There is no doubt that much of what Holmes writes is true or solidly based in fact. However, there are glaring ommissions from this book that are quite damming.

Holmes quotes Col. S.L.A. Marshall at length throughout the book. And yet, despite this pattern, not once (that I could find anyway) did Holmes mention the massive WW II Marshall study which concluded that the *majority* of US combat troops did not fire in the heat of combat. The result of that study was the overhaul of basic training and boot camp so that soldiers not only experienced the sights and sounds of combat, but that they also simulate killing as much as possible. The Marshall study negates much of Holme's central thesis that warfare is "natural" for men and that most men seek it out willingly.

Holmes also gives lip service to women and combat and uses convenient examples to discredit. For example, many people use Israel as an example of a sexually intregated force. This is despite the fact, as Holmes points out, that women really don't handle weapons much in the Israeli military. However, there is at least one force that Holmes failed to mention -- the Viet Cong which consisted of over 75 percent women! Because he doesn't mention that example, he can easily sweep the issue of sex under the rug. The truth of the matter is, in war environments where one side views itself as attempting to liberate itself women usually play an integral role, including combat.

Holmes' sociological ignorance is never more obvious then when he discusses the sexuality of soldiers versus those who oppose war. Soldiers biologically want sex with women more! Holmes issues this proclamation without the slightest effort to back it up or to explore other options. In Holmes' world all soldiers are heterosexual and want lots of sex. This would certainly be surprising to the many great homosexual military leaders in warfare history. And I think quite a few "peaceniks" from the 60's might have some contrary evidence to offer Holmes as well.

Holmes is a historian with a military background. He is not a sociologist and he lacks the experience, training and understanding to explore deeper issues and to look at contradictions to his beliefs.

I give this book two stars just because this is important field to look at. Hopefully someone with better understanding of the use of propaganda (from all sides), gender roles, sexism, cultural history (that isn't Anglo Saxon!) will come along and do this topic justice.

This book is a very revealing look at why the military does things the way it does. For example, many civilians do not understand the mindless brutality of basic training or the ultra-masculine culture of the military. This book puts everything into a real psychological perspective and explains why things are the way they are in the military. May be hard for civilians to relate to, but veterans will find this book very revealing.

"Acts of War" examines the behavior of men under fire by using a combined historical/anthropological approach to the institution of soldiering. It's unfortunate that more titles are not available on this subject. "Acts of War" is a complementary prelude to similar works such as "The Savage Mind", "On Aggression", and "On Killing". Holmes, thankfully, does not propogate the "Marshall Myth" claiming that most troops refuse to fire their weapons when actively engaged with the enemy. Archived combat footage of Soldiers and Marines filmed during the Second World War, Korea, and Vietnam disproves that theory at a glance. It's unfortunate that S.L.A.M. has had such a pervasive influence on the U.S. Army's basic marksmanship training program for the last fifty years (if you disagree I urge you to consult after-action reports on Marine marksmanship in France extolling the virtues of the KD [known distance] course). Holmes goes on to provide ample evidence supporting his argument that Man is naturally predisposed to warfare. Holmes has been accused of defaming and minimizing the role of women in combat. It's an unjustified accusation. Female combatants are the exception to the rule, not the norm, and their historical contribution has been sensationalized. "Acts of War" is highly reminiscent of Keegan's "The Face of Battle" yet much more detailed when discussing the development and maturation of a soldier's psyche.

I recently purchased the "GPS Primer: Sherlock Holmes' Guide to the Global Positioning System." I wondered if this book was a translation from another language because I have never seen such poor sentence structure, poor grammar, and a flagrant disregard for the published English language.

I admit that Huang's knowledge of the GPS system is first rate, but his book is an insult to anyone who appreciates good writing. As an educator, I would not permit this kind of writing from my eighth students.

Might I suggest that while Mr. Huang may have the knowledge, he should use a ghost writer that can do literary justice to the subject. Huang's job is to educate and not insult the reader.

This is a great, short introduction to GPS which is easy to read and understand and yet covers the essentials of GPS operation in a fun and interesting way. The author discusses a lot of scientific history and discoveries along the way to make it even more than just a GPS book. It should be inspiring to anyone with an interest in science and technology. The Sherlock Holmes story adds to the flavor of the book. As another brillant detective (and reviewer) deduced, the author's native language is not English and thus they are many grammatical errors but this does not take away much from the technical value of this book. As a GPS navigation systems engineer, I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in how GPS really works.

