While I did have respect for the teachings of H.W.L. Poonja (Papaji) until I read this, and have have studied meditation/philosophy in India and Japan, this book (by a student of Papaji) is probably the least enlightened writing I've encountered (by someone professing to be Enlightened). This book was probably good for the author as self-therapy, it has much discussion about his and other people undergoing therapy (after his drug and alcohol problems) and has a lot of focus on his sexual activity. Some exact quotes "It pisses me off. I am bitter about being used as an emotional barf bag, and then discarded. Everyone who knows me knows that I am a wild tantric." and "When I make love... I may want to talk dirty. I may feel so surrendered that the desire to be subordinate to the feminine may arise." and "[author] appreciated as a sexually ecstatic male, in other words, he was loved as the horny man he is." and "He likes sex and makes no apology for not being monogamous." The point of all this, is that everything as it is, is IT (the Absolute or Consciousness) so any attempt to choose or suppress is unenlightened. Author writes "no matter what anyone does they are still divine." This is called BUJI ZEN in Buddhism, the belief that if everything is IT, then everything is OK. The spritual "insights" are shallow at best (such as explaining the title he says, "Why a Paradox? Because being itself includes all enigmas and contradictions." UH! I can't believe someone would even bother to write that. Instead, read the original sources, Ramana Marharshi or even Papaji (but now I have lost any confidence in Papaji's ability to recognize enlightenment). I'm sure that, if you read the first chapter of this in a bookstore , you won't buy it.

Remarks on the two books
TRUTH LIKE FIRE & THE PARADOX OF SELF-REALIZATION

What these books can be like for at least one person, myself: Suppose there's something important you ran into sometime back. You meant to follow up on it, but it was rather disturbing and you didn't get around to it. Then you run into a reminder, and remember that there have also been other reminders. These books can be like that.

I hesitated to give a high rating to these books because that is a general statement and their value will depend very much on the individual. Very high for some, perhaps of no value at all for others. I thought maybe the reason these books "got" to me was that I knew (though slightly) some of the individuals named (though before they took on those names). However, my son saw them lying around, picked them up, read them with considerable interest, and refers to them now and again in conversation. You would have to know something of me, my son, and our relationship to appreciate how remarkable this is. Think I'll buy him copies. They'll probably just be around for a while. And then someday he may look into them again.

But not in the way that you think. It stirs what can't be ignored. It's life saving. It's life affirming. It's pretty simple, actually. Read it. More than once, preferably. But first, open your mind. Your mind will try to judge, categorize, belittle, dismiss. Don't let it. Questioning is good. Pre-disposition is not. Make the effort to fight off your judging, controlling mind as you read. Your life, or at least your ability to LIVE, may depend on it. This book is a lifeline. For god's sake, take it.

Good overall content but not up to date. Does not pick up subtle conditions. Somewhat cumbersome to use.

WM Johnson, RN, MSN

Instructions for Pediatric Patients is a mainstay in our clinic. Barton Schmitt has solid advice and always adheres to American Acadamy of Pediatrics guidelines. It is very helpful to have a followup information sheet to give parents after their visit that validates your diagnosis and treatment plan.

This book offers practical guidelines and solutions for parenting. Written in a textbook format, the information is easy to understand. No frills, no fluff, lots of facts.

Unfortunately, this book is too much 'how I would re-invent JSP' and not enough about how to use JSP. For example, the JSP and Servlet API Reference is just a dump of the the Sun interface without any comments. I tried to get information about the Request object and was very frustrated, since this is scattered throughout the book (I think, the index was not helpfull). I'm sure this has some good code in it, but I didn't buy it to have a code snippets book. I wanted a book that would teach me JSP and be a good reference as I develop code.

I was looking for writing database based web applications in JSP and I found the book very useful. It is a step-by-step guide for building web applications. The book covers JavaBeans , Handling exceptions in efficient manner, Custom Tags and Displaying XML files using JSP. The book has got detailed explained examples which helped me in designing my application faster. Overall I was able to design and develop web apps in an efficent manner with the help of this book.

Very infomative book, Great insight for Java Server Guru's

I am a new user to Outlook 2000. I am an advanced ACT! user. My new job requires that I use Outlook 2000. After reviewing many books online I bought the Outlook 2000 Bible. WHAT A COMPLETE LET DOWN AND WASTE OF MONEY. I can't return it because in my initial enthusiasm I highlighted in the book. The "Customizing Outlook 2000" Chapter 16 section is terrible. Nothing advanced at all. Finally, the attached CD is a bust. My advise... KEEP LOOKING!

