Forget this lame outdated atlas. For a beginner's atlas, try Wil Tirion's "The Cambridge Star Atlas" instead. This includes a similar limiting magnitude of stars, but plots many more deep sky objects (and gives many common names as well, completely lacking on Norton's maps). The graphics and printing are much cleaner in Tirion's tome, and deep sky objects are color-coded.

The moon atlas in Norton looks like a bad photocopy of a photograph. And Norton's star charts go right into the gutter. Just try to get a look on Map 5/6 at delta Orionis (the westernmost star in Orion's belt). The Reference Handbook in Norton is OK, but beginners should try Terence Dickinson's "Nightwatch" and "The Backyard Astronomer" instead. Sure, Norton was great for its time, but who wants to drive a Model T today?

Just because this book isn't "pretty" is a lame reason not to buy it. The star charts are not meant so much for telescopic work as to give you a naked-eye reference. Sometimes, not having a million stars crammed onto two pages is nice. No self-respecting astronomer (apparently the 1 stars aren't) would be without this book. Heck, even the editor of Sky & Telescope uses it...

As another point, the star charts only comprise about 15% of this book. The "Reference Handbook" is where this is a gem. The lists of objects to view interspersed between the star charts are invaluable as are the 100+ pages of astronomical information. If you skip this book because two reviewers gave it one star (while the others gave it a 4 or 5) you don't deserve it. Sure, the information concise, but when you're out at night, reading through fluff isn't what you want to do...

This is probably a book to buy after you've stuck to the hobby for a year and know yo're hooked :)

Clear skies!

PS Never trust people who only buy things based on how "pretty" they look...

Norton's simply keeps getting better. Earlier editions nurtured multiple generations of amateur (and not so amateur) stargazers. This latest edition is a concise, complete atlas AND reference. The Sky Atlas 2000 or Cambridge Star Atlas are also fine road maps to the skies. An even better bargain is the Bright Star Atlas 2000 (Wil Tirion did all three and is tops as a celestial cartographer), but all lack the wealth of other reference information that is contained in Norton's.

The style is definitly in the Sgt. Friday mode: "Just the facts". But there are so many of them! Page after page of succinctly written information on practical astronomy, the solar system, moon, deep-sky objects, etc.

For an evening looking at the heavens, if you don't want to carry around the local library, this one volume easily suffices.

This is a good, concise book for brushing up and reviewing before you travel and it's also useful for suggestions and ideas when shooting while travelling.

This book is a 5 for beginners, becomes less useful to the more exerienced, but even for a more advanced amateur, it is worth a quick scan of the text for a refresher. Consisting of tips and suggestions, there is not alot of technical data as the various topics are covered, most topics covered in one page of text with a facing page of a couple of photos. The photos do support the topics well enough, such topics as City Vistas; Royal Dwellings; Formal Gardens; In the Rain; Rainbows; Strangers Faces; Close Ups; Dramatic Angles, etc.
Look it over at a library or book store, and you'll know whether it will be a carry along pocket guide for you or not.

I love technical books; so I bought this book looking for some technical advices on "how to" take pictures when traveling: landscapes, low light conditions, using flashes, etc. When received the book, I found this is not a technical book, in this book you can find useful ideas and comments about "what", "where" and "when" to take nice pictures when traveling. I recommend this as a nice and "light" book to read written in an easy way to all kind of readers.

I don't think so. Andre Norton's Witch World books got me hooked on the genre so many years ago. It's hard to believe that she has lent her name to this poorly written book.

The premise was promising, and I had high hopes after the first book that the characters would take on a life of their own, and pull me into their world. Sadly, that didn't happen. Norton and Miller can't seem to decide who their protaganist is, or even who major characters in the story are. Are we supposed to like or dislike the queen? We know Ashen is important, but why should we care about her? She is supremely uninteresting. Much time is spent explaining why characters do the things they do (a hallmark of poor writing) because no development has taken place that would allow the reader to infer motivations, or even personalities.

It's a shame. In the write hands, I do believe this could have been an interesting story, with characters who live and breathe, and make you care about what will happen to them next.

