3 comments about The Last of the Mohicans (Great Illustrated Classics).

1. The Last of the Mohicans is a great book. I read it 3 months ago. I saw the movie and that's cool too.
   It's about two ladies and a guy are going to their father. Onthe way there attacked. Then Hawkeye and two other indians save them. They take them to their father,but are attacked many mor times on the way.
   It's full of action and fighting. It's awsome.
   You shoud read it. It's great!



2. Last of the Mohicans is one of the more accessible Deerslayer novels, I'll grant. But to call it unreadable and boring because no one can understand it is just plain unfair. I suggest if you find this book difficult then try acclimating yourself to more modern uses of the language at first. T.H. White is a wonderful place to start, then maybe some Patrick O'Brian, on to Dickens, maybe the Morte D'Arthur, etc... The main thing here is, of course, to get used to reading different (older) forms of the English language. Once you get into it, it's really a great experience. There's such a wealth of imagery and culture and history in this book that it'd be a shame to ignorantly toss it off as elitist or unnecessary. Just the opposite: it's mind expanding and greatly insightful. And a whole lot of fun!



3. This book is one of the greatest books that I have ever read. The reason for saying this is that the book's genre, adventure, is one of my personal favorites, plus James Fennimore Cooper is my second favorite author. The book is loaded with imagery. It sparks your imagination into picturing just exactly where you are at and who is involved in the story that could possibly be around you.
   When you first start reading you get caught in the elaborate setting. You are given a straight out setting of a hot summer day in July 1757. Immediately you're imagination is caught in the building of the stories plot.
   I would strongly recommend this book to all ages. This book gives you some history and a lot of rising-falling action to keep you reading. There is no strong language but there is some death. It can be overcome, to read a great book. You will more than likely be stunned by the ending, because ... you'll have to read it to find out.
   Once you pick up this book you won't be able to put it down. There are so many twists, surprises, and exciting spots in the book that you will want to read the rest of what is happening. Before you know what has happened you are lurched into another portion of the exciting plot. It is well written with several leads to each part of the book. You will end up wanting to read the story again to see what you missed the first time through.

1 comments about Indian Head Cents Folder 1857-1909 (Official Whitman Coin Folder).

1. This folder is an excellent holder for your coins. Beginners can see progress very quickly which will pique there interest in coin collecting even more.

5 comments about Collector's Encyclopedia of Vogue Dolls: Identification and Values (Collectors Encyclopedia of Vogue Dolls).

1. This Book is great and is written so the reader can find about everything that is necessary to start a Vogue Doll collection!!! There are a couple important things I want to mention to eveyone about this book that are very helpful..The way the dolls are put in YEAR ORDER and when a doll is not pictured in this book the Authors make sure it is mentioned with the NAME OF THE DOLL and in detail what she should be wearing for that year, No doll is left out. PHOTO'S ARE GREAT!!
   This Vogue book is a must for the Vogue doll collector with a wealth of information. I learned so much with this book and could not be without it! It has all you need to help you in your quest for Vogue doll collecting.



2. My doll friends and I use this book daily! Especially love the 'Herstory' section where there are plenty of vintage photos showing the factory sewers and samples, Promotional events, and store displays! Book is interspersed with actual catalog photos and many, many color photos of dolls from private collections. Great to see a variety of Vogue dolls all in one book, too!



3. This is an exceptional book for people who love the Vogue dolls! Illustrations and text cover both composition, hard plastic and vinyl dolls. The illustrations are many and identify hundreds of various costumes sold for the Vogue dolls. The Ginny, Jill, Jeff and Ginnette sections are especially helpful. Collectors who have costumes or dolls with missing pieces can use the book as a reference to complete outfits. If a collector likes 1950s Ginny dolls, this book offers a wealth of information and is known to collectors across the country as the "Bible" for Vogue collectors.



4. Even though Kathryn Kay was mentioned as a former Vogue Doll employee, her doll "Ginger" by the Cosmopolitan Doll & Toy Corp. was not illustrated and with absolutely NO information. This book is otherwise recommended for Vogue dolls only.



