This book contains fantastic, extremely insightful and practical information for anyone who wants to build their career, who is considering a career change or is looking to reach other goals in their lives. Peter Kash has allowed the reader to look into his life as a successful business man and see the tools he utilizes everyday in "the web of life". He tells us of many of his business deals he worked on, especially those that seemed like they were completely impossible, that everything was wrong and how he was able to put these deals together. He explains how everyone is given opportunities in life, we just need to recognize them. This book has made think very hard about my goals, life and has helped me to define who I am. I now know that you CAN make your own luck.

This book is a great motivator. It teaches important lessons about seizing opportunities, making opportunities and keeping life in balance. Peter Kash recounts episode after episode of times when opportunity came knocking, and he answered the door. The heart of his book is understanding how he found opportunity, made opportunity and profitted from opportunity. It is an inspirational treatise. Read it and LEAP!!!!

I found Peter Kash's book to be one of the most interesting books I have ever read. The way he weaves his real life experiences into creating business success was incredibly interesting to read. I was able to relate to peters book on so many levels as I am sure the average reader will as well. After about half of the book I found myself saying...boy..I could do that too...why don't I? by the end of the book I started to say ..I WILL do that the next time a potential business contact comes my way. Peter Kash's experiences were not only interesting but something to marvel at. As he turned himself into one of todays business leaders by using something we all have available to us. friends and contacts..and something we dont all have but we can develop....alot of guts. I highly reccomend this book to all.

In this book the author gives a detailed story of his involvement in the development of the "Blondie24" checkers program, and the story is a very interesting one. The reader not familiar with certain research topics in artificial intelligence such as neural networks and evolutionary programming, will still be able to read the book since the author gives a good intuitive discussion of these topics. If the book inspires a young person to enter the field of artificial intelligence, it has served a noble purpose, even if the author did not intend this as the primary purpose of the book.

The author's main thesis is the value of using concepts of evolutionary programming to bring about the rise of intelligent machines. The author clearly believes that before "HAL-like" machines can be built, researchers must construct computer programs that can teach themselves how to solve problems without any help. Intelligent machines must be creative, and learn and adapt to new circumstances. Traditional research in artificial intelligence has been geared towards building machines that emulate human intelligence, and this will not do in the author's view. The research did not address the true definition and meaning of intelligence, but instead made the goal of creating machines that think and act like humans, whence the famous "Turing test" for machine intelligence. The author completely rejects this test and holds it responsible for bringing about the "AI winter" where no substantive progress was made. "The key to creating truly creative computers", he says, "lies in mimicking nature's process of evolution."

The author though was not comfortable with merely refuting arguments about the Turing test or other strategies for designing intelligent machines. He knows that such argument-counterargument activity will not result in sound approaches to artificial intelligence. Therefore, he sought to construct a working, viable alternative, which produces results that can be checked. Intelligence for the author is based on decision making, such as how to obtain resources, and how to respond to environmental changes by prioritizing goals. "Intelligence is the property that allows living organisms to sense, react to, and learn from their environment in order to adapt their behavior to better promote their survival", he says.

Hence, the author brings in the evolutionary paradigm to artificial intelligence, and to give credence to his view, he attempts to create a program that will learn the game of checkers and then play it well, at least from the standpoint of the checkers game rating system. The book is a very detailed overview of how he and his collaborators went about doing this, the most interesting strategy being the use of neural networks, the topology of which is not set beforehand, but is evolved according to a "survival of the fittest" process. The author, through diagrams, gives the reader a taste of the moves that were made as the program dealt with online checkers games.

The author even gives a dose of the criticism he received from referees when his results were submitted to professional journals, and this gives the book greater appeal from the standpoint of intellectual honesty. Certainly the author and those he worked with have achieved a great deal in the context of building intelligent machines. It remains to be seen whether evolutionary programming can be extended to situations that require even more creativity, such as that of generating new and interesting results in pure mathematics. This is the ultimate test in my view of machine intelligence. It is not immediately obvious how this is to be done in the evolutionary programming or indeed of any other paradigm in artificial intelligence.

