This book is a tremendous help, in that it provides an in depth look at "The Best-Kept Sceret of The Wine World."

The point of departure is the 13 wine-growing regions, the names of the major wine producers and how they ranked based on the performance of their last 5 vintages. There is a brief history of the estates along with 'phone numbers should you wish to contact them directly. Cellar door prices are listed in German Marks, which is useless, unless you are in Germany and are going to buy from the producers directly. The authors give their recommendations about drinking dates and offer a good illustrated section on the various labels, and how to decipher them. Clearly, with profiles on 400 vintners and the 3,000 different wines which are rated, this book goes well beyond Riesling and Gewurtztraminer. That alone makes it well worth having.

I enjoy owning this book. My favorite wine is Riesling and favorite terroir is Germany, especially Mosel-Saar-Ruwer. This book has that covered.

Granted, some of the vintage information is three years old. However, the reputations of the wineries has not changed that much. Vintages matter more in Germany and most European areas and much less so in places like California. However, much of that information can be applied equally to all German wineries, so looking online for general vintage information will do just as well -- the relative ratings in the book will still apply, so they are still helpful.

I also dislike using German currency, even though it is a German book that was translated (and translated exceptionally well, I might add). I would have preferred seeing prices in US currency for different price ranges.

A couple of (very short) sections seem to be a marketing campaign for German wines (perhaps that is how it is seen in the industry, as I would suspect, so that would be acceptable). This only amounts to a handful of pages, so not that bothersome.

There are good miniature tutorials on German terminology, wine labels, grapes, Pradikat and other classifications. There are 30 color photographs of different vineyard owners/managers. There are several different sections listing the best estates, along with the author's favorite picks from different wines.

The following sections are covered, with many estates from each section:

Ahr
Baden

Franken
Hessische Bergstrasse
Mittelrhein
Mosel-Saar-Ruwer
Nahe
Pfalz
Rheingau
Rheinhessen
Saale-Unstrut
Sachsen
Wurttemberg

Each section has a description of that area as well as a scaled map. Immediately after that is a brief list of names broken down into their rating. For example, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer has 6 five-grape, 15 four-grape, 22 three-grape, 20 two-grape and 5 one-grape ratings. There are an additional 26 "other notable producers" that do not have detailed pages for those estates.

Each rated estate has a full page (or more) with great information about each. Besides access information (owner, address, phone, fax, directions, hours, history, etc.), there is a box about recent productions. This includes the vineyard area (in hectares), annual production (in bottles), top site, soil types, grape varieties (by percentage), average yield (hl/ha) and best vintages of that time. After that is a commentary on the vineyard as well as ratings of some 10 to 20 wines. After that is a black-and-white photo of the vineyard label, which is greatly helpful when looking for the wines at a wine shop.

At the back of the book are sections on the best sparkling wines, Marc and Fine, information bureaus and wine glasses.

Overall, it is an excellent and useful tool for German wines. Well worth the price, which is hardly more than a single bottle from most of the good wines of this region. Definitely a book to own and know.

"German Wine Guide"
Armin Diel and Joel Payne
ISBN 0-7892-0577-7

This book with the unassuming title is an encyclopedia of German wines. It has no pictures of scenery or vineyards. But it has photos of a number of German wine producers, an unusual touch, some of their labels, and some of their wine advertisements. This is a very serious wine book. It is not so much a book to be read as much as one to be studied. Most of it consists of ratings and listings of wines region by region in a highly systematic manner. One of the authors of this book, Armin Diel is a wine producer in Germany himself. In the past, I have enjoyed a bottle of wine from his estate in the Nahe wine region and read a little about the wines produced there.

Although I have no serious expertise on German wines - this book re-assured me of that - over the years I have tried wine in about half of the thirteen wine regions described in this book and tasted wine from others. The mention of the names of familiar towns and wines in Germany made this book interesting for me. Someone who is unfamiliar with Germany and these regions might grow tired of reading the lists of wine produced by various estates in them. In other words, this is probably not the right book for a person beginning to learn about German wines. It seems to me that it is more for someone who already knows something about them.

The authors give the prices, in marks, of the wines in this book, and some might be surprised to learn that a nice bottle of wine, including some of those listed here, can be had in Germany for as little as a few dollars. Another surprise is that there is even information in this book about two not too well known wine regions in the former East Germany, Saale-Unstrut and Sachsen, although they are apparently as yet not highly regarded.

One disappointment about this book, no fault of the authors, is that a good deal of what one reads about in it is not widely available in the United States. This is like reading an appealing menu without being able to order. Even in cities like Austin where I live, a good selection of German wines is difficult to come by.

