this is a horroble book that supports obviously the right side.it's a book that comes from the point of few that the poor should just shut up and be happy for what they get.it's an attack on being tolerant of other individuals and supports the death penalty. every man for himself and screw your fellow man.wants to take public education away and every other individual right that has beem won by liberals,except it supports gun rights.

This review is one of the more difficult that I have written. For those who like to read about the Left-Democrat versus the Right-Conservative ongoing battle have probably already read other books on this struggle ranging from WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA and BLINDED BY THE RIGHT for the left and BIAS and SLANDER for the right. The best of both viewpoints comes across only when the author does more than deliver personal opinion unbacked by evidence or documentation. With THE DARK SIDE OF LIBERALISM, Phil Kent presents the conservative right on issues that are considered hot button: media bias, public school vouchers, affirmative action, and immigration.

The major problem with this book is its brevity (200 pages). There is simply no way to persuasively refute the counter arguments from the left when author Phil Kent limits his exposure of each topic to some half dozen of pages. Further compounding Kent's difficulties is his belief that his opinions need not be buttressed by any supporting documentation. Ann Coulter in SLANDER added hundreds of footnotes as she discussed issues that overlapped Kent's. Even extreme left-winger Eric Alterman in WHAT LIBERAL MEDIA, a text that is as confused as any that I've read, at least went to the trouble to make his book look as if it had some foundation of support.

What Kent did right was to preface each chapter with the left-wing summary that he calls 'The Liberal Line.' In this micro-summary, he hits the highlights with which most Democrats would probably agree. Then, he spends the rest of the chapter attacking it. What Kent did wrong was to demonize the left as the Dark Side. Such arguments need not be more than just unsubstantiated mudslinging. As an English teacher, I also teach debating techniques. One of the points that I urge my students to follow is to determine whether, during a debate, they wish to take the high road (by sticking to facts and reason) or to take the low road (by engaging in emotional rhetoric). If all they want to do is win, then the former is probably the better tactic. As much as I agree with the majority of Kent's premises, he engaged in too much of that former for me to recommend his book or to agree that his arguments can stand the tests of time or future reasoned debate.

Phil Kent does a brilliant job in exposing the problems of a malfunctioning education system darkening the futures of many young Americans, environmental extremism causing unnecessary regulations and endangering the American standard of living, cultural deviance and decay, and obtrusive world government among others. As Phil Kent points out, these problems have been caused by the greed, sanctimony, hypocrisy, and indifference of the liberal media and special interest groups. In short, Mr. Kent has provided an excellent overview of conditions in America today.

Added to the importance and necessity of Kent's book is that Mr. Kent refuses to join the neoconservative push for unlimited foreign wars. Mr. Kent recognizes that America must have a strong defense without being overcommitted abroad.

Rules of Engagement by father and son team Kent was a little bit of a disappointment to me. I purchased the book thinking I was getting a Navy Thriller, but what I got was more of a techno-mystery book. The story was nonetheless doable, but a little confusing at times for me, I thought the story read as if the writers couldn't make up their minds as to which genre they wanted to be writing in, that distracted me, I'm sorry to say. But even so, Rules of Engagement is an interesting tale of mystery that will appeal to some just not someone like me that is looking for a different genre altogether.

When Navy pilot Mick Craik's fighter jet is terminally damaged by an Iranian SAM, his son, Navy Intelligence Analyst Lt. (jg) Alan Craik, watches in horror from a refueling plane as his father's aircraft crashes into the Persian Gulf. While brooding about the circumstances of the incident, Alan comes to the conclusion that Dad was deliberately set up to take the fall by an unidentified traitor serving aboard a US aircraft carrier. But who's going to listen to a very junior IA?

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT spans several years as the younger Craik and his crackpot theory gain credibility within the Naval Intelligence community as pieces of confirmatory evidence fall into place. Finally, evolving events and opportunity combine to send Alan chasing across continents to capture his father's killer.

The jacket of this paperback lauds the novel as a "can't put down book". Although a solidly crafted yarn, it's not quite that until the last third or so when the plot picks up enough speed to justify the description. Until then, the pace is comparatively sedate as Craik matures both professionally and personally. And it isn't until then that this reader got very interested in the young officer's crusade. One major plus is the marriage of Alan to a fellow naval officer, helo pilot Rose Siciliano. It's a nice touch that Rose outranks her husband, and, furthermore, is overtly more ambitious than he to climb the command ladder. (You go, girl!) However, when the two cross operational paths at the very end, it seems too convenient a plot gimmick.

