On Stranger Tides

Average customer rating:

Welcome to the Caribbean

On Stranger Tides

A really fantastic view

Mildly entertaining, definitely well-written

Zombies and Sorcerers and Pirates, O My!

On Stranger Tides
Tim Powers
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Powers, Tim | ( P ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0441626866

Customer Reviews:

Welcome to the Caribbean.......2007-09-08

Did you like the Pirates of the Caribbean movies? How about the Monkey Island computer games? Then you will LOVE this book.
John Chandagnac has come all the way from Europe to finish some family business. Little did he know he would fall in love, get kidnapped by pirates, fight off the Royal Navy, zombies, voodoo magic and end up trying to find the Fountain of Youth.
The best part of the book is that most of the characters have their own goals in mind and, while sometimes they are helping John, most of the time they are looking out for themselves. The mixture of history and fiction makes it great book for, well, anybody! Myth, magic, history and legends all in one story.

On Stranger Tides.......2007-02-28

Powers is an exceptioanllu imaginatiove writer. If you've heard of voodoo, read this for a well thought-out piece on how it might work in an alternative place.

A really fantastic view.......2007-01-18

Let's begin with the Fact that Powers is an exceptional writer. More than his books "Anubi's Gates", "Dinner" or "The Force in its Look", has been capable to speed the narrative style.
I never imagined that was possible to transfer the pirate ambient into a genuine fantasy novel. I mean, there's no a "dragon's opera", but a terrific approach to the pirates mythology. Of course, all in between a novel with interesting characters and a really good story.

Mildly entertaining, definitely well-written.......2007-01-03

I have read other books by Tim Powers, so I understand the way in which he blends several genres. I did not think that this book was as successful as some of the others that I have read, although it was definitely well-written and mildly entertaining. It might be frustrating to invest as much time as this book demands (because it is rather long) for some readers, only to end up feeling that the book really does not merit the effort. For me, it was a pleasant summer read.

Zombies and Sorcerers and Pirates, O My!.......2006-10-28

Tim Powers works a wondrous alchemy through his stories. He takes the familiar, known world, applies to it the philosopher's stone of his unique vision, and returns it to us utterly transformed - fascinating and fresh. In `On Stranger Tides', he has taken the familiar story of Blackbeard and his pirates and reshaped it into a compelling tale of eldritch magick. Blackbeard as a fierce warrior may be a tired tale often told, but Blackbeard as a fierce warrior and powerful voodoo sorcerer reshapes the familiar story into something new and strange, and impossible to put down.

Puppeteer turned pirate, Jack Shandy is a likable and fairly standard protagonist who, though down on his luck, is less flawed than the average Power's hero. While taking passage to the West Indies to try and claim a stolen birthright, he meets a charming young woman, his ship is attacked by pirates, and he is shanghaied into their ranks. He is drawn into a bizarre occult plot involving an obsessed and unbalanced Oxford don (the girl's father), and Captain Edward Thatch (Blackbeard), who we find is a powerful Voodoo shaman as well as a formidable pirate. As is usually the case with Power's plots, the history and the unique twists that he gives to it blend seamlessly into a thrilling tale.

I would rate `On Stranger Tides' right behind `Last Call' as one of Power's best works. The plot is fascinating and fast moving, the characters compelling, and the sense of an eerie otherness that is one of Power's trademarks is spot on. Trust me; you won't be able to put this one down until you finish the last sentence - highly recommended.

Theo Logos

The Rising Tide: A Novel of World War II

Average customer rating:

Good, but not great
Great story!
The Rising Tide
El Alamein
compelling military action in North Africa and Sicily..

The Rising Tide: A Novel of World War II
Jeff Shaara
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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The Glorious Cause
Wild Fire

ASIN: 034546141X
Release Date: 2006-11-07

Book Description

A modern master of the historical novel, Jeff Shaara has painted brilliant depictions of the Civil War, the Revolutionary War, and World War I. Now he embarks upon his most ambitious epic, a trilogy about the military conflict that defined the twentieth century. The Rising Tide begins a staggering work of fiction bound to be a new generation’s most poignant chronicle of World War II. With you-are-there immediacy, painstaking historical detail, and all-inclusive points of view, Shaara portrays the momentous and increasingly dramatic events that pulled America into the vortex of this monumental conflict.

As Hitler conquers Poland, Norway, France, and most of Western Europe, England struggles to hold the line. When Germany’s ally Japan launches a stunning attack on Pearl Harbor, America is drawn into the war, fighting to hold back the Japanese conquest of the Pacific, while standing side-by-side with their British ally, the last hope for turning the tide of the war.

Through unforgettable battle scenes in the unforgiving deserts of North Africa and the rugged countryside of Sicily, Shaara tells this story through the voices of this conflict’s most heroic figures, some familiar, some unknown. As British and American forces strike into the “soft underbelly” of Hitler’s Fortress Europa, the new weapons of war come clearly into focus. In North Africa, tank battles unfold in a tapestry of dust and fire unlike any the world has ever seen. In Sicily, the Allies attack their enemy with a barely tested weapon: the paratrooper. As battles rage along the coasts of the Mediterranean, the momentum of the war begins to shift, setting the stage for the massive invasion of France, at a seaside resort called Normandy.

More than an unprecedented and intimate portrait of those who waged this astonishing global war, The Rising Tide is a vivid gallery of characters both immortal and unknown: the as-yet obscure administrator Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose tireless efficiency helped win the war; his subordinates, clashing in both style and personality, from George Patton and Mark Clark to Omar Bradley and Bernard Montgomery. In the desolate hills and deserts, the Allies confront Erwin Rommel, the battlefield genius known as “the Desert Fox,” a wounded beast who hands the Americans their first humiliating defeat in the European theater of the war. From tank driver to paratrooper to the men who gave the commands, Shaara’s stirring portrayals bring the heroic and the tragic to life in brilliant detail.

