I purchased this book, because I love the work of Victor Hugo and was interested in this aspect of his spirituality. But the writing is terrible. Most of it seems to be a drug addled commentary on Hugo's later life by an unsympathetic critic. The writing is so bad as to frustrate the most patient of readers. If you love the work of Hugo or the philosophy of romance in literature, avoid this waste of ink and paper.

I had heard of this book for sometime before actually reading it and when I finally ordered it and began my reading; I was off on the most amazing adventure of metaphysical ideas I've ever encountered. As a student of Spiritualism as well as the Alan Kardec inspired spiritualist philosophy known as Spiritism from a historical and sociological perspective, this book brings to life the intensity of those 19th century psychonauts who in living with human mortality in a much more immediate way than we do now, documents their explorations of one of the fundamental questions of existence- do we survive death.
And the answers to those pointed questions that were revealed to the Hugo circle during his period of exile from France are simply breathtaking. First is their sheer poetic verbal majesty, secondly in the intimations of a universal mind that is both the embodiment of that "love which steers the stars" of Dante's "Divine Comedy" to the impersonal karmic justice that minimizes the inflated human ego in the scheme of things.
I cannot recomend this book highly enough, it will remain with you for thought & contemplation long after you've finished the final page.

I am telling you, what a trip! Well if you can believe it, the table did rock! Victor Hugo (1802-1885) is in excile on a lonely island and to pass time, he and his retinue conduct seances. Animals, of course, are the incarnations of criminals. (How good to know, that Stalin is now a dung beatle.) The Dove of the Ark had been guided by God to the landing place for Noahs gigantic boat. Not only animals, but also plants and stones knew what crime they had committed. Why was such knowledge not granted to man? Animals are prisons of the soul. The animal sees man and glimpses the angels. Forgiveness is Noah's Ark. Well, I think this is worth reading, even though it comes down from another century. Be curious! Gerborg

What can really be said about the Mongol army. They had an excellent leader (Gengis Kahn) and they understood, and were trained for warfare like no other army before them, and I dare say after them. They were Brutal and swift. James Chambers does an excellent job showing how the Mongols nearly conquered the entire world. Had Odgedei Kahn not died an untimely death, the golden hoard would have swept through Europe. One could only imagine how history could have been changed if the armies had not retreated. Which leads to another point Mr. Chambers makes which adds to his work. The fact that as their empire expanded, they did not have the manpower to effectively rule what they conquered. This was demonstrated by infighting among princes ruling in the outlying conquered territory. They, in essence, began to crumble from within. As the Chinese explained it to Gengis Kahn, what you conquer by horseback you can not govern by horseback. In essence it is what happened to the Mongols. Check this book out if you want an easy to read, concise history, of the Mongol army.

I had been in the dark about the Mongols, relegating them to the endless and anonymous Steepe invaders of European history. I learned the Mongols stood out as one of the most impressive armies in history. They rank as the most powerful army (in relative terms) ever, perhaps rivaled only by the American forces in 1945, and as the most brutal, even more ferocious and destructive than the Japanese Imperial Army. They are the standard for which all other armies should be measured, yet strangely they have been relegated to as asterisk in history. I am in awe of the Mongols under the supreme command of Genghis Khan and his peerless generals Subedai and Obedai. This book was one of the most concise, chronological, and logical historical books that I have ever read about any historical subject. This hidden treasure of a book owes much to the brilliant subject, the well-studied author and the unpretentious storytelling. It gets my highest recommendation; prepare to be impressed. I am very lucky to have found this book.

I read the french translation of this book "les cavaliers du diable". It is an excellent book about the invasion of europe by the Mongols. It gives an idea of the strength of their armies compared with the european armies of poor armed conscripts but also compared with the elite knights. The important battles like Liegnitz are vividly written. You almost think you are participating in it. The first chapters of the book describe the conquest of the Kwarezm empire, georgia, the Bulgarian empire and the Russian principalities. The book closes with the defeat of Hulagu by the Mamluks. The way of warfare is also well detailled.