5. Terrific reference book - definitely would recommend for personal or public libraries. Loads of pictures and information - very helpful.

5 comments about Dungeon Master Option: High-Level Campaigns (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 2nd Edition: Rulebook/2156).

1. High Level Options, as can be expected, is designed to appeal to the player who has a god-complex. Oddly, however, the book is split evenly between a very useful discourse on good DMing and some bells and whistles for characters of 15th level and higher.

   The first half of the book should have been part of the reprinted Dungeon Master's guide. While TSR has a tendancy to publish fairly uncreative and "hack-and-slash" style adventures, the suggestions and guidelines here are wonderful, a good review for an experienced DM and a great primer for an amateur DM.

   The second half of the book leaves a bit to be desired. I'm not a fan of "high level" campaigns, but the information presented here has some rather obvious flaws. In many ways, the 10th level spells are disappointing in effect. They aren't more ingenious than 9th level spells, nor are they particularly effective. Likewise, the material presented for additional class abilities is too little, too late, in my opinion. These abilities do little to make a more formidable character.

   All in all, the book is best thought of as a supplement for the DMG.




2. After reading this book, I felt that if I had read this along with the Dungeon Master Guide before I started my campaigns my world would have been improved greatly. It's perfect for those characters that have reached insanely high levels, but it also tells the DM how to avoid creating God-like characters that can ruin any campaign.



3. Chapter 1 is about how to avoid irrealistic powerful characters! (very useful with high level characters)

   Chapter 2 is about how to plan and organize an adventure. It shows clearly on what a DM has to take a look. (very helpful for every DM)

   Chapter 3-5 is about the dangers with magic. It explains how to integrate magic in the right way in an adventure. (very very good!! it's so simple to destroy the game with to much magic)

   chapter 7 : learn managing high level characters

   This is a very good and usefull book, and I have the impression that good books are becomming rare; to much comerce!!




4. Although I doubt that a DM without the Munchkin syndrome can lead several PC to such apexes of power without getting a few clues on how to run the campaign, the high level campaigns has several very good guiding lights for those DMs that have strayed into the darkness and can't get out ( overpowerful items, characters, and other forms of blight). This should have included some type of section dealing with STRIPPING overly mighty characters of their powers within the bounds of rational role-playing. Overall, I find that some sections of this book should have actually been included in the basic rules several years ago, rather than be used as a leaky life-boat for a dying game. Useful, but less than spectacular.



5. This book is excellent, it can help extremely to improve the real role-playing of a high-level campaign. Not only does it help the DM make very interesting adventures, but it includes some very cool high-level abilities for characters that manage to get to high levels. It also includes a section devoted to characters who achieve 30th level, and how a mortal can attain godhood. Highly recommended.

1 comments about Classic Stoneware of Japan: Shino and Oribe.

1. Say "stoneware" to anyone fond of traditional Japanese culture and most will respond "raku." Indeed, those loosely-shapen dark wonders of the low-fire kiln are the supercondensed span of an entire culture in an object you can hold. Yet in an almost artless preoccupation with doing just the opposite, two traditions expressing the same qualities of the tea ceremony using entirely materials and effect came into existence and rapidly became popular: Shino and Oribe ware. Both originated during Japan's artistic renaissance of the late sixteenth century (which interestingly was coterminus with the Europeam Renaissance beyond Italy, and just as tumultuous).

   The tea ceremony's origins came in a gentler time, the Muromachi. It was as if the mix of vigor and experience hung in the air like a dust mote after a peaceful zephyr, the same way that war is in the air when come the winds of change. Though several theories claim to be the actual inspiration, the era is more definite. A 1932 chronicle relates, "In the first month of 1574, Kagemitsu, third son of Kageharu of the thirteenth generation after the first Seto potter Kato Kagemasa, moved to Akatsu. By virtue of a tea jar that he presented to Lord Oda Nobunaga, the latter formally recognized him as a retainer. Kakemitsu subsequently left Seto and moved to Kujiri, in Mino, in 1583. There . . . he continued working as a potter."

