As the title suggests, this story takes place during the second year of Batman's crimefighting career. At the start of the story, Jim Gordon has recently been elected Commissioner and the mobs that had such a large foothold in Year One and Long Halloween are ancient history. Batman's adversary this time around is the ghostly masked vigilante called the Reaper. He started out with motives similar to Batman, but he has now become a psychotic killer. The guy that killed Batman's parents is also back, the mob has hired him to take Reaper out. This answers two questions common asked by freshman Bat-fans: Why doesn't Batman use a gun, and why has he taken an oath to never kill anyone. And it sort of answers the question, why does he seem to avoid serious relationships with women. As a special bonus, we have artwork by Spawn creator Todd McFarlane. My only gripe is that NONE of the traditional enemies appear. Two-Face or Catwoman could've easily have made a supporting appearance. All in all, a good read, and when combined with Y1 and TLH, fits into the larger tapestry of Batman's earlier years, taking place after TLH but before it's forthcoming followup, Dark Victory.

I first got this book when I was about 4 years old. It was the first time I heard of Batman as a comic book character. I hadn't learned how to read yet, so no matter how millions of times I saw the movie, I couldn't read that it was based on a DC character. But since I couldn't read, how could I enjoy this story? The art!!

The first chapter in the book was drawn by Allan Davis, with the remaining chapters drawn with incredible grace by Todd McFarlane. I was able to figure out about 95 percent of the story, because of the art. Many stories need both art and writing to funcion, but this book is great on both. It is written by Mike Barr and it is great! Rather than reading like a typical comic book, it reads like one of the best action movies. Yes, Frank Miller and Geph Loeb are better writers (see Year One and Hush), but Barr is still one gifted writer.

Year Two is obviously a sequel to Batman: Year One. And since he finished corrupt cops in the original, we can now have fun with colorful villains. Here, we get the Reaper. He was vigilante like Batman, but before Batman came. He had much more brutal methods than Batman, so after a several decade hiatus when Reaper returns to "fight" crime, he crosses paths with Batman and they clash.

Reaper is so dangerous, that Batman can't fight him off by himself. Batman needs help and he gets it by none other than Joe Chill, the man who killed Batman's parents! It is incredible seeing Batman fighting the temptation to shoot him! Yes, Batman uses a GUN! The question of why he never used a gun before gets answered in this story!

What makes this story great is the fact that as much the villain as Reaper may seem, in his way, he's the hero. And he believes he's the hero and Batman's the villain. This grey area adds so much dimension and this is something I just love thinking about. Mike Barr should write a prequel about the Reaper fighting crime before Batman came on. That would be cool.

This copy of the book also contains "Full Circle," which is the sequel to Year Two. Here, we get Robin, more Alfred, and the return of the Reaper! I was wondering how Reaper would come back, but he came back in a very clever way and Full Circle is a very good story.

Well, Batman: Year Two-Fear the Reaper (that is this version, the one that contains both stories) is my all-time favorite Batman story and I'm sure when you read it, you will like it too!

This book is a collection of various articles written about the tragic life of jazz artist and brilliant alto saxophonist Art Pepper. Through photographs and the perspectives of different writers Art Pepper emerges as a gifted tortured "soul". He mesmerized audiences with his innovative rendering of "Caravan," "Over The Rainbow", "When You're Smiling", "Ballad Of The Sad Young Men", and "Here's That Rainy Day", yet his life was a roller coaster of triumphs and failures. He died at age 56 of a cerebral hemorrhage in Los Angeles.In one article, "A Tribute to Art Pepper," by Arthur F. Kinney, this passionate musician is described as " an honest man - never cruel, never angry - but he could make you nervous because you never knew what he was going to say. I hear in his music and his tone his warmth and his humanity. When he played it wasn't an analytical thing; it was emotional, from his heart. He was eccentric, not like many of us, but he gave his love freely and we, most of us, cannot imagine what he went through. He wanted to go out roaring, and he did." After you finish this collection about a gifted and troubled artist, try reading, "Shipmates" by Lorraine Seeley, and "Red Willow's Quest", by Heidi Skarie. Both are tributes of a different genre but each will capture your interest as does this mosaic of Art Pepper.

I have read this book and combed through it many times because of the many gold nuggets of information. Dr. Carroll writes an execellent book teaching you to think critically by educating you to decipher the difference between logical thought and non sense, tricky language, bias, selective thinking, and much more.

Dr. Carroll covers diagramming complex arguements, syllogisms, common fallacies such as begging the question, slippery slope, the gamblers fallacy, ad hominem, poison the well, irrelevant appeal to authority, ad poplum and much more.

Dr. Carroll also covers a great section on science and pseudoscience which teaches you to determine what is actually scientific or someone's dream of wishful thinking that one just won't let go, such as parapsychology.