I am a Vietnam infantry veteran and served with the 101st Airborne Div during this same time period. Chambers first book, Recondo, was much more interesting and far more accurate. This effort seems to have come from an author who never felt the heat of combat, just heard the stories, I know however, that is not true in this case. His recollections bounce around so much I kept getting lost in the stories. While I was "only a leg" my company employed most all of the super sneeky tactics you macho LRRPs seem to have invented. I bought this book based on the author, my mistake.

This is the second Larry Chambers book I have read. And I have enjoyed both of them. This is not a Pulitzer Prize book but it is a good book written by one guy who describes his personal experience in Vietnam in a humorous, matter of fact way. I have learned several field craft principles from Larry Chambers books. This is a very good light reading book for those who enjoy reading about the Vietnam War.

This book stands alone on the merits of its content. It is characterized by excellent writing. I have read other books about LRRP's and Special Op's in Vietnam, and most have been characterized by poor writing and sketchy details. Not so here.
Mr. Chambers has written a truly superb book that never once lets up with the riveting suspense. It is simply one exciting tale after another, and this is one ex-soldier who knows how to vividly detail his experiences 'in-country'.

There are many missions in this book that will leave you leaning forward in anticipation. Nightime airmobile extractions under blackout conditions while NVC soldiers were taken by surprise, only yards away. Once Mr. Chambers had an NVC soldier grab him at the same moment he was extracted while holding the line, having to kick away his assailant. He paints an excellent picture of a silent life, using hand-signals and often traveling at night, avoiding any trails and utilizing complete stealth.
His recollections are not always positive,as he discovered another party who had their deception revealed and were left dead for their comrades to find. Another time while on leave in Vietnam he visits a friend at a training facility, and watches as an instructor is showing a class the proper way to handle a grenade and it explodes, causing him to lose his arm. Even using the radio while no enemy was near was hazardous, when 'miking' the transmitter on a mountaintop caused stray electricity at this high altitude to send an electrical strike to the transmitter, necessitating an Airmobile evacuation of the injured.

Mr. Chambers went on to earn a Masters Degree after his service. This was clear from the first chapter, as I found myself completely involved in this book, finding it hard to put it down. A riveting book that better describes life behind the lines than others of its genre.

This book and the lies it inherits is just another example of those books which are actually a big help for holocaust deniers because it's so stacked with obvious lies and historic inaccuracies that only the historically illiterate can take this fairy tale serious and the revisionist historians again have another example of a wanna-be eyewitness who actually is a professional liar and supports their absurd thesis that there were no gas chambers at all.

I wish that every Holocaust denier and revisionist could be made to read this book.

Many books about Auschwitz are filled with dry narrations. It seems like people are afraid to talk about the subject, like they have the need to be politically correct or not to hurt anyone. I understand why but if you decide to write a book about subject do a good job regardless of the circumstances. This book relates the facts and everyday life in the camp the way it was. An author shares his feelings and thoughts. He describes behaviors (sometimes worse than barbaric) and survival instinct in the purest basic form. I liked this book. It is written well and it keeps reader at full attention. Chapters and story line flows smoothly. It's a book that describes harsh reality of the concentration camp that I wish no one every would have to go through again. If you liked this book there is also a similar one written by Dr. Perl called "I was a doctor in Auschwitz". Dr. Perl was a woman that went through the same thing as Muller but in the female part of the camp.

