Good "starter" book for historical overview of Harley-Davidson motorcycles and the pictures are excellent. Anecdotal inserts are interesting. It explains the Sturgis for the uninitiated. As a new "Harley chick", I have given several as gifts to the Harley buddies who are introducing me to this new world and they have all enjoyed it.

Being a Harley enthusiast myself, I appreciate the ancestry of my ride. This book is like a family album...proving the good stock my Duoglide comes from (and helped carry on).

If you do, or ever want to, own a Harley...check out their parentage here.

This 100th anniversary edition book is the perfect gift and is pretty as a picture. But if your Harley Davidson rider can read as well as ride check out the Harley Davidson novel THE SECOND COMING OF AGE and the book GROWING UP HD.

Hume's massive work of English history is available in this economical and well-bound paperback edition. While somewhat out-of-date by the standards of modern academic historians, and prolix at times, Hume's history remains entertaining for contemporary readers, by virtue of the classical elegance of his prose, the scepticism and even-handedness of his judgments, and his sharp thematic focus on the evolution and delineation of powers in the English constitution. Hume's history is clearly a product of the Enlightenment: the only thing he finds more contemptible than the arbitrary powers at times exercised by monarchy and aristocracy is political encroachment by religious zeal and fanaticism. His narrative is most compelling in Volumes 5 and 6, those documenting the convulsions of the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution. These were in fact written first. Volumes 1 and 2 were written last, probably for the sake of completeness, and with a clear sense of pain by Hume, who feels that the primitive societies of ancient and medieval England are least instructive to the civilized reader.

Bertrand Russell, in his history of philosophy, jokingly accuses Hume of preferring Scots to Englishmen, and Tories to Whigs, with some injustice. The dismal, intolerant and conceited fanaticism of the lowland Scots Presbyterians is a particular target of Hume's invective and mockery, and the Scots Highlanders (with the Irish) are usually dismissed as barbarians. On the other hand, possibly the only two characters to appear in a heroic light in the entire six volumes are William Wallace ("Braveheart") and James Graham, marquise of Montrose, dashing royalist general of the English Civil War. While he certainly deplores the usurpations of Cromwell, whom he paints with bold, vivid and unflattering strokes, Hume is also clearly in favor of quite limited executive (ie, royal) power, and writes as a man of history, not of party.

First let me note that this edition of Hume's "History" by the Liberty Fund offers excellent value for your money. The six volumes are well-edited and well-printed books for book lovers.
For more than a hundred years, Hume's text, first published in the 1750s, was a standard textbook on British history. His diction is elegant, superbly paced and offers delightful reading. However, Hume did not concentrate on exciting descriptions of battles and intrigues, as Macaulay did a century later. He wanted to show that English history had always striven to implement a constitutional monarchy, and so his narrative follows this lead, up to a highly partial depiction of the fates of Charles II and Oliver Cromwell. Hume's liberal ideology made him write a story that stresses the success of parliament. As a philosopher of the Enlightenment, he described the sorry state of the arts and science (elucidated in several ndependent chapters). Thus, his work will give you valuable, if biased insights into the development of the British nation up to the Glorious Revolution in the 1680s. If you read this work carefully, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Volume II covers the period 1216-1485.

With a careful and seemingly fair hand, Hume describes the clashes between the barons and King John, as evolved into the Magna Charta; the first appearance of the house of Commons; the subjection of Wales, the attempts to subdue Scotland, with portraits of Robert Bruce & Braveheart William Wallace; the expulsion of the Jews; the charter to dig coal in Newcastle; the Hundred Years' War, with smart sketches of its major conflicts; the first appearance of the title of "duke"; the conflict between the Yorks and Lancasters, in the War of the Roses; the myth of Joan of Arc is described, & Richard, earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker, the last baron to overawe the crown, is portrayed; and, among the last episodes of the volume, the usurpation of the crown by the earl of Glocester, later Richard III, uncle to the heirs of the throne, who has the little princes committed to the Tower, and then strangled. Richard meets his just rewards at the battle of Bosworth, where he is slain.

A wonderful read, covering a period between the first appearances of national government and the age when it begins to solidify, in forms that we might recognize today. The turbulence of the Dark and Middle Ages becomes enlightened as we approach the Renaissance.

