I found this book to be not that good. It is a bit long winded, I had a hard time using the index to find things that I was looking for. It helped me get a bit more expertise but didn't help me get to a very good level of expertise. I rarely use this book now, I would recommend looking else where for a better book to both learn and use as a reference. Wrong first buy or only buy.

You will become functionally literate in Emacs with this book. It's large and friendly, unlike Emacs, and you have to dedicate a lot of time to learning this lovable, beastly editor. (Emacs is not so much a text editor as an IDE + calendar + interface to Unix tools rolled into one).

Learning Emacs to its very core is a good education for any programmer... I can't imagine a benefit to any non-programmer (or non-technical person) in this day and age (Emacs dates back to the 1970's, technology-wise). Its extensibility is indeed legendary, but RMAIL is simply not as good as a dozen other mail clients; Gnus cannot compare to Netscape's news reader or rtin; w3 is not as good as Lynx for plain-text Web surfing; buffers are nice but I find 'screen' to be a better tool, and 'vi' faster for just plain text editing.

The advantage is Emacs can do all of these together, with major and minor modes providing the hooks (pun intended) to integrate the work. Emacs is a jack of all trades and master of... a few, at least.

All that said, I found the lack of regular expression search/replace examples mystifying, no discussion at all of registers or the mark ring, and after reading the *whole thing* I still wanted more. Maybe more major modes for the next edition? :-)

I have been a vi user for a long time (6 years) and never thought I needed an alternative. This book has shown me the wonderful world of Emacs and its many modes. For very fast editing of text files and search/replace operations, vi is still the best. But for anything else, Emacs is a real time saver. I work a lot with the Fortran and LaTeX modes (with the AUCTeX package) and they both have saved me countless keystrokes, particularly with LaTeX. I find it convenient to keep this book nearby for reference as Emacs' has far too many commands to keep in one's head. It is *certainly* a very good introductory and reference book to Emacs. I will not write Lisp code in my life and the information given here is sufficient for me. Another user has mentioned that rtin and Lynx are better, but most often, you have install another dozen packages before you can use them (atleast if you *don't* use a Linux machine). Gnus works well enough for my occasional newsreading. I highly recommend this book for the 95% that are not too interested in heavy customization or esoteric uses. I most certainly will buy an extra copy to keep as a reference.

How difficult life is! This book is Amandafs complex life story when she is eleven years old. I think you canft understand that only the book cover, so Iell introduce about this book.

Amanda Woods lives in very small town in the United States, with outstanding sister Margaret, a very strict mother Lydia, and an honest but timid father George. George is working in Rome hotel, he is the owner.
This book begins whit Amanda and her best friend Lyle. She has only friend Lyle. However Lylefs family has gone to Montana. Then Amanda tries to make friends in her school, but she is very shy and little somber, so it was very difficult for her. After few months she makes two pen pals and best friend, Pam by Margaretfs advice.

One of interesting point is about friend. The other is about her family. Her mother takes care of only Margaret very much. Amanda was treated like mosquito by her sister, so she is very poor girl. In that family Amanda changes more cheerfully with her father and her friends by little and little.

I think you wonft understand about this story only by the book cover. When I looked the book cover, I couldnft understand why gMobius striph and gfour-leaf cloverh etc, written in the book cover? But through that, I could consider about this story.

All characters in this book have very strong personalities, so sometime youfll tried reading, but you can produce many opinions about this book. And boys will not like this kind of book, but the girls maybe will like it. Because this book is written about love, friend and family, I think the girls like the complex story very much.

This book shows alot of what kids Amanda's age go through. Like most kids she has a role model, a best friend, and a Lyle Leveridge hand. Okay, well i guess you don't have a Lyle Leveridge hand. This book is my favorite book. It shows you real life mixed with a little fantasy. I highly recomend it.

