The purpose of this book is similar to that of 'Mastering Chess' (in 21 days, by Kopec et al.) with a similar audience and similar deficiencies. I think it's best for players from 1300 to 1500 USCF, and it might be a fair review up to 1700.

First, I like the notation in this book. Basically, it's Algebraic Notation (eg Nf3), as opposed to the older Descriptive Notation (KN-B3), but Curry adds the original position when he refers to prior moves. "White just played Q/d1-b3." He uses the slash (/) when he refers to the position of a piece, and I find that helpful.

Curry's section on openings is weak. He lists the first 6-10 standard book moves for several dozen openings, but he does not describe their themes and goals (with a few exceptions). I don't see any value in this. However, he makes up for this by supplying a simple opening system for White, the "Curry Opening". It's similar to the Torre Attack and has much in common with both the Colle and London Systems. He does a much better job of describing the goals of this system than Seirawan does for the Barcza Opening in 'Winning Chess Openings'. And he includes 10 (unannotated) games to show typical play. It's a practical approach.

While his middlegame advice is hardly more than review and summary, his sections on the endgame are very useful. He explains some common endings. He demonstrates endgame tactics to watch for. And he provides four examples of typical endgames from actual games. Short but sweet. You will learn something here, but you will wish for more.

The best part of the book, and the only reason I'm recommending it at all, is the series of "Cover-Up" games. In these you cover up the moves and try to play one side of the board. Unfortunately, most of these only assign points for good moves, rather than explaining bad ones or commenting on plans. There are only about half a dozen games with actual comments, so it is not a great value for the money.

The main problem with this book, as with 'Mastering Chess', is that the advice will not stick with anyone who does not already understand it. And there is a lot of it. The book is dense with wise verbiage and short on evidence. I don't think that's the way to teach.

The sections on tactics and combinations are even weaker than in Mastering Chess as the number of exercises is much smaller. And this leads to the main reason why I hesitate to recommend this book at any price: Curry puts way too much emphasis on the openings and fails to stress the importance of learning tactics. He mentions tactical study several times, but he never explains that you simply will not improve without speeding up your tactical pattern recognition. Most chapters have a few exercises at the end--too few. Curry gives the impression that you can learn chess by reading words on a page, and that's simply not so.

If you enjoy what Curry calls "Solitaire chess" (ie guessing the moves for one side of the board and being graded) but would like some explanation for the moves, I suggest you take a look at the 'How Good Is Your Chess' books (one by King, one by Barden). Those are bargain values, and I think your chess would improve measurably.

This a practical, workmanlike text that does nothing fancy or "innovative," yet I think it is likely to be of far more use to the improving player than more advanced or specialized works. The author covers all the usual suspects: tactics, strategy, repertoires, endgames, etc.... Excellent review material for the more knowledgeable and good intro for the less-experienced. After you read the fancy opening books, endgame texts, strategy guides, relax and study what you already "know."

Somewhere in one of my many boxes of books I have a copy of a reprint of the original book by Celia Thaxter, "An Island Garden". I have written a review about this book for Amazon elsewhere, and said it wasn't very good (it isn't) and received many negative votes. My major complaint about the "other" book is that you cannot see the brush strokes in the paintings. The book obviously appeals to those who care not a whit about brush strokes.

Fans of Child Hassam--this is the book you want. No, it isn't the cute little book by Thaxter. The reproductions of Childe Hassam's paintings of Celia Thaxter's island in CHILD HASSAM: AN ISLAND GARDEN REVISITED are 100 times better--and you can see the brush strokes. I can't give this book five stars, because I collect art books know the reproductions could have been better. However, the reproductions in this book are head and shoulders above those in Thaxter's book. Not only that, David Curry has included much text about life on Thaxer's island and in her famous parlor.

If you are a fan of the American Impressionist Childe Hassam, you will appreciate knowing something about the artist, his work, his friends, and his relationship with Ms. Thaxter. Most of all, you will be able to see what he painted and get an idea of where you might locate some of the originals. They are still hanging in various places such as the Walter's Gallery in Baltimore and other esoteric locations.

This book was great, I thought the author could have went into more depth but besides that I loved it, I recommend this book to all computer nerds!

This book does exactly what it says on the cover, namely it allows you to cook your favourite Indian curries at home. The easy to follow recipes are complemented by useful tips on preparation techniques. Bore your friends with facts about the origin of their favourite dish but most of all wow them with your culinary prowess. I was stuck on a remote Antarctic island for two years and despite being over a thousand miles from the nearest take away through this book I managed to satiate my curry head.

This timeless work by Dr. Holden of the Southwest Collection of Texas Tech University is a wonderfully focused and authoritative review of the development and operations of the Spur Ranch of West Texas in the late 1800's. It is factual and of considerable historical importance, but it also contains many humorous / exciting / adventuresome stories about early ranch life in this area. Anyone with interest in ranching, West Texas history, the "cowboy life", or related topics will find it enlightening and entertaining. I highly recommend this historic text.

Cathy has been there -- widowed early, nine children; but no pity for self. Her thoughts inspired by the psalms come from a life in a small town where the winters are harsh and the summers hot and are right on! She must know us better than we thought!