As suggested earlier, it would be difficult to describe this book as "a read", but it is an excellent reference. The next time I go to Germany, along with my German dictionary, I intend to take this book. Prost!

James Payne writes a strong analysis of the difference between "sympathetic giving" and "expectant giving."

He clearly explains why government cannot maintain the kind of tough love that leads people out of poverty and shows that sympathy is ..., and exchange -- expecting something in return for assistance given, from those capable of working - is crucial. The subtitle - Expecting More from the Poor and from Ourselves - suggests the need for more volunteering by the non-needy.

As an attorney who has done pro bono and charity work to help poor people, but who also has prosecuted welfare fraud and food stamp fraud cases, and as an attorney (and future trustee) for a very large charitable foundation that seeks to help the poor, I found James L. Payne's, "Overcoming Welfare," an excellent look at the sorry reality of entitlement programs, which are based predominantly on what Payne calls "sympathetic giving." Payne does a reasonably thorough job, using a very accessible writing style, not only in explaining why sympathetic giving programs fail and are destined to fail (human nature and the "aggravation principle," plus inherent problems with bureaucracy), but in advocating a better alternative -- expectant giving. I have seen both types of giving at work, and I am convinced that expectant giving, although not perfect (no poverty program is), is far and away superior to sympathetic giving. This book is an excellent introduction to the field. I wish everyone in the poverty relief field would read it.

As an attorney, I have done some pro bono work in the past and have also helped out in soup kitchens and Salvation Army food vans. I work for a private charitable foundation the mission of which is to help the poor; someday, I will be one of the trustees making grant decisions. I have attended poverty-related seminars at the annual Council on Foundations meeting; the single point of view represented there is that of a need for ever-increasing entitlement benefits. Thus, policy issues relating to poverty are of major practical concern to me. For this reason, James L. Payne's book was a breath of fresh air.

For a variety of reasons, I think that Payne hits the nail right on the head in his analysis of the reasons for the failure of poverty programs that practice what he calls "sympathetic giving." Although some receipients find their way out of poverty, it is despite these programs, not because of them. Sympathetic giving provides extremely perverse incentives (the "aggravation principle") not to work one's way out of poverty. It is basic human nature at work. Our government has wasted trillions of dollars on misguided anti-poverty policies. The bureaucratic structure of government programs helps to guarantee the poor result, especially with something-for-nothing give-aways. The fraud is substantial. I've seen it at work for 20 years; oh, the true stories I could relate!

I was sincerely touched by Payne's telling of the success stories that resulted from what he calls "expectant giving." I now am convinced that expectant giving is the better way to help people in need. The challenge is to bring to an end all government poverty programs (whether rapidly or gradually), and to leave it to private charity to deal with the poverty problem. No doubt, there always will be poor people, but expectant giving, properly carried out, will be more effective in result than sympathetic giving programs.

I am so impressed with Payne's book that I want to purchase many copies of it and give them to friends and acquaintances in the poverty field, in the hope that we can begin to think and act differently in our approach to poor people, so that we can truly help, rather than hinder, their lives in the long run. I would really like to speak to Mr. Payne about how to make this happen.

A good book that combines the expressions of a Mathematician: Burnett and an Engineer: Paine.
The book is descriptively very good with images that today in day is necessary to understand the theoretical ideas better.
The chapters two, three four contain the most didactic description and with an efficient theoretical profile.
RSASecurity made well in publishing this book as official guide as much as makes CISCO with their books.
It is necessary to stand out that they exist other books of RSA that explain particular details about PKI and IPSec, however the book of Burnett and Paine it is distinguished by the clarity of the exposed topics.
I agree with the chapters eight, nine and ten, although they should expose a little but about the kindness of the protocol SET.
It is a very good book that I recommend for those who want to know about the applied cryptography.
A final recommendation: it is certain that today in day the topic of the telecommunications has come being developed with more peak in the world, and although it is certain, the great majority of the books it defines aspects linked to the nets of computers, it is not necessary to leave aside the nets of cellular telephony and the security of the telecommunications, you that it exists now for example RSA Mobile.
For the side of the content of the CD, it is excellent because it offers us information in files pdf of aspects itemized in cryptography.
Lastly, the algorithm I find RSAOAEP that it should be more extended, with more examples and bigger covering, however its inclusion in the book is the appropriate one.
Very good support of RSASecurity to the world.

While this book gets 4 stars, you may want to go for the freeware version.

