If you're die-hard Drew fan, you'll most likely be disappointed in this book. It's not all it's cracked up to be.
My advice? Stick to "Little Girl Lost" - much better look into her life, and it's written with her own words.
I'm not completely knocking this book - it's cute, but not so chock-full of information.

IT WAS WONDERFUL. THE DETAIL OF YOUNG DREW'S LIFE WAS IN GREAT DETAIL. I LOVED IT

The Furman sisters brought Drew Barrymore to life in the biography. The detailed description throughout the book chronicles Drew's life and that of her famous family. It was revealed that Drew's drug and alcohol addictions were part of a family tradition that dated back to her famous grandfather, John Barrymore. This quick read will give you a "real" insight into what it is like to be a star in the 20th and 21st. centuries.

Drew Barrymore is an inspiration to me. I've followed her entire career, seen all her movies, and read almost every single article about her. This is a great book for a great star.

I liked this book, but the story was kind of dull. Nancy and her friends are trying to solve a mystery built on a legend and they find an abandoned city. This story is not as good as most of the early hardback Nancy Drew books.

Nancy Drew is a young detective. Nancy usually helps her father, Carson Drew, with his cases. Nancy's mystery all starts when she heard rumors that long ago there was a treasure hidden in a city that is now buried under the Nevada Desert. Nancy and her friends, Bess, George, Ned, Burt, and Dave, plan to join a dig sponsored by two colleges to hunt for the gold. Before Nancy starts, she receives an ancient tablet with petroglyphs carved on it. But with the clue from the tablet, a thief also wants the treasure and brings threat and danger to Nancy and her friends.

One stressful adventure after another overwhelmed Nancy and her friends in 102-degree temperature as they follow Nancy's guesses above and below ground. They are assisted by a Indian woman and a young geology student. In the end Nancy and Ned almost lose their lives, just after Nancy has discovered the precious hidden treasure of gold under the Nevada Desert.

The majority of the short stories in this book are early attempts of parts of his first novel: Somebody in boots. These stories show the promise of the writer to come, but, unless you are a ardent fan, there are better collections of his short stories than this on the market.

"The Texas Stories of Nelson Algren." Edited and with an introduction by Bettina Drew. University of Texas Press, 1995

In "Texas Stories", Nelson Algren - the"bard of the stumblebum" best known for his 1949 novel "The Man With The Golden Arm" - peoples his hardscrabble vignettes with the flotsam and jetsam of Depression-era America ; characters who obsessively drift across the desolate and windswept Texas landscape like so many sagebrushes tumbling down the gullies of a prairie ghost town.

But even though the tramps, loners, carnival hustlers, whores, illiterate Okies and Mexican convicts on the run gathered in these 14 short stories and sketches written at different stages of Algren's long career belong to an era long since passed, "Texas Stories" rings with a surprisingly contemporary resonance.

This is because Algren, who died in 1981, blends a sharply honed psychology with his trenchant social protest, avoiding cheap sentimentality by focusing as equally on the tragic-comic and grotesque aspects of his character's motives as he does on the underlying economic and social wrongs that have sent them spinning to their fate.

At his best, in short stories like "Kewpie Doll", the balance works superbly. Here a mundane, almost descriptive account of a boisterous crowd of poverty-stricken rural towns people pilfering a train for winter coal yields sharply to a horrifying conclusion - the decapitation of a child on the tracks as the train takes off, all the more tragic for its seeming randomness.

Curtis Price

Baltimore, USA

cansv@igc.apc.org

This was a successful chronicle of Jefferson's policy and his role in building a new republic. A wonderful read that brings history to life!

Excellent survey of how the founders idealized the future of America as contraposed against the "old world" as well as how, even in the early stages of the Country, the founder's time was idealized as a kind of ever receeding eden to which the country aspires to return to. You can hear the echos of this today in family values rhetoric, the contining (if anachronistic) idealization of the family farm and "main street." McCoy sets up the American experience as a continuing striving to re-create that idealized world of the founders that never really existed. Central that idealized conception was the idea of "virtue" among all of the citizens that the founders saw as a pre-requisite of a lasting republic. That is a republic could only work if its citizens were "masters and slaves of none"--this is where the ideal of the single yoeman farmer of Jefferson comes in. Only with this economic self-sufficiency, the founders thought, could citizens act for the common good. This is why it is often said that the founders didn't like or anticpate poltical parties--they felt that in this ideal republic, the citizens would always abandon their self interest. McCoy also talks about how important it was to inculcate this vision of the way that the repulbic "should be" throough educational exhortation and poltical economics (open land in the west)so that future generations would both understand their vision and be able to take care of it.