An absorbing and enchanting tale of a personal quest for the deeper meaning of AI: the discovery of how intelligence itself arises. Fogel seizes the challenge by capturing the evolutionary process and shaping it to breed a checkers expert from an artificial neural net. Scientists, humanists, and artists will appreciate his inspiring wit and clarity of thought in narrating the growth of Blondie24, a synthetic sentience born inside a desktop PC.

I once took an introductory AI course (Brown '84, Professor Eugene Charniak) and was immediately turned off when, during the first lecture, the professor said that we would not cover learning. To talk about intelligence without learning seemed misguided. Blondie24 shows the power of learning in an organic, evolutionary way.

David Fogel gives a broad overview of the origins of the main approaches in classical AI. He explains how many approaches fell into a seductive trap of top down planning. His own approach uses evolution as a powerful tool for learning. Learning from the experience of life on earth, he proves that selecting simply on whether his chess program wins, loses, or draws over multiple games is sufficient to allow considerable learning. This is a powerful lesson that should be applicable across any discipline -- not simply checkers.

David writes simply and clearly and with respect even for the AI pioneers whose approaches he disagrees with.

Blondie24 has inspired me to read more on this subject. It is thought provoking -- I now want to start doing my own experiments in evolutionary programming to explore the ideas further.

P.S. I found that "Creation : Life and How to Make It" by Steve Grand to be an excellent follow up read to Blondie24.

EM Forster wrote this book in 1913-14 but declined to allow it to be published till after his death. It tells of Maurice Hall (which immediately made me think of Radclyffe Hall's classic 'The Well of Loneliness) growing up with an awareness and horror of his homosexuality. As I struggled to develop a 'oneness' with characters who were so alien to my own natural preference an amazing thing happened in the story. One of the two main 'gay' (Forster does not use this word) characters suddenly decides he likes women. Does this happen, I wondered? Or was it an excuse used by one 'gay' (or bisexual) person to disengage from a partner they no longer enjoyed? For me, of course, it drove another knife between the remaining 'gay' character and myself. It seemed that homosexuals could be changed/change - they could all be like me! Was this a literary device of Forster that aims to modify the responses of readers - making the job harder for heterosexual readers to identify with Maurice, making homosexual readers even more keenly feel the alienation of society (especially when the book was written)?

In an afterword Forster explains that his book had to have a happy ending (despite great trauma suicide is mentioned only once throughout the book). This made me think again of Radclyffe Hall's 'Well of Loneliness' with its remorseless and, for me, unsatisfyingly negative ending. Hall wrote her novel about lesbians in 1928 and it created a furore in its time. That Forster was sitting on his novel at the time is an intersting thing to me. Was he tempted to publish? Perhaps he felt he could not join the same storm. Perhaps he originally had the miserable ending Hall wrote, and changed to distinguish his novel. In the end, these can be little more than speculations.

When I read Richard Fortey's book 'Trilobite' I complained in my review that I never really got to like trilobites as Mr Fortey obviosly does, despite enjoying the book immensely. The case is the same here. Forster's writing is inventive and rich, but I am left feeling just as alienated from homosexuals - I am simply not one of them. Am I more sympathetic? Perhaps. But the best that I can hope for is probably to be more tolerant.

The film of "Maurice" produced by Merchant Ivory a number of years ago is one my favorite films. I was curious, having never read E.M. Forster before, to see how much of the issue of homosexuality was a product of the book and how much was played-up for the film. The book did not dissapoint. An honest, self-aware writer, E.M. Forster tells a beautiful story of a fairly unremarkable young man who is forced to (by virtue of being gay) become remarkable. Problems of English repugnance at homosexuality (a feeling he shares himself at first) and of class make him into a grownup, into a real man. In the book this becomes a wonderful liberation--that does not come through as well in the film. A marvelous read. Not published until after his death in 1970. Only a few read it when he actually wrote it in the teens. Too dangerous. A shame. Far ahead of it's time.

I think I'm setting myself up to be abused for an imperfect understanding of Forster's work, but I love Maurice, and I only like everything else he wrote. Forster's plots to me are so controlled that his novels become more like chess games than stories--his characters move entirely according to their classist/symbolic value; their minds are types, their types interact. Sometimes this interaction is delightful, as in Room with a View. Sometimes it is genuinely touching, as in Where Angels Fear to Tread. But it is always highly regimented. This criticism extends for me to his prose, which I find to be too rule-bound--he always leaves the same words out; his style is symbolic of delicate subtlety without necessarily being so.