The successor to the USSR's KGB, the SVRR, plays a support role in an odd alliance with the CIA. The two spy organizations are represented by mid-level, female executives, Darya Ouspenskaya and Sally Baranowski respectively. The collaboration between the two was given too little print space, an expansion of which would have made the storyline significantly more interesting.

This is the debut potboiler by Gordon Kent, actually a pseudonym of a father-son writing team. I'll buy their next book with the expectation that it'll be even better.

This is an outstanding debut novel! Fans of various techno-thrillers, espionage and mystery novels will love this book because it encompasses the best of all os these genres. The author Gordon Kent is really a father-son writing team with a list of common interests, not the least of which is shared service in the United States Navy.

This book contains a well-thought and delivered story line that is based in the history of the Persian Gulf War as well as in the imagination of the authors. I am a very critical reader and as a veteran and military historian, consider myself fairly knowledgeable on what happened and what is possible. The authors, aware that there are a great number of readers with military and intelligence experience have constructed a story line that is part military novel and part murder mystery. It is a very effective combination and one that I found entirely plausible. I think I was able to do so because the authors did not stretch credibility beyond the degree where most readers are willing to suspend disbelief. This is a novel that readers could imagine being possible in the real world.

Although the novel is a military mystery, the authors have done a fine job of developing the main characters, especially young Alan Craik, a naval officer who sets out to find out who killed his father, a Navy Commander and commanding officer of a A-6E Intruder Squadron in the days leading up to the war in the gulf. Throughout the plot, the writers provide additional characters that add to the depth of the story and these figures too, are well fleshed out and their presence is logical and necessary to move the story along.

There is a real villain in this story and he too, is well painted. As I read this novel and met all its characters, I marveled at the real talent I found between the book's covers. To be honest, I was actually very surprised that this was a first novel. My reason: it is so well done that it reads like a work produced by a writer with many books behind him. To find such well-written books and then, to find out that the book is a first effort, is a rare treat indeed. While I realize that this book is a collaborative effort, I still enjoyed it immensely and respect the talent of the team that produced it.

Whoever Gordon Kent is has won me as a fan. I don't know what their next project is, but I do know that whatever it might be, I look forward to reading it. Gentlemen, whoever you are and wherever you might be, keep up the great work! I am sure that I speak for all who will read this book and appreciate its quality when I say, "give us more."

Bravo Zulu!

Paul Connors

Bitter Ice is a magnetic book that I found hard to put down; Barbara Kent Lawrence does an excellent job of drawing you into the tale of her life with her very sick husband. So much so, in fact, that I felt completely frustrated and sometimes disgusted with the way the author allowed herself to be treated all those years. The warning signs of how unhealthy Tom was were clearly evident before they were married, I had to wonder what she was thinking going through with the wedding. As his behavior deteriorated over the years, I could not believe how she sat on her hands and allowed him to treat her that way with the 'poor me' attitude, instead of getting him some help - by ultimatum if necessary. Every new life event - children, moving, new jobs, etc. she hopes will change him and make him happy and well. This never happens, and one wonders why she fails to see the pattern (or why she chooses so hard to ignore it?) The author blames her mother and upbringing for her lack of personal strength and confidence, but she seemed perfectly capable and driven when it came to her career and schooling. I found it hard to be sympathetic to her plight when she so contributed to being a doormat. The book is a very interesting read and I did enjoy it, but when she finally leaves him at the end (as you know she will) all I can think is "Good riddance and what the heck took you so long?"

Barbara Kent Lawrence is both author and main character in this book. It is a story of her life with a severely anorexic husband. Her husband, Tom, is very ill indeed, and throughout the book I could not help but feel not only sorry for him, but anger at her. Her naivete and lack of compassion, I feel, contributed greatly to the escalation of his illness. I could not help but wonder if she would have been so ignorant if her husband had cancer or diabetes or a fatal brain tumor. Tom needed help desperately, and Ms. Lawrence chose instead to focus on her own needs during his troubled times. She shows an astounding ignorance in this day and age of the disease, of Raynaud's disease, which Tom claims he has, and of it's implications. Not surprisingly, her husband improves once she leaves him. Her selfishness seems unbounded. At Tom's very worst times is when she thinks of leaving him. There is no question her life was difficult living with this man, but there is also no question that Tom had a serious, life threatening, chemical imbalance that could have been helped a great deal with her support. I wonder what her purpose was in writing her memoirs. If it was to gain sympathy for her ordeal, she should think again. I admire Tom much more, and wish him a life with someone who will make an attempt to understand and secure help for him when he needs it. In all fairness I could not base my rating on how I feel about the subject matter. Others may feel very differently. So I gave the book four stars for the very fact that it IS thought provoking and well written. I just hope that Ms. Lawrence does not applaud herself too much.

