4 comments about Starting Out: King's Indian Attack (Starting Out - Everyman Chess).

1. Written by British chess Grandmaster John Emms, Starting Out: King's Indian Attack is an in-depth guide for intermediate to advanced chess players to the King's Indian Attack, a favorite chess strategy of the legendary Bobby Fischer, among others including world-class Grandmaster Alexander Morozevich. Starting Out: King's Indian Attack studies the fundamental principles of this tactic and its numerous lines. A wealth of notes, tips, warnings, suggestions, sample games and diagrams serve to enlighten the average player on the strengths and weaknesses of using or defending against this strategy. Highly recommended for any dedicated chess player seeking to improve his or her game against experienced opponents.



2. This is a well organized and easy to understand book for players at all levels. Whether you want to play the KIA or want a better line against an opponent, this volume does the job.



3. This is primarily about the closed French and closed Siclian defenses, from white's perspective, (about 140 pages). The last 60 pages is about the reversed King's Indian opening. If your primary interest is playing 1. Nf3 as white, this is probably not the book you are looking for.
   
   If you like opening with 1. e4, and want a systematic response when your opponent does not reply with 1. ... e5, then this is a good book for you. You will have a system of play that does not require learning the vast variations of the open French and Sicilian defenses.
   
   Also, you will have in hand the 1. Nf3 opening, in case you want to change things up a bit with a secondary opening as white.
   
   The book is well written and illustrated, the level of detail is suitable for the beginning or intermediate player. It assumes a basic knowledge of the game beyond just knowing how the pieces move.



4. I am enjoying the book and I think it is a good mix of theory and real games. I am an expert rated player, but I think the book is accessible to lower rated players that want to learn a new opening family.

5 comments about Online Poker: Your Guide to Playing Online Poker Safely & Winning Money.

1. This book reads more like an advertisement and FAQ for Doyle's online poker room. There is very little of value here for the money. Do yourself a favor and buy "Super System" or another title that has worthwhile advice.



2. I cant believe that Doyle Brunson feels he needs money so bad that he should put his name on this book. This book is aimed at someone who has never used the internet before. If you have managed to play online poker for real money then you are already too sophisticated for this book. Yet another book that is simply cashing in on the poker boom and doesnt offer anything of value.
   Buy Harrington on Hold'em if you want to win money at poker.



3. I am shocked, stunned and appalled that a lifetime professional poker player would take advantage of poker newcomers simply for money! People, a few years ago you parents would have warned you to stay away from people like Doyle Brunsen! Now everyone thinks he is this kind old grandfater type! Get real!



4. I was browsing through Borders books the other day and I saw this book on the shelf. I thought to myself "Wow, I have never seen or heard of this book." I picked it up to have a quick look through and I ended up reading the whole book in about half an hour. (There isn't much to it). This book is just a total disgrace. It is the worst poker book I have ever seen- even worse than John Vorhaus's book "Killer poker online" (At least he probably spent quite some time actually writing that book ignoring the fact that the book sucks). There is no strategy whatsoever, it's basically about how to deposit money, how to download the software etc. The strategic advice is basically "Play very straightforwardly online because your opponents aren't paying attention anyway." Brunson ought to hang his head in shame, he is just trying to use his name to capitalize on the poker boom and dupe beginners into buying a product that will do nothing to help develop their game. I have lost any respect I ever had for Brunson.



5. Gives the basics without all the technical jargon. Great for getting
   started before moving to all the statistics and odds.

5 comments about Fun on the Run!: 324 Instant Family Activities.

1. This is a really well written and beautifully designed book. Each of the activities is genuinely fun and kid-pleasing, and not something you've seen printed over and over again in parenting and women's magazines. Even the categories of games are fun: e.g., waiting room games, hairdresser games, bus stop games, waiting-in-line games. The author put a lot of thought into this handy, purse-sized activity book and it shows. This is the best family activity book I've found yet.



2. 'Boring' is one bad word around our house. Creative and intelligent children can create fun where ever they may be and without a lot of props. This book is full of good ideas for doing just that. We keep ours in the car to give us ideas when we are driving, waiting or just plain out of good ideas to keep us occupied. I would highly recommend it for any family.



3. This book has helped with both my 3 yr old and my 13 yr old!!! It is a great little book with loads of ideas!



4. Coming in at a small size of 4-inches wide, 6-inches tall and about an inch thick... this book is worth quantum times more than its size. It should be delivered by your family's stork on your kids' third birthdays! It's a must have for every diaper bag! It's even as critical in your minivan as gasoline!
   
