This book just pastes in the output of Cisco commands without any adequate explainations. Obviously the authors know less about the material than many of the readers...

Notice that all the "positive" reviews give no details as to what's good about this book. I guess Lammle and Co. are going to have to submit more "reviews" to compensate for this bit of realism...

I bought this book as a companion to my Cisco Press troubleshooting book, but in the last few weeks, I found myself referring to this book less and less.

There is some good information, but if you are taking CIT as your last or next-to-last exam, a good deal of material is copied directly from the earlier Sybex books in the series. Nothing wrong with going over the material -- after all, you're learning to troubleshoot the material you've learned previously -- but I felt like a lot of this book was simply regurgitating earlier books instead of giving me fresh insight.

As I said, there were some good points. The chapter on troubleshooting methodology had some good examples, and having screen output for the commands helps those who don't have routers of their own to experiement with. Even that goes to extremes, though. At times there are pages and pages of redundant screen output when they need to be putting more solid information in.

Also, there's not much information on the actual contents of frames in different protocols. For those of us working with CCIE in mind while working on our CCNP, that's detail that shouldn't be left out. Overall, the lack of detail in this book really surprised and disappointed me.

You might very well be able to pass the exam with just this book if passing the exam is your sole goal. For those of us looking for more detail (and the exam has plenty of that!), I would recommend the Cisco Press book over this one.

Hear me know, believe me later: There was not one subject on the CIT exam that was not covered in this book! Be forewarned, it doesn't prepare you for the ridiculous phrasing and grammer used in the test to throw you off. I don't think any book can do that. Only real world experience can help you though those. If you used this book as your main study guide and failed the test, it is because you didn't study enough.

I am looking forward to reading the Mangold biography. As fiction Buckley's work is below par. I had expected more from him, the scholar that he is. This book pretends to clear Angleton,when it doesn't present enough factual detail to do this. Then it ends on a surprise note, accusing his superior without presenting any facts. Fiction can do more than simply tell or dramatize a story. I believe Harlot's Ghost by Norman Mailer, though not complete, does a better job covering some of this same information. Admittedly the latter requires a sequel to finish the job.

A very decent book and an interesting read, but Buckley's
fictional account of some of Jim Angleton's anti-communist
work lacks enough detail to really prove engaging.
As a mystery, the story seems a little weak, but passable.
A more glaring omission is Buckley's usual detailed knowledge
and background, and we are allowed only the slightest insight
into Angleton's thinking and motivation. It's especially glaring here because the author has significant knowledge
of the events and eras covered, but he has chosen not to share
it with the reader.
Angleton was the CIA's Chief of Counterintelligence for 20
years, and he was one of the leading anti-communist fighters
of all time, and he devoted his life to that cause, and we
have to wish Buckley would have shared significantly more of
his insights and knowledge. Even in a fictionalized account,
the author could have easily added far more interesting details
and stories.
This work is barely an introduction to either the life and times
of the famous Angleton or to the enormous anti-communist
effort so many Westerners made for decades.
This is a book to read in between more serious pursuits.

William Buckley has in his later years developed a surprising talent for fiction, and he couldn't have picked a more intriguing subject to focus it on with this book than James Angleton. How does one portray a man like Angleton? The spy novel genre, as epitomized by writers like John Le Carre, tends towards heavily convoluted plots, language, and characterizations in the effort to force the literary vehicle itself into a representation of the dark and twisted ethos of espionage. And one might have expected Angleton, as the quintessential cold-war spymaster, to have inspired just such a brooding study. However, Buckley will have none of that with his book, and taking the opposite tack, he crafts his novel with the same crisp lucidity that animates his political commentary. Employing spare sentence structure, sprightly characterization and fast-paced narrative, he draws a portrait of Angleton that has nothing sinister or even particularly mysterious about it. The legendary CIA counterintelligence chief emerges from this as entirely human - flawed and quirky, but brilliant, loyal to friends and motivated by a sincere patriotism. Underlying the story, however, is a kind of sad commentary by Buckley on the tragic nature of espionage as a profession. Much like a good cop corrupted by the violence of a high-crime neighborhood, Angleton by the end of his career seems helpless against the pressures driving him into a paranoid pathology. Frustrated by his failures to detect genuine traitors in his own ranks, Angleton becomes suspicious of everyone and begins voicing reckless accusations. This being historical fiction, of course, we all know how the story ends. When the CIA comes under hostile scrutiny during the post-Watergate period, Angleton has few friends left able or willing to defend him from his detractors, and he is sacked from the Agency he had devoted his life to. In what must have been the bitterest of ironies for him, attacks on his own loyalty are among the charges that doom him. Buckley touches on all this only very lightly at the end of this short work, but the simple brushstrokes paint a poignant picture. Spytime is a very good book and I recommend it.