Barbara Lawrence's "Bitter Ice" was a stunning read for me on several levels. First there is the story. Barbara begins describing herself as a very bright (but perhaps a bit neglected) socially well counneced young woman and tells of her journey though college and into what appeared to be a satisfying and appropriate marriage. She continues her tale describing life as partner to an increasingly ill man and her private process of recognizing and finding a response to her horrible circumstances. Second, within this very personal story I found exraordinary information. There is rich descrption of anorexia in adult men and the diffculties identifying it; there is Barbara's description of what she had to tackle in order to understand what was happening to her husband; there is eqully rich description of the impact of anorexia on immediate family and those further removed. Finally, readers should know that this is a very beautifully crafted book. The story is carefully told, the writing is clear. Barbara enables the reader to go right to the heart of her deeply moving and important book. I highly recommend it.

If you are in the market for some technical information about Solaris, this book is not for you. It is a very general beginners guide and does not come close to discussing the "real world" issues that are faced in administering Solaris in an Enterprise environment.

To top it all off, there are numerous typos and just plain wrong information that the somewhat experienced reader will notice. This bothers me since the author of a book should be a subject matter expert before writing it! Other books are better... buy them instead.

I continually find that this book has coverage on topics that you will usually need as you administrate Solaris. Its starting to get dated, but the info is great. I look forward to an update.

As a Sun Solaris Admin novice, it was my bible. It got me up to speed in administering a multiple server Solaris environment in no time. Always refer to it to refresh my memory or plan for a new upgrade or system installation.

This is the hardest kind of review to write, I find. The first of the Dudley Pope "Ramage" series is not bad as an adventure-at-sea novel, but it is not great either. It is fun, but not amazingly exciting. Pope is knowledgable, but heavy-handed. So the book rates 3 stars.

First some background. I have read the Horatio Hornblower & Aubrey/Maturin series, as well as a couple books by Kent, "Two Years Before the Mast", and scattered other bits of nautical lore and adventure. I enjoy the genre as a whole. Thus at a friend's suggestion I picked up "Ramage".

The action in this book can get pretty heavy, but often to the point of strained credulity. As this is a historical novel, I don't really expect to see sections that strike me as "What an AMAZING bit of luck!" every 20-30 pages, but that does happen here. Ramage begins his career (at least as far as the book is concerned) by coming back to consciousness after being knocked about by an explosion. Luckily he has not noticable concussion... He is the only officer left on board his ship. Luckily he can find the captain's secret orders... Luckily they directly involve skills he has... And somehow he is able to convince his heavily battered crew that he is NOT abandoning them by leaving the ship in the ship's boats. This is only the opening sequence, so I am not giving much away here.

His adventures take a much more believable turn on land and the pace really picks up; unfortunately things drag later during a courtmartial scene. I want to get involved with the adventures and the excitement, but I keep thinking, "How much blind luck can one fellow have?"

Another disappointing aspect of the book revolves around the nautical lore. It is always tricky as to how much to include in a given book and how to present it. Patrick O'Brian was the great master of being able to spoon bits of knowledge of sailing vessels to his audience without making it seem like a long lecture. Unfortunately Pope is much more heavy-handed in his approach. When he wants to explain something about the management of ships, he very obviously places a non-naval person in the scene and then proceeds to have Ramage give a mini-lecture. This is not only clunky in execution, it becomes woefully predictable. The only time this didn't happen, Ramage thought all the steps out in his head, sort of like a Shakespearean soliloquy on naval maneuvers.

Ramage himself is a rather nice character, with some little quirks, an interesting background, and rather too much luck. Gianna, his lady love, is a standard head strong young woman who comes to love the hero. Jackson, Ramage's American sidekick, is also rather nice, but a little too Johnny-on-the-spot, as if all he is at times is an extension of Ramage's luck.

Pope knows the period very well. He knows the sea, the commanders, the action, and the politics. As this was his freshman effort I have every hope that the later books become less heavy-handed. In the end "Ramage" is not a bad book, but it is not a great book of the genre either.