Knight or Knave is the second novel in the Cycle of Oak, Yew, Ash, and Rowan series. In the previous volume, Ysa's magic has brought Zazar, Ashen, and herself together for introductions. The Sea-Rovers have settled New Vold in Ashenhold lands. Ashen Deathdaughter and Obern have been brought to Cragden Keep by Count Harous, who gives Ashen gifts and hints of her mother. The Bog-folk have begun to attack Rendelian lands. King Boroth has died, after claiming Ashen as his daughter.

In this volume, Florian has become the King, succeeding his father, and, under pressure of his mother and various nobles of the court, has married Rannore, whom he has made pregnant. Ashen meets Queen Ysa and moves into Rendelsham Castle. Ysa sends a messenger to New Vold to inform Snorri know of her son's wedding, to let him that his son, Obern, is alive, and to invite him to visit her at a later date. In the unseasonable cold, the Bog-folk have taken to attacking New Vold for food.

Ashen has met a priest in the Great Fane of the Glowing, who informed Obern and herself of the history of Rendel. Meeting again in the fane, the priest, Esander, shows her a great library hidden deep under Rendelsham which contains many volumes of magical lore. As directed by Zazar, she does not yet attempt any of the magics, although she studies the lore diligently.

Snorri arrives in time for Florian's wedding and, after the ceremony, he tells Obern of the death of his wife, Naeve. Upon discovering that Ashen has been abducted, Obern mounts a rescue effort and then asks for her hand in marriage; his request is granted. After the wedding, Ashen meets the new emissary of the Nordens, Gaurin, son of Count Bjauden, who tells her that his father has never returned from his mission to Rendel and that she wears his father's bracelet, which she had found on a skeleton in some ruins within the boglands. He takes the bracelet, breathes on it -- which causes it to glow briefly -- and returns it, telling her to put it on and think of him if she is ever in need on anything. Obern and Ashen travel to New Vold, where she meets his son, Rohan.

In the northlands, ominous forces are gathering. The Foul One is preparing for the invasion of Rendel.

Some reviewers seem disappointed that this series is not like the Witch World or Time Traders series. Yet those series were intended as juveniles for the most part, whereas this series is for more mature readers. Those series were mostly focused on singleton or paired characters, whereas this series deals with a larger cast of interacting protagonists. Hints of this series can be seen in the tales of Escore, High Hallek, and the Dales, and especially in the Gryphon stories. Indeed, Shadow Hawk, one of Norton's earliest stories, is a tale of courtly intrigue.

Recommended for Norton and Miller fans and anyone who enjoys court intrigue in a fantasy setting.

Make sure read the first book first or you will be lost.
Pay attention or you will be lost.
If you do all of the above this book will be the best, most enjoyable book you've ever read!

This anthology is certainly that: an "anthology", a collection of stories. What it is NOT, however, is a "representative anthology". As an introduction to SF it is terrible. As an intro to "mature" SF it is also terrible. By excluding everything written before 1960-in other words before LeGuin and her associates became active-an enormous number of the genres masterpieces were disqualified. By limiting the collection to American stories-and LeGuin is certainly American- the entire, and seminal, British and Continental contribution to SF goes unrepresented. This is historical revisionism of the worst, most destructive sort. And deeply manipulative.

There is also something fishy going on in the word count. Avowedly feminist -and female- authors put far more words into this volume than the male authors. This, in spite of the fact that most of the SF written today and yesterday is and was written by men. The feminists' (and I have always considered myself one) strongest and longest stories have been included while the shorter, less substantial stories of men are offered. This is suspiciously ideological.

I realize that LeGuin has a vast reputation, and it is certainly as deserved as anybody's. Her fiction and her non-fiction both have an important place in my heart and on my bookshelf. But... the publishers and co-editors have let that reputation blind them to the ideological distortions of this book. And I am here to tell you that the emperor has no clothes.

This anthology is a great collection of short stories from some of the greatest Science Fiction writers of from 1960-1990. This collection was gathered by one of the premier Science Fiction writers of our lifetime, Ursula K. Le Guin. Each story takes you places you have never dreamed of, and truly makes you think about the world around you.

In this anthology, the wide-ranging editors dared to choose the stories they personally thought were important, rather than accepting consensus reality of everyone else's favorites. I like what they chose. Every story is worth reading.

I was reading away happily at the original French version (struggling occasionally over some of the older vocabulary) until I realised I really didn't have enough time (essay due in tomorrow evening), so I quickly nipped round to a friend and borrowed this translation.

