Chambers has created realistic characters with their own quirks and memories. I suppose the fact that nobody in this book is poorly portrayed is its best feature - Nik is a guy with desires, memories and opinions and His girlfriend is sharp-witted and fun.
Their strange ideas, her feminism, Nik's questions about Christianity and the Bible... I read this book six months ago, and I recently read "Postcards from No Man's Land". Chambers has a way to make you live with characters, even the parts of them that others would consider weird - as each of us has to live with him or herself from day to day.
The reader comes away with a sense of enrichment and newly opened eyes. A must-read.

I read this book when I was a senior in highschool,which was over three years ago. I needed to find a book for my class, so I chose this one because my name is Niki and I always sign my name NIK. I was really impressed with this book. It was definetly unique and it kept my interest. There are very few books that I really love and this is one of them. I highly reccomend it. It's definetly an original.

I picked this book up because an old friend of mind is named Nik. I thought that a would just chuckle at the coincedence and put is down again, but as soon as I started reading it I couldn't stop. There are precious few books that draw me in as quickly as this one. I could see myself and people I have known in the characters The plot was interresting and the premis intreaging. It was the best piece of non-liniear story telling that I have seen in a long time. I highly recomend it to anyone.

If you are enthusiast of parapsychology, the paranormal, and the occult, many of the names in this book will be familiar to you. The ideas Chambers presents, like psychometry, bilocation, and spontaneous human combustion, will also be familiar.

The book is divided into different areas of the paranormal, and in each area, Chambers presents us with a figure of history who best exemplifies this area. For instance, when talking of vampirism, he tells us of Arnold Paole, and when talking of cryptozoology, he tells us of Frank Hansen and the Minnesota Iceman. In each area, a brief explanation of the phenomenon leads us into the presentation of each character.

With each character, we are not given a lot of information. Basically, he tells us the story and then explains his thoughts and the thoughts of subsequent studies into the phenomenon. The only problem is that some new characters are mentioned here, but never explained. For instance, Uri Geller is mentioned a couple of times, but the reader is assumed to be already familiar with Uri.

This does not mean the book is without merit. Chambers raises some very good points in the study of the paranormal. The study is filled with extremists on both sides and these extremists prevent serious study from advancing. For instance, if one fraud is found in levitation, the assumption becomes all levitation is fraudulent. Likewise, if levitation is proved false in one instance, true believers claim that there is a conspiracy to keep levitation a secret from the people. Chambers points out several cases where we should revisit the studies.

Although there are more books that go into more detail, I would recommend this book as a beginning study of the paranormal. The bibliography in the back provides further reading.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning about parnormal people. THis book contains many topics on several people. It tells about Harry Houdini, Aleister Crowley and many others. I recommend to anyone intrested in sprits and paranormality.

Considering the large volume of material available on the paranormal, I found this book somewhat refreshing. Rather being simply another list of the same old paranormal stories, this author has tried to clear away some of the myth and rumour that has grown up around the paranormal and has had some success. Using good old fashioned research, he has managed to find new and unusual stories about strange happenings and has put a sparkle on some familiar stories which have clearly gathered a good deal of untruth about them over the years. I would recommend this book to anybody who has an interest in understanding the paranormal, rather than those who fancy Agent Scully!

Foreigners contemplating a move to Mexico have yet another source of useful information, this one form the business community. Covering everything from clothing size conversions to house-hunting, the magazine-style publication "Relocating to Mexico" is produced by the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico and International Relocation Services.

The guide is intended to be a resource "for companies sending personnel to Mexico, retirees, students, entrepreneurs, cross-cultural trainers, relocation companies and anyone else who may be making a move to Mexico." says the forward.

The 84-page publication begins with a brief getting-acquainted chapter that attempts to warn foreigners that life in Mexico is going to be different. "It is important to arrive in Mexico with a clear and open mind about the land, people and culture. Mexico is not like the image normally depicted in Hollywood productions, " the authors write.

The guide offers an excellent reading list of 15 books for those who really want to comprehend the history and culture of Mexico. The second chapter deals with the technical and logistical aspects of moving to Mexico --visa applications, moving household goods, bringing a car to Mexico and even the family pet.

Other chapters include staying in contact (mail and telephone service, news sources, embassy contacts, Internet service providers); adapting to Mexican culture (the meals schedule, entertaining, business cutstoms,holidays, learning Spanish): the housing hut (rental agreements, prices); setting up your home (getting phone service, domestic help, bill paying; going places (car tax, traffic rules, public transportation, car theft); managing finances (exchange rates, banking, ATM safety tips); keeping healthy (water problems, air contaminants, preventative strategies, earthquakes), and taking care of the kids (schools, birthday parties, having a baby).

