Having worked in the IT industry for over 14 years, and having worked in the classroom for over 5 years I am always looking for new material for the students. Sybex has made a reputation for releasing first rate material in the Cisco certification arena and this book is no exception to that rule.

In over 1000 pages every CCIE Routing and Switching Exam objective is covered and explained. I found the authors to be not thorough but also very detailed. I also found that the material, while complex and highly technical, to written to a level that is intermediate rather to than advanced or expert level.

One thing I notice was the book covers the written and lab exams, this is the first book I have seen like this. As it comes with several labs to practice with and hundreds of practice questions you have what appears to be a complete study guide.

I found that Chapter 8, especially the CIDR and VLSM, explanations were very well explained and it cleared up a couple of questions for me. The cd, as with other Sybex books, has the e-book and practice exams included. Overall I think this a one to look at for those going or the CCIE R&S certification.

Although I am not studying for the CCIE exam, I have been using this book as a reference guild, and it has been awesome! Some technical manuals are written so convoluted that getting to the real information is nearly impossible, but Mr. Payne and Mr. Manweiler have eliminated that and produced a real working publication! Thanks gentlemen!

Well here it is, the book I have been waiting for. This book is something that works, in the networking world. I have been in the IT/Networking industry since 1987 and, have many books that cover areas of interest in certain subjects but not one that covers almost everything I need in a networking reference. Although there is a lot to read with over a 1000 pages, Rob and Kevin have done a tremendous job of creating an easy to follow book. I especially like the notes and real world information.

Having had the book on my desk for over a month, I have found it a great reference and, constantly helped me resolve networking issues. It has also helped me with certain design questions. If I were to take the CCIE R&S exam again this would be the book I would use for study. I had to use multiple books the last time I passed the exam.

The book is easy to follow and provides a great deal of simplicity when using it as a on the desk reference.

I would recommend this book to anyone who desires a reference to help them in there day to day networking environment and for the CCIE R&S exam. Thanks to Rob/Kevin great job.

Contains a number of very good suggestions not only for the classroom, but for those of us at home who use a message board and are looking to maximize the time we have with the kids.

This book helps with getting started in an interactive writing program. It contains tips for setting up the shared writing area, sample dialogues for the 3 included grades (K-2), schedule examples, word wall and other environmental print ideas, and a really neat diagram that breaks down all of the skills that can be touched on with questioning ideas. A nice bonus is a section on encouraging parent involvement at home. This book gives you the basics to get the program going without going in depth into theories.

The authors have provided an easy-to-read book for teachers who want to help students in primary grades (K-2) develop writing skills. Excellent for beginning teachers who need a starting point and for veteran teachers who want to continue to improve writing instruction. Filled with examples, actual lessons and management ideas that illustrate the "power" of shared writing.

What a great idea! These two authors are very insightful to realize that if we provide positive affirmations to children, perhaps they won't need so much self-help as adults. My 9 year old daughter enjoys the stories of African American heros included in Gingersnaps. I also love the eye-catching cover design. A nice gift to give or receive.

What a wonderful book to share with your own children, and those of everyone you know. It is easy and fun to read, with cute illustrations. I consider "Gingersnaps" to be one stepping stone in the process of raising our kids to grow up to be confident, positive and loving adults. Ladies, thank you. I'm looking forward to your next book!

I bought the book for my daughters, and just last weekend, my nine year old daughter said: "Mommy, that book makes me feel good" She takes the book with her and I'm planning to buy another copy for my seven year old since she is still learning to read, and my oldest has claimed the book for her personal own. Thank you ladies for this book.If I could, I would get it for all these young children because they need to feel good about themselves.

In Hawk Moon, Ed Gorman not only gives us a fascinating murder mystery with the retired investigator Robert Payne, but he also treats us to a flashback case involving an almost identical murder that was investigated by one woman using then unheard of criminology techniques. Although the main story is sometimes confusing to read, there are plenty of surprises to keep the reader's interest. And the flashback story is pretty good, too, occasionally being more fascinating than the main story.

