Great things come in small packages
586054
Please know this is a TINY book: all the portraits are smaller than 5.5 inches by 3.5 inches. And all the text is short snapshots of each monarch. That said, this is a tasty morsel of a book. I have dozens of books about the English and Scottish monarchs, their portraits and have a particular drive to study the Tudors--especially Elizabeth I--and Mary Queen of Scots; the first is the greatest monarch England has seen, in my opinion, and Mary is the worst. Having all the ridiculous advantages Mary had in her early life you'd think she'd have wound up with more resources and sense than she did. She was exported to be raised with the French royal family at age 6 to be engaged to the dauphin and protected from the turmoil in Scotland. Seeing her mother for only one and a half years after that--and never knowing her father--and being raised in that strange foreign country must have taken their toll.

Mary was spoiled: she was treated better than even her future husband because she was a regnant queen already whereas the other children were merely "potentials." Mary was engaged to, married, and nursed her brief king of a husband, Francois II, till he died. She was the Dowager Queen of Scotland by the time she turned 18! Quite a heady adventure. And then to be tossed out on her ear by Catherine De' Midici and thrown to the wolves--the nobility of Scotland--immediately must have blown her mind. As a half-French, non-fluent, Catholic woman, Mary really had three strikes against her. She was foolish to marry Darnley, foolish to ride out in battle with him, foolish--at least impractical--to maintain her religion, foolish to keep him so close as to endanger Rizzio's life, foolish to be involved with Darnley's death (to whatever extent but at least in marrying the biggest suspect), foolish to be unable to navigate relationship with her lairds or manage any affection or loyalty from her people. Beauty is only skin-deep.

Of course her downfall was being so closely related to Elizabeth and having the audacity and foolhardiness to connive her throne. Did you know that it was when Mary first quartered England's royal arms in her Coat of Arms when she married Francois that she sealed her fate? She's was on everyone's radar as of that point, a true threat to Elizabeth. They were not cousins but first cousins once removed: Henry VII was Elizabeth's grandfather but Mary's great grandfather.

Anyway, one reason I'm so hepped up on Mary is that my husband is from Carlisle England and she was first locked up in its castle when she escaped to England. I've been in the castle and they still have the Lady's Walk where she could glumly see Scotland and a reported ghost which may be Mary.

But also her confinement with the Earl of Shrewsbury fascinates me. His countess, Bess of Hardwick, is responsible for preserving and conserving the bulk of Mary's needlework which was the most substantial activity available to Mary for her 18 years in England. I also study Bess as a woman of great power in England, second in riches only to Elizabeth. Bess was born 5 years before and died 5 years after Elizabeth and was one of her special Ladies of the Privy Chamber. In building the New Hardwick Hall, Bess commissioned fantastic tapestries and embroideries. Bess also "created" a newborn child, Arbella, who was as big a threat to Elizabeth as Mary because she was Mary's niece. (Bess's daughter married Darnley's brother without permission and Arbella was the unhappy issue of that marriage.)

Oh, I've really strayed from this book. However, Mary is shown in the most portraits (3) and since she's the cover girl of the book, I guess you can grant me some leeway? Besides, in the historic battle where we're supposed to choose our favorite between Elizabeth and Mary, we see that Mary "lost by a head" but perhaps had the last laugh because the Tudor line was snuffed out with Elizabeth and replaced with the Stuarts. But what a poor bloodline for monarchs!!

I really like this book for putting names to faces and the nuggets of information.
2199151
This is smaller than I expected it to be even though I read the reviews and the specs. Still surprised when I saw it. But it's a perfect size for a keychain pocket tool. If you have to work on small electronic devices, this is an amazingly compact little device. As the saying goes, a tool only works if you have it with you. At its size, there's no reason not to have the Sprint in your pocket. I carry it along with a Leatherman Micra because its scissors are terrific. Having the 2 together is a bit redundant in some ways but, as said, given their sizes, I hardly notice them in my pocket. And, I've got them when I need them, which is more often than I would have expected. Love 'em!
699706
Works great, small size makes it easy to carry everywhere!
1525755
Simple and very useful, smaller than anticipated but still very helpful.
2603734
I just love my Sony Psyc Boombox. It offers big sound from a very small package. It's ideal for sitting around the pool, with its handy multi-function remote. All of my neighbors have commented on the design.  Some say it looks like a spaceship, I think it looks like a giant ant head. The full, rich sound is enhanced by the mega-bass function and is comparable with other high-end compact systems. With the unit plugged into the wall, this little system will fill a room with hi-fi sound. Running on batteries, however, is a different story. Six 'C' batteries are required if you have no access to an outlet. If you plan on playing CD's while running on batteries, expect to listen to only one disc. The CD's laser, presumably, uses an exponentially larger amount of juice than any other function, radio or cassette. Radio listening will get you the most time from the batteries. If you decide to go rechargeable, get the higher capacity batteries. Overall, I'm completely satisfied.
165484
The Tylt TUNXBK-T is much smaller than I expected it to be, roughly 4 3/4 in. x 2 3/4 in. x 2 1/4 in. and 13 oz. (368g). There are a lot of rechargeable Bluetooth speakers on the market this year and this one has some unique features.

The three interchangeable silicone bands, soft-touch black case, and textured grill give it a very architectural look. It has two 3.5mm audio jacks, one in and one out, to use without relying on Bluetooth and to allow multiple speakers to be chained together. It has a USB charging port on the back for powering and charging portable electronics. It has tactile and touch-sensitive controls on top that are easy to use and some amusing (if loud) sound effects and notifications right out of Star Trek. All these details make it a lot of fun to use.