   To diehard raku buffs, Shino ware must have seemed a bit overadorned, fussy perhaps. There are geometrics, abstracts, and representations of familiar fare such as birds, grasses, plus the occasional poem such as:

   The inner essence
   Of the fence of deutzia flowers
   In a mountain village:
   The feeling of treading a road
   Covered with freshly fallen snow.

   The authors convey all this with a mix of the poet and the historian. Here is an extended passage that carries the aroma of the whole text:

   "To me [Shino ware's] charm lies in the feel of its surface and the mellow luster that accords so well with that surface. And there is the straightforward beauty of the pictures decorating Shino ware. The overall effect is intoxicating.
   "Shino pictures are drawn with lively lines depicting the everyday scenery surrounding the potters-the bridges over the streams at Kuguri, a cypress fence and dew-covered path leading to its brushwood gate, a grove of trees in flower, the trees and grasses just outside the window, even the mountain road they traveled day after day.
   "Such was the aesthetic of the Momoyama period in general. But the single tree, the few blades of grass these artists sketched are somehow pleasing because the designs pulse with life, the brushwork is clean and bold.
   "The white of Shino can be compared to the first snow of the season, or to the last traces of the winter snow, which the warm spring winds are erasing as the bush warbler's first song rings out. Shino's white surface is soft like a mother's breast; it brings back memories of childhood.

   "Shino white is tidiness itself. And on that white the potters painted designs with an iron glaze made of oni-ita, a red clay rich in iron and manganese and abundant in the Seto region. The effect of flame in the kiln added distinctive fire marks. Shino is an elusive ware, capable of infinite transformations.
   "The Shino potters thickly applied their glaze, which they made by carefully grinding feldspar and refining it in water. To this they added their own secret proportion of ash. Then, after offering sake and prayers to the gods of the kiln, and ritually scattering salt to purify the area, they entrusted their pieces to the fire."

   In the depths of the heart
   From which pottery springs
   Flows a crystal clear stream
   Reflecting nearby mountains.
   -- Rosanjin Kitaoji

   The above is but the glaze. To get the pot you must get the book. Be sure to look at pictures 2 and 3 on page 54: This seemingly unassuming Shino teabowl is considered the finest teabowl in existence.

   Alas, or perhaps huzzah, styles last not long. The next innovation in Japanese teaware can be directly traced to a single man, Furuta Oribe, and as changes in teacups go, his was a doozy.

   Japan in Oribe's time was a chessboard of warlords incessantly raiding each other for fun and profit. Oribe, among other things, also was a distinguished general. His tastes ran to the "robust, generous, vigorous, and distorted in shape." He introduce these qualities to the entire tea ceremony-most notably by making it part of a dinner event with a large number of others, all lubricated as much by saké as by tea. Hence Oribe commissioned not only tea ware but serving and dining dishes, saké ware, unusual geometrics, and heavy, dripping glazes the tea ceremony's predecessors would have deemed ghastly. This was not very Zen. On the other hand, Oribe's shaking up the establishment led directly to a great flowering of ceramics. Eventually more subtle tastes tamed down the founder's style-a process that can be seen vividly in the many illustrations of Oribe ware-and Oribe's great-great-great grandchildren's great grandchildren still being made today.

   Alas, this review is all too brief. To sum the book in PR blurb terms, "Classic Stoneware of Japan: Shino and Oribe" is a comprehensive visual survey and text explication of the two traditions' glazes, processes, shapes, and decoration. You come away with a clear idea of the essence of these wares and with half an eye you can come to expertly recognize either. The detail is exhaustive given its scant 42 pages of text. Potters will celebrate it. Everyone else will learn from it. No one is likely to forget it.

5 comments about Military Small Arms of the 20th Century.

1. This is truly the first and last book when it comes to 20th century small arms. Ian Hogg does it again as he categorizes weapons by type then country. Every gun is included from WWI to 1990.

   This book is black and white but the photos are good, and he has some for some very rare guns.

