This book is a marvelous witness to the peace and power available to us through the quiet welcoming of God into our lives each day. Carretto says, "Deep down the soul has understood that it must let itself be carried, that it must abandon itself to its Saviour, that alone it can do nothing, that God can do everything.... What matters is to let God get on with it." The author's lived-out, radical commitment is extraordinarily impressive.

However you can, as soon as you can . . . get this book. It is rich throughout, but the third or fourth chapter (apologies, I'm not sure which one off hand) is worth almost any price. It is one of the few passages I have ever read that has made a lasting, lifelong impact on my life with Christ. Go ahead, make the decision. You will be glad you did. In an age of "instant" Christianity, Mr. Carretto is a refreshing journey in the nuances of the soul, acknowledging the beauty and pain of what it means to follow Christ in a fallen world.

Oblivion, the pocket sized LARP rulebook for Wraith: The Oblivion is right on par with Laws of the Wild as a fantastic, well compiled book. Oblivion contains information on all Guilds (including the especially illegal 3), a habit I wish White-Wolf would take toward it's tabletop books instead of relying on infinite sourcebooks.

The system is the same one as in all the other books, which is good, because it's a well thought out system. Shadowguiding remains a concern of mine, however. In Live Action, having a player also play someone elses Shadow just isn't always practical. If you have six or so people, it's definately worth having half of them play Shadows, pure and simple.

In short, it's as good a book as Laws of the Night and Laws of the Wild. If you enjoyed them (especially Wild, to which it enjoys more similarities) you should like this.

(ps. And contrary to popular opinion, Wraith and Oblivion do NOT have to be overly depressing. Play it any way you like!)

The LARP rules for Wraith, I thought would be more again to the LARP rules for mage.. Impossible to make believable in a Live Action Setting. Although, Some of the Wraith powers are a hard to pull off live, MET does it very well. I am EXTREMELY impressed. Also, the condensed approach to the rules and setting includes more than the original base tabletop book did for about half the price. A great buy for any LARPer.

This book piece by piece debunks the myrhs surounding the Rhodesian war and sociaty.

Itshould be made compulsory reading for all the ex Rhodesian when-we's who live around the world today.

If only some body would write a book this good debunking the myth of Mugabes noble freedom fighters

"Rhodesians Never Die" is a comprehensive history of the European population that ruled pre-independence Zimbabwe. This book takes a cynical view of Rhodesia's struggle to maintain minority rule amid increasing outside and internal pressures.

Godwin and Hancock put together an amazing amount of information in this work that includes even the smallest detail. "Rhodesians Never Die" chronicles every event, argument, article and demographic affecting Rhodesia for more than a decade.

The only drawback to this exhaustive work is its critical view of Ian Smith and Rhodesia's so called 'way of life'. Reading this book I got the impression that the authors arrived with preconceived conclusions about Rhodesia that weren't supported by their arguments. This could be due in part to the fact that this book does not relate Rhodesians to international influences or to the black population. I would liked to have seen a more classical argument and counter-argument to Rhodesia's problems.

Nonetheless, those who read this book will be greatly surprised to see how moderately the authors portray Rhodesia's Prime Minister. Even though 'Old Smithy' is not shown favorably, he wasn't the extremist as he is so often labelled. That role was played by other segments of Rhodesia's political spectrum.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read Peter Godwin's "Mukiwa" or would like to learn more about the politics of southern Africa. This book was well worth the wait.

This book was used as the text for a Construction Law case I took in law school. Overall I found the book to be very good. It was clear, concise, well written, and easy to understand. It also brought a pretty wide range of topics into the mix, and provided a fair amount of places to go for additional information (by way of case law). If I had to complain, and for the purposes of this review I will, I would make two comments: 1) There are areas where a little more depth would be nice. Frankly, I don't think the scope of this book really includes in-depth analysis on anything so this might be a non-issue for many folks. I just found that there were a few times (a very few) when I was looking for more information. 2. This book does a really nice job incorporating definitions for new terms into the text. However, there are a LOT of new terms and a glossary would have beeen a nice addition to the text.

An outstanding work -- easy to follow, yet powerful. It delivers in-depth coverage of current law on hot construction topics. As a General Contractor, I found the book very helpful. I strongly recommend it. The industry has become so litigious that you cannot afford to not know.

I read this book that I borrowed from a friend 3 years ago. I am a Sonoran native, and I found most of the author's comments accurate. Although I found it a bit pessimistic and cynical at times, I really enjoyed his observations on the present conditions in the state, since most of them are true.