A new level of accomplishment from this already acclaimed author, The Rising Tide will leave readers eager for the next volume of this superb saga of the war that saved and changed the world.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but not great.......2007-10-04

(review by her husband)
The Rising Tide is Jeff Shaara's first part of a WW II Trilogy. Having enjoyed both his Civil War and Revolutionary War histories, I looked forward to his approach to this conflict. Unfortunately, the book lacked the spark that Shaara imparted to his earlier writings. Herman Wouk did it better in his set.

Great story!.......2007-10-02

Another great Jeff Sharra story, this time WWII. Looking forward to a continuation of this story in the next volume.

The Rising Tide.......2007-09-30

Interesting part of WW II covered,but not as crisp as some of his earlier works.

El Alamein.......2007-09-29

The Rising Tide
Jeff Shaara has intertwined real life people such as Rommel, Monty, Eisenhower & others along with fictitous
battle ready troops. The settings are real life.
I am halfway through the book & by coincidence my wife & I are going on a pilgrimage to the war memorial at El Alamein where my father was killed in 1942, in October 07. He was Australian.
Jeff has opened my eyes to how it all happened.
Thanks,
Michael O'Mara

compelling military action in North Africa and Sicily.. .......2007-09-11

Jeff Shaara has written a masterpiece in the 1st of a much anticipated trilogy. The characters are richly drawn, Rommel, Eisenhower, Montgomery, Clark, Patton and a memorable list of others. The bulk of the novel takes place in North Africa as an uncertain and untested American force joins the British in an attempt to drive Rommel and his Panzer divisions from North Africa. Then the action leaps to Sicily where Patton takes center stage and adds to his illustrious reputation. I loved how the action and history propels you through the pages. The characters literally jump off the page at you and you become to know them so well. Interesting in how the story weaves back from the Allied point of view and the German point of view. Highly recommended.

Average customer rating:

Excellent and readable history of Pelopennesian Wars
Pressfield "Tides of War"
Mastery
Ancient Greece comes alive again
Great book

Tides of War
Steven Pressfield
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0553381393
Release Date: 2001-08-28

Amazon.com

After chronicling the Spartan stand at Thermopylae in his audacious Gates of Fire, Steven Pressfield once again proves that it's all Greek to him. In Tides of War, he tells the tale of Athenian soldier extraordinaire Alcibiades. Despite the vaunted claims for Periclean democracy, he is undoubtedly first among equals--a great warrior and an impressive physical specimen to boot: "The beauty of his person easily won over those previously disposed, and disarmed even those who abhorred his character and conduct." He is also a formidable orator, whose stump speeches are paradoxically heightened by what some might consider an impediment:

Even his lisp worked in Alcibiades' favor. It was a flaw; it made him human. It took the curse off his otherwise godlike self-presentation and made one, despite all misgivings, like the fellow.

This tale of arms and the man requires two narrators. One, Jason, is an aging noble who serves as a sort of recording angel of the Athenian golden age. The other, Polymides, was long Alcibiades' right-hand man, yet is now imprisoned for his murder.

As they were in his previous novel, Pressfield's battle scenes are extraordinarily vivid and visceral. This time, however, many of these elemental clashes take place on water. "As far as sight could carry, the sea stood curtained with smoke and paved with warcraft. Immediately left, a battleship had rammed one of the vessels in the wall; all three of her banks were backing water furiously, to extract and ram again, while across the breach screamed storms of stones, darts, and brands of such density that the air appeared solid with steel and flame."

In addition to his gift for rendering patriotic gore, the author excels at quieter but no less deadly forms of combat. As Alcibiades' star rises and falls and rises again, we are escorted directly into the snakepit of Athenian realpolitik. Bathing us in the details of a distant era, Pressfield is largely convincing. But it must be said that his diction exhibits a sometimes comical variegation, sliding from Homeric rhetoric to tough-guy speak to the sort of casual Anglicisms we might expect from Evelyn Waugh's far-from-bright young things. No matter. Tides of War conquers by sheer storytelling prowess, reminding us that war was--and is--a highly addictive version of hell. --Darya Silver

Book Description

Brilliant at war, a master of politics, and a charismatic lover, Alcibiades was Athens’ favorite son and the city’s greatest general.

A prodigal follower of Socrates, he embodied both the best and the worst of the Golden Age of Greece. A commander on both land and sea, he led his armies to victory after victory.

But like the heroes in a great Greek tragedy, he was a victim of his own pride, arrogance, excess, and ambition. Accused of crimes against the state, he was banished from his beloved Athens, only to take up arms in the service of his former enemies.

For nearly three decades, Greece burned with war and Alcibiades helped bring victories to both sides — and ended up trusted by neither.

Narrated from death row by Alcibiades’ bodyguard and assassin, a man whose own love and loathing for his former commander mirrors the mixed emotions felt by all Athens, Tides of War tells an epic saga of an extraordinary century, a war that changed history, and a complex leader who seduced a nation.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent and readable history of Pelopennesian Wars.......2007-06-01

This is an excellent history of the Pelopennesian Wars told in the first person from his jail cell by one who, fought in them, is now on trial for allegedly asassinating a Greek commander (Alcibiades) who defected to the enemy, then returned to the Athenian side. Though I don't usually like histories told in the first person, this one doesn't take liberties with quotes and those it cites have an air of authenticity that makes the book very readable. I'm not yet finished with it but can't go to bed at night without finishing another chapter or two.

Pressfield "Tides of War".......2007-05-07

Pressfield does an excellent job in describing the political climate and the ebb and flow of war in this book. The irony between having a leader who is controlled by the electorate (but ineffective) and a leader who is effective but dangerous is interesting and I enjoyed his Socratic style of prose. A very good book that stays entertaining without having to resort to silliness and has some interesting things to say concerning honor and excellence.

Mastery.......2007-04-21

Steven Pressfiel is without equal! Tides of War is by far the greatest book that he has written and a complete feast for the senses it is. Far superior than Gates of Fire for my money.