Each chapter includes a list of places to contact for services plus useful Websites. "Relocating to Mexico" is a supplement to the American Chamber of Commerce's "Guide to Mexico for Business."

The Colony Reporter, October 30-November 5, 1999

Don't drink the water. That's usually one of the first things people advise when you announce you're moving to Mexico City. Followed by 'don't take street cabs at night,' and 'don't eat food off the street.' One bad taco and a week-long battle with Moctezuma's revenge is usually enough to teach any foreigner a quick lesson on adaption to the varieties of Mexican cuisine, but what about the things like getting your FM-3 papers in order or figuring how to get your mail forwarded to you and actually receive it in Mexico? Questions ranging from the conversion of clothing sizes to how to get your dog across the border can be answered in the book "Relocating to Mexico," published by the American Chamber of Commerce of Mexico (Amcham/Mexico). There's something for everyone in this book - from retirees to professionals to students - the book provides information specific to Mexico that cannot be found in a regular tour guide, such as rental prices in different areas of the city, how to open a bank account and much more. "Relocating to Mexico" is a supplement to "The Guide to Mexico for Business" and was developed after it became apparent that there was a market for this book. Vacationing in Mexico and living here are experiences that are worlds apart. "The most important difference between this book and others similar to it, is that "Relocating to Mexico" was actually written by foreigners who are living in Mexico and have actually gone through the relocating experience", said Natasha Hirtzel, Subdirector of International Trade at Amcham/Mexico.

By Fayola Shakes, The News (Daily Newspaper in English), Mexico City

Ive been here for three years and I thought I knew everything

This book might be good, but only for one who has previous experience in playing Jazz piano. It really does not teach you the principles and help you learn jazz. Its more like an exercise book to help improve a already-know-how-to jazz pianist w/ tons of songs inside for practise (and by the way, you would have to have the sheet music for the songs inside to refer to). I personally do not recommend it for beginners.

Mehegan's book is written for piano players, but will be valuable to other musicians as well. The book presents a large number of standards for study, focusing on thinking from the harmonic structure. I has lots of ideas to guide practice and study, but it is for serious work only: unlike some books that can be approached at various levels and still offer some rewards, this one requires that you sit down and work. It does offer rewards, though

This serious, authoritative book turned me on to jazz. The author presents the material in bite size chunks. He has a gift for pulling structure from the chaos. This is not Jazz-For-Dummies. The reader is expected to be hard working, but needs no previous experience with jazz. The reader should have access to a piano to play the various chord sequences, but the lessons are invaluable to all instrumentalists.

One downside to this book it that you have to learn the author's unusual notation (figured bass), but the power of this notation is also the book's greatest strength. The notation reveals the structure of jazz and the similarities between the songs. And, hey, Bach used the same notation, so it can't be all bad.

The author gives the chord changes to many common jazz songs. Usually no particular artist or recording is referenced. So, the reader has to hunt around to find performances that resemble the changes the author has given.

Once again, this is my favorite book on the subject. It is never unnecessarily pedantic. It never waters down difficult concepts. The way the book talks about music is how musicians think about music. If this book is not enough, other books in this series by John Mehegan pick up where this one leaves off.

This book is fine if you are looking only for a very brief look at American Architecture. It does not organize architectural styles to give a comprehensive overview of them. It does, however, present example photos of various styles with easy-to-read text briefly describing the styles. If you want a book that is handy and comprehensive, no other book can compare to A Field Guide to American Houses, by Virginia and Lee McAlester (ISBN 0-394-73969-8). This book will give you a comprehensive framework of the development of American Architecture so that you can build your understanding as you become exposed examples in the field. Everything from windows and doors to contruction techniques are covered. The book is organized in such a way that you can find what you need quickly. It is the cornerstone in the study of American Architecture.

I'm not that into architecture but this book was pretty good. I had to use it for my local history course. The images were good and helpful in the explanations on each of the pages.

This is a very handy, pocket sized book which can be easily used in the field! Different historic architectural styles are divided into small chapters with helpful photos for identification. I particularly love the user-friendly "Glossary" which identifies architectural features in a short and to the point manner. Since this is published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a person can feel assured that this is accurate information! Makes a great gift too!

