This book provides an introduction to the various technical and business aspects of e-commerce for the business executive. The author delves into some of the more technical aspects, such as how a company can connect its databases to off-the-shelf e-commerce software and describes what a server does and give an overview of the features of the top-selling server software. She also summarizes the possibilities of electronic payments and how they work, as well as the kinds of security that are needed in various parts of an e-commerce network and why. The final chapters in the book provide an in-depth look at marketing, order processing and fulfillment and customer service. Readers without a great deal of technical expertise should have no trouble understanding it as the author focuses on the details in a way that delivers concise, cohesive, and coherent ideas to the layperson. Although you might find a better book, this book does have an extensive glossary and good directory of Web resources. All in all, I highly recommend making this book as an addition to your reference library!

This book is the best general, comprehensive guide to e-commerce (or "e-business" if you will) that I've yet run across. The author has gone through great pains to provide information useful to both "the little guy" and large companies interested in applying e-commerce techniques to their business models. She also has dug up an assortment of technologies and services from around the world (not just the U.S.), and its vaguely international flavor probably explains why this book is popular in places such as Egypt....

If you have any thoughts of starting your own Web-based Business, this is the book for you. It will guide you from start to finish with an amazing amount of valuable information on every page. Whether you consider yourself an expert or an absolute beginner, you will learn all there is to know about E-Commerce. The text, graphics and layout are clear and concise. There is no doubt this book will become a trusted companion for many a Web-site entrepreneur.

This is the third book of the Alice McKinley series, and it is here that one can see the characters begin to really take shape. Alice, Pamela, and Elizabeth, as fun and orginal a trio (!!) as ever, have taken the big step into the world of junior high, but after only the first day Alice can think of 7 things wrong with 7th grade.

Alice, though, tries to look ahead to brighter times (even if she did manage to perform three embarassing acts on the very first day of school, including sitting on a doughnut -- egads!), and sets the very high goal of going through seventh grade being friends with everyone. Easier said then done, especially when Alice attracts the attention of an 8th grade bully. Things aren't made any worse when Alice, who has never been able to carry a tune, has to be rescued by her older brother on SGSD.

On top of her own problems, Alice also decides to tackle the romantic ones of her father and older brother. Ouch. This, too, turns out to be a lot harder than the 7th grade Alice could believe, but you could be surprised once the Messiah sing-along rolls around...

Yet another good addition to the ever-growing Alice McKinely series. Don't miss out...

Alice comes home on the first day of junior high with a list of seven things about seventh grade that she dislikes. The one good thing is that she is friends with everybody. She wants to make it throgh the entire year with everybodyliking her. Her older brother, Lester, has trouble choosing between his two girlfriends. Her father is also caught in between two women, because Alice's mother died. Alice only has one enemy, Denise Whitlock. But by Christmas, even Alice was friends with the school bully. Life gets tough as she tries to help out her brother and father.

I liked this book very much. Once I started, I couldn't put it down. There was a transition after each chapter that makes you want to keep on reading. These are the type of stories that I enjoy to read where the author focuses on the life of one character in the story but also includes others. It talks about a small family living together without a mother. How we all face good and bad parts of life.

My favorite part of the book was when ALice becomes friends with Denise Whitlock. In Language Arts, they are to interview each other and write a biography. Since none of Denise's friends were in the class, Alice chise her. As they got into the interview, they knew more about each other. Denise began to like Alice and Alice began to like Denise. After all the bad things Denise did to Alice, I don't know why Alice would choose to like her. I would suggest for you to read this book and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Alice McKinley is now a seventh-grader. Once she has stepped through the halls of junior high, surprises await for her. In Language Arts, she meets Denise Whitlock, who firsts start out by calling her "Widdle Alwice."

Then there's SGSD-Seventh Grade Sing Day. Sort of like Scrub Day from Even Stevens. LOL. So she has to carry a tune, but truthfully she cannot. Like every one of us girls, Alice goes through bad things--bullying, picking on, being brutally sarcastic, etc.

So this is a good book.

Top Secret is a very interesting yet funny book. The characters are amazingly funny. Have you ever heard of HUMAN PHOTOSYNTHESIS? Well you will now! Read this book and you'll find the best science project. Please read this book. P.S. Say that this is a useful review!