The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods was written by Ann Cameron. I really enjoyed this book and I recommend it to people of all ages. This book is especially enjoyable because of its characters and its extremely powerful theme, be yourself and don't allow other people to change you. The Secret Life of Amanda K. Woods takes place a while ago more or less in 1954, in Rome, Wisconsin. Amanda is a 12-year-old girl who faces many problems to discover who she really is, what she should be, and why things are the way they are. Some of the problems she encounters will maybe never be clarified or solved. Like why her mother loves to change people and make them what she wants them to be, or why her sister is always depressed and mean to her. Although Amanda faces problems that make her sad she also deals with situations that allow her to discover her real self. The whole plot of this book revolves around the characters. In this book you find out about many different characters and their characteristics. I really liked reading about the characters, it is one of the reasons I enjoyed this book. Like Lydia Woods, Amanda's mother. She wants people to be who she wants them to be, especially her two daughters, Amanda and Margaret. Lydia wants her daughters to be everything she wasn't when she was growing up. She obligates her daughters, especially Margaret who is older, to do whatever she wants. She doesn't allow her daughters to give opinions on what they want to do. Lydia also excludes people if they are poor or not as socially high as they are. Margaret was raised by her mother, so she grew up to be who her mother wanted her to be and not what she wanted to be. Margaret gets depressed when she lets her mother down, she blames it all on Amanda. Margaret is all very insecure and she won't stand up for her opinions only when it is against her little sister. The theme of this book is another reason why I really enjoyed it. Of the many themes this author tries to pass to the readers I think that the most important one is to be you no matter what. I thought that was the most important theme because it you are not yourself you can hurt people and you can especially hurt yourself. You should be liked by who you really are. Ann Cameron shows you that in a different way. Amanda sees how her sister suffers by being who her mother made her be, and she promises herself she will be what she wants, she will at least stand up for her opinions. Find some time and read this book because you will enjoy the Woods family and their characteristics, and the special theme of this book.

I read this book about six months ago, and at the time I was very interested in learning whatever I could about the experiences and vision that this fine director brought to his artistic achivement "Titanic." Now, a short tme later, I can't for the life of me remember what the book had to say--and that's unusual for me, to finish a book and then not retain any clear sense of what the book had to say or what it contributed to my knowledge/understanding of a subject. The book itself is very easy to understand--simple-minded, even, in its handling of the material--yet it leaves no lasting impact on me. Far more vivid for me, as far as getting a sense of how Cameron looks at things and what "Titanic" meant for him, was "James Cameron's Titanic." That's the book to read if you want to get a feel for Cameron's emotional and working relationship to the movie.

First off, to the other reviewers, please don't start writing about how great the film is! Most of the people who order this book already agree with that. This is for reviews of Paula Parisi's book!

Anyway, Parisi has done a fantastic job shedding light on the immense production that was Titanic. It's great to read another take on the movie (pro-Titanic) from a person who was on the set for the duration of filming. While the film was in production, the way the press covered the film was pathetic (though fun gossip). Also, having been a fan of the way Parisi covers Cameron for T.H.R. and Wired, it was wonderful for us to have her delve a little deeper into the project.

My only wish is that Parisi would have included more about some of the crew members like Simon Crane, Jimmy Muro, and Josh McLaglen. Also, knowing how PA's get the crap work on movies, it would have been nice to hear some of their gossip. (Not to be confused with the press' gossip. I wanted more more like teamster/PA gossip). I would have also liked a little more insight into the cast. (not so much kate and leo, just a general overview on the work/conditions/feelings the main cast had on Titanic--something along the lines of how billy zane explains it all)

Otherwise, this book was a joy to read. It was a fast read too, which is always a good thing for a college student. :-)

This book does exactly what it set out to do - show how Titanic reshaped the movie-making industry by destroying conventional expectations. It also paints Cameron in a much different light than most other tv and print media do (i.e. good). Sometimes Parisi seems to go a bit overboard in her praise of Cameron and when she starts calling the media "idiots", one wonders just how much Cameron himself has influenced this work.

A good read, and helpful in understanding just how big an undertaking this film was, but while I admire James Cameron and loved the film, the golden glow that this book gives him is a bit much. Overall, I would recommend it for anyone wanting to see the innovativeness, stamina, politics, and gambling that went into pulling off the biggest film of all time (so far).

