The book assumes the reader is a novice at both AutoCAD and VBA. This is good, since other books seem to assume a lot of prior knowledge. Certain topics which would seem to demand more explanation, such as a transformation matrix, are left without any. Still, I recommend this book for beginner.

Clear, simple code and very basic operations make this a good primer for those just starting. In order to actually write the app you had in mind, you will need much more information( Joe Sutphin's book at least). Even on a beginners level much is left out --- filtering selection sets, DXF codes, classes, .DLL's, the API, just for starters. As a low end intermediate user the book is a disappointment, but I'll keep it anyway.

A lot of fun, of course I am partial to mysteries that feature libraries and librarians.

Charming story of love and murder in the stacks. Being a librarian I always enjoy mysteries set in libraries, especially when true love wins out.

Years ago I somehow forced myself to slog through The Mists of Avalon, and, not having enjoyed it, swore an oath never to read a novel by this author. A colleague working on a performance of Mozart's Magic Flute with me gave me a copy of Night's Daughter, Bradley's novelization of this terrifically weird and breathtaking opera. Being fascinated by takes on the opera, I made an exception to my anti-Bradley rule; yet I have emerged only with further disdain for Bradley. These characters are ciphers; this prose is trite; this novel has no structure. Granted, people have said the same things of the opera. But the ritual of participating in a theatrical event, and of listening to beloved music, achieve the effect Bradley (in her author's note) hoped to achieve in fantasy literature: of illuminating the spectator's inner life with powerful archetypes, of causing each of us to go on a journey and emerge a greater person. A good performance of the opera will accomplish this magic. Bradley's novel, sadly, accomplishes nothing; truly, hers is the empty bluster of the Queen of the Night.

This book is so full of symbols. It is a wonderful book, but aht else can you expect from the great Marion Zimmer Bradley? True, it is not completely like Mozart's wonderful opera, but then who says it should be? I wish it was back in print!

This book, while containing good information, left me with an unclear understanding of how to interpret electional charts; it just didn't work for me. The first 5 volumes are outstanding, so this was very frustrating.

My four stars is based on my opinion that while this may not be the "only" horary astrology book you'll ever need, it certainly delivers what it promises-simplicity. If you want to learn how to receive simple yes or no answers to specific questions using astrology and don't have years to spend studying the art of horary, then I'd recommend this book. After you get the basics under your belt with this book, you'll probably want to refine your skills with a more complex study of it. When this book says simple-it means it! If nothing else, this book doesn't bog you down in tons of confusing rules and terminology. This means that you may be less likely to throw in the towel when it comes to learning horary astrology. If your knowledge of astrology is at an intermediate level, this is a good book.

Let me start by saying that these are the first Darkover books I've ever read. Since they were the first ones published, it seems kind of appropriate. The two "novels" (they are short enough to be novellas) are THE PLANET SAVERS and THE SWORD OF ALDONES. Sandwiched in between those two is a short story called THE WATERFALL. Finally, we get an article written by Ms. Bradley regarding her feelings about the Darkover phenomenon.

Let's start with THE PLANET SAVERS. My first impression is that it was way too short. It was only 97 pages. Just as the characters started to get interesting, the story was over. There was no room for any character development aside from the main character and, so, the relationships he had with the others weren't very convincing. Not only this, but the action was too quick. It just seemed to happen so easily. I would have loved to see a lot more detail regarding their trek. It just seemed all to easy for them to succeed. Where was the adversity?

Next came THE WATERFALL. I have no idea what this story was about. The narration was terrible, the inner thoughts of the main character were nearly incomprehensible, and I had no understanding for her motivations. This is a terrible example of short story writing. I understand what happened in the story, but I don't understand why.

Then there was THE SWORD OF ALDONES. This was much longer than the first story in the book. Probably around 180 pages or so. While the story was very interesting, there were too many references to politics and history of both the world and the characters that weren't explained. I was getting a headache trying to follow all the people that were being talked about, but weren't even in the story. There relationships between all the characters were so convoluted and full of unexplained history that it was difficult to keep any of them straight. I'm sure the author had them all straight in her head as she was writing the story, but she did a terrible job of communicating them to the reader. Plus, I got the feeling that this was a pivotal story in the history of Darkover, but I just couldn't get a grip on why.

Finally, there is the DARKOVER RETROSPECTIVE by Ms. Bradley. This was, as near as I can tell, published in 1980 and so is a bit out of date. In it, she discusses the history behind the development of the Darkover saga and how it came to be. It's an interesting read for anyone who's read a lot of the books, but a lot of the significance was lost on me since I'd only read these two.

Anyway, if you're a fan of Darkover, this is probably a must have. If you're just starting out, you might want to try THE BLOODY SUN instead.

The planet savers is magical novel, in it al the elements of darkover novels are present, but it reaches deeper into the conflict of the non-human and human relation with the aded confusion the telepatic contact brings into it. This novel brings back darkover known caracters such as Regis Hastur in contact with the non human habitants of their world, an with terrans, who are trying to place themselves in one world or the other, and finding it imposible.

It goes over the basic ideas of project management without any real help in implementing them. It's sort of project management in a vacuum. It's good for getting a basic a grasp of terms and concepts for someone totally new to the field, perhaps a student. It is in workbook format with space to write out your own WBS, budget, and responsibility matrix for your imaginary project. It also has true/false comprehension quizzes. A very fast read.

I read the book on a flight from Phoenix to Denver with time to spare. The chapters are well organized and the material is reinforced to the reader by the use of worksheets and a self-test. Though the depth of each of the topics covered is not extensive, the scope of the topics and the logical way they are presented allow the reader to develop a good grasp of the gist of project management. I am looking to make this book a mandatory read for employees going through our company's project management curriculum.

