Anne Tyler's range of characters, locations and plots is very limited. She appears to have been rehashing the same few characters and crazy plots for thirty years. I can't think of any relationships in any of the books that was wholly convincing and I have been irritated by the start or end of virtually all the books, yet ...for some inexplicable reason I adore her novels. From any other writer I'd be annoyed by the lack of variety from book to book, but with Tyler I just sit there reading with a grin on my face, thrilled and delighted by this brave, brilliant novelist. I can't think of a better North American writer working today. The Clock Winder has the usual collection of improbable plot twists and oddball people - another large dysfunctional family shaken up by an outsider, in this case the divine Elizabeth (one of my favourite Tyler characters). Reading the first few pages transported me quickly back to Tylerland which is both a geographical region stretching from Maryland to North Carolina (capital city: Baltimore) and a region of the mind. This is one of the most enjoyable of Anne Tyler's many books.

As with all Tyler novels, The Clock Winder is full of quirky, odd and lovable characters. While there is not much action in her stories, the writing is so well done and the characters so fully developed, by the end of her novels, you always feel like a part of the family. Such is the case with The Clock Winder.

When the novel opens, Mrs. Emerson is a recent widow, who seems to aimlessly go about her days, always keeping up her image and trying to stay in tune with her grown children's lives. Never meaning harm, Mrs. Emerson seems to stress her children out, and doesn't seem to understand how she is affecting them. When she fires her lifelong handyman, she stumbles by chance upon young Elizabeth and before she knows it, Elizabeth is tangled up in the lives of the Emerson family.

The rest of the novel details how Elizabeth is affected by the family, and they by her. Tyler's writing is so poignant, while not much is really happening, so much is actually happening. This is a book that Tyler fans won't be disappointed in~

The Clock Winder, is one of Anne Tyler's best. I have fallen in love with all the quirky characters who inhabit her books.

I am particularly moved by Elizabeth Abbot, in this story, who enters as a stranger on the periphery and is metamorphosed into the essential core of the Emerson family.

Though each of the characters displays an array of idiosyncracies, some charming and others downright sinister, Elizabeth the "Handyman" reveals the beauty of simply being the best version of yourself on the planet!

This is lovely, rich material and a delight to read. Be warned: Ms. Tyler is addictive, you will never be able to read just one of her novels!

I have read many Books on the topic of Visual Basic, this one being my first foray into VB.Net. This book contains the best compilation of exercises I have seen in a beginner's book. The explanations are thorough and clearly explained. In addition, the authors appear to go to great lengths to expose the reader to a wide variety of functions throughout the lessons. I will admit that the editing staff for this book might benefit from taking an English class or two, as some of the grammar in the book is painful to read. However, in spite of the ineptitude of the editing staff I think you will be hard pressed to find a better resource for learning VB.Net. This is a how to manual, not a literary work of art. While I have noticed the poor editing, it is not substantial enough to make me want to throw the book across the room (which I have done with some books in the past). I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who needs to get their feet wet with VB.Net.

I purchased this book 3 days ago and because of other commitments I have only read as far as Chapter 4. However in that short space of time, I did the right thing by myself and wrote every example out in the book so far (nothing beats learning by doing, at least as far as I am concerned). I must admit, having gone from a flat 0 in VB experience to now writing basic programs by myself without referring to any book or online help.

Even if the remainder of the book turns out to be [weak]), the info I have learnt already has made me very happy with the purchase.

I have not seen one error yet, everything works as shown and is explained so anyone can understand it.

If you are new to VB.Net or programming at all, buy this book. It is without doubt the best book I have ever seen on the subject of programming. This is my first Wrox book and it probably will not be the last if this is the quality of their products. This book Wrox! :)

I have spent a great deal of time browsing through a number of VB.Net books in a couple of my local bookstores. (Both have extensive technical book sections). This book caught my eye and I decided to browse through it. First off, I must say that in the bookstore I was "wowed" by quality of the content. After I got it home and started implementing the examples in the chapters, I can definitively say that this book is excellent.

My goal in my book search was to find a book that explained the VB.Net language as it pertained to the VB.Net development environment. I wanted a book that actually "showed" me how to navigate around the IDE while explaining nontrivial VB.Net concepts and examples, and discussing the language so that I would be able to write some programs after finishing it.

Some of the earlier chapters are geared to a beginning programmer (somewhat like me and even less so), yet the authors branch off and talk about relevant topics without falling off a limb. For example, in chapter 2 - "Writing Software", the authors discuss data types and give numerous examples of accessing the different properties of each. When they get the the Boolean datatype, they actually go into a juicy amount of detail about binary representations and even discuss binary math. Its just a few pages in length but it is darn appropriate and gives a nice overview into the topic at hand. However, they keep it moving and move on to the next appropriate topic with their usual clarity in writing.