After using New Rider's Inside Lightwave 3D, I was looking forward to the same kind of quality and thoroughness. It comes as a surprise that the editor of this piece is an employee of ktx, because the book completely lacks the elegance and intuitiveness of 3d studio max. Step by step procedures were confusing, and minimal. So why bother at all? FYI you writers could have written what you did in paragraphs like 95% if the book - why bother using numbered lists? For example, the LOFT example was better and more simply explained in Visual Quickstart Guide, in about just as few words . In fact many of the modelling techniques are better explained in other MAX books. This is for advanced animators (?) written obscurely by advanced animators, with a lot of the information you can find in other general animation books, or the kinetix manuals themselves(dah!). It's a real tome, but not useful for the intermediate user, and covers a lot of modelling techniques I've read about in maya and lightwave books. Not sure who they targeted this book for, but for the someone who's trying to LEARN (isn't that what books are for?), it's darn near useless. Try other books, take classes, or buy some videos. I wasted my money.

well, ive been a max user for a couple of years, learning from tutorials on the internet and of course from my own experience on the software. its been for awhile that im lookin for a very concise reference book (not really a tutorial stuff since ive been modeling already organic forms) inorder for me to get more of what the software is capable of, and i found that this book (which wont really tell the best techniques) gives more details on its capabilities and the functions explaining the inside stuff of max. Well if ur looking for a tutorial, then this book is definetly not for u...its a good book to read and a best reference material if you want to know whats really inside 3d max 3..(just a reminder:its not a tutorial book) MABUHI ANG SUGBU!

Hi 2 all the people who like max 3d well i know that this book as some bad reviews but i bought it anyway acording to my teacher in my 3dmax class and i have to say its preety good book it teaches u almost anything u want to know in max 3 it gots some good tutorials also and the cd is preety good with LOTS of plugins maps movies and lots of max files well i liked this book hope u will like it 2 BYE

I have read all the books in the Joshua series and a couple other books Joseph Girzone has written. My favorites are JOSHUA and JOSHUA AND THE CHILDREN. JOSHUA AND THE CHILDREN really moved me and affected me deeply, giving me a deeper appreciation for the finer things in life. I was really looking forward to reading JOSHUA THE HOMECOMING, the latest book in the series.

What a huge disappointment! The Joshua of JOSHUA THE HOMECOMING is not the same Joshua who appears in the other books in the series. The author says he is, but he's not really. No, the Joshua in this book is really just a puppet that the author uses to express his own beliefs and philosophies, some of which are not even Biblical. Now, there's nothing wrong with an author using a character he has created to spew forth the author's beliefs. However, Joshua isn't just some character. Joshua is supposed to be Jesus. Jesus isn't just a character and he shouldn't be treated as such.What made the first few Joshua books so enjoyable, memorable, and meaningful is that Joshua was Jesus. Girzone seems to have forgotten that. Instead, Joshua has become a mouthpiece of Joseph Girzone.

No longer does Joshua hide the identity of who he is, but now he lets people in on the "messianic secret" sometimes even telling them point blank who he really is. Not only that, but this Joshua claims that the Bible really isn't God-breathed but is an embellishment made by men. According to this Joshua: the claims of Christ about when the world would end aren't true and a prophecy might never reach it's fulfillment; macro-evolution is a fact of life; and we should all be blindly listening to scientists because they are the new prophets. This is just a sample of the teachings from the new Joshua.

I enjoyed reading all the other Joshua books, but JOSHUA THE HOMECOMING was a struggle to get through. The book isn't very long and the language is simple, yet it drags. Instead of caring what was going on with the story, I found myself wondering how long the book was going to drag. What a disappointment.

but it just didn't.

While Girzone's earlier "Joshua" books left no doubt as to whom Joshua really was, neither were they the forward, subtle-as-a-ton-of-bricks parables this one is. Perhaps that was Girzone's intent: to make this millennial Joshua more of a "Gospel of John" character [who boldly asserts his identity], rather than a "Gospel of Mark" character [who guards his true identity, only to be revealed upon his resurrection]. It's hard to reconcile the two Joshuas, but, again, maybe that's the point.

I was not so much offended as distracted by the very topical themes of the book. Earlier books in the series stayed away from using references to specific religious or cultural figures; this one names names (Pope John Paul II and the Church of God in Christ, for example). I found this unfortunate, as it seemed more a negative statement about them than a positive statement about the work of Jesus in the world. Prior books were fun to read over and over; I barely made it through this one the first time through.

