5 comments about Will Shortz's Favorite Crossword Puzzles from the Pages of The New York Times.

1. These puzzles are lots of fun, but they aren't especially challenging. However, that's not to discourage anyone from buying the book. I loved doing it, and I came back to buy a copy for someone else. But, if you're really hard-core--Saturday's puzzle in ink, that sort of thing--you might want to look elsewhere.



2. From easy to hard, these puzzles should keep you entertained. Some are funny, all are clever. Will Shortz's comments provide a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the world of puzzle making.



3. I don't know if Will Shortz has released a more recent collection of his favorites, and if he hasn't he should! Here is an amazing collection of some of the best wordplay Shortz and his constructors had to offer in the '90's. All levels of difficulty are here, from Moday through Saturday. No Sunday editions, and I have to assume there is a book devoted to Sunday's puzzles. In my opinions, Shortz should do an annual editions featuring his favorites from the past year. And if he reads this, I hope he gives me some credit for the idea :)



4. Many (most) of the puzzles are Thursday/Friday puzzles, with only a few Mon/Tues, which can be a little difficult for some solvers who haven't mastered the late week puzzles yet! But still fun, and clever :)



5. If you prefer cleverness and novelty in your crossword puzzles, this is the perfect book. The puzzles are of varying difficulties (Monday through Saturday), but the dates and days of the week are given for each puzzle, so you know roughly how much of a challenge you're in for with each puzzle (watch out for the sneaky April 1st crosswords). Will Shortz's brief non-spoiler commentary before each puzzle is interesting, but I wish there was follow-up commentary after each puzzle, going into just a little more depth.
   
   The only serious downside to the book is the fact that it is not spiral bound. But the puzzles inside are just way too good for that to make much of a difference.

5 comments about Organizing Your Craft Space.

1. Excellent in case you don't know how to organize in a small space. I already had the same ideas as in the book but found a few more to make my craft room cleaner and not so messy.



2. This is a good book for organizing several different types of crafts. It includes Scrapbooking, Quilting, Beading and other crafts. The book helps you recognize alternative sources for organizing besides the organizing products on the market.



3. I was terribly disappointed with a book with such a beautiful cover, but the pretty pictures continued inside with no real organizing information.



4. Many people think that you don't need to be organized to create art. For these people, art happens naturally by grabbing canvas and paint and "doing it". However, if you ask any artist, you'll find out that this isn't always the case. I know for a fact that if my studio isn't clean and tidy, all my tools and materials organized and out where I can reach them when I need them, I cannot work on any project. A disorganized workspace tends to stifle my creativity and leaves me feeling like I cannot do anything.
   
   What prompted me to purchase this book was the idea that it focused solely on how artists, from scrapbookers to quilters, can organize their space to maximize their time spent on creating their art. I also liked how it went into a multitude of art styles, rather than focusing on just one art. If you've always wanted to organize your art space or create a perfect place for starting a new craft, then this book is for you. Like most craft-related books on the market, Packham writes for art women but don't let this fool you. There's a lot of information that can be used for artists of all ages, men and women alike.
   
   Organizing Your Craft Space begins by assessing your art space needs. Packham includes many lists and questions that cover your available space, what tools and things you use to make your crafty items, your color preferences and objects that might help store your items as well as look pleasing in your space. She explains that these questions are central to uncovering what is the best fit for your artistic needs. She even recommends that you keep a space journal and fill it with diagrams of your room, all the items you use in your art and any things you need to purchase for your room (like plastic containers, furniture or tools). Keeping a journal of this sort gives you a written record of what gives you the freedom to create and what sorts of things and colors you want to fill your creative space. She also defines the different types of storage styles and suggests many helpful tips and tricks for keeping your space free of clutter and trash. For artists whose craft space aslo doubles as a guest room, Packham gives advice on how you can accomidate both in the same space with minimal effort.
   
   The rest of the book details storage and organization by art type. These chapters include stained glass and mosaics, rubber stamping, scrapbooking and other paper arts, beading, yarn crafting and quilting. Packham discusses various needs and organizational styles that can be used to suit each craft-form. She starts out by listing a few short questions about the art and materials you use and then goes into explaining how these items can be stored or contained to maximize your time spent creating art. Each chapter includes an over abundance of pictures that show different ways to contain and organize your craft space. At the end of a section, Packham showcases one or more guest artists and their real-life working spaces. She tells us about their space, challenges and solutions, as well as showing us what these artists use to contain their tools and the methods they use to keep them focused on making art.



5. I really like this book. It has wonderful photos of the best craft rooms in existence. Great little quizzes to determine your decorating/organizing styles. Nice tips sprinkled throughout to help you plan your own. But the parts of the featured craft rooms that I would like to duplicate - I will have to do a few hours of research for a purchasing source. A "Where to Buy" section would make this book a 5 star! Or at a minimum, brand names of the items used in some of the rooms that were clearly not furnished through garage sales (so that I could just google them!). As it is, it is just a coffee table book since there isn't much more than nice photos in my opinion.

4 comments about More O'Ekaki: Paint by Numbers From Its Inventor.