But in Maurice, Forster lets go some of this reserve. His prose, which I find formulaic in his later stuff, is here undeveloped enough to be idiosyncratic, un-stylized, and gorgeous. Maurice as a character is wonderfully, wonderfully real, and I appreciate the detailed development of the plot because Forster brings home with such ability the hazards of Maurice's struggle, the ever-present possibility of failure, the balance between lesser and more important goals, and the way in which Forster makes clear that these goals, as Maurice knows when he "listens beneath" words, are not the ends that he is really achieving as he achieves them. Maurice himself is drawn with Jane Austen-ian precision: Forster mixes the divine heroism--beauty and brutality--in Maurice's essential, private life with his utterly mundane non-essentials--politics, understanding, relationships with family, opinions, way of talking, appearance, job.

This is a heroic book. It moves me to tears every time I read it.

The Schlegel sisters are interested in the arts and in the more idealistic liberal social movements of their early 20th century world. The Wilcoxes are practical and materialistic. There seems to be little in common between the two families, but not even a highly embarrassing early amorous encounter can keep them apart. Poor Leonard Bast is as idealistic as the Schlegels, but encumbered by an unloved wife with a shady past, he has not their financial means to avoid dealing with the practicalities of life. Caught between the two factions, he eventually is crushed. Only Margaret Schlegel is finally strong enough to bridge the gap between the practical and the ideal by exerting her benevolent humanity, her passionate and yet controlled determination that people must "connect."HOWARDS END is a minor masterpiece, capturing perfectly the conflict between rigid Victorian values and the more free and open changes in the turbulent years before World War I. Forster handles his characters with great sensitivity and sympathy, yet with a subtle and skillful irony. The novel is not intended for rapid reading, but there is a felicity of expression that is an ample reward for careful perusal. Less fastidious than Henry James, not quite the equal of Trollope in characterization, a more subtle stylist than William Dean Howells, Forster combines some of the best elements of all three of these social chroniclers in an important work that is both highly personal and universal in scope.

I have read Howard's End two or three times and listened to it once on tape and it remains one of my favorite novels. Many people were introduced to it by the film, which, good though it was, does not begin to capture the subtle wisdom Forster put into this book. Howard's End can be seen as a quaint period piece about British culture in the early Twentieth Century. On another level, however, it's a brilliant exploration of the human soul. In the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes, Forster has created the perfect embodiment of the eternal conflict between reason and passion. These two families, destined to be united by the marriage of Margaret Schlegel to Henry Wilcox, represent two seemingly irreconcilable aspects of humanity. The Schlegels are artistic, intellectual and impractical; the Wilcoxes materialistic and unapologetically bourgeois. Margaret and Henry have their differences, but it is their relatives who display the more extreme family traits. Margaret's sister Helen is a classic bohemian; Henry's son Charles is a humorless and intolerant banker. As the novel unfolds, the two families are forced to confront each other and decide whether to ultimately part company or compromise. What is most impressive to me about the novel is the naturalness and grace with which the story unfolds. When an author uses characters to embody universal qualities, it is quite a challenge to make the people and story real and not merely symbols. Howard's End succeeds brilliantly as both a thoroughly engaging novel and a rather profound metaphysical inquiry.

Howard's End can be read again and again and again - and the reader comes away with something fresh each time. Like all of Forster's tales, it's concerned with the deep and petty differences in the various classes of English society, as well as economics and education, and how these issues come to affect personal relationships. Set in the early 20th century, Howard's End follows the two Schlegel sisters. Margaret, the elder, rather suddenly finds herself engaged, then married to Mr. Wilcox, a much older widower, a rather superficial and bombastic English gentleman. Meanwhile, her sister, Helen, becomes involved in politics, good works, and the attempted salvation of Leonard Bast, an impoverished clerk and intellectual. The ownership of Howard's End, the country estate of the late Mrs. Wilcox, becomes central to the story; the wrangling this bequest causes is a metaphor for the class struggles that weave like tangled braids throughout the whole of the book. The tragedy chronicled in the book is seen to have resulted from chance encounters, foolish pride, and petty misunderstandings.
A deeply sad and beautiful book.

