The weakness of the author's arguments just indicate one thing:
The FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) or as it is commonly known now "Macedonia" has stolen the Yugoslavian territory, has stolen the Bulgarian language, has stolen the Greek name. Now they are trying to stole the Greek history. Pure, boring cold-war style propaganda. Yet it's much more dangerous than it seems. He is trying to show that present day "Macedonians" are the "true", "forgotten" till now Macedonians (not the greeks), and FYROM is their ancient land. A good excuse to eliminate the Albanian minority (which is close to 50% of the population) which has invated their "ancient" country.

A truly rare book. Thank God for that...If you are looking for better ways to spend your evenings, you won't have to look far..Better to try learning japanese using only a dictionary for the amount of information you'll be able to assimilate.The author gets lost in his own self-indulgent phrases while at the same time failing to convey any sort of meaning whatsoever. I'd recommend any other book on the subject-even ones i haven't read yet.

It is clear from the first page of this book that Mr.Borza is no historian. His book is motivated by political reasons and his dislike for the Greek people. If you want a REAL history of Macedonia, read A History of Macedonia by Malcolm Errington.

I guess I expected these crosswords to be along the line of the Sunday Times puzzles. Briefly, if you like your crosswords really tough like I do, these ones will be way too easy. I put the book away after doing only a couple and haven't touched it since.

I'm no super-brain, but I really expected more from this collection. The regular New York Times Sunday Crossword books are superior to this edition.

The title of the book is a bit misleading, though strictly speaking it might be historically correct. These are good and entertaining crosswords, but surprisingly easy compared with current N.Y. Times Saturday puzzles. I find I can typically solve a crossword from this book in about half the time a current puzzle takes.

TRIZ is a facinating concept that has a lot of potential. I manage a technical staff of creative machine designers in the field of cryogenics. We've been developing a prototype machine that seems to be constantly evolving from one problem to another. The development problems associated with this machine represent many of the "System Conflicts" (related to temperature variations) described in the book. The techniques described in this book could have a significant impact on our efforts to standardize a working machine. I would like to have seen an expanded "System Conflict Matrix", definitions of attributes, and an explanation of how to make the transition from sub-technique identification to solution. One has to make too great a leap between these two critical steps. The book stops short of delivering on its promise.

While this book does an adequate job presenting the need for innovation and the role TRIZ can play, most of the subjects receive insufficient coverage, even as an "overview" book.

The Ideal System and Physical Contradiction topics are covered clearly and concisely, and the Laws of Technological System Evolution is adequately presented in overview form. However, the System Conflicts do not receive the attention they deserve, given how powerful this simple tool can be, and the book provide neither a complete conflict matrix, nor a list of all 40 techniques for overcoming system conflicts. Also, the complex notation used in the substance-field examples is inadequately explained and the ARIZ examples describe the conclusions reached in each step of the process, but fail to describe to my satisfaction the thought process that takes the innovator from one step to the next.

Finally, the book fails to provide examples of applying TRIZ to solve any electronic or software problems, making it less useful to technologists in these areas and out of date for a 1997 publication.

A good short (82 pages) explanaition of the main TRIZ ideas developed in the former USSR between 1956 and 1989. The authors (Victor Fey & Eugene Rivin) illustrate the TRIZ tools through few problems that were solved by TRIZniks in past years. Semyon D. Davtansky, Ph.D. The TRIZ Experts

One of my roommates recently received this books as a gift. My curiousity got the better of me, and I picked it up to peruse it. With my sincerest apologies to the author, this has to be the worst version of any thesaurus I have seen to date. Of just a few words I decided to look up, and by no means were any of the words for the "extremely literate", I was unable to find even one of them. The volume of words in the collection are extremely limited, and synonyms provided are also limited. There are much better books available, in fact, almost any other thesaurus is better, even "pocket versions" of another thesaurus would prove more useful. My guess is that this book is the choice of the egotistical; a bookshelf trophy that serves no purpose other than to suggest superior intellect, and collect dust. The only positive aspect I can think of towards this publication is that it is sure to make the insecure feel "extraordinarily literate". If you want a valuable resource to broaden your vocabulary, this isn't the right book.

Nearly all the synonyms offered by Ehrlich can be found in any good general thesaurus. The few additions they make are nothing more than gold platted saw dust and anyone with collegiate English skills would recognize the [overblown] attempt to sound "Extraordinarily Literate." If you need a book to make yourself feel more secure in your writing abilities, feel free to waste your money. Personally, I'd ... just use thesaurus.com. If you're in need of a serious writing tool, look at J.I. Rodale's "Synonym Finder" or Roget's until they come up with something better.

I completely agree with the readers who felt that this book was fairly useless as one's only thesaurus. The title, I must also admit, conveys a fair amount of egotism. However, I bought this title as a supplement for Roget... and in that capacity, I love it! There are times when I simply cannot find the perfect word to express myself in the conventional thesaurus... That's when I break out my Highly Selective Thesaurus (although I am only moderately literate)and usually find something particularly intriguing... At least, I find it intriguing!

