OK, so he made a mistake in "Survivor: The Australian Outback" by using a paella pan instead of a covered pot. He even admits it in the foreword. No matter; this book has everything that anyone who has never made rice needs to know, from the different varieties to cooking times to what to use (rice cooker, paella pan, etc.) and what you can make with it. Recipes range from simple (basic rice, rice pudding) to advanced (lots of risottos and paellas). For "Survivor" fans and at-home chefs alike, this is a great addition to your collection!

If you've ever been to Yosemite National Park or are thinking about going, this book will appeal to you. It was given to me as a gift when I moved from the Yosemite area and all I have to do is open one page to be transported back to the "Valley of Thunder".

I chose the title of this book review for my website long before I knew how poignant the words would be. Even though I'm enjoying my new geographical location, the book helps to fill those moments of nostalgia.

Ann Zwinger's well-written text is evocative of my every Yosemite memory and Kathleen Norris Cook's breathtaking photography truly does justice to the magnificent scenery to be found in the Park.

If you're able to find a copy and purchase it, don't just put it on your coffee table, read it!

The recipes in this book are easy to follow, beautifully illustrated and delicious. I am proud to be a friend of the author and have enjoyed her cooking for years.

Once again the Zagat guide is jam-packed with great information for visitors and locals alike. Honest reviews give you a chance to make intelligent and informed decisions without advertising or hype

Tropical Storm is a romance that set my heart racing! I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I am in the midst of re-reading it already. Melissa Good has stirred the imagination and heart with this work. Those who enjoy her internet-based writing will be inordinately pleased by the quality of this book. I am utterly hooked on Dar and Kerry. The love they find so unexpectedly is magical yet the troubles they must overcome in order to find themseves and each other are arduous. They are such inspiring characters that I hope to read many more works by Ms Good. I am also looking forward to seeing if the movie which is to be made of Tropcal Storm can express the magic of love nearly as well as the book.

I read Tropical Storm and Hurricane Watch back to back. Both are thoroughly enjoyable and if you love Xena you'll undoubtedly love this book. Even if you don't, there's still a special something in the presentation of the two characters' feelings for each other.

As another reviewer said, this book could have benefited from some good, basic editing. Her legions of cyber fans may be willing to overlook the little flaws, but all the little things added up for me. I really liked the plot and I think she added some illumination to the characters that sets her apart from the other uber fiction writers.

It's so true of so many writers -- first published works can be a little rough. Fortunately, Hurricane Watch seemed to get all the attention that this book could have used. Tropical Storm is a must read for those who want to follow both the story and Melissa Good's career.

Hardly have I ever read a book that has held my attention twice over! Ms. Good weaves a tale that draws you into these women's lives and captivates you from the very beginning. Where we normally would expect hate and violence, we meet respect, love, and incredibly well-written scenes. One has no choice but to turn the page and follow the road Melissa created for us, just to find out the outcome to the adventure.

Constantly reminding us that the story's focus is the relationship between the main characters (by mentioning what they see and feel), Ms. Good shows us that in a dog-eat-dog world, even those who seem aloof and powerful also have hearts and a life... and maybe even someone who loves them.

This is a classical love story, where the main characters are able to overcome the odds and find their home and center in each other. It is a story of discovery, growth, forgiveness, and most of all, love. If you believe in the power of love, read "Tropical Storm"; it will make you laugh, cry, and believe in how love changes people's lives.

"You will be haunted by Three Spirits." So forewarns Jacob Marley's ghost to Mr. Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser of stingy, unfavorable traits. And so begins the enduring Christmas classic distinguished by almost everyone. Come along on an erratic journey with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, all of whom attempt to point Scrooge onto a virtuous path. Meet the most notable characters ever introduced in literature: Bob Cratchit, angelic Tiny Tim, and good-natured Fred. With vivid descriptions of Victorian England and enlightening dialogue, 'A Christmas Carol' will enrapture both the young and old throughout the year with a vital lesson on hope and benevolence for humanity. This, I find, is treasured most of all in this brief story marvelously crafted by the creative Charles Dickens. No matter how many adaptations of the book one has seen on television or as films, the real source is highly recommended and should not be missed. For if you do pass the book up, you are being just a Scrooge (metamorphically speaking, of course!).

