Mixed Gas Diving looks primarily at the use of exotic gas mixes for diving the extremes. There is a useful chapter on Nitrox for recreational divers, as well as good information on Trimix for those delving a little deeper. The book is comprehensive and explores breathing techniques and the physiologicial effects of different gases. Slightly dated now by new rebreather teechnologies, the book is excellent reading for aspirant Nitrox divers and those already using this gas mix. Required reading for Technical Divers. Chris Cherrington (UK)

The format is a mass-market paperback, but this isn't a novelization but rather the screenplay as the movie was made. You'll notice that last has a subtle distinction. Oftentimes screenplays differ notably from the movies as you see them--scenes are cut because they didn't work, cost too much to do, or just because of the limits of time. The screenplays of Brazil and Monty Python and the Holy Grail are full of wonderful little tidbits that didn't make it to the screen. Unfortunately, for Life of Brian, there's only the parts that did get made, which are funny indeed, but you've already seen them.

Nice, consistent collection of horror short stories.

Not many authors would have the courage to write a book entitled "How Alcoholics Anonymous Failed Me." Marianne Gilliam has the nerve to attack one of the world's sacred cows and I applaud her for doing so. The fact that this book is incredibly hard to find shows just how intolerant the corporate world is towards 12 step alternatives. The author has given me hope and inspiration that I am not alone in my disillusionment with AA, Alanon and other spiritually based support groups. I particularly found the section on 'when your 12 step program stops working" very helpful. Especially her story about the backlash she recieved upon criticizing AA. I could relate 100% and its nice to see these thoughts in print. My only fault with the book is that it tends to wander a bit and is overly apologetic for its controversial views. Even still, I give it 4 stars simply for its original subject matter. Thanks you Mariann for writing the book I've always wanted to read.

I found this book untidy and sometimes frustrating to read, and felt (like other reviewers) that it could have benefited from the scalpel of a good editor. Also, her "all you need is love" philosophy is simplistic -- it works for her, but it's certainly not the solution for everyone. But I felt that she made an excellent case for the fact (and it is a FACT) that AA's one-size-fits-all approach isn't the only, or even the best, way to handle problem drinking. I don't mean to knock AA; I know several people who have found it literally a lifesaver. But I'm a case in point why AA's definition of alcoholism as a "disease" and the Twelve Steps as the only "cure" is nonsense. I had a drinking problem of long standing: although I was successful in a series of good jobs and had a busy social life, I spent most of my evenings drinking myself into oblivion. This is exactly the behavior pattern that drove some of my acquaintances into AA, but I resisted going because I didn't feel I was in the grip of a "disease." After 17 years of this, I moved to another state, out of reach of my dysfunctional family, and in a physical environment I found energizing rather than depressing. I abandoned a career I hated (and had gone into because of family expectations rather than my own preferences), took a less stressful job, made new friends, improved my exercise habits, and started listening to my own inner promptings rather than letting everyone around me tell me what I "should" be doing. Guess what: my drinking dwindled down to practically nothing (a glass of wine or beer with dinner a couple of times a month), and I haven't had a solitary-drinking binge in years. The "disease" paradigm of alcoholism may apply to some people, but for many of us drinking is a way of rendering an impossible set of circumstances tolerable -- and we'd do better putting our energies into changing those circumstances rather than frittering them away on AA.

The chapter titled "Healing My Pain" has been the strongest positive influence in my life. Like the author, I had grown up seeing others have what I wanted, what I couldn't get, and associating this with personal shame and unworthiness. The chapter helped me to finally understand that I could not prove my worth by doing things because others wanted me to do them. I could become special to myself, if nobody else. Page 203, "All my life I had wanted to feel worthy of love no matter what I said, did, looked like or felt like."

Throughout the book the author advises the reader to respond to intuition, to work with ideas that resonate with them. She allows the reader to disagree, which is helpful to increase understanding in the reader's own life.

The title shocked me initially, but I was attracted to the book because AA's program is so negative. I finally left AA after a meeting when an 18-year member admitted that he still didn't like himself. I knew then I wasn't in the right place. I had already quit drinking on my own (coincidentally on the day of my divorce - how about that??) and tried AA because of their promises of a new and better way of living. Too bad I didn't take the time to seek out more helpful options, too bad that they are not as publicized as AA.

I ended up on this quest to figure out WHY this book/movie was so highly acclaimed...by anyone that could get through the material, anyway. I read the book, watched the movie, and felt complelled to peruse this book at a book store. Below is my review of the book and movie (which, as much as I hated the material, the movie does a great job of bringing the book to the screen), but this book is just a way to throw good money after bad. If you have the Thompson book you definitely don't need this one!

