I am disappointed in the actual code commentary, it does NOT do a good job of explaining the code. Most of the time the commentary does nothing more than tell you what a function does - and it is obvious from the name anyway. Apache has a lot of standard programming conventions and internal libraries. I think those should have been covered first and in depth. It would make the Apache source code much more understandable. I read through the first chapter or so of Linux Core Commentary and it seems much more well written.

i bought the book to underdtand how apache worked interanlly. the book does a good job of that. however the the code commentry is pretty disjointed. the compilers have done a excellent job of putting together this. we should see more of such types.

Good job explaining the server code.

As an early-onset Parkinson's person, I read as much as I can about good nutrition. I believe Ms. Holden's title that to eat well means to live well with Parkinson's. So I was pleased to have the opportunity to learn more when I discovered Holden's book, Eat Well, Stay Well with Parkinson's Disease. I bought it. However, I was disappointed with a salad bowl of worn-out nutrition theories.

She dishes out page after page of junk food advice. Let me give just one example. Why would a nutritionist recommend recipes (p. 111) that include a quarter cup of vegetable oil, which food professionals know oxidizes into compounds that damage the cardiovascular system and promote cancer? Most vegetable oils people buy are extracted from hard seeds with heat, pressure and chemical solvents. They're dangerous, especially to Parkinson's patients.

But it gets worse. She's even got recipes that call for margarine! (pages 112 - 113) in spite of well-recognized research on the danger of trans-fatty acids.

And of the 161 pages in this book, about one-third are general references on Parkinson's: appendices which include pages of product outlets, with such helpful products as "Lighthouse" for the blind (p.141), and lists of national Parkinson's groups which anyone associated with the disease has already.

Plus there are lots of pages of blank paper for "notes". And just in case anyone has a good idea on nutrition they can send it to her on the one of the four order forms provided for more copies of her book. The final insult is the inclusion of just awful poetry, like a 28-word stinker that takes up a whole page (74).

Don't buy the book.

This book has proven a godsend for my mom (who suffers from Parkinsons) and myself. The information is sound, easy to follow, and presented with ample background. I like the writer's approach to nutrition (i.e., good flavor is essential). Her knowledge of Parkinsons is impressive. I can't begin to tell you how many questions it answers. I consider this book an essential part of my mom's medical "team."

One of the most enlightening books I've read regarding Parkinson's Disease. Focusing on nutrition and what your body is going through with PD, it is a primer for what to watch out for, how to deal with dietary challenges, and what to expect. This book will help you make a nutritional game plan, and prepare a pre-emptive strike against most of the common surprises PD throws at you. I don't suffer from PD - I'm a family member. It was great for me and great for my family PD-er. I recommend this book to everyone interested in living better with Parkinson's.

Although the book has good intentions ... well written and to the point,I can hardly recommend it on account of the fact that a number of the files that are referred to in the book are missing on the CD. In particular,a crucial chapter 7 on layering refers to a file in the Chapter 7 folder part of the CD. The folder is not present on my CD and neither is the file. Without it this particular section of the book is valueless.

The premise of this book is that you will learn by doing. The only problem is that you can't do that because the examples/ aren't on the CD. As an addtional problem, the software that is supposed to calibrate your monitor is also among the missing. Maybe the CD is for an earlier orlater edition but it makes the process very frustrating. Frustrating because the book is very well written and quite comrehensive. And you must have a book if you are to learn this very involved convuluted, if very useful, application.

I really like this book. It covers everything about Photoshop Elements 2.0, and it is really well written. I especially like the chapters on working with photos and the chapters on layers.

The disk that came with my book has all of the files too; I guess whatever problem there was before is taken care of.

It's a great book and I recommend it.

