Not up to the pace of Michael Connelly, but still pretty good. I found it very slow until about a third through the novel - hence only four stars. But if you are waiting for your favorite author's next work, a nice way to pass the time.

I was just introduced to Ian Rankin with this book. I loved it. Love Rebus. Rankin has a great knack for character and how to intertwine plots. I've been on a steady diet of Connelly, Deaver, Pearson, Crais, Kellerman, etc., and it was great to take a 'trip' across the ocean to get a glimpse of detective life in Scotland. It was much more gritty and hard-nosed than many of the stateside gumshoe tales. Felt a real affinity between Rebus and Harry Bosch. Maybe they are long lost cousins. Now plan to read all of Rankin's works in sequence. Keep up the good work Ian.

I've read all of Ian Rankin's books since I first saw him speaking at Edinburgh's Book Festival some years ago. He just gets better and better. Black & Blue has a plot that's too complicated to describe here, but once I had started it I just had to keep on reading. Not all the good guys are nice, and not all the bad guys are nasty, and Rebus himself is suffering from even more angst than usual, but he still keeps our sympathy. Most of all,the plotting is superb; it's complicated and rewarding to stick with. (And if you get the chance to hear/see Rankin himself, grab it - he's a nice, entertaining guy!)

When they say "No B.S.", they really mean it. I bought this book and read it in two days. I can now do anything from install Linux, setup Linux, read my mail, navigate the system, compress files, and do just about anything else I may need to do. Although I recommend getting another book to go with it, this book really taught me the basics "without the fluff".

I picked up the book when I was still flailing around with Red Hat 5.2 and its user's manual, having little idea of the basic concepts involved with Linux. It was a veritable lifesaver. Not only is it accessible to a vast majority of readers in its writing style, it provides all the basic concepts needed to become familiar with Linux in relatively short order. One great example is its introduction of the tar command...when I went to newsgroups for help, I always got the 'man tar' response, i.e., no response at all. The tar manpage is a good example of too much information, and all I wanted to do was unpack a file! The book gave a few examples of the most commonly-used options for tar, and good combinations for each. It got me up on my feet and running in less than 4 days. One of the disadvantages to the book is that it comes with a distribution called "LinuxPro." The default kernel they use is 1.3.10, I think...youch! The other packages are similarly older. However, the documentation gives a decent "tab-A-into-slot-B" coverage for compiling a new kernel; it even includes the sources for 2.0.27. That was my first kernel compile. Overall, this book is the best choice for a beginning Linux user, providing a thorough introduction without all the "fluff," exactly as advertised. I hope to be able to review his new "No-BS guide to Red Hat 6" soon as well.

This book is one of the best Linux books I have read. Everything is written for the beginner. I have been using Linux for 14 months and I wish I had this book when I started out. If there is anything bad about this book, it is that it comes with Linux Pro 4.1. I recomend you go to linuxmall.com or linux.org and buy a copy of Mandrake Linux 5.3 or Red Hat Linux 5.2. Overall, A GREAT FIRST LINUX BOOK!!!!!!

This book is great for beginners and for those who have been working out for awhile. Very easy to understand routines, safety tips, stretches and warm-ups. When I first discovered this book I had not worked out with weights at all. I felt challenged initially, yet the different programs the authors have worked out make the workouts fun, and definiteley not boring. I loved the pre-set routines when I first started, yet I ultimately customized my own to make it work even better for me. I recommend this book highly!

I was looking to get in better shape for some of the sports that I do (racing sailboats being my main concern), and did not know the first thing about strength training. This book really set me on the right path, with lots of good information about how to do this safely and efficiently. I am about the farthest thing from a bodybuilder, but since I have been following their programs, I feel healthy and strong. All those little aches and pains from computer work have disappeared, and my knees don't click so much when I do stairs or exercise bikes. I do the workouts while I watch TV in the evenings, so I don't have to go out to a health club ... and I get the entertainment value as well. Kudos to the authors for providing such a great service!