Though I appreciated the messages offered, this was not a pleasant read (as the prior books were) for me. If this is the first of the "Joshua" series you read, I would encourage you to immediately read any of the earlier ones. They are a cut above this offering, both in reading enjoyment and in the message presented.

My family gave me a copy of Joshua, the Homecoming, for Christmas. I read it twice in one week. It is one of the best Joshua books thus far. It came at a time when I was searching for answers - answers to why some churches are not meeting the spiritual needs of their families. It made me realize I was not alone in not having my spiritual needs met at church. Fr. Joe has such a strong insight into each of us and knows how to tell us how Jesus would respond. I would strongly recommend the book for anyone in search of answers about their faith.

I bought this book as a quick study guide before taking the ACRC exam (after failing with the CiscoPress ACRC book). I read only a few chapters and this is my view: This book contains many errors with some information being just plain wrong. They give command examples in abreviated form which is not allowed on the Cisco ACRC exam. Not a good thing to have stuck in your mind as you're heading for the exam. Ignore this book BTW: I did pass on the next shot at the ACRC exam after re-reading the CiscoPress book.

First off, I felt there were many errors in this book. However, I don't think the errors as a whole really contributed to me not passing. The ACRC test is truly hard, and for someone without that much experience even harder. I thought this book would have given all I needed to know, however a number of the questions on the exam(especially one fill in) wasn't even in the book. I wish I had taken the advice of a friend who told me to focus on the actual course material most of all. Duh, I thought I could simplify and just read this book. Overall I like Lammle's writing, but this time I don't think he covered all the bases as well as he did in his CCNA exam notes book. -Andy Crefeld, a_crefeld@yahoo.com

Make sure and understand that the ACRC exam is by far the hardest exam in the ACRC series. This Sybex Notes book made it possible to pass the exam the first time. I studied the book for three days before the exam.

This book was missing pages 65-112. And had duplicate pages for 113-160!!

I got this book a couple of days before I recieved my G4 with a SuperDrive and began to study how to burn DVDs. Reading merely the first chapters on how the tutorial works and how you make a project using DVD Studio Pro will be enough to get you started. Within a couple of days after getting my computer I burned a full functioning DVD disc with several video tracks, a couple of complex menus, bonuses and a multitude of chapters...and I had never been exposed to DVD Studio Pro previously.

The people slagging this book in their reviews obviously thought this 'Bible' would burn the DVDs for them. You will have to do a great deal of problem solving if you are trying to create complex DVD projects, and refering back to the Apple documentation helps fill in areas this book doesn't cover- for example my first DVD kept bombing while recording saing 'BitRate too high' , the Bible never solves such a problem, but the Apple documentation explains that a maximum bit rate cannot be exceeded and the video must be rerendered at lesser quality. Also, the DVD previewer doesn't synch the audio and video perfectly, but not to worry because when burning the DVD all tracks synch up perfectly. Perhaps this book's tutorial was eroneous, but I never use tutorials if I can produce my own project and learn through actual application, and the information provided was enough to get me through the project and understand most all abilities and limitations of the DVD Studio Pro program.

The most apparent limitation of DVD Studio Pro is the ability to make motion menus with highlighted text for menu buttons, instead you can only overlay a color block onto of text presented in the motion video. Also, you cannot loop to a specific marker in a motion menu. I still can't figure out how to put markers on the specific frame of video for chapters, but only every 15 video frames. Hopefully Apple will produce a far more professional version of this program soon.

My recommendations for a person wanting to use DVD Stuido Pro are these- get Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, and a couple monitors. You can put DVD Studio pro on one monitor, Final Cut on another and place Photoshop underneath the two applications. With these three programs and the two monitors you will never be confused to where your pieces are, which program you are using, and you can do all the bits of a complex DVD in a production line without having to close and open programs in order to organize your work space.

Sure, the authors of this book didn't make a perfect Bible, but what can you expect from a book jumping quickly into an extremely complex program and video format. DVDs aren't VHS tapes- you can't just push REC and enjoy the program you are taping. With a bit of thought and persistance this book can help you burn DVDs using DVD Studio Pro's full capabilities.

This latest volume in MacWorld's series of Bibles is indeed a true revelation. Apple's DVD Studio Pro 1.x software brings professional level DVD authoring to the Mac desktop in a moderately-priced application. Yet, like so many first generation products, it lacks extensive documentation.

DVD Studio Pro, unlike so many computer "how to" books which merely are rewrites of the developers' manuals, goes beyond Apple's skimpy documentation and provides true hands-on guidance to the use of the program.

