One of the best books I've read in a long time. Beautifully written and inspiring. Mrs. Scott-Payne has an amazing grasp of story telling and so intelligently weaves her history using a thoroughly poetic voice. Her descriptions of the hills she grew up in, the hard work on the farm and her mothers relentless problem-solving and faith are really quite wonderful and heartfelt. A great American document and an even greater human story. Bravo!

This American Classic is deftly written by Essie, Scotty, Termite, and Kathryn! Her word pictures far exceed the brilliance of an exquisite photograph. The joys and sorrows faithfully capture true heroines from a hill. This gem should be read by every American
(especially Oprah and Imus)! Thank you Mrs. Payne

I think that memoirs are the most honest form of writing. This book is an excellent memoir. So many published memoirs are written by the famous or those that think that they are especially important. There is nothing wrong with this if such authors are actually good writers. This person is an accomplished teacher, though I gather not a "famous" teacher, who is also an excellent writer. She has a fine story to tell about perserving, and acknowleding that such perservance comes from the strength one gathers from others; in this case from the wisdom and strength of the author's mother. This book isn't going to sell like a memoir by Alice Walker, but we are talking about the same kind of rare territory. I like to find good books. This book is a find.

Bob must appreciate the illustrations in this book. My nieces and nephews do. We get a kick out of listening to the song on the CD and reading the text along with it. The drawings are appealing and only a bit bizarre. Gives the kids an antidote to Berenstain Bears.
Grown ups would like this books, too.

My son is only a few months old, and he really responds to the vivid colors in this book. More than any other book we have, the pictures truly excite him. We strongly recommend it.

A first edition must for the Bob Dylan fan. Bob's classic is pieced together nicely by illustrator Scott Menchin. My three year old son, Tyler, enjoys the story line & pictures very much. He loves to follow along while Bob does his stuff. A new generation of Dylan fans are born.

I read lots of books to my 2 preschool girls, but Martian Rock is at the top of the charts. The playful rhymes make it fun for me to read aloud, and my kids get such a kick out of the story and the illustrations.

As a bonus, there are 2 pages at the end of the book with interesting facts about each of the planets in the solar system (lots of info that many adults might not know). This is one of the few books I would run out and buy for a gift for any preschooler, boy or girl.

Every Martian, gazing out into the measureless heavens, has pondered the question "Is there anything out there?" "Martian Rock" answers this question for all time, and you'll love it even if you are Venusian, Plutonian, or Earthling. Four Martian astronauts take off in their shiny-red spacecar in search of intelligent life. It's a long and frustrating odyssey, as they flit from one visually-stunning but unpopulated planet to another. Exhausted and cranky and depleted of clean underwear, our heroes are ready to throw in the interstellar towel and head home, but they decide to make one last stop, and suddenly encounter life---maybe not spectacularly intelligent life, but indisputably genial. Carol Diggory Shields's clever story and charming rhyming text could captivate even the most cosmos-indifferent child, but it's Scott Nash's dazzlingly colorful and funny illustrations that would make "Martian Rock" a heavy-rotation item on any child's book-at-bedtime reading program. Parents will love it, too; it has the same transgenerational crossover appeal of "Toy Story".

I love all her books. Maybe that's just because she's my aunt. But no, they are entertaining. The kids I babysit for have them all. And the illustrations are good. Buy the books.

Please read this extraordinary multi-leveled poem. Starting with the great Berkeley fire of 1991, Scott meditates on the tragedy in history which up to now has been chiefly the experience of those on other continents. From a Buddhist perspective, he distills a lifetime of teaching, political activism and investigative research into this final volume of his long poem Seculum. Echoing Dante, and a millenarian monk from the year 1000, he sees the ills of our time as stemming from covetousness. At the same time he discerns hope for America if it can pursue the aspirations of its founding fathers for a better society. He concludes with reflections on how language can help us to the right way in which to love our world.