This book does provide some help for BASH beginners, but lacks reference material and real world examples of BASH Shell programming. Any programming book SHOULD include real world examples OR complete reference material to be considered quality material. This book does NOT make the grade

This book is an excellent resource for Linux-literate individuals. I use it to tutor students and adults on Bash shell programming. For beginners, it may be too difficult, but the people with hands-on experience will appreciate its content of the each chapter. It lacks real-world examples but with imagination and creativity, you can easily drum up a number of viable samples. This book is not for people who need to be spoon-fed.

I review the book from a Unix beginners perspective. I havent finished reading the book yet, but I just cant resist sharing my positive feelings about it. It might very well be true that the book lacks real world examples, as the other reviewers point out. But let me balance this criticism by highliting great strengths that the book has (at least for newcomers to Unix like me). Picking up this book, I had very little knowledge of Unix and I had not read any book on shell programming before. I used to be very sceptical about working with shells having grown up with the easiness of use of GUIs like MS Windows. Thanks to this book I am now dying to get my hands on Linux to start using the Bash shell (for now, I am using Cygwin under NT). The book answers all the questions I used to have about Unix as I was programming on the Solaris platform. Because of this book, I am now deeply fascinated by the simplicity and power of Unix! I want to send my sincere gratitude to the authors!

This was when it was issued an excellent reference for Pern, but it has since been very dated by the publication of books such as Masterharper of Pern and Skies of Pern. And the information in it is extremely shallow compared to some of the excellent wesites that are available online. I would be delighted if Jody Lynn Nye and Annne McCaffrey would sit down and incorporate some of the work Pern fans have been doing in the interim years and make this a truly authoritative Pern reference book.

I found this book good reading, for the most part. Like any "instructional" type companion book for a series, it can be dry at times...but it's still a good read! I found out some things that the series books had left out, or didn't explain too thouroughly. The illustrations were really great, too! My perception of just how big Ramoth was definitely changed after I read this book! All in all...not bad, if you're a McCaffrey/Pern fan. Worth buying!

Do you love Anne McCaffrey's Pern books? Did you ever wonder exactly what a bubbly pie was or how klah really tastes? Want the recipe? It's all in this book. I took this home and kicked my family out of the kitchen for hours. Klah is fabulous if you like coffee, cinnamon, and chocolate. Do you want to know what the Rukbat system looks like? There's a map of Rukbat here. And what are those bloody threads made of anyway? And how do the dragonriders predict where they'll fall next? It's all right here in this cover-to-cover learning experience

I didn't really enjoy this book because you knew what was going to happen. It was obvious that the vamps were killing the people, and Buffy would of course save the day. The twist with the demons was good, but I wouldn't recommend this book. Dokey is still a newer writer, so taking that into account the book was fair. Not number one on my book list, but an average read.

I really, really enjoyed this addition to the Buffy series - it's one of the best of the young adult length novels. Buffy dusts two teen vamps, angering their mother, who raises a goddess of revenge to punish her. Now Buffy must undergo a test by Nemesis (the goddess). If she fails, her mother dies. I really enjoyed the whole test sequence, especially the part where Buffy has to see what would have happened if she had failed to save her friends at various points. Very emotional. Anyway, I can't say enough good things about this book, so if you are a Buffy fan, just go and read it!

Here Be Monsters is a really good Buffy book, once again the novels take place during season 3 of Buffy and this one is really good, it took me only 2 days to read, the ending is suprising and i really wasnt seeing the twist coming. If u want a good read i recommend this book one of the best in the series

