5 comments about The Red Dragon & The West Wind: The Winning Guide to Official Chinese & American Mah-Jongg.

1. Excellent, thorough explanation of both American and Chinese styles of play by today's top authority. A-plus for content. However, shame on Harper Collins for the cheap ground wood paper. This is a book I'll want to keep for years, but will the pages will be brittle and yellowed when I pull it off the shelf in a couple of years? This excellent book deserves a better, more durable package.



2. Tom Sloper is my inspiration for learning Mahjong. Three retired friends and I attempted to learn the game on our own. Without Tom's online assistance and encouragement, we would have tossed aside a great source of entertainment and mental stimulation. I recommend "The Red Dragon & The West Wind" to anyone with an interest in Mahjong and strongly recommend it to anyone just learning. Tom is able to introduce the game and explain the intricacies of both the American and Chinese Official versions in a manner understandable to both beginners and advanced users. Not yet sold? You'll miss out on Tom's delicious sense of humor. Buy this one!!



3. This book contains good information. It is not an easy read and think it could be hard for someone new to Mah Jongg to follow. I recently read "The Beginners Guide to American Maj Jongg" and found it much easier to follow. The illustrations in the guide were easier to follow and I liked the author's suggestions for review of each chapter with questions and suggested practice much more useful. I would have liked both books to spend a little more time on strategies for winning. I think both books provide essentially the same information on American Maj Jongg, but if I were to just buy one I would buy "The Beginners Guide to American Maj Jongg". You can see my review under the other book, too. To be fair I was not interested in the Chinese version of Maj Jong and did not read that portion of "Red Dragon", which might be a reason someone else would prefer it.



4. I bought this book after purchasing a Mah Jongg set with a very slim rule manual. Mah Jongg is a very complex game, but after thoroughly reading through Tom Sloper's book I feel ready and excited to begin playing. This book is well laid out, with in-depth instructions as well as a section with brief descriptions to be used to quickly look up a rule while playing. It's obvious that he is an expert in Mah Jongg, fortunately for us novices he also possesses the rare talent to be able to break instructions down in a way that a novice can understand and retain.



5. This book is great! Easy to understand, answers lot of question people might have. A great reference book as well.

5 comments about Geek Logik: 50 Foolproof Equations for Everyday Life.

1. Very witty/fun book. Geve this to my husband, who's a senior level statistical analyst, and he took it to work and had a ball with it. The other analysts were asking to borrow it over the weekend.



2. As a high school (and later college) student, I always struggled with the utility of algebra, asking the ages old question, "When am I going to use this stuff in life?" Sundem's _Geek Logik_ finally answers that question with 50 equations that provide a mathematical answer to such burning real-life questions as "Should I get a tatoo?" or "Am I over qualified for my job?" The answers may surprise you. Certainly its not the sort of book one takes too seriously, but the process of crunching through the formulae is both entertaining and (to me) fascinating to see how the equations were put together.



3. The easiest refresher of introductory algebra I've ever seen. No cold-turkey review of numerous rules, this! Geek Logic introduces a mnemonic indicationg the order of arithmatic functions, then the fun begins--readers assign numerical values to formulae and calculate personal answers to hilarious life quandries. It's so entertaining, I forgot I was "studying." I hope the sequel delves into more advanced algebraic functions.



4. Delivery was prompt and arrived in great condition. This is a great gift to share with your science-minded friends. Unfortunately, the novelty wears off rather quickly. And, really, what's the point of the calculator?



5. Finally, a book that helps me use math for the really important stuff in life.
   
   In high school I was told that Tom is riding his bicycle North towards Town A into a Southwesterly wind at 13.7 miles an hour. Bill is driving his mother's 56 Chevy towards Town B at a speed of 78 miles a hour with a tailwind of 3.2 miles an hour. Additional variables include: Tom's bike is a pink girl's bike which means he has to either take back roads or submit himself to cruel adolescent taunting; that Bill stole, or took without permission depending on who tells the story, his mother's car; that the Chevy leaks transmission fluid at a rate of 1 quart per 822 miles; that it is a hot Sunday afternoon when the mean temperature is 98 degrees farenheit and the police are all at the park watching the girls sunbath. I was then taught, or at least they tried to teach me, to take the above information and calculate when Tom will arrive in Town A; When Bill will arrive in Town B; what will happen if Bill stops to pick up a 17 year old female blond hitchhicker wearing a tank top and cut off shorts; the probability that Tom will receive a merciless beating from the members of the football team; if Bill will get arrested for stealing the car; and what color shirts they were wearing.
   
