Good resource for general Supreme Court information and pre-1992 key cases. However, as those who follow the Supreme Court know, much has happened in the intervening 9 years since the book was published. We currently have a very conservative, yet very active Supreme Court. New judicial trends are emerging in the areas of federalism and congressional commerce powers that are suddenly vastly different from what they had been from the New Deal up until 1995. A glance at recent cases such as The City of Boerne v. Flores and the mind-boggling Bush v. Gore show the Supreme Court's reinterpretation of the reach and power of the 14th Amendment. In short, many of the precedents outlined in this book are no longer valid.

For a more current, and cheaper, book that covers much of the same ground, check out The Oxford Guide to United States Supreme Court Decisions, released in 1999. It only covers the cases, unlike "The Companion;" but that's kinda' the point isn't it?

The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court is a solid compilation of people, ideas, issues, and desicions involving the U.S. Supreme Court. It is getting a bit dated, but it still has many, many entires that will help anyone better understand the court's history.

Like other Oxford companions, this one was compiled by experts in the field and has much to offer. Likewise it has the annoying nuances of the other volumes (such as using symbols to indicate cross referenced items rather than boldface or italics) but these do not detract from the book's value.

Historians, lawyers, consititution adherents, and many others will find this an invaluable resource worth purchasing,...

The _Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States_ is a reference book. The topics are arranged alphabetically, like entries in an encyclopedia. They include biographies of all justices to sit in the Supreme Court up to Clarence Thomas' confirmation, and other nominees or people associated to the Court, important decisions (with dates argued, dates decided, what the vote was, who wrote the opinions, etc), basic terms associated with the Court (such as 'writ of certiorari'), constitutional doctrines (such as 'substantive due process') and other topics, such as a very complete History of the Court. The appendices include the U.S. Constitution, two lists of Justices, one simply arranged chronologically, and one more graphical noting who the President who nominated each justice was, who the Chief Justice was, etc. There is also a short appendix with a number of firsts, trivia, and traditions associated to the Court.

I should say that I am not a lawyer and not a Law Student. I am an interested lay observer only. Yet the book is written at a level which is accessible (even if you sometimes have to go check the cross-references), and very, very informative. Just reading a couple of entries a day will greatly enhance your understanding of the Supreme Court and its role, or how the Justices work.

As a reference, I doubt it has a match. The justices' biogrphies are very interesting, including major decisions or philosophical contributions. The summaries of cases include not only information on the case and the decision, but also any lasting constitutional effects, and whether or not they were later overturned (whether by other decisions, or by constitutional amendments). The historical essays alone would be worth the price of admission, as would the thorough coverage of Constitutional Schools (constructivism, First Amendment absolutism, etc), or important precedents and tests. Just what is the "clear and present danger" test, where did it originate, and how has it been modified since then? Turn to 'clear and present danger' and read the entry. You'll learn all that and more.

I've read the book cover to cover, and emerged with a much greater, clearer understanding of the Supreme Court and the Constitution than I could have obtained from reading any other single book. It is not easy reading (imagine trying to read your way through an encyclopedia...) but even if you pick and choose the entries you read, you'll come out wiser than you came in.

I recommend the book heartily to those interested in the Supreme Court, whether professionally or not. It is well worth the price.

America's post-Civil War years brought a renewed interest in the European scene. Journeys
known as Grand Tours led tourists to take ship to the Continent. They fanned out across the
landscape with the intent to "know Europe." Their return home resulted in a flurry of
published accounts. Twain satirizes both the tourists and their writings with delicious
wit. Ever a man to play with words, his "tramp" refers to both himself and the walking tour
of Europe he purports to have made. By the time you've reached the end of the account of the
"walking tour" incorporating trains, carriages and barges, you realize that the longest "walk"
Twain took occurred in dark hotel room while trying to find his bed. He claims to have
covered 47 miles wandering around the room.