I have to hand it to Ed Gorman. This second entry in his Robert Payne "Moon" series clearly demonstrates just how nice a guy this Payne really is. Although sometimes you might think he comes across as being too good, or too nice, you can't help but like and yes, admire, this man. He has a strong sense of friendship and love; his reminiscences of his deceased wife are some of the most touching in modern crime fiction. You know Payne really loved this woman. And his relationships with different characters in both books further proves that Payne is probably the nicest "detective" out there.
As for the plot of this one, it's a little complex and sometimes incoherent, but it moves well, and once again, his parallel story telling ties the two segments together nicely. Particularly unique is his handling of Anna Tolan, a police investigator back in 1903, who in addition to trying to solve a similar case to Payne's in the nineties, is having doubts about her relationship with Trace Wydmore, a nice young man who is trying to score a "home run" with the virginal young girl. Considering the times, one can understand both Anna and Trace's different problems. Their dialogue rings so true, it's refreshing.
The murders that Payne has to solve lead him to a belligerent Native American named David Rhodes, whose estranged wife, just happens to be policewoman Cindy Rhodes. I'll say one thing for Iowa---they certainly advanced women's lib in their use of women as police officers.
The supporting characters are appropriately shady and/or nice, and Payne's adventures with the two elderly Native Americans who want to fly in his biplane is extraordinary.
A great novel in spite of its minor flaws.

What can I say? Another smoothie from the Master. Don't read this with the lights out -- in fact it'll be impossible to read this in the dark.

I hope Ed continues to write more funny stuff though, like Daugher of Darkness. Can we get more satirically hilarious old Hollywood kiss-and-tell quiche please? Love those faded actors. Maybe Gorman can do something about Bradbury versus Mr. Barrymore. He should work closely with Matheson, Jr. or David Schow and get back on the old saddle with hilarious faded cowboy actors and so on. Maybe he can freshen the read with faded scifi actors too (ala Galaxy Quest). Hey Ed, time to imagine a really satirical SF novel, with Hollywood in it. Whaddaya say, hey?

An excellent collection of stories -- not merely in the presentation of a different set of stories than those which reach the common awareness, but also in the insights it gives to the shape of the Quechua culture and people. It is not presented as an explication of the way these people live, the way the thoughts go, but the stories show that shape, show that means, bring the world alive in a way both subtle and profound.

The stories are presented both in the Quechua language and in English translation, and it is possible to see the shape and patterns of the language with careful text comparison; it makes it worth considering learning the Quechua tongue to pick out the nuances which are inevitably lost in translation.

An enchanting book! Here is a unique opportunity to read stories never before written down, much less translated. The author was told them in the original language in the high Andes by Quecua storytellers. Now he has translated them into English, and in She-Calf and Other Quechua Folk Tales we find, opposite each translated page, a page printed in the original Quechuan language. Fascinating! Johnny Payne further enriches our experience by sharing the similarities that he observed between these stories and stories with which we are already familiar. Included as well are wonderful background stories of experiences and people he encountered in the story-gathering process. For those interested in stories, folk tales, oral tradition, antropology, history, language, travel... This is not only a must-read, but a must-own. It's a keeper!

This is a marvelous collection of Quechua folktales, told by various Quechua speakers to anthropologist Johnny Payne. These are short and "catchy" tales printed in English with the Quechua version on the facing page. This gives you a chance to get acquainted with the sentence structure of the Quechua language which I found very helpful. The author also shares interesting insights into the people who tell the tales. I love to travel in Peru and I am going to pass this book on to a Quechua friend who will surely enjoy it as much as I did. If you're interested in the cultures of the Andes, or if you plan to travel there, don't miss this book! .

This book is an interesting look at crossbows and siege engines, with lots of useful info for the DIY armourer. It's weakness is that it's written at the beginning of the century, and a little dated, both in writing style and content. I.e. modern materials are quite naturally not covered. It's strong points are the excellent drawings and illustrations. Highly recomennded overall.

The all-time bestseller with a first edition as far back as 1903, later to appear with the 1907 appendix, was written by an amateur (in the true sense of the word) of archery who apparently had an unlimited source of money and time, but only modest background in physics. Along with the history of the crossbow, detailed accounts of the construction and maintenance of various crossbows designed for bolts and bullets are given. Related and/or relevant medieval weapon, like longbow, ballista and arquebus, are also treated in some detail, and the 1907 appendix on turkish bows serves to give a most interesting contrast to european archery of the epoch. When it comes to performance and comparison of the variety of weapon described, maximum range and -sometimes- draw force is the only information given, whereas obvious ballistic terms like exit velocity, time-of-flight and air resistance are conspicuously absent. Some self-evident details of construction or handling, clearly vi! sualized by the illustrations, are too often spelled out in full, while more obscure mechanisms of elaborate trigger systems, which would benefit from a whole lot more detailed explanation, are treated casually. This said, it must be stressed that on the whole it IS a very fine piece of work, made by a historian rather than an engineer, a book without a match for almost a century, and certainly well worth recommending.