The reason is that while 'The RSA Security Guide to Cryptography' is an excellent referent written by two experts in the field, nearly all of the information in the book and accompanying CD-ROM is available free.

...But for those that don't like the question and answer format of the FAQ, the book may be a better option for them

The accompanying CD-ROM includes the proceedings from the 2000 RSA Conference, all PKCS standards, the RSA bulletins and RSA Crypto Bytes. Also, all this information is free via the RSA website.

... the book while a good read is not cheap. If you don't mind downloading the RSA FAQ and printing it out, you can save a lot of money.

But if you want something with a binding on it, the 'The RSA Security Guide to Cryptography' is a valuable reference.

This is a MUST HAVE book, I have not been able to put it down! the other engineers that I work with are so impressed by the attention to detail and clarity that they are also ordering this as I write. For anyone implementing high level security this is the best all around book I have picked up. The info in the appendix sections would be worth buying alone! It gives Technical leaning/learning folks a great primer (and I learned a lot from it too). If you are looking to clarify security models/risks buy this book!

This is not a book for anyone interested in Robert Lowell or his poetry. This is a maudlin account of one woman's inability to recognize or empathize with the inner life of her famous relative, and her valiant attempts to profit by her own shortcomings. In short, mere gossip. Eileen Simpson's "poets in Their Youth" is much more interesting, and Richard Tillinghast's "Robert Lowell's Life and Work" is far more insightful, for those who care about Lowell's poetry. But as for those who don't care about Lowell's poetry, well, all I can say is, why bother to read a book by someone whose only claim on your attention is that she's Lowell's distant cousin?

With fresh black humor and a no nonsense style, Sarah Payne Stuart has written a book of family suffering that gives a vivid understanding of the terrors and fall out of mental illness. She also describes with deft strokes what monsters people are, who lack imagination, and arrange to be insulated from pain by self-regard and a great deal of money.

Perhaps the most entertaining book that I have ever read. Sarah Payne Stuart makes me howl and a second later makes me thank God that I've got both oars in the water. God Bless You SPS.

As a HUGE Payne fan this is a great book. Balanced, mature. The beauty of this book is that it's not dragged down by its lack of perspective like Tracy Stewart's biography. A fine read. I recommend this before any other Stewart biography.

If old enough, you remember where you were when President Kennedy was assassinated. If a golf fan, you remember where you were when Payne Stewart died. I was in a restaurant having lunch with a couple of other guys. We paid only occasional attention to reports on the television behind the bar. A Lear jet was off course and expected to crash. Sadly, we soon would learn its occupants. If you read no other chapter in this excellent account of Payne Stewart's life, read the one detailing how the golfer's friends and associates learned the bad news. It's a dramatic piece of writing by Larry Guest. And it creates a bond between any reader who remembers that day and the golfer's friends in the book who talk about it. In another memorable chapter, Guest's detailed reporting makes you feel as if you're right in the aircraft during its deadly, and as yet unexplained, flight from Florida to a midwestern cornfield. This book would be a good read even for people who are not golf fans. If you do follow golf, it's a must read. If you were a Payne Stewart fan, you should have already read it.

Much better than the Tracy Stewart biography. This one has real writing and isn't afraid to give the whole side of the story.

Payne Harrison tries to bury this book beneath fifth-grade level prose. Luckily, he fails... barely. 'Thunder of Erebus' is a fine, rollicking, action-packed military adventure novel. The premise - WWIII fought on the Antarctic continent - is intriguing, if a little far-fetched. The attack on the Russian carrier Tblisi is brilliant. In fact, every military confrontation in this novel is riveting. Unfortunately, Harrison's idea of character description would be more at home on a Hollywood casting couch. Can't you show me what a character's physical attributes are without describing them in a 400-word paragraph? If the author put half as much thought into the style of his narrative as he did into the choreography of the warfare, 'Erebus' would be a 4- or 5-star novel.

I was a huge fan of Harrion's "Storming Intrepid", and was therefore extremely happy when his second effort came out. At first I was kind of disappointed because it didn't jump right into action like "Intrepid". Instead, Harrison spends the first half of the book building all the necessary elements for the second half, which then just explodes. I'm glad I stuck with it, because I usually dump a book if after 50-75 pages I'm not hooked. I'm glad I stuck with it because "Erebus" became one of my favorite books. I read the first half of "Erebus" in about a week, and the second half in two very long nights. The degree of action, detail, and just great storytelling all coalesce and makes "Erebus" very difficult to put down. I'm not even a fan of the Clancy-style books, but I always keep an eye open to see if a new Payne Harrison is out

To Payne Harrison: I saw a young boy touch Thunder Of Erebus on the shelf. He paused, and then went on. I stopped him and said that that book was one of the best I've ever read. My squadron has enjoyed it, too. Let's have more of your writings! Thank you, Steve Hutchinson, aka Col. Wrecking Crew.