The book starts you out with basics and then gradually introduces more material into the topic. In each chapter there are excercises to pratice your new learned skills. There are answers in the back of the book for those marked questions to see if you got the answers right.

A must buy for those seeking clarity of thought.

First, a warning: the songs in this book are NOT COMPLETELY TRANSCRIBED. Looking for the bridge to "Eddie Walker?" Not in the book; better be able to learn it from ear.

That being said, what is in the book is of high quality. The transcriptions are dead on, and the CD helps get you through the tougher passages like the end of "Philosophy" and the piano solo from "Song For the Dumped." The song selection, while questionable at times ("Mess" but no "Army?" "Evaporated" but no "One Angry Dwarf?" C'mon!), is overall quite good and will satisfy most Ben Folds Five.

But if you're HARD CORE into BFF, you may be better off with album folios, which have complete transcriptions. Still, this is a great book and will occupy hours of piano time. Play like Ben. Impress your friends. Have fun.

I love the Beverly Hillbillies TV Show, I just love the down to earth, home spun, appeal of that show, and I thought the Beverly Hillbillies Movie remake was really cute and funny, I listened to the audio book recording of Todd Strasser's the Beverly Hillbillies Movie (based on the screenplay) and I really enjoyed listening to it! I have always liked Henry Gibson (Laugh-In and numerous movie and TV appearances, including Bio-Dome and Sabrina The Teenage Witch), and I was very pleased that he did the narration! The audio book is abridged and I enjoyed it so much I found myself wishing to hear the whole book on tape!

The odyssey of the Todds began during a tumultuous period in recent human history marked by intense political and economic strife and destructive military conflict. Over a number of years through careful experimentation, the Todds developed ten key principles of ecological design in an attempt to guide, or as they say, steward, the planet towards a sustainable future. Ecological design is quite interdisciplinary in scope, and seeks to integrate biological principles into agriculture. By blending agriculture, renewable energy and architectural concepts, the Todds seek to create sustainable mini-ecosystems, as opposed to communities, which incorporate humans while at the same time mimicking the larger biosphere. As such, the Todds have made the first viable and quantifiable attempt to employ scientific principles that will ultimately allow 'humankind' to become 'one with the environment'. These scientists recognized early on that humanity depended on nature for its survival, and that any attack on nature is ultimately an attack on all of humanity.

With this in mind, the Todds lament humanity's wholesale movement away from the cosmological towards mechanistic approaches to existence. Using their ecological principles, they have successfully redesigned homes, ships, and communities to achieve a more balanced, sustainable, and ultimately environmentally friendly and caring lifestyle for many people the world over. As such, this book expands upon the principles and concepts put forth in their previous book, Tomorrow Is Our Permanent Address, and gives the reader conceptual and fully actualized examples of self-sustaining structures and communities firmly grounded in ecological principles. Throughout the book, concepts such as permaculture and passive solar design are integrated into existing structures, forming the basis for growing, self-sustaining communities.

I see many philosophical similarities between this book and Masanobu Fukuoka's enlightening books The One Straw Revolution and The Road Back to Nature. Although the Todds and Fukuoka started from different points in time, space and experience, both have achieved the same goal albeit with different methods. On the one hand, Fukuoka criticizes the modern human predicament from the standpoint of Eastern philosophy and religion, and uses natural farming as a means to bring man closer to, if not completely back to, nature. On the other hand, the Todds approach the problem of sustainable human economic and social development from a scientific standpoint and bring the precepts of ecological design to bear in an attempt to realign humanity with the natural world. For both, the concept of equilibrium, referred to as 'balance' in the case of Fukuoka and 'homeostasis' for the Todds, is critical in both their respective philosophies and approaches. Moreover, both also realize, like many other astute interlopers on the mortal plane, that it is folly to attempt to improve upon nature; rather, human beings should strive to work with nature and allow nature to form the basis for all life. Finally, the Todds explicitly emphasize what Fukuoka deftly implied in his philosophy and approach to living- that all organisms, including humans, are simultaneously independent and interdependent entities.

In conclusion, as urban planners and engineeers increasingly look to nature as a basis for product and community design, this book will form the cornerstone for these endeavors.

My almost three year old son enjoys this book during long car rides and when sitting in a restaurant. It is nice to have the write on wipe off surface, this makes it very convenient on the go.

This book is brightly illustrated and is worded so that even the youngest readers can enjoy it. Overall a great kids book!

This was a very good book. It talks not only about the equipment and the thrill of bungee jumping, but also about the physics of bungee sports. The thing I didn't like about it though, was the lack of information about costs, and about extra safety measures, such as airbags and pools.