1. Although this book has a few puzzles which are more difficult than the first one, it is still way too easy for anyone who has had any experience. Only for beginner-to-medium type solvers.



2. I really liked this O'Ekaki. There were more puzzles than I would have liked that you had to make guesses, so that was a problem. But the completed puzzles are mostly really pretty, and so it was worth the effort of getting through those puzzles that weren't so well-constructed.



3. I didn't like this version at all except for the 'Four-Fifths O'Ekaki' which there were only four.
   
   The squares are too large and you can go through a whole pencil in just a few puzzles. The pictures weren't very good either. If you hold it at arms length you might, with the title, be able to figure out what it is.



4. I love, love, love these kinds of picture puzzles. I have been doing them for a long time. I do not share reviews that these puzzles are too easy. Just right for me, because I do not have the patience to spend hours on one puzzle and I don't like all the counting of tiny squares. I liked the puzzle caption the author gave to each picture, which added another puzzle element. Most of the pictures were quite clever and you could tell what they were. For the most part, the puzzle solving was well designed; such as you get stuck and figure out just one clue, which triggers a bunch more moves.

5 comments about The RenderMan Shading Language Guide.

1. I'm quite pleased with the depth of this book. So many of the CGI titles I've bought that claim to be intermediate or advanced aren't. While the RenderMan Shading Language Guide assumes that you have no starting knowledge of RSL, it immediately dives into technical details without overwhelming the novice. For someone wishing to learn RSL (or even just shader theory), this book is wonderfully paced, containing a great depth of information, very well explained.
   
   At the same time, this isn't a book for dabblers. To get much out of the RenderMan Shading Language Guide, you need to be willing to put some effort and practice into it. This is a textbook and needs to be treated as a subject of study, rather than a casual enhancement for playing with CGI. If RenderMan intrigues you, but you don't want to get too deep into the technical (and programing/scripting) aspects, you'd be better off getting Pixar's RenderMan for Maya and a Digital Tutors or similar training DVD. You'll learn more of the simple, day-to-day things and get started making renderings faster.
   
   As another poster mentioned, the text mentions an included disk which isn't. The website doesn't have downloads either. That omission would knock the book down to 4.5 stars, but since I can't rate with half-stars, 5 stars more accurately reflects the value of the book than 4.



2. I have read many technical manuals relating to the 3D Animation and Visual Effects industries, and I can honestly say that this is easily one of the best available.
   
   Given the limited library of Renderman books, I'd call this an absolute must have for any Lighting/Rendering/Shader TD, or any artist or technical director involved in the look development and shot finaling pipelines.
   
   Even if you haven't yet worked within a Renderman pipeline, this is the perfect publication to introduce you to, and bring you up to speed in, the Renderman Shading Language (RSL).
   
   I've found that the majority of technical manuals suffer from a number of common flaws:
   
   1. The information is presented chaotically, and with minimal use of examples or descriptions, resulting in a publication that would readable only by those that already know everything it has to teach.
   
   2. The information is presented so laboriously that what should take a paragraph instead takes up three chapters.
   
   The Renderman Shading Language Guide is perfectly paced for beginners and intermediate users alike, and indeed when I showed the book to a couple of highly experienced Renderman TDs, they were surprised by the sheer volume of information and ordered copies for themselves.
   
   Everything is presented in short blocks with an easily readable description, examples, shortcuts and conclusions. There is no unecessarily complicated geek speek, and neither is the reader treated like a 4 year old.
   
   Even though I barely remember my high school math, and in the most flattering estimation I'd be considered a competent beginner when it comes to the math involved in RSL, I found the examples relatively easy to follow for the most part. And in those parts where the math went well over my head, I found the simple descriptions and concise, well explained instructions to be all I needed to quickly understand the topic.
   
   From cover to cover this book is crammed full of useful information. There is no wastage of space in these pages. It seems that every conceivable question is answered - every possible topic covered from introduction to an advanced level of understanding and a practical and immmediately useful conclusion.
   
   And at the price? This book is a steal.
   
   One very minor complaint I would make is in regards to the occasional typographical error. An equation or two is printed with "?" in place of "*" or another symbol, and there are a few spelling and grammatical errors. But as I said, it is a minor complaint.
   
   Also, I would have liked to have seen more complete shader examples demonstrated in a step-by-step process, as while this book is overflowing with informative mini-tutorials, it all seems a little incongruous. It would have been good to see a few more examples where the information was brought together in real-world ways to create some amazing completed shaders. Perhaps in a sequel? ;)
   
   All in all, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, from an industry Lead Lighting TD.
   
   9.5/10



3. I caught wind that this book was coming out well before it actually came out and could hardly contain my excitement. I had it ordered before it was even off the press.
   
   Let's face it, trying to learn Renderman online is like trying to ride a bike with a flat tire. You can go, but not very fast or very far. I own several other renderman books but found them to be a bit out of date and lacking in areas. Since leaving school and entering into the industry I had actually been considering writing a Renderman book myself. I am glad to say that now I don't have to!
   