Chambers' story is an accurate piece of historical fiction; however, it is obvious after just the first chapter that Chambers does not intend for his novel to be primarily labeled as historical fiction. Rather, he intends his novel to be regarded as a coming-of-age story told in both the present and the past. As Chambers develops the narratives of Jacob and Geertrui, he shows that feelings of confusion, excitement and fear are common to all teenagers, regardless of their historical setting, as they struggle to come into their own.
Jacob and Geertrui are real, three-dimensional characters. They become persons with whom the reader can easily identify because Chambers allows the reader to hear their thoughts and observe how their emotions influence their decisions and often times change their rational or at the very least broaden their perspectives. I was thankful that Chambers explores the characters' emotions so in depth, because I believe that emotions are often more powerful than we realize and they are especially overwhelming during the teenage years. It is important that the emotions of Jacob and Geertrui are particularly potent for they find themselves in stressful situations.
The mature nature of Chambers' novel is shown in the first chapter. A mysterious, sexy stranger comes on to Jacob in an outdoor café. Jacob feels a rush of excitement because he's not used to attracting girls, but his excitement changes to bewilderment when Jacob realizes that he has struck a boy's fancy, not a girl's. I was just as surprised as Jacob to discover that Ton was in fact a boy, and I felt Chambers' description of this discovery was perhaps too vivid. (Jacob realizes Ton's true identity when Ton presses Jacob's hand to his crotch and Jacob feels his penis.)
Sexuality and sexual discovery are main themes in Postcards from No Man's Land. Chambers does not condone a particular lifestyle in his exploration of these themes, and I was thankful that he left the interpretation of Jacob's and Geertrui's sexual experiences up to the reader. However, I found it troubling that Chambers assumes Jacob is no longer a virgin because he is seventeen and that Geertrui and Jacob's grandfather can not restrain themselves from being sexually intimate.
Although Chambers does not seem to entertain abstinence as an option for teenagers, he does show that Jacob's and Geertrui's sexual choices, in particular, have consequences. Geertrui becomes pregnant with the child of a man who is never her husband, but the husband of someone else. Her pregnancy makes it necessary for her to marry another man who she does not love and to keep the true identity of her child's father a secret until her husband dies. Chambers accurately shows that Geertrui's relationship with Jacob's grandfather brings both pleasure and pain, but thankfully he illustrates how Geertrui's pain was tempered by the grace and forgiveness of others.
Overall, I was pleased with Chambers' novel. He writes with integrity and allows his reader to explore difficult issues without the fear of being judged. I would recommend this book to teenagers ages sixteen and above.

Chambers' story is an accurate piece of historical fiction; however, it is obvious after just the first chapter that Chambers does not intend for his novel to be primarily labeled as historical fiction. Rather, he intends his novel to be regarded as a coming-of-age story told in both the present and the past. As Chambers develops the narratives of Jacob and Geertrui, he shows that feelings of confusion, excitement and fear are common to all teenagers, regardless of their historical setting, as they struggle to come into their own.
Jacob and Geertrui are real, three-dimensional characters. They become persons with whom the reader can easily identify because Chambers allows the reader to hear their thoughts and observe how their emotions influence their decisions and often times change their rational or at the very least broaden their perspectives. I was thankful that Chambers explores the characters' emotions so in depth, because I believe that emotions are often more powerful than we realize and they are especially overwhelming during the teenage years. It is important that the emotions of Jacob and Geertrui are particularly potent for they find themselves in stressful situations.
The mature nature of Chambers' novel is shown in the first chapter. A mysterious, sexy stranger comes on to Jacob in an outdoor café. Jacob feels a rush of excitement because he's not used to attracting girls, but his excitement changes to bewilderment when Jacob realizes that he has struck a boy's fancy, not a girl's. I was just as surprised as Jacob to discover that Ton was in fact a boy, and I felt Chambers' description of this discovery was perhaps too vivid. (Jacob realizes Ton's true identity when Ton presses Jacob's hand to his crotch and Jacob feels his penis.)
Sexuality and sexual discovery are main themes in Postcards from No Man's Land. Chambers does not condone a particular lifestyle in his exploration of these themes, and I was thankful that he left the interpretation of Jacob's and Geertrui's sexual experiences up to the reader. However, I found it troubling that Chambers assumes Jacob is no longer a virgin because he is seventeen and that Geertrui and Jacob's grandfather can not restrain themselves from being sexually intimate.
Although Chambers does not seem to entertain abstinence as an option for teenagers, he does show that Jacob's and Geertrui's sexual choices, in particular, have consequences. Geertrui becomes pregnant with the child of a man who is never her husband, but the husband of someone else. Her pregnancy makes it necessary for her to marry another man who she does not love and to keep the true identity of her child's father a secret until her husband dies. Chambers accurately shows that Geertrui's relationship with Jacob's grandfather brings both pleasure and pain, but thankfully he illustrates how Geertrui's pain was tempered by the grace and forgiveness of others.
Overall, I was pleased with Chambers' novel. He writes with integrity and allows his reader to explore difficult issues without the fear of being judged. I would recommend this book to teenagers ages sixteen and above.