Top Secret is about a boy named Allen Brewster who has to do a science project for Miss Green. Allen wants to do his project on discovering human photosynthesis. He discovers it, but noone believes him. Allen writes to the President for help and then things get Top Secret. I recommend this book because it is funny and crazy .It has plant.

crazy! Exciting! The book was exciting because something was always happening.It is a story about a boy,Allen Brewster, who wants to do a science project on human phytosynesis.His teacher, Miss.Green doesen't like his idea and makes him do his project on lipstick. He figures he will do his project on human phytosynesis top secert. When he figures out the way to human phytosynesis but when he tells people no one belives him.his faces tons of adventures on the way like getting the president and growing roots. The book made me never what to stop ;it was exciting.I liked all the problems in the book.If he did one thing another problem always came up.It was an on going adventure.Getting sick is one thing but getting bugs is an another story. In conclusion this is one of the best books I ever read. I hope you read it too.

I recently read this book upon the recommendation of my Italian teacher. I agree with most of the reviews here that it is a masterpiece of sorts. It's a whirling panorama of life in seventeenth- century Italy--famine, plague, riots, and Spanish occupation. The story is melodramatic but so is much of Dickens. While I was reading it, I thought that it would make a compelling grand opera; I kept hearing the overture of Verdi's La Forza del Destino playing along in my mind. It's a mystery why Verdi, who revered Manzoni and dedicated his requiem mass to him, never attempted to dramatize this work. The two seem tailor-made for each other.

My only major criticisms with Manzoni's magnum opus would be with the way he introduces fascinating characters, such as the Nun of Monza and Father Cristoforo, who would themselves be suitable subjects for novelistic treatment, and then whisks them away never to be heard from again for hundreds of pages. The Nun of Monza's fate is relayed in a couple of sentences. And the hero and heroine, Renzo and Lucia, are rather conventional in comparison, less complex, less multilayered, than some of the other characters. But nineteenth-century literary conventions would normally put such types at the center of the action anyway, so one can't really fault Manzoni for basically following fashion. (And this defect would not have made mattered so much in an operatic form where the music takes over much of the dramatization.)

Another point of contention: the heavy air of Christian redemption and piety that hangs over the latter portions of the novel in which formerly evil characters reform their wicked ways and find God. It can be a rather thick and gooey mess for a modern reader unused to all this sanctimoniousness; in its own way, it's as offensive as Dickens' sickly sweet, masochistic, prolonged dwelling over the death of Little Nell.

Overall, Manzoni's inspiration is erratic and he doesn't always concentrate on the aspects of the story that I would have liked. This may be because he's more of an instinctual artist than a thinking one, like Stendhal, whose Charterhouse of Parma, bridging the gap between thought and feeling, makes an interesting comparison in its portrait of nineteenth-century Italy. I would also agree with one of the reviews below: Manzoni is clearly not Shakespeare or Dostoyevsky. His writing lacks the unity of conception, the inexplicable greatness that makes the works of Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky so powerful, so relevant to all humanity. Nevertheless, this is a vital, important work in Italian letters and useful as a document of seventeenth-century Italian history.

My Italian wife "demanded" that I read this book. Then she was amazed that I found the story so exciting and the history so interesting. Most Italians are required to read it in school as it is the book which established "Italian" as the official language of Italy and it is extremely well written in Italian. This translation makes the story seem like a modern adventure.

Manzoni's The Betrothed (I Promessi Sposi) is generally considered to be the greatest Italian novel of all time. I read it aloud to my 9-year-old daughter and we were both enthralled. It is set in the environs of Milan in the early 17th century (it was written in the 18th century). The framing story concerns young lovers whose marriage is thwarted by a local nobelman/ petty tyrant in order to win a bet. Subordinate stories range from political, economic and biographical analyses of the times to a vivid, eye-opening description of a plague outbreak and the official denial that exacerbated it. Penman's English translation is superb.

Dr. sandra Grabowski (the author of the book) is my anatomy teacher at Purdue University. Although the book does have some excellent graphics and visual enhancements in all of the crucial areas of anatomy, the actual explanation of the material is rather weak and ambiguous. There isn't much clinical or experimental information, aside from simple definitions of disorders. I believe that the book would be better served by more elaborate explanations of key concepts in the text as opposed to filling the book cover to cover with pretty pictures. In my opinion, this makes the book ineligible to be a trusty reference. The blanks need to be filled in by the authors, and this would be an excellent improvement for the ninth edition.

