I so enjoyed 'The Shore of Women' and had high hopes of a good read with 'Child of Venus'. No such luck. I did manage to finish it, although I found myself skipping and skimming much of it. Just plain boring. Never got into any real action at all, much of it was simple rambling and thoughts on paper. Maybe if I had read the first two in the trilogy, but even then I just don't think this book works well. I just can not recommend it. Try something by Sheri S. Tepper instead--or read 'The Shore of Women'.

As an original reader of the first two books, it'd been a long time since I'd walked the aisles of Venus. It's fairly amazing to me that I'd still, from time to time, search on 'Sargent' to see if she'd ever written the third book. The pleasant surprise at seeing she had can not be overstated.

What was also exhilarating to me was how-- prodded reflectively by the author-- I was able to recall the first two novels read nearly a decade and a half ago. That alone was worth the trip. However, to be frank, the book is a *good* read.

How to describe it? It is a character novel. Specifically, a novel on the entirety of the protagonist's Mahala's life-- her choices, the people with whom she interacts, etc. It's interweavon nicely with a science fiction thread dealing with the fate of Venus, the Habbers, Earth and, ultimately, all of humanity.

As such, it's a good thing that Sargent's strength in this novel is the fine, yet gentle literary tapestry of characters, future 'plausible' science, and, quite frankly, leveraged strength wrought from the legacy of the first two novels.

If anything, the weakness in the books-- borne out in the closing 50 or so pages-- seems to be the cause of the delay in writing the third book (12 years? 13 years?): namely, how to end it. After all, the trilogy, at least from a Sci Fi standpoint, is about terraforming venus. of course, I'm not going to divulge that here.

bottom line? It's a good read. If you haven't read the first two books, SHAME ON YOU. Get them. Read them all. Enjoy them.

Finally!! Years ago, a friend found "Venus of Dreams," at a bookstore and bought it for me. I enjoyed the story that unfolded about a girl named Iris. Her dream was to become a part of the terraforming of Venus and she see's this dream come true as an adult. Iris ultimately pays the price for her dream of transforming Venus, when the planet itself claims her life. The second book, "Venus of Shadows," is by far the best of the series. Sargent weaves an excellent story (as always) by using Iris's decendants (in particular, Risa, Iris's daughter) to tell of both their personal desires as well as the desire to breath life into Venus itself. Again, there are hard prices to pay for these desires. The last and final book, "Child of Venus" wraps up the entire tale. Again, Iris's decendants are still terraforming Venus, amid all the troubles and turmoil that existed from the previous books. Normally I would have given this book Four Stars. But, I gave the book "FIVE STARS" partly because - it was actually a very good and interesting book. But mainly because I read the first book when I was about 21 or so, and I'm now 36. I guess I'm just grateful that the last book was published during my lifetime. Pamela Sargent has been one of my favorite authors since I read "Venus of Dreams." I've read many of her other books and find them all extremly interesting and well written. I hope to read more of her work in the future.

The problem with discussing the nigh silly and completely inpenterable land of tir na nog is mainly that.....why on earth is the Tir Tairngire information(which ,given it's close proximity to seattle makes it fairly likely to pop up in a number of plots and schemes) so sketchy and vague in comparison to the detailed(maps,THEY included MAPS,road maps,county maps,ley lines...yay!)near fully fleshed out Tir Na Nog? Factor in the the distant locale, impossiblility of 'visiting', and the fact that ireland is pretty much removed itself from world politics,and it's easy to see why this book isn't used that often. Tir Na Nog as a sourcebook will be of very limited use to the majority of stroytellers out there, but would certainly be mandatory for anyone playing in an Eire campaign.It's a book that makes most GM's go 'whoa...that's pretty cool' and then toss under the Germany and Lone Star Sourcebooks while playing.

I found that the Rules and information Described in it Was Crucial to Properly Running a Elf In that political and volitile time.

The Scottish world of Tir Na nOg is explained in great detail in this place book. The book explains a new Paths system for Tir Na nOg magicians as well as new magical groups, and even a new type of magician! Tir Na nOg also has very detailed information about the culture of the shady world of the Elven Court.