I checked the book's accompanying web site ALLGPS.com before I bought it. If a reader is looking for good examples of the fundamental sciences, modern technologies and GPS resources, I think this is it. The other reviews also acknowledge it is the first rate in GPS. While it is a good idea to suggest a surrogate writer, I can not see this easy and fun GPS entry level booklet may cause any upset. English, being the language of the world, is a means of communication, not for rhetoric only. As a decent teacher and fair critic, I'd like to say this book is very helpful to my science class.

Hank is humorous and entertaining. Sometimes, hilarious. You just might have to stop reading for a minute to have yourself a good laugh. This book is good reading for boys, ages 8 and up. Girls will like it, too.

I'm reading a book named The Case of the Vampire cat.Its a really good book ,beacause it is a mystery.Because it has mystery in it you are wondering what is going to happen next,and when hank gets lost you are wondering if he get out.It is really a good book so I think you should read it.

IS MARY D CAT A REAL LIVE VAMPIRE? THIS BOOK HELPED MY MIND EXPAND ON THE FICTION WORLD.JOHN ERICKSON REALLY HAS A REAL GOOD WAY OF ELABORATING. SLIM TOOK HANK&DROVER TO A CAKE HOUSE(A HOUSE WHERE COW FEED IS KEPT.)THERE DROVER AND HANK MET A CAT NAMED MISS MARY D.CAT. THAT CAT ALWAYS HAD A SHORT TEMPER.DROVER AND HANK KEPT PESTERING THE CAT. THEN THEY LEFT TO GO FEED THE COWS ON TOP OF A VERY STEEP HILL.HANK WAS MAKING FUN OF A COUPLE OF COYOTE BROTHERS AND THEN SLIM TURNED A HARD LEFT AND HANK FLEW RIGHT OUT OF THE CAR. HE WAS A REALLY IN TROUBLE.THIS WAS A REAL GOOD FOR ALL AGES.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's acquired disdain for his own renowned detective creation is legendary, and 'tis said that when William Gillette wired him with the question, "May I marry Holmes?" (to a female character), Conan Doyle brusquely replied, "You may marry him or murder him or do what you like with him."

But one must draw the line somewhere. And notwithstanding Mollie Hardwick's excellent paean to the legend of Sherlock Holmes at the head of this collection of short stories, I wonder whether even Conan Doyle could have stomached some of these literary assaults upon it.

In "Sherlock Holmes and the Muffin", Dorothy Hughes presents us with a feminist Holmes and Watson who look forward to the day when women become doctors and scientists. Another swig of Women 100 Proof and Ms. Hughes would have had them lobbying from their 19th century perches for abortion on demand, free daycare, and a chocolate bar in the glove compartment of every SUV, a bottle of prozac in the pocket of every power suit.

And even THIS atrocity barely holds its own, as an atrocity, against the contemporary setting of Joyce Harrington's "The Adventure of the Gowanus Abduction", in which a delicate hippie-type Watson plays second fiddle to a ferocious liberated female Holmes - not only as "her" assistant but as "her " lover. Indeed, the story winds up with a broad hint of a rendezvous in the bedroom, but I think that this Watson will couple with this Holmes about as successfully as Tchaikovsky did with Antonina Milyukova.

This book also has its share of short stories that do considerably more justice to the Sherlockian tradition, and the best of these are Barry Jones's "The Shadows on the Lawn", Edward D. Hoch's "The Return of the Speckled Band", and Stuart Kaminsky's "The Final Toast". The Jones story, in particular, is very chilling.

But John Lutz's "The Infernal Machine" also deserves credit for craft and subtlety. The threat of an international conflagration and the new concept of the "horseless carriage" are crucial to the resolution of this story, and there's a passage in it where a young inventor asserts that in ten years, everyone in England will drive a horseless carriage. "Everyone?" Watson asks. "Come now!"

Holmes laughs and says, "Not you, Watson, not you, I'd wager."

How many readers realize that Lutz is paying homage to the last story in the Conan Doyle concordance, "His Last Bow", set on the eve of the first World War, in which Watson does indeed drive an automobile, in the guise of a chauffeur? Not many, I'd wager.

It must have taken a lot of commendable restraint for Lutz to simply rely on his readers' perspicacity and to resist the sore temptation of finding a way to directly point to the Conan Doyle story.

For that matter, Malcom Bell, the villain in the Kaminsky story, may be based upon Dr. Joseph Bell, one of Conan Doyle's medical instructors, who is said to have been the chief inspiration for Conan Doyle's creation of Sherlock Holmes.