I'm very impressed with this book. It is well-written, with good examples and clear graphics. I purchased it for help creating custom Outlook forms. The chapters on form design answered all my questions. I had looked in vain on the web for instructions that were basic enough for a non-programmer to follow yet included samples of code and formulas. I found that in this book. It is a practical and useful volume for anyone who is called on to support or administer Outlook.

This is a superb reference for those who use Outlook 2000 on a non-network platform; most of the books out now focus on using Outlook 2000 as a client for Microsoft Exchange. This book, however, concentrates on exploring the functionality of the program as a stand-alone and internet-enhanced app. If you already use Outlook, you'll learn some great new tricks. If you're new to the program, this is a great place to start. The book also includes information for those who *do* use it as an Exchange client, so it should fit the bill for any but network administrators.

I got this book for my boyfriend thinking that he would stop spending money. He got all caught up with emailing Todd and took a turn for the worse.

This book is a good place to start to set up the framework necessary for financial security. Financial planning basics are presented in a straightforward manner with an overlay of application of those principles to same sex couples.

"Gay men and women notoriously spend and save money far differently than non-gays," says Todd Rainey, author of "Money Talk, a Gay and Lesbian Guide to Financial Success."

He's got that right! My favorite thing is to blow my paycheck for a new outfit to wear at the club on Friday night, along with buying designer sheets and expensive and definitely sexy throw pillows. Sure, it's carefully understated and looks artfully casual, but I'm looking for the next love of my life, and I'm not thinking of the consequences of spending most of my income to maintain a certain image.

Rainey's book opened my eyes-and helped me put away the credit cards. "Considering some of the other challenges gays face, it's amazing how many of us take a "head in the sand" approach when it comes to money management," says Rainey in his book.

Rainey, the president of the financial consulting firm of World Class Financial in Sherman Oaks, CA., is a gay man who knows first hand what his compatriots are likely to spend for "instant gratification."

"I think this philosophy can stand a slight tweaking," he says. He should know. According to the credits in the book, Rainey has 15 years of financial planning know-how, which he wove into a totally user-friendly guidebook to help gays better manage money matters.

Financial planning books for gays and lesbians are becoming not only more plentiful, but also increasingly important to our community. Our retirement, our families, and our relationships do not share the same rights and benefits given to 90% of Americans, so we've got to take the reins into our own hands. Money Talk is a great primer, and it certainly has me on the road to better thinking and planning about my financial future. Rainey is obviously an accomplished financial planner (he has credentials galore), and uses charts, steps, and guidelines to make complex issues easy to understand.

The book is a great overview of what you should already be doing, and a vital read if you haven't yet planned your own financial future.END

This is an example of an artist and writer who have yet to reach their artistic peaks teaming up to give us an uneventful, average tale of the green goliath. David and McFarlane have each proven themselves over time as great craftsmen, but this tale might as well have someone elses name on it, because it reads like every other Hulk story.

This book collect the climactic issues from one of the ealiest storylines in Peter David's historic 11-year run on the book. While at first glance it seems like a standard adventure story, there are some great insights to the character of the Grey Hulk, who's very different from the green version averyone is familiar with. It also has many other good characterizations, and has a few historically significant moments in Hulk history. In short, it is well written. The art is done by a young(er) Todd McFarlane, at a time when he hadn't quite become famous, but was getting there fast. It shows a stylistic flair without becoming bogged down in style, a criticism often aimed at his later work. In summary, I like this collection quite much, as it shows the beginnings of two great careers in an above average adventure story.

This trade paperback collects the last seven issues of Incredible Hulk drawn by Todd McFarlane which conclude the first story arc in the long Peter David's Hulk run.McFarlane is still an artist, non the designer he will become in his Spider-Man run or the clever businessman he is now. And David? David was less experienced than now in 1988 (when the issues here collected were first published) but already great.The dialogue between the gray Hulk and Betty is one of the finest examples of psychological analysis in supehero comics. Marvel, print this saga again!

The BSD type printing systems were discussed head to toe but the System V printing systems were referenced sparingly. Because of this, many Solaris and SGI users will have to read beyond the BSD parts to interpret the concepts. I was also surprised that there was no information on CUPS, while some Linux operating systems use it as their primary printing system. If you look past these two points, the book is a fine reference for all UNIX administrators. There is a definitely a distinct demand for these types of books.

The BSD type printing systems were discussed head to toe but the System V printing systems were referenced sparingly. Because of this, many Solaris and SGI users will have to read beyond the BSD parts to interpret the concepts. I was also surprised that there was no information on CUPS, while some Linux operating systems use it as their primary printing system. If you look past these two points, the book is a fine reference for all UNIX administrators. There is a definitely a distinct demand for these types of books.