I am now focusing on their chapter on "Building Objects" - chapter 4. I have to say that this chapter offers the clearest examples of classes that I have seen. Far too often I have read about classes in other books and have seen weird examples that had little to do with real life...often requiring a "suspension of reality" on behalf of the reader such that the reader was forced to make the leap from theory to reality. This book, on the other hand, shows me how to construct an object that I can actually relate to.

So far I have not found any errors, although they do list some (minor) errata in the Wrox website. But the fact that Wrox even *has* a comprehensive website proactively listing potential errata is yet another reason I am glad I bought this book from this publisher. By the way, I found their website and located the section related to this book in about 12 seconds. The quality is in the details, and obviously somebody at Wrox actually cared about the ease of finding information about their published material.

Like I said I am only on chapter 4, yet I have done a lot of "skimming" ahead and I eagerly await the topics in later chapters where I will learn how to build little Windows applications, make my own menus, handle errors, connect to a database, etc. Basically *all* the things I want to learn how to do. (Are they mind readers?)

Excellent work.

The funny little woman and her strange counterparts might throw adults into somekind of frenzy but kids will recognize the funniness of the situation.This book isn't scary but hyper and totally amusing.Recommended to people who who like weird and wonderful tales.

This children's book, retold by Arlene Mosel based on a story by Lafcadio Hearn, is about a Japanese woman who falls into a cavern and is forced to bake rice cakes for some underground demons. Her ability to laugh enables her to find a way to escape. The book was illustrated by Blair Lent and it won the 1973 Caldecott Medal for best illustrations in a book for children.

I was in the first grade when this book was released. I must have read it hundreds of times. I'm pleased to discover it's still in print. It has an indescribable quality that has stuck in my memory for thirty years: the warm but mysterious Asian elements, the damp green rooty feel of the pictures, the light and quirky text. I plan on reading it to my four year old--hundreds of times.

Lynn Hightower spins a good detective/cop story. This one is set in the lower echelons of the horse business, and the auction scenes may break your heart, as they did that of the heroine, Sonora Blair. The plot was intricate and absorbing, had enough twists and turns to keep a veteran reader of this genre interested, and had good characterization, especially of the harried life of a working mother/police detective/single woman seraching for love & romance protagonist, Sonora. And I liked the setting of horsey Cincinnati, even though I'm not particularly horse-enamored. It made me want to take a drive through the area and look again at the marginal horse farms, not just the ritzy ones.

I liked this book well enough to go searching for other detective mysteries by Hightower.

Lynn S. Hightower wrote a masterpiece when she wrote this book. I couldn't put it down and finished it way too quickly. I can't wait to see her next Sonora Blair story, and I highly recommend this book as well as the previous ones (Flashpoint and Eyeshot), to anyone.

I am a fan of good detective fiction. But sadly, I have found that many pieces of the genre fail to thrill and satisfy me the way Hightower has with NO GOOD DEED. After reading this book, I can easily place Lynn S. Hightower in the same category as John Grisham. Hightower's heroine Sonora Blair is both bewitching and believable. And the ending is a jolt! (As endings should be with any good piece of detective fiction.)

I first read this story during Christmas week of my 5th Christmas. My mother found it in its entirety in a Christmas magazine and I read it.

An unnamed girl is sent out into the cold by her abusive father to sell matches. He beats her whenever she fails to bring in a satisfactory income for her work.

One night, after a day of no sales, the child, frozen to the bone, lights a match. A glorious vision of a Christmas tree appears. The vision fades away when the match burns out. The second match the girl lights shows a Christmas feast. This feast of illusions dies too, with the match.

The third time she lights a match, her beloved, deceased grandmother appears. The girl runs to her, never to return to the cold again. The next morning she is found frozen to death in the snow.

This story gets to me 100% of the time. To this day it makes me get misty eyed. It is truly the saddest Christmas story I have ever come across.