This book is, quite frankly, the one-stop place to look for information not only about all aspects of crossbows, but related subjects such as the Chinese chu-ko-nu, or "repeater crossbow," seige engines, and other related topics. The author apparently had enough money and spare time to actually experiment, and living in pre-World-War-I Britain, had access to actual original examples of a lot of the weapons he wished to study. Building copies to test them, he came up with definite figures on how they worked and how well they worked, or didn't.

The format of this book is completely ludicrous: it's basically everything cut from "Youth in Revolt" ... up on the page with no context. Everything from two sentences to two pages of cut text is in here introduced only by a "from page X, after words "xxx xxx" in literally hundreds of little excerpts. Imagine if you made a film out of all the scenes that ended up on the cutting room floor -- it makes about that much sense. The only way to truly make sense of this mess is to re-read your copy of "Youth in Revolt" and use this as a companion (which would mean switching books every other page). HOWEVER, if you have read YIR recently, you can somehow make sense of things and it's not totally confusing. And, thankfully, most of the passages function more as stand-alone amusing little anecdotes that were cut for obvious reasons, since they did little to drive the plot. Many, fortunately, don't suffer too much from a lack of context. Thankfully, Payne's wit is enough to make this an enjoyable read for hardcore fans. Be that as it may, the format is just generally annoying, dropping you into situations for a minute or five minutes and you never know quite where you are. Anyone but C.D. Payne cultists should steer clear.

Youth in Revolt must be read in its uncut entirety to really be appreciated. In this book, characters do things you never expected them to do just by reading Youth in Revolt. Things also make much more sense, and there is even an allusion to a cut part in the sequel, Revolting Youth. However, there will be some shuffling between this book and YIR which is kind of irritating.

by far one of the funniest and best written books i've ever read. payne does a great job of getting into the mind of a 14 year old. the book flows great, with so much going on at one time, much like real life, yet with adventures that could never be imagined by a normal mundane mind. seriously a great book.

The fascinating man becomes clearer through the pages of his notebooks, which are uneven but rewarding. A must for Musil fans.

Robert Musil is one of the most complex and little known authors of the 20th Century. I am sure that anyone who has read "The Man without Qualities" will want to know more about Musil after getting to know his writing. Sadly, there is no adequate Biography available, even in German, so one of the best ways to get to know the Author is through his fascinating Diary. These were actually more Notebooks than Diaries, and they contain an encylopedic array of information on Musil himself, his intests, his ideas, and most interestingly his plans for the "Man without Qualities". So it is must reading for those interested in Musil. The English Translation Compilation, has two major flaws. First, it lacks an Index and other Critical Apparatus, and secondly, we do not which criteria were used to re-edit the Notebooks, which were originally edited by Adolf Frise. The German Edition has one Volume of Diaries = 1,000 pages and one Volume of Notes and Indices = 1,500, pages, making it useful for scholarly research, to look up subjects, names and places, and most fascinating Musil's sources. Still the English edition is of great interest to those unaquainted with Musil.

As other commentators have said, Musil's diaries reveal this fascinating writer's process of thought, and are not filled with the usual "then he said something and we laughed and ordered another round" entries. In the regrettable absence of an autobiography or good biography, the _Diaries_ are a good substitute.

Musil's eye is at once poetic and objective. I could only be astounded by the maturity of the young artist. His description of a horse laughing, of sunset on windows, of a waterfall looking like a silver comb, of his emotions when he and his wife Martha argue, show a sensitivity sharpened by training. Musil captures things as they appear to him with a minimum of fussiness. Also, there is often a sharp humour which comes flashing out.

Some people don't like _The Man Without Qualities_ and prefer some of Musil's other writings. Whichever works one prefers, these diaries illuminate Musil and his writings from within.

I'll add two minor complaints about the layout of the book to those already voiced. I object to endnotes, believing footnotes easier to read. Why flip forward and back so often? Some of the endnotes are repetitive, and greater care should have been taken over them. But those are small things, and have more to do with editorial decisions than with Musil, who here steps forth from a kind of shadow (for english readers).

This book can't be recommended highly enough.