Ancient Greece comes alive again.......2007-04-04

Steven Pressfeild's "Tides of War" is set against the Peloponnesian War, and about the most infamous character of the event Alcibiades; pirate, patriot, traitor, general, name any title, he's probably earned it at some point. He was also proud and vain, which eventually lead to his down fall. This book chronicles the plague in Athens, the early Spartan, Athenian conflicts, the doomed invasion of Syracuse, extraordinary navel battles as well as some intense land fights. Court intrigue and espionage are ever present, and it dose make the story a little thick at times if you don't already know the story. The story is actually told in a complicated flashback as Alcibiades's best friend Polyamides (who is in prison for Alcibiades's murder) is telling the story to his grandson Jason, who is in the prison to watch Socrates drink his hemlock. This is description only scratched the surface of what this book is, there is so much more to it. I really liked this book, it is as much an epic retelling of Greek history as "Gates of Fire" was. I highly recommend this very readable account of the war that was the beginning of the end for Greece as a dominant power.

Great book .......2007-03-28

I'm just going to be kind and say that while this book is somewhat anti climactic and just not as good as Gates of Fire I wasn't expecting it to be something that good is just a tough act to follow.

Pressfield always does well capturing a narrative flow but it felt like the book could not make up its mind about weather or not it wanted to be a bio of Alcibidies or an account of the Sicilian Expedition. As a result the book feels like it ends in several places only to limp on for another 50 pages. Still fantastic stuff though and Pressfield is still one of the best.

Rising Tides: The Chesapeake Bay Saga #2 (The Quinn Brothers Trilogy)

Average customer rating:

Rising Tides
2 WOW the second time around for a job well done on the 2nd book
Donna's Review
Another Great One by Nora Roberts!
Love it

Rising Tides: The Chesapeake Bay Saga #2 (The Quinn Brothers Trilogy)
Nora Roberts
Manufacturer: Jove
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 051512317X
Release Date: 2001-06-05

Amazon.com

Set on the windswept shores of the Chesapeake Bay, Nora Roberts's Rising Tides, the second book in the Quinn Brothers trilogy, continues the story of the lives and loves of adopted brothers Ethan, Cameron, and Philip Quinn. Eager to honor their father's dying wish that their other brother, Seth, be cared for, the three settle into life with a 10-year-old. Of all the brothers, it is Ethan who finds himself drawn to the young boy, because both suffered horrific abuse before being adopted by the Quinns. Time hasn't extinguished Ethan's pain, only buried it deep within his heart, a fact that may keep him from the only woman he has ever loved. A moving contemporary with universal appeal, Rising Tides is Nora Roberts at her best.

Book Description

Ethan Quinn must rise above his dark and painful past to find his one chance at happiness.

Download Description

The second novel in a dramatic trilogy of three men who return home to honor their father's last wish---to care for Seth, a troubled boy in need of a family.

Customer Reviews:

Rising Tides.......2007-01-10

I really enjoyed this as I did the other ones from this series

2 WOW the second time around for a job well done on the 2nd book.......2006-02-10

Containing both emotion and power Roberts is able to portray Ethan Quinn in a fascinating way. While managing to keep in mind his patience and quiet ways, Roberts maintains the plot while still keeping readers happy and the characters thriving.

Also recommended: The MacGregor Grooms, and the rest of the Quinn books

Donna's Review.......2005-09-15

This book and the whole series is truly captivating. I always look for books like this and Nora Roberts knows how to capture an audiance.

I will read nothing but Nora Roberts from now on!

Another Great One by Nora Roberts!.......2005-05-03

RISING TIDES is the second book in the Chesapeake Bay trilogy and focuses on Ethan. Ethan is the quiet brother who loves the ocean. He's the one who started the family boat-building business and not only works there, but also runs his commercial fishing boat. He's the one who tries to direct the brothers into a successful future business, but isn't afraid of the hard work involved in getting them to achieve that success.

Almost as a sub-plot is the fact that Ethan has been in love with Grace for as long as he can remember, but considers her off-limits because of a dark secret in his past. As he gently guides Seth (the newest adopted brother) into the future, he is led to accept his past by the ghost of his father and not to place blame on himself. It's an Interesting concept and very effective.

These two sub-plots are entwined, so you don't really understand which is more important until you learn the secret that is keeping Ethan from fully realizing his dreams. Once that secret is revealed, the sub-plots are merged. This sounds confusing, but is well written and flows nicely together.

This series just keeps getting better with each book! Nora Roberts shows wit, charm and romance in RISING TIDES. It's also a very different style for her (and her fans), as she's writing from a male perspective. As I was reading it, I realized I was seeing things through the eyes of Ethan, and not Grace. This writing style didn't draw me into "living" the story, but instead kept me as a very interested bystander.

This book is definitely worth reading. In fact the entire Chesapeake Bay trilogy is an excellent choice for entertainment reading.

Love it.......2005-02-09

Ethan and Grace are perfect for eachother, but It got really irritating how he thought Grace was 'delicate' and 'fragile' expecially after she is raising a daughter alone and working such hard jobs. She stood up to him and that was cool. They really flow together.

High Tide in Hawaii (Magic Tree House 28)

Average customer rating:

A Book Review From a Spiritridge Third Grader
Buy this book
MY BOY LOVES READING
Please reconsider
Great fun and educational

High Tide in Hawaii (Magic Tree House 28)
Mary Pope Osborne
Manufacturer: Random House Books for Young Readers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Twister On Tuesday (Magic Tree House #23)

ASIN: 0375806164
Release Date: 2003-03-25

Book Description

When the Magic Tree House whisks Jack and Annie off to Hawaii it’s for more than a vacation–they’re in search of a fourth kind of magic for Morgan! On the way they help an island community survive a tidal wave and, of course, take some time out to surf! Ultimately, they discover that the magic that they have found in this set of four books are everyday magics: the magic of the arts, the magic of the natural world, the magic of community; and the magic of fun.

Customer Reviews:

A Book Review From a Spiritridge Third Grader.......2007-03-22

I read a story that will take you to Hawaii! If you want to go to Hawaii, Magic Tree House book #28, High Tide in Hawaii is waiting for you.

Jack and Annie are solving rhymes and this book is the last rhyme. Jack and Annie will learn how to surf and dance.