This story is about a little girl who tries to sell matches to people in the streets in order to make money for her family. One day her father was furious for the lack of funds his daughter was bringing home. He ordered her to stay out on the streets and not return home unless she had sold her matches. After walking around in the freezing cold and snow she was scared to go home and be beaten when she had not sold the required amount of matches to return home. She tucked herself into a corner and rested. After feeling the bitter cold and snow the little girl decided to light matches in an effort to stay warm. With each match she lit a magical vision appeared. With each match the little girl saw warm loving Christmas scenes. Some of the scenes were a feast, a fireplace and finally a warm memory of her grandmother. With this memory and loving scene the little match girl was brave and comforted. Soon the warm comfort of her grandmother allowed her to be comfortable and whisked her away to heaven.
The author wanted everyone to believe in happy memories and warm thoughts no matter what emotional state you are in, or whatever social class or size. This is a wonderful story with beautiful pictures that just help the authors' words in describing the warm feelings. You actually can feel the warmth of the little girls visions through the matches.
I love this story. It gets me choked up when I read it. But the little girl was so peaceful when she left to be in heaven with her loving grandmother. Everyone's wish is to be loved no matter where you are in life, simply to be loved and filled with warmth.

This is a story that has made me misty eyed since I was 5. I first read this story my 5th Christmas. It appeared in a Christmas magazine and to this very day it always makes me more than just a little misty eyed.

An unnamed girl is sent into the cold, cruel city to sell matches by her equally cold, cruel father. She turns her income over to him and he beats her when he feels she has not sold enough matches.

One night the girl, frozen to the bone, lights a match. A glorious Christmas tree appears, bright and blazing. That vision vanishes along with the match when it burns out.

The second match she lights shows a splendid holiday feast -- a Feast of Illusions. This, too, fades away when the match burns out.

The final match she lights reveals her beloved, deceased grandmother. The girl runs to her, never to return to the cold city streets.

The next morning, she is found, frozen to death in the street. This story gets to me every single time. I would never be able to read it aloud because it is just too sad.

Near the beginning of the movie "Crimson Tide", there is a debate among crew members as to what is the best submarine movie of all time, "The Enemy Below" or "Das Boot." If you understand that debate, then this two volume definitive history of the Battle of the Atlantic is for you.

Using de-classifed documents previously not available to past historians, such as the documents concerning the breaking of the German Naval Code, and the subsequent use of the code breaking materials in anti-submarine warfare, along with a detailed analysis of the statistical numbers, Clay Blair rewrites the main conclusion of most previous histories of the U-Boats. Simply put, he concludes, with irrefutable logic and detail, that the U-Boats never came close to severing the Atlantic supply lines. They were too few in number, and when their numbers rose, they were technologically inferior to Allied anti- submarine initiatives and weaponry. Even in their best months, the U-Boats never sank more than 5% of Allied merchant shipping, and frequently were well below that figure.

Rather, the U-Boat, he concludes, was more a propaganda menace, misunderstood by the Allied leaders who fought and ultimately conquered the U-Boats.

It is also a tale of courage and fortitude on the high seas. The fact that the U-Boats never came close to their goal does not diminish the ardor and courage displayed on both sides of this cruel war.

Volume 2 is a particularly fascinating study of a proud naval force literally disintegrating under the overwhelming onslaught of Allied anti-submarine warfare. As Blair himself admits, the final year of the U-Boat war is mostly glossed over in the histories, and Blair corrects that injustice.

Clay Blair has alredady established himself as an authority on submarine warfare, and as a former American submariner he knows of that which he writes. His two volume work "Hitler's U-Boat War" is in many ways his best work to date and must certainly be considered as one (if not the) definitives works on German u-boat warfare. Divided into two volumes, Blair gives a complete picture of the development, crest and ultimate demise of the German attempt to fight a war, actually two wars, at sea with limited resources. Vol. I, "The Hunters" details the development and crest of these efforts when the Nazi U-boats became the infamous hunters of allied shipping, while Vol. II, "The Hunted, 1942-1944" relates the dramatic counter measures used by the British, the Canadians and the Americans to combat and ultimately defeat the u-boat. There are other fine works on this subject, but what sets Blair's efforts apart is the overwhelming abundance of data included in his two volumes, and his conclusions that are well supported by that data. He concludes that the overall effect of German submarine warfare has been overrated, and emphasizes that this point is easily seen in the data. He also makes a case that Hitler's use of u-boats was a cheap consession to a German navy that he had little use for. Accordingly, very limited resources were committed to submarines or the navy in general. Throughout these volumes are a number of sub-plots and stories including the grand tale of allied efforts to get hold of vital German code devices. This is an interesting saga that remains engaging even with all of Blair's attention to detail. In Vol. I we identify with the u-boat commanders and crews, and lament the allied casualties. In Vol. II, the tables are turned and one cannot help but sympathize with the crews of the u-boats as they suffered defeat and near annihilation, and glory in the final allied victory. Each volume is presented in a manner that makes them a complete work, but the full achievement here can only be appreciated by reading the two volumes in succession.

