I also have the first edition of the main textbook. the workbook seems to coincide with that a lot better. maybe the workbook is the first edition workbook with a new cover? i don't know.

Don't bother with this one, it's published by the author instead of by someone who thought it was worth the effort. You do the math

Luke

This book speaks the truth. Eliminate your tendencies towards denial and read this book!

The Johnston brothers tell it like it is regarding male/female relationships in a fun and humorous way. Sometimes sobering and truthful, but always dead-on accurate.

I've given this book to all my buddies playing the dating game. Hey, a little self reflection is good right? (Unless you're afraid of the truth...)

I highly recommend this book. You will too.

I chose this book after a cursory examination to be my desktop Java reference. 1,200+ pages of material, after all, must cover every question I could consult it on, couldn't it? At first glance, the last 700 pages which contain package by package, class by class and method by method descriptions would seem to satisfy my requirements. But the true trial would come in time.

The first 500 pages are worthy of mention as they apply to the neophyte to Java, or those seeking an intermediate-level tutorial. The authors give a sound overview of the Java Language in Chapter 3, with several of the following chapters relating Java to C++, Borland Delphi and Microsoft Visual Basic for readers already familiar with those languages. Issues relating to Applets/Application, HTML and HotJava, and the tools that came with JDK 1.0 (javac, javah, javadoc, etc.) are also given their own chapters. The tools are well described with easy-flowing text and usage examples, and they do have tables of command-line options for reference within the chapters.

In the second part, the authors contribute individual chapters covering topics such as the Abstract Windowing Toolkit, Threads and Native Methods. These are enlightening and they have code examples instructive to the beginner. I believe this content could've been better interlaced with the reference composing Part III.

The reference, at first seemingly complete, becomes shallow when put to the test of usage as a "Developer's Reference". My first consultation, to the StringTokenizer class, re-affirmed my confidence in having chosen this book. That class included short example code and good descriptions of every constructor and method. Unfortunately, StringTokenizer is an exception and not the rule. The java.io package descriptions, shrunk to single sentences that expressed little more than the class or method name.

The publisher does offer "continuous Java 1.1" updates via the WWW, although I prefer printed documentation when I need something to refer to while working through a problem. Certainly, Sun Microsystems offers the most up-to-date Java documentation, so the hyper-text already obsolete CD-ROM and publisher's web pages aren't offering anything newer.

This book amounts to a pricey tutorial on Java for those already familiar with other object oriented languages; or a fair if not comprehensive reference to the JDK 1.0. As either, it leaves something to be desired.

No, the class and package documentation are not up to date. But "Hello, ...!", it's a book written on a static output medium called "Paper". If you want the Java 2 documentation, go to Sun's site. If you want an explanation of how to READ the Java documentation and have it make sense, read this book.

The bottom line is, if you're looking for excruciating detail on threads, this book is not for you. If you're looking for enough info to get conceptually well grounded and start putting them to use, then this is it. I just wish I could find books like this on ALL programming languages. It would save me some money and the earth some trees.

NOTE: I bought this book after it was out of print, and I still found it useful. Consider buying it used.

It really doesn't tell you much about any particular region. I can't believe it doesn't have the same title as his other book. I was really disappointed in this book. Pass.

I actually found this book very useful and informative and(surprisingly) funny. The author purports to include virtually every country in the world, and while I can think of a few that aren't in there (e.g., the Falkland Islands--probably not very vegetarian-friendly in any case), he comes pretty close to that ideal. And he includes phrases in something over 100 languages. Some people might view this as overkill, but it is one of the strengths of the book.

Basically, the author discusses the veggie situation in each country in a general way; there are NO extensive lists of common vegetarian dishes or of vegetarian-friendly restaurants/hotels (look to the destination-oriented-type guide for these), then gives a list of mix-'n'-match phrases in that country's language("I would like something without X, I eat Y," for example) with the pronunciation spelled out.

This book may not be necessary for, say, Western Europe--although it couldn't hurt to take it along or rip out the relevant pages--because many new phrasebooks for European travel have at least one or two token vegetarian phrases (e.g., "I do not eat meat."). Some are better than others. But for other areas of the world, especially Africa and Asia, this would be really handy to have. He includes languages for which I've never seen phrasebooks--has anyone even heard of "Bambara-Dioula"?--and that is the really valuable thing about this book. I am not aware of any other vegetarian guide with this scope.

And that is a weakness of the book, too: Because the author has included so many countries and languages, he doesn't devote huge amounts of coverage to any of them, although the descriptions can be fairly comprehensive. But it's hard to see how he could do otherwise without turning the book into a massive tome. Perhaps separate volumes for each continent? Other changes I'd like to see are the inclusion of other forms of writing for non-Roman script languages (so one could point and order rather than going through the phonentic pronunciation), and also the inclusion of more terms. (The book pretty consistently lists the words for meat, chicken, fish, eggs, and cheese, but not "meat stock," "dairy products," etc.) I'd also like to see this and other vegetarian/vegan phrasebooks list the phrase for "I am allergic to ____", which is a good way to get out of otherwise awkward social situations.

I give this five stars not so much because it's perfect (it's not), but because there aren't really any other books like this out there and a lot of this stuff is not available on the Web.

But reading this book was like reading a cartoon. I could handle unbelievable and clever, but unbelievable and boring and juvenile is a whole 'nother thing. The plot twisted and turned and basically led to nowhere of interest and there were so many characters--thrown in to add to the twists and turns--but really just mucking up the storyline, which was weak to begin with.

I can't think of a book that I've read in my adult years that was more stupid than this one. If it were a movie, it would be in a dead heat with The Three Amigos, which I walked out on. If it were a TV show, it would be a dumbed down version of the Wild, Wild West, transformed into a Saturday morning cartoon.