The rhyme from Morgan le Fay (the long ago Librarian) is to "build a special kind of ship that rides the waves, both high and low, on every kind of trip".

There is trouble by tsunami, but you have to find out in this book!

I love this book because it makes me laugh. Just like this, Jack was trying to stand and surf but he kept fell down. Hawaiian friends ( Kumu and Boka) will help him stand.

I recommend this book to people who love Magic Tree House series and people who have been to Hawaii before. Go ahead and check this book out!

Buy this book.......2007-01-21

My children have several books in this series (Magic Tree House). I bought this one for my 9 year old. This one is about going back in time and learning about friendship. It's a nice story.

The only part I didn't like was the peer pressure for one character to surf (a child who was afraid to surf) with no lessons or safety info. At least they did show some danger in doing so later on in the story. (I don't think you should stop kids from learning new sports but there should be parental supervision, "how to" lessons and safety instructions.)

Overall, I feel this is a great book.

MY BOY LOVES READING.......2007-01-07

My 1st grader hates to put it down, he would rather read Magic Tree House books, than play video games. He even reads them to his class and explains the story for show and tell. In his kindergarten class the teacher would also let him read the Magic Tree House books out loud, not to give her a break, but to promote reading out loud. Great books!

Please reconsider.......2005-04-29

While I appreciate that this is a popular series, as an elementary educator from Hawai'i I would like Amazon customers to consider not buying this particular installment of the Tree House books. It perpetuates the most ridiculous stereotypes of Hawai'i and Hawaiians. It makes Native Hawaiians out to be ignorant and indebted to a boy for his superior knowledge -- this is simply a repetition of the old story that Pacific Islanders needed to be saved by the West. At the risk of being cynical, how about a book that explains how the kids did not save Native Hawaiians from the near genocide that followed contact with the West? There are many good books for kids set in Hawai'i, written by people who know the Islands, its history and traditions. Please look for books like these -- The Fish and Its Gifts/Na Makana a Na I'a, Bon Dance in Hawai'i, To Find the Way, or Mr. Miyataki's Wonderful Machine.

Great fun and educational.......2004-06-02

My seven year old loves reading these books over and over again. While she is enjoying the books, she is learning about different places and times in history. She's learned about the Amazon, the wild west, hawaii, the civil and revolutionary wars, the middle ages, ocean mammals, and so much more. I highly recommend the whole series.

Trend Trading: Timing Market Tides (Wiley Trading)

Average customer rating:

Nothing new. Basic knowledge for long term trading
Disappointing-save your money
This is a hard read.
Worthwhile
Specific ideas for beginners and serious traders

Trend Trading: Timing Market Tides (Wiley Trading)
Kedrick Brown
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0471980218

Book Description

Written in a straightforward and accessible style, Trend Trading teaches you how to trade equity trends with sound money management discipline, from the individual stock level to the whole portfolio level. Tailored to investors who want to use elements of trend following strategies in their equity portfolios, Trend Trading presents unique investment tools and advanced technical analysis methods in simple, commonsense terms.

Customer Reviews:

Nothing new. Basic knowledge for long term trading.......2007-08-12

This book shows methods for trend following long term trading.

There is nothing new in it. If you have already read for example "Trade your way to financial freedom" (a much better read by the way), you will learn about nothing in this book.

The style of the book is quite academic but all presented things are extremely simple. Everything is very much detailed with obvious formulas or repeating the same stuff for the short side (exactly symmetric) after having been explained for the long side, perhaps in order to reach the critical number of 200 pages for the book.

I wonder what is the motivation for this book since there is nothing new. A result of the Wiley Trading frenzy to publish?

Disappointing-save your money.......2007-02-20

Too academic and nothing new to add to material that is already out there.Not that practical from a swing trader's point of view.

This is a hard read........2007-01-29

I found this book to be difficult to read. I didn't think the book was well organized or well written. I often found myself rereading sections and starting the book over. It was hard to understand some of the information not because it was complicated, but because it just wasn't written clearly.

I would not recommend this for the novice investor. There are better books out there.

Worthwhile.......2007-01-03

I read this book over Christmas break, initially thinking that I had picked up yet another tome that amateur traders would find entertaining, but which would contain little useful information about the actual details of trading.

I quickly realized that Trend Trading was no ordinary book. It is literally packed with trading details, from its in-depth explanation of trend trading and money management tactics to its exposition on the psychological experience during different stages of trading.

What a privilege for us that Kedrick took the time to write this book after 8 years in the markets. A truly worthwhile read

Specific ideas for beginners and serious traders.......2006-11-24

Systems traders have long been known to employ profitable trend following strategies in the futures markets. Applying those concepts to stock trading has proven to be difficult, although the idea of trend following in stock markets dates back at least the days of Charles Dow. In a new
book, Kedrick Brown, a former vice president at Knight Equity Markets, LP, redefines trend trading and offers readers a lot to think about, and readers of this book will find a large number of testable ideas.

Brown reviews the basic tenets of Dow Theory, and summarizes the underlying idea as, "Dow Theory thus assumes that it is only worth
owning stocks during confirmed bull markets in the major indices, and that one should be out of stocks otherwise." He also offers a straightforward definition of a trend following trading strategy as, "Any preplanned, rule-based strategy for managing open position P&L in which open profits could hypothetically grow indefi nitely under a limited
set of circumstances, while open losses are limited under all circumstances."

After developing a common base of understanding, Brown develops a relatively simple trend following strategy applying what he calls three dimensional technical analysis. In three dimensional technical analysis, traders need to consider not only price and time in a single stock, but they should expand their focus to similar information in multiple stocks simultaneously. In his book, Brown fully develops a sample strategy to trade any NASDAQ stock, such as MSFT.