Arturo Wagner Navojoa, Sonora

This is a delightful read, a vivid description of the land, the people, and the culture of Sonora, written by a person who loves it.

A research scientist at the University of Arizona, David Yetman creates a nice balance among history/geography; the human stories of people he meets; and his personal relationship to the land and indigenous people .

The esteem in which Yetman is held, both by Sonoran natives and gringo colleagues, is awesome. He moves easily from intimate conversations with native families willing to share their last tortilla, to sophisticated discussions of politics, agriculture, and drugs with officials in the highest of places. While acknowledging the challenges facing Sonora in light of ecological and social changes, he goes easy when questioning reluctant locals about the drug culture, presumably to avoid putting them, and himself, in harm's way.

Yetman's academic credentials are revealed in the wealth of information about the varied landscapes within Sonora. That he truly enjoys and respects the people he has encountered over thirty years and hundreds of visits shines through and gives the book its personality.

"Hey, Indy I've found something", Oh, wait, that's a line from the movie 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' isn't it? and 'The Sign & the Seal' is a serious historical, archaelogical account of the search for, and supposed discovery of the biblical Ark of the Covenant. Yes, one is fantasy and the other non-fiction, although after reading some parts of the book, don't be surprised if you find yourself flipping to the backcover to check on the publishing category. For your reference it's 'history/religion/archaeology'

That the book reads like a great adventure novel makes it enjoyable. That it purports to have solved the mystery of not only what happened to the Ark, but also that Hancock says that he knows where it is, makes this a book that deserves serious attention. The author spent considerable time researching this subject and his quest took him to Jerusalem, Egypt, the Chartres Cathedral in France and finally Ethiopia. He read widely and interviewed many people and discusses a wide variety of topics. The Kebra Nagast (the ancient Ethiopian history of the Queen of Sheba), the Templars, the Holy Grail, the biblical story of Solomon and the Babylonian Exile of the Jews all have some bearing on the wherabouts of the Ark. Hancock weaves it all together with style.

Research, genuine interest, enthusiasm and writing style however are insufficient in overcoming the critical flaw of the book. Unlike a movie which can end however it chooses, an investigative history book must prove it's thesis. Hancock neatly dodges producing proof by telling us that the guardian of the Ark won't let anyone see it. In recalling the conversation Hancock remembers saying 'this is a great disappointment for me', to which the guardian philosophically replied 'there are worse things in life than disappointment', to which I say, there are many movies that could use good endings like this but a history book should not be allowed to get away with it.

I started reading this book just after it was first published, in 1992 I trudged on for a hundred or so pages, and then put it down. For 10 years. Heavy reading indeed. Every year or so I would pass by the book on my shelf, and it would glare back at me, calling out "Unbeliever!" "Backslider!" I would respond (silently for the most part) "Oh yeah, if the Ark of the Covenant really is in a Church in Axum, then I think, given the importance and power of the Ark, that it might have been subjected to well publicized, widespread, and modern analysis and study by not only religious scholars, but historical scholars as well.

Well, at least an article in Time or Newsweek.

But I digress.

Most useful part of book: Hancock's historical research is very interesting. He made the Bible become an historical record, as opposed to the Holy Book. I had never really though of the Bible as an attempt to lay out a historical narrative, and this book really made it easy to see the Bible in that light. He did a lot of research in a lot of areas for this book. But, I would be really interested in seeing what true scholars make of his sources and conclusions. I don't think many people have the depth of knowledge to truly assess the credibility of those sources and his conclusions. For all we know, the people and sources in his footnotes might be considered a little "wacky" by scholars.

I picked the book up again a few months ago, determined to finish what I started, and finally solve the great Mystery of the Ages (and I don't mean the location of Atlantis, or that Isis and Thoth and Moses were Masons). I got very close to putting it down for another 10 years during Part IV. But I am determined to finish it yet. I feel that I might get in trouble, in a religious sense, if I don't.

I tend to be fairly skeptical but enjoy history, especially when written by someone who knows how to keep the reader's interest. I think Hancock makes a very good case for the Ark being in Ethiopia...in fact, just to be sure he wasn't 'sandbaggin' me, I even bothered to check some of the authorities he quotes as "scholars" and indeed he was scrupitiously honest.
I agree with another reviewer here that the ending was more than a small disappointment but the trip was overall worth it.

Well-written, and recommended.