"Flash MX Components Most Wanteed" is targeted towards designers and those that shy away from ActionScript. The book focuses on explanations of how to use each of the components -- not how they were created or the design choices made while building these sometimes extraordinarily complex components. Many of the components contained on the CD are quite useful, but I personally could have done without the "nifty graphics" and image manipulation components. It's nice to have detailed explanations of each of the available component parameters (kind of like a product manual), but the book left me wanting more about the hows and whys of creating solid, useful Flash MX components.

I still can't believe i only paid so little for this book, it's just awesome! I've been using Flash for a couple of years now, but only recently started getting into MX components - any designer (or even developer?) looking for efficient solutions should really look into using them. I'm at the point now where i'm having to reuse as much code/design elements as i can now because
work is just soooo busy, and with this book you get a cd containing 21 components (actually, there's even more than that if you count some of the neat experimental ones!). I'm not even gonna try and work out how much development time this cd will save me, but I can't advise it enough - i really hope these guys bring more of them out. To be honest i've only looked through about half of these components so far, but i'm still blown away -
check out tool tip, the dynamic text 'stringthing', and the XML/actionscript converter especially - i didn't even realize i needed these things until now! The chapter on the movie loader is just a killer too. And there are also more 'crazy-stoopid' ones, like pattern generators and image modulators. What can i say, buy it and hope these authors bring out a sequel! Tons of fully-documented components, tons of examples, i'm a happy
designer!

Im coming from a unix/c background with over 10 years experience and I found this book to be really good introduction to Flash MX. Its written very clearly and concsicely and full of useful examples and great ideas. I got my project up and running very quickly with some very pleasing results. Keep up the good work boys!

This book is quite clever and has some really cool party ideas. The book provides invitation, recipe, craft and game ideas for each of the 12 themes. While I think the themes are fun & very cool, they are really geared more towards the gay crowd. I enjoyed the book but gave it to my gay friends -- they are having much more fun with it than I did!

No one knows how to throw a party quite like Todd Merrell. I am a heterosexual female, and my friends and I have had an amazing amount of fun with the innovative ideas in this "fabulous" book! I had the remarkable opportunity to meet Mr. Merrell after reading this book and having several parties themed around ideas in the book, and I must say, he is the epitome of a great host. I believe any host can get enough creative ideas from this book to make it pay for itself ten fold!

From an intimate Valentine's Day party for two to a all-out throw down, invite the town Breakfast at Tiffany's cocktail party this book has it all for the fabulous host. Although, some of the touches may seem over the top--mini-closet invitations for a "coming out" party--to the not so crafty. This book also contains a good deal of straightforward party planning wisdom (e.g. you can never have too much ice!) that is helpful whether you are starting from scratch or a seasoned entertainer. Party Fabulous is a great book for jumpstarting the creative juices when you are getting ready to throw your next bash!

This small field guide supposedly covers from Colorado/Utah north to the Canadian border, but many of the animals illustrated also range into the Pacific Northwest, western Canada and California, so this book is useful for most of western North America. There are two pages for each of the 70 mammals, birds and reptile/amphibians. Every animal has a small-scale range map, overall sketch, sketch of its droppings, large sketch of forward and rear footprints and a sketch of the pattern left by several footprints. I found the latter especially useful since many times the individual tracks are not too clear, especially in sand or dry snow, but the track pattern provides a positive identification. This lightweight, pocket-sized format makes it convenient to carry. Highly recommended for hikers, campers and nature buffs.

This small field guide supposedly covers from Colorado/Utah north to the Canadian border, but many of the animals illustrated also range into the Pacific Northwest, western Canada and California, so this book is useful for most of western North America. There are two pages for each of the 70 mammals, birds and reptile/amphibians. Every animal has a small-scale range map, overall sketch, sketch of its droppings, large sketch of forward and rear footprints and a sketch of the pattern left by several footprints. I found the latter especially useful since many times the individual tracks are not too clear, especially in sand or dry snow, but the track pattern provides a positive identification. This lightweight, pocket-sized format makes it convenient to carry. Highly recommended for hikers, campers and nature buffs.

Winner of a 1999 National Outdoor Book Award, this small guide contains a wealth of information.

As an environmental educator who has been teaching tracking classes for over 15 years, this is the book I now use for all of my classes. Page for page, "Scats and Tracks" is the most useful and useable resource for track identification in the field that I have found.