Master storyteller and social critic, Charles Dickens, turns this social treatise on shortcomings of Victorian society into an entertaining and heartwarming Christmas ghost story which has charmed generations and become an icon of Christmas traditions. Who, in the Western world has not heard, "Bah, Humbug!" And who can forget the now almost hackneyed line of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one!" or his cheerfully poignant observation, that he did not mind the stares of strangers in church, for he might thus serve as a reminder of He who made the lame, walk and the blind, see. Several movie versions: musical, animated, updated, or standard; as well as stage productions (I recall the Cleveland Playhouse and McCarter Theatre`s with fondess.) have brought the wonderful characterizations to the screen, as well as to life. This story of the redemption of the bitter and spiritually poor miser, and the book itself; however, is a timeless treasure whose richness, like Mrs Cratchit`s Christmas pudding, is one that no production can hope to fully capture.

Well, I finally read it (instead of just watching it on the TV screen).

This is what you can call a simple idea, well told. A lonely, bitter old gaffer needs redemption, and thus is visited by three spirits who wish to give him a push in the right direction. You have then a ghost story, a timeslip adventure, and the slow defrosting of old Scrooge's soul. There are certain additions in the more famous filmed versions that help tweak the bare essentials as laid down by Dickens, but really, all the emotional impact and plot development necessary to make it believable that Scrooge is redeemable--and worth redeeming--is brilliantly cozied into place by the great novelist.

The scenes that choke me up the most are in the book; they may not be your favourites. I react very strongly to our very first look at the young Scrooge, sitting alone at school, emotionally abandoned by his father, waiting for his sister to come tell him there may be a happy Christmas. Then there are the various Cratchit scenes, but it is not so much Tiny Tim's appearances or absence that get to me--it's Bob Cratchit's dedication to his ailing son, and his various bits of small talk that either reveal how much he really listens to Tim, or else hide the pain Cratchit is feeling after we witness the family coming to grips with an empty place at the table. Scrooge as Tim's saviour is grandly set up, if only Scrooge can remember the little boy he once was, and start empathizing with the world once again. I especially like all Scrooge's minor epiphanies along his mystical journey; he stops a few times and realizes when he has said the wrong thing to Cratchit, having belittled Bob's low wages and position in life, and only later realizing that he is the miser with his bootheel on Cratchit's back. Plus, he must confront his opposite in business, Fezziwig, who treated his workers so wonderfully, and he watches as true love slips through his fingers again.

It all makes up the perfect Christmas tale, and if anyone can find happiness after having true love slip through his fingers many years ago, surprisingly, it's Scrooge. With the help of several supporting players borrowed from the horror arena, and put to splendid use here.

I agree the story is different from others of the same ilk. I also concur that the viewpoint is original. Cook put the audience in the middle of mercenary army led by a mysterious Captain. They are swords for hire. The hero is Croaker the army's doctor and annalist. The army's current paymasters are the Taken who answers to The Lady.

Originality is something but when I read a book I like to have some details. The concept is interesting and that was about the only thing that kept me reading the book. The main character's motivations are a mystery and for that matter so are all of the other characters' motivations. Who really are the Raven and Darling? What drives the Black Company to follow the Taken? Who are the Rebels and what are they rebelling from? Why is Croaker a mercenary? I mean REALLY... the questions are endless.

Apparently there are some reviewers that rate this book very high and feel that _Black Company_ is a 5 star fantasy novel but frankly I don't see it. Cook could have added a few more pages of description. After all the book is only about 320 pages.

My, what an interesting book- and series. Glen Cook has created an underground cult classic for fantasy lovers. His world is fascinating, dark, and exciting. The characters make decisions based on their situation and their perceptions of conflicts, and this leads to both 'good' and 'evil' wrapped neatly into shades of grey. Some may not like the idea that the Black Company usually finds itself on the side of 'evil,' but when you read the plight and predicament of the characters, you will understand. And this perception of grey is exactly what makes this book, and the series, work so magnificently. The characters in these books seem so 'thin' and undeveloped, but by the time you finish the story, these characters remain in your mind long after you put the book down. Why only 4 stars? Unfortunately, I felt this series suffers from uneven storytelling. The first book, "The Black Company," and the second, "Shadows Linger," are fairly tight and move well. But then, the third and fourth book were off pace and seemed, at times, searching for more forward inertia material (that is- plot.) Taken as a whole, this is a fine series and one well-worth reading. And, at only three to four hundred pages each, can be read comfortably in a few days. Plus, you feel like you have actually accomplished and witnessed something great, instead of exhausted, like many doorstopper fantasy novels make you feel.

If you have just about had it with epic fantasy and it's mockery--it's parody--of J.R.R. Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings, give Glen Cook's The Black Company a shot.

