This book jumped around from mostly different careers, such as: making bird houses(start up costs $1000-2000), sewing quilts (start up $1-500), specialty dress maker (start up $500), chimney sweep (start up $1000), computer tutoring (start up $1500-2500),technical writing (start up $1000-2500), telephone answering service (start up $1500-3000), developmental editing (start up $1500-2500), and computer programming ($2500-6000). All of these ideas and most of the others in the book, seem to be more like careers and not ways to earn extra cash from the garage of your home. All of these take education or practical experience and know how and most require a substantial start up cost. I do not recommend buying this book, but instead looking in the want ads of your local newspaper for something in which you are qualified.

I had no idea there were so many ways one could successfully work from home, and do it profitably. Gwen gives such good, practical and specific advice--not just pie in the sky. Thanks for writing "101 Ways..." Gwen! MH of California

I had no idea there were so many ways one could successfully work from home, and do it profitably. Gwen gives such good, practical and specific advice--not just pie in the sky. Thanks for writing "101 Ways..." Gwen! MH of California

Dr.Walter M. Ellis' book, "The Athenian" relates the life of Alcibiades, probably the most handsome, but hedonistic and politically ambitious man in ancient Greek history. Because of his many actions against his city-state of Athens, Alcibiades was branded a traitor. Whether this is accurate or not, to this day, is open to debate. Perhaps, Alcibiades had good reasons to defect from his many enemies in Athens, to find protection in other in other areas of the world. I realize that historical fiction must draw on fictional characters in order to carry the plot of the novel, but often author's of this "genre", carry fiction too far, while ignoring factual information. What especially bothers me about Ellis' novel, concerns Alcibiades' relationship with his mentor and friend, Socrates. The philosopher is pictured as a lecherous bufoon whose lover is Alcibiades. If one knows anything about Plato's dialogue the "Symposium," one will find nothing is farther from the truth! After the banquet when Socrates is trying to go to sleep, Plato says that Alcibiades crept under the covers next to him, and tried to make love to the philosopher, but he would have none of it! I'm not saying that any author of historical fiction does not have the right to fictionalize events, but at times, Dr. Ellis goes too far! He is purported to be the "expert" on the life of Alcibiades, but he does not give Socrates the esteem he deserves. Plato tells us that Socrates, although he loved Alcibiades spiritually, never slept with him, or any of his other students. There are many other inaccuracies in this novel, but they can be forgiven because this book, after all, is a work of historical fiction which allows an author to be somewhat loose with the facts. But one would think that Dr. Ellis' background as a teacher, in order to attract young readers of high school, or even young university students, would be more accurate, and most of all, not use such profanity as seen in his novel. University professors, especially, often look for books, even though they be historical fiction, to help their students understand various events in history, but they are not able to use books like Ellis' because of the profanity incorporated in it! For these reasons, I do not recommend "The Athenian," especially, if someone who is not familiar with the conflict of the Peloponnesian War between Sparta and Athens. As far as I'm concerned, this book would cause great confusion about this period of history for the uninitiated reader.

This book really brought the history of the ancient world alive for me. Not only did I enjoy the book and get very caught up in the story, I felt that I learned a lot about a number of important figures whose names I was familiar with, but I wasn't exacctly sure what they were famous for. Anyone who likes historical fiction will love this book and will also appreciate the factual basis (not just the wars, political victories and losses but also the fascinating details of dress, social custom, sexuality, class, etc in the ancient world).

In a fast-paced, cleverly plotted novel, Ellis brings to life not only Athens in the "Age of Pericles" but also remarkable characters such as the philosopher Socrates and the historian Thucydides. Alcibiades, possibly the most interesting figure in that ancient world, is our hero. We see him as an impetuous, licentious young man, desired by both men and women. We follow his pursuit of the one woman he really loves, and watch his politically ambitious rise as he fights for and is driven from his beloved Athens.