Last year I bought Macromedia Coldfusion 5 appliction Development for Ben Forta. I did like the book and I learned a lot from it. So with my order of Coldfusion MX software, I decided to order Coldfsuion MX Application Develpment for Ben Forta. I start reading and soon I am in the end of the book do you know why? because it is almust same as the first one. Even same example. There is chapters where is same on both edition word by word. Yes, there is few things new on coldfuion MX but not worth it.

My advice, if you have a book wrote by Ben Forta for Coldfusion 5 then don't buy the new one because you are buying same book but different cover. If it's your first time, then this book will be the one to start.

by the way, this is not only the mistake I did, I did buy Coldfusion MX Web Application Construction Kit, and Coldfusion MX Developer Study Guide. They are all same. in fact I did read same paragraph again, and again from different edition of Ben Forta.

I will say Ben Forta did it again and I did buy and waste my Money this time.

I was a little dissapointed with this book, instead of focusing on what is new with MX, the majority of the book is rehashing the older version of the book much of which are no longer relevent in MX. I would have really liked to see more on the new xml functions, use of web services and Java integration. I would suggest instead that you get O'Reillys Programming ColdFusion MX, 2nd Edition by Rob Brook-Bilson when it comes out, it covers the newer topics more in depth and is a better resource later as it is easier to find answers to your questions. If you just want to learn the newer features get Inside Coldfusion MX and for more advanced info get Java for Coldfusion Developers by Eben Hewitt (great book!) and Discovering CFCs: ColdFusion MX Components by Hal Helms.

Ben does it again! I was very pleased with the book. The coverage of CFMX's advanced features was excellent! The book is designed to allow you to skip around, not requiring you to read it cover to cover.

The book also provides many ideas for integrating COM,CORBA,C++ and most importantly JAVA into your CFMX applications. There is also a section on integrating with popular applications (like MS Word, Excel, Outlook, Fax Service, and ADO).

The best part of the book was the information on Advanced Custom Tags and Java integration!

Great book for those who are interested in learning advanced techniques.

Caution: Not a very good book for newbies to CF or CFMX.

William Sargent is kind of the poor man's Bill Bryson: he gives natural history and geologic background while trying to maintain a loose narrative structure, and he succeeds about as often as he fails.

I thought this book was going to be some kind of adventure tale of roughing it for a year, but it turns out that Sargent lives in the Notch, and kept a diary for a year. The book as a whole is kind of like the pictures in it: occasionally interesting, but fall short of being really beautiful because they're rendered in poor-quality black-and-white printing.

I felt it was necessary to counter the previous reviewer's negative rating. This is a truly excellent book. The positive statements in the "editorial review" are far more indicative of this book's quality. As one who has read Bill Bryson, all I can say is it's like comparing the proverbial apples and oranges. Bryson is fluff and cute little anecdotes. Sargent is meat and solid information on natural history and geology --which is the whole point. If that's what you want, this book is indeed 5 stars!

This Tech readout is more of the same churned out of the FASA factory. More mechs than you can shake a stick at, and hopefully they get you to buy the overpriced minitatures. However, that being said, there are a lot of mechs here, enough for even the most ruthless player. Thankfully though they left out the "Typhoon", and "Gauzzilla" mechs. Mechforce North America rubber stamped pieces of junk that get away totally from the spirit of the game. Good background information on the mechs however, and good illustrations. How does Duane Loose do it?

There are some of the best available 'mechs in this book, clan and IS, and although some of the pictures stink, they are mostly of hansome 'mechs.The vehicles are good, some even appealling enough to use. There are some excellent 'mechs and vehicles in this book, their write-ups are good and there are pictures that, if not excellent, do portray the look of the 'mech well enough. This is a good TR to buy, but perhaps shouldn't be your first.

I realy like the Turkina, and the Kodiak(but the pic for the Kodiak stinks). However the rest are a little bland for my taste. If you get only one tech readout, get 3060, but if you get two, get 3060 and 3058.