REVIEW

This book is so overrated. I've yet to read exactly WHAT the genius is supposed to be behind this book. That Thompson is able to ramble on and on and on and on and ON about drugs for a few hundred pages? That he was able to put to words what it's like to be in a week-long drug binge (which WOULD be hard, because how COULD you remember it?)

I enjoy out-of-the-ordinary books and movies. Although the people that have previously posted (rave) reviews about this book are much deeper into the alternative culture, things like Pulp Fiction and Fight Club are still considered "out there" by the vast majority of the public. And Fear and Loathing not just out there, it's gone.

(...)

I started the book. I lost interest. I rented the movie, hoping it could contain my focus for 90 minutes. It was ***. At the encouragement of another author, I read the book all the way through. Still bored. Constant drug ramblings with no real objective. It could have ended 50-100 pages earlier, or it could have continued 50-100 pages more (in Denver or Malibu), and it would have made no significant change to the content of the book. I rented the movie again. Ugh. Other than they did a good job sticking to the original content (amazingly so), the original material still was... boring!

I'm sure the flames will come, but after spending a considerable amount of energy trying to get through this material, I can't find the genius in the work. As for why everyone that has previously reviewed it has given it 5 stars: it is rare for anyone not extremely interested in the drug culture to get past the first 5 pages, so anyone who didn't love the book probably gave up on it way early and can't make a valid review.

Good book, but it's pretty redundant if you have the actual novel (by the amazing Hunter S. Thompson). So you don't really need it. Unless you simply must buy every piece of Fear and Loathing merchandise you see. In that case, go right ahead.

Twisted, funny (for some), and outrageous. Although the title of the book is a bit confusing, it is an excellent item to purchase for fans of the film and/or book.

Arthurian fiction in general is steeped with awful fiction, and short story collections are a mixed bag. Let me simply say that I was left unimpressed - and often disgusted - by the stories in here. There are some good ones, but they are few and far between. (Do not be led astray by the pretty cover art! It is pretty, but that's almost all it has going for it)

We start with an icky poem by Jane Yolen; then a groanworthy Mercedes Lackey story "The Cup and the Cauldron" -- it stars girls and yes, has more Christian-pagan stuff if you're as sick of that as I am; an incoherent Andre Norton story "That Which Overfloweth"; Marion Zimmer Bradley's equally groanworthy feminist-Goddess-server "Chalice of Tears." We hit something far better in Diana L. Paxson's "Feast of the Fisher King," which is both well-written and entertaining, as well as being in play format; also Brad Strickland's enjoyable elf-fantasy-Arthurian story "Gift of Gilthiliad."

Then it's back into "groan" territory with Ilona Ouspenskaya's gypsy tale "Curse of the Romany," where you wonder what-the-heck-does-this-have-to-do-with-it? James S. Dorr's "Dagda" is pretty; Gene Wolfe's odd "Sailor who Sailed After the Sun" is another where you wonder what the relevance is; Lee Hoffman's indifferently-written western-fantasy "Water" takes a long time to get to the point, as does Alan Dean Foster's "What You See..." and Richard Gilliam's "Storyville, Tennessee" and Jeremiah Phipps' "Hell-Bent for Leather" (are you seeing a pattern of irrelevance here?)

Lisa Lepovetsky pens another icky poem; Orson Scott Card's "Atlantis" stretches indefinitely; Dean Wesley Smith's "Invisible Bars" is pretty amusing; Janny Wurts bores and annoys with "That Way Lies Camelot"; Kristine Katherine Rusch's "Hitchhiking across an Ancient Sea" is a pale, pale short story; Lawrence Watt-Evans's story has a good idea, but is poorly written; Lionel Fenn's "The Awful Truth in Arthur's Barrow" is just plain bizarre, as is Brian M. Thompson's "Reunion." Margo Skinner redeems the poetry angle with "Quest Now"; Neil Gaiman's "Chivalry" is enchanting; Bruce D. Arthurs is weird again in "Falling to the Edge of the End of the World", same with Rick Wilber's "Greggie's Cup."

As you can see, this mixed bag tends toward the dull, irrelevant, pretentious and just poorly written. Half the stories seem to have the Grail thrown in (if it's there at all) just as an afterthought. Except for Margo Skinner's poem, the poetry all stinks; only a few of the stories retain the beauty and prose that one espects to see in an Arthurian story. When I buy a book classified as Arthurian fiction, I WANT Arthurian fiction; I do not want stories about pregnant gypsies, fantasy westerns, or genies.

There are much better collections out there, however bright the bright spots in this are. Read "The Doom of Camelot" and the upcoming "Legends of the Pendragon" if you want good Arthurian short stories.

The Gaiman story in this collection is brilliant. There are other bright spots as well, particularly the contributions from Diana Paxson and Alan Dean Foster. Good, fun stuff.

I would have given it 0 stars if I could have. Absolutely the worst training material that I have ever seen.