The Bluetooth connects painlessly and the two 3 watt speakers do a great job for such a small package, with an 80 dB maximum output and no noticeable distortion until the volume is too loud.

It will play all day when fully charged. Cables and a carrying bag are included.

This speaker is very handy for listening to music on the go with a phone, mp3 player, tablet, or laptop, and it would make a great stocking stuffer or birthday present for a teenager.
544055
I was hesitant to make this purchase but as soon as I saw this, I loved it.  It's really a tiny mp3 player, looks sleek and classy.  The screen size is ok for me, great resolution to show CD cover art and lyrics.  Now I take my music everywhere on the car, on the gym, at the office..., a little bit more than 2500 songs nicely organized by album, song, artist, there's a genius dj like feature which mixes music based on your preferences and its very accurate on its selections.  You can also listen FM radio which is great.  The only con I see with this beautiful player, is that the sound quality is not what I expected, volume doesn't go too loud, even through my Bose earbuds it doesn't get the punch level, but it's just nice as you won't get def with it.
4536187
Small compact yet powerful,highly recommended
3612795
It works great, right out of the box, I was surprised by how small it was
4084253
Nice small size, works great, the most bang for your buck.
2200714
If your expecting BIG bass from this small unit it will not deliver. It isn't big enough. But, If you want HUGE sound from a small unit it will be pleasing to your ears. It connects very quickly to bluetooth devices and I can carry my phone all the way across the rom and it still picks up the bluetooth signal. These small units are great for classical, voice, jazz, and such. My phone's music player has an extra bass feature which really helps. I bought several different colors of this model for Christmas gifts and all were impressed. My son takes his into the bathroom so he can have music while cleaning up.
671573
Great sound comes out of a small package.  Quite loud too, and will work great for watching movies on the iPad or playing music from it or iPods.  Love the fact that it's rechargeable.  Small size makes it very portable.
3263244
This thing packs a punch in a tiny tiny space.  Absolutely great.
3469729
I love this little gem, I can bring it with me as a secondary device. It's slim enough to fit nearly anywhere, and it's small enough to fit easily in a backpack or in a bag.

The hardware is weak, but pretty standard when it comes to how small the machine is. A celeron can handle tablet tasks, but sometimes it has to back down when it comes to common laptop tasks. It's no gaming PC, but streaming games from my rig to my laptop works just fine. It never overheats, but it gets a tad bit warm on the left palm-rest. In tablet mode, it's slightly bigger than an Apple iPad, but much heavier. I personally like it in tablet mode, but always keep it in landscape mode, otherwise it feels strange.

Here's the part that kills it and wins it for me... the display
It's a nice looking IPS panel, with vibrant colors and deep blacks. The only thing is that it is completely destroyed by a common "ghost touch", which happens nearly once every day. I have found a solution that works- I knock and lightly press on the front of the laptop / back of the touchscreen, this seems to fix it.for a bit.
3165829
I had been putting this off: buying an iPod Touch. Too small, too hard to type. But I'm traveling this summer, and I wanted a small computer, so I could read my news blogs, receive and send email. I also wanted to be able to carry a decent Italian dictionary in my pocket. I downloaded one from iTunes' Apps. A son challenged me to international chess. I hadn't played in 30 years, so I download a practice chess App. I have a German dictionary, a Spanish dictionary, an English dictionary, reference books, and something like 83 novels, who knows how much music, all in that little thing! I downloaded EasyWriter Pro and am practicing typing with two thumbs, perfect for a fiction writer: the two thumbs! I send the writings to my email, move them from there to my stories and novels. In short, I carry around a whole office in my pocket. Is it small? Yes. Is it too small? Not quite. More like an incredibly useful and fascinating toy, more wonderful than a Swiss Army knife, more powerful than a flying locomotive.
4680449
I got this is some stuff left by some previous home owners when I moved. I love the small size, how I can shove it into the tightest places in all my junk be my tv. I didn't get the remote and they makes it very limited in use. I can turn in on and eject and only play and stop. I cannot watch the second movie on a two movie disk which sucks but the size is a huge plus over my old vhs\dvd player when I have a ton of junk shoved onto the limited shelve space I have. At least I can find replacement remotes on ebay for about $10-15 and free shipping. Will be getting one as soon as possible. I think that this little player is great for limited space and when i opened it for a basic cleaning because it being left in a garage for quite awhile tends to attract lots of dirt and dust. The inside are very simple and easy to clean. Only four screws for the top to come off. I do enjoy this little thing but now time will tell how long it will last under standard to heavy use. One to two movies a day for maybe 3-4 days a week. I don't have much to do as a recent high school grad.
986357
this player is a wonderful little thing. weighing at 1.2 ounces (i'm not sure if this is with the battery or not) this is truly a player powerful for it's size. It includes a backlight, bookmarks, even a clock/date and stopwatch with laps, this is a remarkable buy for it's price. This also has a Taxi function, so  you can transport files between computers. Another good thing is it's compatibility with PC's and Mac's, unlike many mp3 players that are only compatible with PC's. I only have two bad things to say about it : on some computers, you have to take out the keyboard plug to fit in the direct plug in. Two, sometimes it randomly turns off, but doesn't delete the songs or information, luckily. I hope this helps you make your decision. This is a great buy.