I made a point of reading "How I Survived My Summer Vacation, Volume 1" after watching the first season again of "Buffy the Vampire Season" in chronological order, so I could appreciate the attempt of this collection of short stories to answer the eternal question "What REALLY happened that summer after sophomore year?" But it soon became clear that what is involved here is less filling in the giant gap and more foreshadowing what is to come in season two and beyond. Certainly it is impossible to read about Giles and Jenny without thinking she is half a year way from having her neck broken by Angelus. The six stories here begin with some notion of continuity, as a demon mage named Absalom has shown up to help the Anointed One after the death of the Master. But that only holds up for half the book. The first story, "Dust" by Michelle West, is definitely the best of the bunch, focusing on Buffy, who is suddenly having visions of the death of everybody she touches, which makes going to live with her father for the summer even more difficult than she expected. Nancy Holder's "Absalom Rising" tells of how the Master's minions and Giles, Angel and the Scoobys fought over the Master's bones. Cameron Dokey gets two bites of the apple: "Looks Can Kill" is the second best story in the bunch, focusing on Giles and Angel trying to get along with each other without Buffy to mediate. "No Place Like..." takes us back to Buffy in L.A., where she becomes involved in a nice little ghost story. The last pair of stories try to go for the comedy a bit too much and are hardly worth the effort. "Uncle Dead and the Fourth of July" by Yvonne Navarro finds Jenny dragging Giles to the 4th of July picnic where a group of zombie soldiers show up to have some fun. Then in "The Show Must Go One" by Paul Ruditis has Giles and Jenny going to see a production of "MacBeth" because five of the stage crew are vampires and the other two are Willow and Xander. At the end of this there is but one burning question: Where's Cordelia? Time always stands still between seasons on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," so I am sure we can look forward to future collections of short stories detailing what happened each summer, from the summer Buffy ran away to L.A. to the one she spent in her grave. I am also sure we can look forward to equally mixed bags of good and not so good short stories to download in the future.

I made of point of finally reading "How I Survived My Summer Vacation, Volume 1" after watching the first season from of "Buffy the Vampire Season" in chronological order, so I could appreciate the attempt of this collection of short stories to answer the question "What REALLY happened that summer after sophomore year?" But it soon became clear that what is involved her is less filling in the gap and more foreshadowing what is to come. It is impossible to read about Giles and Jenny without thinking she is half a year way from having her neck broken by Angelus. The six stories here begin with some notion of continuity, as a demon mage named Absalom has shown up to help the Anointed One after the death of the Master. But that only holds up for half the book. The first story, "Dust" by Michelle West, is the best of the bunch, focusing on Buffy, who is suddenly having visions of the death of everybody she touches, which makes going to live with her father for the summer more difficult than she expected. Nancy Holder's "Absalom Rising" tells of how the Master's minions and Giles, Angel and the Scoobys fought over the Master's bones. Cameron Dokey gets two bites of the apple: "Looks Can Kill" is the second best story in the bunch, focusing on Giles and Angel trying to get along with each other without Buffy to mediate. "No Place Like..." takes us back to Buffy in L.A., where she becomes involved in a nice little ghost story. The last pair of stories try to go for the comedy a bit too much and are hardly worth the effort. "Uncle Dead and the Fourth of July" by Yvonne Navarro finds Jenny dragging Giles to the 4th of July picnic where a group of zombie soldiers show up to have some fun. Then in "The Show Must Go One" by Paul Ruditis has Giles and Jenny going to see a production of "MacBeth" because five of the stage crew are vampires and the other two are Willow and Xander. At the end of this there is but one burning question: Where's Cordelia? Time always stands still between seasons on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," so I am sure we can look forward to future collections of short stories detailing what happened each summer, from the summer Buffy ran away to L.A. to the one she spent in her grave. I am also sure we can look forward to equally mixed bags of good and not so good short stories.

This book is a collection of 6 short stories set during the summer following Buffy's sophmore year.Buffy has just killed the master and gone to LA to stay with her father. 'Dust' by Michelle West follows Buffy to LA where she has to battle internal visions and demons. As she gets up close and personal with the future deaths of her friends and relatives her death at the master's hands becomes more real. This is the darkest and most distrubing story. In 'Absalom Rising' by Nancy Holder Vampires steal the master's bones from Giles. Jenny, Xander and Willow come to his assistance. Angel offers his help but Giles has trouble trusting a vampire. 'Looks Can Kill' by Cameron Dokey is my favorite story. A shapshifter bent on the slayer's destruction targets her friends in her absence. Angel, Giles and Jenny track the beast but who do you kill when the beast can look like anyone. "No Place Like..." By Cameron Dokey is a sweet story of redemption and love. Buffy sets out to kill a witch and ends up righting an old wrong. 'Uncle Dead and the Fourth of July' by Yvonne Navarro is a silly adventure for Jenny,Giles and Angel once again. Giles attempt at American history are amusing. The last story 'The Show Must Go On'by Paul Ruditis is a hoot if a bit bloody. Theatre buffs will particularly love it.