Stephen King's contribution might be the cleverest, if not the best written. He apparently wrote his own Sherlock Holmes story in response to a challenge from the editors, but King's normal writing style doesn't quite click with the sober Watsonian chronicling presented by Conan Doyle.

And King is usually a good researcher, but this skill fails him on at least two occasions. He presents us with several images from the Victorian Era that Conan Doyle withheld from delicate sensibilities, including orphans losing all the teeth out of their jaws in sulphur factories by the age of ten and cruel boys in the East End teasing starving dogs with food held out of reach.

But the authentic Sherlock Holmes, having learned that Jory Hull was a painter and having deduced that he had no need of monetary support from his cruel father, would have further deduced - without asking Lestrade - that Jory probably gained his independence by painting professionally.

And the authentic Holmes, as Watson says in the Conan Doyle classic, "A Study in Scarlet", has a good practical knowledge of British law. Stephen King is surely wrong to have Holmes ask Lestrade what sort of treatment the murder suspects might expect to receive under it.

Still, we must be grateful to King for bringing to our attention the one case in the lexicon where Watson actually solves the mystery before Holmes does - and yes, it happens in a plausible manner. As Loren Estleman has pointed out, Holmes's brilliance wouldn't be appreciated by us as much if it were not for the buffer provided by the savvy but unremarkable earnestness of Watson's narrative. We admire Holmes, but we empathize more with his Boswell, and it's wonderful to learn of a case in which Watson has his moment in the sunlight.

This collection has its share of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the just plain silly (Peter Lovesey's "The Curious Computer"). The reader is advised to judge each story on its own merits. Don't be too impressed with Dame Jean Conan Doyle's endorsement of the volume as a whole. But do ask, as another renowned English author once did, "What's in a name?"

"The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" was like a breath of fresh air. Lately I have come across some anthologies which just aren't up to par as far as the quality of the plots. These stories I found to be entertaining and fun to read. Two which stood out for me were "Shadows on the Lawn" and "The Return of the Speckled Band". There's even a story in there for Watson lovers, "The Doctor's Case", penned by none other than Stephen King. Though there were a few which I didn't really care for, this is a worthwhile read.

I love anything about Holmes and Watson. These were well written stories that I truly enjoyed reading. It took me back to when I read all of Doyle's stories about Holmes and Watson. I recommend it highly.

i didn't care much for this book, although perhaps it would be helpful to a beginning writer. Holmes' advice on keeping a notebook, for instance, seems rather obvious. and her 'you can do it too!' attitude gets grating.
what disturbed me most were all the examples. i didn't learn anything from them--this book just seemed a showcase for holmes' work. i don't mind a book written by a conservative homemaker, but this book should be about writing, not about her views on life. Nor did i particularly care to learn how succesful she was in her career as a columnist. to anyone who already knows anything about writing articles, i would recommend saving your money.

I agree with the previous reviewer who found this book a little dated.

However...that said, her one chapter, "Three Surefire Ways to Organize What You Have to Say " contains the most down-to-earth and ... well... *surefire* way of writing any kind of article that I have seen in any writing book. Period.

In true cookbook fashion, Holmes will help you assemble your ingredients and stir them together in the most reliable way possible. As with any good recipe, there's plenty of room for creativity, but Holmes is there to coach you along the way.

Of course, the price is probably on the high side, just for that one chapter. :-) But if you can see past her sentimentalism, there are plenty of other gems in here as well.

I have written many articles using Holmes' formula(s), and I try to always check back with this one little chapter, just to make sure I'm on course. Time and again, I have found it has helped me smooth out my articles' rough edges and produce polished pieces I can show off with pride.

Some basic writing guidelines are timeless...and I think Marjorie Holmes proves that here. If you want to celebrate the wonderful "stuff" of your daily life and put it on paper then this book is for you. I teach a personal writing workshop using this book and it's always a hit.

Okay, so I liked the premise, and I liked the Sherlock Holmes references. But that was all I liked. This novel plods. The characters are sketchy, the plot barely there, and the narration put me straight to sleep.

Marcel Theroux is the elder son of Paul Theroux and so it's not surprising that he would also try his hand at fiction. What is pleasantly surprising is how very good he is at it. "The Confessions of Mycroft Holmes" is a very well written and witty novel, with well drawn characters that may at times be a bit extreme, but are never cartoons.

Theroux's writing style owes nothing to his father's; I'm reminded more of a number of excellent British writers- the sort of comic irony one might find in David Lodge comes to mind, and there's a bit of the darker irony found in early Kingsley Amis. But the Theroux family does figure strongly in the book nonetheless. The protagonist's younger brother is an exaggerated version of the author's brother, and the father is an exaggerated- perhaps even parodied- version of Paul Theroux, right down to his eccentric hobby of beekeeping. The setting is Cape Cod, where the elder Theroux grew up and the author, like the protagonist, spent part of his childhood.