Fate

Interestingly, Arthur exists s a miner character I am Morgan le Fay an Arthurian legend written by Nancy Springer. This book forces on Arthur's half sister Morgan and her struggles to deal with her new magical powers as she struggle with dealing with herself. What makes this book so interesting along with other events is that Merlin in almost all of the other book is described as a happy jolly man who helps Arthur with his kingdom, but in this book he is a dark sorcerer. As fascinating as this book seems it still consists as a not so long and thrilling as it seems at times hard to follow with some characters and events that took place in the thriller I am Morgan le Fay.
This legend is recommended by this review to be read by middle school kids or someone who wants to read a unique version of the Arthur Tail. The twists are unique don'y let them fool you this is a great book.

Brilliant re-imagining of the story of Morgan le Fay (though it should be Fey). This prequel/companion to I Am Mordred again deals with Briton's première dysfunctional family. Morgan resents her half brother Arthur from his birth. He is the offspring of King Uther who murdered her father to sleep with their mother. Arthur is the reason she and her flighty older sister Morgause must flee their castle Tintagel with their nurse who is more than just a nurse. Arthur is the object of their mother's obsession when she goes slightly mad after Uther's death. Morgan tries to fight fate and live a happy life away from the world with her true love Sir Thomas, but she loses the fight, her lover, and for a time her mind. The characterizations, especially Morgan's, are excellent as is the imagery and writing in general. Morgan's complex relationship with Thomas not to mention what is intimated at the tale's end to occur between ½ siblings Morgause and Arthur push this title firmly on to YA ground unlike it's companion volume. The infusion of figures from mythology is nicely handled too. The author has created a wholely believable world! Worth a look see whether you are an Arthurian tale fan or not. There are draggy bits, but the last thirty-forty pages are wonderful!

I am Morgan le Fay
By: Nancy Springer
Ms. Olivet Eng. per.2

I am Morgan le Fay is a spellbinding tale of the enchanted place, Avalon, from long ago. It has an incredibly facinating plot, with impecable details. Together these two characteristics create a captivating novel that reaches into the mind of the reader.
Nancy Springer's use of imagery brings the reader into the mystical Arthurian world of the sorceress, herself, Morgan le Fay. The castles, forests, events, and never-ending emotions are portrayed so well in the story that the reader can clearly picture them in his/her mind. The author also brings you, the reader, into the mind of the spoiled, stubborn Morgan, as she grows both older and wiser. As you read through the book, you feel everything that Morgan feels, and begin to think the way
she does, often forgetting about reality and falling into the words of the novel.
As Morgan grows by learning and gaining powers from the milprieve stone, she begins to understand more about herself, and how her past has formed the person she is now.
Overall, I felt the novel, I am Morgan le Fay, was a fantastic book filled with dazzling events, people, and places that tease the mind for more reading. I would most definitely recommend this book to readers with creative minds, good imaginations, and those who enjoy fantasy.

As a long time practitioner of Wicca and Paganism, I have read and used many books on these subjects. So needless to say, I am extremely skeptical, picky and very hard to convince when it comes to sincerity and authenticity of available written works. Ms. Morgan's book offers not only those qualities but far more...she gives us a serious, yet uncomplicated look into a world that is magical, mystical and very accessible to those on the path, or to those who are just curious... Ms. Morgan demystifies our practice and theosophy, yet manages to maintain its dignity, credibility and beauty. If you've ever wondered who and what witches really are and what they really do...then this book is for you. But beware, for after reading it, you just might realize that beneath that cold, patriarchal religious exterior...you were really a witch all along...!

I picked this book up at a local library and loved it so much that I decided I needed my very own copy. It is indeed 'simple' in that the basic ideas and tenets of wicca are presented in an easy to understand format that allows the beginner to start their practice immediately. This is a book I would share with friends who have only heard misinformation about the craft. It is beautiful and gentle in it's presentation. I do agree that the separation between witchcraft and wicca needs to be made more clear, though many wiccans are also witches one doesn't need to practice witchcraft to practice wicca. But, the book also helps to reinforce that there is nothing 'bad' or 'evil' about witchcraft, a common piece of misunderstanding so prevalent in the society at large. Buy this book, and share it!

