Why do all of these Star Trek author keep coming up with new races of the Federation. In this book they just look like Deltans with lines on their heads. How cheesy!

I LIKED THIS BOOK VERY MUCH, IT SHOWS THAT PEOPLE ARE NOT WHATTHEY SEEM TO BE, AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH BEINGAFRAID. POSSITIVE THINKING, AND GOOD DETECTIVE WORK LEADS THIS STORY TO MAKING NEW FRIENDS, AND DISCOVERING A DANGEROUS AREA OF SPACE, AND PEOPLE WHO REALLY WANT TO BE ALONE. DATA DOES A GREAT JOB OF FIGUIRING OUT EVERYTHING, AND TAKES ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS HUMANITY.

This looks like a nice summary of the Napoleonic Wars in the 1805-1807 period. It has nice pics. I was browsing thru and noticed that the picture on the battle of Eylau painting by Gros is reversed.
I'm pedantic about this point as the battle of Eylau was one of the major engagements during the featured period.
The Gros painting has been reproduced over and over again in other Napoleonic books. The author is an obvious Napoleonophile and Osprey's output are military books.
If they can't get this simple picture right, why bother? There are other Napoleonic books.

I enjoyed this basic, solid intro to the early Napoleonic years. It is worthwhile.

I read this book from back to front. I also have experience in the field so that help me a lot. If you are new to this I suggestion you look into something else. This book will help you on first test if you buy the unlock code which I did which cost [U.S. dollars] which they refund towards the test. I wrote and passed both test and found that this book lack a lot of information on second test. It covered the first test information but again why should have to pay them extra money for extra questions..?? To all people that are going to take test go to [another website] and get the exam brake down, that will help you understand what's on the test and than look for a good book, not this one. And also you should that the test is only 20 to 30 question and you only have 30 min to write this book is based on old test scheme.

Charles Brooks is at it again and this time he may have scored an A+ with this package. Making marked improvements over that last set, Brooks gives the A+ test a run for the money. Brooks also has taken this opportunity to enable to pass another exam at the same time CET.

The main study guide is updated to the latest A+ and CET exams, matching objective for objective. Brooks enhances this new package by adding MAC information, which will be helpful outside the A+ and CET arenas.

The main book is packed with pictures, diagrams, tables, figures, learning objectives and keynote reviews. Brooks also includes information on Windows 98, which is not on the A+ or CET exams, but it is coming in the next generation.

The lab manual remains about the same, with 37 labs broken down in several sections. New areas are QBASIC, some system utilities like CkeckIT and again Windows 98 and MAC. Overall the lab manual is more complete in the exercises.

As with the previous package there is a cd-rom with only 40 questions and with an additional fee Mar Craft will unlock over 900 more. Also there are coupons included for reduce testing prices which may make for the questions.

Overall this is a marked improvement from previous efforts however unlocking all the questions may push this package over the top.

This book offers a wide range of topics but does not go into great detail on any of them. It presents the syntax and says, "Now use it," often without explaining fully what is going on (the section about pointers is terrible). It touches on too many topics and thereby skimps on details. The examples of code given in the book are not always the most efficient. In the book's section on searching I reduced the search time for one of the algorythms (it gave a poor example of a selection-sort) by an incredible amount of time by simply moving an assignment statement to a different part of the loop. Not a good book with which to learn by example.

This book is an exelent way to learn C++ but it is a little bit slow. The first program isn't until Chapter 3, but it is intresting to learn about the history of computers. Great book for AP Computer Programing or IB computer studies.

If you are using this as a study guide, go elsewhere. Its close to 600 pages, only about 170-220 should have been used to cover what is on the Proxy Exam. I finally decided to use something besides the Exam Cram books, and do I ever regret it. The author even states at one point, "you might be asking why you need to know this". I agree that knowledge is power but save the extra 400 pages for another book about proxy. It is definately a poor study guide. You get so bored with the mounds of useless info that you are a zombie by the time he gets to the good stuff. s

Based on the reviews in this site I purchased this book. It's a great book and covers the material very well. The Exam objectives are well covered and with screen images of the proxy server different components and tools it's easy to read the book without using an actual Proxy Server (But using the actual product makes life easy and very helpful on the test). The book repeats the material in some instances to help clarify things as it introduces new ideas and concepts. I would recommend this book for anyone wanting to Learn Proxy and Prepare for the Exam. Passing Proxy Exam 2.0 with a good grade requires a little bit more than what this book offers, the Exam has some nice tricky questions that integrate in some cases many concepts from the Proxy Services which may cause a problem for non-experienced users.