This was Pope's first novel (of ultimately nearly 20) about Lord Ramage, a character who seems based [like O'Brien's Lucky Jack Aubrey] somewhat on the real Lord Cochran. It gets off to a hurtling start as Ramage comes to in the midst of total chaos, on a sinking ship littered with dead and wounded, and is told he's in command. He completes the mission his sunk ship was on, to rescue some Italian nobles, and meets the Great Love of his life, the georgeous Gianna. Back at the base, he's court-martialled and it looks grim... but the novel switches from courtroom drama to another rousing naval operation as Ramage rescues the officers and crew of a wrecked British Navy ship. If you entered Age-of-Sail fiction by way of O'Brien, this will be pretty thin gruel, but it is pretty much up to the Forester/Kent/Woodman/ Lambdin mark, and quite enjoyable. I was certainly motivated by reading it to eventually read the other novels in the Ramage series.

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Review of the Ramage series of novels:

This is first of a series of nine books. All of these are fictional novels based on British Admiralty records of the Napoleonic era. Written in the best tradition of Forester and O'Brien, these books will capture our imagination. And if you haven't read the Hornblower series by Forester, or the Aubrey/Maturin series by O'Brien, try them also. All of these are excellent books that you will treasure and reread. I particularly like these books by Pope. I recommend that you buy them all at once and read them in order. You will be glad you did.

If you enjoy reading accurate descriptions of naval maneuvers in the age of sail, or simply a good adventure yarn, Dudley Pope delivers. Pope conveys how the best of the best, handle emergency situations. He portrays these situations with realism and authenticity.

Review of this book:

In this novel, Ramage awakes after receiving an injury in battle to find himself in command of the rapidly sinking Sibella. The pace is fast and furious as he struggles to complete the Sibella's mission and save his crew. As any Captain who has lost his ship, this book concludes with Ramage facing a daunting courts martial board with the deck stacked against him.

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Conrad B. Senior

I bought this book to get an introduction to Windows development using Borland Builder 4.

Now, I must say that if a person knows little C/C++ then this book is good bacause it leans towards teaching basics of this first.

However, for someone that is not new to C/C++ there are a lot of pages to jump over. Then there is not enough builder. You get the basics, enough to get started but...

In conclusion a good book if beginning to program in C/C++ but not really for the advanced.

This book is by know means an in-depth view of C++ or C++ Builder 4. It simply cuts to the chase. I am an Visual Basic programmer struggling to learn C++. This book was ideal for me. It explained essential topics and I was able to be up and running with C++ Builder in hours. The authors humor was refreshing to all those other very dry C++ books that I've choked down. Thank you Kent Reisdorph, Brian Gill and thank you Borland for a best C++ tool to date.

English: This kind of book (teach yourself in 24 hours, 21 days , etc) always have been suspect for me. But Kent Reisdorph's "Teach Yourself Borland C++ Builder 4 in 24 Hours" is a very good publication, specially for beginner/intermediate level. It starts with an explanation about C language, then goes to OOP and C++ and finally covers C++ Builder 4, always well-explained. Kent is also a member of TeamB, Borland's online volunteer support group. It really worths its price !

Portuguese: Apesar do nome gerar suspeitas (sempre desconfiei de títulos aprenda em 21 dias ou 24 horas), é um livro muito bom. Começa com uma visão geral da linguagem C, depois entra no C++ com todos os conceitos de OOP e depois entra no Builder 4. Na realidade são 24 capítulos que o autor chamou de 24 horas. É o mesmo autor de C++ Builder Unleashed(este é um livro para nível mais avançado) e faz parte do TeamB da Borland. Este livro vem ainda com um CD com todos os exemplos e um trial do Builder 4 por 60 dias

I have found this little book to be very helpful when my mind draws a blank on just the right phrase needed for a scene. By reading the phrases in the book so many more come to mind. I believe this is just what it was intended for. It is also very well laid out. I recommend it to anyone just starting out in the romance genre.

This book is a wonderful resource, not only for romance writers, but for creative writers in general. Kent and Shelton provide phrases that are springboards for original ideas by the writer. The phrases are vivid and have saved me a lot of time I would have spent looking for the right phrase in a thesaurus.

If you write romance, this is a great book to help you spice things up. It helps you to explain colors and emotions and much more. Suppose you want to say your character has blue eyes...this book will help you make it sound a whole lot better. Get it! You won't be sorry...I promise.

I found this book to be a quick and easy read, even for a project planning book. While I was already familiar with the concepts of XP Planning from reading various articles, it was good to get the authors' complete message from start to finish.

While the XP process sounds great, and I would love to try it, I do not think it is realistic for most projects. For one, it requires the dream client, who is knowledgeable of the problem domain, patient, decisive, documentation-averse, and trusting. A second precondition is a project of small to moderate size and complexity. (The authors speculate on how the process may be extended to teams greater than 10 in size.) The third precondition is that the team should be staffed with the most motivated, creative, team-oriented, and skilled developers. (At least that is what I deduce from what the developers must do.)