I recently read this book because i happen to be a practicing pagan and i am currently writing a term paper on my religion. When i picked up this book i wasn't exactly sure of what to expect as some wiccan books are anything but interesting...however this book was anything but boring. It helped me learn new ways to better understand and appreciate everything in this beautiful religion, it gave me new ideas and ways of conducting spells. This book is truly sensational and i would recommend it to anyone no matter how young or old. Bringing me to another reason why i love this book because it is so easy to understand that i feel if i had read this book when i first became interested in the wiccan religion i believe it would have opened so many new doors to me. And it did even though i have been practicing the religion for quite some time now. It answered questions i never thought i had and it truly serves as an inspiration to me. I think every person should at least flip through this book because it's an incredible story of magic and spirtuality that is sure to intrique any reader.

I did a search on amotivational syndrome because I am experiencing it and found this book. I know many people who can't quit. Or quit and resume - from personal experience I have to inform you that marijuana can be highly addictive, distorts reality, and at least for a few days after stopping using it (I stopped eight days ago)I have felt great difficulty in getting motivated. Marijuana creates a feeling of well being, safety and intellectual stimulation, but also creates a delusional system (everything seems possible and amazing). Be careful ! I don't need to do scientific studies. I am unfortunately living proof. And I am outwardly a highly succesful person.

This book is a timely antidote to all of the B.S. that is propagated by those like the last revewer.

Drug addiction "counselors" are the absolute worst, most biased source of information about marijuana you can find. These people deal with drug addicts and other mentally disturbed individuals on a day in - day out basis and have usually lost all contact with reality in regards to the "drug use" of the vast majority of the population in the real world. There is absolutely no harm in smoking a joint now and then (the actual pattern of use by just about everyone who smokes pot in the real world.) Personally, I find the experience quite valuable in finding new ways to appreciate music, art, food, and sex. "Psychologically addictive?" Not NEARLY as much as television. "Physical withdrawal syndrome?" Nope. (The REAL get-your-kids-hooked drug pushers are the [legal and government-subsidized] tobacco companies.) "The 'astronomical' human toll of traffic and industrial accidents?" NOTHING when compared to alcohol. "The economic costs of marijuana's (so-called) amotivational syndrome?" Believe me, television is WAY, WAY, WAY more "amotivating".

Marijuana is the only illicit drug that is used across all social, economic, ethnic, age, occupational, and regional boundaries. It was originally made illegal for racist and political reasons and it is ridiculous that it remains illegal. Get this book, read it, then loan it out to everyone you know.

Whether you smoke pot or not, read this book! Anyone who wants to hold their own in a conversation about marijuana (be it legalization, medical uses, or whatever) will value from it.

I'm still in high school so I'm all too aware of how biased and slanted the war against drugs is. Since 2nd grade, I was told the dangers of smoking marijuana: amotivational syndrome, loss of intelligence, increased agression, etc. Sure, we've come along way since "one toke and you're a slave," but they still use a lot of scare progaganda. Instead of letting us make our own decision, they divide us: the potheads and those against it. Those students who begin to oppose marijuana, do so without knowing its medical benifits or its contributions to civil society.

Lynn Zimmer's book is a great antidote to this. Pure scientific data conserning marijuana use. The myths of physical addiction, amotivational syndrome, memory loss, and crime are clearly and scientifically debunked. This book is by no way preaching marijuana use either. Zimmer delivers the good along with the bad.

I recommend this book to people of all ages who have heard all the government/educational propaganda and are ready to see marijuana for what it really is. Believe me, I went through the D.A.R.E. program with did nothing but increase my curiousity in drugs. Marijuana has many medical, social, and healing values, but many are turned off by what they hear from those all too common sources. This book is a quick read and a great start to an objective look at the value of marijuana.

There are some interesting concepts in this book, as other reviewers have stated, but that wasn't enough to make me enjoy this one. I tend to judge books by how much I want to get back to them when I have to put them down to, say, feed the dogs or go to work. 'Altered Carbon' just wasn't a big enough draw for me to finish it.