This strategy, one of many in the book, relies on an objective method of defi ning a market's trend - the binary trend identification method using
Donchian bands:

1. Filter condition: Take long positions in MSFT only if the NASDAQ Composite is in an uptrend, defined as price having made a new 32-day high more recently than it made a new 32-day low.
2. Buy MSFT if it makes a new 24-day high while the NASDAQ Composite is in an uptrend.
3. Limit your losses by setting an initial fixed stop at the 24-day low at the time of trade entry.
4. If the initial stop is hit, reenter on a new 24-day high if the NASDAQ Composite is still in an uptrend.
5. Exit if the NASDAQ Composite enters a downtrend, defined by the price reaching a new 32-day low.

Buy and sell decisions in this example follow the trend of the general market. The strategy manages open position P&L by limiting losses and allowing profits to run in bull markets.

Interestingly, specific reentry points are precisely defined. This is often challenging for traders to do, and Brown points out that it is important to get back into positions after being stopped out if trend following in equities is going to be rewarding to traders.

Other trading strategies are comprehensively developed in the book, and the reader is always given a complete understanding of the underlying principles. Brown also devotes a large portion of the book to a detailed discussion on position sizing, and provides worksheets that traders can use or adapt for their personal use to develop trading plans. Overall, the book can serve as a complete "how to" manual for the beginning trader, but offers a great deal for more experienced traders.

In an interesting, but brief section, Brown addresses the institutional money manager's need to add alpha by outperforming, on a relative basis, a benchmark. Assuming the benchmark is the S&P 500, Brown notes, "If you hold a proxy for the S&P 500 at all times when not trading, you need only to outperform the proxy during the holding periods of your trades to beat its long term performance (before commissions and taxes)." The discussion and test results of this point are worth considering for all those attempting to outperform a benchmark.

Midnight Tides: The Malazan Book of the Fallen

Average customer rating:

Epic Fantasy with a twist
Blown Away Again!
Erikson has somehow outdone himself yet again.
Take a break from elves and orcs.
Another good installment

Midnight Tides: The Malazan Book of the Fallen
Steven Erikson
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

The Bonehunters (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 6)
House of Chains (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 4)
Memories of Ice (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 3)
Deadhouse Gates (The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 2)
Gardens of the Moon : Book One of The Malazan Book of the Fallen (Malazan Book of the Fallen)

ASIN: 0765310058
Release Date: 2007-04-17

Book Description

After decades of internecine warfare, the tribes of the Tiste Edur have at last united under the Warlock King of the Hiroth. There is peace--but it has been exacted at a terrible price: a pact made with a hidden power whose motives are at best suspect, at worst, deadly.

To the south, the expansionist kingdom of Lether, eager to fulfill its long-prophesized renaissance as an Empire reborn, has enslved all its less-civilized neighbors with rapacious hunger. All, that is, save one--the Tiste Edur. And it must be only a matter of time before they too fall--either beneath the suffocating weight of gold, or by slaughter at the edge of a sword. Or so destiny has decreed.

Yet as the two sides gather for a pivotal treaty neither truly wants, ancient forces are awakening. For the impending struggle between these two peoples is but a pale reflection of a far more profound, primal battle--a confrontation with the still-raw wound of an old betrayal and the craving for revenge at its seething heart.

Customer Reviews:

Epic Fantasy with a twist.......2007-09-26

Steven Erickson continues to satisfy the thirst for epic fantasy written in captivating chunks. His Malazan series continues to deliver with excellent stories, memorable characters, believable interaction and a solid back-story that draws them all together.

Much like LE Modesitt (my personal favorite in the genre) Erickson delivers his epic story in discrete chunks, that provides a vast, sweeping drama encompassing his well structured and delivered world, yet each story can stand equally well on their own, or the universe he has created can be entered at any point in the story line and be just as enjoyable.

Also like Modesitt, he has brought a unique perspective to the whole genre, by bringing in an anthropological and social construction and transformation twist, that separates it from other worlds, and expands the scope and scale of the world and its denizens. All in all, this is a different stylistic approach in a genre that is crying for new styles and voices to appear. Kudos.

He has managed to keep this flow, something (Robert Jordan lost about 5 books ago......) by making each book deliver a feeling of relevance and completion, even if they leave you wanting more.

I have enjoyed this so much, that I have turned "across the pond" to order the next books from England, as they are publishing them before they do stateside.

I highly recommend these stories, and encourage readers to jump right in, regardless of the volume that catches your eye.

Blown Away Again!.......2007-09-21

I'll be short which is something Steve Erikson isn't. I have started the series from the begining and was somewhat angry that this series flutters around. Those who have read the series knows what I mean. Any, this book had little to do with the books that went before it. However, this is a great book, tremendous plot twists, and ending that left you tragically very unsatisfied. Sorry for you Bryes, Maylen, Hull, Ceda, etc. Still what a story!

I have given up on Erikson completing the previous stories and books, and giveing me more of the characters I fell in love with. Where are you Apsalar and Tattersail? Now just accept the genious of the characters whenever they appear. Don't fall in love with any characters because you may not see them again, just go with the flow and be in moment. You will not be able to root for Harry and hope he pulls it out in the end. Not that kind of series, much darker, deeper and more complicated than you can imagine. That said wow! Wow and more wow! This book you can pick up and read without knowing what had gone before. Even though Trull was in the House of Chains you didn't have to read the House of Chains to know what was going on. In fact this could be the first book in the series and historically it is the first book in the series as far as when these events occurred. I didn't give this book 5 stars because the ending left me lacking, quite frankly like all of this books have left me lacking at the end. However, Eriskon is about the journey not the destination. Buy this book and be amazed.

Erikson has somehow outdone himself yet again........2007-07-10

Steven Erikson, Midnight Tides (Tor, 2006)

I can't believe it. If Memories of Ice had not already placed Steven Erikson at the top of the current spate of fantasy writers turning out series, each book of which would make a fine doorstop, then Midnight Tides would have done just as well. Both books in the same series? Steven Erikson is, without doubt, a force to be reckoned with.