I really like Aberrant. Of the super-hero game systems I have seen and played this one pulls it off best. The core book was pretty good, and the powers let you make any character imaginable straight out of comicdom.

Like the rest of White Wolf's "Players Guides" this book takes that game system one step further... perhaps further than it should have gone. It talks briefly about the world the game is set in, but what you would probably end up buying it for is the skills. Many new uses for powers and skills from the Aberrant core book are presented here, and past powers are extened up to rank 10. Some new powers are introduced that require Quantum higher than 5 to use... and some are just silly. For instance, having a quantum of 10 and being able to create your own universe... how is that going to be useful in an Aberrant campign? It's not, ever.

In short, it's a fun read. It has a lot of good ideas. However, if you're already brimming with ideas you might want to pass this one over. Most of the new powers would never even be considered for a campaign. Probably best to skip it unless you're really into Aberrant.

Abberant is a large pill to swallow. It gives a player huge amounts of power right from the start. This causes players to develop a sort of "Must destroy, power is all that matters." The players guide solves this problems and also adds more.

The players guide starts with a bit about how the game is not superfriends. It continues into information about the world in 2015, the setting has become more sour apparently as apparently Abberants are realized as a threat.

The next Chapters go into Seceret stuff in the Aeon society, and then go into groups like the Deadalus League, who are a group of Abberants who explore space. The next chapters get into really insane Abberants powers. They give a three new levels of power, that are so insane.... the cover says it all. One of the most notable is "Universe Creation". That is what it is. You can assume what it does.

The last chapters seem out of order as they seem to be a continuation of the earlier. It explains certain other Nova groups but hints at Abberant Underworld having some of the information sadly the book hasn't come out yet.

This book adds alot to the game of Abberant, and it is very helpful for any player or storyteller who plans on adding some more levels of checks and balances to their game. Though this book is far from needed.

This book was pretty much okay. It just didn't have that special something that would make it really good. It was actually a pretty good read and I'm glad I bought it. The mystery was good and the characters were okay. The story is about a girl named Marilyn. Her aunt Zenobia is visiting, and has with her a strange amulet. When Zenobia dies suddenly of what is presumed to be a heart attack, Marilyn assumes that she will never learn the secret of the amulet. But her aunts death was just the beginning. The ending has a bit of a twist to it.

Reading about Marilyn's "adventure" was great, even if this story wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. It was more of the kind of story that makes you think about what's lurking in the shadows, or what's waiting for you under the bed...Bruce Coville has a knack for writing believable dialog, and for illustrating scenes as clearly as if they were on a screen in front of you. This book was easy to read, and good...what more could you ask for?

I'm a real Bruce Coville fan, and this book was a disappointment for me. I don't know exactly why I disliked it so much, but I did. I think it might of had something to do with the characters. Bonnie, the heroine, is a little slow and just not that likable. Also this book focused allot on future telling and things like that, and I have this thing against that type of stuff. I sure that lots of people will enjoy this book, but I felt like sharing my opinion with the world. If you were thinking of buying this book, don't let this review stop you.

This book was very good although it was a little confusing at times. I found it very interesting and thought it had a good story plot.

Two plus points here: Berger possesses keen musical insight into the works he discusses, and writes with clarity and enthusiasm without either oversimplifying or condescending to the technically challenged. The other great thing about this book is that it's the only thing of it's kind that I'm aware of that's currently in print.

On the downside, contrary to the publisher's review above, GUIDE TO CHAMBER MUSIC is most emphatically NOT comprehensive. First of all, no chamber music that employs less than three instruments is included. That's right: No Beethoven Violin Sonatas and no Prokofiev Sonatas and no Martinu Cello Sonatas (not to mention the fact there's no Martinu). Worse, there's a staggering abundance of wonderful music that does employ three instruments or more that is simply left out.

For example, look up any composer in the book -- for the sake of argument, let's say Faure. The only listing given on Faure is for his C Minor Piano Quartet. In other words, aside from the annoying exlusion of Faure's wonderful Violin and Cello Sonatas (which, of course, violate the restriction against two instruments), there's no mention of either Faure's other piano quartet, his two piano quintets, his piano trio or his ethereal and otherworldly string quartet. And that's just for Faure.

I'm sure this book has its reasons for excluding many delightful and important works in the classical canon. But whatever those reasons are, they make for an emphatically uncomprehensive -- and thus unsatisfactory -- overview of the chamber repertory. Still, all things considered, I'm glad to have it for what it DOES include.

This book covers quite a vast output and describes each work movement by movement. A very useful reference.