Packed with information that is useful to both the novice and the more experienced tracker, "Scats and Tracks" is the easiest of the various guides for beginners to use, yet contains enough information to remain relevant as one's skills improve.

The quality of its contents make the book an invaluable resource; its size, format, and organization make it easy to understand and use effectively. If you're going to buy just one of the many books now available on track identification, "Scats and Tracks" should be the one!

Our monthly women's book group decided to read this book for February, 2001. While I thought the mini stories were entertaining they were at times difficult to follow. Feynman would be in the middle of telling one story, totally switch to an unrelated story, and then tell the ending of the first. The book would have appealed to me more if the writer had used a time line, and keep his thoughts in the order that they happened. Feynman's writing style left something to be desired.

I read Surely Your Joking for the 1st time in late 1987. My daughter got if for me at my request for my birthday. Actually I asked her for something by Phillip Morrison but while she was shopping in the San Jose State bookstore she forgot what physicist I was interested and got Feynman's book instead.

I'm glad she made that innocent mistake. Feynman knocked me out. Raymond Todd's reading on the 10 CD audio set is outstanding. I'm buying my daughter a set for herself.

Feynman's thinking style is not "linear." This is the reason he was able to break out of the box, and make the profound breakthroughs that were his mark. One anecdote after another illustrates this in a most enjoyable and enlightening way.

For example, as a lad he wanted to learn real mathematics. The librarian wouldn't allow him to borrow advanced math books, so he said they were for someone else, someone older. Reading book after book, he taught himself mathematics. He ended up learning some advanced math uniquely his way. Years later, while still in graduate school, he was recruited to work on the Manhattan project (which developed the atom bomb). When other mathematicians who used conventional math treatments were stumped, Feynman was able to make breakthrough using a math style unique to him-non-linear.

And, by the way, quantum mechanics is not linear, either. This was one of the most enjoyable reads ever.

Mr. Borg's second novel is even better than his first. The story is an excellent depiction of Tahoe's forests and impending danger from fire. As a neighbor to The Oakland Hills firestorm of 1991, the danger really hit home. As in his first novel, the characters are intriguing, especially his dog Spot.

I look forward to reading more of Mr. Borg's work.

AN ABSORBING MYSTERY THRILLER SET IN WONDERFUL LAKE TAHOE THAT OFFERS PENETRATING CHARACTERS ALONG WITH COLORFUL, NONSTOP ACTION. READERS WILL WANT MORE!
PLEASE KEEP WRITING, MR. BORG!!

"An ordinary forest fire can be put out, but you can only run from a BLOWUP..."

Well mystery fans, he's done it again. Who you ask? Why, Lake Tahoe's very own author Todd Borg. And just what has he done that has readers from Lake Tahoe to San Francisco so worked up? He's released his second riveting novel in the Owen McKenna mystery series; a suspense-filled tale of kidnap and arson at the height of the fire season titled "Tahoe Blowup."

Toward the close of summer in the Sierra Nevada, people who live and work among the pines and firs of the Tahoe National Forest get real jumpy. Months of long hot days coupled with tinder dry brush and low humidity make the threat of forest fires something many lose sleep over. It is almost unthinkable that someone would deliberately set out to release the fury of such fires with the strike of a match. But that is exactly what has been happening at Lake Tahoe and what local private investigator, Owen McKenna, and his Harlequin Great Dane, "Spot," have been asked to stop. That and a string of murders associated with each devastating blaze until McKenna's own girlfriend, Street Casey, is marked as the next victim. Thrill binding excitement right up to the very end-an ending you'll never expect!

Attention to detail, vivid descriptions and lifelike character portrayals are the hallmarks of Borg's style and he has really done his homework on this one. In depth investigative work on everything from environmentalist watchdog groups to forest management techniques and fire fighting theory. It just doesn't get any more real.

"The Colfax Area Express," Colfax, CA

The recipes are fine -- they're simple, fast and the results are good. However, this book really needs a good editing. There's a good story to be told and a decent idea, but the writing could really use some polishing.

This book is really great. Quick and easy recipes, great variety. For the person who enjoys entertaining but doesn't have time to be cooped up in the kitchen for days on end!!

So many cookbooks are not written for real people. Real people have limited space. They do not have an arsenal of stainless-steel equipment, and they want to prepare meals that are good, creative, but do not want to spend the whole weekend trying to outdo Thomas Keller. Denise Sullivan is the only cookbook writer on earth who seems to understand this, and write a cookbook that actual people can actually use. And the food is GOOD!