The authors employ extensive visuals of menus and concise explanations of their functions. Perhaps the most valuable contribution is the step-by-step guide to the creation of DVD Menus in Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is necessary for the creation of menus and overlays and the Apple manual provides insufficient guidance. The DVD Studio Pro Bible fills that big hole left by Apple.

A companion DVD/ROM contains several try-out applications (not really very useful) as well as very-useful tutorials, real-world scenarios and a pdf of the book complete with color illustrations.

DVD Studio Pro is essential reading for anyone beginning to use this program and will also provide tips to intermediate and advanced users.

Ned Soltz

ugh, i barely passed this test (796). this book had too many noticable errors, and really didn't prepare me for the exam like other lammle books. for my last ccnp test, i've decided to try cisco press instead of sybex because of this. contrast this with switching (clearly, an easier exam) where the lammle book was well focused and flowed well.

Todd Lammle did wonders with the CCNA study guide, and if your studying for the CCNA his book is the only one you need. This one how ever needs proof reading and accuracy on his part. The included "simulated review questions" which we all are looking for are a JOKE. 8 questions are all you get (even though you get to do it on two separate simulated routers..oh joy!).The review questions on the CD are not in-line with what you read. Use this and something else if you really want to pass the exam...I plan too.
It may be DDDRRRYYY reading, but try a book from CISCO press

This book is informative, well written and just like Todd Lammle's other books. I recommend them all. I read the whole book twice, went through the written labs and review quesitons, as well as the extra quesitons on the CD and the flashcards. Whew! It was a lot of work, but it paid off because this book prepared me fully for the Remote Access exam. Study hard and you will pass the exam using this book.

This book is an excellent resource for simple affective and time-saving tips. It goes in depth far enough to give you a basic understanding of Max and 3D in general. However, if you are looking for in depth modelling or incredibly detailed character animation tutorials, this is not the book to buy. This book does not go in deep enough to consider yourself professional in really any areas after reading soley this book. If you are a beginner though, this book will tell you all you need to know to get started. It is composed of 18 chapters dealing with materials, lighting, special effects, etc. Within each chapter you will learn new and useful techniques for editing mostly. As for modelling your own complex 3D models, you are basically on your own. Modelling is, however, one of the more advanced areas of Max and so you should not expect to find too much of it in a book sub-titled "Fundamentals". Overall, I give this book 4 stars (out of 5)because it does VERY well at teaching you the techniques that it presents, but it doesn't present enough challenging and impressive techniques to take your work to a commercial level.

I found this book to be an excellent introduction into the world of 3d animation. It delves into every aspect of 3d studio max 3 and even cites improvements over previous versions of 3d studio max. The best feature of the book was the cd rom that came with it, which contained step by step video screen capture showing you exactly what to do and how to do it. The only complaint that I had was that the author did not go the extra mile and explain every option in the submenus. If there were 5 buttons he would explain 3 or 4 of them and then exclude the fifth. If the author had only included a total of 5 more pages this would not have occurred. Other than that I would recommend this book for beginners

I thought this was an excellent, well-written book and perfect for someone new to this program. I am fairly new to 3D Studio MAX but I understand the depth of the program and how difficult it must be to write a book covering just the fundamentals. Some of the tutorials were a little difficult to follow (due to the subject matter primarily) but with a little patience I was able to complete all of them successfully. If you take your time and don't rush through them you won't have a problem. If you're new to 3D Studio MAX I highly recommend this book.

I expected more from Frank Miller, but this book is gharish, irritating, and just plain stupid. I blame the inclusion of Spawn in this crossover.

For example, 70% of the time, Batman in this book is mumbling about how Spawn has no disipline. I never thought mumbling could come through on paper, but that's what we got here. I lost count how many times Batman says "punk" in this book. If Spawn wasn't in this book, perhaps Batman might not find it necessary to mumble.

Sure, there are pretty drawings and panels (Which is why I gave this book two stars instead of one), but this story is so unintelligible, it isn't even worth your time to buy this book for those pretty drawings. I don't even know what the plot is about, other than doctors using humans for robots. I'm not sure if this problem was solved, and I read through the book twice!

If you want the best of Frank Miller, get "The Dark Knight Returns" or "Year One." At least with those stories, you won't be able to spot Spawn anywhere.

