Regarding the 2nd edition, it's an excellent introduction to all main themes of structural mechanics itself (no reference to numerical methods included). It well combines classical and modern approaches of the subjects in a compact form. Ideal for getting insight into the real principles of structural theory and analysis.

This comprehensive review of "all thing travel" is an appropriate text for those just beginning a career in travel. Every aspect of the travel industry is covered, from air travel to rail to tours to ships. Both domestic and international air travel is covered thoroughly. Although a bit dated in its examples, the text is thorough and contains excellent review questions to make sure the learning points are made. If you are a budding travel agent wannabe, or if you are curious about the inner workings of the travel industry, this book will get you very far up the learning curve.

John Quincy Adams Campbell was well named. As determined and purposeful as the president he was named for, he led a life similar in focus on principal.

Almost all of the Civil War diaries, Union or Confederate, recount days of slogging through mud, choking in the dust of other marching soldiers, and of camp boredom. Quincy Campbell, however, is an observant man, a newspaper reporter by trade, a man of detail. Not only does he record the mileage tramped and the direction of the march, when he crosses a pontoon bridge, he steps it off and reports the yardage.

Campbell is also a careful observer of the countryside he marches through. He evaluates the farmland for crops as well as the small towns for prosperity and the scenery for beauty. Aware of its political import, he attends and reports on a "Unionist" meeting in Huntsville in March 1864, a meeting held in response to Lincoln's 1863 Amnesty and Reconstruction Act.

An ardent churchgoer and crusader against alcohol, Campbell is just as determined a Unionist and fervent anti-slavery man. His comments on the day to day life of a soldier in the Western theatre of the war reflect all of his deeply held convictions; he throws himself into battle as ardently as he criticizes his fellow soldiers for getting drunk or his superior officers for what he sees as their blunders.

Campbell's diaries follow the 5th Iowa through the battles along the Mississippi, including Corinth, Island #10, Vicksburg and Chatanooga. The maps in the book, while small, aid the reader in following the action although reading Campbell with an open Civil War battle atlas is more rewarding.

I thought that the book was very informative. But what i disliked was the anount of time it took the authour to reach his point.I enjoyed reading the description and detail of what her life was all about but felt that it was sometimes hard to tell where the facts ended and the fiction began. Why did i read this book in the first place?I read it for a school paper and outlined the whole thing. I loved the stories about the characters that she met and how she climbed her way up from the bottom. I thought that this book was great for showing her life and how she as one woman can make such a huge difference. I reccomend this book to all those who are interested in the aftermath of the revoulutionary war and want to know what went on behind the scenes at the white house.

This study guide is a good resource for those preparing for the MCSE TCP/IP exam; although, it is an old edition, focusing primarily on Windows NT 3.51, and contains some errors. It provides some good examples of key concepts such as IP routing. Ch. 1 is strictly an "FYI" chapter and is not tested on the live exam. I did not read, nor use this books method for subnetting or IP addressing to pass the exam. Coverage of WINS and DHCP is good. Typos, grammatical errors, and inconsistencies between the text and review questions are distracting. The authors do a very good job of presenting highly technical information in a more "palatable" fashion; although, a more to-the-point and less conversational approach would have been better. I would recommend this study guide as a suppliment to the MCSE TCP/IP instuctor-led course, the Transcender practice exams, or to an additional method of study for the exam. The second edition to this book is probably a better choice since it is more current, focusing on TCP/IP for Windows NT 4.

Overall the book was well writen. It had the best explainations of Wins, DHCP, DNS, SNMP, and performance tuning I have seen yet. The authors did a commendable job on a very complex topic. If self-study is your path and you have some familiarity with TCP/IP this book is a must. If you are new to TCP/IP take the ATEC course. I would have liked more examples in the book, particularly on sub-netting, subnet masking, heterogenous environments, Hosts and Lmhosts (all of which is hit hard on the exam). Make sure you have NT server or WS available for studing with this book - this book and course is not for Win95! The scenarios at the end of each chapter are invaluable. There are a few wrong answers in the book which have been addresses by an adenda from the authors - get this! Advice - know chapters 1 and 2 cold before continuing with the rest of the book

