attacking ideas while having the pleasure of slowly going over the master games. A fun book.

I have a limited time to study chess but with the help of this book I have recently won several games against higher rated players. The secret is that Gary Lane manages to give opening tips on positions that are likely to be met by the average player. If you are looking for an improvement in the main line Sicilian on move 22 then this is not for you. The vast majority will like the suggestions in openings such as the Nimzo-Indian, Dutch Defence and even the Elephant Gambit! There are plenty of tricks and traps to catch out lots of opponents.

No, it is not an opening treatise; but What's the Best Move just might teach you more about openings than any other general openings work in the whole literature of chess. I found this book in my favorite used/overstock store, misplaced in the sports section instead of in the chess section. Several times I looked through it, and foolishly put it aside because it only dealt with 1. e4 openings, and most of these were things like the Ponziani, the Kings's Gambit, the Two Knights, etc. I figured that if I wasn't playing these openings, I wouldn't get anything out of this book. Finally, however, upon seeing the good review here and seeing favorable mentions elsewhere, I took a chance on this book, and going through it has been an eye-popping experience. Evans brings you through several moves of an opening, giving you choices of three moves to pick at various spots. In the back are detailed explanations of why certain moves were wrong, and of which one was right. The explanations are incredible. They are lucid, poingnant, and highly instructive. The next diagram will show the same opening a little further on, and ask you to pick a move. White or black may not have played the right continuation up to that point, and you know this from reading the answers to the previous quiz. Thus, you start to recognize the appropriate setup in these various openings. What is even better is that the answers ulitmately have little do with the opening in question; that is, the thinking process you go through is applicable to any opening at all, and this book changes the way you look at openings. Plus, the positions selected will inevitably occur frequently in your games. It is ultimately the unique and effective instruction technique that Evans uses here that makes the book so wonderful. I thought I was reasonably proficient at openings until I went through this book. I since have realized that I frequently chose the second or third best move. Evans has opened my eyes and re-dedicated me to the opening. I consider this book absolutely essential to the intermediate player who really wishes to improve not only his openings, but his analytical abilities. Finally, the book is incredibly enjoyable to go through. Working through it I got the same feeling I had going through The Amateur's Mind by Silman; that is, that the instructor was right there with me giving me personal lessons. You will be very grateful that you bought this book.

This book is a wonderful collection of problems taken from early stages of chess games (they are grouped by the openings in which they arise). You try to pick which of three options is the best move under the circumstances. Unlike most problem books, this one tests and teaches not just tactics but strategic/positional considerations. Evans's explanations and analyses of the right and wrong moves are superb. It's ridiculous that the book is out of print, but at this writing Chess Digest apparently still has a few copies in stock.

I don't have much to add to the other review. I will say that I occasionally stop playing 1. e4 all together, because I don't want to face the Sicilian. But this is silly. Why play chess at all if I am scared of certain lines? After all, it's only a game. My point is that when I come back to 1. e4 and try to decide what to play against the Sicilian, I always end up turning to this book by Lane (that is, after I try and drop the Smith-Morra [too gimmicky], the Alapin [too passive], the Grand Prix [too aggressive], and the Closed [too Closed!]. The Bc4 scheme makes a lot of sense, and is consonant with chess principles and chess history (Fischer used it, and he is the closest thing to what Morphy may have been like in the modern era). Excellent book with a good index in the back and nicely produced by Batsford.

I think that this book is highly reccomended to all players who don't like to simply win a chess game! The lines are analized with clearness taking advantage of what grandmaster practice has done with them. Lane chooses beautiful and instructive games for each line and he gives the strategic plans that are behind any possible continuations (all the notes are strictly connected to this feature). This is very important because this variation doesn't admit any misjudgments and so the moves must be carefully calculated, this is why it's most wiseable to me that you can understand the way you make that move instead of learning the move from a book. This book allows you to enter the secrets of the Fischer-Sozin without putting in your memory a lot of move orders without explanation. The only reason I didn't give 10 rating is that I wanted to see much more games than the 48 analized inside... But I can assure you this number is anyway worth of it!

I am excited each time I open the pages of this Woman's Study Bible. I own over 25 bibles and this is one of the best I have used.

The study group I am in will be looking at the lives of most of the women in Scripture to see how to apply or avoid the things we learn from their lives. This bible has profiles on many of the women, deals with subject matters that help you to apply biblical principles, and shows you the role women played in the life of Jesus. Their commentary on the text is very insightful and gives clarification according to the context of the verses.

It is hard to find fault with this study bible. It comes in softcover, hardcover and leather (at reasonable prices). The print is good, nice margins, NKJV text, cross references, concordance and an index of the charts, notes and profiles. There is also historical information. such as, Women and Archaeology, at the beginning of the bible.

I am familiar with several of the contributors and have heard them speak or have read their works. These ladies are of sound reputation in their doctrine and their dedication to the Word of God.

I thank God for this resource and hope every woman who is serious about studying the Word gets a copy for their library. I highly recommend The Woman's Study Bible.

This bible is a wonderful resource for any woman who wants a little extra information to go along with the Scripture readings. The print is large and easy to read, and the extra notes are clearly separated from the actual Scripture text. The notes are informative and thoughtfully written, and are specifically geared to issues and concerns of today's woman. I would recommend this Bible to any woman actively involved in a bible study class or any woman wishing a more in depth look at the Scriptures.