In The Elusive Republic, Drew R. McCoy presents a compeling work on the development of America's political economy. After walking away from this book I felt that I had a good grasp on an area of Jeffersonian republicanism that I had not been exposed to. This is a book to hang on to.

The Windows 95 part is fine, it covers quite a bit of this very difficult exam. However, the Networking Essentials part is a bit dis-organized. Over-all, it's ok, worth the money I would say.

I would say this book rates as a second or third resource when preparing for MCSE testing. The Microsoft publication for Networking Essentials is probably a better choice for a first level resource when preparing for test 70-58

The book is compiled in an extraordinary way. Any person interested in the Microsoft certification and is dedicated to take on the challange at home is encouraged to pick up this and othet New Riders MCSE books as well. Be prepared to get hands on knowledge because the book tells you to do different execises and also impresses upon spending a lot of time on the computer, because that is the only way to learn. The included CD Rom has Tests on it but its bad, so be ready to download it from the Microsoft WEB site, not a big problem. Overall the book is a great asset. Buy it

I don't know anything about the subject matter covered in the later chapters, but the Perl that the authors demonstrate in chapters 3 to 7 is some of the most badly written and buggy Perl that I have ever seen. Many of the example programs won't even compile as they have typos in them that would have been caught if the book had been given the most cursory glance by a technical editor. I searched the IDG (sorry, 'Hungry Minds') web site to see what errata had been made available, but there didn't seem to be any.

i belive this book lacked of information about database information and reference to C

When i bought this book i was looking for a whole sight of the tools that i can find in opensource, not only a few... this book needs a roadmap view.

Why? theres is no reference for C or JAVA. Why? theres no refence to modules for Apache? Why? theres no references to JDBC, DBD/DBI, databases in general....

Anyway a good book? but with a quite good aproach to the problem

While Drew Heywood is an excellent author - this book will not be one to wind up in his Hall of Fame. This book was chock full of inaccurate statements, misleading comments, and poorly thought out statements. Using this to study from, or even using it as a reference would be a mistake. I found it very tough to read, and most of the time found it downright frustrating. I would, however, recommend it for target practice. The book becomes much more valuable (not to mention, lighter) after substantial portions of it are removed with a large calibre hand gun. Surprisingly, the readability doesn't suffer in the least. Seriously though, this book is terrible and the back of a cereal box would make a better study guide.

I read the whole thing with the help of some wine. I actually let a friend of mine read the book, but more as a practical joke. Well, my friend didn't think it was too funny. We both found it to be a waste of our time.

We did, however, find some value in the book at the target range. He took his 45 and I took out my 40 and we used the book as a sight in target. (I'll see if I can get him to write a review as well) This was the first and only time we have ever done anything like this. I teach the Microsoft curriculum and have found some other joy in passing the book around the room and telling the students that I would not recommend using it in the real world or to study for certification exams. You should see their expressions when they open the bullet torn pages and see pieces fall out.

Please don't get me wrong here. I love books and would never recommend that anyone do this with any other book. But, if you stumble across this one - go for it!

By the way - Drew Heywood did, in fact, write the best book I ever read on TCP/IP.

One reader complained that there is "nly two pages for groups."So what! All you need to know for the exam is what groups do what. For more detailed info on groups, use the Microsoft Windows NT Network Administration Training book, or, O'Reilly's Windows NT in a Nutshell.

I very highly recommend this book for not only exam preparation purposes, but as an extensive, well-written reference point. Worth every penny.

First of all I must admit that technically Drew Karpyshyn's writing is much better than Philip Athans', though I must say it couldn't have been that hard to achieve since Athan's writing could be easily outdone by a five year old, the story is better structured and more fluid.

Regarding the story itself, well, Drew Karpyshyn didn't really have much to work with and I don't think it's his fault that it came out bad and far far away from the story presented in the awesome game. The reason for that lack of ability to change the story to the better lies in the fact that the story has been mutilated beyond recognition by Philip Athans, for example one of THE best characters in the game, Imoen, who is an innocent, kind, funny, light hearted and sweet soul in the game is turned by Philip Athans into an abused child who grows into a lesbian (also, unlike in the game she dies in Drew Karpyshyn's book).
The protagonist, like in the previous books, is a spineless jerk and a fool and not somebody who's prophesized to stop the rebirth of Bhaal, The God Of Murder. He doesn't grow to be somebody who's supposed to fulfil the prophecy, it seems like the prophecy would've fulfilled itself even if he hadn't lifted a finger (Blthazar reviving the protagonist and then killing himself so that the prophecy will be fulfilled ? Really ? Why didn't Balthazar kille all the Bhallspawns by himself and then fetched the protagonist from Candlekeep and then broke his own neck so that the prophecy will be fulfilled ? Who's the hero here ? The protagonist or Balthazar ? Sounds more like Balthazar is the hero here and the worthy one of the prophecy).