I found "Network Printing" to be a fine example of taking documentation from at least half-a-dozen sources and tying it all together with a coherent theme: providing network print services to customers using (fill-in-the-blank) systems. Six years ago, when I was managing four Unix systems for 100 customers who wanted to print their reports on any of a dozen printers (some Ethernet, some Ethernet-to-serial), this book would have been a godsend. I especially enjoyed the description of the history of printing: it put into context a lot of things I just accepted without further thought. Anyone in the above situation, or even someone who would like to reliably set up print services, from either the client or server perspective, would be wise to get this book.

Today I received my copy of Network+ Virtual Lab. So far I'm not too pleased. It seems that Sybex in an over zealous attempt to copy protect their product has caused some real problems. Before I could use the program, I had to install the license and I was asked for a Product ID code. This is supposed to be on a sticker on the CD jewel case. However, Sybex has inadvertently left this off on many copies which they have already shipped. I called Sybex and eventually was given a phone number to call to get a product ID. I then had to prove my purchase and they emailed me a product ID code. I then used the code to activate the product and the activation process caused my very stable Windows 2000 computer to crash and crash hard. After several attempts(and reboots) I finally figured out that I could avoid a crash if I shutdown Zone Alarm first. Now I could proceed with the activation but I get a message that says my product ID is invalid. After another call and wait I was told by tech support that this product must be installed on drive C: and it must be run from the Desktop icon, not the Program menu. I had installed onto drive D: and I was using the Program Menu. Two big mistakes. Can you believe this? I uninstalled the Sybex program, rebooted, reinstalled it on drive C:, started the program from the Desktop Icon as I had been instructed and I had the exact same problem as before. "An invalid Product ID code was entered. Try again". For kicks, I installed the software on another computer and it also had the exact same problem. It appears that Sybex gave me an invalid product ID code. I called tech support again and they insisted that they tried the code on their server and it worked. We then tried a manual license install and that also resulted in a invalid code error message. By then it was closing time for Sybex tech support and they are going to contact me tomorrow and we'll try something else. I may or may not get this software to run. Regardless of that, I feel Sybex is making it to too hard for their honest customers to use their software. The software must be activated and one has to have web access or call Sybex to do this. If you want to put it on your laptop and your home computer, you have to uninstall the license and go through the activation process again on the other computer. Maybe this isn't too bad when it works. But in my case it doesn't. I've wasted more time on this then it's worth. I probably won't buy another Sybex CD trainer product.

To be honest I was expecting more from this product for the price I paid. In my opinion it was overpriced and the content is helpful and nice structured but still, not worth [the price]... The exercises are different style like for example, you have to grab the term and drop it in its correspondent spot to the right side, in others you just select the answer for a certain question by clicking a button, and others are fill in the blanks style. One thing I noticed is that when you fill in the blanks the scoring engine is quite picky. If you enter a term such as NDS you will get it wrong because the engine wants you to type Novell Directory Services although the spaced provided is not that long, kind of stupid isn't it? There is no way of knowing how the program wants you to answer to its questions. Another thing I saw is that if you select the "Select only once per question" mode and go over the question suddenly, when you grab the question and drop it where it should go, a message will pop up and tell you that you can only select once per question in this mode in spite that it is in fact, your first try. This is just annoying and made me change the mode of the exercises. I think Sybex developers should've paid more attention to these details because not all users are equal and not all will be willing to put up with these things. To conclude this, the material found in these labs is good and because of it I gave it 3 stars but the price of the product plus these minor nuisance will only earn it a 2 star rating. I recommend this material only if you are in a hurry to pass the test or if you don't mind paying the advertised price plus the minor problems I mentioned, otherwise wait for an updated version of this program or go find another book to complement you preparation.

Take care people.

I have always been a hands on type of learner, I need to practice and try things before becoming comfortable with them. Sybex has put together a virtual lab for Network+ that gives you the practice you need and allows you learn at your pace and redo any areas you need to.

Installation was a snap, I was able to get this up and running under Windows 95, 98, NT Workstation, 2000 and XP Professional and had no install problems at all. One thing you should have when working with this simulator is the Network+ Study Guide from Sybex.

There are over 25 labs in the manual and 8 more final labs to give you coverage of the Network+ exam. Topics like TCP/IP and utilities, OSI model, Operating Systems, WANs, Server and Desktops are but a few of the areas you have a chance to work with.

I can this being used in a classroom environment but it tailored to those wanting to self study. Overall an excellent tool for learning - well done.

THis was not what I expected at all. It had weird art in it and was NOT a book of ideas for bowling ball crafts. Very boring. Huge waste of money. I would not even consider anything in here "art".

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so they say. The "art" of bowling has even been popularized with the recent exhibit of decorated bowling pins in Reno. Finally, however, someone outside the bowling world appreciates our sport and is telling us that a bowling ball can be a very beautiful thing.