It is the number of errors in this book that I find so frustrating! It seems obvious that no one took the time to proofread it. I picked up this book to do some french revision and by the time I got up to lesson 8, was ready to throw it in the trash. Accent marks are used only sporadically (sometimes ecrire, sometimes écrire...) They especially seem to have problems with "la rue Whitehall". In the french text, It appears as "la Whitehall street"!

The pluralization errors have been irritating, too. If this is intended to teach a beginning student proper French, I feel it will do nothing but confuse him/her.

I do NOT recommend this book.

There is an abundance of good material in this book, including
many French language passages. If I could be listening to an
audio tape while reading the words, it would be so much better.
There is not enough pronunciation aid in the book. There could
be twice as much.

It is extremely convenient for the beginners with a working knowledge of english. The situation taken are of the daily life with ample opportunity to grasp the words and setence structures used in day to day communication. Overall a very useful piece of work put together.

However, i wud much appreciate knowing from where i can obtain the sound recordings for this book as soon as possible.

This books needs a good proofreading. There are lots of typographical errors and examples where the answer is an answer to a different question. Also, some of the answers in the critical reasoning and sentence correction are just plain wrong! In every set of questions i missed @2 that i believed i had the right answer; and i usually got only 80% right in this book, but when i take the sample tests in the official gmat book (straight from the gmat folks) i get 95% correct, so i think the problem is w/ the book and not me. this may not have anything to do w/ the problems in the book, but i noticed that the authors are israeli, so i'm skeptical they're to be relied on as the authoritative source on idiomatic English, just as i would be skeptical, in the absence of any other evidence, of any Americans who claimed to be the arbiter of idiomatic Hebrew.

nonetheless, this book is good practice and small and portable, but don't take their answers as gospel.

This book does not have current GMAT information. The test is now computer-based and its best advice to you in preparing is to remember to bring plenty of #2 pencils to the test site.

The Barron's pass key does not give you a lot of information on test techniques, which are very critical for the GMAT, I believe. However, it does cover the topics that are relevant for the GMAT. Questions are in a slightly different format from the actual test but get your brain up to speed to what you should know and how to get your mind set on the reasoning of GMAT questions. While I found studying with this Passkey very frustrating - I always got many questions wrong! - I think it paid off in the end (score: 740) because it did focus on the content of the questions more than the Princeton review does. The Passkey does cover material in Maths that you will need for the upper level questions which is not covered in the Princeton Review or in any ETS material.

The Passkey should not be used as the only source as it does not provide enough guidance for the computer-adapted test but the concept behind the question is also covered - from a slightly different, challenging angle.

There must be hundreds of translations, retellings, and reinventions of Thomas Mallory's works available. Unfortunately, this one is not high on my list of recommendations. Only nine stories are presented here, and many essential tales, such as the "Death of Merlin" and "Tristram and Isode", are omitted completely.

Vinaver's translation is cumbersome because, although he claims to modernize spellings and standardize names, there are still many words and phrases he chooses not to translate, so the reader has to constantly refer to footnotes at the bottom of the page. If I wanted to do all this work, I would have read the original version with no modernization at all!

The only redeeming addition to this book is the preface which discusses the difference between Mallory's version of the Arthurian romance and the French Vulgate Cycle upon which he drew his material. Instead of this edition, I would refer readers to Keith Baines' modern prose edition (ISBN: 0451625676). It contains all the stories and is much easier to read.

Eugene Vinaver is the editor of the standard version of Mallory, "Works." Here he has selected a few of the author's tales, largely the stories leading up to Arthur's death. However, this remains essentially a skimming of Mallory's work, somewhat akin to a condensed version, collected I suspect for academics wishing to teach the Arthurian romances without having to delve too long or deeply into Mallory's entire narrative. As such it provides a glimpse into Mallory's version of the legend, yet remains in part fragmentary---especially the story of Pellas and Ettard---thus limiting its impact.

Also, Vinaver continues his practice from "Works" of footnoting certain words he has chosen not to translate. I found this annoying as I could perceive no apparent reason in his choice not to complete the translation, and though in most cases I was able to interpret their meaning within their context, their footnoting continued to drag my eye to the translation provided at the bottom of the page, interrupting the flow of the narrative. If a credible reason for this practice can be provided, I would love to hear it.

Those who wish to read only what the editor has chosen to highlight in Mallory's tale may be satisfied. For all others, I would direct you to Vinaver's complete edition, "Works."