I have been using this book as my training guide for several months now. It has a practical and no-nonsense approach. Since I bought this book and started using it, I have been reading other weight-lifting/strength-training books and so far have found the lessons/advice in this book to be extremely sound. If strength training (and not weight lifting) is your goal and you want to take the do-it-yourself approach, you won't go wrong with this book. You won't need a lot of equipment, either. A few free weights will do the trick.

For all fans of comic literature, Robert Rankin does the goods. This is an extremely funny and weird book, which is also quite intelligently construed. I think some of Rankin's other works are even more funny, but all in all this book is miles ahead of most other works in the genre. If you like Terry Pratchett, you will definitely enjoy all of Rankin's books, and maybe even prefer the self-consciousness of his works over others. Very much recommended.

All I can say is that this is one of the funniest books I have ever read! Not only that it is also possessed of a plot so complex that it only makes any kind of sense at all when you reach the grand finale but it also has so many running gags concerning "that amazing rotary machine gun that Blaine used in Predator" that every time you watch said film you will have a smile on your face. I have read many humourous sci-fi books in my time but this one had me laughing out loud whilst sitting on a train getting some very odd looks from fellow passangers. If only the Elvis Appreciation Society had not blocked moves to make the film...... Be that as it may, if you are just dicovering the sprout miester for the first time, this is the perfect place to start and get hooked. BEWARE however reading in public can cause very embarrassing hesterical laughter fits!

LOOK, CHEEZMOS--READ MY BOOK! READ IT!! READ IT NOW!! DO IT!

Great paranoid romp through the bowels of governmental and alien conspiracies. Why for God's sake is Douglas Adams published in the States and not Rankin. Only the men under Morningstar Crescent know for sure.

If I had a penny for every time I giggled, sniggered or experienced any form of emotion whilst reading this book, I would have....I think. Rankin has written (another) fantastic peice here. All the characters are great (especially Wok Boy with his ideas agout ladies underwear. ahem) and all come together in the end in a grand finale involving an alien vegetable, Nelson's Column (and indeed all of Trafalgar Sq.), Magic and a bloody big explotion!

Apocalipso took me a while to get into but when the Ministery of Sependery (MoS) Plan to nuke Dilbert Norris (An alien evolved from a vegetable) Things get interesting.

In 1933, using the alias Richard Meeker, Forman Brown published his novel "Better Angel."

A bitterly frank coming of age story, "Better Angel" has become a classic of gay literature, and deservedly so. Like E.M. Forster's "Maurice" (which was written in 1914 but not published until 1971), this novel is a candid examination of a young man's coming to terms with his homosexuality. The kinship between the two extends to the basic optimism inherent in the works, which is both surprising and refreshing. Unlike so many early works which used allusion and insinuation when it came to the sexuality of their characters, these two novels have been rendered openly and without shame. To think that this novel was published decades prior to Gore Vidal's "The City and the Pillar" and James Baldwin's "Giovanni's Room" is truly remarkable.

Beautifully written, with a prose style which equals Forster's, this novel should be read for generations to come.

BETTER ANGEL takes place in the 1930s, but its themes and its style are timeless. Richard Meeker's semi-autobiographical novel is not just one of those 'interesting' early works, that pale beside later masterpieces. This is a mature, intelligent narrative of a gay man's youthful years. It is told with confidence and a persuasive, occasionally poetic style.

Most gratifying about Meeker's novel is its completely positive view of homosexuality. The author gives equal weight to the physical and the emotional aspects of being gay. His protagonist is initially driven by his erotic impulses, but behind the impulses there is always the emotional core. After some questioning and experimentation, Meeker's hero is never in real doubt about the possibility of same-sex love. There is no trace of shame or guilt in the novel's depictions of male-to-male relations: the reader is convinced along with him, that this love,too, is valid.

