"Huh?" about sums up this rather silly book. The extremely brief summaries of the more notable Celtic saints is plush with legends that no critical, modern mind could put on a level above fairy tale. Granted fairy tale can be very educational, but there is no room in Sellner's summaries for a modern critique of what these legends indicate about the mind or faith of the hagiographers, much less the actual saints. Sellner's introduction is a feeble attempt to explain the symbolic importance of the legends, but he is obviously more concerned with Celtic culture than Christian faith. One is left wondering whether Sellner is a druid disguising himself as a Christian "theologian".

The Introduction is worth the price of the book. In the beginning of the book, the writer does a great job of introducing the reader to the Celtic way of sprituality. It is impossible to do justice to this section of the book in just a few words here. Suffice it to say that this one section of this one book is one of the best I've ever read as an overview to the way the Celtic person viewed the world and spirituality. The rest of the book is full of stories about numerous Celtic saints, and after following the great intro, was a bit of a let-down for me. Still,although I read this book three years ago, I have not forgotten how helpful this introduction was to my understanding.

Sellner, an associate professor of pastoral theology, brings historical interest and spiritual insight to his fine book on the celtic saints.

The main part of _Wisdom of the Celtic Saints_ consists of excerpts from original documentary material about the lives of various celtic saints. One flaw of the book is that Sellner does not tell you which original manuscript the excerpt is from, but, knowing a little about the material, I can see that he has been wide-ranging and very thorough. Among the saints whose lives he includes are such famous beacons of the Faith as St. Patrick, St. Columba, and St. Bride; but he includes also many who are not widely known: St. Ia, St. Ethna, and more. Nineteen saints in all make up this "gallery of faith."

But perhaps the most exciting part of the book is the ;material which brackets the main section. In the introduction, Sellner does one of the best jobs I have seen describing the complex, compelling, and somewhat alien celtic christian mindset. After a historical overview, he sets out for the reader seven characteristics of celtic Christian spirituality, including love of the environment, love of learning, and a peculiar attitude toward time. Each of the seven is discussed consicely yet adequately, and in such a way that the reader is invited to meditate further.

This is followed by a brief discussion of stages of spoiritual kinship with Jesus and of various symbols which symbolic objects and numbers which occur frequently in the stories to follow.

In the conclusion he beautifully provides one sentence for each of the saints the reader has just encountered, "mythologizing" that saint into the representative of some particular virtue or way of approaching life. For example, "Patrick's openness to letting the spiritual realm, including angels, lead him;" "Ia's placing her life in God's hands and letting go of the results." This feature hints to the reader that the holy people are not to be approached as historical relics, but as living companions and active guides on the road to fellowship with God.

I recommend this book with no reservations.

Mr. McLean is no doubt an expert in golf -- I have no doubt about that. I have seen serveral of his videos and have gained from them. This book, however, could have been helped immensly by a strong editorial hand. Mr. McLean waffles on and on about fragmentary parts of the swing, interspersing it pointless stories and dropped names. Only one point comes through clearly: the power in a swing is generated by the differential between the hip and shoulder turn. I am sure that if I re-read the book more points would come to light, but it is far too tiresome.

This book could certainly used a better edit. If this is the first golf book that you are trying to purchase go with another author. Mr. McLean, while a great teacher, does not write well enough to convey information to the beginner. If you have read several books on the swing then you can understand the information he conveys. Otherwise, you will be lost in the nomenclature.

I have read several books on golf and the golf swing and this is the best describing the long game. If you want to know how to generate power in the swing, this is the book. Most golf instruction books, videos and television shows describe the golf swing as unusual, unnatural and not anything like other sports. Jim McLean shows how the golf swing is very similar to other sports and imitates common athletic moves. After I read this book I was able to put Jim's concept of the X-Factor to immediate use.

Here's the skinny on my rating:

The Pros: 1.Flash 5 for Web Professionals is simple and easy to read (ie. the author doesn't assume that you are a flash guru or a uber-techie). 2.The sections on flash plug-in detection and preloading are invaluable (some other more in-depth books forget about plug-in detection) 3. It explains the stuff you need in order to get started with a flash applications such as tweening, simple animated buttons, timelines, and sound--and it isn't the size of the Bible. 4. Publishing chapter is very helpful and easy to understand. 5. It has a 'live' website for you to see the lessons that you learned in action.