A nice quick read that will hold your interest when you have time to kill. It took awhile to get used to all the character points-of-view but it all came together nicely in the end.

This is a powerful book, filled with intriguing stories, characters, dynamic situations and, with all the thrill and psychological terror that could be mustered, "The Hancock Boys" really delivers. Who is the smart twin? The mad twin? Who's the killer? Who's the husband? Does the wife know? Who will exact revenge? How does fate intervene? All of these questions are answered. All of the stories merge. And the ultimate lesson is learned: is brotherly love all that powerful, or is man his own universe, yearning for acceptance, for power, for identity? The book moves quickly, the characters develop even quicker. An easy read, but a thrilling one, Mr. Simpson sure knows how to write. This reader has ordered four more of his books, as I've found one of my new and favorite authors.

I have currently read four of Mr. Simpson's books. The Gypsy Storyteller is my favorite so far. His last two books (Caretaker and Hancock Boys) are quite different from his previous work. It seems that Mr. Simpson has switched to a lighter reading, thriller format. Despite the lack of depth in either of these latest novels, they do not lack in readability and enjoyment. The Hancock Boys is as good a quick-read thriller as I have read in years. The story never grows dull, and the quirky characters never fail to entertain. I hope that Mr. Simpson someday returns to writing books that have substantance as well as great storytelling. But either way, this thriller is well worth the read. Its the kind of book that flies by so fast that you are disappointed just to find it has ended. I can't say that about many of the paperback thrillers that line the walls of most stores. If you enjoy this book you should try and dig up some of his earlier work. Its worth it.

The CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide is a very good jumping off point for your quest to achieve the CISSP certification. Having looked closely at both it and the CISSP Prep Guide prior to purchasing one several months ago, I found both to be solid foundations for learning but quickly came to the opinion that the Shon Harris book is far better written. Her relaxed, conversational writing style makes this a better choice for learning the basic material.

The book is not perfect, however. The index is fairly good, but not entirely thorough. The glossary is just plain lousy, but this is a fairly common complaint for technical textbooks in my experience. A glossary should contain every definable term used in a book. This one doesn't even come close. The book also implies that the bulleted summaries at the end of each chapter contain the crucial information the reader needs to know from each domain covered. This is not true at all. In reality, you will need to know everything in each chapter and quite a bit more if you want to be completely prepared for the exam. No book contains all the testable material for the exam, including this one.

Start with this book, get the basics, visit the URLs that Shon includes at the end of each section. Take notes. From there, take as many practice tests as you can get your hands on, starting with the ones on the CD included with this book. The more practice tests the better. They will not only get you used to the style of questions on the exam (this is *not* a simple fill-in-the-blank exam), but they will also quickly highlight areas of knowledge deficiency. The Boson exams are very good, as is the SRV CISSP practice book.

I enjoy reading this book very much. I believe that this book is the best so far in the market for CISSP and as an introduction and survey to provide a solid framework for the field, and especially for those to prepare CISSP. It is very well written as a summary (better and comprehensive than "The CISSP Prep Guide" by Krutz, et al) with the orignial and critical sources. My delight and best part of this book: for each topic the author kindly provides the web sites (for further study and reading).

CISSP test is very general (generic, and not for a specific product or service) and thus a frustration. But that is what CISSP is about. For professional and marketable working knowledge, use this book as a framework, along with many other good books such as (1) Incident Response (by Mandia & Prosise) and (2) Hacking Exposed (2nd ed, by Scambray, McClure, Kurtz) or (3) Maximum Security (3rd ed, Anonymous), or (4) Counter Hack by Stoudis, to supplement the reading and case study.

Well, you know what you know, you have been in the Information Security arena for at least three years and you believe that you would have a better shot at that promotion or new job if you were carrying those five little letters, CISSP.

Now it is time to hit the books, or at least THE book. This is THE book. Shon Harris has done an admirable job of backfilling the top ten Common Body of Knowledge (CBK) topics from ISC^2 with historical and relevant information that makes the CBK easier to understand and relate to Information Security as a whole and THE TEST specifically.

The book is divided of course on the ten disciplines of the CBK; Access Control, Network & Telecommunications, Security Management, Application Development, Cryptography, System Architecture and Models, Operations Security, Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery, Law Investigation & Ethics, and Physical Security. Each chapter gives a brief history lesson on the topic and builds into full examples, one line pointers and about 25 sample questions.

The chapters are independent of one another and I did not study them in order. I recommend that you read the chapter that is most closely related to your current role in the IS structure. You can then pick up Shon's writing style and understand how her examples will relate to the real world.

