I'm going to be a first-time Eastern Europe traveler this summer. However, I have travelled extensively and one of the first things I look for in a travel book is a book that offers information on all aspects of a country. For example, I felt the information on countries like Yugoslavia and Macedonia was a little abbreviated. There are some people out there who would actually like to do an "off-the-beaten-path" trip in those countries and Lonely Planet wasn't able to help me plan for this. The information on Greece was definitely helpful, but for those who plan to travel on their islands, I'd recommend Lonely Planet's Greek Islands which had exactly the right amount of information I needed to make my travels there worthwhile!

We purchased this book before going to three of the countries covered, because there are so few books that cover Eastern Europe as a whole.

Although the information was limited, we found it helpful in general terms. It also whetted my appetite for going to the other countries in the book!

I can only speak for the Yugoslav section in this book, since it is the country I am most acquainted with.
Generally speaking, the LP team did an excellent job researching Beograd, but information on the rest of the country is poor. They don't mention a thing about Serbian institutions like Studenica monastery; they omit everything about the Fruska Gora and there's not even a word on the charming town of Sremski Karlovci.
I wonder whether the information on the other countries is equally poor. If that is the case, I'd rather tour the region on my own without any book at all.
However, one improvement with respect to the previous edition is they are now including Kotor (But Ulcinj is not so much recommended as before, which I don't know why since the beaches are much better than in Budva).
With regards to Novi Sad, their suggestions are very poor, even in what concerns to lodging. My recommendations are: add the Fruska Gora, Srem Karlovci, Raska and probably Nis.

There are some things a potential buyer should be aware of:

1. You don't get online help. That is, you do get entries in the help
browser, but they all point you to the website and tell you to buy the
"Gold" version. Very annoying. Why waste the space, if the help is not
there anyway?

2. When you start mathStatica, you always get two annoying popup
windows that serve absolutely no purpose except to remind you that
there is a "Gold" version. One of them pretends to be a Distribution
palette and a Help launcher, but provides no functionality except show
advertisements when you click on it. The other one just blatantly
shows "Upgrade!".

3. In the registration process they ask for your personal data, such as
address, etc. I have no idea why. There is no information on how this
data will be used, and no privacy policy. That's rather invasive.

4. The software will run with only one copy of Mathematica on one
machine. The license agreement also says that the authors can't
guarantee anything, not even that it will work with any future
versions of Mathematica. The license is non-transferable. Translation:
change your job and buy another book. Change your Mathematica
platforms and buy a new book. It's simply unfair.

Overall this is quite annoying. After spending a considerable amount
of money on the book that says "Includes mathStatica" on the cover,
one gets constantly reminded that he should upgrade to the "Gold"
version to get the full functionality. Nothing wrong with there being
a better version, but I consider all the nagging reminders
impolite. It's not as if I got the stuff for free, the book isn't
cheap after all.

Also, I would suggest that the authors rethink the licensing policy. I
mean, we're talking scientific book sales here, not
pump-out-your-customer, make-him-pay-for-upgrades, make-him-buy
the-full-version, give-him-no-rights licensing schemes! And it's not
like everyone is going to just copy the software and spread it
around. This software only runs with an expensive Mathematica system,
so the user base is already quite limited. It also really complements
the book. I think the authors went way overboard with the whole
copy-protection/restricted-licensing thing and this is rather sad.

Overall, while this seems to be a good book, I am so disgusted by the
attitude (treat your reader as a thief, pump the money out of him),
that I grade it fairly low.

This is a splendid book that comes bundled with marvellous software.

(i) Book: The book is roughly the level of Hogg & Craig and up. It is academically precise (no waffle) with an emphasis on problem solving rather than proofs. The CD includes an identical MATHEMATICA version of the book (with navigation palettes that open when you load the software). So, if I want to look up how to create a copula or a mixture distribution or find the pdf of an order statistic or generate random numbers from some arbitrary custom pdf no-one has even heard of before, I just go to the electronic index, click on the entry, and I immediately have a structure for my own example, without having to re-type anything. Very neatly done! And with the bundled software, I can solve problems in a few seconds that took me hours and hours last month. It all fits like a glove and it is a pleasure to use. More importantly, perhaps, it is fun to use. My only gripe is that it would have been nice if some of the pictures in the printed text where in color, but this is a tiny minor gripe because they are already in color in the electronic version anyway.

(ii) Software: The book comes packaged with the MathStatica CD. Book owners can register it for free (basic version); you can evaluate everything in the book with it (it is not crippled) and it includes online ?function Help. I have used several MATHEMATICA applications and the standard/quality of mathStatica is just way ahead. Application packages normally cost $$$ or $$$ or more, so the bundling of mathStatica with this book is like getting Xmas early. Getting a password was a breeze and it turned up in my email box within about 30 seconds.

