3 stars (Solid but not spectacular) - Darth Maul: Saboteur (2001.) A Star Wars short short written by James Luceno, occuring before Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. INTRODUCTION: The Star Wars film series is, without question, the greatest science fiction series of all time. George Lucas captured the minds of people young and old across the world. But as anyone knows, there are only a limited number of films, and for many people, this just wasn't enough. And thus, the Star Wars Expanded Universe was born. The Expanded Universe consisted of comic books, video games, novels, and other media. Many of the stories focused on the characters in the films, many focused on unknown characters from the same universe. Among the authors who tried their hands at creating Star Wars novels was James Luceno. He wrote a plethora of prequel-era novels, including a short story entitled Darth Maul: Saboteur. It was initially only available in the E-Book format. The story served as somewhat of a prequel to Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, a full-length book by Michael Reaves. Read on for my review. STORYLINE: On a distant mining world, two different mining corporations are constantly competing with one another - and not in the nice, competitive business way. They frequently sabotage one another and endanger lives. Darth Sidious has become aware of this and sends his apprentice, Darth Maul, to massacre both sides of the conflict and create chaos and confusion. This way, Darth Sidious can have the resources of the world all to himself. OPINIONS: In a lot of ways, doing a Star Wars short story just doesn't work. James Luceno is one of my favorite Star Wars author, but really, this tale falls flat. Many parts of the story drag on for too long, and even though Darth Maul's name appears in the title of the story, his role isn't as big as it should be. Seriously, Luceno should have written a full-length novel about this subject, not just a novella. Doing so, I'm sure he could have created a master... Ballantine :: Science Fiction - Star Wars :: Fiction-Science Fiction - Star Wars :: Fiction :: James Luceno :: :: Star Wars- Darth Maul- Saboteur
5 stars (Readable, in-depth discussion of nutrition and metabolism.) - Currently, many people are becoming seriously interested in the role of nutrition in human health. Fortunately, there are many good books on nutrition and health for the interested lay person. But once one begins to understand the extreme importance of nutrition for achieving and maintaining good health where can a seriously interested lay person turn for more detailed information? The answer is to this book. Yes, this book requires some serious study, but it is quite well written and does not require a degree in chemistry or biology to follow. A dilligent lay person can gain much valuable information from it. If you are really serious about understanding the role of nutrition in human health I highly recommend this book. 5 stars (The best advanced nutrition book I know.) - If you want (or need) to go deep into nutrition, this is the book. Very well organized and researched information. Covers in depth nutritional physiology and biochemistry. I used this book in an advanced undergraduate nutrition course and I consider it one of my prized possessions. If there is a better book on the subject, I would like to know about it. 5 stars (Best biochemical nutrition textbook!) - I am a graduate student who majors in Nutrition. This is a best biochemical nutrition textbook I ever read! What I like about this textbook is: (1) relatively light weight (575 pages) for this type of textbook, yet very comprehensive. It contains from basic physiology and biochemistry to a current field such as antioxidant nutrition; (2) a large amount of well summarized figures (almost every page has al least one figure); (3) plain English; (4) each chapter concludes with annotated bibliography so that you could use this book as a sort of literature review on a specific field; (5) well-made index, so that you could use this as a sort of encyclopedia of nutrition. Title says "advanced", but I recommend this book to undergraduate... Brooks Cole :: Health & Fitness & Nutrition :: Nutrition :: Nursing - Nutrition :: Metabolism :: Health&Fitness :: Health & Fitness :: General :: Diet & Health & Fitness :: James L :: Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism (with InfoTrac)