This is a good way to get about 3/4 of your studying for the 70-059 exam. The text is a bit overly chatty in an attempt to make it an easier read, a'la Minasi texts, however, it falls well short of Minasi's writing quality. Most info is available and presented in a reasonable way. The weakest areas in the text are IP config/subnetting (by far the weakest) and monitoring & optimization. The biggest plus this book has is its end of the chapter questions. Having just come from taking the test, I can endorse them as a great place to spend last day prep time. Again, the weakest area of the questions is the IP config/subnetting which even has a wrong answer or two. I agree with a previous reviewer that those who feel that this book is a warmed over 3.51 text must have the previous edition. Mine is Second Edition and solid 4.0. I would recommend supplimenting this book with the just released Exam Cram TCP/IP text, which by the way, has the strongest IP config/subnetting chapter I have ever seen! Also try the free exam question samplers available from Microsoft and Transcender. That should do it.

This book is only good for a cursory review of the topics. The book seems light in detail and has lots of errors. As a general starter read this book a couple of times and then delve into the recommend reading lists and web pages at CCO. That amount of info will help you pass the written. I just passed the CCIE written today and only used this book as my first study resource but not my last!!!. It is an easy read and the BGP chapter only seemed to have the most depth. The tests also have errors. With a little more work, depth and accuracy this book has the potential to be your all in one source for the exam. The next edition may be better as an all in one reference, so supplement your studies with other material!! Good luck all.

Having worked in the IT industry for over 14 years, and having worked in the classroom for over 5 years I am always looking for new material for the students. Sybex has made a reputation for releasing first rate material in the Cisco certification arena and this book is no exception to that rule.

In over 1000 pages every CCIE Routing and Switching Exam objective is covered and explained. I found the authors to be not thorough but also very detailed. I also found that the material, while complex and highly technical, to written to a level that is intermediate rather to than advanced or expert level.

One thing I notice was the book covers the written and lab exams, this is the first book I have seen like this. As it comes with several labs to practice with and hundreds of practice questions you have what appears to be a complete study guide.

I found that Chapter 8, especially the CIDR and VLSM, explanations were very well explained and it cleared up a couple of questions for me. The cd, as with other Sybex books, has the e-book and practice exams included. Overall I think this a one to look at for those going or the CCIE R&S certification.

There isn't a whole lot of 'one-source' material for the CCIE written at present - but this book makes a good attempt. Like other reviewers have mentioned the book is a gentle high-level overview that is easy to read...Only when the author gets into the nitty-gritty of BGP does his writing style wane by giving a treatment of BGP found more readily in an RFC rather than explaining it in easy to understand terms (to be fair though BGP IS a complex topic - try Jeff Doyle's 'Routing IP Vol 2').

I haven't taken the exam yet (though i am a CCNP) i feel relativley confident (i also read Caslows book 'Cisco Certification' - which ALOT of people are using for the written) after reading these 2 books. That combined with a couple of white papers and some practice tests will hopefully get me through.

All in all i would definitley recommend this book - but as the story usually goes, supplement it with something else.

"A Test of Wills" is the debut episode by Charles Todd, set in immediate post-World War I in England. The author draws readily upon that horror--and blight--of the early 20th century, and he does so with his introduction to the reader of Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard, who has been seconded from London to Warwickshire to investigate the death of gentried Colonel Charles Harris, loved, revered, respected by everybody but one! Chief suspect, it seems, is Captain Mark Wilton, betrothed to marry the Colonel's ward, and himself a highly decorated war hero and pilot. Todd's accounting of the horrors, the very carnage of that Great War with its telling descriptions of the trench warfare is graphic and vivid.

Rutledge, himself, shell-shocked and uncertain in his own right, sets out his investigation--keeping an open mind and remembering all the while that closed English villages can be just that--closed to outsiders. He must keep, too, his own recollection of his wartime experiences. Rutledge is aided, believably, by the voice of a soldier Rutledge had ordered killed in the trenches for disobeying an order (certainly an original "Dr. Watson" to his "Sherlock"!).

While capturing much local color, landscape and atmosphere, Todd, however, opts for an easy solution, one which is out of kilter with the remainder of the story and thus closes with an awkward stance. While this is the first of a series--and I am prepared to read the second episode--"A Test of Wills" falls short of mesmerizing detail, of gripping intrigue. (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

Inspector Ian Rutledge has returned from four years service in the trenches of World War I, and Scotland Yard has assigned him his first case after his return. He has an enemy in the Yard who assigns him a particularly tough case, envisioning him messing it up and arresting the obvious prime suspect, another war hero who was awarded the Victoria Cross. Rutledge balks at making a hasty arrest, however, and spends a week in the English countryside investigating thoroughly.