There is plenty of humor in the novel, as well as some interesting non-technical musical discussion. And Meeker is careful to characterize each player with subtle and convincing traits. Neither dated, nor only academically important, BETTER ANGEL is a novel that should be read by everyone.

Excellent book.

Unlike many contemporary coming out stories, the gay protagonist here does not get drunk, take drugs, or become suicidal. He just tries to understand his feelings and tries to do the right things. This was set in the Great Depression in 1933, in a religious Mid-Western family setting (initially), with entrapping police, and almost universal hostility. The narrator is able to grow and develop with dignity, while building long-term sexual and other relationships.

I'd never heard of Ian Rankin, but the book reviewer on Fresh Air, Maureen Corrigan, happened to mention that she limited her reading of Rankin to one book a month so she could longer savor his stuff. I don't if know this is one of his weaker efforts, but it would be difficult to motivate myself enough to try another. Simply, while the prose and dialogue are generally adequate, the main character is both hackneyed and sketchily drawn. He seems like a fictional detective, rather than a real and original presence. Beyond this, the plotting is extremely lazy and incredible, with coincidental connections and meetings happening in London as if it were a village of a few hundred. Alas, the villain is revealed at the end in the manner of a rabbit from a hat with no logical or clever foreshadowing, and a "solution" by the sadsack hero which is uninteresting and highly unlikely. Followed this shortly later with Dennis Lehane's "Mystic River" and it took his clean, sharp, evocative prose to fully dissolve my disappointment. Lehane will be revisited, but I think I'll lose Rankin's address.

...because now I have a new obsession: Inspector Rebus mysteries. I can't remember the last time I was so immediately involved in a series; so thoroughly taken with a character and his creator; so fixated on catching up on the past decade's worth of stories. There's great writing here, terrific characterizations, sly humor...and the whodunit aspect does not disappoint. And that goes for all the Rebus books. Well done, Mr. Rankin.

this may be one of the earliest Rebus novels, but it is without shadow of a doubt one of the best. Ian Rankin here presentes an excellent serial killer novel, published around the time when the sub-genre itself was really on it's infancy. (After all, there weren't all that many serial killer novels around in 1991) It's a very assured, seasoned, mature novel, somewhat before it's time.

Rebus is a great character, and here his development continues. However, we are presented with a great twist to the normal formula here...Rebus has been sent to London to work on a case, and the fish-out-of-water effect really works very well. Instead of the in-depth and realistic descriptions of Edinburgh, we now see London through Rebus, a visitors eyes, and Rankin proves that his evocations of place are not merely limited to Edinburgh. He describes London excellently, and observing Rebus wandering round the city like a lost soul (until he realises that, in terms of problems, London is basically the same as his home turf, when he seems to get more comfortable with the place) is really interesting.

The plot is great, and it twists and turns subtly but excellently, with Rankin misleading the reader like an illusionst all the way to the end as to the real identity of the killer. He shocks and surprises again and again, until a brilliantly exciting climax, a car chase through the busy streets of London.

Along the way, Rebus meets some brilliant characters, several of whom i would love to see again in the future. George Flight, his opposite number in London, is a wonderfully drawn creation. He is a likeable man, and a great copper. He is darawn well, and i liked the way Rankin shied away from the cliche of making him an unlikeable, difficult to work with, arrogant and not very good police-officer. Instead, we are prsented with a policeman equal to Rebus in ability, whose talents compliment each other well. Another great character is Liza Frazer, the young psychologist who volunteers to help Rebus draw up a profile of the killer.

All in all, this is a brilliant book. It suceeds on every single leve, and while the end does seem a little rushed, and i would rather the book were a bit longer, this book ranks among Rankin's best work. Which, considering the calibre of almost all his books, means that this book is very, very good indeed.

