4 comments about Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Prima Official Game Guide).

1. An utter waste of your hard earned dollars, this guide continues the slide in quality of the Prima guide series seen over the past couple of years.
   
   While stating on the cover it is for PC and console versions of the game, it is clear the only thing in the book that is PC specific isn't in the book - it's the proclamation on the cover. A minor detail, since after all the controls in the game are so simple one really doesn't need a key guide for the PC, but it continues the 'write-once reuse often' strategy that seems to have taken over the prima guides. When I pay this many clams for a paperback, I'd expect more than a rehashing of what you can find in the manual that comes with the game, mixed in with some pretty pictures and maps.
   
   There is *nothing* here that you can't get from the included manual, or on-line game guides and forums, except perhaps the brilliant glimpses of the obvious from the 'hag dolls', I mean 'frag dolls', like this gem:
   
   "Aim your reticle where you want your grenade to go...". Wow, I'm glad I read that, I thought I was supposed to aim where I *didn't* want it to go...
   
   Perhaps if Prima spent more time actually playing the game on different platforms, and less time at photo-shoots, they could produce a guide that added value to the free resources already available.



2. Been playing this game for the last month or so only for a few hours at a time. My first gripe was with the inability to better control your team (i.e.; deploy grenades, flashbangs, etc.) But then again that is a good thing as it keeps the controls fairly simple. I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys FPS's.



3. Because i am a very mediocre player at best, the negative review above doesn't apply to me. The person that wrote the above is probably very good at gaming and doesn't need the help offered by this guide.
   Lots of good info on weapons and tactics. Good info on where the bad guys may appear. Lots of good (tho small) photos of situations.
   Because i am so lousy at shooters, i hesitate to go online, but the multiplayer section gave me some confidence to do so.
   If you are looking for help, this is a good buy. The internet free sites are few and inferior at this point, so save yourself considerable aggravation and get this book. I am glad i did.



4. The Prima strategy guides are always thorough
   If you are stuck in a game and you need a tip or a hint you are always able to find and answer in the Prima Strategy guides
   Great if you are stuck
   I look through them only if I am stuck or why I didn't get a certain achievement.
   Great Reference!
   Thanks Prima and Amazon for carrying the guides when the game store doesn't have them!

5 comments about Garry Kasparov on My Great Predecessors, Part 1.

1. I have enjoyed the whole series of 5 volumes. It is a History of Chess in real world championship play over more than the last century. No one has done a better service to compiling those masterpieces in one place. Vol 1 has many early games that are gems.



2. It's quite difficult to add something new to what has been said before by others. Hence I will not talk about the concrete but more about the 'feeling' I got while reading this book:
   This is the very best games collection money can buy!
   G. Kasparov clearly shows how chess evolved towards a more and more complex system.
   GK suggests a lot of alternative/better moves in his annotations and together with his personal remarks, they are quite enriching for one's chess education. The often heard criticism that some variations contain blunders (?!), is irrelevant and not a drawback at all in my view: every reviewer admitted using fritz or a similar engine to even find those 'mistakes', moreover, can any reviewer boast a career like GK (? - until then they'd better listen and try to understand what GK is talking about in stead of losing themselves in some concrete variation with the help of their electronic friends). Obviously, in a real game you cannot be assisted in such a way; so what's the point if you can't find it yourself...
   Also human chess isn't about THE right move (99% of us wins games because the opponent made the last blunder), but about beautiful patterns, unbelievable sacrifices, new ideas, etc. Or at least, that's how I see it. I think GK feels the same way; The game cannot be solved - as evidenced by recent computer WCC tournaments.
   The history of the game as a process of calcification of the champion, eventually leading to the loss of the WCC title in favor of the new champion (who brings a new way of thinking to the board), is as simple as it is brilliant. I thank GK for showing this evolution!
   So easily Five stars! I'm now finishing volume I and can't wait to start with volume II.
   Perhaps one small negative point ... nope can't find one



3. This book is the most enjoyable chess stuff I've ever had. Value of any chess book is primarily based on its precise in analysis and variation calculation. This is the case with the under review book. Moreover, Kasparov has injected his brilliant and scarece ingenuity in the lines of the book!



4. This collection should be mandatory reading for anyone who takes chess seriously. Homework should be done and to do that... you need look no where else but this series. I am a giant Petrosian fan and I loved the third installment. The Fifth installment, being that I am fascinated by both Korchnoi and Karpov, Was my favorite. The first and second installments were great in view of a history lesson as I have a tendency to lean more towards the defensive masters like Lasker, Capa, and Botvinnik. As for the fourth, and possibly the most controversial of the series, its a must have. The Greatest player that may have ever lived writing about the greatest player that may have ever lived!!! A superb collection!!!