If you were persevering enough to finish volume one (the hunters) of Clay Blair's great historical account of the German u-boats during World War II, you will be delighted by the reversal of fortunes of the u-boats in this volume. Where once the u-boat was invincible, each run becomes a 50/50 suicide run, worse odds that playing Russian roulette with a pistol.

Blair notes that it took him 11 years to complete his research and write this book, and it shows. You could not ask for a more complete assessment of u-boat activity during the war than Blair provides. However, it's not for the weak reader. Reading this book requires stamina, but the reader is rewarded in the end with getting a very good "feel" for the u-boat situation in general. It's almost as if Blair, by hammering in each individual sailing, sinking, or abort, gets you to see the "big picture."

I like the author's interjection of ancillary material from time to time: the possibility of losing Enigma decrypts; the land invasion of Europe; where the boats went when the end of the war was announced, and so on. I also like Blair's outspoken opinion on various contemporary subjects such as the overbearing Brits, the vote-concerned politicians, the "unfair" war crimes trials, and so on.

Exceptional reading; the author knows his stuff.

I bought this book thinking it would, indeed, contain the "Secret Confession of Rustin Parr". As another reviewer said, it skirts that issue neatly. Author D.A. Stern does, however, deliver an interesting mystery, and makes it fit with all of the other facts in the Blair Witch "History". The book keeps the prerequisite amount of ambiguity, and as in all other Blair Witch products, there are many ways one could interpret the events depicted. Overall, it's a good read, if a tad quick. Stern manages to deliver some truly creepy moments, and the ending does pack a punch. I'd recommend potential readers check out Stern's Blair Witch Project: A Dossier, and the video The Massacre of the Burkittsville Seven beforehand, though, as both are heavily referenced throughout the book.

Short, sweet, and very chilling, this novel expands nicely upon the Blair Witch backstory presented in the movie, but does so in a way that shouldn't require readers to have actually seen the film. (At least, that's my guess; it's hard to be sure, since I have seen the film.) Author DA Stern demonstrates more than a mere understanding of the Blair Witch fictional mythos with this story; he clearly understands that what made the original movie so creepily effective was its "less is more" approach to horror. This novel uses the same philosophy; what it tells us about former priest Dominic Cazale and accused serial murderer of children Rustin Parr isn't half as scary as what it doesn't tell us. Like the previous Blair Witch spin-offs, the comics collected in the Blair Witch Chronicles book, fans of the movie should find more of what they enjoyed in this novel. Between this book and the comics, I'm pleased enough that I want to give the Blair Witch Files books a try!

By now, we are supposed to know that The Blair Witch Project is not real. But they keep adding to the story-books, cable "faux" documentaries, a second movie, and a third film (prequel) on the way. If any of this were true, I think we would have heard about it on a show like Unsolved Mysteries. Anyway, The Secret Confession of Rustin Parr gives us more questions than the answers we want. A former priest has decided to reveal privileged information (i.e. the title).

This is a huge book (just short of a thousand pages) and it's packed full of really useful information. It covers all the important parts of the .NET Framework Class Library - Win Forms, Web Forms, ADO.NET, XML, Web Services and more - as well as the syntax and new features of Visual Basic .NET.

With so much to cover the book has to keep up a decent pace, which means that the authors assume that you've got experience of working with Visual Basic 6. If you're new to programming then you'll want to look elsewhere.

For VB6 programmers this book is great value.

This book is for experienced developers who need to make the transition to VB.NET. It will also help programmers with previous knowledge of VB.NET who want to move up to the professional level.

The book begins with an introduction to the .NET Framework and common language RunTime(CLR). The CLR is responsible for managing the execution of code compiled for the .NET platform. The next few chapters focus on object oriented programming and how to derive classes from base classes using inheritance. Chapter 9 gives a detailed discussion on how error handling works in VB.NET by discussing the CLR exception handler in detail and the new Try...Catch...Finally structure. An entire chapter is devoted to multi-threading. You will learn how threads can be created, and the differences between multitasking and multi-threading. Chapter 16 discusses COM and .NET component interoperability, and the tools provided to help link the two technologies together. Chapter 18 gives detailed coverage of the ADO.NET data access technology. You will learn how to build flexible, fast, and scalable data access objects and applications.

The final chapters discuss building web applications with web forms, creating custom controls for Windows Forms and Web Forms, and finally, creating and consuming Web Services.

If you're an experienced VB developer and would like to make the transition to VB.NET, then this book is a must.