As for the story itself: It's intruiging enough to keep your attention to the very end, and the resolution ties together the threads in a way that's satisfying without being either entirely unexpected or too simple. A few threads are left unresolved, but then, that's how life often is.

This is Marcel Theroux's second novel, and he seems well on his way to being just as prolific as his father, and in time, just as skilled. I'm looking forward to reading his next book.

This is a book about quite serious matters written in a very light style. I found that I had to keep slowing myself down to savor the author's style, even though the odd events that unfolded made me want to rush along to figure out what was going on.

Damien March is a rather miserable person and not particularly heroic in any regard, but is still quite likeable. You root for him. His name would seem to refer to the Hesse novel about the character with the "mark of Cain", someone who is simply ill-starred. Theroux seems to be suggesting in this book that not knowing who you are can make you miserable. You may at first believe that his status as an American raised in Britain is what gives him this fish-in-somebody else's-water feeling, but it turns out to be more intriguing than that.

I believe that Marcel Theroux has been influenced by his father's writing. This book is in a way an oblique commentary on the elder Theroux's My Other Life, in which he fictionalizes his own biography in a wry way that is by turns self-effacing and self-inflating. I also thought that both authors had the tendency to write relatively unstylized passages that serve to join together densely crafted intervals. The former move the narrative forward, while the latter are what convey the deeper ideas embedded in the narrative.

One of the subthemes of Marcel Theroux's novel is the nature of the creative process; how do writers take information from the world around them and make it into fiction. What is real in a ficitional story and what is made up? Are their truths about the author even in the made-up portions? Another important subtheme is the nature of family relations (the complications of the procreative process). These two subthemes are related via their common element of confusion over the difference between truth and fiction, and its consequences.

This is a deceptively dense book. The plot itself is necessarily kept rather simple in order to make room for the layers of subtext that are much more the point of the novel. Bolder than Mandingo, indeed.

Since I began reading this series, I had occasionally wondered if Penelope "Nell" Huxleigh, sensible parson's daughter and friend to the great Irene Adler, would ever find a special "someone" of her own. Irene, after all, has been happily married to Godfrey since the end of "Good Night, Mr. Holmes" (no spoiler there, as this is revealed in the Holmes version of the tale). I was pleasantly surprised with the nature of the match the author chose to make-- fitting with Nell's background, yet appropriate to her present and future. Quentin is simultaneously able to hold Nell up as an icon of respectability, yet admire her for her present adventures (much as she denies them). And in doing this, he encourages her to see herself more as we, the readers, have come to see her-- competent, practical, and intelligent.

The period references to the "Great Game"-- the ongoing struggle for domination between England and Russia, the two major world powers of the day-- were also detailed and well-written, and added a satisfying texture to Watson's past, as well as adding suspense to the plot. (Those who liked this aspect of the story might also like Margaret Ball's "Flameweaver" and "Changeweaver" novels, though these are historical fantasy rather than mystery.)

Oh, and the mystery itself was pretty good too. :)

I find this book, as others in the series, a delightful addition to the Sherlockian canon. The adventures of Irene Adler loop in and around the known timeline of Sherlock's exploits, and the few tantalizing glimpses we have of the Great Detective keep him very definitely in character, unlike many ham-handed attempts by other authors. I highly recommend the entire series, and can't wait until it moves into the mysterious 2-year hiatus so unsatisfactorily explained by Mr. Holmes after his supposed death.

I have read other supposed Sherlock Holmes take offs, This one succeeds by not recreating Sherlock Holmes but one of the characters from the original series. I enjoyed the female viewpoint and the tidbits of Sherlockian lore she weaves through the adventure. This was the first of the series that I have read, I have just bought the previous two and will spend a couple of great nights reading them. Hope Ms. Douglas bring out more in the series.

While I admire Worcester's research abilities, I do not admire what he's done with our beloved Holmes. This Holmes is very verbal about his plans and feelings, which is extremely out of character.

Worcester also throws in many phrases and words which simply would not be known or used in the late 19th Century. The attitudes are also very modern and very American. While I imagine that Holmes would not dislike a small urchin such as Tommy, I do not think he would have allowed himself to get overly emotional with a client; after all, that's what Tommy was. At the same time, Watson performs many feats that would undoubtedly be extremely uncomfortable, if not impossible for a man his age. Yes, he was a rugby player--years and years before. Not to sound nitpicky, but this book just isn't the real deal.