Rutledge is an interesting character. He's haunted by the war, and by things he did in the middle of it. He hears a voice in his head, often, a particular individual who served with him in the war, but has opinions on everything that passes within Rutledge's view. There are other characters in the book, all well-drawn and interesting, and there's much about the war and its effect on people, and their psyches.

The temptation is to compare this novel with Christie, Sayers, or perhaps Stout. Frankly, this is a bit thin. All of these writers wrote about their own era, more or less, and felt less need to recreate a bygone era. They also wrote in an era where elaborate plots and motives were almost required in mystery fiction, while characters were almost unimportant. Christie was especially notorious in this regard. The present author, by comparison, has produced a full, well-written novel with a puzzle in it. The clues that present themselves towards the solution of the story aren't as obvious signposts as Christie's, or Sayers' famous red herrings, but they are there, and if you read carefully enough I suppose you could solve the mystery (I never try).

The plot does drag in the middle a bit. Rutledge doesn't do anything for two hundred pages except question people repeatedly, asking the same questions and getting fuller answers as he persists in his investigation. When the action does finally heat up, it's only a bit, and the climax comes rather suddenly.

Given that, and the other complaints about the book enumerated above, I did enjoy this book, and will look for the others in the series.

Charles Todd binds together elements of history, suspense, mystery and intrigue to create an interesting, thought provoking new book. The characters are all well developed, the plot is intriguing and unpredictable and its only downfall is that the story sometimes drags on slowly. The story is set in England just after World War I, a period that is frequently ignored in contemporary literature, but the setting for most all of Todd's books. The main character is Inspector Ian Rutledge who works at Scotland Yard and has recently returned from the war. He is suffering from shell shock, haunted by the voice of one of his men who died. Hoping to regain his sanity by engrossing himself in his work, he returns to the Yard only to find that his first case may very well end his career. The deceased is a beloved Colonel; the accused a famous Captain who was a guest at the palace following the war. Rutledge soon discovers that everything is not as it seems in the town of Upper Streetham as he acquaints himself with its complicated inhabitants. Todd does a very good job of slowly developing each character until you are able to understand what each person is about and their intricate roles in the town. He slowly shifts the blame among the many characters of the story forcing you to really think about each person and their motives. The story is very fascinating and will captivate history buffs and mystery fanatics alike.

This book does an ok job, but I feel that the Cisco Press release of the Advanced Cisco Router Configuration explains things alot clearer. What I found most lacking in this book was the explanation of route summarization and the explanation of stub and totally stub areas. There are several questions on the ACRC exam on these topics. This book doesn't go into enough detail to understand the questions being asked in these areas. I read this book and Cisco Press's ACRC and the Cisco press book makes things alot clearer in the big picture. Anyone can memorize the commands to configure a router. However for this exam understanding why is more important than the how.

Todd Lammle has done it again! I don't care about the occassional error in the text as much as I care about results. I just passed ACRC about an hour ago. What more do you want?

The quote I'll use to describe the advantages of Lammle's book over Laura Chappell's official Cisco text is, "I don't need for you to explain the watch, just tell me what time it is," -- at least for ACRC testing purposes. I bought, studied, and will be keeping both books. You should consider doing the same because a bit of repetition never hurt anybody. While Chappell's book is the better in-depth, verbose reference, Lammle's book is unquestionably better for ACRC test preparation. The book is mapped directly to the ACRC test objectives and Lammle has trimmed a lot of the fat. The 259 question EdgeTest that comes on CD with the book is the push over the top. If you can answer every question correctly and understand WHY the right answer is the right answer and WHY the other answers are wrong, you're ready. Practice Lammle's exercise labs on your router, too, to get the much needed familiarity with the IOS commands.

Compared to a 5-day ACRC course which costs $1900 in my area (and likely requires another week or more of study before testing), this book for less than a 50 spot is a staggering bargain. Buy it and spend ample time with it. I invested a little over a month and I sit here today with ACRC behind me.

Todd, my pocketbook thanks you.

