I was lucky enough to read this book for free, it wasn't the type of book I would give a second glance to in the bookshop. It consists of two separate stories, the story of the book its self and the story of its rescue and preservation by the main character. The book is quite in depth, the sections written on book preserving are very detailed and (to me anyway) very interesting. It tells the story of how the history of the book is unraveled by the items which fall from the binding of the book. each section tells of how the main character discoveres that the book has been in a certain place by the insect wing that falls from it or the hair that she finds in the pages. Interspersed between these is the "actual" story of how the items got there.

The book makes interesting reading and s very well researched, the writing is engaging and absorbing. The historical sections are very detailed and the threading together of the compenents to illustrate the journey of the book is very clever in deed. The book does have a few harsh passages where it deals with issues of religion and persecution but they are well handleed.

All in all I enjoyed this very much, the only criticsim I have and it is a small one - is that the writer peppers the book with Jewish phrases and names which I had to keep going to look up - it does not however detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.

I must admit I'm quite a new PSP owner and as yet have not really explored its true potential. Although I was aware that it played music and movies I have an Ipod touch and so generally use that to play music and movies (often while playing the PSP). Another reason why I was loath to use it's full functionality is that previous to my Ipod I owned a Sony HDD MP3 player...

Those of you who owned one of these (or any other Sony MP3 product) will remember with equal love and loathing the sonic stage program, It contained more bugs than a flea circus and was the main reason why the content of my MP3 pleyer never changed...ever. I approched this product with trepidation expecting something similar.

The program installed without incident although it seemed to install an awful lot of compenents. During installation it suggests inserting your memory card and activating the usb link before starting the programme - take heed when I changed the memory stick for a larger one the programme didn't like it and promptly stopped working.

Once installation was complete the program booted up to show a simple interface. Those who have ever used Samsungs media manager for mobile phones will find it familar. The screen is separated into two main panes one to reflect the contents of your Pc and one to reflect the contents of the PSP. A side menu along the left hand side allows you to jump to movies, music etc.

Trandserring files is done wholly through the manager. There is no drag-and-drop feature like in I Tunes. files are found by the program checking your video and music files in your windows folders so if like me you have multiple folders for downloaded, imported, converted etc you will need to move them to your windown music folder for the program to pick them up.

Once your file has been found simply drag it from the top pane to the bottom and quicker than you can say "encode to avi" it's off and running converting and transferring to your PSP.

The real value of this product will depend on how you use your PSP. I found it handy to have an all in one conversion and transfer tool but my personal preferance is to use Winavi to convert my files and use my Ipod to view them. It is very simple to use and somebody might well prefer this to the current awkward methods of conversion that are available.

Charlie Jade is a sci-fi detective story set in a world where multiple universes exist some are aware of this and are trying to exploit it while others are unaware of this and find themselves caught up between worlds. Charlie finds himself one of these temporal refugees and must begin to unravel who is behind it and how to stop them.

The series is created by Chris Roland who had a hand in the excellent Lexx and Robert Wertheimer who had a hand in numerous horror flicks of the 80's including the Friday the 13th series.

Having left my review until after I had watched the first two episodes a few times I still couldn't past the opinion that it's just "ok" I have to admit though that only seeing a promo copy of the first two episodes means that I can't give a definitive opinion.

I found that the series was much more like a book than a television series. Whereas other series have a storyline through the series each episode has its own small enclosed story, not so in Jade. Each episode is like a chapter with no real beginning or end, its slightly annoying but only because it needs time to become accustomed to.

The series is shot in South Africa and while this gives it a fresh twist on the standard American scenery a drinking games based on the number of times you hear a South African accent would leave everyone sadly sober. The influences of films such as blade runner are clear and the graphics and effects are not subtle. Saying this though the series is heavily character driven rather than dependent on heavy science guff.

The story generally revolves around two main characters, Charlie jade and 01 Boxer (produced Owen). Charlie is slightly two dimensional, he has the brooding good looks, model girlfriend, flash apartment and car but still seems flat, he is like able enough but not a particularly strong character. O1 however is much more interesting, very well written, a man who knows right from wrong but deliberately makes the wrong decision to enjoy the resulting chaos.

I will certainly be watching the rest of the series as I am hoping that as his tenets and life are stripped away Charlie Will become more "real" and I suspect that there will be close ties between Charlie and O1. I'm not sure however that I would be wiling to fork out for the box set to find this out.

This isn't the normal type of album I would buy and to honest I crept towards it with a feeling of trepidation but I'm happy to say I was pleasantly surprised.

The initial thing that strikes me is Eugene's excellent wordsmithing skills, to rhyme phases "Shakespearian sonnet" with "caked in vomit" shows Mr McGuiness obviously paid attention in his school English lessons. The EP contains some 9 songs some of which are chirpy and upbeat such as "A girl whom my eyes shine for but my shoes run from" while some are melancholy and haunting such a "Vela". It is clear that Eugene is influenced by a wide range of influences, the baroque "High score" sounds like what Rufus Wainwright would produce should he ever decide to fall off the wagon and one could well imagine Jeff Buckley singing the "Vampire casino".