5. This is Volume One of the five-volume set of My Great Predecessors. I had to do a lot of shopping around to find each volume at a price I could afford, but if you are serious about developing an understanding of chess strategy, this set is an excellent resource. The books cover the history of great chessmasters, detailing many of their games. I don't start at page one and read through them sequentially; rather, I look up a particular strategy and lay out the game on my chessboard to move through it. One game usually leads to another, and I can spend hours going through the volumes this way. [NOTE that this review is authored by my 19-year-old son.]

5 comments about Modern Pace Handicapping, Revised.

1. this book has some intelligent approaches to handicapping
   i don't agree that modeling of recent races is of much help as i have not found it so in p ractice
   the idea that each horse has a particular running style is a valid one and can help in handicapping a race.
   i think that pace handicapping is widely used in the betting and is no longer of much value if it ever was.



2. The first third of the book is a bit too technical but does a good job of showing how Brohamer approaches the Sartin methodology. However, upon second review of the entire work, there is some absolutely brilliant insight into the overall pace equation. Quit worrying about selecting pacelines, and look at the running styles, decision models, and most helpful to me- the track profile. All of that has become essential to me in handicapping. The first thing I do when I pick up a form is look for the running styles, and I do that only after creating a track profile on the past week's charts.



3. At only page 13, I achieved my objective. I bougth this book to
   attain and incorporate into my Handicapping game, a scientific
   method of Pace Analysis. In the earliest pages of the book, I
   found what I was looking for. That is; in races where there is
   more than one "Front Runner," proven methods of Pace Analysis
   can provide the corroboration needed to make my selection with
   confidence. Also, in sprint races where horses are commonly
   running half mile times of 47 and 48 and even 49, on the local
   surface, and other horses coming in from out of town, and
   entered against said locals, are bringing 44 3/5 half mile times,
   intuitive reasoning based on 30 years experience is not enough
   and is in fact inadequate. I now have now solved the last flaw
   in my handicapping game. I strongly recommend this book to all
   serious players! The math is far simplier than I initially
   thought it would be! I am extremely satisfied!!!



4. I've read a few books of all kinds. "Modern Pace Handicapping" is one of the worst, frankly, which makes it definitely the worst racing-related book I've ever read. It's particularly sad when it is supposed to be teaching you something and not just narrating a story. I understand the concept of pace handicapping, but the nuts and bolts hardly fit together in this work. I'm surprised I got any theory out of this book at all. It is truly one of the most poorly written/edited/formatted/arranged books I've run across.
   
   It is shocking this book gets so many rave reviews. "MPH" is so badly written I can only assume the people giving it 4+ stars are already well-versed in pace handicapping and skipped over all the incomprehensible stuff and the myriad mistakes and horrible copies.
   
   If I wanted to spend more time I could give specific examples by leafing any given page in the book. However, I'll just sum up by saying this book was riddled with:
   
   -typos;
   -chopped-off paragraphs (turn the page - what happened?);
   -confusing mish-mash of decimal system proper, and using decimal notation to represent FIFTHS (i.e., 1:35.3 = 1:35-3/5 in one section, and in another it represents exactly what it looks like to an engineer like myself - 1:35-3/10);
   -many extremely poor (completely illegible, high-bleed) copies of old race charts;
   -poor math-checking - both of equation form and of results in examples;
   -disconnected charts to text (text discussion on page X, charts were on page X-5, etc);
   -poor explanation of either general theory, methods or examples - especially - WHY SHOULD I PICK THIS OR THAT RACE AS A TYPICAL PACELINE? Author acts as if it is so obvious and simply states "this should be the paceline" too many times.
   
   I could probably go on; I always manage to find a new glitch when I recommence reading. There are so many categories of problems that I cannot keep track of them all.
   
   I'm not sure if "Modern Pace Handicapping" is so poorly edited and explained that I find it hard to pick UP (as opposed to "hard to put down!"), or if I can really say the narrative style itself is so dry as to have made me take 2 years to read it on casual time. (Not finished yet - a few more chapters, which may mean another 6 months.) I have started and finished a couple other books on casual time in that period! It is almost with dread that I attempt again. I give it a 2 only because I could actually get the general idea from MPH. I think I could handle calculations, but I'm still confused as to why a particular race in the past-performances is good to use as a predictor for the future race analysis.
   
   The Andrew Beyer books are based on a different concept, but despite involving math and what could be a dry subject, they were definitely better written and MUCH better edited (and as with this subject, I knew little about it when beginning but was curious)!



5. The concept of turn time is very interesting and very ingenious but implementing the Brohamer method is too complex and time consuming. I'm sticking to the Taulbot and Ainslie's methods of pace evaluation.

No comments about Delaware Park: Winners, Losers, and Long Shots.

