The projects are very good, and you learn a lot just reading about them -- you don't have to do all 21 of them! The writer's style is very conversational and easy to read, you could actually read this book for pleasure, unlike most computer books. The title says it takes 21 days to learn it -- not really true. I got through it in about 10. You can skip the parts that cover apps you don't use, or read the whole thing to learn all about Office. You'll feel so powerful after you go through this book. There are creative ideas for using Office that I'd never thought of, and I had no idea all the things you can do with Word! I recommend this book to new and experienced users.

I don't have time to take a class and don't have the patience to sit still that long anyway, so I thought a book called "Teach Yourself" would be the next best thing. It was better.

If you learned Office by trial and error, this book will correct your mistakes and show you the right way to do things. You'll learn more stuff than youthought you could. You don't realize how much stuff you're learning until you try to do something on your own and realize you can!

Get this book!

This is a really good book. Before reading this book my experience with Office was mixed because we had Office 97 but I only used parts of it. I knew Word pretty well, but not much about Excel or PowerPoint, and I knew nothing about Access. When we upgraded to 2000, this book taught me things I didn't know about Word (and I thought I knew alot to begin with!) and now I'd feel safe saying that I know and can sucessfully use the rest of the suite too. I've been tracking our production schedules and employee data in Excel, and I put together a presentation in PowerPoint based on what this book taught me, and everyone loved it. I was very proud of myself! I've even started training some of our people, just based on what I learned in this book.

I recommend this Teach Yourself book because it really does let you learn at your own speed and its a great place to look things up if you get stuck. The explanations are clear and I liked the examples because they helped me think of practical ways I could use the software in our office.

I am interested in the book Sams Teach Yourself Object Oriented Programming in 21 days by Tony Sintes and Anthony Sintes and I would like to know what the example at the end of the book is about.I also want to know what else I would need, besides my VISA credit card, to carry out a purchase from Amazón. I am from Chile and I don't have stall in Miami.

This book is a lifesaver. If you have done non-OOP development and are trying to learn Java and OOP, this book may be for you.

I find other Java books do not do enough to tie-in the big picture. Even after reading Eckel's Thinking in Java (among others), I found I was not really thinking in OO terms. I still had the procedural mindset. I have looked into other OO/Java topics for help in areas such as design patterns, UML, and unit testing, but was having trouble putting it all together. Too many books and instructor-led courses save these topics for later - after bad habits with regards to Java have emerged.

Even though it is a SAMS book, Teach Yourself OOP in 21 Days does an excellent job of bringing it all together early and often. The author wastes no time introducing the UML and patterns in a clear, easy-to-understand format. He even explains and provides code for unit testing (via JUnit).

This book does not teach Java - but it does teach you how you should think about and implement Java applications. I highly recommend it as a companion text to an "Intro to Java" course - espeically for those with previous non-OO development experience.

Sam's "Teach Yourself Object Oriented Programming" is a welcome addition to your Java arsenal. Whenever I've started a new language in the past, I would start with a Sam's book for an overview on the subject, followed by a Wrox series book to get more depth, followed by an "Unleashed" or "Professional" book.
This Sam's book is more than an overview. It teaches the full scope of OOP which is what Java is all about. If you need a solid foundation in Java, Sam's Teach Yourself OOP is the way to go.

I am continually amazed at how children's books offer detail and insight into daily life that no stout history book can provide.

Writing the same review for the other two in this trilogy. Excellent all!

This is a wonderful, wonderful book. It will help you teach your children about hard work, perseverance, and family. My children want it read to them again and again.

Young Samuel Eaton (a historical character) is looking forward to his first chance to help his father bring in the crops. He finds the work incredibly hard, and the coarse grain raises bad blisters on his hands. But he perseveres, and at the end of the day when his father tells him "you did a man's work today, Samuel," we feel his pride.

Masterfully written, beautifully photographed, this is a gem in every way.

This book took us back to 1627. We learned all about Samuel Eaton's first day as a man. He told us all about the hard work he had to do in the fields. It was so interesting to read a story that used different words from long ago. The pictures were awesome! They showed us the clothing the pilgrims wore, what their house looked like, and the hard work everybody did. We thought it would be difficult to be a pilgrim boy! We think everyone should read this book because you can learn a lot about how the pilgrims lived. Read this wonderful book!