In response to the last review, any text book titled "Principles of Anatomy & Physiology" was never meant to be exhaustive. This textbook merely endeavors to skim the surface and provide a basic understanding of a very broad discipline. (Read the Preface). No book can plumb the depths of every human physiological system AND its clinical applications in 1000 pages. (But if one exists, I'd sure like to know about it!) In terms of presenting the introductory information I think the authors have done a great job. I admire the excellent design layout and the numerous visuals. I don't think there can be too many visuals in a book that attempts to introduce complex concepts to those who would be unfamiliar with them. And as a reference book, these make it pretty easy to locate information.

I loved this book it is my bible. I found it the most comprehensive guide that I have ever read. The only thing that other books have over it is the CD-Rom could be a little more interactive and more helpful. But the book rocked. It has that ablity to take you from the basis of all knowledge of this field of study and slowly and carfully unfold the knowledge in just the right way that it establishes it in your mind forever. I loved it and look forward to using it in other ways not just in class.

"Pastime" reintroduces a character first glimpsed in the book "Early Autumn" ,the dancer Paul Giacomo .In the early novel he had been taken in hand by Spenser and turned from an unprepossessing and gangly 15 year old slacker into an achiever .Now he re-enters Spensers life and asks for help in finding his mother who has gone missing.
Unfortunately she has absconded with a man named Beaumont who just happens to have fleeced the local mob and is being hunted down by Gerry ,the no good incompetent son of the local mob chief.There is every chance that Paul's mother is in harms way by virtue of her association with Beaumont
During the course of the book Spenser battles mobsters ,is sseriously wounded and eventually comes to an understanding with the mob.
There is a great deal too much back story in the book for my taste -the ever over inquisitive Susan probes Spenser for details of his past and his relationship with his sidekick Hawk while the conversation of Paul is saturated with psycobabble to a teeth clenchingly irritating extent
What has knocked the series off the rails for me has been the increasing space given to Spencers relationship with the shrink Susan -it has transformed what were sharp and almost over readable crime stories into "touchy-feely "exercises redolent of the self absorbtion I see as the ultimate sin of psychoanalysis
The action when it comes is crisp and sharp but there is too little of it and until Parker dumps Susan and the damnable dog they share this series will continue to be seen as the irrelevance it at present is
What a waste.

You will find this Spenser novel more entertaining if you read "Early Autumn" first since two of the characters are introduced in the earlier book.

Parent-son relationships are an important theme here. Paul's mother has come up missing and the youth contacts Spenser who in many ways has acted like a father to Paul in earlier books. In following her trail, Spenser again faces mobster Joe Broz and his son, Jerry. You get to know and understand the gangster a bit better here. That father-son relationship is also well explored.

Parker uses another element to add suspense. Susan has ended up with ex-husband's dog Pearl who accompanies Spenser and Paul. Well, we all know how high the animal mortality rate is in crime and suspense fiction, so dog lovers will be holding their breath everytime the dog goes out with Spenser.

All in all, a good and satisfying read.

This book provides closure to the door left open by Early Autumn. Paul returns to the forefront as he and Spenser seek his wayward mother. The theme of this novel is parenthood...Paul and Spenser...the Brozs...Spenser and his father (and the uncles)...even Spenser and Susan and their "baby" Pearl. The underlying quest/adventure is good but the real draw for Spenser fans is a look back into the detective's youth. The story of the young Spenser's encounter with the bear alone is worth the price of the book. My second favorite Spenser novel; I'll let the readers of this review guess what the first is.

"Of all the books I've read on radio stars,this book by Joey Reynolds is certainly one of them!"

Joey not only has a great memory for radio trivia on his nationally broadcast radio show from WOR in New York, but he can also repeat those stories verbatum in his newest and only book to date. Love the book and his radio program. And when I can't pick up his show it's so miserable without it,it's almost like can hear it. In fact I listen most nights with both ears including the one that works.

Jack Raymond,

A concerned voter, Leominster,MA.

When I can't sleep I used to listen to Art Bell, but since Art left the airwaves I've been listening to Joey Reynolds and loving it (and not minding that I can't sleep). This book is like his radio show: entertaining, enlightening, funny, serious, moving--the whole nine yards of emotions. And also like his show, totally unpredictable. A great read! Now I'll have to try his cheesecake.