While I liked the protagonist, i really didn't care at all about the mystery he was hired to solve. I thought the interaction between him and the veteran female cop was clumsy. Morgan's writing style is good, but i was jarred one too many times by being thrust into a scene that took 2 or 3 pages to understand.

Morgan shows promise so I will definitely check out his next offering. I'm just totally indifferent to this one.

Altered Carbon was an amazing first novel for Richard Morgan. This guy has a future! The book is dark and slick. It defintely has a Blade Runner feel to it along with some Matrix and Maltese Falcon (or even China Town)like mystery thrown in for good measure. The hero (Kovaks)can handle himself in a fight (he is enhanced) but is quite witty at the same time. His one liners cracked me up. The technology of sleeving (down loading one's mind through science into another body) is also fascinating and scary. Overall this is a great summer beach book. If you are looking for a good detective novel set in a futuristic Gibson/Blade Runner like society with lots of action and phylosophy concerning the nature of the human soul get Altered Carbon!

Richard Morgan's debut novel is a perfect example of the new breed of UK sci-fi and fantasy writers that are revolutionizing the genre. From Alastair Reynolds gothic space operas to China Mieville's baroque genius, this group is the best thing that happened to discriminating readers in ages, genre aficionados or not. Morgan's book is a solid slice of cyberpunk noir set in a brutal future san francisco that seems haunted by william gibson, raymond chandler and the warchoski brothers. His writing is sharp, full of energy. His plotting is solid and his characters snap with wit and invention. Violent and no-nonsense, this novel is a joy to read, a high-octane injection of fun, intelligence and sheer storytelling. Save yourself from the lame, formulaic and tired drivel that jams the shelves and plunge into virtual scifi-heaven, or hell...

James Huston's second effort, 'The Price of Power' is a direct sequel to his 'Balance of Power'. Both novels put together can easily be read as one novel and I will hazard a guess that the original draft was just that - a work that was split into two parts.
The terrorist from the first book, "George Washington', survives and kidnaps an American mining executive and his wife. He is quickly killed and his wife is held hostage with the demand for the release of the captured terrorist band from the previous novel. It is unclear in the novel if the reader is supposed to believe that the executive's wife is dead or alive.
The second thread of the novel are two courtroom procedures: the impeachment of the President on the grounds that he is a pacifist and cannot fulfill his duties as President of the United States and the court martial of Admiral Billings who led the original assault on the terrorist island. Still another plot thread is the use of another clause in the Constitution to justify further military action without the authority of the executive to rescue the hostage.
'The Price of Power" is better written than the previous novel because there are fewer dangling plot threads and the main characters behave with greater consistency than in the first book. The author also does a good job with his simple but effective courtroom dialogue sequences which are the true heart of the novel.
However, as in his first novel, the author uses his characters and storyline to present a right-wing interpretation to the Constitution and the roles of the President and Congress. The author misreads the Constitution and expects up to believe in some unlikely scenarios. For example, can you imagine a true pacifist getting through the President primary process? How about a President's mother testifying at an impeachment hearing? Or how about a court martial that judges on the constitutionally of an act and not the UCMJ?
As with his first novel, you need to put your brain on hold for this one, but if you do, you will enjoy this well paced fantasy novel for right-wingers. I intend to read his next novel, "Flash Point' which I hope is more military action than right-wing political fantasy.

James W. Huston has succeeded where most writers of sequels do not. He has managed to craft a well thought-out and entertaining sequel that makes the reader ask those famous "what if?" type questions.

In The Price of Power, Huston reprises all of the characters from his debut novel. In the process he gives them more life, more personality and more detail to hold the reader's attention.

In this installment, the author has the President of the United States serve as the convening authority for the Court Martial of the Admiral who led a task force to rescue Americans held hostage by Indonesian pirate/terrorists. The President, a weak leader with plummeting ratings faces the prospect of impeachment when he orders the Navy brass to court-martial its latest hero, an Admiral who followed the orders of Congress (rather than his or the Pentagon's) when they issued a heretofore little known of Letter of Reprisal that authorized the Navy to go after the enemy in his own lair.