5 comments about Heroes of Might and Magic V (Prima Official Game Guide).

1. Don't buy this. There's more accurate information online about HOMM5. This is the poorest Game Guide I've ever bought.



2. Overall the book is useful, but like most of Prima's game guides it is a mass of errors and typos. They really ought to consider hiring an editor.



3. With a complex game like Heroes you want some good fold out tables and charts of the different troop-types and heroes. You dont get that. The entire book is in black and white. Most of the guide is simply a walkthrough of the Campaign missions. Bleh. That would have been fine to include that but fans of this game want tables and charts in a readable format. Very unfortunate how bad this "guide" is. I regret buying it.



4. The game looks nice but except from the graphics nothing else has been changed from the previous version.You should by this game only if you missed playing heroes but do not expect much from it.



5. I read the reviews here and hesitated to buy this guide. So I went into a game store and looked at it in person. It had everything I expected it to have: monster descriptions, spell descriptions, ability descriptions, campaign walkthroughs, and even some stuff I didn't expect, like what all the "Week of..."s meant.
   
   It's certainly a grand improvement on what the game's rulebook gives you. Now I know in mechanical terms what items like "Battle Dive" and "Shield Bash" mean, and can use them properly--not hit a button and not know how the outcome was determined.
   
   I still don't know what a Crystal Dragon is yet, but maybe it will turn up. :)

4 comments about Fantasy Football For Dummies (For Dummies (Sports & Hobbies)).

1. and neither are you. Don't waste your first season playing fantasy football by not being prepared. FFFD was designed to help new players avoid the pifalls that all of us hardened vets made back in the day...
   
   FFFD explains how the game works, how to get started and even where to play online! There are also plenty of detailed, proven methods for drafting a great fantasy team and managing your team during the football season.
   
   Is this a shameless plug? Of course it is, but I think the book is unique and I wish I had read it before I started playing...



2. I have always been curious about just what is fantasy football, and have passed up a few opportunities to join in because I lacked the confidence to join a league. Martin Signore spells out all of the ins the outs the dos and the don'ts in a very easy and understandable way. I can't wait for the season to start and hone in my newfound skills!



3. The author REALLY knows his stuff as oppossed to some of the other writers of "for dummies" books! He truly has a love for the subject and it shows!
   
   Highly recommended!
   
   
   :)



4. If you are thinking about playing fantasy football or even if you played a little last year and want to improve those basic skills, get this book! It is a great introduction to fantasy football. It covers everything to get you started including where to play online and look online for information on players. Many of the tips are exactly what you need to draft, manage and improve your team for a winning season.
   
   After reading Fantasy Football for Dummies, it is obvious that Martin Signore has played the game for many years and his love of the hobby shines through. Once again, the winning "dummies" format makes it easy. I am amazed at how much information he provides. Martin even discusses Auction leagues which many of todays FF books ignore. He hits all the right techniques and even includes some advanced draft strategies.
   
   I usually find the "part of tens" pages in a dummies book tedious, but Martin has provided a great Top 10 list of mistakes to avoid and perhaps even more importantly ten fixes to make to your team after draft day. The draft is not the end but instead should be the starting point for a championship team. You should constantly try to improve your team through trades and/or the waiver wire. A great manager can always look back and point out a significant improvement during the season.
   
   This is definitely the book of choice for anyone who wants an introduction to the greatest hobby of all time, Fantasy Football.
   
   Sam Hendricks, author of "Fantasy Football Guidebook: Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football" and "Fantasy Football Almanac"

4 comments about Mental Floss: Scatterbrained (Mental_floss).

1. Chock-full of funny factoids to make you look smart at cocktail parties. An easy-reading smorgasboard of truisms both bizarre and interesting, all linked together. Bathroom reading for the MENSA set.



2. This book is an immense collection of trivia, loosely related by tangential connecting facts. For example, a story about famous downfalls which recounts Oscar Wilde's end says: "But it's not like Wilde was angry enough to start a hunger strike or anything...." And then we're off into "The Greatest Hunger Strikers Ever." Scatterbrained is much like "The Areas of My Expertise" (John Hodgman), except not made-up. And with fewer hobo facts.
   
   The Scatterbrained approach to trivia is very readable, like a talkative dinner guest who goes on endless factual tangents. It's amusing and fun, and offers you plenty of chances to bail out when you've had enough (for example, when you've completed your business in the, uh, bathroom). This would also make a nice (albeit small) coffee-table book, as it's the sort of thing your guests can leaf through and call out interesting, often bizarre anecdotes.
   
   Nerdy note: this book was co-edited by noted Young Adult author John Green. Fans of "Looking for Alaska" will appreciate "Fond Farewells: The Best and Worst of Famous People's Last Words" on page 125, and fans of "An Abundance of Katherines" will enjoy "Math Nerds Gone Wild (And by Wild, We Mean Nuts)" on page 132.