I must begin by saying that I really like the book. The storyline was captivating and I felt as if I got to know the characters and make a connection with them. I am not going to review the content of the book in summary form, there's enough reviews on here for that, instead, I am going to raise the question, is this youth fiction? I agree, the story, one half of it anyway, is dealing with a seventeen year old "coming of age". However, just because one of the main characters is 17, I do not believe makes a book "youth fiction". The format was complex, each chapter alternating from 1944 to the present. I found myself, as a 26 year old who thinks of herself as a pretty avid reader, having trouble with the format. I think the story itself was great, but I question how many young readers would actually make it to the end of the book? The topics; sexual orientation, euthanasia, eternal love, death, independence, are all topics that, individually, appeal to teens. Postcards, however, mixes all of these topics into a difficult format between two simultaneously told stories. I think it is just out of the teen interest/readability level. As an educator, I believe this book would be much more appealing to adults than teens. I would not have made such a conclusion prior to reading the book, but once I did, I felt Chambers missed his intended audience.

This book is alright, but it does not take into consideration all OS's on which the code might be running (xp users beware on the globalization chapter) and some of the end of chapter questions don't even seem to be based on data discussed in the chapter. That all being said, there aren't many other options exam prep books for 70-306 and this one is at least easy to follow along with although I don't think it is in depth enough for the exam.

A good book overall considering the amount of information covered. It does cover just about everything needed for the test. Most of the book is well written with hands-on exercise, chapter quizzes, and chapter summaries. The sample exam on the accompanying CD is a nice bonus.

A couple chapters seem to be clunky and thrown together. These chapters point to the accompanying CD for source code examples instead of listing them in the book like all other chapters. These same chapters seem not to offer much in the way of hands on exercises. Unfortunately these seem to be the more difficult topics. Fortunately these are only a couple out of over 20 chapters.

If you work with VB.NET, then this book might be all you need to pass the 70-306.

If you do not have much hand on experience with VB.NET you will find that you need to supplement your studying.

If you just want to learn VB.NET then this is not the book for you.

I just passed 70-306. I attribute a great deal of my success to this book. It's comprehensive and nicely organized to help you build and retain what you need to know. They use a number of techniques to help you retain knowledge: Each chapter references what certification objective is being covered. There are frequent "Exam Watch" reminders - a one-sentence summary of a key point. Each chapter ends with around 10 test questions followed by well-done explanations on the right and wrong answers. Also, each chapter has a "two-minute drill" of key points and "Lab Questions". Many chapters have good code exercises, some, of which, are on the included CD, for those too lazy to type in the code. In addition the CD has a bunch of test questions that can be used many times as they are randomly generated. All these techniques give one a handful of ways to re-enforce the material.
I agree with other reviewers that several chapters were not up to the standards of the rest of the book. The material is covered but not quite as good as most of the book - obviously done by different authors that the editor failed to make consistent. Also the test questions on the CD were not as tough as what I found on the actual test. Luckily, after conquering this book I signed up for the MeasureUp web site pretest questions. The combination worked very well for me; proof being I passed.
Despite these criticisms I highly recommend this book to get the bulk of knowledge you need. Once you've conquered its material then use something like MeasureUp to fine-tune what you need to know. Overall, I was very pleased. As a point of reference, I'm a moderately experienced programmer, having worked with a number of languages over the years but am not strong on VB.