All in all a good collection that is true to the mood at the end of the first season and the beginning of the second. The stories are enjoyable whether you know the history or not. But for the true fan the references are very will placed. Angel it would seem is staying close to Xander, Willow,and Giles because they represent a way to keep close to Buffy. In the last story he asks Giles to get a message to her since he hasn't heard from her all summer. Giles is trying to distance Xander and Willow from any danger. And Jenny Calender is falling in love with the stuffy watcher.

I recomend you spend part of your summer vacation reading these stories and I hope since this says volume one that another collection for Buffy's junior summer will follow.

Stella Cameron is an author that I frequently read, and like many of her books, the real strength of this story is in the plotting. Lots of interesting twists and a surprise (pretty much) ending. It's very readable with good pacing and a plot that propels you along, BUT... My problem is with the characters-- I agree with other reviewers that the romance between Hero/heroine was not believable because he was too much of a jerk in the beginning and through much of the middle. Also, I had a very hard time with the total absence of the child throughout the story. In fact, the story could easily have been told without the child, IMO. I felt that the villains were painted a very monochrome black-- no redeeming human characteristics for a more complex emotional involvement on the part of the reader. And I have to say that Cameron frequently uses "deviant sex" to both titillate the reader and label the villains as BAD. I enjoy sensual novels, but I am getting tired of this technique.

Stella's books are not for the pudding hearts of the universe. She is a consumate, skilled writer with a unique style and characters that set her books apart from the many. This book is focused on the couple and their relationship, which is why Stella didn't let the child steal the show. The antagonists could be anyone in our own family whose dark side we suspect, but rarely see.

Bravo, Stella, for another wonderful read! To heck with anyone who doesn't understand what romance story structure is all about.

Stella's earthy style may be upsetting to some. If that's the case, they should stick with staid, the steady, and the milque toast stories written for those who can't deal with mental images of real life in the bedroom.

Stella does not write of tame events or mild emotions. The sex is explicit and some times edges into the kinky. If you are looking for a "sweet" read, look elsewhere. If you like a twisted plot, strong, multi-dimensional characters, and a gripping story, I highly recommend this book!

The authors must certainly be experienced in building and the various trades but this book just didn't help me at all. A total flop for me, really. The book to get for the first time Owner-Builder is the Complete Guide to Contracting Your Home, by McGuerty & Lester. A wonderful step-by-step guide with TONS of useful information.

Owning your own home has long been considered the American Dream. For many, that includes designing and building the homes themselves. But building a home is a complex project filled with pitfalls and traps, and unwary budding homeowners can find their dreams turning into nightmares.

Enter Mark Smith, who has built several houses of his own. Written by a man who acted as his own general contractor, "The Owner-Builder Book" is crammed with useful advice on how to oversee your own project, from planning to construction. But be warned: it's unflinchingly honest about the amount of work and stress involved. While Mark Smith writes that it's possible to build a house in six months, first will come at least a year of planning and organizing. Once construction begins, you'll have to deal with ensuring that subcontractors appear on time and finish their work on time before the next group of workers appears. You may also have to deal with problems such as late deliveries of materials, subcontractors who don't show up, or who demand advances before working, threatened lawsuits,

Reading this book will give you a better appreciation of what the general contractor goes through. It will either fire your desire to run the show yourself and pocket the savings, or gratefully turn over the work to someone who does it for a living. But what it will also do is give you the information needed to make informed decisions that, even if you work with a contractor, will save you money.

When it came down to owner-building my house, I purchased a whole slew of books hoping that all of them together would help. I found the Owner-builder Book to be the only book that did. I carried it with me everywhere and it came through for me time and time again. I learned many valuable lessons that I've carried on into my everyday life as well- one of which is "Plan, Plan, Plan". I've found that what he says is true, that for "every hour you spend planning, saves 4 hours in execution". This book is everything I was looking for and more!