Twain was interested in everything, probing into both well-known and obscure topics. His
judgments are vividly conveyed in this book, standing in marked contrast to his more
reserved approach in Innocents Abroad. A delightful overview of mid-19th Century Europe,
Tramp is also interlaced with entertaining asides. Twain was deeply interested in people, and
various "types" are drawn from his piercing gaze, rendered with acerbic wit. Some of these
are contemporary, while others are dredged from his memories of the California mines and
other journeys. He also relished Nature's marvels, recounting his observations. A favourite
essay is "What Stumped the Blue-jays." A nearly universal bird in North America, Twain's
description of the jay's curiosity and expressive ability stands unmatched. He observes such
humble creatures as ants, Alpine chamois, and the American tourist. Few escape his
perception or his scathing wit. This book remains valuable for its timeless rendering of
characters and the universality of its view. It can be read repeatedly for education or
entertainment.

All these volumes are self-recommending except, perhaps, to those poor, misguided people who continue to pigeon-hole one of the world's great writers. Yes, Twain was a humorist who virtually invented modern American English as a literary language. But the sheer range of his achievement is staggering. And the best way to experience it is altogether. And the best "altogether" is this magnificent 29 volume set from Oxford. Other people can speak with more authority about Twain the author. I want to speak a little about how delicious it is to encounter him in these books. They are reproductions of the original American editions and the facsimiles are beautifully rendered. But this isn't important in itself; we're not about to spend [...] for a little bit of nostalgia. Rather, just open any one of these 29 volumes and see what a difference its admittedly antique printing style makes. White spacing between the printed lines is generous to an unbelievable degree, as are the page margins. Your eyes don't tire. You can savour each page at whatever pace you want to set for yourself. Worlds open and invite. This is how people read books a hundred years ago. This is the way to read books!

I have not read Twain since High School twenty five plus years ago but a friend on a newspapers book forums got me to read him again and A Tramp Abroad is the first book I picked. For the current generation this book may drag but for those of us who grew up reading books instead of playing computer games this is Twain at his best. One has to actually read into his writing to appreciate a lot of the irony but when this book is really on like the mountain climbing near the Matterhorn ,Twain makes Seinfeld seem like he's talking about something. A brilliant travel essay and by the way the Penguin Classics edition of this book in paperback is 411 pages long, not 670 pages .

Cantrip is missing! Having been seconded to assist with the mysterious Daffodil settlement in the Tax Haven of the Channel Islands, he disappears, and there seem to be bodies all over the place, bodies and unlimited suspects who might well have been involved in murdering them - or then again might not. Even murder isn't necessarily on the cards here. Really, it is up to Professor Hilary Tamar to sort things out and find the culprits, and find Cantrip at the same time.

A while ago we were discussion (on a Jane Austen list) the art of the epistolary form of the novel - and perhaps this is the original idea behind Caudwell's form of mysteries - they are very reliant on letter writing. While the first mystery featured letters by Julia from Venice (Thus was Adonis murdered), and the second Serena from Corfu (The Shortest Way to Hades), this has Young barrister, Michael Cantrip, writing from..... well.... all over France - and using the handy mechanism of the Telex machine to send his messages back to the members of the nursery at 62 New Square (and the occassional less than flattering note to their Clerk, Henry).

A very funny, bouynat mystery with the usual Caudwell twist at the end - I guess the unexpected seems to occur every few pages really - The only thing I would mention is that I didn't feel like all the clues were quite at my grasp as they might have been - however, I didn't mind, it was such a rollicking good fun ride. Sometimes I wonder if I read these as mysteries or comedies - they are lovely as both. .

I was delighted with Cauldwell's third book in her too-short series. Much maligned Cantrip always makes me laugh, and you get plenty of him in this book.