With all these preconditions satisfied, then of course a stripped down process will work!! Unfortunately, most of us live in a different world.

That said, I did find the book worth a couple of hours, as it reinforces some concepts, provides a few new ideas, and gives you a complete overview of this latest fad.

Planning XP is well-written, just like Robert's Uml Distilled and Refactoring. Reading it was as easy as reading a child's story book. Of course, the content of it are serious, for developers, customers as well as project managers.

This book talks in details the planning and requirement gathering part in XP process. The order of reading the three books would be XP Explained, XP Installed followed by Planning XP.

One shortcoming of the book IMHO would be that the example on the travel booking system should be elaborated on. We all learn from examples and it would be great if the content of the book is develop around this example to give a better understanding of the subject. Even so, this book is great in explaining about subject, simply because it's practical. It tells you how to go about doing it and not what you should do.

Do not refuse to read it just because you do not believes in XP. XP books are always littered with good tips which are applicable even if you are using other processes.

Comparing prices, this book is rather expensive, considering that I can get the GoF book one dollar cheaper here in my country. The GoF book is thicker and comes with hard covers.

Even though it is expensive, I would still recommend it, as I feel that this should be a book that everyone in a project team should own. Rush to your nearest bookstore now!

From the Preface: "...planning is so valuable and important, that it deserves to go on a little every day, as long as development lasts. "

For those of us who have read Kent Beck's Extreme Programming Explained, you realize that this means planning is as important as the other things that Xp does every day: analysis, design, testing, implementation, deployment, and maintenance. Martin Fowler and Kent Beck show us how Xp helps us with planning every day, and how the individual practices of Xp let us know where we actually are.

This book should be considered required reading for any manager with, or thinking of starting, an Xp project.

Let's be honest here, Whether or not you liked this movie, you have to acknowledge the unbelievable amount of talent and artistry that went into making it. It took 4 years to make this movie, and it definately didn't do as well at the box office as it should have. Granted the plot wasn't the best in the world, but this book is NOT about the plot. Its about what really made this movie impressive, the breathtaking CG. If you're a fan of art, then you will love this book. The bottom line is, this is the highest quality Computer Generated graphics ever created, Its a whole new genre for film-making. Buy this Book!!!

If you ever wanted a great behind the scenes book on the movie that is the greatest ahievement by computer animation with realistic 3d characters, check this book out.

This book features full page color on every page turn. Interviews with all the creative people that made it happen, original script accompanied by all the storyboards, character designs, as well as many "how we did it information" on animation, motion capture, lighting, VFX. compostiting, and final production.

Great buy for any animator.

Final Fantasy: The Spirits within, is the first CG motion picture to show realistic near human characters for the first time. The making of FF is a must have for fans of this movie, where you will be given behind the movie concept drawings, sketches, and beautiful color photo's. Personal favourite drawings are the alien and vehicle designs, and the beautiful scenic designs. Also included is the amazing imaginative script that tells the story of how the human spirit can overcome a post apocalyptic earth overrun by synister soul stealing aliens. The DVD is a long way away and this book will fill the gap to quenching your Final Fantasy thirst. A truely awesome book!

I picked up this book at a bookstore, not knowing anything about the author or the web site. I wasn't sure I would enjoy this book, but once I got into it, I started to have fun. Like reading a Jackie Collins novel, this book manages to entertain. Don't read it if you want to learn anything. Just read it for fun. It tells the story of this therapist and the entries she keeps in her diary. From trying to keep her marriage together, to being attracted to other men. From losing weight to gaining weight, job problems, children problems. It covers it all. A fun and entertaining book! I am certainly looking forward to the next installments. This book would also certainly qualify as a great summer read!

The Diary of V series is wonderful! I felt like I could have substituted "V" for "J" and the story was about me. Her feelings and reactions to her husband, her love of men finding her attractive, her "crushes", and her friendships with the women of the story rang so true for me. I just really related to the main character of this book.

If you want to read the hilarious tale of a woman going through an affair, a cheating husband, raising a young son, and getting fat on top of that then this is the book for you. You can relate to V and watch her come out victorious and overcome the hurdles in her life. It will make you feel her pain and cheer for her when she succeeds. Great read!

I found this book while browsing a bookstore. I've never read this series on the Redbook Magazine website before. I thought I would give this book a try. Once I started to read it, I was hooked. I spent every free moment reading this book. I couldn't put it down. Valerie's entries are wild! She writes about her experiences and thoughts about her family, work, and friends. I can't wait to read the next book in the trilogy! I recommend reading this book! It's very entertaining! You'll enjoy it!