Most impressed with the book and with mathStatica.

I waited for several years for this book to come out and it was worth the wait. The additional insights I obtained in the first few chapters were worth the price. The CD-Rom contains some HEAVY WEIGHT math and programming that eclipse the time and abilities most have to devote to this process. Rose and Smith have come up with a suite of tools that truly expand the use and power of an already great program. If you buy only one Mathematica book, buy this one. If you buy only one statistics book, buy this one.

As a former editor and hiring committee member, I highly recommed this book. It will help any lawyer looking for his first job, next job, or a new career using his/her skills. It offers expert information on the correct page design, headings, typefaces, formats, words and phrases, needed to attract attention.

This is the best of the resume guides I have seen. Truly helpful career stories and sample resumes. Friendly "lies flat" format. I felt free to highlight, underline and really mess it up with notes in the margins!

I have to disagree with "Pedro" -- The Perfect Legal Resume was exactly what I needed for my recent (successfully concluded)job hunt. I'm a 50 year old lawyer, with previous careers in health care and journalism. What I gleaned from the examples in the book --and there are many, so I wasn't limited or left wanting-- and from his advice helped MY resume stand out from the others.

And I'm not talking perfumed pink paper, a-la "Elle Woods" in "Legally Blond."

Elwood's guidance helped me create a fresh, well-written, resume that the candidate screening committee found clear and attractive. And we all know how first impressions make a difference, whether it's before a jury or with a prospective employer.

There's good, solid material in The Perfect Legal Resume.

Murray Gordon deserves credit for this exhaustive, well-researched investigation of a shamefully neglected subject. For those who are interested in reading further about the 1200-year-old Arab African slave trade, the bibliography and footnote citations alone are worth the price of the book.

That said, the book could have been much better organized. Gordon, a UN specialist who concentrated on Africa for two decades, is not a professional writer, and it shows in the poor organization and repetitiveness of the prose.

The book starts out well enough with some theorizing by Gordon on why the Arab slave trade -- which lasted three times as long as the European slave trade -- is not well known, and then establishes the theological basis for slavery under early Islamic law. After that, the book loses its chronological thread, and begins to jump around somewhat confusingly. (For example, a chapter entitled "Early Muslim Slave Traffic" appears in the middle of the book!)

This book also would have been helped tremendously by maps depicting the slave routes taken by Arab/Muslim traders. Gordon refers to many places in Africa and elsewhere that no longer exist; it would have been very helpful to be able to place them in a modern context with the help of maps.

I rate this book only three stars because of the organization problems, but Gordon deserves five stars for being the first to rescue this subject from the graveyard of "political correctness."

this book is of monumental importance because it deal with the neglected aspects of the legacy of slavery in arab countries which go back far into history. as early as the 6th century, the author deals with how islam was used to racialize slavery, racism, forced religous conversion and imperialism. just like christianity, islam has a legacy of these immoral acts. the arabs were traditional slave traders. they have a legacy of enslaving eastern europeans, turks, persians, east indians, but mostly africans. africa like in the transatlantic slave tade became the hunting grounds for slaves in which made arab countries very prosperous. this book is well informed and should be read by anyone who is interested on the subjects.

Gordon murray has produced a great pioneeing scholarly work into a known but least talked about aspect in history. And that is the arab slave trade in africa. he shows how in africa like other places throughout the world there was already a established slave system, that was similar to european serfdom and other forms of servitude practice throughout the world. he also shows how slavery was embedded in the arab world before islam. and how islam became the rationale for slavery and the basic attitudes of arabs towards africans. some good but most negative. the eastern slave trade was mainly dominated by arabs and other asians (persians, turks, east indians) but the africans from the interior as well as the swahillis along the coast played very signifigant roles in this trade. he also shows how there was diaspora of africans throughout the arab world. this book is excellent for anybody who is interested in the eastern slave trade. i highly recommend it.