   The opening line is a quote from Cesare Pavese, "We do not remember days... we remember moments." And, this book is meant to create a lifetime of childhood memories in those everyday life events where we all have a few moments to spare (many of which you don't realize you have!): waiting for food in restaurant, waiting in line at grocery store, waiting in a waiting room, long drives, short drives, even when mom and dad are just plain ol' busy, etc.
   
   Here's some examples that I'm gonna randomly open the book and include:
   
   Once the waiter takes your drink order, choose one family member as a guesser. The rest pass a penny from person to person underneath the table until the drinks arive. Once they do, everyone puts their closed hands on the table. The guesser then must guess who holds the penny. It's not rocket science. It's quick. It's fun. And, it beats watching the kids try to color on the back of the menu with the lousy yellow restaurant crayon that breaks into 50 small pieces!
   
   Waiting forever for the doctor to arrive? Have your child draw their body double on the crinkly white paper that covers the examination table. Color in eyes, nose, clothing, where it hurts, etc. This makes the time go faster and distracts the discomfort your little one might be having that brought them to the doctor in the first place.
   
   Got a drive the kid's aren't looking forward to? Have one come up with a secret category in their head (billboards, blue pickup trucks, cars with something on their roof). Each time you pass it on your drive, your child counts out loud the number of times they see their category item. Everyone else must guess the category. The correct guesser goes next.
   
   The book's even loaded with cool little tips. Got kids who can't sit still? Keep them in the car as you drive through the drive-through. Once you get your food, unload them. Go inside and eat immediately from the sack vs. the tray!
   
   Buy the book to get the other 321 great ideas. It's cheaper than one hour's worth of babysitting! And, your kids will remember these moments with you forever!!!



5. This book is a lifesaver sometimes. It's enabled me to avoid cranky kid meltdowns in public places several times over. I keep it in the glove box of the car so we have it on hand for waiting in line, dr. office visits, waiting at restaraunts, airplane trips, etc. Anytime kids are antsy and complaining about waiting somewhere- pull out this little gem and get them busy with a distraction. Every frazzled parent needs one of these!

No comments about Webster's Challenging Large Print Crossword Puzzles.

No comments about Accelerated Piano Adventures, Theory Book 2.

No comments about Time for Kids Picture Puzzles.

1 comments about Super Paper Mario: Prima Official Game Guide (Prima Official Game Guides) (Prima Official Game Guides).

1. Since Nintendo came out with the Wii last year, there have been a lot of good games for it like The Legend Of Zelda Twilight Princess. However, when it comes to maps and strategy guides, you can often find it as a hit or a miss for Third-Party companies like Prima with those guides. Especially with Nintendo's latest Mario adventure Super Paper Mario. Although the guide is sometimes handy, it just doesn't detail enough information from the maps, which at times makes it very frustraing to play on the Wii. I honestly suggest you get the Player's Guide Nintendo made instead. It might be a few bucks more, but it is much more worth getting, especially if you want to master Bowser and crew.
   
   Price: C
   
   Maps: D+
   
   Convience: C-
   
   Overall: C-

5 comments about Digimon World: Prima's Official Strategy Guide.

1. You've watched the cartoon, collected the card game and now Prima Games lets you view the game in it's entirty as you play. Like Pokemon and Monster Rancher, DIGIMON incorporates kids very fascinations with Monsters in to a Role Playing Genre. This Strategy Guide helps you with those tough to get Champion and Ultimate DIGIMON. All Items are listed in detail and how to recieve special items. It takes the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How out of playing. So if you like Pokemon, Monster Rancher, and/or RPGs then buy this book. Oh yeah the Game too.



2. I bought the game just for a little laugh at Bandai's Pokemon imitation. It turned out to be a whole lot more than I expected! I am definitly bought buy the strategy guide! You get to raise your own cute (or weird!)Digimon.



3. really nothing much to say except that the guide was not helpful in helping me play the game.



4. at first when i got this guide it was very helpful. now it confuses me. i'm stuck in the game and i can't do anything about it... i'd give it no stars at all if i could. so buy a different brand of guide.



5. The Maps Tell You Exactally Where To Go
   The Charts Are Awsome And Clear With Great Information.
   The Downside Is The Beastiary....The Information Is Squished And The Three Top Secret Digimon Are Hard To Get...The Information On Recruiting Is Well Described And In Order

1 comments about Starting Out: Closed Sicilian (Starting Out - Everyman Chess).