   I have been enjoying my copy of the book since december of last year. I admit that I was thrown off by all the refrences to the accompanying cd, as well as a few typos throughout. I was overjoyed however to find the website today! This is the book that I have needed for a long time. It is well worth what you pay for it.



4. The RenderMan Shading Language Guide is an excellent resource. It contains numerous examples of shader code, to help get you started with writing your own shaders. I was happy to see the robust section on illumination models, with some sl code provided for most of them. I found the section that had common functions (like gamma() and remap()) very helpful, and appreciated the disscussion on more sophisticated components of the shading language (like subsurface scattering and global illumination). In addition, for the user who is new to the process of writing and compiling shaders, a number of pages are devoted to explaining how to achieve these goals. All in all, I would highly recommend this book to any user who wants to learn how to write his/her own RenderMan shaders.



5. I have all RenderMan books on the market.
   This one is impressed me!
   The authors explain step by step and that make readers understand RenderMan more.
   
   Same as other reviews, lacking of CD is the shame.
   However, overall still be very good to me.
   And if you consider the price is very worth for money.
   That's why I think this book should be given 5 stars.
   Hopefully, There will be more good RenderMan books available soon.
   
   Tee

5 comments about Unearthed Arcana (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying).

1. Ok, its time to start a new campaign and I've played everything there is to play (aside from the myriad of prestige classes that don't interest me). What am I going to play you ask yourself for hours. If you have ever had this problem, like me, probably because you've been playing D&D for far too long, this book is your savior, plain and simple.
   
   Back in second edition there was a game called Player's Option, if you recall, and it gave you a good deal of freedom to customize your character. This book goes well beyond that. Its actually quite interesting. There are little tweaks for all sorts of races due to climate or elementally based races. Follow this up with a lot of variants for classes which are basically swapping a few things in and out in most cases, sometimes losing a trait from one class and gaining another, while some are new. In my opinion, this adds a lot more depth to the game because if you do want to play one of the 10,000 prestige classes, it gives you more than one avenue to get to them. If you do not like prestige classes, then this gives you more options than the dozen or so base classes that currently exist. I would particularly recommend this if you're fond of playing Specialist Wizards (in which case this is a MUST), Barbarians, Monks, or have ever wanted to see a quality representation of an "Anti-paladin." This may be the section of the book you most commonly use, and that would be mostly at character creation.
   
   There are some feats, which are so-so on the usefulness scale but are just so very interesting and characterful. Then, traits to make your character more attuned to how you envision his personality, and flaws to give him special vulnerabilities (and of course there is a benefit to them as well). Its an interesting section to say the least but after that you get into some very wild and, indeed, very fun options, including a variant on weapon proficiency based on weapon groups, variants on armor systems, D&D without levels, and even D&D without hit-points. All I can say is, despite how crazy that sounds, someone obviously put a good deal of thought into it since it is at least mostly viable.
   
   Basically, if you're bored with D&D sometimes, this book is curry powder. It would DEFINITELY spice things up again.



2. I admit it. When it comes to Dungeons and Dragons I could never leave well enough alone. Aparently neither could the compilers of this cornocopia-like compendium of house rules and alternate systems for everyone's favorite RPG. For all those out there looking to spice up or revitalize your Dungeons and Dragons experience, this is your resource. Reading trough, one wonders if it is humanly possible to find time to use and apreciate all the options found within. Perhaps that is the true beauty of the thing: that the options persist in being inexahustable. With such a resource one never needs fear falling into any kind of hack-and-slash RPG rut. Game getting trite? Mix in healthy dose of Unearthed Arcana and Hey-Presto! You've got an entirely new game going! I recomend this supplement for all Dungeons and Dragons RPGers who belive that the game could be so much more.



3. It is a very good book, which can give to a GM the versatility of new rules.



4. Unearthed Arcana opens with these words and no phrase has ever been more appropriate. This is not a standard core rule book, where the DM can just say yay or nay on whether or not they're using the material. Unearthed Arcana is not even trying to be that kind of book. Unearthed Arcana is a collection of dozens (hundreds, if you count like a marketer) optional rules, many of which conflict with one another. This book has something for everybody and everything for nobody.
   
   If you buy this book thinking your getting another normal core rule book, you're probably not going to like it. If you buy this book hoping to find individual rules to liven your campaign, you'll probably like it very much.
   
   Chapter 1 contains racial rules. These rules are the most niche oriented of the book. For instance, the first section involves environmental racial variants (like desert elves). Honestly, I don't think I'll ever use these unless I do an extremely theme oriented campaign (like a home grown Dark Sun). This is followed by elemental variants, which are even more niche-like (air elves). Then come bloodlines, which are fairly interesting, if you allow this sort of thing. Bloodlines allow you to introduce racial traits without saying a character is half something. If great great grandmama had strange thing for minotaurs or demons, these rules can help your character reflect that (and give the family something not to talk about). Finally, this chapter finishes with what most will think is its most useful section, the racial paragons. These are three-level prestige classes which grant bonuses that emulate the most stereotypical traits of a race (Stonecutting and constitution for dwarves, for example).
   
