I read the book and i think this is a litle introduction to a very wide argument. Is necessary to have a good background about all the arguments descripted in the book, then i think is a good idea to study first the principe of quality ( looking ISO9000 ) and the software engineering, only after this ( if you have saved some money and you don't know how to spend it ) buy this expensive intruduction book.

Mr. Marlow's book starts out OK; the first few chapters are informative and interesting. General Internet usage statistics are provided, along with some pearls of general Internet wisdom. However, the content of the book does not measure up to titles of the various chapters (the chapter titles suggest interesting and useful information to those embarking setting up a web site, the opposite is true). The book is basically a data dumb of interviews conducted over the last 3 years. There is very little summarization or structure to the presented material. Furthermore, and most importantly, there are no conclusions drawn about who did what right, what works, and what new netizens should do when constructing their own site. Lastly, the book's data dump format makes it very difficult to extract any valuable information. I found myself only skimming the last half of the book because of it's weak and redundant content. One caveat, I am intimately familiar with the online world, so maybe a novice would find the book useful

I bought this book as a remainder. I have attempted to struggle through it several times and it is clear to me why it was remaindered. If I could assign it zero stars I would.

As a biography this work is a total failure. I was not able to find information on E. V. Debs as one would expect from a book subtitled "The Life and Times of...". Discursions and ramblings could add spice and flavor to a conventional biography but this book seems to consist only of the discursions and ramblings.

If the intent is to create some sort of poetic meditation on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century life and labor activism, I judge the work a failure here too. Obviously in this aspect my judgement is subjective and artistic and others are welcome to disagree with an aesthetic judgement. But... Pick this book up at any point and you will find the same exact material and style. The bits don't fit together. Yet the artistry escapes me too. It looks like a jumbled mismash. I want to point out that I don't consider myself any kind of Philistine. But if you want to see good stream-of-consciousness, check out Faulkner, or Joyce, etc., and you'll see that they actually look like they know what they're doing!

Finally, although this book seems to be written in relatively standard English (although with incredibly long single-sentence paragraphs), I was disappointed to find within seconds of opening the pages actual grammatical errors such as disagreement of subject and object, etc.

Failure as a biography, failure as an artistic rumination on an atmosphere. Failure all around.

It is almost unbelievable how Marguerite Young, the respected New York academic who died before completing this work, was able to turn nearly every sentence she wrote into a bombastic political diatribe. If you are hankering for a moralistic, preachy lecture on the evils of American capitalism, pick up this volume and select any sentence at random (or if you prefer, start on page 1 and read sequentially; it will still seem random). Sometimes you have to wonder what this little old lady was smoking in her pipe:

"In June 1886, one month after the Haymarket bombings, Debs with diurnal and nocturnal hopes of man's redemption by way of labor unions was trying to steer the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen across a bridge which would not be a Bridge of Sighs, a Bridge of Lies, and crumble into the chaos created not by men in search of justice but by those capitalistic powers who did whatever they pleased and did not seem to care how many trains and train men were destroyed because of overpasses as untrustworthy as if they were tons and tons of steel and iron and wood upheld by toothpicks and often so pressed upon by heavy traffic that rose petals thrown upon a rail and adding to that weight might cause a total collapse with loss of many lives, not only those of train men but of passengers in parlor cars and passengers in boxcars, the latter including cattle and tramps." [p. 351]

That's pretty much what you'll find in this book, folks. Tells you a lot about Eugene Debs, doesn't it? Unlike some well-known reviewers, I do not find this author's interminable run-on sentences "poetic," but merely incoherent. Some have praised it as "quirky" and "non-traditional" -- code words, apparently, for a literary experiment gone terribly wrong. If you're in the right mood, you may find yourself laughing out loud -- surely not an intended reaction, however. One of the blurbs on the back cover, by William Goyen in the NYT, calls it "one of the most arresting literary achievements in our last twenty years..." Well, it is arresting, all right. I could barely read a page without having my interest arrested. Perhaps someone should consider arresting the editors who saw fit to publish it.

Looking at the other customer reviews for this unusual book, I doubt that the reviewers either read the introduction or that they actually read more than a few pages. This is not a conventional biography. Nor is it a completed, polished work. Marguerite Young died when her biography of Debs was incomplete and very much a work in progress. Had she lived to complete it, it would have been a fuller picture of his life. But her idiosyncratic approach would still have colored every page.

It is also helpful to understand that in writing one of her previous books--"Angel in the Forest"--Young started out writing a lengthy poem, then converted it into a prose work. (The Debs book is in some ways reminiscent of Stephen Vincent Benet's "John Brown's Body," only Young employed blank verse.)