I wouldn't be so quick, frankboteler, to discount the review by Sam below. I have seen so much hypocrisy in the ministry that nothing much would surprise me any more. Call me cynical, but I expect most ministers to be hypocrites. And even when they aren't, more often than not they're like bulls in a china shop when it comes to ministering to people. Maybe I'm wrong, but Sam's review sounds pretty believable and sincere to me, unlike some of the reviews for Crisis In Masculinity. It doesn't really sound like a personal attack, or something that somebody would just make up. I mean, if he was going to make the whole thing up, why would he have even bothered to say anything positive at all about her books? It sounds to me like somebody who is outraged and wants to tell the world about what happened to his friend. I agree with you, frankboteler, that it wasn't really a review of her book per se, but assuming his story is true (which I do believe it is), could you really blame him? I mean how else could you tell other people about something like that? Amazon.com sounds like as good a place as any.

I had a friend who met Gloria Copeland once, and she thought she was a complete ice cube. Apparently she was pretty different in person than the image she projected on TV, so that's one reason Sam's story doesn't surprise me much. And of course Benny Hinn has written some very good books, like Good Morning Holy Spirit, but all he seems to care about is money.

I was mainly just responding to what you wrote, frankboteler. I have read this book (The Healing Presence), but I think Crisis In Masculinity and The Broken Image are much better. Those two I would give 5 stars to. I would probably give HP 3 1/2 stars, but since you can't do that on Amazon, and since I don't think it was nearly as good as CIM and TBI, I'll go ahead and give it 3.

I consider Leanne Payne's book Healing presence as an exceptionally good book. Because it has much truth, it divides opinions. That is the nature of truth. Some like,it some don't. While reading it, it especially struck me what she said about wrong fantasies, how they kill the real imagination and prevent us to be "fertilized with the reality" - this really hit me but because I accepted it, it set me free! All happened in an instant! Payne has great insight about what it means to be human, a created being, called to fullness, creativity and into all truth in Christ. Read it with prayer and apply it!

Sam's so-called review of this book (see below) should not be trusted. I don't know whether or not he's telling the truth, and he does not give any solid information to go on. He doesn't say why his friend was suicidal, or what his letter contained, or exactly what Ms. Payne said in response. The Healing Presence is a profoundly insightful examination of such topics as the meaning of Christ's presence, true healing, Christian imagination, and the dangers of gnostic forms of spirituality common in the world today. Like her spiritual mentor C.S. Lewis, Leanne Payne cuts through the Protestant/Catholic divisions typical of most spiritual writers, and goes to the heart of true faith. This book is irreplaceable.

all-eye(wendigo-story) and glimpses (sorcery/yog-s.) were the two i really liked here. they had enough suspence. as for the rest.... there are no truly bad stories here. and they are surely professionally written. my problem with them is that they spend too much time "building". telling the complete life story of someone, is utterly unnecessary. there were too much building here. i wish there was more invested in descriptions, endings and good old-fashioned suspence. they simply didn't give me enough while i read them.

This is a reprint of a DAW original anthology from the mid-70s. I read the book back then and thought it was so-so. The Fritz Leiber "Terror from the Depths" was very good, and Leiber brought his usual skill to the Cthulhu Mythos. The Eddy Bertin story and the Lumley stories were good as well, but they stood out like stars amid the rest of the pieces.

When I first picked up this book, I was merely going out to replace something I had read long ago and had enjoyed immensely. Still, when I started going through it, I saw some noticeable changes that actually helped it out and are worth noting. See, while this is the second revised edition of this book and many have already checked out the first, there were some changes in the lineup that made it different from the original. First, the stories by Ramsey Campbell and Brain Lumley were slightly revised, making them flow more appropriately. Next, "Zoth-Ommog," by Lin Carter, was dropped and replaced with Robert Price's "Dope War of the Blank Tong," a change that would be upsetting if it weren't for Lin's own set of stories being published and, lastly, "The Feaster from Afar," by Joseph Brennan, was left out and replaced with A.A. Attansio's "Glimpses."