It occurred to me about halfway through Midnight Tides that Erikson writes to formula--four hundred fifty pages-ish of strategy, tactics, and getting to know the principal players in whatever aspect of this massive wargame Erikson is setting up, and then one hundred fifty pages-ish of the big battle that everything's been leading to. The characters are usually the same, outwardly. There's the fish out of water (Withal, in this volume), the outsider forced to choose a side (Hull Beddict, and to a lesser extent Seren Pedac), the calm, disaffected warrior (Brys Beddict and Iron Bars), the comic relief (Tehol and Bugg), the gods who have manifested among men, a Jaghut who's somehow survived for thousands of years despite the T'lan Imass having wiped them out. Yep, in pretty much every volume. (I don't recall there being a Jaghut in Gardens of the Moon, but that's minor). Where Erikson rises above other formula writers, and to use the obvious comparison, we'll take the grande dame of formula writers, Dame Barbara Cartland, though any other would suffice, is that Erikson's characters, of whatever aspect, are deep and richly-drawn in a world he has created down to, it seems, the minutest detail. It doesn't matter how much you research your historical romances, there will always be bits that no one thought to write down, and most of the time, there are bits you gloss over in order to keep the story going (or to keep the reader's eyes from watering when you describe the stench of, say, the streets of medieval Paris). Erikson has no time for that sort of glossing. All the hard, ugly detail is here. And all of it contributes to make the Malazan Book of the Fallen the best series currently going, in any genre. And Midnight Tides stands with Memories of Ice as tied for the honor of best book--so far--in the series.

We met Trull Sengar, the outcast (and, perhaps, last remaining) Tiste Edur, in House of Chains. He played a minor role, and all we knew about him was that he had been bound and left to die by his brothers. How did he get that way? Midnight Tides is that story, or at least part of it. It takes place in the Letherii and Tiste Edur empires, a large portion of Genabackis which we haven't previously seen. As such, Trull Sengar is the only character we know, and we don't know a great deal about him. (There's another character we're middling familiar with, but to reveal him would be a spoiler at this point.) As we open, the Edur are preparing for a delegation from Lether, the two sides having existed in uneasy truce for some time. The delegation, and the treaty that comes from the meeting, are supposed to formalize the peace between the two kingdoms. Neither is terribly sure they actually want peace, and are convinced the other side does, in fact, want war. The problem, as it usually is in Erikson's books, is that the two kingdoms are not the only players on the field, though neither side is yet aware of who else would put their fingers in this pie. Aside from the war, there's Tehol Beddict, his manservant Bugg, and various employees of his, involved in a secret money-making scheme; Shurq Elalle, the undead thief; the Azath Tower, guardian over various imprisoned immortals, and Kettle, its undead child keeper; the shadow wraiths of the Tiste Edur, who are not at all what they seem to be; Kuru Qan, Lether's chief mage, slowly going mad as his old friend Brys watches; Buruk the Pale, a merchant selling Letherii steel to the Tiste Edur; a number of previously-conquered races subjugated by the Letherii; the Crimson Guard, whoever they may be... and far too much more to keep going on about here. Erikson's novels are always Cecil B. DeMille epics with their casts of thousands, but the six hundred plus pages we are given mean we can get to know all these personalities, and get to know them perhaps all too well.

Midnight Tides is a book of pure setup, really. Sure, there's a war, and all the accompanying action, but it has little to do on the surface with whatever it is Erikson's been building up to in his main story arc. (Or so it would seem, since it's pretty obvious this is all taking place far enough in the past for Trull Sengar to have been left wherever he was for quite some time.) That it could be a book of pure setup, that we could know from the outset it's pure setup, and for it to still be as good as it is is astonishing. It's also interesting to notice how Erikson uses the book of setup to fill in some of the gaps in our Genabackis knowledge (how are the Edur and the Andii related, anyway? And how do the Toblakai fit into it all? How are the Deck of Dragons and the Warrens related? That sort of thing. [Oh, you'll have to do some digging in your own memories to come up with that last one, but it does get answered here, after a fashion, despite the Deck never making an appearance.]). Either Erikson is the most enormously gifted fantasy writer currently in existence, he's the most enormously gifted plotter currently in existence, or a combination of both. Whatever the actual situation, the end result is the same: the Malazan Book of the Fallen takes the idea of the entertaining, immersive read to an entirely new level, and Midnight Tides is one of the series' high points. An absolutely fantastic novel that will quite easily make my top ten reads of the year. *****

Take a break from elves and orcs........2007-07-10

I respect Erikson's productivity tremendously. It is no easy feat to pump out a thick volume every year and maintain consistency and continuity. Thankfully, Erikson has managed to avoid the Robert Jordan curse (so far).

After every Erikson book, I have the same first impression: Too much! I would love to be an imp perched on the author's shoulder pleading with him that "less is more". Erikson creates with such excess--in characters, ideas, storylines, etc.--that the novel often left me with a headache. I believe that the reader suffers some disconnect due to the abundance of major characters (at least 6) and important supporting characters (a dozen). It is difficult to sympathize and understand one character, much less several.

At first, I thought that the novel would be better if it were 100 pages lighter. I mean, Shurq and Ublala are funny, but are they necessary? Do the three sisters serve a significant purpose? Sometimes I think that his world building overshadows his characters, who are starting to feel alike. How many god-like warriors can one world have?

On second thought, I recognize that volume and audacity are part of Erikson's style. He wants to confuse and bewilder. He strives to populate a massive world with lots of significant, powerful characters. Asking him to tone it down would only damage his world building, which is the strength of the series. He has created something new and different. The best way to read an Erikson novel is to revel in the size, scope, and originality.

I am not surprised that many consider Midnight Tides one of the best in the series. By limiting the novel to (mostly) one setting, Erikson tells the clearest story yet. I also like how he contrasts the Edur and Letherii societies. For example, Lether is founded on money and greed, yet Edur bury their dead in a coating of coins. That is not a coincidence. I also like the parallelism: for example, both societies features brothers as major characters, the Sengars in Edur and the Beddicts in Lether. It is also his funniest novel, exemplified in the banter between Tehol and Bugg. I recommend it to anyone who is tired of elves and orcs.