After the relatively disappointing second book in the series (The Shortest Way to Hades) I was enraptured to find The Sirens Sang of Murder on a par with the first Sarah Caudwell, the one that made me sing hosannas and rush out to buy everything she had written. One of the strengths and pleasures of Sirens, as with Thus Was Adonis Murdered, is that a large part of it takes the form of an epistolary novel, in this case through telexes in the hilarious voice of Cantrip. Surely Caudwell is a fan of P.G. Wodehouse, since the hapless Cantrip reminds me irresistibly of clueless Bertie Wooster, even down to his malapropisms and his dotty uncle (reminiscent of Uncle Fred). Having so many adventures related through his harried, well-intentioned, quirky voice ("pottle" is one of his favorite verbs) makes everything that much livelier. Another clever, enjoyable device is the use of hackneyed romance-novel cliches, which circulate due to Cantrip and Julia's collaboration on a would-be bestseller. Added to this heady mixture is the faintly dangerous, sexy whiff of witch lore and the supernatural.

If you enjoyed Thus Was Adonis Murdered, don't hesitate to heed the Sirens' seductive cry.

It's apparent by reading the other reviews that the previous reviewers enjoyed this book more than I did. I give it 3 1/2 because I do think it was enjoyable read, but I can't say it will last with me for a long time. I feel this is a replica or imitation of Josephine Tey's "The Daughter of Time". That book was superb in the fact that it was a unique concept of solving a past mystery and due to the context in World History of the mystery itself. I highly recommend that book. This is the first Morse book I have read, and while I found the characters of the story interesting I can't say that I found the mystery that riveting. I just didn't find the solution that compelling. If you are already a fan of the Inspector Morse novels, I am sure that you will probably enjoy this story & I am clearly in the minority rating it as low as 3 1/2 stars. If you are looking for a intriguing mystery involving history, you should read "Daughter of Time".

Even when ill, Morse proves that great things come to those who apply themselves. Morse is indeed cranky and ill-tempered; but he tends to succeed where the system tends to fail. Inspite of the misgivings Lewis (who insists upon being a nerd) insists upon wallowing in, Morse teaches him a few valuable lessions. This book is a good read and well worth the effort.

I picked up this book because of its intriguing title and couldn't put it down. In the manner of Josephine Tey's "The Daughter of Time," Inspector Morse solves a century-old murder from his hospital bed. And, in the manner of Peter Robinson's "In a Dry Season," physical evidence is uncovered to bolster his theory. A magnificent piece of detecting.

Kositsky plunges her heroine back into Elizabethan England for a wild, rollicking adventure with an acting company and a theater hanger-on named Will Shakspere, who seems to be taking credit for Shakespeare's plays. Young adults (and not so young) will relish her gross encounters with Elizabethan thugs and her winning ways with the acting company and Queen Elizabeth herself, who bestows an early version of the Academy Awards. Hard-core Stratfordians will object to Oxford as the playwright, but Kositsky's light, spoofing treatment, solidly grounded in the facts of the authorship controversy,easily carries the reader into her version of the world's biggest literary mystery. It's a blast from the past.

The ONLY reason the orthodox Stratfordian view of the authorship of Shakespeare's works has managed to survive is that it is taught to the young with no information about its rickety foundation, or about the persuasiveness of the Oxford alternative. Books like this one may hasten the day when the bizarre Stratford myth collapses of its own weight. An admirable corrective, and a fun read.

Here is an engaging, entertaining, and indeed positively delightful romp through the underworld of the Elizabethan theatrical scene -- as witnessed through the eyes of an intellectually precocious thirteen-something (unlucky in love!-Yikes!) named Willow who suddenly finds herself teleported from 20th century Ontario into the grimy candlelight world of London in 1593 where she finds herself rooming with the -- allegedly -- great playwrite "Shakspere."

Only the most dogmatic partisans of the by-now moribund official view of Shakespeare will be offended this linguistically precocious reconstruction of the "might have been" hypothesis of the Earl of Oxford's identity as the real Bard. Indeed Lynne Kositsky has an uncanny knack for anchoring her fictional narrative in detailed and singularly accurate memory for cultural nuance and historical incident. Kositsky also possesses a natural gift for the pulse of language. Her narrator speaks in an energetic and often captivating fusion of Canadian Valley Girl slang and Elizabethen vernacular, which is certain to capture the imagination of many young readers. Is this another J.K. Rowling in the making?