A wonderful book. In particular, it deals with the questions of God's mercy and justice in a well-thought out manner. It presents the character of God in a very positive light, and offers a perspective on how to consider the judgment in a way which is consistent with how God's character is revealed in other contexts (at the cross, for example).

I would recommend this book as highly as possible.

This is truly an awesome book. It shares a picture of God's character that encourages a person to fall in love with Him. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is truly seeking to get a better picture of God.

This boook totally revolutionized my view of the love of God. It turned God into the God that He truely is on of love that would and did do all the He could to save my life; one that doesn't condemn or see you as a sinner, but sees you as you really are the purchase of the blood of His beloved son who is the manifestation of God's own love for us.

In Seventh Day Adventism in Crisis, Laura Vance has produced a monograph that will surely be of interest to scholars who study religion, gender, and social change. Consistent with much current gender scholarship on the emergence of theologically conservative religions, Vance's study reveals how differently history reads when gender becomes a central analytical category for examining religious transformation. This volume aims to address several interrelated questions, including: How did a religious movement in which women initially wielded visionary leadership eventually come to deny women access to many of its most powerful institutional positions? How have large-scale social changes influenced current debates about "women's place" within contemporary Adventism? In fixing her attention on such issues, Vance produces a book that is not simply a historiographical account of shifting gender relations with Adventism - though a focus on that topic alone would have been quite an accomplishment. Rather, recognizing that the best historical research informs contemporary predicaments, Vance combines a backward-glancing eye attuned to Adventism's past with an insightful investigation of present-day gender relations within this religious denomination.

Seventh-Day Adventism in Crisis begins by recounting the historical origins of Adventism, a sectarian religion that emerged during the Second Great Awakening of the early 19th century. Special attention is paid to the apparently prophetic visions and writings of Ellen White, an early Adventist thought to have received direct revelation from God, detailing the divine mission of this nascent religious movement. Much of the first half of the book then proceeds to analyze the distinctive - and often paradoxical - facets of Adventist doctrine and practice. For example, Adventists are generally committed to the infallibility of the Bible; yet, at the same time, members of this religious group conceive of divine revelation as progressively unfolding into "present truth." Moreover, Adventism has long decried the excesses of "the world" (e.g., gambling, movie going, and various dietary indulgences) even as it has implored its adherents to affiliate with unbelievers for the purpose of evangelism. The Adventist challenge of finding one's place "in but not of the world" is very similar to that faced by other theologically conservative religions. Yet, perhaps the greatest Adventist contradiction entails the eventual erosion of women's leadership authority within a religious denomination whose core doctrine was initially defined - or, better, divined --- by a female prophet. In rendering her portrait of Adventism, past and present, Vance avoids homogenizing this diverse and changing religious tradition. Her careful analytical approach reveals how internal cleavages among Adventists themselves emerged historically and continue to surface in light of this religion's conceptualization of an evolving "present truth." Consequently, the first half of Vance's book evenhandedly combines rich idiographic accounts of particular events in Adventist history (e.g., chaps. 1 and 4) with broader analyses of this religion's theological presuppositions and political organization (e.g., chaps. 2 and 3).

Part 2 of this volume focuses on Adventist responses to a series of recent social changes - shifting definitions of gender and sexuality, the recent rise of women's labor force participation, and controversies over women's ordination to the ministry in many Protestant churches. Because Vance has detailed the particularities of this religious subculture so well in the book's first section, she moves deftly through Adventist responses to these various issues - aided, where appropriate, by back references to section one. For example, Vance examines contemporary Adventist support for gender equity in the workplace with an eye on the post-1870 writings by Ellen White, who defended the payment of equitable wages to female employees and became a champion of women's public-sphere participation in Social Gospel movements. Moreover, current Adventist controversies over women's ordination are understood in light of the rich cultural tradition of Adventism. This multilayered tradition contains strands of early Adventist egalitarianism interwoven with more recent accommodations to secularized visions of gender difference. This reading of structural change and ideological diversity within Adventism effectively challenges those who would equate religious conviction - and especially theological conservatism - with an unreflective preservation of the status quo.