Everyone is dead right - Too long. If you know TCP/IP skip chapter 2, IIS skip Chapter 5. Any clue about troubleshooting skim the last few chapters. I found that the questions and examples are extreamly close the the actual exam. I wonder how many times the authors had to take it to get so close!

When taking this one, I did exactly what I stated above, review the questions, followed up on those which were weak points. Installed the demo version of proxy on my home system and boom i scored 1000! I can't fault a book that was able to give me all that. Ok, so you skip the first 100 or so pages, get to the intresting stuff, miss 10-15% with poor study habits and minimal playing and you still pass.

I was originally using the Cram version of this book, however, it was too shy on pictures. This book has so many picutres, even If you don't have a computer, you would still be able to pass with this one.

Also, be sure to check Sybex's web page for the ERRATA - The TCP/IP sections (Chapter 2) appears to have a few minor typos - No biggies :)

This book is like a bad soap opera. Supposedly "good" people make completely incomprehensible choices in service of a poorly thought out plot.

The character of Marianne was especially laughable - all the author's effort went into trying to make us feel bad for her sob story instead of painting a believable character. Marianne is the idealized martyr: never angry at the family that inexplicably turns against her. What planet was this girl from? What planet was the father from? It is hard to believe natural selection did not do away long ago with a gene pool without any noticable coping or reality-testing skills.

The sad part is that Oates is actually a good writer. I'm not sure what possessed her to write and publish this pathetic tear-jerker.

This is the first book I have read by this much acclaimed author, and I was disappointed. The book was padded with tedious and unnecessary exposition. I found the shifts in point of view, often just as things were starting to get interesting, distracting and frustrating. Seldom have I wanted to skip over parts or skim as much as I wanted to while reading this book. I could have handled all that though, but the characters were not at all believable. Each and every one did a complete about-face in character and personality with little or no explanation. The parents' banishment of the daughter made no sense, particularly considering the time frame of the novel and their nonconformist values in the beginning of the book. I kept thinking,"Why the heck didn't they just move the whole family?" No answer. Hard as she tries to make the parents' sympathetic, they seem to me cruel,selfish monsters with inexplicable motivations. That image just doesn't jibe in any way, shape or form with the parents she originally presents. The daughter's placid, unquestioning acceptance of her "punishment" made even less sense. Each brother seemed to undergo a radical transformation as well, again with no plausible explanation. I understand Oates' point, that an event such as this can change the family dynamics and alter the course of many lives, but she makes the point with all the sublety of a sledgehammer.

The Oprah book club selections are certainly getting more complex!

This book will strike an immediate chord to a family 'putting on airs' yet within the house having its problems. It hithome for me and will most likely hit home for many others because we know of families that seem perfect.... and often we find out much later what was truly happening.

I do not believe that the choice of Mt. Ephraim as the hometown of the Mulvaneys was by accident. Ephraim and Manasseh were sons of Joseph - and while the latter committed heinous crimes against all moral authority, Ephraim was a redeemer. A striking metaphor against which much hurt is set - and one missed by the editorial reviewers.

This family functions quite well - all that we'd say is 'too good to be true' *is* actually true until Marianne, the girl so beautifully described that we actually *feel* she's the 'girl next door' to *us* is sexually assaulted. Actually, we are never told whether it was rape or consensual. And the beauty of this is that for the purposes of this story it doesn't matter.

It is the *effect* of the assault on the family that begins their descent. I will not spoil the book by telling you the details as to how each of the brothers and the parents fall off their respective wagons. But the cumulative effect is devasting, as told by the narrator, a now adult youngest brother Judd.

How can such a complete destruction of a classic nuclear family be a book I'd want to read? Because as someone once said, it is when a man stares into the abyss that he finds his character.

Suffice it to say that when you are done with this book you will feel as though you knew the Mulvaneys, suffered with them, and wonder how you would have reacted.

I believe everyone can relate to one or more of the characters in this book.

I also believe that this book is a *must* read.

If you want a book that will make you think realistically about life's challenges - and not give you answers, but rather present situations that make you think about how you would respond, this is the book for you.

The cliche that we learn more from our mistakes than our successes never applied more.

And all of us can probably stand to look at this side of life. As with 'The Dark Side of the Light Chasers', it is by looking at our human frailties and faults, shining the light on ourselves, warts and all, that we can come to true self-awareness.