Here's a taste:

Bobby Goffe really hated me, that was for sure: he criticized and cuffed me every chance he got. Shakspere dissed me daily, perchance cos he'd been stuck with me, mayhap cos he feared I'd discovered his secret schemes. And I still needed to keep a sharp look out for that other gig, Beavis, Butthead, and Mystery Guy, at every turn. To cut a long story short, I felt threatened every step I took. At the house, at the Theatre, on the street, a mere whisper would twist my head around, a hint of a hubbub would set my heart to heaving.

(p. 70)

As the reader may detect, Ms. Kositsky's most formidable weapon, like that of her dark hero Edward Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, is a razor sharp wit, viz. her biting satirical invocation of the (historically real)duel between actor Gabriel Spencer and actor-playwright Ben Jonson, in which Willow, transporting mysterious packages between Vere and Shakspere, is revealed to be the precipitating cause of the duel:

Galloping gobstoppers, what should I do now? Stand my ground till [Spenser] strangled me, or agree to what he wanted, and then get out while the going was good. I was too scared to make up my mind. He started shaking me again like I was a pair of maracas. And maybe there were two of me at that, cos I was starting to see everything double.

"No, never," I cried at last. "I will never give you anything of Vere's. Do your worst!" I drooped over like a limp lily, and was about to throw up on the villain's boots, really making him mad, when Ben Jonson rushed into the Cathedral. He must have been behind us all the time. In a trice, he realized the mess I was in and shoved his bully-boy face into Spencer's, fixing him with his beery breath. "That's Shakspere's lad, Gabe. Put him down right now, right here, right this minute, before you do him a permanent disablement"......

(p. 102)

The book can be recommended without reserve for all readers between the ages of eight and eighty who love the derring-do world which belongs to "Shakespeare" -- the world which harbored the great voyages of exploration which have made our modern life, for better or worse, what it now is. The author deserves congratulation if not some sort of medal; but one may be sure the further books by Ms. Kositsky are not far from publication.

but the story bogged down in the middle too much for my taste. There were a lot of characters and a lot of relations among the characters- I had a hard time keeping up with who was who! My real problem with the book, however, was that much of the story was advanced through letters from one of the good guys. The story had basically slowed to a stop and then all the footwork and plot advancement happened in these letters. I just did not like that method for development. After reading these letters our hero, the Professor, figures everything out and gets on an airplane to resolve the case. Maybe if the letters had been developed as part of the plot and the 100 pages of filler before had been eliminated I could have got into the fun. Oh well!

Another deliciously witty and unexpected Murder Mystery from Caudwell, the second in her all too short career as a mystery writer, and featuring the ever superior Professor Hilary Tamar as the Oxford scholar and semi-detective. These are neat, urbane mysteries which almost make you want to take up discussion of the minutiae of the British Tax code. The characters are generally the same as those which featured in the first mystery in this series- "Thus Was Adonis Murdered" - only this time, to add to the joy of the Tax Code, there is minute discussion of the laws of inheritance, and some Greek mythology vs History thrown in for good measure.

So when Dreary Deidre falls over the side of her uncle's flat during the annual Cambridge/Oxford boat race, none of her family is too disturbed. Most of them think she is better gone than still alive. She was never great fun, always whining, and to top it all off, she had just caused a great stink when they had tried to adjust the entail set up by her great grandfather in which Dedre's cousin (the beautiful, talented and intelligent Camilla) would inherit all. It seems, having resolved this to her advantage, Deidre had everything to live for - but Julia - her barrister of 63 New Square suspects otherwise.

This all leads to a twisted trail of attempted murders, a cruise around the Greek Islands, an uexpected visit to an orgy and a first class flight for Professor Tamar (at someone else's expense naturally).

For Jane Austen fans, this book is a must, if only for the classic scene in which Serena picks up Pride and Prejudice to read....in fact this book would definitely appeal to Austen fans (I think).