In "One True Love" (by Alice Holden) veterinarian Daniel Nealy is charmed by spinster Kate Hamilton. He helps her get a job as the governess of a weathly family. The poor spinster suddenly receives flattering attentions from her employer's handsome brother, Lord Percy. But gentle Daniel Nealy is also falling for her. Which man will come out on top? And whose intentions are honorable? This was a nice story, but I was disappointed by how the "other" guy turned out. For a good portion of the story, I really liked him. Why does one suitor always have to be a cad? 3 1/2 stars.

In "The Husband Hunt" (by Kate Huntington), Everard Montgomery's young brother comes home with a foreign bride, thereby jilting the fiance who has waited for him for years. Everard goes to meet Lady Linnea, now pennliess, to break the news about his brother's sudden marriage. Together, she and Everard go to London in search of another husband for the jilted Linnea. ...But perhaps Everard himself is the best candidate? This is a sweet story, filled with wit and romance. 4 stars.

In "Trusting Lady Lucy" (by Laura Paquet) Lady Lucinda is always making a fool of herself around playwright Stephen Charlton. First, he overhears her criticizing one of his plays. Then, he is witness to her not-so-delicate fall into a pond. Stephen finds himself thinking about Lucinda a lot--and he takes her criticism to heart. Perhaps she can help him write a better play? I didn't really enjoy this one. First of all, it was clogged with characters from Paquet's former novels--none of which I have read. I found it very distracting. Secondly, I didn't really like the heroine. I thought Lucinda was overly critical of Stephen. If someone made so many shameless suggestions about MY work, I wouldn't want to have anything to do with them. 1 1/2 stars (the extra half-star being for the sprinkling of wit)

Overall, a decent read. It's not my favorite anthology, and I probably won't remember any of the stories a year from now. Still, reading it was a pleasant pasttime.

This anthology was very enjoyable. Both Holden and Huntington deliver wonderful romantic stories, but it is Laura Paquet whose story really shines. As always, this author creates a thoroughly relatable heroine and a beta hero that's every bit as attractive as any alpha!

I enjoyed the first two novels in this series, but not this one. Her attorney protagonist became a shrill, irrational, self righteous zealot with no facts to support her breathless polemics. (All it would take is an unspecified "natural disaster" and then The Terrible Thing would happen!). The contrived "factual" rationalization for her position was as predictible as it was silly. This is a novel long on overly emotional protagonists drenched in self absorbed angst and prolix, confession prone bad guys, but short on rational plot development. It makes one long for Laconic Joe Leaphorn from Hillerman's novels. If you like the manufactured emotional trapeze of a soap opera, you will like this book.

I have bought Ms. Coel's other mysteries partly because her protagonists and mysteries are interesting, and partly because they are set in my home state. In this particular story, however, science was murdered in addition to a drunken cowboy, a tribal chairman, and odd assorted other unfortunates. Irritating careless errors certainly decreased my enjoyment of the book and detracted from the storyline. For instance, Ms. Coel has lightning flashes that follow closely after claps of thunder, "underground lakes" that are filled up with water pumped into oil wells to increase production, and "one to the minus six" being "much less" than "one in ten million"...(one to the minus six equals one). I found myself hunting for the next mistake instead of enjoying the mystery. Better luck next time, I hope.

Arapaho lawyer Vicky Holden plays the Lone Ranger as she opposes the construction of a nuclear waste storage silo on the Legeau Ranch near the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Most of her tribe see the silo as an opportunity for jobs, but Vicky worries that the site will harm her people.

Her vocal opposition has stirred up the enmity of her opponents. One of them wants to quiet Vicky and all other opposition to the construction by using any means at his/her disposal. One opponent to the site is killed and Vicky nearly becomes a victim also. She turns to her one known ally, Father John O'Malley. Working as a team, the intrepid amateur sleuths begin to investigate why someone wants any opponents to the silo silenced. As they dig deeper, the pair becomes aware of their own attraction to each other. Still, they must solve the case if they plan to survive the silo construction.

Margaret Coel is rightfully being acknowledged as the female Tony Hillerman. The lead protagonists are wonderful characters and the story line is a very interesting blend of a modern problem (nuclear waste) and Native American folk lore. More novels like THE DREAM STALKER and readers will soon be calling Tony Hillerman the male Margaret Coel.