Throughout this book, Huston asks very interesting moral and legal questions. He raises interesting constituional issues as well, especially for those Americans in uniform, whose very service oath is not to the nation, its people or the President, but to the Constitution itself. As those of us who have worn the uniform (or are still wearing it) know, the oath of enlistment or commissioning opens with "I _______do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same.."

The oaths we take are a serious matter to most of us. Our loyalty is not to a leader, the people we defend or to the nation itself; it is to the Constitution. The reason for that is simple; it is the Constitution, that genius of a document that defines who we are as a people and a nation. And in this novel, Huston does a masterful job of giving us very real examples of how the Constitution exists in all of our daily lives.

True, the author sets these serious questions in the arena of foreign, military, legislative and political affairs and yet, these are questions that could in fact happen in real life. After all, the United States, as the last superpower faces a multitude of challenges on a daily basis and unlike other countries, where dictators rule or the people have no real say, our system, with it executive, legislative and judicial balances must take into consideration public opinion and the desires of a very diverse population.

Mr. Huston covers all the areas of political and military intrigue with a surprising level of knowledge and a grasp for how Washington really works. This is a fast paced thriller with a highly developed plot that asks all the important questions. If you are at all interested in how the Congress, the White House and the armed forces operate within an ever changing world arena, then read this book. And unlike what one reviewer said about this being right-wing trash, read this novel with an open mind for the real possibilities. The author asks (and answers) some very provocative questions.

Paul Connors

James W. Huston does a terrific job handling the fallout from "The Balance of Power." While the first chapter with the kidnapping of an American corporate exec and his wife is written in a rather choppy style, it improves by leaps and bounds after that. The scenes involving Admiral Billings' court-martial are flat out excellent. Huston presents great arguments on both sides. One moment you think Billings will come out OK, the next it appears he has no chance to win. I do wish the impeachment trial of the President was done better. Those scenes were just not as compelling as the Billings court-martial. Again Congressional aide Jim Dillon is a first rate hero. At times he seems over his head, but that first class mind of his is always working to get out of what appear to be no-win situations. The return of the terrorist who calls himself George Washington is a great monkey in the wrench. He's more ruthless in this book than in "Balance." Even with the two problem areas I mentioned, the book overall is a winner.

What can I say, but, wow.....although this book seems in a way similar to her other work "Druids", this is only slightly so. I can't imagine how others on this page have called this book "Boring"....From the time you pick it up to the moment you put it down, you will be engrossed in the story. You will feel the struggle to win Ierne...you will be the people in this story...Llwelyn's gift for taking a reader out of his/her own place in time and putting them right in the middle of a situation is very well demonstrated in this book.....From Amergin's struggle to fit in to the triumph in which he takes part at the end of the story, to the ever-present machinations of Colptha (a bit 1-dimensional a character, but one that in reading you will see is necessary to make the story a complete piece).....You can't go wrong with this book.

Ms Llywelyn in this exceptional book about the legendary be- ginnings of the Irish people blends together the conceivable hypothesis of an Iberian migration and the ephemeral mythology of Irish fairy folk origins. Her depiction of Amerghain, the main character in his quest to achieve the poem of his lifetime is intertwined with the equally intense quest that his family members have to make their own marks on the landscape of time. There is here all the pagentry of a royal court and there is also the intangible essence of faith, magic, and deep seated beliefs. Notable is the research that went into this book which gives it the inescapable element of being more than fiction and yet the author proves quite capable of endowing the distant legends and lore with all the flesh and blood and emotions that are the keys to connection with these seemingly faceless names from a time now often forgotten. A superbly written and highly enjoyable book for anyone with even a remote interest in history or magic that is always associated with the land of Eire!

First of all this is a work of "Historical Fiction" as our Irish Ancestors never wrote anything down we have to realize this is not a retelling of history, but rather one author's interpretation of the events that "may have" happened. That said, the book is great! If anyone could bring Amergin and Millesos to life it is Morgan Llewelyn. I honestly can't say it's her best book...I've read them all and have been equally pleased with each and every one of them. But I guess the important thing to remember about this story is that the "sons of the Mil" in this book are not actual people but each one symbolizes the traits that make up the Irish: the farmer, poet, warrior,drunk, lunatic, and informer. A great book for anyone interested in all things Irish!