Peter Dale Scott's beautiful and ethereal poem "Minding the Darkness" reveals an immensely
civilized author coming to grips with the many crimes of civilization, expressing the intersection
of the poet's life and the twentieth century in a way which illuminates the efforts of a truly
engaged intellectual to document experiences of collective denial and complicity with
horror which characterize political modernity.

In this extraordinary poem, Peter Dale Scott explores the depth and scope of his humanity as he takes the reader on a brilliant and surprising journey through the landscapes of not only his own personal history, but the history of politics, philosophy, ideas and literature.

Like all great poetry, Scott feeds our souls because his poem tells the truth and because his words, in their beautiful and erudite combinations, point us toward the shimmering reality that lies beyond words and within each of us, in each moment.

Some poetry tells the truth with great simplicity. Minding the Darkness is a complex and multi-layered epic, a garden of intellectual delight. Because Scott impeccably refuses the temptation of making a statement about the nature of life, and instead leads us directly into an experience of his reality, the reader is free to roam the sweeping, unpredictable and exciting scope of his intellectual, political and ontological knowledge. Amazingly, the weight of his intellect does not crush his soul. It is through the tenderness and vulnerability of the man that otherwise distant and esoteric references become accessible to the reader, as alive and affecting as the poet himself.

This is the extension to the first book, Process Patterns, and covers the testing, release and production milestone processes in the system development life cycle.

Highlights:

- All processes are cataloged by life cycle milestone and presented in pattern format for quick reference and consistency.

- The author provides an excellent tutorial on patterns in the front of the book.

- Will work with any life cycle model (waterfall, spiral, iterative, etc.).

The material is well thought out and complete. I was impressed at the depth and detail in each of the patterns, and am gratified that someone has taken the time to write a book that covers what happens after development. If you are working in the Rational Unified Process environment you may want to consider, instead, the author's newer book titled "The Unified Process Transition and Production Phases" (ISBN 0521652626), which contains the same material, but aligns it to the Unified Process (the book calls it the Enterprise Unified Process, but it's essentially the RUP).

This book provides set of well designed patterns from which to develop service delivery processes. This is the only book I have come across that manages a clean, seamless segue from application delivery to service delivery.

First, to appreciate this book's approach it is important to know what OOSP and patterns are - this will set your expectations about the book and what you can get from it.

OOSP stands for Object-Oriented Software Process. It is an approach to software development within the context of object-orientation. Put another way, it is an object oriented approach to application delivery. Both of my definitions fall short, but if you are familiar with the unified modeling language (UML) or the Rational Unified Process (both of which are nearly inescapable judging from the sheer volume of literature on both subjects) then you will get the idea.

Patterns are like templates for actions and activities. Using a pattern assures a high degree of consistency in presenting a collection of activities, and also allows you to distill the key elements of a particular process into a succinct format. What I especially like about the concept of patterns is that provide a "container" into which you can capture best practices for any process.

This book presents a set of patterns for the final stages of application delivery (i.e., software development)and segues directly into service delivery. The patterns grouped into phases that roughly follow the Rational Unified Process, and the phases are further grouped into stages.

From the application delivery point of view, the processes are: test and rework. The bridge to service delivery is provided in the release stage processes. From there the processes are firmly in the service delivery domain, starting with the assess stage, and moving into the maintain and support phase. One of the best parts of this book from a service delivery practitioner's point of view is the "Identify Defects and Enhancements". This if often overlooked in the body of literature for applications and service delivery (but is a key process in software quality assurance). The patterns associated with this stage are an ideal vehicle to communicate operational requirements from service delivery back to application delivery.

I also liked the project and cross-project tasks that are presented in this book. As the co-developer of the Tarrani-Zarate Information Technology Management Model one of the fuzzy areas was the link between maintenance and support and the project-related tasks. This section clarified some of the dependencies and linkages.

What did this book do for me? As a service delivery practitioner it gave me a clear understanding of the potential synergies that can be achieved if application and service delivery are treated as a coherent whole. It also heavily influenced my thoughts when developing the Tarrani-Zarate model, and refined my view of service delivery. It also showed the value and power of employing patterns for capturing best practices. As such, this book is probably of value to knowledge management practitioners.