I do like Caudwell for her neat use of language, her lovely understated humour and her ability to make the various and fine points of legal language and concepts available to the reader. I also love the very complicated trail she weaves and am in awe of how she twists things all back together again. These are hugely enjoyable books and I almost cry when I think there are only 4 of them.

The first page will tell you whether you are going to find unreadable or (like me) find it one of the most entertaining reads of the decade. The style is elaborately witty with nineteenth century diction combined with descriptions of late twentieth century partying and mayhem. It is all very artificial and mannered. The plot is about the murder of beneficiaries of a will and in many ways a classical English whodunnit. The setting is in London lawyers' (sorry barristers') offices (sorry chambers),lesbian nightclubs and the Ionian Islands. Lots of sex but never explicit. A lot of information about English law, classical Greece, sailing and cricket.

Buyer beware!! This audio contains only 4 or the original 13 stories contained in the Case Book of Sherlock Holmes. Clearly it is an abridgement. !!

"The Case Book of Sherlock Holmes" was Doyle's last collection of short stories on the great detective. The stories may not have been uniformly as good as the earlier Holmes stories, and some of the plots may have been derivative, but they still entertain.

"The Three Garridebs" rehashed the plot of "The Red Headed League". "The Creeping Man" turned in a creepy tale whose premise has been disproved by later science. "The Veiled Lodger" was not even a mystery.

The rest of the stories were much better. "The Blanched Soldier" presented a conundrum which Holmes solved without visiting the scene. "The Sussex Vampire" had a perfectly natural explanation. "The Lion's Mane" involved violent death, but was there a crime? Holmes worked for an unnamed "Illustrious Client", but you should be able to figure out who it was. We meet Holmes' page, Billy, for the first and last time in "The Mazarin Stone". We meet international intrigue in "Shoscombe Old Place" and an arrogant murderer in "The Retired Colourman". My favorite story of the lot is "The Problem of Thor Bridge", where Holmes clears a young lady of murder in the face of almost overwhelming evidence of guilt.

Here we are again with the omniscient Holmes and incredulous Watson exploring mysteries as inscrutable as ever before. These stories are, as a previous reviewer has noted, on the darker side of things, no doubt as a resullt of WWI, in which Doyle lost his son. One even takes place, for the most part, in America, of all places!-There's always this comfortable, almost fairy tale sense in all of the Holmes' stories of this magic Victorian nightworld which Holmes and Watson float above in their upper middle class ease, and which we know (except in one story not in this book) that all will be well with the two friends in the end. Even when we know we are being duped, as when cigar ashes or some other peculiar evidence appears and Holmes announces "Surely you've read my monograph on the subject," and proceeds to expound upon their significance to the case, we are still pleased, like an opium smoker taking another drag from his pipe and drifting back to Xanadu. Like all Holmes' stories, these are bound to keep you turning the pages, as well as to enchant you thus.-Doyle's stories are so enchanting, in fact, that in the most recent issue of the New York Review of Books it is revealed that most Taiwanese believed that they were true and that London was a cobblestoned city perpetually inundated in fog!-A very nice compilation, indeed, with all the original drawings from The Strand.

This dictionary (identical to the one sold in hard covers as the "Desk" dictionary of Spanish) is excellent within its limits. If compactness and simplicity of layout are your most important criteria (and you don't want a "baby" dictionary), then this may be the right choice for you.

But if you want the most extensive coverage available in paperback, the Webster's New World Spanish Dictionary (ISBN 0139536477) has MANY more words and definitions, while still remaining compact enough in comparison to the big hardcovers. As someone who used the Oxford Pocket until I outgrew it and then moved on to the Webster's New World & have been delighted with its superiority, I can make this recommendation w/o reservation.

I am a beginning Spanish student and found this dictionary very helpful. I particularly liked how the dictionary was split in two, front part being the Spanish to English and the back part being the English to Spanish. The only thing I wish it included was the phonic way to pronounce the Spanish words. All in all it is a good dictionary but if I had found one that helped you pronounce the Spanish words I would have gotten that one first.