This ain't no weenie fantasy novel. No Gandalf, Frodo and Aragorn clones here (Robert Jordan and Terry Brooks take note!). This is a novel about realistic characters. Characters who aren't evil nor good. They're both. Like real people. Like you and me. They are colored gray, not black or white.

The novel follows the misadventures of a group of mercenaries. The story is told through the eyes of Croaker, the doctor/annalist of the mercenaries. It's a fascinating little romp--at times, very dark in it's imagery. But it is realistic. There are no knights in shining armor riding white horses to save the day. There is just a bunch of mercenary soldiers trying to make a buck.

These are guys like you and me. Just trying to the best they can--sometimes they fail, sometimes they succeed.

If you like fantasy authors Roger Zelazny and Steven Brust, you'll love Glen Cook.

As someone who is learning to cook only late in her life, I was apprehensive and embarrassed about asking simple basic questions of friends and family. Perceiving this, my parents gave me this cookbook, and voila! -- I can cook!

With step-by-step instructions on everything from cookware, ingredients, buying, preapring, cooking, and serving, there's nothing this book can't handle. It provides recipes to prepare foods in the simplest ways, all the way up to complex gourmet dishes. And it covers every imaginable food -- if it isn't in here, I can't imagine where you'd find it.

The language is straightforward and encouraging, with appropriate editorializing on the author's preferences, and the layout is clean and easy to read. I can't say enough good things about this cookbook -- it never leaves my kitchen counter.

(P.S. -- Try the spinach with tons of butter -- it's to die for!)

For the longest time I was skeptical of the title "How to Cook Everything". This book does have most everything in their selection of recipe, but better yet, they are excellent recipes. I love this book because it tells you how to prepare food in many different ways. This book is simple to read, laid out well, and the recipes are easy to follow. While this may not be a beginner cookbook it is quite good, and you will be sure to be pleased with this book. In many ways it reminds me of the Joy of Cooking books with a more contemporary feel to it.
Bittman is kind enough to give menus and other suggestions so you won't be wondering what would go with the fine meal you just prepared. A very nice added touch. The book also gives basic information about various foods their storage and preparation. This book is a wonderful addition to any cook book collection.

This is a wonderful all-around cookbook, much easier to follow than the "Joy of Cooking". Cooking has always been my passion, but my creations were always fairly complex, adventurous dishes ... I never really learned how to make simple, every day meals. This book really helped me out with that! This would be a perfect gift for someone who has recently moved out on their own or for the single guy who needs a break from frozen pizzas! Even if most of the book were useless (which it is not), it would be a worthwhile purchase simply for the section entitled "28 Meals You Can Prepare in the Time it Takes to Boil Pasta" ... the recipes in this section are all simple, require usually less than 5 ingredients and can be prepared in just a few minutes. There are wonderfully detailed explanations in the books about simple, time-saving cooking techniques, as well as the reasons why certain things are prepared the way they are, so that the cook will have a better understanding of what they are doing. I would recommend this cookbook to everyone!

I thoroughly enjoy a good change. Change IS good. At least with regards to this revision of the 2nd Edition Dungeon Master Guide. If you are an old pro, this book will expand on the information contained in previous versions, clarify some of the old rules, provide a correction or two, and occasionally make a rule modification (which it will clearly point out!).

For the beginner, or any AD&D player new to DMing, this book is full of information and advice, and is required material for any AD&D (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) DM (Dungeon Master/Game Master). This DM Guide gives you all the rules, as well as some helpful hints, you will need to begin running an AD&D adventure for group of players. It is not a 'How To' book. It is only a Guide, and a very good one at that. This book provides the necessary framework from which you can build endless AD&D adventures. It does not teach you 'how to' write adventures, it does not teach you 'how to' role-play. Though it will provide some advice in these areas, as any good guide should. (Remember, the AD&D game is a product of the mind, not books. Adventures begin and end in the imagination. Guide books only lend some structure through rules and suggestions.) To sum up the good points, this DM Guide provides all you need to begin and govern an AD&D game.

The bad points are minimal. First, too much of the art work is amateur. Some of it is very good, but there are enough sad looking drawings to make you wonder why they were included. Second, old pros will notice that the prices for magic items have been omitted (with an explanation). If you want or need a price list you'll have to find an old version of the book, or try the WOTC.com or TSR.com web site, they have a list available.

Those are the only two reasons this book gets a 4 star rating, instead of a five.