Ellis allows us the chance to actually live in Ancient Greece and to personally meet the people who seemed, until now, trapped n legend. Political plotting, wars, exile, the plague -- all are present in this informative yet fascinating tale.

This is a good book I hope to see more of it in the future

This book was very helpful. It has interesting monologues dealing with realistic problems. It helped me alot with my audition. i recomend it for young actors looking for a monolog.

I had less than a week and a half to find a monolog and was having no luck till i picked this up in the school library. Wow! what a great book! i found the trouble was to pick one! this is an incredible book and i recomend it to anyone. please note that thesemonologs are from plays, so if thats what the director wanted then this is a great book to pick from. I was hooked by the first 5!

This is a textbook that would be better suited to a class of fourteen-year-olds, not to college level students. The graphics, activities, and the book in general, is not on a college level, and should be removed from the curriculum by all College professors.

I was diagnosed with ADD at age 50, but exhibited classic symptoms my whole life, including academic decline when I reached the age where I needed to study (I didn't know how) rather than depend on intelligence alone.

I discovered this book after about my 5th failed attempt at college. It made not only my survival but academic excellence possible. In my view, a person is never be too old to learn - and this book helps the student achieve success and the increased self esteem that accompanies it.

This book helped me go from a 1.89 gpa to a 3.7 in college. The techniques are easy to follow and really work.

Although the authors are clearly competent, there's not much here. Most of the material is not specific to library writing, but rather generic C++ advice, and not all that well done. Many points lack proper explanation. Examples are contrived. Read Scott Meyers instead.

I found the entire book worthwhile and hope for a new edition now that C++ is an international standard. Code reuse is easier with good documentation. One chapter contains important advice for documenting the design and interface to classes. An example (or even a reference to) a good class "design paper", tutorial, and class reference would be a great addition.

In view of the fact that a previous reviewer recommended reading Scott Meyers instead of this book, I thought you might like to see what Scott Meyers has to say about Designing and Coding Reusable C++. Simply put, the book is on my short list of recommended reading for C++ programmers. I describe things this way in my More Effective C++: "If you have anything to do with the design and implementation of C++ libraries, you would be foolhardy to overlook Designing and Coding Reusable C++. Carroll and Ellis discuss many practical aspects of library design and implementation that are simply ignored by everybody else. Good libraries are small, fast, extensible, easily upgraded, graceful during template instantiation, powerful, and robust. It is not possible to optimize for each of these attributes, so one must make trade-offs that improve some aspects of a library at the expense of others. Designing and Coding Reusable C++ examines these trade-offs and offers down-to-earth advice on how to go about making them."

The title of the second volume of collected StormWatch issues, StormWatch: Lightning Strikes, is a reference to the electrical powers of Jenny Sparks, one of the members that Warren Ellis created upon his assumption of the writing chores on this book. It's a good reference to make, because although this collection spotlights several StormWatch members in turn, the issue devoted to her back story is your reason to buy this volume.

These StormWatch collections chronicle Ellis's dismantling of a superhero team that, prior to his arrival, could arguably be viewed as an example of how bad things got in mainstream comics in the Nineties. While the first volume was sort of Ellis's short sharp shock to the StormWatch status quo, this volume is his meditation on how screwed up both the world and its heroes really are.

One story details Jack Hawksmoor's hunt for a federally protected madman is disturbing and absurdist to the nth degree. Another tells how Battalion's single-handed defeat of an anti-government militia group in Jacksonville, Alabama still can't earn respect or safety for the black man in a racist society. In a different story, the very logic of the dangerous presence of superhumans amongst 'normals' is challenged while the members of StormWatch Black, Red and Prime discover on an awkward night of bar-hopping that they can barely stand to be around each other outside of a crisis.

But while these stories are interesting, the real meat is in Jenny's recounting of her previously unknown history. Turns out she's as old as the twentieth century (these stories originally appeared in 1996-97) and her 'adventures' as a superhero through the years drove her to alcoholism and retirement by the Eighties. If that sounds a bit histrionic, just wait until you find out what she witnessed along the way -- it's surprising that she stuck around at all.