In short DO NOT buy any of the books, buy the games.

In Drew Karpyshyn's defence I must say that as far as I know it's his first book and he wasn't given any material to work with and I think that with some practice he will become a good writer(maybe he'll rewrite the entire trilogy into one book then, writing the story the way it should be;)). I certainly hope somebody does, somebody skilled in writing and who won't be lazy to play the games or at least take the final scripts from Bioware and write the book according to them (The protagonist having a spine and a brain, and Imoen being the same Imoen like in the games who also stays alive and then continues to travel, at least for a while, with the protagonist before starting to make a name for herself in the realms).

The novelization of the popular RP computer game Baldur's Gate is perhaps one of the worst series I have ever managed to read. The first two books of the series were written by Philip Athens. The intricate story line of the game itself as well as the many interesting characters that populate the game all went missing in Mr. Athens' books. I could find no redeeming value in the first two books. The main character was poorly conceived and never fleshed out. Subplots and any thoughts on what it means to be the child of a dead God are brushed aside without a second thought. Given the mangling of the story in the first two books one has to wonder if Mr. Athens even bothered to play the game itself before tossing off his forgettable stories.

Athens was thankfully replaced as author for the third book by Drew Karpyshyn. Sadly the destruction was so complete that there was little left to salvage. Mr. Karpyshyn's writing is several steps up from Athens. The problem of this third book is not the talents of Mr. Karpyshyn rather it is the horrible and incoherent mess of first two books of the series. The very fact that Mr. Karpyshyn could continue the story and bring the tale to its conclusion speaks very well of his talents.

It is very sad that it is only in the last half of the last book of the series that some of the themes of the game actually make an appearance. The nature of good and evil, the possibility of redemption finally get some thought put to them. The notion that what makes an individual a hero are not things one is born with but arise out of the choices we make. Unfortunately this attempt to redeem the series comes far to late.

Chose to play the game and don't bother with the books.

A big problem with this book is that Athens didnt write it. I think that DR is a great writer, but using him on this book was a mistake. He doesnt have the feel for the characters like Athens did. In other words, he makes them out to be very different people then the ones we have learned about in the first two books. The story itself is not that good either, even though it is essential to the trillogy. Usually, the third book in a trillogy is the best, but this is not the case here. If you want to find out about Abdel and his friends outcome, then read the book. But I dont think its a very big deal. I think Athens should rewrite this book, and then maybe I will give it another star.

I was attracted by the title and the style of writing. However, I was so disappointed. This book was written by a Mormon for the amusement of other Mormons. It raises more questions than it answers. Williams is judgmental of other religions-- and often incorrect. The book is haphazardly organized, introducing topics without defining them. And finally, Williams'writing reflects a patriarchal, sexist perspective that confirms negative perceptions of his church.

That pretty much sums up this book. The author either is purposefully attempting to misrepresent or minimize the material or is simply ignorant of a bulk of LDS theology and history. Falling back on poor non-academic arguments and attempting to use the "Clinton option" of defining words or ideas does not make them correct. Case in point - He argues that Latter-Day Saints have to be Christian because Jesus Christ's name is in the title of their church. If I named my dog Jesus Christ and worshiped him, would that mean I was worshiping Jesus Christ? No mention is made that the LDS god is a man from the extraterrestrial location of Kolob and only the merest mention of their belief that this god was once a man (which negates the connection that he could be the Christian God, since he wouldn't be eternal). Instead of discussing legitamate reason why Christians might find Latter-Day Saints unusual (such as those presented above), instead he falls back on some of the folk myths that were leveled at the Mormon a hundred and fifty years ago by non-academics.
A much better presentation would be The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Mormanism from a Christian perspective.

For anyone who has ever wondered about this religion, Drew Willias has created an amazing book that truly explains the history and beliefs of Mormonism--an often misunderstood religion. I recommend this to anyone--Mormon or not--who's interested in learning more about how LDS practices.