THIS IS A GOOD ONE. MANY SMALLER POCKET DICTIONARIES ARE WORTHLESS...THIS ONE JUST ABOUT ALWAYS HAS THE WORD I AM
LOOKING FOR WITH GOOD SYNONYMS AND EXPLANATIONS. IT WILL FIT
IN A PURSE OR BACKPACK EASILY AND IS WELL WORTH ITS WEIGHT WITH
THE INSIGHT IT PROVIDES

"What is it about Oxford [Mississippi] that produces writers?" It's a question Larry Brown, Barry Hannah and John Grisham get asked a lot. Brown says, "They always want to ask about Faulkner and what it all means, being a writer in Oxford, and where all the stories come from....

"I don't know what the answer is for anybody else, and I don't know what caused Faulkner to write," he explains, but "Most times, for any writer, I think it springs from some sort of yearning in the breast to let things out, to say something about the human condition, maybe just to simply to tell a story."

Of this, he knows plenty, for the essays in this memoir - I say "this," as opposed to "his," because I'm sure there will be many more - are stories of his life, so far; as a writer, indulgent father, and reluctant farmer.

Getting back to the question, he supposes it basically boils down to this: "Where do you get your ideas?" His response is "I believe that writers have to write what they know about. I don't think there's much choice in that." Elaborating, he says, "All [Faulkner] was doing was what every other writer does, and that is drawing upon the well of memory and experience and imagination that every writer pulls his or her material from. The things you know, the things you have seen or heard of, the things you can imagine. A writer rolls all that stuff together kind of like a taco and comes up with fiction. And I think whatever you write about, you have to know it. Concretely. Absolutely. Realistically."

Brown has an easy, honest way with language that is as smooth as Mississippi molasses. Describing the region around Tula, where he spent his teenage years, he writes, "The tall cypresses with their knees standing in water were hollow coon castles, the bark worn smooth on one side only from the steady traffic of coons scrambling up in the morning and down at night, regular as dairymen."

Reminiscing about his hunting expeditions with neighbors, he writes, "in the reserves of good memories we all hold, those times are special and seem magical to me, those nights in the woods and those days in the fields, those lessons in the wild."

Hunting is a tradition that weaves its way through Brown's family's generations, one he now shares with his sons: "They bring in ducks and squirrels and deer and doves, and I cook for them as my mother did for me, and they tell me their hunting stories, and I listen to catch their words."

In addition to letting us glimpse his personal life, Brown takes us down the long enduring road he's taken in becoming a writer. Deliberately seeking mentors in his early days as a writer, he found one when a friend lent him a copy of A Feast of Snakes by Harry Crews. He would go on to read everything by the author he could get his hands on, and in the end, he's "grateful that a writer like him walks this earth."

Brown had written five unpublished novels by 1985, "and almost a hundred short stories that had, for the most part, gone begging also." Pulling 24-hour shifts at the Oxford fire department, working odd jobs on his off-days to make ends meet, and writing in his "spare" time, Brown burned one of his novels in his backyard and worked on his rejection-slip collection.

His "apprenticeship period" would span seven years - a relative bargain, considering Crews' lasted 10 - until his first book of short stories, Facing the Music, was accepted for publication.

Brown writes with such a subtle passion. Speaking of his son, Billy Ray, whose farm is the subject of the essay chosen for the book's title, he tells, "The barn leaks. It's an old barn, pretty ragged, but he's tried to fix it up. He's mowed yards since he was twelve years old, and worked as a butcher, and hauled hay, and laid sod, and worked on a hog farm. He's saved his money, and all he's ever wanted is to be a cattleman. And it's always hurt me deep that he has had such bad luck."

Perhaps Billy Ray should take a page from his father's history and realize that with a little luck and a lot of dedication, dreams come true.