Ok, lets not kid ourselves. This is a good, solid Star Trek story, but it isn't brilliant, nor is it original. This book is just another Enterprise-saves-the-planet affair, only this time (wait for it...) the planet gets sent through a wormhole. That's right.

If this were possible, wouldn't it be mentioned before in Star Trek? As it is Data's 'revolutionary scientific experiment' seems a little farfetched and ridiculous. It does manage to keep your interest though, and it didn't take me too long to read. I think the best bits were the part where that piece of the planet breaks off and the actual crossing through the wormhole.

I will admit that once I managed to forget about the absurdity of the whole wormhole thing, I did enjoy this book, although I still think there are a lot of better save-a-planet books (Death of the Princes, Last Stand, Double Helix #1...)

I think people who like that kind of pioneering/scientific Star Trek book will probably go for this. I give it 'average' - three stars.

Star Trek-The Next Generation: A Fury Scorned written by Pamela Sargent and George Zebrowski is a Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise save-the-planet book.

Faced with a population of twenty million and who and what to choose to evacuate Captain Picard and crew are facing steep odds. A dying sun, soon to go nova, threatens the planet Epictetus III and all that inhabits this planet. The U.S.S. Enterprise crew must come up with a solution or all will be lost.

Running out of time, Data proposes a revolutionary solution to this ever growning concern... a wormhole. But, not just any wormhole, no sir... a wormhole big enough for a whole planet. I know it sounds quite farfetched, but this is scifi and anything is possible. But will this novel experiment work? Can the U.S.S. Enterprise be saved? Only time will tell and the answers are in the ending of this book.

For action-adventure this is a good book as the narrative flows and it makes for a rather quick read. Captain Picard's trust in Lt. Commander Data and a solution that is highly experimental and weigh in the balance. But, this book will engage the reader till the end. This is not the best written book in the TREK universe, but it sure isn't the worst either.

This book is great for any Trek fan out there. What makes this such a great book is the fact that it places the lives of millions of people on the shoulders of one man. Just comprehending such an awesome idea is mind-boggling. It resurfaces a "worst-fear" scenario in the minds of many people, myself included. For an author to do that in a "typical" sci-fi novel is very bold. Quite a captivating read.

I read the book in German and I was kind of surprised since I had actually expected it to be a Shadowrun book. Well - it's not, at least in my opinion. There are not, as the authors themselves state at one point, any actual shadowrunners in it (apart from the Elf mage, who doesn't really behave like a Shadowrunner). The best part in it is Streak - his comments are definitely the most enjoyable parts of the story! Also, the atmosphere is all kind of wrong - Shadowrunners do not live in the posh part of London. Besides, the book has no real ending - it doesn't explain how it is possible for Leonardo to be an Elf although there weren't any Elves in the Middle Ages. I think the fact that Leonardo is an Elf proves about anything else stated in any other Shadowrun book wrong. So, if you're particularly interested in Leonardo da Vinci or Religion and if you don't mind a Shadowrun book without any Shadowrunners in it, you might enjoy it. Otherwise - look out for the Secrets of Power trilogy (or anything else that has Dodger in it).

Short and sweet:

Read the book just because of the character Streak - I ain't kidding, he makes the book worth reading.

Character descriptions are vague. Interactions between main chars and 'enemies' are poor and confusing. The concept of 'shadowrunners' (which these guys definitely are NOT) living in luxury is a refreshing change from the 'live-in-squallor' standard of most runner-types. I hate the Vatican so I took some pleasure in the idea that they would flex their muscle in the world of SR just to prevent the masses from learning something OTHER than what has been spoon-fed to them by Christianity. The writing style conveys the sense of the dark and gritty world of London. This book would have rated a Five had the descriptions and interactions been better.