Other reviews will mention that a DM will also require a 'Monstrous Manual' and an 'AD&D Player Handbook'. That's true, but I strongly suggest another supplement, the Dungeon Master Screen/Index. And the Player Handbook isn't needed for the DM if any other player has it. And one final comment, if you need more 'how to' advice for role-playing or writing adventures, which rightfully is not in this book, that information is available on-line for free. Try searching at about.com

AD&D is the greatest game ever created! Get this book and Enjoy the Game for many years!

This book is the newest edition of the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide. As it is one of the three "core books", i.e. ones that contain the general rules, it is required reading for the DM. This release has its faults and its good sides.

Like all three core books ( Player's Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and the Monstrous Manual) that were reprinted in 1995, this volume is expanded from the previous editions. It has many more pages that before, many with color illustrations. The font is larger and easier to read.

As a manual for creating realism in the adventures you create, the Guide does succeed, although not everywhere. Nearly every rule is followed by good sketches, tables, and graphs for easy reference. New situations are detailed, and there is a generous sprinkling of optional rules for enhanced realism. Despite this, some of the shady areas have been left only partially explained ( large-scale travel, for example). The book is written with good-natured humor, and is by itself fine reading. Also, I would like to commend on the lists of magical and arcane items.

The book is the required start for any DM, and it reamins the necessary component of any game session. Buy it, but never show it to your players.

This book is essential for and AD&D game, without this you have no rules. 2nd Edition D&D cleared up many problems of the original, while still keeping the game in the realm of fun. Unlike 3rd Edition, which is just hack and slash and a mockery(kind of like the movie) of the original. 2nd Edition challenges you to think and actually get into your characters.

In this autobiography, Ruth Reichl, the longtime food critic for the NY Times, now the editor in chief at Gourmet, explains how she came to love food. The book weaves a tapestry of stories, including some about her mother (dubbed the Queen of Mold for serving completely unpalatable dishes) and her early childhood (how an early trip to Paris and her time spent at a French-Canadian boarding school influenced her tastes) to her adulthood, working in a collaborative kitchen and becoming friends with influential foodies.

The stories are often laugh out loud funny, and some are very touching (her mother's manic behavior is explained later in the book). The book allows the reader to see Reichl's influences and her deep love of food through the stories, without Reichl ever coming out and saying "these are my influences."

Food lovers in particular will probably adore this book, but lovers of autobiographies will probably also enjoy it. The book is not about food, exactly, but about a woman's coming of age (and part of that coming of age is that she simply loves food and the art of its creation).

A delicious read--I couldn't put it down.

Light, yet rich and tasty. Restaurant critic Ruth Reichl's memoir is all of these. Easy to read, yet filled with insight and well-rounded characters. The author's mother suffered from manic depression, and one way it manifested itself was in bizarre - and often downright poisonous - culinary creations. The author describes herself as having been shaped by her mother's handicap, beginning at an early age to use food as a way of making sense of the world. She effectively conveys this food-sense in a series of funny and poignant tales that take us from her childhood in New York up through young adulthood in California. She lovingly introduces the significant people in her life, revealing them to us in how and what they cooked. Her stories are punctuated by recipes (I didn't cook any of them, but they look like they should work).

The author is equally effective when she moves away from the table to tell more directly of her relationships with friends and family. She describes some episodes that could be seen as time-bound clichés - living in a commune, working in a collectively managed restaurant - with a perspective sometimes lacking in baby-boom memoirs. She brings similar good-humored perspective to her mother's mental illness and her own struggle with anxiety attacks, never wallowing in graphic description of symptoms. You don't have to be a "foodie" to enjoy TENDER AT THE BONE, just a lover of warm, tender memoirs.

The friend that I borrowed this book from was devastated when I returned it and she (subsequently) couldn't find it. Synchronously, I received it in a recycling effort from one of her dear friends. Imagine how excited she's going to be to receive it back!

With good-humored perspective, Ruth Reichl, NY Times Food Editor, lovingly introduces the significant people in her life and the way she managed to find a path for herself and build a wonderful life in spite of a tumultuous childhood. A childhood that was filled with emotional trauma and rather ghastly home experiences, (imagine) Ruth's Mother picks her up from middle school, and without any preparation or explanation, drives to Canada, where she deposits Ruth in a Catholic boarding school where only French is spoken. When Ruth begs not to be left there, her Mother reminds her that she is the one that wants to learn French!
Reichl introduces us to quirky, memorable characters that thankfully guided the development of her love of fine food. A story filled with wit, sadness, resourcefulness and occasional mishap, Ruth will tell you she learned early in life that the most important thing in life is a good story!
You will be as amazed as I by the life Reichl led and discover a range of cooking and eating possibilities way beyond today's lifestyle. Excellent!