The Cons: 1. The insturctions regarding flash tools and effects are very basic (as in you will not know how everything works and how to do all that cool stuff one sees on icebox.com). 2. It is not aimed at the web professional, but towards the beginner and therefore never gets into the truly complicated, flashy and impressive stuff needed for high-end sites such as e-commerce sites, sites with database integration, and sites using movie-clip/draggable windows-type inspired navigation. 3. The site that you construct using this book and the 'live' website version of the book are truly--asthetically speaking--hideous and not inspiring in the creative department to say the least (but, hey, no one can make you be creative).

After weighing the pros and cons, I gave this book a 4 because of what it DID do for me that I found not explained as simply in better titles (such as Foundation Flash 5). I found the publishing chapter to be very helpful and even found use for the 'previous/next' button actionscripting explained in the book.

While certainly not the best Flash book out there, if you are a web professional then maybe this would get 3 stars and Foundation Flash 5 is far better for beginners, this book does deliver some worthy content for (the price).

Some learning curves are so high that it takes a TON of concentrated effort to become proficient. I bought this book a year ago and it was a GREAT starting point.

I know consider myself an expert, having read and absorbed the whole Flash 5 Bible, and more...but I never would have understood the BIBLE had I not worked through this book. It's one of those things that WHILE you're learning...you don't understand, but then afterwards...you're like OH! I GOT IT!

It's a pretty neat book. The only thing I don't like about it is that there is no cd...the files had to be downloaded, which was a pain as I learned Flash on my laptop...but still...

DEFINATELY A GOOD BOOK TO GET YOU STARTED

I actually thought this book was pretty good. I have never used flash but I learned to do a simple animation within an hour. I know there is a lot more to learn than this book offers but this book seems like its catered to beginners who want to get there feet wet...really wet!

The best part of this book was the cover. A wonderful picture of a sunset in the mountains. Had the cover made it clear that the "author" did nothing more than take excerpts from other books I never would have bought the book. The excerpts were taken so that you never really knew who you were reading about. His choices left me feeling used and I am sure he ruined several good books for me. None of the stories related in "Wild" has convinced me to read the whole book. What a shame!

The literary quality of this book is fair. However, most of the stories have nothing to do with "survival" or "the world's most dangerous places." This is one of the most dishonest tiles I have ever seen. Come on. Where are the "stories of survival?" For example, you may or may not find it interesting to read Edward Abby's ruminations on floating through Glen Canyon, but there is no implication whatsoever that this is one of the world's most dangerous places, or that there was any issue of survival at all. The same can be said of 2/3 of these accounts.

This is yet another in Clint Willis's ongoing series of adrenaline, adventure, survival, disaster, storm, etc. series in which he seeks to capitalize on the rage for danger and excitement that is currently sweeping the literary market. In my search for material for a class on adventure writing I teach, I have read all of them, and found them a mixed lot with some real gems thrown in. This particular anthology is no exception, though I wish Willis would stop over dramatizing his titles. A more realistic name for the collection might be, "Exciting Moments in the Wilds," or "Wildernesss Moments."

Questionable names aside (giving titles to books is an art after all) this collection has some stand out and downright bizarre pieces that are worth reading. If you're looking for a good old-fashioned adventure story with plenty of excitement, try Dave Robert's "A Wilderness Narrrative," or Joe Kane's "Savages." For more than you ever wanted to know about tropical diseases and the dangers of traveling in the Amazaon jungle, try Redmond O'Hanlon's "In Trouble Again." But if you're looking for something really different, something that will not only entertain but make you question your sense of reality, read Barry Lopez's "Pearyland," in which the main character (a student Lopez met in an airport) steps into another, parallel world, or "The Willows" by Algernon Blackwood. The Willows in particular carries a disturbing undertone of unease and menace. The things that happen in this story shouldn't, and there is no real explanation for them.

Other, less off the wall, though no less entertaining pieces inlcude Edward Abbey's "Down the River" and Evelyn Waugh's "The Man Who Liked Dickens."

All in all, this is a worhty addition to Willis's growing pile of anthologies, thanks to the solid contributions from familiar and well-established names, but when will Willis dare to include the work of lesser known, though no less talented writers?

No flow to the book. He tells too many stories. Not much good info at all. Seems like a book written in the 1920's on golf. get a different one!

Mr Mclean's book on the golf swing is poorly written for the novice with 10% of the book devoted to why he is a great instructor. Throughout the book he uses jargon that is never defined (no glossary). For someone trying to learn a golf swing this is not the right book.

A very well-written book that is especially well-suited to check-pointing against video. Along with SWING LIKE A PRO, this is one of my favorite full-swing books.