   Chapter 2 is all about the classes. This starts with variant classes, which are your base classes, tweaked somewhat. For instance, the cloistered cleric is a variant class that drops some of the cleric abilities (it lowers the hit die, for instance) to grant such abilities as Lore and the Knowledge domain. These are actually quite interesting. This is followed by an extensive section on variant specialist wizards and then rules for spontaneous divine casters then variant rules for various class abilities, such as turning undead and the barbarian's rage. Next is the prestige class section, but in this section, they take three base classes (Bard, Paladin and Ranger) and they present them as prestige classes. This will be particularly handy for games where, for instance, a person must petition to a holy order to become a paladin. Next come Gestalt characters, which are essentially characters that have two classes at once (as opposed to multi-classing) for games where there aren't enough players to cover all the class bases (are you starting to see why no one can use all these rules at once?). Finally come the generic classes, which are a way to step away from all the class complexity and get down to four very basic choices.
   
   Wow. Seems like a lot doesn't it. We just finished page 78.
   
   Chapter 3 is building characters, and no, this doesn't have the old Unearthed Arcana's stat rolling system. It starts with alterative skill systems and rules for complex skill checks. Then it moves onto character traits (which are like advantages in other games). Next comes . . . you guessed it . . . character flaws. Next come spelltouched feats for those characters that have had a lot of exposure to certain spells. This is followed by rules for grouping weapons by type for the sake of weapon group proficiencies. Next comes a set of alternate rules for crafting items (magical or otherwise) during campaign down time. Finally comes background rules, for representing skills a character had before becoming an adventurer.
   
   Is your head spinning yet? Mine is.
   
   Next comes Chapter 4: Adventuring. This is where things really start contradicting themselves. It starts with class defense bonuses, like in Star Wars, and moves into armor Damage Reduction. Then it moves into rules for having armor convert damage instead of stopping it outright. Then it moves into an injury system that negates the use of hit points completely. But wait. Then it bring hit points back in the form of vitality and wound damage (like in Star Wars again). Next it goes back to the original hit point system, but allows for a character to have "reserve points" which essentially allow them to heal very quickly. Then it moves on to alternate rules for massive damage while throwing out a rule for dodging when it isn't your turn (a page layout nonsequitur). Next come new death or dying rules (which look a lot like the rules for dying in the vitality points section, but we're back to hit points, now, remember?) Then we move on to action points, which characters can spend during a game to help save their proverbial bacon. Next comes combat facing rules (which I've been waiting for forever) with some extremely ineffective luck rules thrown in a sidebar. But wait! Maybe you're an old GURPS player. We better throw in hex rules as well. Speaking of GURPS, who cares if this is D20. Let's take out the d20 from the game and have the player's roll 3d6s instead. Speaking of that, lets have the players roll all the dice, taking the load off the DM. And, and, and . . .
   
   Oh. I guess that chapter ends there.
   
   On to Chapter 5, because we've barely even touched . . . Magic. Lets start with rules that give a character a magic ratting, based on all their multiclassing, instead of a straight spellcaster level. Hey, rogues pick up stuff about magic too. Then lets introduce the concept of themed summoning lists, because it's always embarrassing the summon an amphibian on the lip of an active volcano. While we're at it, let's let characters throw money at the problem of metamagicked spells instead of increasing the spell slots (and drop in a rule about metamagic and sorcerers while we're at it). Wait! That reminds us. We have all these new possible spontaneous casters now. Lets put in metamagic rules for them and a second optional rules for sorcerers, to boot. Speaking of spontaneous casting. How about spell points? A lot of people play Rolemaster, don't they? Speaking of that, lets have characters recharge between spells, eliminating the hard cap on spells per day entirely. You know, I've stopped mentioning the side bars completely now. Still, I have momentum, so lets move on to legendary weapons, which increase in power with the character (new prestige classes in here). You know, that sounds kinda like a familiar, so lets throw in familiars that are items. Now let's shift gears and throw in rules for ritual magic (we'll call them incantations). Since we've now brought magic into the hands of even nonspellcasters, lets finish up with . . .
   
   . . . .Chapter 6: Campaigns.
   In case we hadn't, you know, done enough to shake up your game.
   Let's start with new rules for contacts, but contacts need to have opinions of the characters, so we'll move onto reputation rules. Hey, didn't reputation first come from Oriental Adventures? Yeah, let's throw in honor too. You know with honor comes the opposite, so we should have taint rules as well and if we're going to have tainted characters we'll need, you guessed it, tainted prestige classes. Wow. I'm starting to lose it here. I think we need rules for sanity! That was a little much, so we'll change tracks again, this time attacking the concept of prerequisites. How do you know if a character has the toughness feat? Let's base prerequisites on tests instead. While we're breaking free of molds, how about XP awards that aren't based on level? That sounds good so lets turn the page to . . .
   