   Each gun is accompanied by a photo and a chart laying out the facts. Each gun also contains a few paragraphs of history and review as to how it should be placed in history. For example the MG42 is rightfully hailed as the best machine gun of WWII, while the M16 is ridiculed as reason we lost Vietnam.

   I'm read a lot of gun books and this one is the best because of Hogg's writing, and the fact that it is the most comprehensive I've ever seen. He doesn't just include his favorite guns but every gun ever used in 20th century combat.

   The HK G11 cover is also impressive.




2. This book lives up to its name. It provides an overview of the 20th Century. Lots of photos for reference. Exactly what I thought it would be.



3. Actually I was being lenient with 3 stars... It is an incomplete work with HUGE gaps on vital basics, leaving out prominent manufacturers and models manufactured, and above all, grossly wrong on stats on some items. Mr Hogg needs to do a lot of further work before he can claim it to be a quality reference work of note.



4. I have had this book for a number of years and, although the research is excellent, it does indeed have substantial typo's and reference errors as if the material was compiled by a staff editor who knows nothing about firearms and has not taken the trouble to make simple corrections. Many firearms are omitted and some included, however revolutionary and ground-breaking they are not always representative of the whole. Furthermore, the entire category of combat shotguns has not even been addressed but anti-materiel rifles have, which are undeniably interesting but only a small part of the whole. The organization is good as are the photographs but I would have made a number of editing corrections as a previous reviewer has noted (I have written in the corrections in my own volume). I rely upon this volume for information but often double check the facts through other sources as the glaring errors reduces my confidence in this as a comprehensive reference. As a reference book writer myself, I have written to the publisher offering to edit an 8th edition should such a thing be in the works but of course there is no profit margin for a slightly corrected version of a popular volume. My edition is so heavily thumbed and used that I will likely acquire another and not balk at the price but would gladly pay more for an accurate reference.



5. There must be millions of readers out there who don't really care about guns, per se, but run into various types of weaponry when reading historical or crime fiction.
   I know a little about guns -- grew up in a southern family, first .22 rifle when I was 13 years old, etc. -- but when I'm reading a World War I novel and the hero pulls out a huge Austro-Hungarian Empire military revolver, I may be a little lost.
   Hogg's book fulfills a useful function for those who want to doublecheck and see what some weapon in a story actually looks like.
   (Oh, so that's how a Webley Fosberry automatic revolver worked, huh?)
   (A DeLisle carbine is a silenced Enfield rifle in .45 caliber? What the heck would that look like?)
   Gun nuts (like me) can get a little picky about details in far-ranging reference books. But if you're starting from scratch, books like this are invaluable.

5 comments about Cirque Du Freak #12: Sons of Destiny: Book 12 in the Saga of Darren Shan (Cirque Du Freak: the Saga of Darren Shan).

1. I've been following this series for awhile now. At one point, a few years ago, I was so addicted that I had to order the 3 books that had been released in the UK because I couldn't wait for the US versions to come out. So, it was with much pleasure and anticipation that I sat down to read books 10, 11, and 12 in one sitting.
   
   I have to say that Book 12 left me a bit disappointed. At the end of the book, Shan has the main character go back in the time & prevent himself from making the mistake of kidnapping Madam Octa. Since Darren manages to stop himself from kidnapping the spider, he never makes the deal with Mr. Crepsley & ends up leading a normal, healthy, life as a human. This, of course, means that Darius is probably never born (because Annie wouldn't be a single mom at 16). But there is a possibility that others still die the same way -- Mr. Crepsley, Shancus... their fate may be the same, but Darren won't be around to witness it.
   
   I understand that Shan felt that this was the only way to resolve the convoluted system of "Destiny" that he created in the past 11 books. However, in the process, it left the reader high and dry because the ending basically told us that the stories we had just invested time and effort in for the past few years didn't happen. Sure, they would still happen in a way -- but these trials and tribulations wouldn't fall on a boy named Darren Shan. Some other, nameless, person would step up to take over Darren's destiny. And we're just supposed to leave to our imagination how the universe righted itself & who was affected by the change in the end. Will the ones who died still end up dead? Will this new child (whoever it is) end up sacrificing themselves & floating to Paradise (as Darren predicts he/she would) or, maybe, they cannot resist the lure that Mr. Tiny places on them.
   