Contested Territory purports to be an examination of the interactions between whites, blacks and Native Americans in the Indian and Oklahoma Territories prior to statehood. Instead, it offers an old-fashioned, well-worn tale of white oppression and Native American and black reaction. That story might need to be told, but Wickett's attempt is a frustrating failure on many levels. First is Wickett's race-relations model. Wickett seems content to write a history that ignores much of the last three decades of scholarship on race, gender, identity, cultural formation, community building, acts of resistance, etc. (Since I am most familiar with the historiography of African American scholarship, I will use examples from that literature). Wickett shows no familiarity with the body of work produced by Joe Trotter Jr., Darlene Clark Hine, Robin D.G. Kelley, Quintard Taylor (and others of their generation) who have produced masterful, critical analyses of the lived worlds of African American men and women. Black Oklahomans, in Wickett's world, are one amorphous class, reduced for the most part to reacting to whites and, on occasion, Native Americans. Too often Wickett relies on scholarship that is thirty to forty years old. In fact, when I finished the first two chapters, I was certain that Contested Territory was the work of a venerable professor who finally had gotten around to turning 30-year-old lecture notes into a monograph. Instead, we have a scholar who unstintingly relies on the work and subtle biases of historians writing in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. He even quotes some of these works at length. Wickett also relies uncritically on the reminisces of early white settlers. He does not challenge any of these recollections of life in early Oklahoma nor consider that the memories of these settlers, most of which cast Native Americans and African Americans in a negative light and were collected by the WPA more than four decades later, might be based more in the settlers' biases than in fact. Contested Territory does offer some new information and Wickett is to be commended for his work in the archives. But the shortcomings of this work more than outweigh its value. I had considered using this as a text in a course that I teach, but I can't in good conscious require that my students purchase such a flawed work. Nor would I want to spend the time trying to erase the negative images that Contested Territory would leave with them.

As a resident of Oklahoma, I found this book to be particularly fascinating. While we are often taught about the history of America as a nation, we are many times left with somewhat of a void as far as history of individual states are concerned. This book demonstrates excellent research skills as told by the many many primary sources. Wickett quite obviously has done his RESEARCH. While many historans today choose to rely on other historians research, Wickett has decided to sift through the abundant primary sources in order to break new ground. His information was thorough, well documented and completely enjoyable to read. My only complaint of the book is that it was not longer; I wanted to read more. Wickett's book would be an asset to the education of history students in Oklahoma as well as anyone interested in our unique history.

I feel this book has great importance and significance in the turbulent field of race relations. While reading this book I was continually struck by the extensive amount of research this historian has completed. I found Wickett's comparison and analysis of African Americans and Native Americans in white society to be fascinating. He clearly points out that while Native Americans were being invited into white society, African Americans were being segregated and pushed to the periphery of American society. The irony of course is that Native Americans did not wish to join white society, while African Americans were more than willing to do so. I feel this book has made an important contribution in the field of race relations.

As is often the case with British writers, the IRA is potrayed as a criminal gang. While this is a great read, well written and often thoughtful, Smith has not broken free of British propaganda and all his Irish characters a stereotypes of what British Intelligence would have us believe are crazed patriots. Such a shame even good books like this have the traces of MI6's dull thinking all over it, albeit unwittingly put there - I hope.

This book pulls you into the story early on, as seemingly separate global events start coming together as chapters progress. The people seem ordinary, even moral, but their actions suggest that they can readily compartmentalize their lives into separate, even dissonant arenas. Unfortunately, it all seems so true to life; I really think the world works more this way and less according to any idealized view of right and wrong. Definitely worth reading. Well-done. I understand it's a first novel by a first-rate author.

Realistic. Well crafted. Original. Out of print. It's unfortunate too, becuase of all the "international thrillers" I have ever read, Devil's Juggler stands out in my mind as one of the few I would read again. If you have a taste for spy novels, or an interest in fictionalized accounts of the intelligence world, you will without a doubt enjoy the character of Jardine.

Which Christian perspective on healing is true: faith healing (if you believe enough, God will heal you) or God-will healing (God will heal you if he wants to, even if your faith is only the size of a mustard seed)? Andrew Murray puts forth a scripturally based opinion on this topic in his book Divine Healing.

As a health practitioner, I was very disappointed to find that Mr. Murray believes in faith healing. According to Mr. Murray, "Already the health of our bodies is a fruit of the salvation Jesus has acquired for us. We see also that health as well as salvation is obtained by faith." We are healed in proportion to the amount of faith in our lives, not works. He stated that health practitioners and medications should not be used because they steal from God the opportunity to heal us and show His power. His position seems reminiscent of Christian Science, which forbids vaccinations, medications, and visits to hospitals.

His strong support of faith healing may be due to the state of the church at the time in which he lived. The charismatic movement did not begin until the early nineteenth century, and very few miraculous healings or other signs of the Holy Spirit were seen during Mr. Murray's generation. Many people believed God had the power to do miracles, but they did not have the faith that God wanted to use his power in their lives. Thus teaching faith and healing would be very important to Mr. Murray.

This book does contain small jewels about healing. For example, he states, "One of the chief benefits, then, of divine healing will be to teach us that our body ought to be set free from the yoke of our own will to become the Lord's property. God does not grant healing until He has attained the end for which He permitted the sickness." Until God's purpose for allowing an illness is completed, even the prayer of faith will remain unanswered.

