Subtitled "42 Martial Secrets from Musashi's Book of Five Rings", de Mente seeks to distill the philosophy of Japan's most famous samurai, Musashi Miyamoto, and make it applicable to a modern person.

This is a short book-- each of the 42 chapters is merely a page or two long. The majority of each chapter is dedicated to taking a simple nugget of wisdom from Musashi--- such as "Set Goals" or "Use Time as a Weapon"-- and illustrating how he applied such advice to his own personal life, and how Japan has embraced his philosophy and applied it to broader things, such as War or Business. It's not a roadmap to success; rather, the elements are so broad that they can be applied just as feasibly to school, or athletics, or whatever else you're striving to succeed at. Musashi is such an interesting historical figure, this book not only makes you want to excel at your own life, but discover more about his own.

Cass and Max-Ernest don't fit in well at school-- Cass is a survivalist and sees disaster lurking everywhere, and Max-Ernest talks too much. But they find themselves thrown together when they get mixed up with the belongings of a dead magician: a mysterious case of scent-bottles and a secret notebook. They find themselves sucked into adventure, and ultimately matched against a secret organization masquerading as the Midnight Sun Sensorium and Spa. What is the Midnight Sun trying to accomplish? And why have they kidnapped their classmate?

This book was a fast, easy read. Normally, books with such intrusive narrators can be a little difficult to get through, but this narrator was amusing and enjoyable to share the ride with. I thought premise of the book was fascinating-- important plot points revolved around synesthesia, which is where multiple senses are experienced at the same time. So, for example, you might be able to hear or smell colors, or see or taste sounds. I also enjoyed racing the characters to try and decipher some of the puzzles. Due for publishing in October, 2007, I'm already looking forward to a sequel.