It may be good enough of a plot and an engaging read for someone unfamiliar with the real Holmes or for someone who is not able to discern the difference between late 19th century British attitudes and late 20th century American attitudes, but it is not good enough for me.

In Worcester's previous Holmes novel, the Great Detective is offstage in catatonia, after being tortured by a maniac, for a large portion of the novel. Even when he recovers, he does little or nothing that is Holmesian and misses quite obvious clues.

Here Holmes is onstage throughout but again does little that is Holmesian. Nor does the plot make a particle of sense. A man plans to steal a priceless jewel, but first goes out of his way to attract the attention of Holmes, then has to waste time in a preposterously convoluted effort to destroy Holmes' reputation and frame him for a murder, so that he won't interfere in the jewel theft. Got that? As in the first novel, the identity of the main villain is obvious from his (or her) first appearance, so the only suspense is related to how Holmes and Watson will foil his plans and bring him to book.

The author's research into 1880s London is good, but used mainly in several Watsonian wanders through the city, in which Watson always views and reacts to things as would a man of the late 20th Century (instead of the late 19th).

Some of the characters are colorful and effective, and the plot keeps moving along. It's not a great addition to the currently huge list of Holmesian pastiches, because the Holmes of this novel is far more a 20th Century Action Hero than he is the world's first Consulting Detective.

Wayne Worcester's first Sherlock Holmes novel was 1999's "The Monster of St. Marylebone"; in his second book, he gives loyal Holmes readers a much better treat in "The Jewel of Covent Garden". The plot is fast paced and very interesting--there is not a dull moment to be found in this book. The narrative propells the reader forward to find out just why a young boy was given an invitation to a party with those in London's high society; why someone wants Holmes thrown into prison; and what will become of the legendary "Blood of Punjab".

This book is directed at users of AppForge for VB6. AppForge is an excellent VB add-in that lets you quickly develop Palm apps in VB. You don't need a book to help you develop in App Forge.
AppForge is very weak, however, in the Conduit and installer areas since it offers no help unless you buy the Professional version for [price] which includes the Universal Conduit. Again, if you've got that, you don't need this book to develop the conduit.
Writing a Conduit on your own is tough and I was hoping this OReilly book would help. Sadly, all the relevant conduit info. from chapter 4 is available for free on the OReilly web site [URL]. Chapter 4 is poorly written and organized, has typos and errors and the sample code you download from the web site will not load or compile in VB6.
I was hoping the book had much more than the sample chapter I saw on the web site. I was disappointed. If you're looking for help with Palm Conduit development in VB6, look elsehwere.

Good book from two perspectives: if you use AppForge for Palm development then this is a complete (slightly dated) book, or if you use MS VB6 for conduits or Palm-flavored web applications with IIS. Almost everything in the book is backed up with running code.

As an aside, I am not sure if the previous reviewer actually read the book or tried to run the code. There are very few typos in the chapter mentioned (which is online) and I didn't see any errors. For me, the code worked fine; the book specifically mentions VB6 and service pack 3.

Collaboratively written by computer experts Matthew Holmes, Patrick Burton, and Roger Knoell, Programming Visual Basic for Palm OS is a solid and reliable programmer's guide to designing effective applications, transferring data to the PDA, building security through data encryption, and much more. Focusing especially on using AppForge to write programs, Visual Basic for Palm OS also covers SQL databases, Piedmont, and a great deal more. Step-by-step instructions, sample programs, excellent diagrams and comprehensible flowcharts make Programming Visual Basic for Palm OS a first-class reference and a highly recommended self-teaching tool.

I enjoyed reading this book and found it closely imitated Arthur Conan Doyle's work.

I've always had a keen interest in detective fiction, especially Sherlock Holmes. When I picked this book up in my local bookstore, I did, however, view it with some trepedation. Though once I had read the first page, I had decided to buy it.
In all,there are four pastiches of a reasonable length that keep your attention throught them. I'm not much of a writer, but I do strongly believe that this young writer needs to be encouraged in his future work.
Good luck to you Edmund!

A teenager, Edmund Hastie, who was only 14 when he wrote the book,hasmanaged, albeit not to perfection, to imitate the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and bring to life his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes. These stories are not perfect by any means, and I do notlay claim that they might be, yet they are a start, and I believe that they are one of those acorns from which great oaks are destined to grow. With that in mind, I regard it as an investmentfor my young son, who I am, at present, trying to introduce to the world of books.