This is the only CISSP book I used to study with but don't ignore the great web sites that are out there, just Google for CISSP and you'll find plenty of resources but they won't replace the detail that this book provides.

And, yes, I did pass the first time without taking a multi-thousand dollar seminar or class. Go Shon!

The author of this book makes two main mistakes:

1. He starts with a conclusion. In a violation of the scientific method, Mr. Hancock begins at the end; at the start of his work he has already decided that the Earth was home to a civilized people (from Atlantis?) millenia before current data suggests. He then distorts evidence to "prove" this thesis in much the same manner that Creationists distort data to prove their absurdities; by only allowing for one explanation for any apparent anomaly.

2. Ethnocentrism and out-dated Anthropology. Hancock's work is also tainted by his acceptance of a cultural fallacy: That civilized life is the easiest, most "advanced" form of human social existance, and that it is a goal that all humans work toward, adopted by food-foragers as soon as they are given the oppurtunity. However this concept of unilineal evolution has been disproven over and over again, starting with Marshall Sahlins' 1972 book "Stone Age Economics." This puts the lie to phrases used by Hancock such as "golden age of agricultural plenty" and reveals the real (but perhaps unconscious) purpose behind the book as an attempt to explain why, since civilization and intensive agriculture are so wonderful, fully modern humans existed without them for 100,000 years.

Despite these very serious flaws the book does raise some very interesting points, such as the apparent evidence of water-erosion on the Sphynx, and (most interesting) the apparently ancient map detailing an ice-free Anartica. Unfortunately, the serious problems detailed before cast a shadow over the credibility of the entire work, which makes me much less able to readily accept these enigmas, which would be very intriguing in a different context. However they are enough, combined with Fingerprints of the Gods well-written and very readable presentation, to lead me to give this book 2 stars instead of one. Readers are advised to take everything Hancock says with a very big grain of salt.

Mr. Hancock is not constrained by scientific methodology, which makes his speculative book on the origins of present-day civilization both entertaining and thought-provoking. However, credulous readers, before you start stockpiling canned food for the End Times you should go online for a reality-check: it seems Mr. Hancock's sources are sometimes wrongly or inaccurately cited. For example, he places much weight on the "crustal displacement" theory of professor Charles Hapgood, ignoring the inconvenient fact that subsequent investigation of Hapgood's theory found it fatally flawed. At any event, 23/12/2012 (the predicted date of the end of the world) is only a decade away --- stay tuned!
[Aside: It doesn't help Mr. Hancock's credibility that the hardcover U.S. edition of "Fingerprints" was so sloppily edited. The book is full of typos, which left me wondering if the editors bothered to read the manuscript at all, let alone fact-check it.]

This is a fascinating, wonderful, fun read from start to finish, as Hancock shows clearly--through myth and astronomy--the fallacy of the notion that civilization began 6000 years ago. Orthodox egyptologists, with their noses in the dirt, hate books like Fingerprints. They mistrust astronomy because they don't understand it or don't want to, nor do they enjoy seeing their arbitrary theories challenged. Read it with an open mind. One caution--Hancock uses Hamlet's Mill as a major reference for proof of ancient knowledge of the precession of the equinoxes, and that's fine. But don't bother wading through Hamlet's Mill looking for accurate myth interpretation, other than the astronomy aspect. It's a boring, worldly, mundane interpretation of mythology that disregards and denies the mystical essence and the real events from which world mythology flows.

Hancock's basic premise is that an ancient civilization built monuments around the world that are astronomically aligned to the year 10,500BC (thus backdating human history several thousand years.) And somehow these monuments are linked to the search for immortality.

Hancock and his wife travel around the world and try to tie a lot of historical sites together with magic numbers (72 being the most prevalent but any even number being almost as good.) The problem I had was that the linking of the monuments to stars degrades as the book moves along. The link is clear in Egypt, possibly present in Mexico, requires squinting in Cambodia, and then devolves to a lot of "as ifs" and "rough alignments".

The pictures in the book are pretty even if they don't always offer the clearest view of the idea the book is trying to convey. Most of the diagrams involving star alignments are oversimplified and practically useless.

This book barely advances the ideas put forth in "Fingerprints of the Gods". It mainly takes the format of "Message of the Sphinx" and applies it to other mysterious places around the earth.