As someone who has spent over five years as a professional Visual Basic programmer I don't want to throw away all my knowledge when I move to VB.NET. Fortunately, this (big) book doesn't bother teaching you programming from scratch (you should definitely look elsewhere if you're a complete beginner) but will help you make sense of not only what's changed in the move from VB6 to VB.NET (a lot!) but also what you can take with you from VB6 (a surprisingly large amount actually). This means that you don't have to spend your time working through stuff like "this is a variable", "this is an if statement". Instead the book gets stuck into what makes the .NET Framework and Common Language Runtime tick - and explains how you can relate all of it to VB6.

The first third of the book serves as a reference to the VB.NET language - syntax, error handling, objects, inheritance, interfaces, and the differences between variables and types. While this means that you don't get to create many exciting applications early on it does mean that you have a thorough grounding in the essentials of the language.

Then the rest of the book takes a look at the most important features of .NET in turn: ADO.NET, XML, Windows Forms, Web Services, Data Binding, Remoting, Networking, Threading, Security, Web Forms, etc. You won't be an expert in any of these areas after you've read the book but you will have a much better idea of what VB.NET is capable of and how to get started using the advanced features of the .NET Framework Class Library.

Although there are a lot of authors that wrote on this book, which can spell trouble in my experience, the editors have managed to maintain a consistent voice throughout and there's surprisingly little overlap between chapters. Well worth the money.

I enjoyed the Matthew Reynolds? e-commerce book last year and thought that this guy will keep doing good books. I was wrong, this book is for kids under 10 or for someone who never learnt any programming language.

if you have a little experince in VB5 or VB6
Do Not Buy this book
it waste your time i will try to finish it in this week and g to better book .

This is the best book only for beginers in ((PROGRAMMING IN GENERAL))

I like the WROX series books a great deal. I like the fact that they have beginning, professional, and other books on the same subject. Their site publishes errata that you can write into your book before starting it.

But, then as I go through the book I find more typos, illogicalities, or wrong descriptions (such as telling you that you will see a particular screen upon hitting a certain menu and that is not the screen that you do see).

I started sending in errata, one chapter at a time and was duly told that they would be sent to the "editors". Well the "editors" seem to be a "black hole", because, since about 2-3 months ago, after starting sending in what I found, I have never heard back from WROX AND there are no new updates to the errata on their site.

Therefore, please note that some or many of your WROX books may or probably will not have up to date errata for them. I will also be sending in errata for Beginning ASP .NET Using Visual Basic .NET.

I'll report back as to how that errata process is working also.

This is a superbly written book, capturing the drama behind the discovery of the concept of the Ice Age. Bolles tells the story from the perspective of three different 19th century investigators: Kane, a gentleman adventurer, Lyell, one of the founders of modern geology, and Agassiz, one of the world's greatest naturalists. Using what is almost like a diarist method to tell the tale, the author interweaves the points of view of all three individuals taking the reader through the stages of the theory's conception and gestation. It seems amazing that what seems so abundantly apparent to modern students of earth history is blindly missed by many very astute 19th Century scientists. Furthermore, when a clear arguement with supporting data is resisted, it seems almost a willful desire to deny the existance of an Ice Age. Indeed such it may have been, as this was an era when strongly held religious beliefs, which had shaped much of the thinking up to that time, were beginning to crumble. In Ice Finders Bolles expertly creates an exciting and informative history of one of the intellectual adventures of science.

This is a wonderful little book about three individuals deeply involved in the exploration and discovery of the earth and it's origins during the 19th century - Louis Agassiz a Swiss Professor and politician; Elsisha Kent Kane, who spent two years trapped in the ice of Greenland and published "Arctic Exporations," his account of the ordeal; and Charles Lyell, a Scottish Geologist.

Bolles interweaves each figure's story and experiences as they work their way toward the discovery and acceptance of the previous Ice Ages and how they explain many argued about features of earth, such as erractic boulders and glacial moraines - many of which were accepted as the outcome of biblical events. And these primary explainations were a major hurdle to our ever-expanding understand of the earth, it's origins as ours.

The names of these three individuals will probably be familar to any reader of Arctic Exploration, Discovery and History.

Edmond Bolles book "The Ice Finders" is a real treat, perhaps the best I've read this year. In this tale of the discovery of the concept of "Ice Age", Bolles weaves together the story of three people of different times and places. We are treated to three biographies of people who played important but very different roles forming a new view and understanding of the world-a view we carry to this day to such an extent it's hard to imagine anything else.

Bolles displays for us an intellectual adventure I'd never thought about before, as well as ego trips, and quixotic expeditions. And what a cast of characters including Charles Darwin, the Lowell's of Massachusetts, Ralph Emerson and others who add great spice to the stories. The book is intellectually stimulating, entertaining and fun. Here is a piece of history I knew nothing about until reading Bolles book. What a bargain-all in one book.