   I purchased Geek Logik: 50 Foolproof Equations for Everyday Life by Garth Sundem for the entertainment value. However, I find that in addition to being a quirky fun read, it is also a valuable reference book. I am finding myself coming up with ways to calculate all the really important stuff.
   
   For instance, if I stop on the way to work for coffee, what is the probability that my boss will be mad at me that I am late and/or appreciative because I got a latte for her?
   
   Or how long can I let my gras grow before my neighbors become irreconcilably hostile, form an angry mob, and attack me as I read in the hammock in the back yard?
   
   Or, how many beers can I have without crossing the line between "life of the party" and "cautionary tale"?
   
   This book gives you the tools to get the really important information that you can actually use in real life that is never covered in any high school math classes. !!

No comments about Wrapped in Crochet: Scarves, Wraps, & Shawls.

5 comments about Second Life: The Official Guide.

1. Book was what it was advertised to be. Full of easy to understand instructions. Excellent buy.



2. Sure, sure, second life - what is that? Well, take it from someone older than 21 by many years, this is the best game around! Thanks to my daughter and son-in-law, I can shop, dance, party, meet new friends, and never leave my home! Check out this great addition to the Second Life Scene.



3. Very good starter book for the absolute newbie. Really helps to get on and start having fun.



4. I face this book (and the many others like it) from a different point of view... if you need a book first to find your way around in SL, you better should not be there at all. Every user with a little but of mind will not need it. On this specific title it also annoyed me to see, that knowing second life, I partially see this as a clique of SL veterans celebrating themself... always the same names.
   Just go there instead. look around, use your eyes and mind. Look at the menues. Save the money for the book amd use it to settle in SL instead...



5. I think this book is great for learning the basics, for understanding how Second Life works, and for gaining a flavour of what awaits you.
   
   But, as is often pointed out, such guides are very quickly out of date. And what it doesn't give you, is a real insight into what really goes on every day in-world.
   
   For this, you need to check out the free guide to Second Life, The AvaStar (www.the-avastar.com). It's an online newspaper covering the news, business, fashion, travel, entertainment and events of the virtual world, and every week publishes a 'Guide to...' feature, focusing on the best places to go in-world.
   
   If you read through the paper once, you'll immediately gain an excellent understanding as to what is going on in the world. (All the back issues are available to download for free at the website).
   
   Good luck and have fun!

5 comments about The Complete Chess Workout: Train your brain with 1200 puzzles! (Everyman Chess).

1. Richard Pallisar has done a good job!! The good points and the book layout have been mentioned by another reviewer. I just want to make a few words that, to master tactics, one has to do them everyday so that those typical motifs are engraved in your memory, but the problem as mentioned in this book's editorial, is that is there enough puzzles for solving for a considerable period of time. I think this book, with Combinative motifs, Sharpen your tactics, Manual of combination 2 and 3, along with 1000 combination gems you should know, would keep you busy at least 2 - 3 years and one tactical vision as well as the rating would improve as well. I strongly recommend this book!!!



2. Yes, there are other books on chess tactics. But I like this one. The problems are not too difficult, and they feel like the sorts of positions that one might not only come across in a game, but ones in which one would actually be looking for the kinds of combinations that work here. I like the fact that the reader is not warned what the theme is of the various combinations.
   
   I recommend this book. Those who want to try other (and somewhat tougher) books as well might want to look at "Test Your Chess IQ" by Livshitz or "Perfect Your Chess" by Volokitin and Grabinsky.



3. A skilled and prolific chess writer, Richard Palliser is also an International Master with numerous tournament successes and in 2006 became the Join British Rapidplay Champion. Clearly, he brings his many years of experience and expertise to bear in writing "The Complete Chess Workout", a comprehensive training manual for chess tactics that will prove invaluable for aspiring chess players from the novice to the expert. Special note should be made that all of the featured 1200 chess puzzles designed to built chess playing skills have been checked by computer engines. Thoroughly 'player friendly', "The Complete Chess Workout is nicely organized into eight distinct chapters: Warming Up!; Attack!; Opening Tricks and Traps; Skill in the Endgame; Loose Pieces and Overloading; Fiendish Calculation; Test Yourself; and Solutions. A comprehensive course of chess instruction under one cover, "The Complete Chess Workout" truly lives up to its title and will prove to be a welcome addition to personal, academic, and community library chess instruction reference collections.