Many of the negative reviews here actually made me hesitate to buy this book - but I eventually did. Now in my final weeks of preparing for the exam - which expires on 31 July - and having gone through most of the book, I have strong confident that I will pass. You see, for the last one year, I have visited braindump site and passed one certification test after another by a lot of craming (cheating?) but questionable understanding - but this is the first certification book that truely made me understand the subject matter. The whole book is clustered with examples and diagrams to illustrate the fine point - there is no sign at all of rushing the book to the press - and no sign at all of trying to cram any subject matter just to make you pass. Some reviewer has alert us of mistakes in the book - I don't see to many typo or mistake, but it is true that there are some glaring one. For example, the IGRP chapter is well written, the 2 minutes drill has at least one or two gotcha (at least it got-me) that I suspect will make excellent exam question, but somewhere along the pages it actually says T1 has a metric of 65 - which is correct - and ethernet has a metric of 1000 - which is wrong - I think it is 10. Also, it says " convergence means that all routers in the network share a common routing table" - which cannot be true - he must have meant to say something else. But despite this, I just love the way they make me understand something by using examples and diagrams - they don't cut corners here. On many topics, like access list and IPX filtering, I beleive the book might have exceed the exam objective, certainly exceeding the ACRC course that I have taken in 98. And it is this strength and depth of true understanding that make me confident of giving it a good show in the real exam. One reminder, don't skip the 2 minutes drill - they are not just summary and revision - but also a place to alert you of possible exam gotcha. The self-test have a few tricky questions that make me laugh at my own stupidity - and I love it. For those who want to do it before 31 July - go get it - 45 days with this book can make a different.

While a nice compilation, this is clearly history for the casual student (or those gearing up for a date with Regis or a game of Trival Pursuit). The book is nostalgic not scholarly. While thought provoking in places it clearly presents the 20th Century in typical American style... by sound bite and snap shot. The volume is long on highlights, celebrity and sensational events and short on analysis or cultural milestones in music, art, exploration, literature, and science. This book certainly fills a niche (coffee table, middle schooler strugging to get a handle on mom and dad's past, etc.) but Jennings would do well to leave history to the historians. Readable, entertaining, but don't pack it to college.

The point of the book (as well as the History Channel series) is to provide historical accounts by people who witnessed these events first hand. Sure, it is somewhat lacking before 1920, but that is because most of the people who were around for those events are dead. That is also why some of the later events are more complete. There is a bigger supply of witnesses. There is no way to include everything. I thought that it made a good attempt to show the history from the common man's perspective. Sure, it is biased, and it does not include every major event. Don't read it for interpretation of the events, read it for the personal accounts. That is something that you won't get from most history books. I recommend the audio book. There's nothing like hearing the voices.

I found this book to be very enjoyable. The pictures were wonderful. I realized that I had experienced most of what was in the book or I had a relative that had lived through that period. Looking at some of the pictures was like seeing pictures of my own family. Other pictures and writing reminded me of the things that I have experienced during my life. I think that is what this book was meant to do. I do not think that it was meant to be an exact treatise of American history or to neglect world history, but to help us to remember the remarkable things that have happened during this century.

The book isn't right for 640-861 exam. I got the book two days ago. Some wrong information like how long exam to take and how much question in the exam. And some wrong concept even in the book. At page.325, They talk about IS-IS is a hybird protocol. That is test question in the exam. The IS-IS is a link-state routing protocol as every cisco certified person know.
The book isn't cover enught information about new concept in the new 640-861 exam. Like VoIP, Qos and IPv6 and even no included gigabit network.

I just passed CCDA with my first try (score 902). I like the cases in this book. Definitely be familiar with them. I got almost idenfical case in the exam (of course, different questions). But this book will not prepare you fully for this exam if you are new to network, like me. I also read CCDA book from Cisco press (by Kim). Another suggestion is getting your CCNA first. I read Todd Lammle's CCNA book (that one is good) before, and found out that half of the CCDA book are exactly the same as the CCNA one(even the jokes are the same). So if you already have the CCNA book from Lammle, please don't buy this one. Buy the Cisco one.

I am changing careers and brand new to the computer/network field (my previous job was as a bookkeeper for an accounting firm). A friend sugested that I study and get certified as a CCDA in order to break into the field. All I can say is that I DID IT ! I passed (score 850) only using this book and no prior experience. If you want to pass the exam, I highly recommend this book. The book contains all the materials that you will be tested on in the real exam. Overall, it is organized well and easy to read.

It taught me the basics of networks, and how to design networks. It covered network management and routing protocols, but needed more about Token Ring and SNA.

I'm now studying for the CCNA using Todd Lammele's book and will take my exam next week!