   . . . the afterword? Are we done already? I'm barely even started.
   I don't know if you became as exhausted reading this as I did writing it, but now you should have some idea what's in store in Unearthed Arcana. Some of these rules are very good. Some of them are stupid. I doubt anyone will completely agree on which are which, and I think that was their attention. The biggest thing to keep in mind is to watch how these rules interact. For instance, if you use vitality points or the death and dying rules, character death is based on fortitude saves, so you best make sure your rules keep those from getting out of control. If you have one gestalt character you better have everyone play gestalt characters. Also, don't try to integrate rules which oppose one another too greatly, like the injury rules and vitality points, unless you want to play with real world insanity as well.
   
   The biggest drawback of this book is you're going to waste money. No one can use more than half of these rules at a time without verging on the ridiculous, so unless you have an extremely high turnover on campaigns, it will take years to use the whole book. Meanwhile, you're paying for development, paper and color ink that you're not using. But If that doesn't bother you, this is the book for you.



5. Honestly, when it comes down to it, every single RPG book is a book of houserules. This book lacks a coherent theme, but instead just presents you with a ton of different systems that you can add to your game a la carte. Many of them are very good ideas.
   
   You aren't going to use them all. That's not the point. But you are going to like some, hate others and be inspired by a few more. This is a great book for getting ideas or trying things differently.

5 comments about Dungeon Master's Guide II (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying Supplement).

1. Overall this book contains about 50 pages of useful materials. The rest is really just fluff and made for a beggining gamer/DM who needs ideas for their campaigns.
   
   I would recomend just buying a low level adventure if your starting out as a DM, and save your money on this book as its quite expensive for what you get.
   
   For those who are familiar with the game, there is usefull material in the book on items, treasure charts, etc. Its just a smaller portion of the book.
   
   If you have an extra $35 dollars go for it, it not don't worry your not missing much.



2. While this book is not nearly the resource that many of the more staple books are, like the Epic Handbook and PHB2, it is still extremely useful to add more flavor to the campaign. It gives some very good tips to create details and subtlties that make the campaign much more real without seeming narrated to the players. Anyone creating a new campaign could benefit with some of the examples in the Saltmarsh city, novice and veteran players alike.
   
   There are also new and interesting traps, items, and rules that make this book very useful. I havn't read anyone talking about the Teamwork benefits, which are very interesting to me. I intend to implement them into my next campaign, assuming the players want to use any of them. The basic idea is that the group has worked and trained together, so they have studied each other to an extent that you gain special abilities and even feats when certain conditions are met. For example, a character with high Spellcraft and the Evasion ability can teach the rest of your party when to dodge a spell cast by a teammate. This means that the mage can cast fireball right on the fighter wading into melee and he gets to avoid the damage on a reflex save.
   
   The new items, magic locations, and traps have some good ideas behind them, but nothing that a clever DM can't come up with on their own. I'm not saying they are useless, but many are hard to place into a campaign. The magic locations grant the owner specific powers and abilities, but in order for the players to get the location, it almost has to be the entire focus of the campaign. Very few are "side-quest" material, and the majority can take several sessions to get to, capture, find reagents to use them, and defend in order to reap the marginally useful benefits.
   
   Most of the rest of the book is given over to npcs. There is a very large section of sample npcs to use for a fight. Unfortunetly, many aren't optimized, but that doesn't prevent them from being used by a lazy DM that doesn't feel like leveling up every single important npc in case the players fight him. There is also a section on making npcs more distinctive. This can easily be skipped over since DMG1 has a very similar section.
   
   Overall, I have to say there is some interesting material and ideas to make a campaign world more interesting and unique. On the other hand, nothing in this book is game-changing. Useful? yes. Needed in any way? no



3. All right. Let's begin with a discussion of irony. Not irony as in the Alanis Morissette song (the greatest irony of which almost none of the things she calls ironic actually are). Instead we will talk about true irony.
   
   Those of you who have read my previous reviews may have noticed a certain resistance to a phenomena I call "prestige class bloat." DMG II arrived at my door a bit late for a review copy, and I had some time to think about how I would view the prestige classes in this book. Every other book has drawn my anger, my disdain, sometimes even my pity for their prestige classes. But this book, I thought, "You know . . . I'm gonna give them a pass on this book. They might put the contents into the SRD at some point (it's possible). I'll let this one go."
   
   And there are no prestige classes in this book.
   
   I might weep. I might actually weep.
   
   Anyway. We won't hold that against them. We won't. My review will be objective. Honest.
   
   Actually, that won't be very hard. There's a lot to like in this book. Almost everything is useful. Some of it is downright insightful. When I reviewed the first DMG all those year's ago (all right, the first 3.x DMG . . . I'm not that old, people) I was amazed at how good the advice was. This wasn't just a set of DM specific rules, it really was a guide to being a good DM.
   
   So here we are, years later, holding DMG II.
   