In this minor masterpiece, Joey Reynolds outlines his legendary radio career, still going strongly in its fifth decade. He paints not in direct narrative, but through introductions to many of his closest friends. Once a wildman -- an alcoholic famed for his on-air lunacy -- Joey, we discover obliquely, is now a kind, generous, nurturing spirit and a wonderful father. Lest the reader think his lunacy has been totally abandoned, let it be said that in this delightful book he is funnier than Dave Barry. Read it! You *won't* be disappointed. I eagerly await a sequel. So will you.

Abenr@aol.com

Jelaluddin Rumi has become familiar to Western readers who seek out ecstatic poetry, as more and more translations and commentaries are offered on perhaps this greatest of mystical writers. But as they say, it takes one to know one, and Coleman BarksÕ masterpiece is the obvious product of an attuned heart and poetic soul.

This volume is one of the clearest and most vibrant illustrations of the Ôwild heartÕ Rumi was and is. It is difficult to find superlatives which do justice to the beauty and towering vision this work contains. Every verse, every line seems to open, in some disarmingly simple way, vast new vistas of possibilities for the human spirit.

How good is this book? The highest accolade that can be given Barks is that his brief section introductions, frequently fodder in other volumes exploring Rumi, here are powerful and transformative in their own right. Each one sets up the following verses in a natural and seamless flow. BarksÕ light shines brightly, even in the rarefied company he keeps.

Get this volume and devour it. Then get another copy and give it to someone who is ready for the infinite freedom it open-handedly offers...

Whether you are new to Rumi or a devotee, whether you are a seeker of truth and wisdom, or you would simply enjoy a book of wonderful poetry, this is a book you should buy.
First if all, I should explain that I love Rumi and recite Rumi, and do it well enough, that listeners often ask me which book should be chosen. Since the publication of The Soul of Rumi, I find myself saying that if one were to choose two books that are the best of Rumi, the first is the Soul of Rumi, and the second is the Illuminated Rumi. Coleman Barks translations of Rumi have a spirit and beauty that truly reflect Rumi's vision and clarity. Coleman's accompanying dialogues give us a glimpse into Rumi, 13th century Turkey, and Shams, Rumi's mystical friend and teacher.
Coleman makes it easy to understand Rumi's poetry; not just as a translation from the 13 century, but for the wisdom and guidance it offers to all of us, living in the 21st century. The poems in the section on Human Grief were one of the ways I managed to get through this last September.
What is most wonderful for lovers of Rumi, is the order and sections that Coleman chose in this book. This presentation is a wonderful format to help the reader understand the passion and the soul of Rumi. The sections are divided into 'wisdom categories' (my interpretation). The names of the sections communicate the viability of Rumi for today's important life questions. For example, "Living as Evidence", and "The Banquet - This is Enough was Always True", and "The Joke of Materialism". Some sections reflect Sufi concepts like Fana (Dissolving beyond doubt..) and Baqa (reentry into the world, " the Arabic word for living within, ...life lived with clarity and reason, ...the absorbing work of this day"). And for those of us, like myself, who recite Rumi, it is very helpful to have the arrangement by what, in effect, is topics. This book offers insight into Sufism, which in turn can help in the understanding of Islam. But as always, Coleman skirts the links of Rumi's poetry to a particular belief system, and in so doing, keeps Rumi's message in a form most appropriate for today. Rumi himself claimed he bore no label - "Not Christian, Jew or Muslim, not Hindu, Buddist, Sufi or Zen".
And there are so many poems that even I, who usually would sit and devour a Coleman Barks translation, in a day, must go slowly, must savor every moment; and I am so grateful to Coleman for his work and his gift of the Soul of Rumi.
Buy a few copies, the book is beautiful and would make a great gift.

In this new collection of his poetry, as the "moon and evening star do their slow tambourine dance to praise this universe" (p. 201), Rumi tells us, "it's time now to live naked" (p. 32). I've revisited Coleman Bark's popular collection of ESSENTIAL RUMI many times after it was first published in 1997. It became one of my favorite books of poetry, and offered a good introduction to Rumi's intensely spiritual poetry. With this new, equally stunning collection, Barks triumphs again in sharing the ecstasy of reading Rumi.