Like quite a few of Pat Chapmans other books, this one concentrates mostly on recipes, with a fairly sparse section on ingredients and methods. However, this is A Good Thing, if you already own one of the definative works such as the authors The Curry Bible. The work, therefore, stands on the strength of it's recipes. And it stands pretty tall on those. From the standards ( Chicken Madras ) to the downright yucky ( lambs brain curry ), the recipes are easy to follow, and as expected from this source, extremely tasty. Each recipe comes from a well-known curry house, mostly in the UK, but a few from the sub-continent, and the USA. Each is also accompanied with Pats' anecdote about the restaurant, which are frankly pretty tedious. Overall, an excellent, and pretty inexpensive collection of damn good recipes!

Gerard Curry was a friend of mine, so my views on his books are naturally biased. This book, his first, opened up a new world of gay literature, portraying gays as people with feelings, desires and dreams, dogged by the stereotypes of gay culture. Gerard's writing is poignant and thought-provoking as he clases stereotype with human reality.

Although out of print now, it is comforting to see Gerard's name still listed almost a decade after his death from AIDS. He would find this to be amusing and would be interested in knowing those who would seek him out after such a long time.

Those interested in mathematical logic will appreciate this book written by one of the main contributors to the field in the twentieth century. The technique of "currying" in higher order logic is named after the author, wherein unary functions can be used to emulate functions with many parameters. The book was first published in 1963, reprinted in 1977, and so is not a up-to-date treatment of mathematical logic, but it could still be used as an historical supplement to a course in this subject. The reader should be aware though the terminology employed by the author is very idiosyncratic and therefore it may not reflect what is currently used in the literature.

The first chapter of the book could be considered an introduction to the philosophy of logic and mathematics. The author though views "philosophical logic" as the study of the principles of valid reasoning, and this is to be distinguished from "mathematical logic", wherein mathematical systems are constructed to study (formally) the principles of valid reasoning. One can also according to the author view logic as a theory in itself, and many "models" of it can be studied, in much the same way as many different models of geometry can be considered. The author also discusses very succinctly the logical paradoxes, and the different schools of thought in mathematics, such as Platonism, intuitionism, and formalism. The author clearly advocates the formalist school of thought in this book.

In chapter 2, the author gets more into the details of formal reasoning, the field of semiotics is outlined, and the author first begins defining the grammar and symbols for the upcoming discussion. A theory is defined as a class of statements, and consistency and decidability of theories is defined. The idea of a deductive theory is also defined, and the author defines the notion of such a theory being complete. The notions of consistency, decidability, and completeness are the familiar ones now entrenched in current textbooks on mathematical logic. A formal system, according to the author, is a theory in which the parameters of the statements of the theory are introduced as unspecified objects, and the statements of the theory make assertions on the properties of the parameters and their relations. The author considers syntactical systems, wherein the formal objects are taken from some object language, and what he calls Ob systems, which are essentially the systems considered in modern mathematical logic.The author employs the familiar Godel numbering scheme to numerically represent formal objects. The notion of algorithm is brought in here as an effective procedure to manipulate the formal objects of a system.

The next chapter is basically an introduction to the analysis of what would now be called the metalanguage of a formal system. This analysis is done in terms of what the author calls epistatements and epitheorems. Examples of these epitheorems include the Godel incompleteness theorem and the Skolem-Lowenheim theorem. The author introduces and classifies variables, and defines free and bound variables. A brief introduction to the lambda calculus and combinatory logic is given.

Then in chapter 4, the author discusses logical systems which are relational but with no bound variables. These are called logical algebras by the author, and the reader will encounter the famous truth tables and lattices in this chapter. A discussion of the Heyting algebra is given in the notes to the chapter. The reader interested in the more exotic types of algebraic logic, such as quantum logic, could benefit greatly from the reading of this chapter.

The logic of propositional calculus in terms of algebraic logic is discussed in chapter 5. Called propositional algebras by the author, the author proves the deduction theorem for such systems in this chapter. Interestingly, the L systems introduced by Gentzen are also discussed in this chapter. Although there are much better overviews of Gentzen's work in the current literature, a reader may still profit from a perusing of this chapter. L-systems where negation is added is then the subject of the next chapter.

Quantification in formal systems is taken up in chapter 7, considered both in the usual predicate calculus and in L systems. Prenex normal forms, the Herbrand-Gentzen theorem, and the completeness theorem are discussed in fairly good detail, albeit with old-fashioned notation.

The last chapter covers the interesting concept of modal logic. First considered by Aristotle, the author discusses it in the context of L systems, with the presentation being the shortest in the book.

For those who are afraid of Indian Cuisine this is a great book. Sam has a wonderful restaurant in Vancouver, BC that puts a different spin on Indian Cuisine that would appeal to everyone. This book gives you a chance to make it yourself. Impress your friends and family by making them something from this book and you're bound to get rave reviews. I've made many of the recipes and they are fabulous. There are some flaws as there are times the ingrediant listed could require clarification. For example one recipe calls for 6 star anise but doesn't mention fresh or dried) An experienced cook would know that it's dried but still I had to think it over for a minute.