We tend to think of dictatorships in a very specific way. One man cannot rule alone and this book describes the political manuvering and the ideological underpinnings of Franco's Spain. I was surprised that Fascist Italy was the ideological wellspring for the Iberians. I found particularly interesting the idea of Corporatism as a means of organizing society.

Mr. Payne's book The Franco Regime contains a wealth of first class information. In the course of studying it - a pleasurable affair, because of its fine style - I had however some disappointments when I went after checking some footnotes.

1. On page 139 (in my copy) Payne relates the Guernica bombing. I was inclined to believe his every word, but his footnote 54 mentions an important author with the alleged name Geoffrey Speer. However, following footnote 56 I studied Mr. Southworth's book Guernica! Guernica!, in which obviously the same author's name is spelled - correctly - George L. Steer. He is the author of The tree of Gernika. It is strange that Southworth book seems to be recommended by Payne, whereas Southworth is highly critical of Payne himself, who is accused of credulity of neo-franquist sources. I would have liked (and expected) that Payne had defended himself.

In the same vein there is on p. 647 an odd recommendation of the book of the German Walther L. Bernecker, Spanien seit dem Burgerkrieg, that is very biased, or at least very hostile, against Franco, whereas Payne is making a case for reappraisal of Franco as a leader who deserves some credit.

It seems that Mr. Payne mentions or recommends books that he did not give much attention.

I must admit these are or not very important issues, but it makes me a bit anxious about the other footnotes.

This is without a doubt one of the finest books I have ever read. I read it cover to cover and not only did I find it a fascinating read, but it was also a work which breaks down many preconceived notions about the structure and dynamics of the Franco regime. This, read with Hitler Stopped by Franco, will certainly change some ideas about the character and motivation of Franco. This book cites well from primary sources, and is certainly one of the best researched works I have seen on the subject. Any person who questions the motives or history of the Franco regime should read this book. (Especially if they have read the terrible articles in the New York Times lately).

Annie Ruth is in love. Graduation is around the corner for this young lady and college is in sight. Her mother and father preach to her to keep herself focused and get her education. But what do parents know? After all, Raymond is the boy of her dreams and their love will last until the ages.

Enter into the rural community of Tobacco County, Georgia where the living is hard and the opportunities are non-existent for Blacks living there in the 1960's. You are invited into the lives of the people in this community as they attempt to seek out their loves and fulfill their dreams. Annie tells and shares with us her story and those who surround her in their attempts as young people trying to live their lives.

You will be touched by the innocence and betrayal of young love. Anger will greet you as you endure the injustices inflicted upon Annie and her kinfolk. Sadness will engulf you as you see folk not living up to their potential. Shine Annie will touch your heart in a profound way.

The novel starts out with Annie, the teenager, and journeys through seven years of her life. You witness her as a mother, wife and moonshine runner who fails to fulfill the dreams of her parents. Yet through it all her family provides a foundation of support for her and the other characters who go through hard times. This is the first novel of the author who has told a good story. It contains a few misspellings and its pagination which distract you from the story. Overall this is a good novel about naive love and delayed dreams.

This is a great book! I think it's a must read for all young ladies from mid-teen years and older. I could not put this one down for it held my attention up until the very end. Payne has done a wonderful job sharing what life is like for many African American women and their relationships with both negative and positive black men. Her description of family and how they support one another is unique and refreshing. I highly recommend this book! Men, you will enjoy this book, too, and find that from life struggles and strife, one grows and becomes a much stronger person.

Annie Ruth. Lucinda. Billie Lee. Curtis. Lenny. Raymond. Mr. Sid. Miss Bostic. Gabrielle. Edwina. Reverend Phillips. I know these people.

Rail City. Tobacco County. Fort Valley State. Morehouse. Albany State. Savannah State. I know these places.

The Civil Rights Movement. Voter registration. Martin Luther King's arrest in Albany. GA. Hanging out at the local juke joint. Hauling moonshine. I know these events.

As a black southerner and child of the sixties, I can relate to so much of Payne's prose in her excellent first novel. The story told here is one that vividly tells the hardships and triumphs of a young woman growing up in the racially charged and changing South of that time. Her sacrifices, as well, as those made by all around here, make for an enthralling read.

The author has done a magnificent job in bringing to life characters and situations so real that the reader feels as if he is reading a biography with dialogue.

"Shine Annie" does just that: illuminates and elevates a pride that can only be felt by the people that experienced the era.

For the uninitiated, it is a welcome "lesson."