4. Two things make this book a bit unusual among books of this sort. 1) Most of the positions are from very recent tournaments and 2) Most of the players are not household names. Both of these features make it harder for me to just remember the games.
   I don't think there's anything more instructive or entertaining in chess than working through books like this one.



5. As the other reviewers have noted this is a huge collection of tactical chess problems designed to help you strengthen your chess muscles. But just like joining a "24 Hour Fitness" center, that's just the BEGINNING! You have to use the book, work the problems, understand the ones you didn't get, go back and try them again, and then when you've done all that: DO IT SOME MORE! Find more tactical situations, analyze your games, your friend's games, get more books, buy a tactics disc and so on. Chess Fitness is just like physical fitness: It's not a mountain to scale and then you're done, it's a "health habit" you build into your life-style. The pay off comes when you play a game of chess you can be proud of. THAT is what all your hard work was aiming at. And this book is the ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER of tactical problem collections.

5 comments about Play Your Best Pool.

1. I have read eight books on pool. This is by far the best of the eight. The book is cramed with pool information. A no nonsense approach to playing the game. If you want to learn more about playing pool, this is the read.



2. I got this book when i first became serious about playing pool, while reading it my game just kept going up and up and up, now i break and run several times a night. before it would be make a ball or 2 and that was it for my runs. it is a great book.



3. Phil Chapelle's book "Play Your Best Pool" is a wealth of resources. It is quite thorough and would be good for someone seriously interested in pool. It's got a 60+ page section on 8-ball, an equally thorough section on 9 ball, and more on the fundamentals, shotmaking, position play,how to improve, practice techniques, and equipment. My games have significantly improved by reading and using Chapelle's book. Highly recommended. So much information that a novice might be overwhelmed, and it might not be so useful if you don't have a home table to go through it all (I wish I did)...but still, an indispensable book.



4. I've read a number of books on the game of pool. I was very impressed with the authors grasp of the game as well as his very apparent love of the game. He has obviously studied the art form intensely for many years. I felt that his realistic, open minded approach and access to many of the current greats of the game make his advice quite invaluable to the commited student of the game. Buy this book if you're serious about improving.



5. A very good book. Very comprehensive. Explanations, drawings are perfect. Perfect for training at home

5 comments about Scrapbooking for Dummies.

1. I'm not new to scrapbooking, but I like this book. It's very clear and simple to follow, and the advice it gives on materials is great. This is a wonderful reference to own whether you're trying scrapbooking for the first time or you've been scrapping for years.



2. I am still reading Scrapbooking for Dummies. It is a wonderful book for beginning to scrapbook. There are so many references to where you can purchase items needed to complete your pages. The language is clear and the illustrations are easy to understand. I like the book and am so happy too have the book for future reference.
   Bentley



3. This book is slightly outdated, which is the only complaint I have. All of the "Dummy series" are written by experts in their field and the format of the book is just excellent. A must for someone interested in starting to scrapbook.



4. This book was in great condition when I received it. It is a great book.



5. There is alot of good information in this book. I had been scrapbooking before I bought the book, and was really upset that I had been doing some things the hard way. Awesome book!

5 comments about 5087 Trivia Questions & Answers.

1. while a lot of the info in this book useless info it is still a fun read.I got a long time ago and i still read it from time to time. i do not know if they still sale it, but i would say it is a good buy.



2. The way this book is formatted, it overcomes some problems that many other trivia books share. For starters it is neatly categorized so that the reader can easily access trivia related to a particular (broad) category, instead of everything being scrambled together as is often the case.
   
   secondly, it is in a question and answer format with questions on one side of a page and their answers on the reverse side. Frequently, I have found myself bouncing back and forth from the front section of a book where the questions are found to the back section for their answers. Just turning the page for the answer is really helpful.
   
   Some of the answers do amaze you, while others make you laugh, or add to your store of useful knowledge.
   
   Some examples:
   
   Q. "What is unusual about Mona Lisa's eyebrows in ...Davinci's Painting?
   A. "She has none."
   
   Q. "What was the hometown of Sgt. Snorkel in Beetle Bailey?" A. "Pork Corners, Kansas"
   
   Here's a great one:
   
   Q. "On what vegetable did an ancient Egyptian place his right hand when taking an oath?"
   A. "The onion, its round shape symbolized eternity."
   
