On closer inspection, I was very disappointed the example/tutorial application was not concise and was not fully functional.

The book content is 50% rubbish to be nice, I mean, why have comparisons with other tools and languages etc. Delphi users know why they bought the product, but now they want to get down to the nitty gritty of where, how, why.

The reference section is way to long and tries to touch on subjects other authors have based whole books upon.

Other than that, the author covers CS fairly well.

Oh and the CD example apps didn't work either. END

I have to admit, my copy is getting pretty worn. The back cover was lost long ago and the front probably won't make it through the year. Why? The book is a masterpiece. You don't see readable prose and precise detail like this anymore. You don't find breadth and depth in the same computer book these days. I take it with me everywhere I go.

What I like most about the book is that it's laden with experience. Obviously, the author has been around the world a time or two as a developer. He knows his stuff because he has been there, a fact you can't miss if you read the book through.

All in all, if you want to learn database development in Delphi from a master, look no further - this is the book for you. Nevermind that it was written for D2 - it's just as applicable today as it was when D2 first came out.

Penned by a veteran software engineer who writes prose as well as writes code, this is the one book to have if you want to know Delphi database development inside out.

His longing for love, especially from Victor, was so painful that it became difficult for me to read. I kept hoping he'd find someone to show him the littlest bit of kindness. His turn to violence is entirely understandable, and Victor's irresponsibility toward his creation is despicable. Victor, who is outwardly handsome but cowardly and cruel, is the story's true monster.

In addition to writing a captivating story, Shelley raises many social issues that are still relevant today, nearly 200 years later, and the book provides a superb argument against *ever* cloning a human being.

(Note: I have the edition with the marvelous woodcut illustrations by Barry Moser and the Joyce Carol Oates afterword - superb!)

For starters, the characters are far more subtle than any of the film versions: Victor F appears as a brooding and obsessed genius, but also as a great lover of life and nature. The monster, who is an articulate and literate creature who read Goethe, is even more interesting, from his hopeful beginning to his bitter reaction at rejection and his thirst for vengence. His eloquence was vivid and his pain horribly realistic.

But the work is also fascinating as a window into the mind of the Romantics, who at once strove to reject the rationalism of the Enlightenment yet reflected it. The creature starts off empty and what it becomes is due entirely to his experience. Knowledge is not always good, etc.

Finally, the themes are timeless and full of conflict: creativity giving birth to unimaginable destruction, tampering with nature as its necessities overwhelm even genius, and the like. THe book is a kaleidescope of philosophical reflection. The pain of the creator and the monster alike are inescapably linked like father and son.

I did find the style of the book a bit difficult. It is full of florid rhetoric and lengthy circumlocutions, as the doctor and then the monster tell their stories in almost identical prose.

Highly recommended.

There is alot of talk from Bellows about Henderson's capacity for deep feelings: great joy, great sorrow...a capacity in his soul for greatness. But where is it? True, we can't get into Henderson's mind, but Henderson seems more a sentimental fool than a lost romantic...sort of a strange mixture of King Lear and his fool. The intriguing people in the book and the secondary characters who surround Henderson. Henderson himself is capricious, overbearing, and well...stupid. I'm hesitant to read more of Bellow's books after this one. Great ideas...slightly pathetic execution.

An alternative way to read it makes Henderson representative of anyone who no longer has to work for a living and who searches for something to give life meaning. This should resonate with any young dot com millionaire as much as with any healthy retired person. Either way, the book reads smoothly and moves along briskly. Read it long enough to get past your initial dislike of Henderson, and it will reward your efforts.

Summary of plot: Sam makes (affectionately dubbed) "Thing II" for large bank and becomes friend of Bill, security guy. Gala night of the sculpture's unveiling, sweet Bill says some bizarre things & then subsequently meets untimely end. Sam's detectival curiosity goes into overdrive. She meets and suspects numerous acquaintances of Bill's and finally figures it out in the end. Tada! Somethings are somewhat obvious, and there are so many people in this book, Tim Tom Tony Baby Susan Susie Suki Simon etc. etc., I got kind of confused.

Enjoyably naughty beach/summer fling read. However, I will try the third book to see if she wakes up to the hazards of drug abuse.

Here is a simple analogy. A person needs to get to a street called "E street" and in order to get there they must know that there is an A,B,C,D, street. In comparison the author of this book constantly gives directions like take A,B,D, or A,C,D leaving out essential details thus leaving the student of this excellent animation program frustrated and confused. Basically the author of this book is probably an excellent animator and story teller. As a writer myself I remind the author that if the details of a story are left out a percentage of the audience will bail thus creating inappropriate and negative views about the potential of becoming animators and I believe that the author is trying to help people to become animation enthusiast not discourage them.

If you want to be as good in writing your tutorials as you are hopfully an animator then please take the time to avoid assumptions about your readers. If on the other hand you have written the book to get quick cash because of very little competition. Then I will ask that someone who has more tolerance of beginners and understands the essential nature of including all of the steps A,B,C,D,E please take the challenge.

In conclusion I believe that this is a program well worth the price of admission . I only ask for a larger group of us who are newer and can learn well with a more detailed tutorial book that someone please take on this needed to be done task.

P.S. to Jeff Paries I an not trying to insult you. I'm simply asking for a more complete and linear set of tutorials from you or anyone else. There is a business need at this graphic revolutionary time even if you write two books. Beginning to Intermediate book one followed by Intermediate to Advance. Then we are happier to give the writer more money that they deserve and word of mouth advertising is expanded to a higher level.

Thank you for your time. renzai@pdai.com

I purchased the Animation Master 98 Handbook almost 2 years ago and found it to be very benificial to increasing my skills with Animation Master... to a degree.

I recently purchased the AM2000 Handbook in hopes that it would cover/correct problems in the first book. Yet the incomplete, vauge, and at times, unreliable instructions that the 98 Handbook had left me with returned in the AM2000 Handbook

99.9% of all my problems stem from the modeling tutorials, especially the Advanced Modeling section. At times you are left to "figure it out for yourself" instead of being walked through each step in the process. The most disappointing is the modeling tutorial of the female body. Where Mr. Paries spends 10 pages on how to model a simple fish, he spends only 11 pages describing how to model the "intricate" human female.

If you own the AM98 Handbook, see if you can find this "updated" version at your local library, borrow it from a friend, or just don't worry about it. There's really not much new in this edition and very few problems were fixed from the preceding edition.

If you are just learning AM, pick it up. It may not be the most complete and/or detailed book that it should be, but it will give you a good idea of some of the things you can do with AM.

A final, more recent comment regarding Robert from Troy and his exception to my review -- a careful reading of my review demonstrates that I stated using a CIRCULAR SAW to make raised panels is incredibly dangerous. His claim that it is safe to do such on a table saw, while accurate, is clearly a misreading of my review.

That being said, this remains an above par action novel, especially for the military-minded. Her description of Gracie's flights and Bruce's rescues were very lively and exciting. And I found their letters back and forth to be more interesting than their in-person encounters (except maybe for the short descritions of their two post-deployment reunions, I enjoyed those parts. But that could be because I'm a military spouse and understand how emotional they can be.)

My conclusion is that this is an essential read for Henderson fans, if only to make us appreciate the other books even more. For people who have never read a Dee Henderson novel, this is a good book to start with...it's still excellent writing.