   Chapter 1 deals with the actual running of a game. Now, in many ways this chapter resembles the Gamemaster's Law product from ICE. For years I've said that was the best book on GMing ever written. I'm friends with one of the authors. I'm crushed to say this, but, I like this one better. The bits on how to actually run are pretty blaise, although if your DM routinely shows up surly, sleepy and unwashed you might make him read this book. No, the true genius is the treatment of the different play styles. There was a lot of insight here I've missed over the years. In this section they talk about the different type of players and how to tailor a game for them . . . most importantly, they talk about how to avoid the pitfalls caused by these players. For instance, I've had problems with "Outliers" over the years. These are the players that choose strange class/race combinations, bizarre backgrounds, and seem to set themselves up to fail. An outlier can cause a great deal of trouble in a game if they go out of control at a bad moment. This book gave the simplest advice, to give the outlier the opportunity, a specific set up, to allow him to fail spectacularly early in the session, when it won't hurt anything. By doing this you'll avoid the problem of the character imploding later and taking your plot line with him. It's the simplest advice, but I've missed it for years, and now I know. I'm anxious to put it into use.
   
   Chapter 2 deals with adventures. Now, this was sort of a ho hum chapter for me. When it's useful, I expect it to be very useful, but otherwise I doubt I'll ever look at it. It gives a section on using published adventures that I hope no one needs to read (but if you do, study it. I'm going into business as an e-publisher). It follows this up with some new traps, which are probably the most consistently useful thing in the chapter. Then it moves on to strange locations, such as the tree top city and all the rules necessary for play there. Then it moves onto special encounter rules, such as how to deal with mobs, which again, could be useful. Finally it wraps up with miniature and encounter advice, which was fine.
   
   Chapter 3 deals with building a campaign. Most of the advice is pretty good, but the detailed examples of some medieval environments was truly spot on. I've studied a lot about medieval culture (I'm no expert, but above the gamer layman) and I thought they did a fine job here, especially in examining the fine line between realism and the style of play that is conducive to a good game. You absolutely need to compromise to find the perfect ground between the two, and I loved this book for even trying it. The rest of the chapter treats with general subjects like building a city or magical events and I looked upon it and I called it good.
   
   Chapter 4 outlined the city of Saltmarsh. You know, I could have done without this chapter. I mean it was fine and all, but I thought the locale was a little too evocative of specific images to be as universal as a city in a book like this needed to be. We needed a Homlet, or better yet, a location that doesn't carry the baggage of roleplaying history with it (either good or bad). This chapter just didn't work for me as is. No offence to the writer. I believe this one went astray at conception (and as a game designer, I know the feeling. I've taken the fall for decisions that weren't mine in at least one book.)
   
   Chapter 5 deals with NPCs. Its starts with a treatment of contacts and hirelings, plus a section on unique abilities. Then it hops into my favorite part, the complex NPCs. Lets face it, when you suddenly need a Blackgaurd, you need it now and it's not something you can wing and do it justice. This section gives a nice sampling of these types of difficult-to-improvise characters.
   
   Chapter 6 is the character chapter, it starts with apprentices and mentors and moves on to running a business. Then it hits on teamwork benefits, like those given by special training in Heroes of Battle. I'm still glad these were added into the D&D system and I'm anxious to see more. Then it moves onto prestige classes. Sigh. Now, I was willing to see a few prestige classes in this book, hoping they'd make it into the SRD. Let's face it, only so many people can create versions of the Knight before you're accidently stepping on a half-dozen copyrights. I doubt anyone would sue you over retreading the same ground as everyone else, but we need to stop beating this poor horse. Still, they went a different way. This section is on how to build even more prestige classes. When I read the words, "Why make your own prestige class?" I wanted to find a set of precision needles and stick the one after another into my eyes. Flash forward ten years. "Why did he kill so many people, officer?" "Well, prestige class bloat was bad enough, but then they came out with DMG II. It was the beginning of the end." The chapter wraps up with some stuff on PC organizations.
   
   Finally, the finishes with expanded magic item rules. The book needed this section, and I was happy with it. Of particular note is the section on magical locations which are essentially giant, immobile magic items. These types of locations have worked their way into my campaigns several times over the years. I was happy to see them here.
   
   Overall, I enjoyed this book. I would recommend that everyone who intends to run a game read at least the first chapter. I thought it alone was worth the cover price, and so if you can find a good use for the other material in the book, so much the better. Now I'm going to take a nap an imagine a world where prestige classes are few, balanced, and in some way prestigious.



4. This book has several good points. It has some new material and a few new things for players and GM's alike. It's one irritating thing is the number of "after you buy the canned game book spend 4 hours reviewing it". It could have had a lot more things to help those of us with a creative mind that like to generate our own worlds. It is, overall, worth the money.



5. I'm not going to go into this review too much; understand that my depth of dungeon mastering goes above and beyond the norm and I can get very wordy with my critiques. The DMG 2 (Dungeon Masters Guide 2) is AMAZING and should've been the first installment instead of the second. Know this. Wizards of the Coast were under pressure to produce the 3.5 system and needed to get a guide on the shelf that cohesively conveyed game rules and mechanics. Of course there were sections to help a DM create a game world; however nothing that compares with the DMG2. As backward as this might sound, if there are any beginner Dungeon Masters out there who might be struggling with campaign/world creation - the DMG2 is going to put everything into perspective and read much more like a normal guide than stereo instructions (so to speak).

5 comments about Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs.

1. Trivia from the past to the present wrapped into an engaging story of one man's extroardinary run on Jeopardy. You even get to answer trivia questions along the way.
   