E-trainer was instrumental in helping me pass my CCNA. The program presents a 3 router, 1900 switch environment. The labs range from basic ones such as configuring your routers with IP addresses to a little bit on frame relay. What is nice is you can use it in free form mode so that you can enter different configurations, however, I found there a are limitations to the program. It is not going to accommodate everything you want to do. But you will do just fine if you stay within the material from the labs. I also found out it is best to use Todd's study guide as reference instead of using e-trainer to go through the labs in his book. Everything in the book is not necessarily covered in e-trainer. The most important thing, even with its strengths and weaknesses, is that for the price you get more than adequate hands on experience to pass the CCNA exam; which I think this program was for the most part intended to help you do. If you have realistic expectations of the program, it will be very helpful. If you want something to be more elaborate and flexible than this product, buy real routers, but who has that kind of money.

This is an excellent simulator. It does it's job very well...it teaches you the basics on how to configure cisco routers and will definitely help you pass the CCNA test. I ran through all the simulations three times and also used Todd Lammle's book. Very effective! Passed the CCNA exam on first try and, more importantly, I now KNOW and UNDERSTAND this stuff. This software can't perform every cisco command and do everything, but it certainly gives the hands-on experience and covers all the commands as specified by Cisco's exam criteria. I give "two thumbs-up" and highly recommend it. When you are running a simulation lab, if you have any problems it's definitely related to "your own" misconfiguration of the router/switch. You would experience the same situations on the real hardware. Once again, combine this software with your reading and you will learn this stuff easily.

I'm new to the IT world, and I've still never laid hands on a router, so I had to do a great deal of reading to pass the CCNA exam. Using the e-trainer supplemented my reading and familiarized me with IOS commands in a manner that just reading about them didn't. I really like the Network Visualizer feature. I passed the CCNA today, and one of my highest scores was on the IOS portion - that is due mainly to the e-trainer. After reading several books, I recommend this path to folks with limited experience who are pursuing the CCNA*: (1.) Myhre's book (CCNA Certification: Routing Basics...); (2a.) Lammle's study guide; (2b.) the e-trainer router simulator; (3.) Lammle's CCNA Exam Notes <* Note that this is in reference to CCNA1: 640-407. This test will be retired at the end of July 2000, so the new CCNA (640-507) may change this.> The e-trainer isn't perfect as I ran into some commands that weren't accepted, etc., but it does the job. I can comfortably give the e-trainer 5 stars. It's been invaluable to me as a person who doesn't have access to any network equipment.

In studying for my CCNP/CCDP certs, I read the full set from Sybex and also the Exam Preparation Library from Cisco Press. I found that the Sybex books did a better job of introducing certain topics and laying the foundation for further study - further study from Cisco Press, that is. If you are unfamiliar with a lot of the objectives for the exam, the Sybex book will put a framework in place. If you're looking for information that will help you answer and understand each question on the CCNP exams, check out the Exam Prep Library from Cisco. I've read many reviews that state the CP books are too technical and dry - hey, if you're going to be a CCNP, you'd better be able to handle the level at which the Cisco books are written. Yes, it's technical. Get used to it. Besides, the CD Test Engine from CP is MUCH MUCH better. Also, the essay questions at the beginning and end of each Cisco Press chapter really show if you "know" the material. Yes, this book has errors. They all do. Check the publisher's website for errata, and make the corrections. To sum up, CP's collection did a terrific job of preparing me for the tests. With careful reading, they'll do the same for you.

Jayson Tobias
CCNP CCDP

This book is a good study tool for those of you preparing for the CCNP Routing examination. Although I have a good amount of experience with Cisco routers, which aided my preparation, there were several areas on the exam that I had no, or very limited, experience with. When combined with my previous experience this text, by itself, was sufficient to pass the exam.

For the most part the topics in the text were covered in a logical and thorough manner. Additionally, the topics discussed in the book were covered in sufficient detail to allow a person with limited router configuration experience to pass the test; however, there were a couple glaring areas of weakness in the text when compared against the exam. To score well on the exam you must have a fairly detailed grasp of EIGRP and OSPF configuration. This guide, though it provides sufficient information to pass both areas, does not provide enough depth and complexity in either area to score well.

I would not recommend depending solely on this reference to prepare for the test if you have very limited router configuration experience.

PJZ

Mr. Lammle Has done it again with another great book. This book as all the tools to make you pass the grueling CCNP Routing Exam. It covers all areas step by step including all high level protcols such as BGP, EIRGP,OSPF. Moreover what seperates this book from the rest is the hands on lab which can be performed using the routingsim software sold seprately. One Piece of advice buy the ccnp routing sim software. Its well worth the money since its impossible to pass the exam unless you have hands on exprience with Cisco IOS.