These days many people associate Afghanistan with terrorists rather than spiritual poets. Born in Afghanistan (p. 3), Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-73) was a thirteenth century Sufi master, and a devout scholar. It was the work of his dervish community, and the aim of his poetry to "open the heart, to explore the mystery of union, to fiercely search for and try to say the truth, and to celebrate the glory and difficulty of being in a human incarnation" (p. 4). Barks' translations succeed in capturing the divine spirit and earthly joys of Rumi's ecstatic verse. In the "forty sections" of poetry collected here, we observe the mystery of gnats becoming buttermilk (pp. 8, 113, 200), chickpeas disappearing into the flavor of soup, a dead mule decaying into the desert, an infant turning to the breast, and moths transformed into candle flames (p. 124). "The same way a branch draws water up many feet," Rumi observes, God is pulling our spirits along (p. 204). He encourages us to polish our hearts with meditation and quietness. "When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy" (p. 79).

Rumi's poetry will appeal to anyone interested in what it means to be fully alive and fully awake, and the poems contained within this new 425-page collection soar from their pages just as high as the poems in Barks' previous bestseller.

G. Merritt

This book is listed for readers age 9-13. However, it is most inapprpriate for preteen readers. Alice learns about "sensual experiences in a swimming pool" and what to do with whipped cream besides putting it on a dessert. This book was donated to my 4th grade classroom library. I assumed it would be appropriate based on Mrs. Naylors other works. Boy was I surprised when a parent brought it to my attention. Strictly for Jr. High and up.

Alice is certainly growing up and is true to the character which Mrs. Naylor has created. However, it is now time for the elementary school to be aware of the contents of the book, as Alice attends a shower, where she is given a fairly expicit questionnaire to answer, and the girls continue their discussion of sex by wondering about positions. Yes, this is a wonderfully funny and realistic book, but be sure you know what you are getting. It is not a book for the 9-year old.

Outrageously Alice is another great book in the Alice series. This one is about 13 year old Alice in the beginning of 8th grade.

Alice has many concerns that are often hilarious! She deals with being a bridesmaid, a wedding shower, finding a club to join, hard times with her friends, and many other situations! This book is both funny and touching.

I'd recommend this for all girls 6th grade and up. Be sure to read the others in the series!

If you have a huge Disney book library, this should be in it, but it will leave you wanting more. There are tons of great photos in heare, but it is not a coffee table book by any means. Nice stories from their meories of how it was back in the day... They worked on nearly everything that had ride vehicles. Disney designed and built alot of stuff right at the studiomachine shop, but these guys built a lot of ride vehicles and tracks as well. Pirates of the Caribbean boat vehicle, flying saucers, small world boats, mine train cars, Autopia cars. They built stuff for other parks you rarely hear about anymore, like Freedomland.

(Be forewarned that these guys do not give enough credit to the great Bob Gurr, a Disney Imagineer at WED who did tons of engineering, design, and drafting for most of the great ride vehicles that Arrow built for Disney. They do have some nice stuff about him on page 81, but just not enough. They tend to omit other people as well.)

No index to look things up as a reference. The writing style kind of ambles around with no clear direction. BUT having said all this, it is still an interesting book if you are consumed with the subject of amusment ride construction, especially Disney's. I would not give my copy away, I just wish it were a little better.

This book was a very good one. It focuses on a small company called Arrow. They designed rides for amusement parks. Walt hired them to build some wonderful rides for Disneyland though. This is all about the cars you ride in at the park, and how they move, on what type of track ETC. All the special effects were done by the Disney Company. It's very interesting that a park like Disneyland had this company push the limits with ride design. But unfortunately, as all you Disney Park enthusiasts know, that with Eisner's penny-pinching methods, and the new California Adventure next to Disneyland, most all the rides are 100% off the shelf carnival style rides. A good book! Especially if you want a look in the old days when the Disney Company actually spent money and cared!

The book chronicles the professional lives of the masterminds behind Arrow Development. They worked closely with Walt Disney while Disneyland was being built, and designed many of the ride-systems. The book tells many tales of those days. From semi-technical discussions of the operations of the Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean, and more (all made easily understandable) to backstage tales of Disneyland and Walt Disney, this book is fantastic. Other topics in the theme/amusement park industry are covered as well, and are just as fascinating. This book truly does deliver a credible behind the scenes look at Disneyland and the industry. Well done!