   The biggest issue I have with this ending is that it makes us wonder -- why'd we read the past 11 books if they were all irrelevant? This is the equivalent of Shan ending the series with a scene where Darren wakes up from a nightmare and finds out it was all a dream. I invested time and emotion in Darren's Saga. And now you're telling me that it wasn't Darren's saga, at all. And, perhaps, even the people mentioned in the book might not have had anything to do with it, because Darren changed the course of history.
   
   Another thing that bothered me were the holes in the whole "fate vs. destiny" situation. Darren managed to overcome the two set futures by killing himself and Steve. However -- why didn't he just have the power to "Just Say No" to Des Tiny's edicts? Why not just say, "Thanks, but no thanks, I choose my own fate and I don't want to rule the world." Particularly when he'd already been shown the consequences his actions if he did get mixed up with Mr. Tiny's vision. The author was feeding us two messages: (1) You control on your fate in a manner of speaking and should choose the path of good, but (2) If Mr. Tiny makes you evil, there's nothing you can do about it. I was like, "huh??" Not to mention -- Mr. Tiny had waaaayyy too much power & I didn't like the fact that he wasn't facing any consequences for his actions.
   
   Also, why did Darren go the Lake of Souls... he was a decent guy and sacrificed himself. I didn't buy the whole "guilt" thing. Other vampires had probably done much more bad things in their long lives (like Mr. Crepsley) and they went straight to Paradise. It made no sense that Darren -- a half-Vampire who constantly did the ethical thing -- would end up in the Lake of Souls for hundreds of thousands of years & there would be no force in the universe that could right that mistake. Again, giving Mr. Tiny way too much power.
   
   Basically, I give this 3.5 stars because the series, as a whole, is excellent. And, naturally, if you read Books 1-11, you have to read this finale. However, this particular reader was left unsatisfied with the resolution of the series. I was hoping for more closure.



2. i just got this book on xmas and i have already read it
   
   i have been following this book for like a year and i have waited for a long time for this book to arrive and now that i have read it i feel dissapointed like i keep thinking "now let me go read my book" then it hits me thats how i feel about it i think darren shan rushed into this book too fast without thinking this book didnt measure up to my standards or even to near to the standards of the other books in this series
   
   
   like he killed himself after he killed steve so he wouldnt become lord of the shadows and after he founf out that he was mr. tiny's son and steve's brother i wished there would have been more action in this book and more of debbie too this book left me empty
   
   its an okay book like 2 stars but it was a waste of my time and my aunt's money



3. this book was really good not what i expected to end the saga but still a great read, the whole saga was awsome.if your looking for a teen vamp story this is perfect it also has some other mythalogical charicaters....
   5 stars



4. I feel that "The Sons of Destiny" was a disappointing book and a poor way to end the Cirque Du Freak" series. I gave this two stars. This is because the book hasa bizzare storyline. also, the end of the book left me dumbfounded and searching for answers. The characters in the book went against their previous established personalities. Lastly, the climax of the book that author Darren Shan was building up to the entire series, wos not very entertaining to read. In the book, Darren Shan muust defeat his one time friend, but now foe, or die. Will Darren be able to trick the evil Des Tiny and save his friends? This horror book will dissapoint other people who have read the "Cirwue Du Freak" series.



5. I've read all the books in the series in less then a day. I couldn't put them down, but at the ending of this book, the last one, i didn't just put the book down, i threw it across my room. I loved the book up until the ending, and i love the series up until this book. I think it kills the whole series and leaves me wondering why i even bothered to buy and read the other 11. at the end, he goes back in time and stops everything that i read in books 1-11 non-existent, as in they didn't even happen. I felt as if the ending has said something like, "he woke up and it was all a bad dream!" what kind of ending is that to a series such as Cirque Du Freak. And because of this book i actually don't recommend the series anymore. What is the point of wasting you time reading 12 books, when everything you read ended up not happening.
   Not only a waste of my time, but my hard earned money also. Don't get me wrong, i loved the series up until the end. i devoured the books and could not get enough, but this to me seems like Darren Shan was saying, "i don't want to write anymore Cirque Du Freak books, so lets just make everything i wrote in books 1-11 not happen!"
   i feel like i was cheated.