Another good installment.......2007-07-09

I didn't know what to think coming into this one because it is a completely different story in and of itself with barely any connection to the series as a whole. We've seen other authors do this, i.e. Terry Goodkind, and fail miserably. Erikson, though, seems to have pulled it off.

This monster of a book is a lot to get through, and the cast of characters can be a little daunting, but Erikson's writing pulls it all together. With this book we get the back story for Trull Sengar, the only character to be found in any other book in the series. My only wish is that since we we're getting the back story why not show us how Trull came to be trapped in the warren of book 4? Either way, the same story telling is here that really shows gods among men, really shows who are the strong and who are the weak. This has been something I have admired of Erikson for a while, that he can effectively show why someone is more powerful, or explain the uniqueness of a certain person and so on. That is how he has been able to write about gods and not fall on his face, because he can effectively show who they are in comparison to everyone else.

My only wish is that Erikson will get back to the main storyline that he created through book 4. This doesn't detract from this book, but it would detract if he were to write too many books in the series that were tangential storylines such as this one. Be that as it may, there is a lot set up in this book that can ultimately make for some great storylines as they join with the rest of the series.

I would recommend.

4 stars.

Average customer rating:

My first Feehan book and my last
Editor needs to be fired
4 1/2 Stars
I've read better....
Great Read!

Dangerous Tides (Drake Sisters, Book 4)
Christine Feehan
Manufacturer: Jove
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books

General | Romance | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0515141542

Book Description

Libby Drake never saw herself as the kind of woman who could attract the attention of handsome and brilliant biochemist Tyson Derrick. Until fate throws them together-and leaves them vulnerable to a secret enemy.

Customer Reviews:

My first Feehan book and my last.......2007-10-11

This book was just annoying to me. Maybe because every other page had one of the seven sisters showing up randomly and interrupting the story line. Maybe because I expected this book to be about one heroine, and instead the whole thing kept branching off to tell bits about the other sisters' and their lovers' lives. I'm sorry, but isn't that what the other books are for, if this is indeed a Drake Sisters series? Also, this was billed as an erotic suspense book, and it was not. The romance was blah and didn't even kick in until the end of the book. At that point I was skimming the pages. The story did not draw me in, the plot was so dull that I don't even know what it really was, and the protagonists were unappealing.

Editor needs to be fired.......2007-09-15

This is a mildly entertaining book as are most of Feehan's works. My main problem is that the editing department of Jove must have assumed that since she is a successful author that she knows how to spell. Carabineer (someone who carries a carbine rifle) used multiple times instead of Carabiner (D shaped safety ring) and Asmith which isn't even a word instead of azimuth. Those kinds of errors are inexcusable at this level and take away from enjoying the book. There were several contradictions at the beginning also. The ground rescue crew fails at a high angle cliff rescue, then the helicopter crew on the next page decides that would be unsafe for them to do when they wouldn't be doing a cliff rescue. Can you say cranking these out on autopilot?

4 1/2 Stars.......2007-08-14

This was Libby's story. And Ty Derrick (adventure seeker/genius).

Libby is the doctor and "healer" in the family. I enjoyed reading this book. Thought it moved right along, was well written and nicely edited.

I've read better...........2007-07-06

I was not impressed with any of the Drake Sisters series. There was nothing there to keep me wanting to know more about the sisters. It didn't hold my attention. The "magic" was not enough to hold my attention.

Another thing that bothered me is that everyone just took for granted that the sisters had their "magical" powers. They didn't try to hide it and it didn't bother anyone. No one questioned them. Maybe secrecy would have made the series more interesting.

I was definitely not impressed. I'm hoping the Dark Series will be better, but from what I know about them, they seem like a ripoff of the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. I guess I'll have to see.

Great Read!.......2007-05-09

This was the first of the Drake Sisters novels that I purchased, and I liked it so much that I went backwards to read ther sisters before. This novel of Libby and her "supposed" nemisis Ty Derrick is both romantic and suspenseful. The realationships of the sisters is amazing. This is a wonderful read. I can not wait for Hannah and Jonas.

Average customer rating:

SLICK CORPORATE NOSTALGIA FROM THE 'IVORY' TOWER

Rising Tide : Lessons from 165 Years of Brand Building at Procter & Gamble
Davis Dyer , Frederick Dalzell , and Rowena Olegario
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Company Profiles | Biography & History | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Business & Investing | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 1591391474

Book Description

The Evolution of a Brand Powerhouse

The candles that lit the nights of Union soldiers during the Civil War. The synthetic detergent that eradicated hours of toil for women in the 1940s. The disposable diapers that added convenience to the lives of busy parents.

All of these breakthrough "firsts" and a host of others came from the same source: consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble. Rising Tide chronicles this company's extraordinary 165-year climb from a small, family-operated soap and candle company to a global powerhouse whose market-leading brands improve the lives of consumers everywhere.

Authors Davis Dyer, Frederick Dalzell, and Rowena Olegario were granted unprecedented access to P&G's corporate archives and exclusive interviews with key executives and employees. They describe the introduction and evolution of such household brands as Ivory, Tide, Crest, and Pampers and illustrate how P&G learned to satisfy consumers and compete in markets all over the world. They also recount insightful lessons about product innovation, global expansion, leadership transformation, business reinvention, and brand building.

Compelling and candid, Rising Tide is a fascinating journey through business history and material culture from colonial times through the Industrial Revolution and into the Information Age.

Customer Reviews:

SLICK CORPORATE NOSTALGIA FROM THE 'IVORY' TOWER.......2004-08-10

Little needs to be said for an account, any account, much less a peppy one that reads like a veritable 'soap' opera, of a company that spends close to US$ 5 billion p.a. on advertising alone.

It is by definition a must-read for anyone even on the periphery of the marketing industry, and Yours Truly can vouch for the insightful trivia you'll pick up along the way if you hang your shingle in the media circles.

But the sheer strategic sweep that the authors have packed into this treatise on what kept Ivory afloat (beyond watery puns) will make it a worthwhile read for just about anyone in business. The singular most significant take-away being the allocation of media budgets a century ago versus how things stand today.