1. English International master Richard Palliser presents Starting Out: Closed Sicilian, an in-depth guide for intermediate to advanced chess players. Staring Out: Closed Sicilian offers the white- piece chess player an aggressive way to attack the Sicilian while avoiding the extreme complexity of opening theory associated with Open Sicilians. Being aware of core themes is more important than memorizing variations in the Closed Sicilian, making it valuable to players who prefer to immerse themselves in the experience of the game rather than rely heavily on rote study. Examples and sample chess problems, and illustrative chess diagrams on almost every page offer highly descriptive case-based breakdown of theory and execution. Starting Out: Closed Sicilian lives up to the high quality and exacting professional standards of in-depth chess guides from Everyman Chess.

5 comments about Visual Basic Game Programming with DirectX (The Premier Press Game Development Series).

1. As a Visual Basic die-hard, I got very excited about this book when I saw it. The prospect of expanding Visual Basic by using DirectX was just too much to pass on. Unfortunately, the title is a bit deceiving. The author spends the first chapter discussing a history of video and computer games, which is interesting to some, but, in my opinion, out of place in a technical book. The author assumes that you know little or nothing about Visual Basic and walks you through the installation process and provides an overview of the language. This may be useful for some, but I felt that someone who was new to the language would probably not pick up a book on a more advanced topic such as DirectX. After this, the author spends several chapters discussing antiquated graphics techniques that do not involve DirectX at all. These chapters were the biggest waste of space, in my opinion. I read through them all, thinking that all this information was a prerequisite to DirectX programming, but I was disappointed to learn that this is not the case. The author informs the reader at the end of it all that he is merely presenting a different method to give the reader more options. While I can appreciate the effort to provide multiple solutions to a problem, the book is supposed to be about programming with DirectX. There are a multitude of books out there that will teach you how to use these other graphics techniques, and anyone who was interested in learning these techniques would pick up one of those books.

   That being said, when the author finally does begin discussing DirectX, the material he provides is a solid introduction to using DirectX with Visual Basic. He provides a good overview of how to use all components of DirectX, and the source code that comes with the book provides useful examples of the techniques being demonstrated. There are four complete games that come with the book also, although actually only two of them use DirectX as a base for their graphics. Reading this book will also provide you with a level of familiarity with DirectX that you will be able to use C++ DirectX books and translate the code contained therein to Visual Basic. At the end of this book, you will be in a position to design and program your own simple game using DirectX.

   In short, be aware of what you are getting. If you have little or no experience with Visual Basic and would like to learn game programming using this language, this book is probably worth picking up, although you will probably need to suppliment this information with another source on the Visual Basic language. If you are looking for a comprehensive tutorial on DirectX, I suggest looking elsewhere.




2. This book is in fact a good reference, but I hit snags trying to run the sample code. I have Visual Studio .NET and I love it, and thought that this book would be a good starting point for game programming. And it was until I hit the first program "ChunkyPixels" I put the code into the VB.NET IDE and it would not compile. The examples are all writen in VB 6.0 and has no compatibility with VB.NET. So, in conclusion, if you want a good reference and do not have VB.NET, buy this book, but if you have VB.NET you are, as am I, out of luck
   
   PS IF anyone knows of any websites that would have updated code samples, I would be happy to hear where! :)



3. This book was written about the time VB .Net was coming out and the author even mentions that he considered writing some of the code in .Net. I bought the book, realizing it was dated, thinking that it would be a good learning experience to convert the examples to VB .Net. Of course, it's proving to be very frustrating.
   
   This is a good book and well written and if you are determined to stick with VB6 and want to learn game programming. However, if you're moving on to .Net I would suggest looking for a different title. (If you find a good one let me know.)
   
   I really wish they would publish a new edition with re-written examples. That would be ideal.



4. First of all I'd like to say that this book is really good because it is step by step in its foundation. It explains how to set up the programs it discusses. What I had problems with were that I understood the code from a template kind of perspective but did not understand exactly what each line of code was doing without a substantial background in Visual Basic 6. I jumped right into learning the game aspects instead of building a solid understanding of the concepts of the language of visual basic 6. Even though I was lacking certain pieces of the puzzle Mr. Harbour did a pretty decent job of explaining things even a novice like myself could grasp. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested but get the foundation in Visual Basic 6.0 first. This book is alot better than some of the books I've read before which stick code snippets throughout but have no semblance of order as to where they fit in. This is a must read!!!! It covers all aspects of creating a game and even gives multiplayer capability. All n all I give this a three thumbs up!!!



5. This book, came out when the original xbox came out. So the information and code are a little dated. Personally, I think they need to come out with a visual basic@net version of the book.
   
   However, I am giving this book a 3, because it has some good ideas. You'll get an idea of the things you can do. One thing I especially like is the multiplayer game in the example section.