In this edition of the continual homage paid to Lovecraftian lore, there are two above average tales and five standout pieces that bring this 258 page edition to life, making it well worth buying. Briefly breaking some of them down and leaving out two well-crafted pieces, ( "Darkness, my name is," by Eddie Bertin, and The Terror from the Depths," by Fritz Leber, which spatial constrains keep me from going into detail about) and one above average tale ("Where Yidhra Walks, "by Walter Debill, Jr.) they are:

"The Fairground Horror," by Brain Lumley, deals with the great tentacled one's priests and the mark they bare. It begins by focusing on Hodgson's Funfair and a man named Anderson Tharpe who has recently added a new freak-house frontage called "Tomb Of The Great Old Ones." Within it are the normal oddities that freakshows like to use, the cons that have been sold throughout the ages, but there are also some other things, pieces taken from his younger brother, Hamiliton. Without delving too much into it, this is basically a lesson in why you should try to play with things belonging to the sleeping old one.

"The Silence of Erika Zann," by James Wade, plays off of a previously introduced idea by modernizing it, placing Erich Zann's granddaughter in a Rock Band that delves into some odd forums. Any time they play, there is a strange roar that seems to come from nowhere, and it seems to be taking its toll on her. What is it, the main character asks over and over? Well, its an above average tale that is good but loses some ground when compared to the works around it.

"All-Eye," by Bob Laerhoven, is an odd mixture of story with a surprise ending. Initially, I wasn't certain I would like it at all because it seemed like the basic forum introduced, the "found a book, it had a map, I went looking and something happened" story design, but that quickly changed when I read all the way through. Its hard to say that much about it without ruining the story, so I'll simply state that the style used pleasantly different.

"The Tugging," by Ramsey Campbell, shows exactly how talented this word painter actually is, with his analogies and comparisons actually deserving a bit of acclaim. It focuses on Ingels, a man plagued by dreams that he and his father seem to share. When he sleeps he dreams of a city beneath the waves and that the clouds in the sky are becoming something, but he always awakens before he find out exactly what that is. The dreams provoke a dread for sleep, an insomnia that begins to interrupt reality, and before Ingels knows he sees a correlation between both realms as they mesh together. Again, without giving away too much, this story is well worth you time to read.

Glimpse, by A.A. Attansio, is an odd tale involving the Lord of Holes himself, Yog-Sothoth, revolving around an oddly pierced stone that defies description. Sometimes it seems like a simple stone, other times it seems like a strange congammeration of ribbons. Our initial main character, Gene Mirandola, is given it when he goes to meet with his uncle, an oddly eclectic individual that tells him to take it to a Dr. Marc Souvate. Well, he does, and finds out the oddities of the One-in-All and All-in-One, things that deal directly with his uncle and that deal with Souvate's odd history as well. The story takes a strange turn in the center, taking a simple threat to one soul by Yog and his followers to one that threatens the entirety of the world. It's actually really well done.

The next, by Robert Price, is entitled "Dope War of the Black Tong," Its a story revolving around the Tcho-Tcho and their worshipping habits, reminding me very much of something Robert E. Howard would have done. It has all the essentials; a storyline, some tentacles, a bit of death, and Asian oddities.

Again, this set of stories is well worth checking out because their focus is not uniformed and their styles certainly differ. It is in this variety that you gain something, something wonderfully evil, and evil meshing with all-encompassing madness is always a wonderful thing.

The author says the present generation church can be like the first generation church, but how can that be? The first church had 'the same' gospel, there was only 'one denomination' at that time and they were simply called Christians. There was no need for denominations in the early church because disciples all believed 'exactly the same things'. To say the present church can be like the first is to not understand the first.

The teachings in this book merely show how to run a successful corporation for that is was this present generation of many churches has become.

In a time of "Church Growth" gurus, books, and workshops - it is very refreshing to have a book that doesn't focus on bells and whistles and technological ways to manipulate, but calls the church back to the mission given by Christ - to go into the world with the transformative Christian faith. If only those of us in mainline denominations would be willing to lift our eyes off of agendas, useless meetings and other distactions and consider "Reclaiming the Great Commission." Mission, not maintenance, is the call of this book, bringing the focus of the church on God, people, and relationships. Shared vision founded in Biblical faith is the key for the local congregation and the larger church. I recommend this to pastors, priests, lay leaders, bishops, and all who are interested in sharing the Gospel.

Our church is using this book as a model for its vision for the year 2001. Our Daughters of the King prayer group is using this book as its study for the coming year.

Since the writer has to review his own book, you already know that he has a lack of self-confidence

Another nerd-book on the .NET bandwaggon. Full of typos and nothing to distinguish it from the crowd - sorry :o(

This book is an excellent book. ASP.Net has biggener concepts as well as advanced concepts. It is really a valuable book that you will use over and over