Vance has collected and mined a vast array of data to conduct this study. She draws from archival sources, secondary historical treatments, and Adventist pastoral texts. She has also gathered primary data using participant-observation, in-depth interview, and survey techniques. Given the conceptual breadth and methodological triangulation evidenced in this volume, some readers might charge that Vance simply attempts to cover too much ground in one monograph. I do not share that criticism. Although it is easy to envision other works--for example, a more ethnographically focused monograph-that could effectively build on the material in the present volume, this book draws together coherent and compelling narratives from these various data sources. As a result, Seventh-Day Adventism in Crisis provides a holistic analysis of a religious tradition that has undergone great change since its emergence and continues to redefine itself as we enter the next millennium.

This fine piece of scholarship presents a systematic application of sociological models to a movement whose heart and soul is sectarian. In examining Seventh-day Adventism's history and development from its inception as a postmillennialist movement in the 1800s to its current status as a faith tradition with a distinctive identity, Vance (psychology/sociology, Georgia Southwestern State University) has crafted a remarkably readable book of religio-sociological research. Vance argues that Adventism's move from sectarianism to institutionalization has succeeded through the creation of physical structures which reinforce its unique identity while meeting temporal needs that allow for a more accommodating response to the world. This thesis is borne out by Vance's examination of family structure, theology, and the development of the movement. One area of unique identification for Adventists is that of gender roles, and it is here, she finds, that Adventism has the greatest opportunity to alter the boundaries of church hierarchy not only for itself but for the Christian community as a whole. Highly recommended.

Social science Professor Laura Vance tells the amazing story how Seventh-day Adventism, which was founded by Ellen Harmon White, the most prolific woman writer and preacher of the nineteenth-century, moved in 100 years from an egalitarian social ethic to the almost total exclusion of women from its administration. Since White's death, Adventism has moved toward the mainstream of American religion, adopting the social conservatism as well as the theological positions of evangelicalism, and systematically excluding women from leadership positions. In contrast to the early Adventist pioneers, who favored various reform movements such as anti-slavery and women's health issues, American church bureaucrats have narrowed their social gaze and moved to the right in their implicit political stance. This trend, which actively favored public evangelism over social reform and suppressed women's participation in leadership, has since the late 1970's been challenged by new voices calling for the ordination of women to the gospel ministry and other leadership positions in the SDA church. In addition, the international growth of the membership of the SDA church, adding millions of members in countries where patriarchialism and traditional power structures favor men has helped keep women out of power. The answer, says Vance, is not for Adventist leaders to imagine they are fighting a battle against feminism or liberalism but to embrace once again the diversity and openness of its early history, an Edenic time when women and men sang and preached side-by-side, when the male leaders were not afraid of the visionary power of women but practiced a co-operative type of gender equality.

Vance's book comes as the fourth in a series of comprehensive non-denominational interpretations of Adventism which began in the 1980's with Ron Numbers and Jonathan Butler, "The Disappointed: Millerism and Millenarianism in the Nineteenth-Century" (Indiana University Press, 1989, Malcom Bull and Keith Lockhart's "Seeking a Sanctuary: Seventh-day Adventism and the American Dream" (Harper and Row, 1989) and Michael Pearson, Millenial Dreams and Moral Dilemmas: Seventh-day Adventists and Contemporary Ethics" (Cambridge Unversity Press, 1990). Vance's book, written largely from the perspective of gender issues, gathers from a hundred years of the "Adventist Review" and from more recent publications such as "Spectrum".

The style of Professor Vance's book, written after extensive field research in actual Adventist congregations and at Walla Walla College, will appeal to both social scientists studying the religious phenomenon of Adventism, and to SDA members, clergy and teachers who wish to view themselves in the words of an intelligent and sympathetic outsider. Teachers of American religious movements will find this book the best general introduction to Adventism for students who are also interested in women's issues, social science theory and religion. Highly recommended.

A masterpiece of Gay literature, broke so many taboos before its time.I remember reading this novel in the late 70s before AIDS became prevelant,when so many queers walked the backstreets and alleys not to mention bathhouses in there search for free sex and lust. This is a monumental exploration into the psyche of homosexuality and being wanted by all means .necessary. I cant wait for the movie!

I had heard about this book, and it seemed to make some people angry and some people said it was great. I hadn't read it until I saw that the SF Chronicle listed it as one of the "100 Best Non-Fiction of the Century" and I thought, wow. So I read it, and was surprised to find how timely the book is, how it speaks about the same issues confronting gay men right now, and speaks about them intelligently--and, also, it's a very sexy book, that describes three sex-crammed days and nights by its main character roaming through streets, alleys, under piers. The book deserves to be rated high on "best" lists. It sure ranks in mine. Terrific writing, too.