Harriet Klausner

This book starts out with an implausible premise and only gets more ridiculous as it goes on. The whole "communicating by letter" routine gets old very quickly. Christine Holden is a psuedonym for two authors writing as one. In this case, two heads are NOT better than one. Pass this one by, even if you're a die-hard Regency fan.

Okay, okay, I was suckered in by the attractive cover...I was convinced this would be a "good read." Was I wrong! The writing was pedestrian and the plot was implausible! As I read, I thought "I teach high school students who can write better than this!" The protagonist's goal to go to med school was never believable and characterization was weak. I do not recommend this book...read regencies by Joan Wolf, Mary Balogh, Elizabeth Thornton if you want to read about characters you can care about.

I must admit, I was hooked on this book from the first page. The beautiful Lady Arielle Stanford has a dream. Her dream is to become a licensed physician in a time where there were no female physicians. Then Lady Arielle hears about Lord Braxton and that he is well known for helping people make their dreams come true. So starts the correspondence between Arielle and Hunter, as well as the romance. Lord Braxton promises to help Lady Arielle achieve her dream. He even goes so far as to set up an interview for her with a college, even though he does not approve. When Arielle is turned down for admittance to the college, she becomes very discouraged, but still does not want to let go of her dream. Then Arielle's father blackmails Hunter into marrying Arielle. At this point, she simply postpones her dream, while helping to fix-up Hunter's home. Then, she comes across some love letters in the attic and the fun really begins.
I really enjoyed this book, it was filled with all kinds of subplots, which added to it. I could only wish to receive the type of letters Arielle runs across.

For developers involved with web-based projects, whether it be an online store for electronic commerce or an Intranet site for accessing and modifying company data, the powerful blend of JavaServer Pages (JSP) and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) technologies can really make life simple. Once you've mastered them, creating new components that encapsulate business logic, or new web interfaces to existing systems, is easy. The trick, for developers, is mastering the technologies.

Professional JSP is one way to get up to speed. Like many of the books published by Wrox Press, Professional JSP covers a specific technology in-depth, as well as the various ancillary topics relating to it such as databases, servlets, and XML. While not every developer will need every web technology covered by the book (and there are many), the book works both as a tutorial to cover the basics and a reference for technologies that you may encounter later.

Professional JSP starts by covering the basics of Java Server Pages, and how they relate to other web technologies. Embedded in HTML pages, JSP provides an easy mechanism for creating interactive web interfaces that draws on server-side components, known as Enterprise JavaBeans. While the presentation logic is written in JSP, the processing occurs within these JavaBean components. The book takes a balanced approach, covering both JSP and its syntax, as well as how to write and interact with JavaBeans to perform useful tasks, like accessing databases through JDBC and using other Java technologies. However, if you've read other Wrox titles, you may find there is some overlap in the topics covered.

One of the nice things about Professional JSP is that, in addition to covering theory, it goes further and examines practical applications of JSP, and issues for programmers like security and debugging. Like other titles in the Professional series, there are case studies of real projects using JSP and related technologies. My favorite would have to be the case study on porting Active Server Pages to JSP -- something that is extremely important for developers with "legacy" web systems. On the whole, Professional JSP is an excellent book for web developers wanting to get up to speed with Java Server Pages, web development, and Enterprise JavaBeans. However, developers with less of a web presentation focus and more of back-end server view may also want to consider the excellent Professional Java Server Programming title, which also covers JSP. -- David Reilly, reviewed for the Java Coffee Break

This is a book for programmers who have a solid background in servlets programming and some experience in JSP. For beginners and for people who wish to learn those techniques on a standalone machine, they will be better off with Hall's "core servlets & JSP" or Fields&Kolb's "web development & JSP".

The book consists of 20 chapters. The first 12 chapters discuss the various salient aspects of JSP and the rest ( about two third of the whole book) is devoted to case studies.