This book is famous, has been in print for decades, and is often cited as a masterpiece of travel writing. But for me it was turgid and cryptic. As an example, here is what Clark has to say about Quattro Fontane, a set of four Baroque fountains set into the corners of four buildings at the S. Carlino crossroads on the Quirinal Hill: "These are not very handsome either, with their jaded allegories, only they have a particular quaintness of unreason; you are back to the generic fountain feeling; some vast subconscious is at work, and you are a moving figure in it." Vast subconscious? Generic fountain feeling? Unreason? Quaintness of unreason? Particular quaintness of unreason? I defy anyone to make sense of these pronouncements (and knowing what the fountains look like does not help). Unhappily, the book is full of this kind of language. Of Hadrian's Villa (a ruin just outside of Rome), Clark says: "It is like music, so much that you seem sometimes to be hearing the buildings more than seeing them, as though at some level of the brain the eyes and ears functioned interchangeably." Here is my favorite: "A dead cat never has the look of finality that a dead dog does; neither does a dead Roman, which is why you never see many people bothering to follow funerals there." Really? Somehow I doubt it. Buyer beware.

this book is deceiving...i admit, some will find it interesting, but clark jumps around with no transitions. it is more of a journal, or a collection of essays. she does describe in detail a number of things in rome, yet if you are looking for a novel or a piece of literature which is cohesive this is not the book for you.

If you need to escape from the drudgery of your everyday life for awhile than this is the book for you.

Clark's masterpiece is as good as a month in the country. And not just any country either. All of Italy is opened to you by the mind and imagination of Eleanor Clark. She covers the territory from the haunted villa of Hadrian to the dangerous hills of Sicily and the cool depths of Saint Peter's Cathedral. You will meet with the ghost of the Emperor himself, a modern gangster cum matinee idol and the pilgrims of a Papal Jubilee.

Clark's prose is a whirlwind that leaves you breathless. She throws off sparks in all directions like a Catherine's Wheel. You won't "get" all of this book on the first go round but it is well worth a second and a third reading.

Dear Amazon.Com,
I wrote the one star book review for this book which is currently on file. The review is incorrect and should be deleted or modified. I ordered "A Short History of Western Civilization (paperback), but received "A Short History History of Western Civilization since 1600 (paperback)". I wrote the review and then discovered that I had the wrong book. I have returned the book for a refund and reordered the hardback book of the same title. You might want to note that the paperback version is a Study Guide and not a History Book. If you wish you can move the review to the correct book or delete the entry. Thank you

A Short History of Western Civilization (paperback) is a study guide and not a history book. It's great if a study guide, complete with questions, is what you are seeking. The volume was written by Joyce E. Salisbury, not Richard Sullivan as listed in the web site and published in 1994, not 1993. It's Volume Two: since the year 1600, and not a complete guide to the hardback book. The guide is about 128 pages and includes some maps. I give it one star because a study guide is not what I'm seeking.

This book traces the history of the western world, from ancient Egypt up to the fall of the Berlin wall.

The book is divided into periods of history, then further subdivided into sections about that period. You can 'dip-in' to a section easily, I find myself picking the book up for a light spot of reading with a cup of tea. I also use this book heavily in my Classics course - so it has a multitude of uses.

Overall, a thorough, unbiased, but easy to read account of western civilization. If you live in the western world, and are wondering where you came from or why things are the way they are, then get this book!

This is a critique of video games, written by a person who has never played one. His research seems to extend as far as watching others play, scanning advertising materials and frequenting the game stores with a notebook in hand.

The author gets the names of games wrong (_The Adventure of Zelda?_), and a section accusing the game _Dragon Warrior_ of sexism is especially embarrassing. He complains that the back of the game box does not name the Princess that you have to rescue. If he had bothered to OPEN the box, then he would have found her name displayed very prominently in the instructions.

He does not even stop to consider the fact that most (all?) of the games mentioned in his book come from Japan, a country with a different set of cultural assumptions than his.

This book is _very_ poorly researched.

This book looks at video game as a sociological and cultural phenomenon, which means raising the kind of questions like whether excessive playing of the video game will promote and encourage violence and aggression. This seems true but there are people actually counter-argue that playing the game will purge the desire of the players to act aggressively, thus consequently reducing the aggression of the players. Another typical question brought up in the book is about the underlying messages carried by the video game, such as the gender stereotype. The girls in the games are often portrayed as ¡§weak¡¨ and submissive victims being kidnapped; while the boys are always the one to rescue and save the girls. Though the author has put much effort on analyzing the contents of many popular Nintendo games and fitting the findings into this framework or perspective, many of the arguments put forward in the book are simply similar to other scholarly books that look at the computer from a cultural viewpoint. For example, the book "The Cultural Dimensions of Educational Computing: Understanding the Non-neutrality of Technology" by C.A. Bowers is much more widely known, and is about the kind of messages amplified by the computer. If you are familiar with this kind of works, you may not gain much insight from this book. But if you find the above examples or arguments interesting, you may have a look.

Although the current industy has a wider audience than when this book was written, it does an interesting job of asking how do video games affect our culture. It reads like a psychology thesis paper... I don't nescesarily mean that in abad way. It relates many surveys and studies about games and whether they induce violence, sexism, etc. in kids. If you have any interest in these issues it can offer some solid information and teach a little about the study of sociology it is worth some time.