The Debs book has been described as Whitmanesque, and it is reminiscent of both the poetry and prose of that pillar of American literature. As both a poet and prose writer, Young takes a lyrical, almost stream of consciousness approach in this book. (Her work has also been likened to James Joyce's--a comparison she apparently disliked, though it strikes me as appropriate.) Those who criticize the book for its rambling style seem to miss this point.

Others have suggested that the book might better be entitled "The Times and Life of Eugene Victor Debs." In her unconventional approach, Young does seem to focus more on a history of the times in which Debs lived than on the man himself. The book pays particular attention to the socioeconomic and political developments which shaped the industrial revolution in this country, particularly the American labor movement. The author is at her best when documenting industrial accidents and working conditions and in describing the dominance of American "captains of industry" over both the economy and the American government at all levels.

Those who find Part One of the book--the first 178 pages--difficult to read might be advised to read the first 21 pages, then skip to Part Two, which is more focused on Debs and his times. Part One of the book admittedly becomes bogged down in describing utopian socialists--it gives far too much attention to the obscure German immigrant socialist Wilhelm Weitling as well as delving into the detailed history of early Mormonism, a topic which apparently fascinated the author because Brigham Young was one of her ancestors.

Part Two of the book is also sweeping in its scope, but it provides a memorable description of the early decades of Debs' life (with emphasis on 1855-1877), tracing the emigration of his parents to the U.S. from Alsace Lorraine, describing the influence of his parents' radicalism on his own personal beliefs, and detailing his work as a railroad laborer and union organizer. It does this against the backdrop of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, Reconstruction, the Indian Wars, national politics, and labor developments, culminating in the violent railroad strikes of 1877. Given Young's and Debs's Hoosier origins, it devotes a lot of attention to Indiana, particularly the poet James Whitcomb Riley. (The book started out as a Riley biography, but Young became fascinated with Debs and decided to rework it into Debs's life story.)

This is not a book for the casual reader--it is a demanding book to get through. But that understood, it is a worthwhile investment of time and beautifully written. On completing the book, I found myself regretting that Marguerite Young did not live to complete this imperfect yet remarkable work of American history and literature.

Save your money on this one. Nothing new or exciting. Even the most basic books will give you more hints on how to handle clay than this CD. And the fact that you need a computer makes it even more like work and less like fun. One star was generous.

...Not only was there nothing new, or very inspiring about the polymer 'tips', but the material on the cd-rom would not have filled 10 pages in book format. The presentation was simplistic and the projects looked amateurish...

This CD/Book is totally useless. The small amount of information that is on it, plus a whole lot more, can be found online for FREE! ([...] is a wealth of free infomation) Not even beginners can benefit from this CD. All it contains are some bad photos of molded pieces that have been painted (polymer clay is seldom painted by people who us it because the clay comes in a rainbow of colors so it's not necessary) There are no secrets in this book as the title implies. However, among the questionable tips you'll find some miss-information. Forget it! Look through Amazon.com for a legitimate polymer clay book, or get the wonderful "Tips and Techniques" booklet from the National Polymer Clay Guild, or go online to [...], a non commercial site. Don't throw your money away on this dreadful publication.

I shouldn't really dedicate much time to writing a review about an out-of-print book, but if for some reason, this book is republished, people should be aware how poor this biography is.

I understand that biographers often admire their subjects, but Lyons goes beyond admiration into straight worship. Herbert Hoover, in his biography, is a man without flaws and probably the greatest man who ever lived. This bias is evident on almost every page and makes for bad writing.

Herbert Hoover may be underrated in history, or have a worse reputation than he deserves, but he is not as great as Lyons portrays him. By deifying Hoover, Lyons actually comes off somewhat like a defense lawyer trying to canonize a client. Throught the book, Lyons distorts the truth and avoids certain facts if they could possibly show Hoover in an unfavorable light.

In addition to bad writing, this book doesn't even contain an index and the few photos are without captions or context. I've read many historical biographies before, and this is one of the worst. If you are interested in Herbert Hoover, skip this book; they may be hard-to-find, but there are more objective books out there.

Was Herbert Hoover an unequivocal saint? He was, if you ask this biographer. Not only were his motives always pure, honest, and honorable, but his abilities unmatched. If only his political rivals had simply crowned him King and allowed him to run things as he wished, we'd never have had the Great Depression, and if they'd failed to do so until it started, he could still have ended it sooner and less painfully if only vicious, unscrupulous opponents hadn't refused to follow his wise advice. The closest Lyons is able to come to saying anything bad about Hoover is to admit that he wasn't a good politician, a perfect example of praising with faint damns.

Now, granted, Hoover was unfairly tarred with the responsibility for many of the terrible things that happened "on his watch", things that can in no way be attributed to any action of his, and which he couldn't possibly have prevented. Writing in 1964, Lyons, an admitted Hoover supporter and admirer, was attempting to counter years of unfair negative image, and I'll admit that it's interesting to hear the other side. But even he admits that he overdoes it; in his final subchapter, he says as much:

"It is altogether likely that in these pages I have been betrayed by ardor into overstatement...(r)eading reams of unconscionable spite aimed at Hoover...one is driven to compensatory bias in his favor."