All of this is calculated to lay the final groundwork in the reader's mind for the need to further alter the group's dynamic, while strengthening StormWatch's global jurisdiction. As Weatherman, the group's Machiavellian altruist says, "Our world holds too many secrets, and too many of those secrets are lethal to us". As upcoming volumes are sure to tell, uncovering the world's secrets makes you very unpopular with the wrong people.

I've been avoiding discussing the artwork in this volume because frankly, it's god-awful. Rather than rising to the challenge of Ellis's mature scripts, Tom Raney's work is visibly worse than before. A fill-in/return by series creator Jim Lee for the last installment of this volume is all full-page illustrations with Weatherman's after-the-fact report to the U.N. Special Security Council as the only narrative. The report's dry sarcasm and contempt for its audience reads like a reflection of Ellis's own contempt of the superheroic shtick he's deconstructing. I wonder if his boss knew he was being made fun of at the time? Or ever?

In short, don't buy this collection for the art, and don't read it if you like your superheroes simple and pure. Buy it if you want to witness Warren Ellis dance on the graves of your adolescent fantasies. Sound disturbing? Ask Jenny Sparks about 'disturbing'.

I love Jenny Sparks.

The 100-year-old woman made of electricity. "The Spirit of the 20th Century". Call her what you will... but I love her. I know what you're thinking, too: another comic geek with a crush on an imaginary woman. Why not just get him spayed now? Well, while there's some validity to the latter part of that statement, I'm not obsessed with Ms. Sparks because she wears tight, revealing spandex or has watermelon breasts. Quite the opposite, actually. I think she may be one of the best characters created in comics recently, simply for the fact she has none of these so-called 'attributes'. Jenny's smart, funny, beautiful and wise, and, while she's too old to come off as anything but a hardened cynic, the very reason she's joined StormWatch contradicts that outward shell: she wants to make a better world (That, and she's one of the few characters in comics history allowed a dignified ending--- see Authority #12).

So, in the midst of all this adoration, I'm tempted to say that this entire book is worth the price of admission just for the chapter focusing on Jenny. But there's more, lucky us.

Of the five issues collected in this edition, nearly all deal with an individual member of StormWatch. The first focuses on Jack Hawksmoor, the man who speaks to cities, investigating something that appears to be a politically-motivated murder, but turns out to be something else entirely. The third chapter deals with Jackson King (formerly Battalion, the angry black man with big guns... X-Men's Bishop, anyone?), who is kidnapped by American isolationist terrorists who resent StormWatch's presence in their country. Chapter Four is titled "Rose Tattoo", after the mute assassin whom Weatherman Henry Bendix recruited to the team, but keeps her under armed guard whenever she's not in action. While the bulk of the story actually deals with a group of StormWatch officers (Jenny's among them, thank god) participating in what may be the first-ever planetary bar-hop, the action surrounding Rose shows us a chilling side of Weatherman that will become more evident in the next volume. Chapter five is a collection of big, loud splash pages of pure action, no dialogue (just the odd caption), as members of StormWatch: Prime and Red battle a cave of ancient alien predators. This chapter is illustrated by SW co-creator and comics superstar Jim Lee. Hence, the story may give you headaches, but the art more than makes up for it.

Then... there's chapter two. Jenny Sparks tells her life story to Jackson King. And what a life it is. Fans of Planetary, Ellis' current WildStorm title which delves into comics' history with a wink and a nudge, will doubtless enjoy the hell out of this chapter. Jenny's life story is illustrated in the styles of comics from each respective era she describes. Siegel & Shuster. Eisner. Swan. Kirby. Robert Crumb (!). Neal Adams (er... I think, anyway). Tom Raney even does Dave Gibbons, in a particularly effective Watchmen homage. This is the history of comics in 24 pages, folks, complete with Jenny Sparks' trademark 'don't f--- with me' attitude and with an ending that's perfect in summing up who Jenny -- and the literal spirit of the twentieth century --- is.