Let's face it kids: Miller and McFarlane are two of the most talented (or at least popular) people to ever work in the comic medium. And this is, hands down, the BEST Spawn/Batman crossover there is. Is it a bit short on plot? YES. Is the artwork a bit too flashy in places? OH, YES. But, as a crossover book, this is definitely top draw for my dollar. Nobody writes either Spawn or Batman as well as Frank Miller, and he manages to pull through in most cases here. McFarlane's artwork is, well, McFarlane's, so if you don't like it, don't pick this one up. But if you're a fan of either Miller or McFarlane, and if you have a real interest in how these two characters would interact (which is really what this is about, not the villian), then this book is definitely worth your money.

This story had all the hallmarks of a great Batman tale. The dialogue was fresh, gritty, and totally Batman--Frank Miller style. Plus, with McFarlane's art, how can you go wrong? When you try to include the plot. While the dialogue and interaction between Spawn and Batman make this a must-read for diehard fans, the plot is severely uninteresting. Ironically enough, in the other crossover, War Devil, the plot is the only good point in an art-poor, dialogue-poor story. So if we could just find a way to combine the two, we'd have a seriously good Batman story. Anyway, the comic's worth the money, just to see Batman go toe-to-toe with a demon from hell and hold his own. Not to mention all the great one-liners and Batman quotes. Oh yeah, and Mr. Arrogant's art isn't too bad, either.

I had read the marketing hype and some positive review statements concerning this product, and was very excited to purchase and use it to study for my CCNP. I had already passed my Routing and Remote Access tests before buying the Sybex Virtual Lab, so I never tried those modules. I did use the Switching module, and found it to be adequate having only a few typos. However, I was shocked when I reached the Support section of the product in September 2002. Not only did the status displays resulting from different SHOW commands not agree, none of the labs worked starting at 4.11. I went through extensive, time-consuming troubleshooting scenarios with Sybex technical support where I would follow the labs exactly, get to the point of failure, and send them my settings contained in their .INI file. It took several weeks before Sybex conceded that that the problem was in their product. The original product CD was even silkscreened with the title CCNA 1.0 instead of CCNP. I finally obtained a version upgrade (1.01) directly from Sybex in early November. This CD was marked properly, but the sleeve indicated that it was version 1.02. I tried again and found that they had fixed the first lab problem I encountered, but none of the rest of them worked or had been resolved. It would have been easier to fix the most horrible Cisco failure imaginable. Sybex placed the burden of proving the error in their product and of providing them with troubleshooting data directly on me. I obtained CCNP certification around Thanksgiving 2002 without using the Support section of the Virtual Lab, then Sybex finally answered and offered to send me a new version -- when the developers finish it by the end of 2/03 (coincides with their next commercial release version). I can't recommend this type of product quality or support to anyone -- BUYER BEWARE! Just bite the bullet, buy higher quality Cisco certified materials, and read them repeatedly until you understand it all.

I've completed my CCNP last June of 2001 but without this product's help. I grabbed this product last christmas just so I could hone while away from my setup, but disappointed not to be able to do what I need to do.

The bugs are not the major drawback of this product, as the patch provided on their site actually did fixed those problems, but rather its' very limited ability to do the task of supposedly helping you with the lab. Not only that it is very limited (it is a program, and the contents are limited to the programming contained), but certainly not enough to pass the 4 core CCNP exams. You'd certainly be able to do the lab which it wants you to do, but try doing the Cisco required labs as requisite towards CCNP track and you're out of luck. Save your money on this, I suggest you buy yourself a used hardware (routers/switches) instead on ebay.

Better suggestion: (1) Grab yourself the "Cisco CCNP Preparation Library" which is 4 course books covering all CCNP exam topics, these textbooks are exactly same contents as those 2-volume spring-bound text given at Cisco CEC, I kid you not. There is nothing on the exam that you won't find on the suggested book, then (2) follow-along the lab exercises on a piece of paper or much better yet directly on the hardware itself (the money you save on buying this software can be put to better use if you buy yourself a used routers/switches instead). If you are short of cash and cannot afford the hardware, there are numerous sites, which offer timed-lab where you ftp to their complete hardware setup and be able to utilize them to perform your lab exercises.

I'll still give this product a 2 star --- it is still an honest hard-work attempt to create a product, although very limited, would allow a user to investigate some command functionality of routers/switches. But I caution you not to rely on it to help you pass your CCNP exams or to mimic your more intricate enterprise environment.

Good Luck!

I used the CCNA Virtual Lab, and easily passed my CCNA exam. I was excited when I heard about the CCNP Virtual Lab; however, I was very disappointed with the bugs. The update fixes some bugs, but not all. If sybex fix there bugs, this would be a awesome product. I gave it a four because it is still a useful tool, yet I was very disappointed in all the bugs.