3. An excellent compendium of oddball factoids, sharply designed and smartly written, c/o the fine folks at Mental_floss. I don't know how long it must have taken to compile all this stuff, but you can easily spend a weekend or more tearing through it. Good stuff -- I couldn't have enjoyed it more had I co-written it myself.



4. Marcus Chown's recent book, "The Quantum Zoo: A Tourist's Guide to a Never-Ending Universe" deals with quantum physics in a way that effectively uses popular culture references as a means toward understanding the world around us through scientific theory. Surprisingly, this book covers similar ground but from a completely non-scientific perspective by interconnecting seemingly unrelated trivia facts toward another view of the world. As you can assess, both books provide value to their respective audiences.
   
   "Scatterbrained" is another slim volume from the editors of Mental Floss Magazine, a bimonthly launched in 2001 and targeted to aspiring Trivial Pursuit masters. This one takes nine isolated threads of facts to show how you could possibly make sense of the world. Granted, the connections can be rather tenuous, sometimes like an unending broken record on the turntable, but they are fun simply to track just to see where the lines of thought will go. It's a bit like playing a more expansive version of the "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game except anything, no matter how trivial, is up for grabs.
   
   A prototypical example is Chapter 4, "Humpty Dumpty to Having a Great Fall to Getting Put Back Together Again" You see the links between the fairy tale character, hunger strikes, celebrity trials, disasters that occur in autumn, diamonds, pseudonyms, the periodic table, trivia about the Web, the history of tattoos, and historic reunions. It's definitely a meandering journey for a less receptive mind but one that makes sense for any world-class trivia expert who can connect anything with anything. And for them, it's quite a fun read.

No comments about Lost Planet: Extreme Condition Signature Series Guide (Bradygames Signature Series) (Bradygames Signature Series).

5 comments about A Year at the Races: Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck.

1. Why did Smiley not end the book with a chapter describing how she dumped her beloved Waterwheel, pregnant and broken-down, at an auction where she could have easily been purchased for slaughter? Unfortunately, this is where many ex-racehorses end up, brutally slaughtered. Smiley is no different than the unfeeling horse owners she vilifys in her books as she apparently could not be bothered to provide for a mare she gushed about in her book. She made money off her mare and then cruelly disposed of her horse.



2. For dumping your racehorse at an auction because she wasn't good enough for you.
   
   I read the book a few years ago. I wasn't terrible, but a little too touchy-feely for me (and I'm the type of person who spoils her horses), but rest assured I will never buy another book from an author that "disposes" of any unwanted horse at an auction. What does she think will happen to a broken down mare (she'll never be sound enough for work) that has a record of 2 unplaced starts and less than 5k in earnings? To Ms. Smiley: Show a bit of responsibility and either keep the mare or euthanize her. Use some of that book money. Don't risk her ending up at the killers.



3. The first book I have read of Smiley's, I was not impressed. It felt disjointed, awkward, and rather silly at times. She humanizes her horses to the point where it feels absurd. I fell in love with her horses, but I was less impressed with the author.
   After reading the book, I learned that Waterwheel, one of the horses featured in the book, was dumped at auction (Barrett's January mixed sale) lame and pregnant, and sold for the near rock bottom price of $1000. After bringing her owner in so much money through this book, she couldn't afford to keep her retired? Sorry, but I refuse to buy books written by a hypocrite, and I will never read a Smiley book ever again.



4. Jane Smiley sold a racehorse broodmare at California's premier auction house for thoroughbred racehorses. She did not "dump" the mare at an auction where she could have gone to slaughter.
   
   Selling horses is a normal part of owning horses, especially racehorses. Auctions are the primary method of selling racing bloodstock. Writing a book about one's experiences owning racehorses does not obligate Smiley to keep every horse she has ever owned forever. People are actually suggesting that it would have been better to kill the mare than send through the ring at Barretts???!!!!
   
   These reviews are absurd, and these reviewers need to get a life.



5. My understanding is that the horse Waterwheel was sold at auction by Jane Smiley for $1000 and was lame and in foal, not a happy caring ending provided by Ms. Smiley This makes Jane Smiley appear to not be all she claims to be in terms of providing quality care for this horse and makes me strongly question her use of this horse to sell books and then rid herself of her in a very uncaring way. Many healthy horses sold at auction, especially for this little money, can begin a downward spiral and are at high risk of eventually going to slaughter in Canada or Mexico. I suggest Ms. Smiley address this issue. I would love to know where Waterwheel is and hope she is well and beloved somewhere in a forever home.

No comments about Jumble Crosswords: A New Twist on an Old Favorite.