The book is beautiful. It's well-written -- it's a joy to read. The recipes work -- they're delicious. If I could only have one cookbook in my kitchen, this would be it. Buy it.

When a new,fresh-minded teacher comes to teach creative english at Sweet valley Middle,Todd Wilkins becomes just as interested in story-writing as Elizabeth is ,even discovering a hidden talent he never knew of before. But Father says no,Todd HAS to concentrate on his basketball;he just won't listen to Todd so Todd decides to run away.

Hey, all of you pre-teens out there! Looking for a great read? Then how about trying the SWEET VALLEY TWINS AND FRIENDS series? This particular book in this series is TODD RUNS AWAY. Todd Wilkins has always been a great basketball player (he's one of his middle school's team star players) and so his father has always been happy with him. But when Todd gets signed up for a special creative writing class at school, Todd gets a great teacher named Mark and learns he has other talents, too!

Soon Todd starts spending more time with his writing than playing basketball...and his father is NOT happy in the least (Todd's father wants Todd to someday play in the NBA pros). And then Mr. Wilkins's ends up blaming Mark for Todd's messing up during his games and even tries to get Mark fired!

Todd is angry with his father and all of Todd's friends are angry with him because they think Todd wants Mark to get fired (all of Todd's friends like the new teacher). So when Todd gets suspended from the basketball team because he cut school by walking off of school grounds, he has to make a decision about whether or not to drop out of the writing class. And when Todd can't seem to figure that one out, he only has one choice left...running away from home.

TODD RUNS AWAY is a really good book because not only is it entertaining, but it also gives an important lesson: Running away is not the best answer to all your problems. In fact, running away can make your problems worse. This book was well-written, and realistic, too. Becuase this kind of thing could happen to just about anybody.

This is probably still my favorite out of the SWEET VALLEY TWINS AND FRIENDS series. And Todd's final decision at the end may surprise you! So excellent and fun. The perfect book to read on a boring summer day when you have nothing else to do. Read this book and enjoy!

I love the Sweet Valley Twins series, and especially this book. There are very few books that focus realistically on boys, and I like the way this one does. In the story, Todd Wilkins is experiencing a lot of pressure from his father. Todd is in a writing class, and he's discovering his love of writing. But his father wants Todd to focus on basketball. Todd has too much pressure and he considers running away. I really like the way that Todd finds happiness even after his struggles. It's a very worthwhile book, and it shows the importance of being a good friend.

This coming-of-age story is an odd mish-mash. It is well-written and features compelling characters and settings, yet it never really gels as a sustained narrative. I wonder if the title was a good idea. "The World's Room" refers to a second-hand shop the narrator's neurotic mother is forever hoping to open, in which to display all the tchotchkes and foreign junk she has amassed during their life on the road. As a metaphor for his first book, however, I fear that, like the narrator's mother with her shop, London has tried to stuff too much disparate material into the world of his novel. The first (and better) half of the book seems to be about the narrator's complex relationship to his older brother. But after the older brother commits suicide (an event we learn of in the novel's opening sentence), the narrative begins to slacken, and the novel reads more like someone's private journals modified lightly into fiction. Still, London has a strong prose style, and I look forward to reading his next book.

I literally judged this book by its cover - the cover is uniquely creative, whimsical and moving. The book is all this and more. I don't want to bring it down to the level of pop psychology, but anyone who grew up with slightly (or extremely) nutty parents will recognize the conflicts children face as they struggle with their profound love for their adored parent, and their growing sense of betrayal by an irresponsible and selfish adult. London's account of a family swept up in the cultural maelstorm of the 60's while contending with madness in their family is very polished and self-assured. From time to time the book is overly structured - towards the end, in particular, he lets his gimmicks get the best of him - but overall, I was delighted to read it, and I'm shocked that it didn't get picked up by a bigger publisher. On the other hand, then it wouldn't have its charming cover.

I can't find enough words to describe this beautiful book. Do not be put off from the subject matter because this is not a depressing book! The main character loses his brother to suicide and shows how he and his family deal with grief and each other. I lost my brother to suicide as well and this book is a rare one where the siblings are discussed and not only the parents or children of the deceased. The author's characters and descriptions are perfect. I am recommending this book to all my friends and family.