The are pluses and minuses to Davis Thelen's biography on Wisconsin's "Fighting Bob" La Follette.

The biggest plus, it was short (211 pages) and to the point. Not filled with mindless babble about every little personal detail of the man's life, like you see some biographers write.

The book also shows, in Thelen's opinion, how La Follette was really out to be get re-elected, in the earliest years of his political life, rather than become the insurgent leader of the people. According to Thelen that came later, not from the onset.

The biggest minuses were that it focused way to much on the progressive insurgence movement. While this was a major part of La Follette's life it was not everything! Some of Thelen's views are also very controvesal and subject for much debate.

If your looking for a quick overview of progressivism, insurgency, and Robert La Follette then this is the book for you. If you are looking for details you will be disappointed.

I found this book to be an easily readable, rewarding biography of Wisconsin Senator Robert LaFollette. This book focuses on his political beginnings as a mainstream politician and then on his shift to the left and his leadership role in the rapidly growing progressive movement from the 1890s to the 1920s. The book is fast-moving and doesn't get bogged down in the details, yet it does give the reader an extensive look at his political career and influence. The section on LaFollette's opposition to World War I and the attempt to expel him from the Senate because of that is food for thought, and that dark period in U.S. history is well worth further study (see also the cases of the IWW and Eugene Debs, and James J. Martin's book "An American Adventure in Bookburning"). LaFollette was joined in this opposition by only a tiny handful of other elected officials, such as Senator George Norris of Nebraska, and he was probably the only one who stuck to his principles and continued to criticize the war even as it was being waged. Robert LaFollette's influence in politics can still be felt today, especially in his native Wisconsin. Overall this should be a fascinating book to anybody who is interested in the history of American populist and progressive politics.

"A Taste of Smoke" by Marion Dane Bauer is a pretty good book. It's about an adventurous thirteen year old girl named Caitlin. She is looking forward to a camping trip with her sister. First, a guy named Alex, shows up at their campsite, and she knows Pam planned it. Caitlin decides to take a bike ride on the path, and on the way back, she meets this boy, who appeared out of no where. His name is Frank, and he helps Caitlin back to her campsite. The weird part is that no one but Caitlin can see or hear Frank. If you like adventure, I reccomend this book to you!

When her friends told her that she dint want to do it and she said no but the next day she dicide to do what her friends told her to that but when she start ti do it she star to get sick and she had to go to the doctor and they said if she wold kip doing that she will die dut she got scard she went to a speciol doctor soww she cold get help and fanoly she got beter and she said that she will not b doit agan in her life.

Have read & re-read all of the Darkover books several times. Just finished this book for at least the fourth time. There are only 4 or 5 stories which are up to Ms. Bradleys level, but since she picked them, all are good. Several extend some of Ms. Bradley's books ie. A Lesser Life tells of a time after and puts a happier end to STORMQUEEN.

There were no clunkers in this batch, and several top-flight stories. Highly recommended.

I haven't hit the MZB "scene" yet, so I thought I'd give her a try with this book. I know she is a prolific writer, and I can only hope that her other works are better. This must have been written in a bad period in her life.

The plot was compelling, and I had to finish the book to see what would happen. If this is the ultimate end of a book, then MZB and her publishers have succeeded.

Unfortunately, this book is cliche-ridden, factually inaccurate and unbelievable. I do have a familiarity and a sensitivy to the occult and its issues, so this is not the reason for my low rating. My main problem was with the main character, Winter, who failed to evoke even a strand of empathy from me to the point at which I was pleased whenever anything bad happened to her.

Citing an example from one of the many annoyances in the book, when Winter first meets the two parapsychologists who eventually aid her, she rants, raves, and yells at them, convincing them that she might be crazy. Many chapters later, one of the parapsychologists looks back and remembers the Winter from their first meeting as an "ice princess." I'd hardly describe a raving lunatic as someone who would be remembered as an "ice princess." This is just one example of many quirks and discrepancies that distracts the reader from the story.

Why did I finish reading it? As I said earlier, the plot was interesting, and I had to find out what happened. The ending was not what I expected, which pleased me. However, making my way through the book was such an annoying and frustrating journey that on the very day I finished it, I put the book in a box with all the other stuff I'm putting together for a garage sale that I'm having next week.

...but not her worst, either. I haven't read any of the other titles in this series, so I didn't know what to expect. MZB's output has varied wildly in quality from brilliant to disastrous, and I was ready for this to go either way. For me, this sat smack in the middle.

I wasn't overwhelmed by the characters. Perhaps it is that our main character, Winter Musgrave, is part-amnesiac and terrified through the first third of the book, but it was very difficult to get comfortable with her. Once we have some idea what is happening to her it is easier to dig in. I think that MZB has an interesting premise with this one, and I think the "why" of the mystery is well thought out. However, (note: I am trying to avoid any spoilers, otherwise this might be more coherent) I think Winter's eventual visit to her family serves only to introduce characters for another novel and doesn't seem structurally significant, and the ending did not satisfy.

I've never been more tempted to put a book down after the first fifty pages as I was when I began reading this book. Bradley is one of my favorite authors and the biggest draw about her novels is their remarkable ability to keep you engrossed in the text. The beginning of this book, however is a completely different story. You go through the motions along with the main character, winding your way through the broken and patchy memories of an inconsistant past. Who wants to go through that? Even though you might be tempted to give up and move on to something else, stick with it. The end result will please you. As the memories slowly begin their emergence, the novel becomes more and more inticing, with the whispers of forgotten friends calling through the haze to reach you. Anyone who is a fan of Bradley's gothic storytelling will not be sorry that they read this. I know your not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but don't judge this one by the first fifty pages or so.