While I truly enjoy the WoT books, I have to say this was a "Show me the money" book by TOR. The information in the book was primarlily a rehash of things readers discover or can infer through reading the series. In other words, for those that have read the complete series up to the date of this book there was not a whole lot of new information. For those that are just starting the WoT series, this book could spoil a lot of the suprises. I also have to admit that I thought the art was terrible and question wheter the artist even read the series.

On the plus side, the Guide provides a handy reference for hard core WoT fans. It also provides a number of maps that the books have lacked.

I would suggest buying this only after you have completed reading the series up to book 8 and have read the short story in "Legends." This is a good reference book to have if your re-reading the series or just trying to pass the time until the next book is out.

For all of the Jordan fans who are having trouble waiting for the '98 release of 'The Path of Daggers' (Book 8 in The Wheel of Time), this book may have been thought to be something that would hold you're attention. Put simply, it won't. If you're a big Jordan fan, you'll have to buy it, simply to say that you have the complete collection, but it will be a case of reading it once and then storing it on the shelf for ever more, for there is little that hasn't either been mentioned before or alluded to. Highlights of the book are the maps from the previous seven novels reproduced in large scale on glossy art paper, and the seven double page spreads of Darrell Sweet's artwork from the novels. I kid you not, after seeing the rest of the artwork in this book, you will never complain about Darrell's covers again - in fact, you will most likely wish that they had asked him to do all the artwork for the book. On the text side, the section on the Second Dragon and the rise of Artur Hawkwing is the highlight of the book, for there is little else that won't leave you feeling cheated, as in some instances, the author's have even omitted things already revealed in the books. They have even ignored the opportunity in include the short piece 'The Strike at Shayol Ghul' in this book, instead leaving it available to the few who visit the Publisher's web site. It would seem what the publishers have done is basically taken whatever background notes Jordan has been writing as he creates, try to update then to allow for some of the things that have been revealed, make it sound like this is some unknown historian from Rand Al'Thor's time that is writing it (and incidently, at the time this historian wrote this book, Illian was still under the control of the Forsaken Sammael), and jammed it all in a quick book designed to do little more than cash in on the series popularity. About the only really interesting clue I found in the book (relating to the yet unreleased Book 8) is the quote at the very start of the chapter on the Seanchan, which to my mind alludes to the title of the new book fairly implicitly. On the whole, I WOULD recommend this book to anyone who asked, but I'd qualify that by telling them not to get their hopes up or to expect any surprise revelations

I must say, being a fan of Robert Jordan, that the information in this book was invaluable as well as enlightening. It contained more detailed information on such things as the Age of Legends than was in the actual series, and gave background on many otherwise bleak details. However, I would not recommend buying this book for the art it contains, of which I had high expectations and was fairly disappointed in. Granted that the artists idea of such creatures as mydraal and ogier, for example, will conflict with my own ideas. I do regret to say that the actual quality of the art was lacking. It looked to have been done quite quickly and with haste. Overall, however, the book was very well done and deserves 5+ stars for its content, and 3 stars for the artwork. It is definitely something to buy if you can just get past the art.

"Extreme", "lantern jawed", "boulders the size of buildings". Mix these three cliches, stir in an almost incomprehensible mix of first names and some [partial] biographies and you have the essence of Todd Balf's The Last River - The Tragic Race of Shangri-La. Ostensibly the tale of a river exploration by kayak gone awry it's focus is continuously blurred by disorganized snippets of arcana and personal information about the participants and (too many) peripheral players in this tale of a grand scheme gone bad. The real tragedy of this story seems to be the fact that Balf is the self- appointed chronicler of it. Balf continuously mires the reader in minutiae that is scattered seemingly hodge-podge throughout the story. The timeline of the book wavers between serpentine and non-existent and further clouds an already confusing tale. The story itself, the story of a group of experienced paddlers seeking the ultimate challenge on one of the mightiest rivers in the far east, has unlimited potential to be engaging. Instead, Balf scrawls such a circuitous, hackneyed missive, that the weakly developed principal characters rush down a river of unpredictable, choppy and confusing prose long before they reach the river that shares those qualities. In the Author's Note Balf writes of his struggle to give shape to an original article about the topic of his book. The reader is predisposed to think that Balf underwent the same struggle with the book..and lost. Balf seems overwhelmed by the topic at hand: too much information, too much forced drama and too many characters have resulted in an unruly pastiche of a story. In the end it is the story that suffers: the clarity of the participant's vision has been lost, the essence of the experience that beckoned them left unexplored. For [the money] CAN there are more entrancing journeys for the reader to take.