A. THE BOOK'S STRENGTH:

By adopting Tomcat as its main testing software, the editors of "Professional JSP" have assured that most of the code examples will work. This is a big improvement over the past wrox books.

There are some excellent chapters in the first part. The discussion on session tracking is a real gem although the author failed to make a showcase of the code examples. The chapter on JSP Architecture contains some of the clearest explaination on the techniques of redirecting, forwarding and requestdispatcher. The chapter on customtags is equally very well done. But my favorite is the chapter on Global Settings, the idea is so practical. I also like the idea of emphasizing the importance of authentication which showed in many chapters of the book.

The case studies will serve as an excellent reference. Its coverage ranges from (1) the front end of an insurance company (2) a good pictures website which use JSP to publish its data (3) Security with JNDI (4) a online store using LDAP and JSP (5) J@EE, EIBs and Customtags (6) Multimedia and JSP (7) Weather website with JSP, XSLT and WAP (8) Porting ASP to JSP.

2. BOOK'S WEAKNESS:

The book is a combined effort of many authours and its unevenness showed. The first three chapters to introduce to JSP are out of place and a real waste. The chapter on Dynamic GUIs is a great idea which turned into a joke: after showing the general diea how to do it, the author sent readers to his website to learn the rest(?). And the chapter on JDBC connectivity and Pooling is a big disappointment: most of the chapter devoted to get connection, create databse,editing it and make query; and the rest the author explained how to use his own pool manager package, PoolMan. This wouldn't be too bad if PoolMan worked, with Tomcat.

The richness of the case studies is also its weakness. Unless you are experienced and have the facilities, you can't test them all. These techniques become obsolete pretty quick.

Probably the strongest objection to the book is its price. Buy it for your company and share with your colleague.

This book covers the chapters in a very structured way. It starts with a concise description of the JSP Basics with a detailed explanation of the concepts. It explains all the concepts in a very clear and simple words supported by an equally clear Comments and examples. Any body with a little of Java experience can become very familiar with the JSP syntax and concepts by reading first few chapters. It covers all the necessary JSP syntax for building a small web application to a very large distributed Application. It also explains about the way the JSP pages are processed by different web servers. For example it explains about the various methods available to maintain a persistence session and their merits and demerits. This is the first book in JSP series that explains not only the concepts of JSP and how effectively one can use them with the help of this book. It also covers various other topics like EJB, JNDI, JDBC, XML, XSLT and WML in very detailed way. Overall I feel this is the greatest JSP book ever published so far. I could build a simple and robust JSP Web application by reading the first few chapters in a short period of time.

No, it's not Bridget Jones. But I also don't think Wendy Holden wanted it to be. I loved Bridget as much as the next person, but it seems to me that everyone loved it so much, they're looking for it in every novel involving a twenty-something british chick. If it doesn't rival Helen Fielding's book, people freak out because they're seeking a "Bridget fix". "Simply Divine" is a novel in it's own right. Jane is a great lead character who is just neurotic enough to be believable. Her woes with men and her job are pretty typical for most women- any chick who says otherwise is either independently wealthy, or she still has some leftover vicadin from her last hospital stay. Champagne D'Vyne was unreal- I expected her real name to be revealed at the end; something like "Carol" or "Edith". The ending has a slight surprise, which was nice. An easy, quick read when you want to take a break from a more involved or emotionally draining book or the ever-depressing news.

For her first novel I thought that Wendy Holden did an absolutely wonderful job writing Simply Divine. It is an extremely clever book. She had such great characters. Each character supported a different element of the novel. I found that the main character, Jane, was easy to relate to. She was going through many common issues, like boyfriend troubles, weight and job issues,which are things lots of people deal with. Then there was Champagne, the snotty superstar, Jane is hired to follow around. Champagne had so many different elements to her. She has a new boyfriend each week, a dog named Gucci, and very little intelligence, which makes for very interesting situations. Then there is Tally, Jane's bestfriend. Tally is extremely vulnerable and is willing to trust anyone, which makes her an easy target. There are many more incredibly unbelievable characters in this novel. I highly recommend it. It has a different tone to it than a lot of the novels that are out these days. Simply Divine is a comedic romance. The comedy lies within the ironic situations that arise throughout the story. It's not depressing, it's actually very uplifting and enjoyable to read.