   Light and entertaining.



2. Ken is just hilarious, which is something you might not have gotten from his appearances on Jeopardy! His book is well written and fun to read, and his self-depreciating style makes him the world's most adorable nerd!



3. Let's face it: Ken Jennings is a trivia genius, a god of sorts (like Apollo, but not Zeus, a.k.a. Brad Rutter). What surprised me is that Ken is also an excellent writer. He weaves an engrossing tale of childhood gameshow fascination and information obsession that develops into a vehicle for fame and fortune. Yet Ken's modesty about his abilities suggests to me that he hasn't been changed much, if at all, by his successes.
   
   Note that Brainiac is more of a history of trivia competitions and America's preoccupation with quizzes than it is the endeavors of a single Jeopardy champion. Ken's own efforts are indeed detailed throughout the book, but that story is embedded in a larger tapestry that shows the blooming of trivia-related activities over the decades. The humor and interspersed trivia questions make this book one of my very favorites I've read in a while. Be sure to read this one, folks!



4. It is a nice read. Lighthearted and really cool to have the little trivia inserted within the body of the text. I very much liked the way it was written and enjoyed it very much.



5. Ken Jenning's writes as if he is talking with you. He is humble, modest, and yet you know, how bright he really is. His conversational style of writing reminds me of Stephen King. Even Ken's (and Stephen's) forewords and afterwords are interesting and fun to read. I was fascinated by the inside information Ken provided about Jeopardy and his incredible run as champion on the show. That was probably the best part of the book for me. He went into great detail about a huge radio trivia contest held in Wisconsin (I believe) every year. That was somewhat interesting, but I didn't really need quite as much detail as he provided. I, myself, participate in the interactive Buzztime trivia game which is available at many bars throughout the country. Ken gave a brief mention of some of those afficianados of the bar trivia game, but personally I thought he could have spent more time on that. These are people who play trivia year-round, competing with other people throughout the country, sometimes individually, sometimes on teams. They don't just spend one weekend a year doing it. I have since discovered Ken's blog, where he writes almost daily. It is great reading. He is a fascinating, multi-faceted individual, much more than the quiet un-assuming trivia-geek you might assume he is. I would recommend this book highly to anyone who is a Jeopardy or trivia fan.

5 comments about Crossword Puzzle Dictionary: Sixth Edition.

1. This item was purchased as a gift for my 83 year-old father who stays sharp by completing two newspaper crossword puzzles daily. His previous copy of the same edition was only about five years old, but in absolutely tattered condition. I personally witness him using this dictionary at least twice daily. It is truly a fine product. Thank you for the easy ordering process, swift delivery and outstanding customer service.



2. My dad loves crossword puzzles, and about nine years ago I bought him this book in a paperback edition. He raved about how useful it was and used it daily until 2001, when it was destroyed in a house flood. It had gotten pretty tattered by then, but probably had another year or two of use left. I bought him a second book, this time in hardback, thinking it would last longer. That book is now six years old and has pages falling out! So, yesterday he asked that I get him a THIRD book, and no other crossword puzzle dictionary will do. I just wish a seventh edition would come out soon; I'm sure Dad could use some updated info.



3. My old edition finally fell apart, so I ordered a new one and I like it even better.



4. We do daily puzzles and NY Times puzzles on Sunday and this is the absolutely best when you are REALLY stuck...well, we call it a learning experience.
   Excellent in this edition is the highlighted country entries. We'll use it until it falls apart!



5. I have used an earlier edition of this for years. I think that it is the best Crossword dictionary published

5 comments about Passionate Patchwork: Over 20 Original Quilt Designs.

1. I bought this book because of the beautiful cover quilt design,
   but most of the designs inside are colorful and easy to do.



2. Okay, I love Kaffe Fassett stuff. Beautiful pictures of some wonderful quilts that are made form simple blocks, but look complicated.
   Great books for new quilters that need some color suggestions to get that real POP they maybe looking for.this is not the first book I have of his nor will it be the last.



3. this book is indeed beautiful.
   kaffe fasset is a very creative artist and his use of color is astonishing.
   i cant take my eyes off his creations and i am already trying some of his patterns, adapting them to our brazilian fabrics.
   patterns are not so difficult, some are quite easy actually. instructions are clear. everybody, from novice to highly skilled can profit from this book.



4. I'm probably just repeating what others have said, but how could anyone say anything bad about this book? When it arrived I sat down just to skim it until I had more time. An hour later I was still there, reading every word! The colors are so gorgeous, as all of his colors are. But beyond that I actually felt I could create these visual wonders myself! I wanted to RUN to my LQS and buy a crayon box full of colors and begin a new quilt immediately. My final words ... buy this book! It won't dissapoint you!



5. Kaffe Fassett has wonderful fabrics and quilt designs. Some of these were not to my liking. With that being said, I do enjoy flipping through his books, but rarely make a quilt from his designs. I find his designs are best used with his fabrics in order to achieve the best look. I did find it inspiration.

5 comments about Synthetic Worlds: The Business and Culture of Online Games.