First, I am a professional Visual C++ developer and bought this book to learn the new .NET extensions. After working myself through the first two detailed chapters I am left with a lot of definitions but am wondering how or why I would use this information. Perhaps this might make a good reference book, I have no idea how accruate the informaton is, but it is not a "primer" in he sense that you buy this book as a self taught learning aid. I'm bored out of my skull.

In case you are considering buying this book, be aware it was "written and tested for the final release of .Net v1.0". According to authors, many features on the final release of .NET v.10 were not working properly and therefore the sample does not work. The technical revision of this book was poor and the obvious errors in the code make me wonder if the code was ever tested or if one author read the previous chapter written separately by another author. Examples to illustrate this fact can be found on page 373, 396, 423 and many others (I only start taking notes about the pages by the end of the book when I decided I needed to write a review about it). The errors, added to the limitations on the final release of the product, disturb my reading more than if no spell checker was used.

Nevertheless, the book has some very good chapters and given that at the time I could not find any other book available on the subject, I read until the very last page. Hopefully now that .Net is out, the authors will do a second and carefully revised edition of the book.

Managed C++ is a very difficult area and there is not a lot of books in this area. Most of the books seem to concentrate on C# or VB.NET. This is sad because it seems like a lot of the current work to be done in .NET has a lot to do with taking the existing millions of lines of unmanaged code and COM code and making it work/or port to .NET. This can only be done with Managed C++. The book does not pupport to be a complete reference in this area. It states in the Introduction that "At heart, this book is pragmatic: its purpose is to tell experienced C++ programmers what they need to know about Visual C++.NET" and for the most part, I do believe that this has been accomplished.
The first chapter is quick overview on what's new in Visual C++.NET. This didn't do much for me but is a quick glance. Chapter 2 "Introduction to Managed C++" is quite good, IMHO. It takes all of the .NET concepts and shows the Managed C++ keywords to perform it. Chapter 3 on Assemblies is pretty good but does not drill down far enough. A tie to PE files is not made. I did learn quite a bit about Resources though which I did not understand before. Attributes and Reflection, Chapter 4 is excellent. These features are very important in .NET. Chapter 5 on .NET Framework utility classes, I felt was a good overview on something that could easily fill 1200 pages. I especially liked Chapters 7 and 8 "Managed and Unmanaged Code" and "COM Interoperability." I feel these are the heart of Managed C++. In Chapter 7, the authors do a fine job of presenting the differences between managed and unmanaged code and the IJW mechanism. I do feel that the example class chosen to be warpped, an integer linked list could have been better and doesn't cover all the cases. The P/Invoke discussion is quite good. The COM Interop chapter is excellent - it has good examples. All in all, I think that the authors did a fairly good job in writing about a fairly complex area.

this book did not help my golf game at all it is horible

When I purchased this 'little' guide (it really will fit in your pocket), I thought it would be useful. What I have found is that it is vital. I would give up my driver first if I had to choose between the two. Not only does it very simply explain and demonstrate sound techniques and strategies, but it does so in very short, concise (unlike my own) language with illustrations when appropriate. It also uses varying scenarios in order to provide an opportunity to address almost any normal on-course occurence. It is a great guide to wedge play for the average golfer. I carry it my bag always and pull it out during those long waits on the tee box - it helps kill the time, and I often improve in the process!

An odd combination of the most detailed description of CCD and infrared arrays (their history,use, calibration, optical and electronic properties, drive waveforms, etc.), plus a shallow and general coverage of general optics, software (including a flow chart for software development plus a few screen shots!), telescopes, and adaptive optics.

It is hard to imagine someone who would get something useful out of every chapter; the ultra beginner could learn the basics better elsewhere, but would find the technical chapters hard slogging, while the CCD enthusiast will make the complementary choices.

Exercises suggest the author may have imagined this to be a text book, but the poor general coverage and excellent technical coverage make this instead a reference for techies.

McLean provides complete translations of all the plates of the Magical Calendar printed in 1620, which is an occult document that includes portions of the Jewish Kabbala and deals mainly with spellcasting and prophecy. Outside a small section of notes at the end, McLean fails to provide much narrative on various portions, and most parts must be further looked up in other works. The plates are in copier black and white, somewhat low qualoty. The binding is fair.

You know your dealing with a book that's outdated when you read "Most first loans are made by savings and loans associations." No offense intended to the author but although many of the concepts are good, they are not well-explained or presented for beginners to easily understand. I only understood as much as I did because I am in the real estate industry. Better choices are out there.