As for the music itself its experimental to say the least, cowbells, tribal drums and even the Super Mario Tune gets an outing on the album while McGuinness's seems to be singing through a megaphone on a few songs, giving his voice an unearthly sound.

The meaning of the songs is clear in some and ambiguous in others, you can read into the songs how you wish. I had a "soundtrack" moment with the song "Madeline" sitting on a coach at 8 am in the morning on a day with an absolutely glorious sunrise contemplating whether to just pack a bag and leave the town I live in, the song came on and I just had the thought "If there was a movie of my life, this song would play at this moment" even though the song has nothing to do with the situation I was in.

The album is like a dizzying merry go round of fantastical sounding chords and vocals and somehow quintessentially English in a wet Sunday kind of way. Its catchy and mysterious and a little bit unsettling and certainly deserves a place on your shelf. Given a bit of room to experiment McGuinness will become a talented and established musician, lets hope he gets the chance to do this.

I was quite intrigued when I received this book to see that it was written by Justin Pollard, one of the main contributors to the program Q.I. and contributor to programs such as time team and films such as Elizabeth and its sequel. Being an avid fan of Q.I. I popped the book in my handbag to read on the commute to work the next morning.

The book is split into twenty sections each with a common theme such as Crime and punishment, religion and royalty. Each section contains 8 - 10 anecdotes phrased in the form of a question with the answers ranging between half a page to a page long.

The book is written in simple language and is easy to understand, the anecdotes are succinct and humorous. It isn't really a book that you can sit and read like a novel, after a few chapters you begin to get a litte muddled as to which story you have just read - a case of information overload.

The interesting bits is a great read for dipping in and out of while you have your afternoon tea or in a spare ten minutes and would make a wonderful present for those history buffs or QI fans in your life.

I hate exercise, I really do. I only do it so I can eat more food. I haven't found a sport I enjoy yet so thought I would take up running, being a complete beginner I had to choose which kit to use and stumbled across this product.

The basic kit consists of a sensor which fits into a specially created socket in certain models of Nike running shoe, there are conversion kits available which allow you to use another favorite brand of shoe but I have not tried these myself. Also included in the pack is the receiver which plugs into the charge socket of your Ipod nano and all the instructions needed to get going.

Setting up the system is very simple, stick in the sensor plug in the receiver the sensor in your shoe and install the software (supplied) takes five minutes to do. Once your up and running so to speak the system is your new best bud. You can access the nike system through the top level menu of the Ipod and set your workouts to one of four settings, time, distance, calories or a "freeform" run.

Once you have begun your run a quick glance at the screen of the Ipod will tell you your speed, distance traveled, time elapsed and track playing (if you have chosen music)upon depending on the setting you have chosen you will also have the music interrupted with spoken notifications such as "15 minutes remain" etc although these can be turned off. At the end of the run you get a spoken overview of your run giving you total distance, time, average speed and calories burned (which is made accurate by the ability to enter your weight into the Ipod) a nice touch is also that you also get a well done if you beat a personal best.

The beauty of the system lies with what you do after your run. Every time you plug your Ipod into your PC the data is sent to the nike plus website where a record of your runs is kept. The Nike plus website allows you to set personal goals such as run 10 times in 4 weeks or take part in challenges against other runners. The website is very easy to use and the simple but bold diagrams give you a real sense of how you are improving. you can also set your profile to public to allow everyone to see it and widgets are available to place your data on sites such as Facebook.

Seasoned runners will have done exactly what the Ipod does with a good old fashioned map and ruler but having the system do it for you is a real bonus.

Your choice of music has no effect on the system at all, you can nominate a song to be your "power song" to give you that extra oomph when you are flagging, I'm sorry to say that yes, mine is "eye of the tiger" Also running mixes are available to buy through Itunes and podcasts by athletes such as Sally Gunnell are available to download.

I absolutely love this system and wouldn't trade it in for the world. I think without it I would have given up running a long time ago and as a weight loss tool it is invaluable as it can be used to measure walking as well as running.

The sensor unit itself is sealed and so when the battery goes you will have to buy a new pack but mine is still going strong a year on. Even at a replacement cost of once per year the system is still excellent value.

I've played a few of the mana series of games before and while no final fantasy they have quite happily kept me amused for a few weeks. The latest offering - children of mana - is set in the world of Illusia where you must battle the evil mana lord and save the world.

The game begins in your home town ten years after a huge disaster known as the cataclysm wiped out thousands of people from the land. Your first mission involves going to the local tower and ridding it of beasties. From there on new locations open up and the story progresses.

The gameplay mainly takes place on the top screen with the bottom screen being used to display the map and menu screens, it is entirely possible to play the game without the use of the stylus whatsoever. the action is shown from an isometric viewpoint with the A and X buttons controlling weapons, Y controlling recovery items and B summoning your chosen spirit companion. At the start of the game you choose your characters race (which affects whether your character will be melee, mage of balanced) their name and the color of their outfit.