This is a good book. Not great; not horrible. Just a good, solid read. Yes, the author does provide some superfluous background material. Yes, the author does tend to jump around some in his narrative. No, the author does not necessarily keep you riveted with sensationalistic prose. However, anyone who can read this book and find either the book itself, or the story for which it serves as a medium, "boring" is apparently the type of reader who tends be dissapointed because there aren't any pictures to look at. This is no "Into Thin Air", but then again not many stories of survival or loss in the wilderness, no matter how interesting, quite carry the epic weight of that ill-fated occurence (and thank god they don't).

This author sets out simply to convey the details connected with this particular expedition, much as if he were writing an article for Outside magazine (go figure) and the resulting story is both informative and, for those interested in the subject matter, well worth reading.

The essence of this book is its characters. If you want the typical second-by-second action, the literary equivalent of "slow-motion" - tense faces, surging muscles, tall waves bearing down, and all that - then this isn't your book. I mean, the river scenes are there, but they aren't the essence. If you want a cheap thrill, read something else.

For Balf, this expedition wasn't like that. It wasn't about cheap, take-home, made-for-tv summiting. Sure, they called it "The Everest of Whitewater," but these were no twenty-something testosterone freaks selling an image. These were middle age guys, Harvard and Yale grads, writers, chemists, intellectuals. They all had wives and kids. Yet, at the same time, they were unmatched paddlers - pioneers and legends. Roger Zbel is famous for running the big Eastern rivers in flood when all the young dudes were scared off, and he has dominated extreme kayak racing for 15 years, ever since he and his buddies pretty much invented it, along with the whole new discipline and culture of squirt boating. Tom McEwan was the first big waterfall runner, and he has first descents in many countries. He's considered untouchable in a boat, and he runs his own kayak school nowadays. Jamie McEwan was an two-time Olympian paddler, and a Bronze medalist, the only American male to win a medal in whitewater solo craft. And on the river Doug Gordon was the best of them all . . .

Balf knows that. He knows that Tom McEwan could drop off a thirty-foot falls without much thought, that Roger Zbel could run class V in his sleep, that all these guys had been near death on the river.

But what Balf gets at in this book is the characters themselves -- what made these intelligent, middle age fathers and husbands leave their daily lives to paddle a river that left many of the world's great kayakers shaking in their spray skirts?

He looks at them from many different angles, and it's great stuff. For example, there is a great part about Tom McEwan's paddling camps - Balf calls it an "Outward Bound-meets Bad News Bears" approach to travel, or a "Charlie Chaplin approach" to camping by the river -- a kid would be told to dig a ditch, but he wouldn't have a shovel. So he'd be directed toward a shed. But it would be locked. Next, he'd be sent to the neighbor's for wire-cutters . . . And then, after he gets back from the Tsangpo, McEwan is right back out there again, leading paddling trips in his way -- guiding clients expertly, infectiously down harrowing rivers by day, camping out with his four clients on someone's porch by night. "Why does it seem, the older I get, the more stuff I accumulate, but the older Tom gets, the less stuff he accumulates?" asks one of his clients. While most clubs are having a nice lunch, Tom's wealthy DC-area clients are being led through the noise and trubulence of a waterfall curtain, up into a secret room behind the falls, and not even thinking about lunch. And again, he's not just some insane guy. He dropped out of Yale with one semester to go, and then he lived out of his kayak for a year in a Florida swamp, training for the Olympics. I found this kind of thing fascinating, and it's much deeper and more interesting that my little summary, of course.

What I took from this book was the characters -- interesting, complex guys -- brillant, highly talented men who found something in paddling that wouldn't let them go -- some challenge -- that led them to a river that everyone called insane. Certainly, what happened was tragic, but that's the nature of paddling whitewater, and right up to his last breath Doug Gordon was excercising the personal judgement that he valued so greatly.

Any claims that Balf is a poor writer are unfounded. And anyone who claims that Balf doesn't get to the point is clearly looking for something different than I am. I found some of the most interesting characters I have ever come across, written about clearly, and with vigor. It's a book about brothers, friends, family, and a trip that was years in the making. Balf called it a "Celebration of Life." Dispute their judgement all you want, but this book shows you the men themselves -- and they are some of the most fascinating men I've ever read about.