Bowling ball mailbox posts and garden borders made of bowling balls are not completely out of the realm of the ordinary, and most bowlers know that in a pinch an old bowling ball makes an excellent door stop. At times, people have joked about bowling balls becoming boat anchors, although I've never seen one in practice. But now a book exists that takes creativity with bowling to a whole new level.

The book, "On the Ball," is a photographic collection from over 80 artists using bowling balls in an assortment of ways. Ranging from the practical--converting a bowling ball into a waffle iron--to the artistic reaches of mosaics, oil painting canvasses, and sculptures . And long before Ebonite envisioned its Eyeball, a Grand Rapids artist covered a bowling ball with literally thousands of the googly eyeballs that are de riguer in elementary school craft projects.

The story behind the book is simple: A Florida couple challenged friends and fellow artists to create the artistic pieces from balls found at yard sales. Artists Todd Ramquist and Kiaralinda, and their home-based Bowling Ball Museum will be featured on The Discovery Channel this fall.

Indeed, if this book makes its way through the bowling community, Todd and Kiaralinda will have old bowling balls arriving from folks all over the country. Or perhaps a few creative bowlers will go through that hall closet and find new uses for the retired members of their arsenal.

Mind you, this book isn't going to help you convert ten pins, or average 200 on any condition, but for the bowler who has everything, here's a coffee table book worthy of our sport.

I just think this was a very inventive and colorful book. As an art lover, and one who likes to bowl, i just thought it was clever how each artist created something out of the bowling ball. it is something to have on a coffee table that creates conversation and is fun to look at. I think it makes a great gift.

This review comes by way of The Independent Review (Fall 2000)

Todd Sandler and Keith Hartley claim that The Political Economy of NATO "presents conclusions based on rigorous analysis rather than ideology" (p. xii), but the book clearly exhibits a bias toward retaining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and expanding its missions...

The authors' pro-NATO bias is demonstrated by two conclusions: first, "That NATO must redefine itself and demonstrate that it still has a strategic role to perform if it is to survive during the post-Cold War era"; second, "NATO security must take on a broader definition in the post-Cold War period to include the protection of the environment, resource supply lines, and informational assets" (p. 251)...

Despite Sandler and Hartley's less than convincing analysis of how NATO will help combat the "new" post-Cold War threats, including terrorism, the section on the economics of terrorism is excellent. Sandler and Hartley note that terrorism is difficult to stop because terrorists incur less cost than the targeted country. The government of the targeted country must defend against all types of attack at multiple venues, but terrorists can strike the location that will minimize their cost, where government defenses are weakest. If the government improves the defenses against one type of threat, then terrorism, like water, will flow down the path of least resistance. As an example, the authors note that the fortification of embassies reduced strikes on the buildings but increased more lethal attacks-assassinations of diplomats outside the fortified areas...

Sandler and Hartley also correctly conclude that the law-enforcement model (sharing intelligence and apprehending terrorists) is preferable to the military model (retaliatory strikes) when fighting terrorism. The authors note that President Reagan's military strike against Libya in retaliation for a terrorist attack merely generated more terrorism in response, but they fail to extrapolate that effect to U.S. military action in general...

The informational content of the chapter on NATO's defense industrial base is good, but the chapters on NATO expansion and alliance burden sharing leave much to be desired. In the chapter on NATO expansion, Sandler and Hartley make logical errors, mischaracterize research, and fail to include important published data...

Similarly, in the chapter on burden sharing, the authors distort the issue. Although they make the keen observation that the alliance defense burden will be increasingly skewed toward the larger nations as NATO's primary mission becomes peacekeeping and out-of-area operations, their quantification of U.S. benefits from the alliance are grossly overstated. Based on population, gross domestic product (GDP), and exposed borders, the authors assert that the United States and Canada would derive, by far, more benefits than any other nations in the alliance. Yet the Europeans live near any potential threats, and the North Americans do not. North America will help defend Europe, not vice versa. In a post-Cold War era, when the threats are low and the allies are rich, Sandler and Hartley should have devoted more attention to the important question that they avoid: For the United States, do the net benefits of staying in NATO exceed those of its withdrawal?

This book is an excellent source about telling every peace man how structure is causing threat to human rights and remain the far most terrorist organisation at the coming time.

"The Political Economy of NATO" is aimed towards a broad audience. It is a comprehensive analysis that students of both international relations and economics will understand. Although there were parts that were a bit akward and points reiterated quite a few times throughout, it provided me with a better understanding of burden-sharing, free-riding and the advantages and disadvantages of NATO expansion. I found the economic models to be interesting and helpful as well as the charts relaying information on budgets and accounts. I'm not sure if the cost of the book if worth the actual read, but if you know anyone who has this book or if you can get it from the library, I would recommend doing so!