What does this mean to you? It depends on your role. If your role is project manager, in development or QA/test, then the process patterns provided will underscore the fact that development is not complete until the product is in production. If you are in production control, production support or applications support (help desk, tier 2 or 3), then this book provides some excellent ideas on how to "connect" service delivery to application delivery. If you are a project sponsor or business process owner, the defects and enhancement stages are a good starting point for understanding your role on a configuration control board at the project or product management level.

The author sums up the key point of this book with a quote from his web page: "A good developer knows that there is more to development than programming. A great developer knows that there is more to development than development." To paraphrase, development isn't what it is about - it's about delivering functions to business users so they can do their job. This book provides ideas and tools to do this.

I was really impressed with this book. When you first read the description of it - it's about releasing software and then maintaining and supporting it - you wouldn't guess how valuable it really is to developers. Writing the greatest software in the world won't do you any good if you can't get it in the hands of your users, and the author tells you exactly how to do this. Gems of wisdom permeate the book, for example you need to plan to rework your software once you've tested it and that you should take the time to do an assessment, what I would consider a post-mortem, to learn from your mistakes (the author says experiences but call it like it is). The material in the book isn't rocket science, which the author is quick to point out, but it is something that is key to the success of your project.

I really liked his idea of assessing your staff once your software is baselined for his "testing in the large." I think its exactly as he says, that developers will stick it out until the current release is ready to go out the door and then leave for greener pastures. By assessing them and investing the time to do career management you increase the chance of keeping your staff.

I also liked his treatment of how to release the software, he's one of the few people that seem to recognize that you have to release software to your operations department, your support department, and to your end users. Once again, not rocket science but something that is often overlooked until the last minute.

A strength of the book is the Maintain & Support phase. I've done software support before and it's a bitch. It's about time somebody finally wrote about it and told people how hard it actually is. Including Maintenance & Support in your software process is really important in my mind.

Just like the author points out, the best developers take maintenance into consideration, the best project managers must also take into consideration how their software will be supported too. This philosophy is a big strength over the Unified Process in my mind because the full spectrum of the software lifecycle is taken into account, not just development. The author's "Identify Defects and Enhancement" stage process pattern is really just basic change control once your software is out the door but once again he did a really good job of saying how to do it.

Another strength of the book is that it is based on real-world experience -- this stuff sounds to me like it would actually work. The book also has a solid foundation in theory, bringing both proven and theoretical practices together in an effective manner.

I also liked chapter 10 because it summarizes key project management issues, such as training and education of your staff, risk management, metrics, quality assurance, and risk management from both Process Patterns and this book, More Process Patterns. These are all important issues that must be taken into account to succeed. In fact, for many people this book is a good buy just to get this chapter alone.

The one thing that I don't like is that you really do need to buy two books, this one and the one before it, Process Patterns, to get a full picture of the overall software process. However, both books are pretty big and they both contain excellent information so its not such a bad thing in the end.

Yet another excellent annual by Motocourse. Primarily covers the MotoGP tour but also includes SBK and some national racing.

This edition is particular important as Americans topped the 500cc Championship and the Superbike Championship which probably hasn't happend since the late 80s.

Excellent recap and photographs

This book is exactly what it claims to be, a good close look at the year's World Championship Roadraces. It focuses on Grands Prix, but also includes quite a bit of World Superbike (no Supersport, unfortunately). Background, riders, technical evolution of the bikes, and race by race accounts of the season, make for a great read. The photography is brilliant. This is my first Motocourse, but I'll be getting them every year now.

I've read these books for years. Each and every year I get the whole picture of what has happened on the World Gran Prix Motorcycle scene. The pictures are beyond words, and give a clear shot of what it's like to ride one of these bikes at speed. The technical information is very good, considering that all the major manufacturers take secrecy to the extreme making it hard for outsiders whom are interested in the technical aspects kind of shut outs. Overall, though....I can't wait to get my hands on the next edition.

