Nothing Little About This Tome
925183
I saw the movie first; and it really moved me. Then, as I was describing my own writing style and influences, a friend who knows something about something mentioned Tom Perrotta. Knowing that he had authored the snarky Election piqued my interest. But, it was the modern intrigue and the simmering, existential passion of Little Children that really won me over. Now, I'm a diehard Tom Perrotta fan.

Perrotta introduces some very human characters caught up in the complex intrigues of contemporary life. Gender roles, marriage, parenthood, and morality are the themes. These are real people filled with the kind of helpless desperation that leads to careless disregard for commitment, risking it all for every new moment of connection. I have no idea how I would respond to these temptations, or what kind of fortitude it would take to turn away from these forbidden intimacies. On top of that struggle, Perrotta throws in a community's fear of a pedophile and an errant vigilante campaign to run a surprisingly empathetic pervert outta town. Now, you've got a recipe for emotionally wrenching high drama.

Tom Perrotta knows the American cul de sac, the playground, and the community swimming pool. He writes articulately about the secret desires that motor our lives.

Rand Bishop, author of Makin' Stuff Up, The Absolute Essentials of Songwriting Success, and the novel/mock memoir Grand Pop.
4282973
Ed Greenwood has a way of suckering people into buying his books, no matter how useless the material.  Though prolific, he rarely writes anything of value, or which displays even one iota of creativity.  Secrets of the Magister is little different.
 Though this sourcebook is not  riddled with impossibly-high statistics of godlike characters, it follows  the Greenwood mold.  In his quest to create a thorough, detailed world,  Greenwood has introduced a plethora of facts, from the trite to the  trivial.  Secrets of the Magister takes an otherwise mysterious being and,  by revealing its secrets, not only brings that lofty title down to the  mundane, but drags it through the filth of artificiality.
 None of what  Greenwood writes feels real!  Granted, it's a fantasy world, but if we are  to suspend disbelief, as is the goal of role-playing, then the magical  should seem wondrous, not mundane; characters should feel alive, not  artificial; and adventure should be high and fantastic, not removed and  routine.
 Half the book is devoted to a brief history of the magisters,  which is as dry and didactic as a textbook.  A good portion deals with  special spells and magical items employed or created by magisters past and  present.  This is of some value if you want some new spells or magical  items to introduce to a campaign and are not feeling particularly creative  at the moment, but it is such a small, unoriginal sample that this books is  not worth buying just as a magic supplement.  Finally, Greenwood deals with  the attributes of magisters, how they are selected, what benefits they  receive, etc., all with the enthusiasm of a lich in a dead-magic zone.
  Browse through the book if you want, take a look at the spells and items,  but don't bother buying it...chances are, you'll come up with much more  creative and superior material on your own.
2038506
Nothing new here, but, it's all in one read, so very handy and convenient for reference. Note publication date.
505655
I found little, if anything, new here to help with the clutter beyond what I have gleaned from the magazine articles I read while in line at the grocery store (read them there and don't bring them home to become clutter).  Most of the things mentoned I either do already (eg dividers in my kitchen drawers) or I wouldn't do regardless (eg store plastic bins under my coffee table).  I found nothing much to take away from reading this book, leaving me to wonder why I got it in the first place.  At least I got it on Kindle so I'm not cluttering up a shelf with it.
669287
There is no data in this book. It is merely a series of feelings and opinions. It's a fact-free mob incitement.  The book is important as historically influential work. It is itself fiction.
4249755
Haven't read it. From the cover, I thought it was going to be simple blurbs all the way through. I wasn't expecting a tome.
203415
Basic knowledge, nothing in here that the average person hasn't already thought of.  But it is a quick read. I've read phamplets that are longer.
4663873
The material that is in the book is written well, but not much depth.  Maybe for a few novice people, but hard to find much beyond that for other readers.  To ne the book title means little to nothing in relation to what is in book.
3050478
A book originally issued with well over 600 pages condensed to a mere 137 pages.  There is nothing more to say about this particular pressing.
4120450
Nice selection. But nothing much of interest to me. One major exception is the very first article on the importance of keeping history in mind in connection with the church, which is a gem.
3854880
The book is interesting, but I don't think there's anything in here that someone couldn't get for free just browsing online for a while.

It's not expensive, and it's a bit of decent information in one place, so I wouldn't say don't buy it.  But there's nothing here that's exlcusive or earth shattering.
1148458
There was no need to buy this book. The information could be gleaned from a handful for magazine articles. There was not one first-hand interview in the book.
3294664
Not much to say that hasn't been said. Just a damn fine book.
4782043
Not much to say that isn't in the title.  I wish I had not bought this book.  If the author would have put as much effort into the subject that I thought I was buying a book on, rather than his social memoirs, readers would benefit.
1178309
I don't really have anything to say wrong with this book. It was for a class, and like all textbooks, you don't really need it.
3553404
Note: this book is mostly photographs and images, with very little text.  Not that there is anything wrong with it, it's just that I expected a lot more reading material.  The book took me less than an hour to read cover to cover.
1002146
My first thought upon receiving this slim volume went something along the lines of "Oh my, all of non-parametric statistics is much, much smaller than I expected". My other impressions are somewhat vague since (as the title of this review implies), this is not exactly a flip-through book for light reading. The content is dense ... like 100-year old ebony wood.

And after carefully examining the table of contents, I also noticed that the text has precious little to say about methods based on rank. So this is more or less a book on "modern methods". It's a very interesting selection of material - although I will probably never be able to read it.