Having read Gossip Hound, I wanted to get my hands on Wendy Holden's debut novel. Simply Divine is a modern fairy tale with Holden's signature style of wicked romance and satire.

Jane is a young journalist who's been given the challenging job of ghostwriting the adventures and exploits of faux celebrity and fashionista Champagne D'Vyne. Which means that her dream of taking creative control of a glossy magazine has just as well shattered. To make matters worse, she couldn't make her personal life more pathetic if she'd tried. She is in a dead-end relationship with the unpleasant Nick while desiring her gorgeous upstairs neighbor. Will she be able to upgrade her career? Will she find a suitable mate? And, more importantly, will she survive the outrageous excursions with the insubordinate Champagne D'Vyne? There are some fun twists in the novel.

Simply Divine is a rather entertaining and enlightening novel. Holden's take on the glamorous world of socialites and fashionistas is witty and insightful. Hers is the brand of ironic humor that I look for in women's fiction. The characterization in her novels is just wonderful. I flinched every time Champagne D'Vyne made an appearance. I was able to get better acquainted with the aforementioned character in Gossip Hound. She has the sort of deluded arrogance that would make Madonna seem humble in comparison. All of the characters in the novel are entertaining and compelling. Are you in the bargain for original chick lit? I couldn't recommend Wendy Holden's work enough. She's one of the best British writers to come out since Helen Fielding. Enjoy!

Having read Holden's last book "Simply Divine", I approached "Bad Heir Day" with modest expectations. The lead characters share a whole lot in common, and I was mildly disappointed to see that Holden couldn't broaden her imagination a bit. Anna, our lead character in BHD, is dating Sebastian, a letch who has no problem grinding on the dance floor with other women in front of Anna at a wedding they attend. Anna is an aspiring writer (much like Jane in SD was an aspiring journalist)who dreams of novelist stardom. At the above mentioned wedding, Anna meets Geri, a no-nonsense nanny who advises Anna to post an ad on the local library board in order to become an author's assitant. Unfortunately for Anna, her ad is picked up by Cassandra Knight, a romance novelist with a wretched case of writers block and a tendency towards temper tantrums brought on by too much Bombay Sapphire. Cassandra has just lost her nanny (for the umpteenth time in months)because her half-raised heathen son Zak is such a spoiled brat, no one seems to want the job. As Sebastian has decided to dump her and kick her out of the apartment, what else can Anna do but accept Cassandra's offer to become her live-in "assistant". Of course, Anna had no idea she was really lured there to become nanny to Satan's spawn and run the vaccum, as well as fetch Cassandra's breakfast every morning. Meanwhile, Cassandra's has-been rocker husband Jett (who hasn't released an album or a single in years)keeps lurking in hallways and running around in thongs, all to Anna's horrified dismay. Who can take Anna away from her miserable life? Enter Jamie, a handsome guy who owns a castle. He proposes and she accepts...but life with Jamie isn't all it's cracked up to be. This book was very predictable, but I gave it three stars because there was lots of hilarious dialogue and moments sprinkled throughout the book. Perhaps I found it predictable because I'd pretty much read this scenario already in "Simply Divine"- Cassandra Knight is an awful lot like Champagne D'Vyne (who, incidentally, has a cameo appearance in this book as well). All in all, a VERY easy and quick read, suitable for summer beach or rainy, lazy days.