Tom Raney really outdoes himself on the art in this edition, creating dead-on facial expressions in Ch.4, the fast-paced action of ch.3, and the evocative artist homages in Ch.2.

Don't be misled: this book DOES "count". There are definitely plot elements, in "Rose Tattoo" and "Battalion" that carry into Change or Die, and tie back to Force of Nature, respectively; and though I run the risk of beating this matter to death, Jenny Sparks' life story is not to be missed.

Although I harped on StormWatch: Force of Nature for being too episodic, this edition doesn't bother me as much, even though it's, by nature, more episodic. It's mostly the fact that these stories aren't as much 'standard superhero fare' as the stories in Force of Nature. Lightning Strikes reads like an album of fast-paced and fun pop singles, that are more action/intrigue-oriented than focusing on superhero adventure.

It's all that and a history lesson from the oldest superwoman on the planet. I ask you, what more could you want from your comics, kids?

For fans of "The Authority" (the book which "StormWatch" eventually grew into), this volume presents the first appearances of some of the team's strongest members. It is in "Lightning Strikes" that we learn the history of Jack Hawksmoor, Jenny Sparks, and Shen.

Yes, the stories in this book are more episodic than the other three tpbs, but the history laid out here is a must read for current fans.

This is a spiritual story about a woman who is losing faith in herself, her husband and her friends. She finds hope by struggling to understand a legend of faith gone wrong. It is a powerful story as old as mankind, beautifully told, and skillfully woven. I would definitely not categorize it as horror.

This should not be cateogorized as horror... unless you consider John Milton's Paradise Lost a horror story or The Crucible a horror movie. This is a story about gaining the faith that evil can be turned to good. As the characters begin to understand the legend, they begin to believe in themselves and to understand how they can only recognize their greatest strenghtens by surviving events that test their faith.

What a wonderful blend of poetry, philosophy, and folklore! The descriptions of Lake Murray are so true you can almost see the purple martins and the fog lifting off the lake. The folklore of the Dutch Fork is enchanting: the tales of 'using' and white magic, herbal remedies, taufschein, and taking the dogs to church. Kate's conversations with Sam are funny and touching. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the lake and the Dutch Fork.

For an academic or student writing their dissertation this book serves a purpose. It is well researched and documented.
However, aside from the experiences of displaced women of Afghanistan, Pakistan and the middle east in general, who were and still are treated as non-human, there is little exploration or analysis of the reasons for this inhumane treatment. The book is good historical documentation of the treatment of women in the middle east, but little or no insight is offered by the author. For most readers, it is not worth the high price demanded.

Ellis, Deborah Women of the Afghan War, London: Praeger Publishers, 2000.
Pp. xxvii, 236. 14 photos. Index.