As part of the Shadowrun-series, this book continues the adventures of some great characters who actually have brains instead of "absolute power". It is indicative of the rapidly increasing number of crossovers between Shadowrun and Earthdawn, but can still be read without insight into Earthdawn.
One of the authors - Carl Sargent - is a professor at Cambrigde Univ. and clearly invested a lot of time and energy in investigating the plot ... which, no matter how far-reaching, is not just a figment of his imagination. For those who like to take an idea further, they should ckeck out non-fiction books like "The Templar Revelation" an "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" ... to get enough foor-for-thought to last months.

The major reason I didn't like this book is that there are too many characters.The plot was also confusing,so much so that I didn't even finish reading the book.

Though the idea of Souix and others rallying against the genocidal US, the creation of the book lacks in a good Point of Divergence from Our Time Line. In other words, Ms.Sargent uses fiction characters to push along the Souix to do one thing or another that will make them victorious. Then, after the US endures a cabalic despotism in Washington,that is put down by the Souix, the world reconverges with Our Time Line, which is very unlikey. The last passage makes a mockery of the Ghost Dance. Rent it from your library.

This book is excellent. It takes a creative approach to a part of history that is not usually the subject of Alternate History. On the whole it was vaery believable, if told from a perspective one is not use to seeing. Buy it, read it, and enjoy it.

Referring to the Dover reprint pair of volumes: you get a large number of trees for a relatively low price (assuming you find these used, as they're out of print again). The books are concerned mainly with identification. Entries describe distribution, size, etc. and have line drawings of flowers, leaves, and fruit -- no color or photographs. This is not a "manual" in the sense of describing how to grow trees.

This is the second half of Sargents' manual of 1922, in the 1965 Dover reprint (see review of volume 1). Page numbers and illustration numbers continued from first half. The total for both volumes is 783 illustrations (line drawings), one per entry. The 1965-appendix with updates of names to be found in this second volume.

Decent quality reprint.

This is a Dover reprint of Sargent's manual of the trees of N-America. Charles Sprague Sargent (1841-1927) as the author of a book on N-American woods and as the director of the prestigious Arnold Arboretum was quite qualified to give a concise overview of what, at the time, was known of N-American trees. Per tree this manual gives a brief desciption of leaves, flowers, fruit, winter buds, bark, wood and distribution of the tree. In some cases the etymology of the botanic name. Each entry is accompanied by a modest line drawing of leaves, flowers and fruit. No photographs, no habit drawings.

The reprint is of the second edition of 1922 (first edition 1905), so this manual obviously is out of date in many respects, but in the reprinting in 1965 a 23 page appendix was added at the back of volume 2 which lists for both volumes a page-by-page update of names, both botanical and common.

All in all a handy reference to have on the bookshelf, but preferably as a supplement to a modern fieldguide, rather than stand alone.

I wasn't sure if I was reading a new novel, or just re-reading one of several of the last Catherine Coulter novels I've waded through. I think that I am truly sick of the big, strong man caring for sick, injured woman bit. The story was dumb; there was no real mystery. I love the "Song" series and most of the Sherbrooke Brides series. This was plain disappointing.

How Does Catherine Coulter continue to get these awful books published? Does ANYONE read this stuff before it goes into print? I've been reading historical romances for 20 years, and this is, without a doubt, the worst reading experience I've ever had! The flat characters and convoluted story line were bad enough, but the ridiculous, dithering, twit headed dialogue that has become Ms. Coulter's hallmark of late, aggravated me so much that I read not even half of this book before I threw it across the room in disgust! Mad Jack is much worse (if you can believe it) than Coulter's recycled regencies that she keeps revisiting on the world, and quite frankly, I feel that this book is not worth the paper it's printed on!

Is is my imagination or has Catherine Coulter started using the same hero and heroine in, oh say, the last 5 or 6 books? This was the most boring by far. I have other Catherine Coulter books that I love and re-read over and over. This is not one of them. Ever since The Wyndham Legacy (which is one of my favorites) the characters have begun to seem like they are all the same person. Even the minor characters. They are no longer entertaining and humerous. Now they are stilted and repetitious. Of course, the last couple of her novels that I've purchased were re-written older novels that were good the first time around. Maybe she should start off with a fresh book and see what comes of it.