I liked the way this story used the alphabet. This is good for little children because they need to learn their alphabet or else they won't be able to do anything later on in life. I love cats so that is why I liked this story. It gave me 26 different ideas for names of my cat when I get one. This is about a very kind lady named Mrs. McTats. Everyday she starts receiving more and more cats. Until, one day she has 25 cats. All the cats' names are in alphabetical order. Then one day a puppy shows up and she names it Zoom. So now you have every letter in the alphabet. Children who like cats will like this story because there are definitely a lot of cats in it. The only bad thing is that some of the pictures are kind of ugly.

First off, my only complaint is that for some reason the illustrations irritate my children and me. My daughter wants to know why the cat is all "cut up" referring to the scratchy and squiggly lines of some of the felines.

The story, however, is well crafted and incorporates the alphabet and counting within a sweet tale.

Especially popular with animal lovers.

I loved the story and how it incorporated the ABC's as well
as couting. I would have like to have seen better illustrations.

I think this is a good book, but I think people need to be aware of what type of book it is. I think this book is excellent for pictures and basic dog knowledge. There is some information about all aspects of this breed, which I think is good. I don't think though that it is ideal book for people wanting to understand GSD psychology, as well as Schutzhund work. It does cover these areas to some degree as I mentioned, but not near enough.

I would recommend this book to people that like GSDs, and perhaps are interested in showing them. It has superb photographs and is nice to own for those purposes. I personally think though that showing dogs is primarily what cripple the breed characteristics and temperament that predominantly are used for any form of working task. If one wants to show their dog, then they should at least qualify in certain events that protect the breed's instinct and it's designed abilities. Many people feel that this is very unnecessary, especially when it comes to training them to protect. My opinion to people who want a pet is to get just that. I don't feel GSDs or any other working canines should be bred for any other reason than their intended purpose whether that is conformation work or hunting wild game.

I also wish that books designed for specific breeds would discuss things about their behavior rather than basic dog maintenance and other common knowledge topics that are discussed in books on dogs in general.

Brit Sheila Rankin compiled this fascinating coffee table book which includes a wealth of information on the German Shepherd dog. The photographs are excellent and numerous. She includes information from a wealth of different resources and touches on everything from the History of the GSD to how to house train a new puppy.

I would suggest that this volume is a wonderful resource for those wanting an overall picture of what a German Shepherd is and should be, however, it is Not a training tool.

The chapters to do with training a GSD are abbreviated and simplistic in nature. The Ultimate German Shepherd Dog is however, a great resource for those contemplating owning a GSD or a a companion book for a more substantial training manual.

This is an excellent book! I recommend it to any one who wants to learn more about the German Shepherd, or even if you do own it buy it! The history is very detailed and each time I read it I get more info. I have a Shepherd myself and this book helped me work with her. It's a great book!

I bought this book looking for formalized rules of composition. I got exactly what I asked for, though I must admit Poore writes like the page they tore out of the textbook in "Dead Poets Society." The first chapter on balance was the most formulaic and I felt at times that Poore was stretching his examples to fit or coming up with rules on the fly. I got more out of the following chapters on entrance and exit, circular observation, and angular composition. The strongest section of the book was on composition with one or more units, particularly on how to pose two people for a portrait. The last chapter on light and shade was also good.

It is well worth the time and money to read this book, though it may not be where you stop.

I've heard art instructors thrash around at length in conversations on composition and not come anywhere near getting their point across like this potent book. Don't let the slim page count fool you--the author simply doesn't need three hundred pages to illuminate his readers--this is clearly the effort of someone who has looked and thought deep and long about what makes some images so engaging and he isn't content just poking around the edges of the topic.

Poore writes in a grounded, succinct manner and supports his text with well chosen black and white reproductions (a few pages in the center are in color). This book presents and clarifies some crucial points for creating an image with a pulse. So many art books cost a small fortune and deliver marginal goods--this book asks for a very modest investment and delivers gold. My work is better for having read and studied it.

This book should be mandatory material for any student of the visual arts. The information is presented very clearly and with excellent examples. I feel I've learned a lifetime's worth of material from this one little book!