As I write about this heated debate/book, I have realized how each one of us will subjectively react to Graham Hancock's current book and the previous others. My subjective reaction we know is not the proof. The answer to end this debate is simple, find the means to test the hypothesis being put forth...That there was an ancient advanced civilization around 10,500 BC whose knowledge we all share through stories, myths and structural evidence that employs some advanced astronomical principles...

For a true Scientist, classifying Graham Hancock is not important, testing his theories and the evidence he presents, however is and to do so with an open mind. As a researcher Hancock has taken the time to observe the same sites, texts and myths as have others in the past. He is postulating different conclusions from what others have done..Not in vaccuum either...He provides you with plenty of evidence, contextual information and interpretation....more definitive than the "Fingerprints of the Gods"... Others have interpreted differently..He is willing to test it...Are there any takers?

The BBC program's attempt to prove/disprove Graham Hancock's theories is not sufficient. Debunk a theory proposed on physical evidence on a tv program? We have not come so far in our scientific advancement by disproving a hypothesis in that fashion...Why not consider the physical evidence and evaluate/re-evaluate the evidence..Then subject the idea through the rigourous of the scientific process...Let this be done with ideas put forth by Graham Hancock and some of his collabarators...

If people disagree with Graham Hancock, test the hypothesis...If we cannot test it, treat it as fiction and read it and forget it...But let us not jump to "scientific" conclusions by doing what Graham Hancock is accused of doing...being unscientific...Either take the time to prove / disprove it or just let it be....

And as a reader, keep your mind open when reading this book. Personally I find Hancock's hypothesis very interesting and believe that more research is needed..to prove or disprove..What exists as evidence for the players in this debate is necessary but not completely sufficient to prove their position beyond doubt..Why so?

Let us compare the field of Physics with Cultural Anthropology. A famous Scientist made a very definitive end-of-the-19th-Century declaration that Physics can explain all physical phenomena save for a few, one of them being the Photo-Electric effect. However, one Einstein was willing to think differently and has changed our thinking about physical reality. His discoveries have not finished off Physics, but re-energized it and given the power to explain even more about the universe we live in and opened our eyes to how life can truly be stranger than fiction. Was the opinion stated by a prominent scientist and held by a majority of scientists of that time really the truth and the whole truth? Far from it as it turns out. An additional advantage with Physics is that, many of the hypothesis can be confirmed through lab based experiments and observable physical phenomena. These are repeatable or tend to repeat themselves and so can be re-tested and theories can be revised. Let us also not forget that we are human. This should actually be sufficient!

The orthodox hypothesis about rise of civilizations and Graham Hancock's new hypothesis and other alternate theories,however do not have such luxury. They are working with languages, texts, myths and physical pieces of evidence that no one person can completely claim to understand or explain. They may be able to recreate the skies in 5000 BC and 10000 BC, but nothing like physics. So the researchers in such a field should pay attention to all the data and whatever secondary data they can lay their hands on. I have read quite a few articles by the proponents of different theories.. Still I believe for reasons stated above, a lot more rigorous research is needed...and I will look forward to such research.

This is no mere picture book and Hancock is no Velikovsky. This book has a message of pivotal importance to all humans. It rolls back the horizon of human knowledge to unknown epochs, to a prior high-civilization with technological skills we may not even possess today. Hancock's claim is no less than that. He proves that the monumental layouts of ancient Tiwanaku, Gizeh and Ankor are actually based on star-patterns from 10,500 B.C. and that they contain the coded numbers of the earth's 26,000 year precessional zodiac cycle. Talk about ante-diluvian amnesia! If this theory is correct, then a high civilization existed at or before the 11th Millennium B.C., located in the equatorial regions, with the ability to travel world-wide, while most other humans were still in the stone age. One may ask why are there no inscriptions in stone from this civilization? That mystery may be resolved in due course. More importantly, I think this basic hypothesis is very plausible. With new dating techniques, we must now reevaluate the entire basis of pre-history which, until now, been based on stale eurocentric + mid-eastern cultural preconceptions limited to notions about ice caps and Cro-Magnons inexplicably leading to the rise of the Sumerians, Babylonians, through a series of Indus valley migrations. These findings will surely force the world's archeologists to reappraise those areas of the planet not covered by ice in the period 20,000 to 10,000 BC. I predict that the impact of this theory over the long term may mirror that of Darwin's Origin of the Species. Heaven's Mirror is a disturbing master-work in every respect. My sincere wish is that conventional archeologists should hold back from scorning Mr. Hancock. I ask them to open up to the new evidence with equanimity and address it with a scientific rather than emotive response.