And it's not good, people, not good.

While parts of it have travelled quite nicely from French over to English, a lot of it is very badly done - some word for word tranlations and FAR too many repetitions of words. For example, I'm sure I came across 'agitation' three times on one page, and I can tell you I ended up more agitated than Mlle de Chartres ever would be after trying to scrape my way through it.

Needless to say, I'll be allowing more time to read these books beforehand so that I don't have to delve into another poorly translated version again.

Get it in French.

This book is written in an unusual format, almost at a remove from the main character. This however, only serves to heighten the passion of the doomed lovers. In some ways it reminds me of mme de tourvil in dangerous liaisons. Unable to help herself falling in love. Knowing she was doing the wrong thing, and hurting the people who love her most, but unable to stop.

I really enjoyed this book,and I'm sure I'll read it again one day. Apparently this is the only decent book this author ever wrote, the rest being pretty unreadable. If you want a historical novel written in an historical period itself then try this.

This is one of my all-time favorite books. The book is quiet, surprising, and lingering. The relationships detailed in intimacy are revealing, and not just the relationship between the lovers. If you have notread this, do so immediately.

This book was published in Dec 01 which means it was written using .NET Beta 2. It is now completely out of date and many of the examples just don't work. To be fair, there is an "Update" document available for download from Wrox but wht not just buy an up to date book in the first place. My recommendation is "Applied XML Programming for Microsoft .NET" by Dino Esposito, # 0735618011.

VB or C which is it? I don't mind books the have syntax for both VB.net and C#. I also don't mind books that have JUST C#(since I don't know C# why would I mind this?). I Like books that have JUST VB.NET since thats what I like. But this book doesn't do any of these! It provides C# only on many occasions! And as a VB.NET only programmer its awfully hard to build on C# examples. It's almost as if the authors didn't know how to code everything in VB.NET and just skipped it sometimes.

Very interesting title and content. This book is very helpful to learn XML .NET features.

All of humanity is but wind racing over the plain of life, never to return. What we have in the poetry of Catullus is an echo of deeply felt love from long ago. Catullus had what I would deem a very un-Roman view of the world. His voice of passion rises, if only briefly, above the usual din of duty and "the good life." It is a wonder to think on the paths pages must make to descend to future generations. It is a happy coincidence that these fascinating pages by a man with a unique voice have come unto us.

Catullus is one of the poets who first kindled my love of poetry, and I was delighted to discover this excellent recent translation. Martin beautifully conveys Catullus' many faces and moods, from the mock-sweet lyric about his mistress' dead sparrow, to the spare, anguished syllables of odi et amo...much recommended...

The flamboyant poet from Verona, Catullus, who lived most of his life in Rome (84-54 BC), is probably one of the greatest personalities that stands out in Latin literature. His bold and skillful invective, summed up in witty epigrams, and his gallant love/hate relationship with the famous Lesbia all bring forth sharp reflections upon human emotions and ultimately surface Catullus' own personality. In these 116 poems, the reader will undoubtedly find something to relate to, even though they were written just over two thousand years ago. Many of the themes found here are relevant to the modern mind and condition, and seldom are boring and obscure archaisms found in the text. This complete collection of Catullus' poems, translated by Guy Lee and furnished with a parallel Latin text, is a great edition and indispensable addition to the classical library.

I reviewed this book hoping to find a decent introductory overview of the history and basics of music. At the start, this text looked promising. It featured an accompanying interactive CD set with samples of the music overviewed in the text and appeared to cover a wide range of music.

What I found was thoroughly dissappointing - not necessarily the material itself, but the way the book was written. A reoccurring theme of political correctness made me want to gag at times, and at others it prompted only dissapointment at important parts of the history of music that were neglected in the place of politically correct anecdotes about multi-culturalism and entire chapters devoted to obscure composers who are included solely because they happened to be female.

The politically correct themes of this 500 page book ranged from the casual use of extreme PC terminology such as "Before the Common Era" (BCE) instead of the now politically incorrect "Before Christ" (BC) to more bizarre ventures into the realm of modern artistic "Electronic Music." At times the attention paid to modern eccentricism is an embarrassing reflection upon the author in my mind. He names and gives brief biographies of more obscure post modernists, figures in "electronic" music, and neo-romanticist composers than he does for the ENTIRE BAROQUE AND CLASSICAL PERIODS OF MUSIC COMBINED.