The "questing" part of the game involves entering dungeons killing everything that moves eventually reaching a boss. To progress through each level you must find a "gleamdrop" and stand holding it on a "gleamwell" they may be hidden or in plain view and the lower screen gives a hint as to where each is for example under a rock or in a chest. Each dungeon is split into zones which increase in number with each new dungeon encountered. Every four zones you are given the opportunity to save and given a score depending on how quickly you cleared the zones, the number of monsters you killed and the number of chests you opened. After the boss of each dungeon you are given a rank, gold, silver or bronze and allowed to choose a prize with the best ones being acessable through gold rank.

The combat is very simple. At the beginning of the game you are given a sword and you use A to hit things with it until they die, later on you can tap the A button three times to make them die a bit quicker. There are also three other weapons you gain however I found that I only used these for clearing obstacles, collecting treasure or occasionally sending an enemy flying around the screen while giggling inanely.

The inventory system is very simple. You can carry up to 12, 18 or 24 of each item collected depending on the size of rucksack you have (upgrades are available from the village) you can equip one of each weapon, one piece of armor and one weapon. As you complete each dungeon a new location opens up, new armor and weapons are available to buy and the option of revisiting old dungeons as a hired mercenary becomes available. While not essential to the storyline the missions are useful for leveling up and gaining extra items and money.

Another aspect of the game is the "Gem frame" which allows you to insert gems to provide power ups such as increased defense or attack and extra items dropped by monsters. This can provide an extra boost for your character but cannot be changed whilst in a dungeon.

The game plays quite nicely, the character responds well and the gameplay is simple. This is also the problem too, I spent most of the game wailing into a group of enemies and rapidly pressing A while keeping an eye on my health. it doesn't really get much more than that. The game quickly becomes quite repetitive and the novelty of each new surrounding wears off as you realize the new enemies are just the fish from the first dungeon painted purple and with a higher HP. The gameplay is very linear, you go where the game tells you when it tells you. Each of these factors on their own would not be too much of a problem together they mean that the game doesn't really hold any long term appeal. The storyline is a bit on the poor side and rather than playing for the joy of the game you find yourself wanting to finish it to get it over and done with. My DS died while I was fighting one of the final bosses and it was a real effort to actually bother to finish it.

In conclusion the game feels very restrictive, it has no replay value and can easily be completed in under 20 hours. Its a nice attempt but falls short of the mark when compared to titles such as final fantasy or golden sun.

I really, really, really wanted to like this - honestly I did. Final fantasy shaped my formative years and i was excited to see a spin off with my favorite over-sized nugget fodder - unfortunately it just didn't live up to expectations.

The game features you (a chocobo) as the main character and needs you to save the world from the evil belazzu and restore order to the world. To do this you need to conquer 4 dungeons by completing various mini games and challenges. Battle is card based like yu-gi-oh rather than turn based and the random battles and leveling up system has been removed. Unfortunately this leaves the game a series of mini games strung together by a storyline.

The mini games cover a range of activities from racing, to shooting and puzzle solving. Some games are required to be beaten in order to progress while others are needed to unlock stronger cards for battle or free your trapped friends who often present you with cards or the opportunity to win cards through mini games. The games often have a trial mode and a battle mode and by fulfilling certain requirements you unlock events or cards.

The graphics are cute and the game play is simple which will attract younger players but the design of the mini games is flawed in that while most present a good range of difficulty and require patience and practice to achieve completion others are ridiculously hard. Mostly the more difficult games are ones which award you extra cards there is one which is needed to advance the story and requires you to complete the game on a high level. I found this very difficult and frustrating, while I managed to keep my temper (just) i can imagine younger players (or those with less patience) stabbing a stylus through the screen or throwing the DS across the room.

The length of the story is very short compared to standard final fantasy games and has surprisingly little depth, it tantalizes with hints of an interesting storyline but never goes further than this. it took me 3 days to finish this including being stuck on a mini game for one of those. I also found I had no desire whatsoever to play the game again as I do with regular FF games.

Generally for people who don't like the "techno chess" of final fantasy games this is a fun game, it can be compared to wario ware very nicely but for final fantasy fans this is unfortunately going to disapoint.

First single from the long awaited album then...

Verdict, I like it. It sounds very, very much like prince circa crystal ball album, in fact I had to check for one of the purple ones many pen names as the sound was so similar.

From the lyrics of the song señor Timberlake is on a mission to bring the "sexy" back and consign the sometimes vulgar and crude songs heard recently to the waste bin. If the rest of the album sounds like this then I say he's onto a winner.

The single is heavily synth laden and features allsorts of electronic doddlerey plinking away through out the song. The lyrics are a bit sparse and not exactly Olivier material but fit the song nicely.

This single is firmly aimed at getting heavy rotation on the radio and in clubs, it's the kind of song that you just can't help dancing to!

Just to make people aware this product is made up of information from the first two books in the series.