This remains the most powerful manifesto of gay power, as well as being a document of oppression. Graphic sexual encounters are strongly depicted. Between each main section, an essay comments on a wide range of gay life--from gay bars to the gay pride parade, bodybuiding, hustling, S & M, gay relationships with women, laws, vice cops. Although many of Rechy's ideas have now been embraced by others, the book remains as startling, bold, and original as when it first appeared. A gay "Fire Next Time."

It's easy to find information about wine; dozens of books are available. But it would be hard to find one as practical, accessible, and fun to read as Simply Wine. Some reviews say it's an introduction for novices, which is true, but it offers more than that. Simply Wine is filled with tips about shopping strategies, choices, tastings, varietals, and labels. Yorkshire's conversational tone and sense of humor add to the book's appeal, and the graphics and format are designed to keep you turning the pages. I recommend it for anyone interested in wines.

Do you like drinking wine but feel intimidated by the culture of wine lovers? This is a great book for you--a straightforward, thoroughly unpretentious and honest book about a subject that's too often obscured by snobbery.

I had already read Heidi Yorkshire's Wine Savvy, so I was skeptical about reading her newest book of wine basics, Simply Wine. I'm glad I did. Together, these books are a great basic wine education. They each stand up well on their own, too. Yorkshire's style is so friendly and accessible you forget you're reading about a topic where conversation is usually dominated by intimidating and sometimes snotty know-it-alls. I feel more prepared for my upcoming trip to France, but also for my next trip to the wine store.

The best book I've seen on the subject!

I bought this book several years ago at the Museum of Mankind, in London. It was the book for the exhibition, which featured incredible paper sculptures of skeletons and demons.
I read every word of the book, and enjoyed the culture, history, and personal stories of these Mexican artists.
Buy it!

As an anthropologist who teaches classes on Mexico, I use this book often. The "day of the dead" in Mexico exemplifies, for me, the difference between the U.S. culture and that of Mexico. Just as other cultures might find our U.S. Halloween celebrations strangely at odds with normally conservative Judeo-Christian religious observance, this book illustrates clearly the almost unfathomable blending of pre-Columbian cults of death and sacrifice with Spanish-Catholic traditions. Starting with its origins in Mexico's ancient civilizations, the book discusses and illustrates this observance through modern times, and takes the reader vicariously to the areas of Mexico in which it is most enthusiastically observed. Sit down with a cup of chocolate' and some "pan de los muertos" (bread of the dead), and enjoy a book whose topic you might have thought too morbid for your taste, but which you will probably end up finding much more compelling than repulsive. Unfortunately for me (but better for the publishing company!), I am about to order my 3rd copy of "Skeleton at the Feast"--apparently the students to whom I loan it find it too interesting to return!

The artwork captures the artists love for the area and gives a visitor this insight. I find myself transported every time I look at my book.

I live in Carmel and know the artist. It is a "must have" souvenir and useful guide to this lovely place.

Of all the books on the Monterey Peninsula that we have seen over the years, your is the most unique documentary of the area presented in such fun- filled and a beautiful format.