Understandable, and if all you've ever heard of Hoover is the negatives, it might be worth reading this book for a counterweight. But if you do, be aware that that is what it is: a counterweight to negative bias. It is most assuredly NOT a balanced, evenhanded historical document. Which is a shame, because it's hard enough to find biographies of Hoover that it would be nice if this one were more worthwhile. It reads like the biographies written for young people of our founding fathers, in which Washington, or Franklin, or some other such historical character, is portrayed as a larger-than-life, perfect hero, the kind of biographies that lose their appeal once one is over the age of ten or so.

I cannot understand how anyone with diabetes or a carbohydrate intolerance of any kind could eat any of these items. They are so high in carbohydrates. I follow a low-carbohydrate regimen for health reasons (not vanity), and I could safely eat none of the recipes found in this tome. I returned the book

I wanted a general introduction to the War of 1812 and I bought this book without researching other available books on the subject. The best part of this book is its attactive glossy hardcover.

The author's writing style is very poor. In fact, I found myself repeatedly reading passages trying to determine the author's meaning. For example, page 19 contains the following two paragraphs:

"Difficult times were also plaguing the settlers between the Mississippi and the Appalachian Mountains. The closing of continental ports by the British blockade and excessive production by the farmers. Prices fell in New Orleans because of the glut from upriver and the lack of opportunities for sale on the continent. Many a farmer reached New Orleans to die of yellow fever or took their scant earnings over the Nachos [sic] Trace where they were robbed.
Meanwhile the exhaustive methods of the farmers created the need of new lands. The plains of the Louisiana Purchase did not yet tempt the Americans, but Canada and Spanish Florida did. American [sic] seized Baton Rouge and declared that East Florida from the Mississippi to the Perdido River now belonged to the United States. President Madison soon back them up. In all this lies the reasons for western support of war with Great Britain in the next few years."

Unfortunately, this was typical of the first 19 pages of the book, and I was so distracted trying to interpret the text, I totally lost interest in the book. Other random reading selections in this book presented the same poor writing style.

The text also included numerous mispellings and apparent typographical errors. For instance, on page 7, the author writes "...he sailed through college and went to Litcihfield's [sic] law school." Three sentences later, he properly spells the name as "Litchfield". Such errors also created the overpowering impression that I could not trust the acuracy of his presentation of the historical events.

In conclusion, I would not recommend paying one tenth of the suggested ... price printed on the back cover. It would have been very helpful if I could have previewed some of the pages before making the decision to purchase this book. ...

This is a truly terrible biography: badly written and so uncritical of its subject that it is hard to take seriously. Why I regard this as badly written? The authors assume that the reader has an enormous knowledge of Irish politics and affairs and often refers to people/institutions/events without placing them in any sort of context. They also employ an abundance of quotes which often seems to have no bearing on the preceding or following text, and this often left me confused and frustrated. This smacks of sloppy writing and even more sloppy editing.

Then, as said, Ahern is portrayed throughout as a political superman, a king who can do no wrong. This is almost amusing given the events of recent times, where he has had to back down regarding his pet obsession, the so-called "Bertie Bowl" sports stadium, and has had to renege on a number of election promises because of the unforeseen slump in the Irish economy. It will be interesting to see if history will judge him as kindly as the authors of this flimsy biography.

This is one of the books that display examples of "pseudo-calligraphy." The author's other professions or backgrounds in visual arts do not necessarily guarantee a sound knowledge of writing. I'm sorry to say that it tends to a book of bad influence. The book (almost a pamphlet in terms of depth) does not deal with the roman and Foundational hands so essential to a decent knowledge of lettering. I would recommend a more prestigious or trusted publication (with English scribes, for example).

I was taking a chance when I bought this book, particularly because there weren't any reviews. I didn't know what to expect from the story, but I was hoping for the best.
I must admit, though, I was disappointed with this story. I do not wish to be cruel to the author in any way, for I believe that she was a student when she wrote this. It is not her fault for this stories troubles. It was the editor's.
The editing was horrible. There were punctuation and grammatical errors constantly, and while every book has its faults, I was too distracted to go on. ("Rapped became raped", "barely was barley" and the periods didn't know when exactly they should appear.)
It is disappointing because this book had a lot of potential. What I managed to read of it made it suitable for perhaps a third or fourth grader. What I read was about a princess whose horse smashes a dragon's nest, and she manages to save one egg, and has to hide it from her family. It seemed to be something interesting and funny, if you expect its flaws and know what you're getting into.