5 comments about Collectors Encyclopedia of California Pottery.

1. I would recommened this book to anyone interested in collecting California pottery. This book has a large selection of photos of the various types of pottery produced and the different markings used on the pottery.



2. Being that I live in Ohio, the big pottery names here are ones like McCoy, Roseville, and Weller. I knew nothing about any of the West Coast pottery companies. I desperately needed a source of reference. I chose this book and I have not been disappointed. It covers 28 companies,gives a biography of each,shows examples of the marks used, and very clear photos of items made by each.Descriptions and values of the items shown are also included.I highly recommend this book for any pottery buyers library.



3. Great guide that covers a good majority of California Potteries with a good selection of works from each potter. Values are not too inflated and color pictures are wonderful. A must if you need a general guide to vintage California Pottery, a hot item right now.



4. This is an excellent book that I use often to identify pottery pieces. Not only does it contain beautiful clear photos of pottery it also provides a wonderful brief, well written, history of the various potters and potteries. Very informative indeed! I also reccommend California Pottery Scrapbook by this same auther.



5. Nice enough book, but it is so hard to really provide a complete guide to such a broad subject. I was looking for information about Brayton Laguna blackamoors, and the offering was sparse, nothing more than a line in the index, and a brief description in the text. Maybe the author will do a book on Brayton Laguna blackamoors one day. Anyway, I returned this book because it did not fit my needs. It is hardly an encyclopedia, but rather a pretty picture book with some expanded captions as text. If you want a real tutorial on California pottery, work the search engines at eBay or Google...you can spend hours reading and looking at pictures.

1 comments about Collector's Guide to World War 2 German Medals.

1. This book is a concise, standard reference work for Third Reich medal and badge collectors. Sadly, this field is a veritable minefield for collectors with fakes/copies/reproductions now possibly outnumbering original items.With reproduction techniques daily becoming more sophisticated (as prices soar), it is vital to use this work as a basic identification guide, but not as an absolute final authority of an items' originality. Especially useful is the organizational listing of badges and medals by types (e.g. Luftwaffe badges, Army badges, campaign medals, gallantry medals etc.) with a list of known manufacturers' contract LDO numbers, along with estimated numbers of badges/medals awarded. Information provided is limited by space and this can be frustrating as many awards (the Iron Cross for example) easily provide enough variation to require a complete book. The photos are crisp, but frustratingly small. The author is especially fond of the Eagle Order (once awarded to Lindburgh) and this section of the book is the most complete and well done. A number of very rare items are included (e.g. The Dunkirk Shield) but the overall effectiveness of the work is marred by the inclusion of several unawarded badges (the Army Balloon Observers' badge, the Luftwaffe Sea assault badge, the Balkan Shield) and outright fakes (e.g. the Lorient shield, type 1). While the author does often point out that these questionable medals/badges are rare and sometimes suspect, the collecting community would have been better served by a more complete treatment of these items. Several novice collectors I have met have sadly spent large sums of money on copies made in the 1960s, stating that they felt sure they were a rare and valuable find because they saw them in this book. Sadly, the authenticity of even a number of the items on the actual cover of the book has been questioned by medal historians. Overall this is a book worth having, but not a definitive work on the subject.

2 comments about The Other Matchbox Toys: 1947-2004, Identification & Value.

1. this book was in great shape and just what he said it was.



2. I have many Matchbox reference books. This is the one I would use least of all because it is incomplete, poorly set out, poorly referenced, and overall gives the appearance of something which has been tossed together because it was MB material surplus to Vol 1. In other words, a total waste of buyer's money. So be cautioned people - don't go there.