I know these essays are compiled from a few scattered sources and were written here & there for the last couple of years, but the arrangement they get in this book reads like pure Larry Brown. Not since his takes on his firefighting career have I been more pleased with one of his offerings. "Fay" was, for me, lacking in stately elegance, taking itself just a little too seriously, while "Father and Son" was achingly forced in its cardboard intensity. The thing missing in those two works was a sense of humor, and it's back in "Billy Ray's Farm" in spades. A few laughs definitely give a laid-back funkiness to the proceedings, as his observations are concrete and believable (as usual) but at the same time entertaining and lively.

I have read all of Larry Brown's books, and he works best with a smile on his face. These essays find him grinning from ear to ear, and it's about time he regained that sense of playfulness and naughtiness he seemed to have lost with bot "Fay" and "Father and Son", which were heavy-handed and too simplistic in their approach. I'm glad he seems to have come back to Earth with these essays & I can't wait for more of the same.

Larry Brown gets better with each book published. This book is quintessential Larry Brown. Simple, sparse, and completely accessible. Some people may be surprised at the lighter tones in this book of essays. It just goes to show the honesty in everything Brown writes. I have a little Larry Brown story that I think his fans would appreciate. I had the pleasure of hearing Brown read from Billy Ray's Farm at a bookshop in New York City. By mistake someone in the press printed the time of the reading incorrectly by almost two hours. Two people walked in and were devastated that they missed his reading. One of the employees told them that he was still in the back if they wanted to go talk to them. They were both a little awestruck. They're huge fans of his. After getting up the nerve they went up to them and told them how much his writing meant to them and how sorry they were to miss the reading. So what do you think he did? He took these two people into a corner of the store and read two chapters to them. Only them. It was a great thing to see and it's that quality that comes through in all of his stories. Truth and fiction. He is by far my favorite writer working today. I'm a big fan of Jim Harrison and Harry Crews as well, being from the south. If you haven't read "Fay" yet, pick it up as soon as you can. It's an amazing story. Brown does what all great writers do. He makes you forget that you're reading. Can't wait to see what's next.

I married a russian woman and this book has helped us communicate a great deal. We don't go anywhere without one!

For the price, this is an excellent dictionary. In response to the person who writes below that this dictionary lacks Russian phonetic pronunciation, saying "I was disappointed that there is no guide to the pronounciation of the Russian words. My desktop English dictionary gives the phonetic spelling of English words. So why not a Russian-English dictionary that gives the phonetic spelling of the Russian words?," I think it should be pointed out that Russian spelling is, with very few (and generally well known) exceptions, phonetic. I.e., with very few exceptions, a word is pronounced exactly as it is spelled. The only difficulty you might have with Russian pronunciation is determining where the accent falls in a word you're not familiar with. This dictionary, like almost all Russian dictionaries, indicates where the accent (udareniye) falls for each word and variant positions (where necessary) based on changing the case, number, tense, etc. Since Russian spelling is already almost 100% phonetic, providing an additional phonetic spelling of each word in the dictionary would be redundant and a waste of space -- except, perhaps, only for those who have not learned the Cyrillic alphabet -- something which the authors of this dictionary probably assume its readers have already done. The best Russian dictionaries I think are the Oxford hardcover editions, and, for American English speakers, such as myself, the dictionary by Kenneth Katzner. This dictionary though is very handy though when you need something more compact. Even better is the old (1980's) version of the Oxford Russian/English English/Russian Pocket Dictionary which is smaller and more comprehensive, but apparently out of print. There is a new version of Oxford Russian/English English/Russian Pocket Dictionary (available on Amazon) -- but it lacks the old version's genuine "pocket" size and the content is somewhat different (it was edited by different people).

I never thought that I would give up using Smirnitsky's Russian-English or Mueller's English-Russian dictionaries; I relied on them for so long. But any more I find myself automatically reaching for my new Oxford when I need to look up a word! My wife does too, when she's looking for the right word in English. I recommend it highly if you regularly need a good Russian dictionary.