This book is an excellent treatise on faith healing, and even those who don't agree with Andrew Murray's position may find nuggets of spiritual truth in Divine Healing.

--- reviewed by Terri for Christian Bookshelf

Looking for the healing power of Jesus Mr. Murray scripturally supports the healing ministry and offers reaching "self-help" and paths for the Christian who waits on the Lord for healing.

This book changed my life, and lead me through some very hard times with my health, and taught me about Jesus and my religion, and helped me learn what It is all about, the best book I have ever read.

I regret that I did not research this book more carefully before buying it (one of the hazards of not being able to leaf through a book being sold on-line). The title of this book led me to assume that it would be a carefully-selected collection of Mr. Murray's best columns since his career began in 1961. Wrong. Except for one column from 1961, the book only has his columns from 1990 to 1998, columns he wrote after he received the Pulitzer Prize. Wouldn't a reader expect to see selected columns he wrote since the beginning of his career? After all, these are the ones which earned him his Pulitzer, not the ones after 1990! Some of Mr. Murray's most caustic columns were written early in his career. Sadly, this book does not provide them. The title of this book is misleading.

This book is a must for any sports fan. No matter if you ever read Jim Murray or not. Regardless of what sport(s) that you follow. You will end up having a tough time putting this book down. Compiled by the editors of the Los Angeles Times, after Murray's death. It is a memorable read.

There is no way I can describe the brilliant, evocotive, grab you by the scruff, writing style of a Jim Murray column. He will 'put you in the seats' of that sporting event. You just have to read it personally. He was the greatest sports writer in my reading lifetime. Do yourself a favor, read this book. You will laugh and cry your way through, and at the conclusion, you will wish it were a lot thicker.

Dave Coriaty
Las Vegas, NV

This book shows off Murray's greatest writings from the 1990's, something that previously had not been published. For anyone of the numerous Murray fans out there, this is a must buy. This collection of his columns will have you laughing, crying, and wishing for more. It shows completly what a great writer and artist that Murray really was. Even though it is sad to wake up, reach for your sports page, and not have Murray's column in it, you should at least wake up and read a couple out of this book. Even for those who have not read Murray their whole lives like myself, if you read this you will wish that you had. This is a chance to see what all your friends in Southern California were bragging about when the told you stories of how great a paper the LA Times is, Murray was a big reason for it. It includes some of his greatest lines and tributes that nobody else could ever write. You will not be sorry if you read this.

Mr Murray has a wonderful series on his hands, my only complaint is they haven't they made at least one movie about Getts and Peach yet? With so many bad films, these seem a natural winner because of the great characters Murray builds for us. I read the stories almost non-stop when I started them. At first glance the cover made me think these books were just excuses to fire guns and blow things up, what a plesant surprise to find he can really write great stories and facinate us with tech warfare as well. Move over Clancey, you've had your turn.

First let me say, I admire Mr. Murray's books.

I have only one nitpick. With food poioning, the body tries expelling the contents of the stomach and intestines from both ends. Therefore, Peach would have been cleaning more than the Princess' hands and face.

Otherwise, I was kept guessing as to who the "insider" was and how he/she would be dealt with.

I'm not ready to have Peach enter retirement. It would be interesting to have Peach and the Princess' relationship need the help of the team of Peach and Getts.

This is the first book I have read by Mike Murray, but if the rest of his books are as good as this one then He has a best selling series. I rank him up there with the best, his storyline is great and believable the plot is good his characters are alive and you could follow them into another story. Most Seal series are too phony, the people are plastic types all from the same mold, too perfect never really seem to be alive. Mike has done a terrific job of building each of his characters. I look forward to the next one.

This book is a classic example of a potentially valuable resource nearly destroyed with poor prose. The well-studied Mr. Storing produced an almost unreadable book through the use of awkward sentence structure and the liberal intermixing of his prose and quotes from founding fathers. He main literary abuse is convoluted sentences, such as "In reply to all of these objections, the Anti-Federalists complained, they were told, . . . .". Simple declarative sentences would have made this a wonderful book., and not an exercise in frustration.

academic book which provides a serious overview of where our nation started. Discusses significant issues as well as bringing up issues not normally mentioned in regards to the Federalist Papers

Guy Smith complains that can't understand Herbert Storing's prose (but is this Storing's fault or Mr. Smith's? This was one of the most helpful books I read in graduate school, and I found Storing's writing academic, but accessible) and then makes errors in his critique! Unbelievable. This is an oustanding book by the person almost singularly responsible for recovering the thought of the anti-Federalists.