I love Wendy Holden novels. But, this one left me with an empty feeling. The characters are not developed enough to give you any emotional connection to them. When things happen to the characters I am left wondering why I should care. The story revolves around Anna, a want to be written. Anna starts work as a nanny for a wealthy couple under the hopes that she can help the wife write. This turns out to be a moot point since they need a nanny more than she wants help writing. Anna then re-meets a Scottish man and the story takes you to a castle in Scotland. Needless to say the only interesting character is Cassandra the evil boss who Anna is a nanny for (which I do not think was the intention of the novel). Descent story but lacking the luster of her other novels.

This was one of the funniest books I have read in recent times. Admittedly, it is light and frothy but it is pure escapist fun that will keep you entertained from beginning to end. Aspiring writer Anna is at a loose end both in terms of her career and love life when she takes a job as a personal assistant (that should read nanny!) for the totally atrocious Cassandra, writer of erotic romance novels, wife of a has-been rock star and mother of Zak who should be renamed Damian. What follows is a non-stop adventure of Anna's daily trials and tribulations including her romance with the handsome laird of a Scottish castle. This is not world-class literature (and doesn't pretend to be). Some of the characters are outrageously over the top but the book wouldn't be half as much fun if they weren't. Those reviewers who have given this book one-star ratings and scathing comments really need to lighten up a little. Readers also need to stop trying to equate all contemporary British women writers with Helen Fielding and Bridget Jones. Bridget is Bridget and why should any of these other heroines pretend to be. Try Bad Heir Day for yourself, sit back, relax and just have a ton of fun.

the author of this book came up with a pretty interesting plot idea, and some reasonably interesting science behind it, but he should have passed that idea on to an actual novelist. the writing is absolutely dreadful. there are thousands of overdone similes and metaphors, and there must not have been a single adjective left at harvard when he graduated - he took them all to use in this book. mr. scott is totally incapable of writing a noun without at least one adjective attached to it, and in most cases there are two or three just in case. consider this actual, unretouched quote from the book: "her cheekbones were colorado ski slopes, and her eyes were the color of an overchlorinated swimming pool." dear god, what did i do to deserve this?
if you like cheesy writing, this book will absolutely make you swoon. any legitimate literary critic that rated this book highly had to have been paid off by the publisher... the author simply tried way too hard, and the result is agonizing.

I decided to read this book because of the intriguing idea of explaining a scientific viewpoint of ghosts. While I found the sections of the book that dealt with this aspect very interesting, I was dismayed with the cardboard characters. Why do all main characters have to be incredibly good looking, young, extremely intelligent, etc.? Especially the character of Amber, the CIA agent? Tall, beautiful, smart, fearless, you name it. Just once it would be interesting to have an action novel where the characters were a little more "normal".

Otherwise, the book was paced well but I agree with the other reviewers that the ending left much to be desired.

THE PREVIOUS REVIEWERS WHO GAVE THIS BOOK LESS THAN THE 4 STARS THAT IT DESERVES REALLY DIDN'T READ THIS BOOK AT ALL!!! I NORMALLY DON'T READ 'PARANORMAL' TYPE BOOKS BUT FOR SOME WEIRD REASON THIS ONE SUCKED ME IN WITH THE VERY FIRST PAGE....YES!!! I LOVED IT!!! DO GHOSTS REALLLY EXIST??? IS THIS REALLY BASED ON TRUE SCIENCE??? WHO KNOWS???? READ THIS AMAZING BOOK...I DARE YOU TO START IT AT NIGHT AND NOT CONTINUE ON UNTIL DAYBREAK!!!! I LOVED THE SURPRISE ELEMENT IN THIS BOOK AND WAS GLAD THAT IT HADN'T BEEN MENTIONED IN ANY OTHER REVIEW AS THAT CHOICE TIDBIT WAS AN ADDED ELEMENT TO THIS NON-STOP ACTION BOOK!!! I HOPE TO SEE THESE VERY INTERESTING CHARACTERS IN FUTURE BOOKS AND I TRULY HOPE THAT WE WON'T HAVE TO WAIT LONG!