1. Best book discussing online worlds that I've read.
   
   The author's background in economics makes for an interesting perspective. He goes to great lengths to point out where and how virtual worlds cross over into the "real" world.
   
   He doesn't, however, take things quite as far as I expected. For instance, he doesn't suggest that any interaction, social or otherwise, if conducted online might well be considered as having occurred in a virtual world. And he doesn't spend any effort exploring online to offline gestural equivalence.
   
   But I don't think he can be faulted. There's enough material in this area to fill several volumes. What he does cover, he makes accessible, interesting, and relevant.
   
   [...]



2. To be honest I was expecting more on this book.It didnt tell all the info I wanted to know and the author focus too much on 2D games like Everquest and not so much in 3D games like Second Life.In most of the book the author is a little superficial in his analysis,he could go deeper.However the book is good for people who wanna have a general idea about on line games,specially Everquest,World of Warcraft and Star Wars.



3. Were this book explicitly a marketing tool for virtual worlds, I would say job well done. But as a work of scholarship, it is downright embarrassing. The only thing I have to say for it is that the economic analysis in part II does not seem patently ridiculous, but the same cannot be said about the political analysis, and both are predicated on the validity of part I's predictions of the growth and impact of virtual worlds. His logic explaining this predicted growth can only be referred to as spurious.
   
   Published in 2006, this book is already dated, and in ways relevant to the author's predictions. His prediction that passive TV watching will decline in favor of virtual worlds is only half-true: instead, we have a flourishing YouTube where people interact with passive media by creating more passive media. The niche of on-line communication medium has been filled by social networking sites. The author predicts that people who grow up with technology will be drawn to virtual worlds, but this has not been the case. The adoption rate of virtual worlds among teenagers pales in comparison to the use of text messaging, social network sites, and other available technologies. This comes as a surprise given how inherently compelling he portrays these virtual worlds.
   
   Castronova does not seem to take into consideration the reality of differing preferences. He claims the "natural" place for getting together is cyberspace, and there's no reason to type when you can talk. This kind of thinking permeates his discussion of the future growth of synthetic worlds. Because they can offer, for a certain value of "offer", interaction with a potentially more pleasant world, this does not mean that everyone down on their luck will flock to them-- regardless of how realistic the worlds may get. I think it would be difficult to argue that even enough of a critical mass for the phenomena he describes in part II has the right kind of inclinations to "live" completely in virtual worlds.
   
   Castronova frequently employs the rhetorical device of referring to these worlds and everything about them as "real". Certainly, they are "real" in the sense that they are something that people occupy their actual time with, but this does not make them "real" in the sense of an equal alternative to actual life. Throughout the book he uses terminology to blur the line between the two meanings of "real", presumably with the goal of validating his claims about the importance of virtual worlds. He talks about it as a "way of life", about the players as "migrants", and that they have the "potential to become permanent homes for the conscious self" (p. 238). He claims game makers should allow avatars to have all the same human rights in-game as their players do in the real world. It's an argument that only makes sense if you accept that there's no fundamental difference between virtual worlds and the real worlds, and that's a claim that has a much higher burden of proof than his tricky rhetoric can meet.
   
   Virtual worlds are a hot topic, and the buzz surrounding them has allowed a scholar to put out absolute crap, assured that the audience will call it "stimulating", "important" and "insightful". If you're going to read this book, cut through the hype and read with an eye towards the logic of his argument. But other than as a first-hand view of the type of faulty reasoning used to convince people that virtual worlds are the Next Big Thing, it's not worth the read.



4. It is impossible to change the address when you first have placed the purchase. It makes it difficult when you the moment you buy the book discover that you made an error (wrong address), and then it is already to late to change the address. What can you do? Probably nothing, other than accept that you lost your money, and buy the book elsewhere.



5. This book was written for people who have heard about online "synthetic" (the author avoids using the over-hyped term "virtual") online worlds such as "World of Warcraft" or "Second Life", and are curious, but assume it's just some nerds in basements, not tens of millions of "ordinary" people engaged in near-billion dollar economies.
   
   If you already have a rough idea of what's going on (you don't need to be an active "citizen" in any of these worlds for that), then the book doesn't have all that much to offer, though there is a great chapter on economics that discusses strategies for avoiding inflation ("MUDflation"), and the chapter on politics may stimulate some thoughts.
   
   The book could have been more interesting if the author had been able to go into more detail and compare different online economies, and get an insider's perspective on why it is that things are the way the are (incl. failed experiments etc). I'd also have liked to see a less shallow discussion of the psychology behind all of this -- is the reason people kill each other online when they can just because that's the nature of humans, and is the reason South Koreans are way ahead online simply down to bandwidth rather than cultural differences?
   
   The book is also (inevitably) a bit outdated. The author frequently mentions how virtual items are traded on Ebay; Ebay prohibited sales of items from World of Warcraft and EverQuest beginning of 2007. There is no mention of the "farming" phenomenon. And I was surprised that the book didn't mention Second Life (which I'd imagine should be more interesting than most fantasy worlds from an economist's point of view) much except in passing.