   I could go on and on, but let me end with just one more.
   
   Q. "Where did the British regae band UB40 get its name?"
   A. "From the code number on the British unemployment benefit card."
   
   There are 5 thousand plus entries in every category from "A" (Arts and Literature) to 2 entries under "W" (War and the Military and The World).
   
   You can have a lot of fun with this book, I know that I do.



3. Although I found this quiz book very tough going at first, once I found the answers in the back of the book I found myself getting the questions right about ninety per cent of the time! Come on give us a challenge!



4. This is an excellent resource for the weekly trivia game where I live, an assisted living residence for people over age 60. All adult age groups - really, adolescents too - will enjoy this collection of Q's and A's.The questions cover a wide variety of subjects, and they are arranged logically and systematically. It's helpful that the answers are with the questions (on the back of the page), so you don't have to fumble around at the back of the book, trying to find the right set of answers, as you have to with so many trivia and quiz books. This nice, fat book is going to keep our weekly game well supplied with trivia questions for months to come!



5. The book is attractive and organized nicely. I planned to use it as a source for trivia games. I thought it would work well because of the Q and A format. However, many questions do not have simple one word answers and most are very specific. Even an expert would not know most of these answers. If you are looking to simply read interesting trivia, then it would be good. But, if you are looking for a source for games, do not buy it.

3 comments about Masters Kakuro: 172 Challenging Puzzles (Kakuro).

1. This book has puzzles difficult enough to be challenging without having to resort to looking up the answers. BUT! The numbers are small, skinny, and white, on a medium gray background and very hard to read. As with most kakuro books, the puzzles are way too small. Enlarge 40% and darken the background, and you're set to go. To me, it has been worth it due to the quality of the puzzles.



2. I had little difficulty reading the puzzles (per the previous reviewer), and found the puzzles themselves large enough to easily work with (compared to many others). They range from difficult to nearly impossible, but somehow I managed to make my way through the entire collection. Overall, I found the puzzles fully enjoyable; this was a collection I always enjoyed pulling out for some mental gymnastics. I wish Bumgardner would come out with a Volume II, as he has a good sense of Kakuro style--puzzles that make you think, but not necessarily (compared with, say, the Dell collections) make you have to work more than think.



3. Not a bad collection of puzzles, but as a previous reviewer said, the puzzles are very difficult to read. Mensa Kakuro is much better if you're looking for tough puzzles - better puzzles and easier to read. The Everything Kakuro Challenge Book by Timmerman is the best collection, the best puzzles I've ever done. All of them are on par with the best Dell Cross Sums, which I've been doing for over 25 years,

2 comments about Mental Floss: What's the Difference? (Mental Floss).

1. The editors of Mental Floss Magazine have put together the type of quick-read book I thoroughly enjoy since it boosts your knowledge quotient with a minimum of effort. Launched in 2001, the bimonthly magazine has been targeting renaissance trivialists who look for the connections among seemingly different elements in the world to make sense of their existence. "What's the Difference?" focuses on the common dilemma of clarifying distinctions among a familiar series of seemingly similar word pairs. It will help you avoid the glazed look you may have emitted during your last high-faluting conversation.
   
   This slim volume organizes its subject matter by common school subject - English, Home Ec, Social Studies, Science and the miscellaneous category of Band, Art & P.E. Under English, for example, you will have an opportunity to understand the nuances among geeks, nerds and dorks, as well as the true demarcation line between idiots and morons (hint: imbeciles lie between the two factions). Forehead-slappers will be relieved to see that a definitive explanation of em-dashes and en-dashes is provided here. There are even higher intellectual pursuits included such as the difference between polytheism and pantheism.
   
   Even current events are covered, such as the distinction between Shias and Sunnis. Some of the couplets strike me as a bit more forced than others and consequently excisable, e.g., African versus Asian elephants or Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. But there are still gems among them like Monet versus Manet. It all appropriately ends with a more intentionally humorous chapter on terms and people you may suspect are different but are indeed alike, such as bipolar disorder and manic depression, or Chevy Chase and Helen Hunt (!) A fun read for the geeks among us...or did I mean nerds? Hmmm...



2. If you are a fan of Mental Floss (trivia with a sense of humor) you will love this book.