The detriment of doing this does not go unnoticed. The author completely neglected any mention whatsoever of the contributions of significant composers including Georg Philip Telemann, Dimitri Kabelevsky, Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan), William Byrd, and Gustav Holst. Similarly the contributions of Correlli, Johann Strauss, Elgar, Couperin, Gluck, CPE Bach, Orff, Borodin, and countless others recieve only brief mentions of a line or two.

Amazingly, after having left out so many significant composers, the author finds room to devote the better part of an entire chapter to the obscure Baroque era harpsichordist Elisabeth-Claude Jaquet De La Guerre and even features a composition of hers, even though she was known more as a musician than a composer and even though her musical contribution was far less than any of the above mentioned composers who were neglected by the author. Jaquet De La Guerre, at best, is an obscure footnote in the history of music, especially compared to giants like Johann Strauss (who was largely neglected) and composers of some of the most significant works of music in history, such as Holst (the Planets), Orff (Carmina Burana), and Corelli (father of the concerto grosso, an important musical form itself that was also discussed in only a sentence or two by the author).

Almost laughably, the author, in light of all his omissions, takes time out to mention modern "ska" music, Curt Cobain, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Ice Cube," Michael Jackson, and the Jefferson Airplane. At least the reader can rest assured that the Jefferson Airplane got paid more attention by the author than one of the most prolific composers in history (Telemann)!

There is a newer version - eighth edition

I had read this book when I was a music student, and thought, at the time, it was one of the most interesting books ever assigned by any teacher. I am now a music teacher and have been recommending this book to the students who came to me asking for a good music appreciation book. To say everyone is happy with the book is to understate the fact. The book, indeed, speaks for itself!

I am a student of a reviewer above, and although he may find the text to be conceptually enlightening, for a student of first year chemistry applying it is a joke! Munowitz sets up his chapters unconventionally -- he explains concepts and 'derives' equations in the first part of the chapter, and then has a 'gray section' at the back of the chapter which contains problems and examples. Often the gray sections seem alien to the chapter before it: finding out how a redox reaction runs is much more concrete than describing what a Lewis base is. In order for Munowitz to be more effective, he must include his example in the body of the chapter itself, and marry concepts with applications. It is notable to include that the average grade on exams for students who take this class using the Munowitz book is about 50%, and most are very hardworking!

Munowitz incorporates basic chemistry ideas with graceful writing skills in his "Principles of Chemistry". This text is no doubt one of those that completely stands out from other common chemistry texts. This is the text I use in college, and I must warn you all readers that you might scratch your head a lot of times, trying to figure out what the author really tries to say. I know that Munowitz knows his subject, but just that he could have been more straightforward when explaining confusing concepts. There are some mistakes and typos, which will probably be corrected in the 2nd edition. Every chapter also comes with a summary, sample problems, and exercises. Make sure to study the sample problems because the author often presents new concepts or equations there.

This is a decent text; but unless you know your chemistry very well, get another reference.

Great book. Lots of info. Fairly easy college level reading.

There is definitely a need for such books on poetic forms today, but this book does not fill that lacuna adequately. As has been noted, the editors are not poets of the first rank (despite the fact that Mark Strand was a poet laureate of the US) and are not unquestionable masters of form. So, while this book may serve a scant few beginners, there remain better other options.

I would suggest checking out John Hollander's excellent short work "Rhyme's Reason". He goes over more forms and in a better style than in this book. If you are a poet yourself, definitely you should choose Hollander's book over this one. However, if you want an easy and light read, maybe this book is better, since it provides longer "readings" of certain poems. But if that's what you're after, you'd be better served by Harold Bloom's "How to Read and Why", a very good book written by a top scholar and yet readable by virtually anyone interested in literature.

These two poets rarely write in poetic form themselves, and it shows. The book is sketchy and often superficial in its treatments of the forms. For a much more thorough look at a much wider range of forms, check out the new book AN EXALTATION OF FORMS: CONTEMPORARY POETS CELEBRATE THE DIVERSITY OF THEIR ART.

The choice of poems in this book is great, the design is beautiful and it can sure be very helpful for anyone who loves poetry. Just the best.