Interesting thoughts and riveting reminiscences wrapped in sprightly prose. Recommended in a blink.

Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America

Average customer rating:

History repeats itself.
The Rising Tide
The Great Flood
They're Gonna Wash Us Away - The Rest of the Story
Outstanding Piece of Work in History, Politics and Humanity

Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America
John M. Barry
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Natural Disasters | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0684810468

Amazon.com

When Mother Nature rages, the physical results are never subtle. Because we cannot contain the weather, we can only react by tabulating the damage in dollar amounts, estimating the number of people left homeless, and laying the plans for rebuilding. But as John M. Barry expertly details in Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, some calamities transform much more than the landscape.

While tracing the history of the nation's most destructive natural disaster, Barry explains how ineptitude and greed helped cause the flood, and how the policies created to deal with the disaster changed the culture of the Mississippi Delta. Existing racial rifts expanded, helping to launch Herbert Hoover into the White House and shifting the political alliances of many blacks in the process. An absorbing account of a little-known, yet monumental event in American history, Rising Tide reveals how human behavior proved more destructive than the swollen river itself.

Book Description

An American epic of science, politics, race, honor, high society, and the Mississippi River, Rising Tide tells the riveting and nearly forgotten story of the greatest natural disaster this country has ever known -- the Mississippi flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of nearly one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of blacks north, and transformed American society and politics forever.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Lillian Smith Award.

Customer Reviews:

History repeats itself........2007-08-20

I happened to read this book when I was home from work waiting for Hurricane Katrina to make landfall (I live in Baton Rouge, 80 miles North of New Orleans). It was an ironic that I read this book that day. I had no idea of the book's relevance to that day's events. John Barry documents the events and reasons leading up to the great flood of 1927 in incredible detail. Being from South Louisiana, I knew a little about the flood, but most of what I thought I knew was not correct. The facts of what the US Corp of Engineers did or did not do is readily available from a number of sources. The Corp of Engineer's competence or incompetence is subject to debate (Well, It was subject to debate until August 29, 2005). The real revelations as far as I am concerned are the cultural and economic factors that Barry weaves into an enlightening book. It shows how the powers that ruled New Orleans (Canal Bank, Whitney Bank, Hibernia Bank and the Times Picayune Newspaper) deceived and lied to maintain their power and riches at everyone else's expense. St Bernard Parish (County to most of you) was sacrificed by bombing the levee system below New Orleans to take the pressure off of the New Orleans levees (as it turns out, unnecessarily). The amazing part of the book is the "how it changed America" part. From the creation of the Federal based welfare system, Herbert Hoover's rise to stardom and the ultimate election of Huey Long as Governor of Louisiana (and had he not been assassinated, may be President of the United States), the 1927 flood changed America more than any event I can think of other than the Revolutionary War and Civil War. This is a GREAT book worth your time to read. It is said that in order to know the future, you must study the past. Too bad we're still not paying attention !!!!!!!!!!!

The Rising Tide.......2007-02-18

I've barely dipped into the first chapter of this, plus reading at random to wherever the book fell open, and I'm awed. Barry's attention to detail and exhaustive documentation of his sources are exemplary. It is also a darn good read, and it is his thoroughness which makes it that way -- the principal players stand out like characters in a good novel. There was recently a PBS special (I believe it was The American Experience) on the history of New Orleans, and although Barry appeared in it, not nearly enough attention was paid to the 1927 flood, especially to some of the most unsavory aspects such as the machinations of the local power structure. Other than the pleasure of reading this book, I highly recommend it because we had a replay of this in Katrina with a similar display of greed, insensitivity and incompetence. And if it can happen in New Orleans, it can happen anywhere!

The Great Flood.......2006-12-14

I had never heard of the Mississippi flood before picking up this book and I am surprised that I had never hard of it after reading about it. This is arguably the greatest natural disaster to hit the United States until Hurricane Katrina. To see the response of the government then and now there are shocking similarities The army corp of engineers makes a similar performance and it is through private enterprise and local political networks that areas are saved. One of the sadder points in the book is the treatment of African Americans and southern racism in this time period is clearly displayed in most areas. The flood which wiped out parts of Mississippi and spread down to New Orleans was catastrophic. Seeing the idea of detonating levees and sacrificing areas of save others were tough choices that have implications in the post Katrina world. This is a highly recommend book that will make one think about natural disaster response from a truly catastrophic event.

They're Gonna Wash Us Away - The Rest of the Story.......2006-11-02

Randy Newman told the story of the great Louisiana flood of 1927 in a few memorable but not very historically accurate verses. Barry tells it with painstaking research and narrative of 75 years surrounding and including 1927. He opens with the civil engineering debate that raged for years about how to "control" the Mississippi River--levees or controlled drainage. Once the flood happens he focuses on how people dealt with it as it was happening (race relations in the early 20th century were sorely tested) and afterwards (St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes, having been sacrifice to "save" New Orleans, were left almost low and dry when it came time to distribute money for recovery---sound familiar?) One memorable theme is that nature is unsympathetic to political compromise. Barry rivals David McCullough in the genre of popular history writers.

Outstanding Piece of Work in History, Politics and Humanity.......2006-10-26

Mr. Barry has done an exceptional job of weaving the elements of modern life together, natural disaster, power, money, politics, race together to tell an ingrossing and disturbing story, one that is a relevant today as it was when it happened in the late twenties. America is still affected by what happened then and faces many of the same challenges today--Katrina and whenever or whereever there is great human suffering brought on by natural disaster. (Just wait until the New Madrid earthquake occurs again. That may be the only natural disaster that could rival this flood and its effect on our nation, society and culture.)

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely, and money--having it--makes that corruption and the arrogance that comes with it, even more dangerous, despicable and deadly. We face all of those issues and threats today, and it is not limited to a political party, but rather to class,to wealth and, sadly and alarmingly, to those we "elect" to represent and protect us.

This book is a sobering look at America as it was, and, sadly, as it is. Political parties do not matter....This not about man's highest, nor is it about man's lowest. It is about man as he is...

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