R.denzil Lee,AIA

Dr. Larry Rivers has really put together a wonderful research on the institution of slavery. A lot of the information that he provides about slavery is not necessarily new information. What makes this research so good and so important is that he puts it against the background of Florida. Whenever the institution of slavery is discussed, the state of Florida is not the first or the last state that is mention in the discussion. However, with this book Dr. Rivers has made Florida one of the most important states in terms of the developments of the institutions of slavery.
The scope of this book ranges from the year 1500- 1865. This study begins with Florida when it was still a territory of Spain. It is here that the author tries to piece together the African presents in Florida before the institution of slavery is established. The author uses a wide range of sources to his point. He utilizes a lot of researched that focuses on Africans who were free when they first set foot in Florida. He uses sources from historians who have done extensive research in Florida such as Jane L. Landers of Vanderbilt University and Canter Brown of Florida A&M University. This to me adds validity to this book and this study.
The rest of the chapters of this book provide a lot of information that is not nessccary new information in terms of slavery. There have been many studies conducted on slave resistance, on slave condition, slave families, etc. However, there has never been such a study done in regards to Florida and slavery. I am a Floridian by birth and a historian by profession and the way that this booked flowed had me on the edge of my seat at all times. I knew about slavery and about slave conditions, but to read about slavery and slave condition in an area that I am familiar with was very riveting. The information provided about Gadsden and Jackson counties were very valuable to me because I grew-up in those counties. I am sure anyone that has looked at this research and has family ties to Florida would feel the same way.
The sources that he uses throughout this book I think are very appropriate. Each one is used to magnify his point. I really love the slave narratives because they reflect a truth that is not tainted by modern society need to be politically correct. The author uses several quotes from a former Jackson County bondswoman by the name of Margrett Nickerson. Her quotes to me are beautiful because they reflect her grammar of speech and you can almost feel her tone of voice as she reflects about her experiences as a bondservant. Since the author uses so many different sources, it is hard to say if he neglected any appropriate sources. I would think that he used so many different sources because he did not want to be accused of not using enough sources.
Overall, I think that this is an excellent book. As a Floridian, I really appreciate this book because it helps me to better understand the environment that I grew up.

A study of this magnitude can only be described as ground breaking and powerful. Larry Eugene Rivers interprets and analyzes the Florida slave's experience in startling, inspiring, and rewarding ways. The author certainly raises the bar for future state studies of slavery. A model study that should be emulated by other scholars seeking to update and revise studies of slavery in those states that had enslaved blacks during the antebellum period.

Rivers presents his work in a scholarly, readable, and evenhanded manner. The author named names; he treated enslaved blacks as human beings. The voices and humanity of enslaved blacks come through loud and clear in this study. The reviewer can see why "Slavery In Florida" is the fourth most purchased book in Tallahassee, Florida through AMAZON.COM. and why it has already won a national book award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association in the notification category. "Slavery In Florida" is a highly original and stimulating interpretation of the contact between Native Americans (Seminoles), enslaved blacks, and Anglo Americans during the period from 1821 to 1865. Read this gracefully written book and judge for yourself.

I found this book, Slavery In Florida: Territorial Days To Emancipation, to be a deeply researched, beautifully written, and well grounded book on the peculiar institution in Florida from 1821 to 1865. This study presents the story of slavery from both the perspective of the bond servant and the master. The book covers every aspect of slavery in Florida. Among the chapters are those that focus on the slave family, religion and community, physical treatment of bond servants, slave resistance, and the participation of enslaved blacks in the Civil War. Rivers presents an engaging analysis of race relations during the territorial and statehood periods in Florida. Particulary, he discusses the relationship between enslaved blacks, Native Americans, and whites in an even-handed yet critical manner.

Readers will find the voices of slave men, women, and children throughout this study. Rivers used the Federal Writers Project WPA interviews of former slaves as well as other newspaper interviews with former bond servants to described "what slavery was like" in Florida from the viewpoint of the enslaved black. From the extensive endnotes, the author apparently used hundreds if not thousands of probate records, appraisals, and inventories to describe the slave family. Given the cruelty of slavery, Rivers argues that enslaved blacks were still able to carve out some semblance of family, connected with generations of kinfolk. Rivers presents convincing evidence that bond servants were far from being passive victims. They were sometimes successful in getting concessions from masters concerning family matters, work routines, and religious worship.

Some readers might find insightful Rivers' suggestion that the largest slave rebellion in the antebellum South was not the Nat Turner insurrection, but the Second Seminole War (1835-1842), where the majority of the warriors consisted of runaway slaves from Florida and state to the north. Apparently this is what General Thomas Jesup thought when he declared this battle to be "a negro and not an Indian War" (p. 204).

In describing enslaved blacks and whites, Rivers further gives a balanced assessment of the human frailties as well as strenghts of both groups. I found this refreshing since most studies paint all whites as the bad guys and all blacks without a blemish.

Anyone knowledgeable of the historiography of the antebellum South will quickly notice that Rivers includes the latest scholarship on slavery. As an avid reader of books on slavery, this is, in fact, one of the best books I have read on the topic in years. It should serve as a model for other state studies. I hope someone will read Rivers' book and use it as a guide to do a study of antebellum slavery in my state of Delaware (which has yet to be done). Slavery In Florida is a gripping read, and I give it five stars.