Deborah Ellis' Women of the Afghan War should be praised for its value in bringing the trials and tribulations of Afghan women to the forefront of this region's politics in a straightforward fashion that relies on the testimonies of the women themselves to tell the story of their hardships. The strength in Ellis' method is that this patchwork of first-person accounts "gives a face" to the conflict by introducing the women by name and using the actual translation of their words to show the harsh reality of these women's lives. Although Ellis' style is remarkable for the lack of detachment from the issues that an author's narration usually risks, it does present some downfalls in screening the accuracy of these women's stories and the discrepancies that arise in the translation of these accounts. Since the structure of the book is the most striking aspect of the book, it is easy to assume that the focus of Ellis' work is primarily just the women in this society - however, a more in-depth analysis reveals a greater commentary on the self-defeating nature of Afghan society itself, the inadequacies of relief foundations and organizations, and the potential for real-life solutions that can be achieved with frighteningly minimal effort.
Part interview, part historical overview and analysis, Women of the Afghan War effectively conveys the uniformly bleak nature of all Afghan women's lives within this society by grouping women from different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds under a common theme of misery. Through the person-to-person accounts compiled by Deborah Ellis and her Afghan translator Benazir Hotaki, a tale of missing husbands, dead children, and stolen livelihoods surfaces that could prompt even the most stoic of individuals to break down and cry. Indeed, this provocation of emotions is most probably the intent of Ellis' choice in the format for her work. As a mental health counselor in her native Canada, there is no doubt that Ellis is well acquainted with the power of human emotion. Much of her work documents her skills within the field of psychology as she weaves her way through the refugee camps of Russia and Pakistan and speaks with Afghan women who are traumatized by the prolonged Russian occupation of Afghanistan and the ensuing wars that resulted from the Russian invasion, multiple inter-ethnic conflicts, and most recently, the takeover of the Taliban.
Rousing the emotions of the audience in response to the plight of these women while including the women's criticisms of humanitarian organizations as being spread too thinly to provide substantial aid reveals the author's other purpose besides rallying sympathy for the women of Afghanistan - she also wishes to show the inability of relief organizations to address the problem effectively due to lack of funds and cultural hindrances. Basically, since this book was written pre-September 11th, it is a call for greater awareness of the burden facing Afghan women and the need for a greater-scale solution that goes beyond just a scattered assemblage of relief organizations that provide intermittent assistance at best to those most in need.

This book is incredibly informative and interesting. The high price is because proceeds go to help Afghan women and children..well worth it! The author also wrote 2 fictional books about a young girl living under the taliban("The Breadwinner" and "Pavana's Journey"). I read them to my 4th and 5th grade children and found them so captivating that I wanted to learn more. This "adult" book was a great read and a wonderful way for me to learn about the Afghan women's plight. It is a series of 1st hand accounts of Afghan women over the last 20 years. Very interesting and well written. Highly recommend.

Diving into this book, as an avid art collector, one might expect to learn how different people work with the art they possess. This book though is really for those who are stricly ardent and almost excessive collectors who like to jam pack their residences with works galore. What is missing from this text is a careful presentation of how many different types of people display their art. There is too much focus on furniture, collecting passions and interest, and not enough focus on ideas. Overall, I found this book to be somewhat mono-dimensional in the concepts portrayed of how others live with their art. More a picture of what the authors had preconceived than a search for the spectrum of ideas.

This book is inspiring because it shows us the homes of many collectors of paintings.It is well written, but there are not enough new ideas that can be incorporated by the reader. Some of the collectors have little idea on how to display their paintings in a way that is pleasing and justifies the works. Many of the dispalys are cluttered and clautrophobic. Yet, there are some splendid homes that incorporate paintings spectacularly. The article on Dorothy and Herbert Vogel is very moving. These extra-ordinary people deserve a book just on them.

This is an extraordinary book. Clearly not intended as a scholarly exercise, the authors take us up close and personal with outstanding collectors and their art. These are people I would be unlikely ever to meet, and their personal views and how they are expressed through the works they surround themselves with provide a glimpse into the collecting mind. Many of the homes are wealthy, though some are artists who have accumulated works from their friends. The photos are spectacular, and give many ideas of how art can be integrated into one's home.

I haven't read this calculus text, but based on the quality of the last review (and in consideration of who the reviewer claims to be), I've got two words for ya: "STAY AWAY!"

We are currently using this text in a graduate course in Mathematics & Modeling. We are completing the first chapter in Modeling Change. Some of the definitions are vague. The examples are good; although, I would like to have seen more. Exercises are good--prehaps add more "warm-up" exercises. The sidebar items relating to the corresponding use of the TI-89 is good, but the cooresponding variables between this and the text is confusing to some degree.

This is a new calculus text that incorporates: - computer algebra (TI-89/92/92+), - cooperative learning, - group work, - reading mathematics, (I'm one of the author's so I'm biased.)