I'm am glad to finally see a comprehensive mountain bike guidebook that covers subjects that many readers want more information about. This guidebook includes a section on mountain bicyle camping and biking with your dog. I've always wanted to take my gear with me and camp overnight and this section was very helpful. It lists outdoor vendors that carry camping gear and gives you a sample list of what you should bring. This book even has overnight a trail called "Haystack Lake" that is a good trail for those wanting to try their first overnight trip. I also have a dog and the "Mountain Biking with Your Dog" section gave a lot of practical advice I could use and also listed vendors that sell dog gear. I'm so glad to finally see a book that not only describes great trails but also is a great reference for other aspects of mountain biking!

This book is the first guidebook I've seen that truly has maps that are useful. They are so visually detailed and helpful that I would highly recommend this mountain bike guide to any new or experienced mountain biker. Oh yeah, when I'm on the road this book also gives me a lot of history and information about the area I'm visiting.

Lizann's book is the best guide I've ever read! Great photos, maps and descriptions of some of the best riding in the Pacific Northwest. A great buy for any fat tire rider who's new to the area.

Arthur Jones, more likely owing to his personality and the toughness of this fitness regimen, never got the ink that Weider or Kennedy or the other fitness writers have. That's really too bad. The information in this book is sound and extremely practical. Arthur was one of the first to bring up the "to failure" principle. This has gotten some bad ink lately, but the truth cannot be denied. All of the meso-cycles,macro-cycles, and periodization "protocols" in the world will not accomplish what elbow grease will. This book provides a nuts and bolts primer and will produce miracles if you actually have the guts to apply it. The only thing that I have bad to say about the book is that the examples are based off of the old Nautilus machines. This is a minor point though, as the examples can readily be adapted to whatever equipment that you have at your disposal. Ignore the hype of modern commercial contributions in this genre, and opt instead for a copy of this book. I have yet to see anything in print, despite all the sticky hype and commercial push, that has improved or disputed anything stated in this book, and due to it's age, you can get a used copy shipped to you for next to nothing.

......This book was written in the early 70's based off of scientific research of what works and what doesn't in training. It is by far the most forward thinking and logical book on the subject...I treasure my copy for giving me new found focus in my training with results due to high intensity with minimum time..............Needs to be put back into circulation to set all the misinformation aside that exists amoung the uninformed and market manipulated public............

This was the most complete and knowledgeable training guide that I have ever read. I lost my copy and am currently trying to find a new one.

Undoubtedly one of the most crude offerings regarding the state of American Universities during the 1970s. Revolving around a group of black students who decide that the way their campus is being run does not coincide with the way that they would like to see it run, developing into conferuntations not only with the 'man' but also within their ranks. A raw reflection of 'Race Politics' and the ideals behind the motivation that drove people to riot during this unstable political climate. This book not only examines university life but also the reasoning behind institutions and whether the 'University of Life' is not an altogether a better option.

This is one of the best books I have read. Gil Scott-Heron uses his great vocabulary to convay the exact thing that he is thinking. Another way to enjoy the geinus of Gil Scott-Heron is to get the Cd's one that I recomend is "Midnight Band" also his work on the "Live" two fantastic albums but very differant the live one is wild and has jammed out stuff. Back to the book it has a great twist.

Gil Scott-Heron wrote one of the most underrated books ever written. I was personally moved by this story. Gil has a way of letting experience exactly what he is writing. He definitely proved that he is a writer to be reckond with.

If you have ever had a coin in your pocket you need to have this book in your library. Scott A. Travers is an amazing writer who carefully and thoughtfully explains everything you need to know about coin collecting.

This book had many tips for the new collector. There are e-mail addresses and address of people that can help with coins that you are not sure are errors. It tells you what coins to buy and which are not a good bet. All in all, I've you're a new collector, buy it!

Scott Travers makes numismatical things easy to understand. A great book for all. I highly reccommend it!