This is definitely an interesting topic. I actually know of a class teaching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in college. Does that make Potter books literature? I can't rightly say, but I will say that the Harry Potter books have dramatically re-introduced literacy into the lives of children AND adults. Furthermore, the series surreptitiously pushes the boundaries of what Americans have considered a long time as being "children's literature." Rowling, not constrained by the coddling nature of our own country's hypocritical and overprotective stance towards children, creates a rich world of evolving characters with deep emotions and clever bits of humor. If Rowling's books can get children, en masse, to read and read well, I say her books practically deserve their own branch of study. How many things have caught the interests of children in recent years without stooping to vapid juvenilia? At least Potter isn't Pokemon and he is certainly a step above Goosebumps!

I thought this book was great! Originally I disliked the 2nd book. Now that i have the literature guide i can relate more to the book. I enjoy it more. While it still isn't as exciting i can't say that i think it's that boring, anymore tho. I reccomend this book for people who find these books uninteresting. Or for someone who doesn't understand it that well. It'd be great for little kids.

This is largely in response to a reader from NJ below who takes issue with teaching Harry Potter as great literature. I am an aspiring librarian, with a BA in English Lit, and former student myself who wants to scream NO! as loudly as possible to this person's antiquated ideas. There are hundreds of books out there that are termed "classics" that will (and should be) taught to youth. Unfortunatly many of these are boring and make children think of reading as a chore for years to come. Why should fun books and educational books be mutually exclusive? I would not teach ONLY Harry Potter in a classroom, but if it will get kids to read I would definitly make it part of the curriculum. At the age this book is aimed at (5-8th grade I assume) shoving classics down the throats of children should be secondary to opening the world of literature to them. There are more books than can ever be taught in any school, give students the interest in reading to find out which ones they want to read themselves. The Harry Potter books are wonderful. The plotting is at an almost adult level. They are complicated and full of symbolism and concepts that most childrens books gloss over (or dumb down). However, instead of intimidating a young audience away, Harry Potter is showing children as young as 8 that reading is one of the most wonderful pastimes available to them. It's working! Please, as educators, parents, and librarians, encourage that. I read those "classics" in Middle School, Johnny Tremain and The Moon is Down almost lost me as a reader forever. They were dry and horrible and full of educational value. It was the seldom taught, but much loved, book Rebecca that showed me what reading has to offer. Remember, no book is a classic until looked at in hindsight, and has stood the test of time, but I would put money on Harry Potter still being around in 20 years.

While the quality of the book seems good, the organization is unusual for a history book. It should be emphasized that this is a reference book set up like an encyclopedia on people, battles, and wars (listed alphabetically). It is NOT set up chronologically!

This book is NOT a chronological book of American military history, but rather an encyclopedic reference with thousands of entries. No pictures- ... It covers topics including: all the major wars, battles, bios on military leaders, warfare methods, a survey of combat weapons and military hardware, political acts by Congress and treaties, overviews of the military structure and services. It features contributions by notaries like Stephen E. Ambrose and John Keegan... its coverage priorities are odd. The political-correctness bent comes out every now and then in this book...

The Oxford Companion to American Military History has been awarded the Distinguished Reference Book Award by the Society for Military History in 2001. It has been the subject of several long and highly favorable reviews including those by Russell Weigley in the January 2001 issue of the "Journal of Military History," by Hew Strachan in the February 16, 2001 issue of "TLS, the London Times Literary Supplement," and by Vince Rinehart in April 9, 2000 issue of "The Washington Post's Book World."

After looking at this book, I would have to say it would only be useful to novice users in a Windows world. The included software is almost entirely Windows-centric.
It barely mentions the Macintosh platform very little, which I find odd since the Macintosh is generally regarded as the best CD-R mastering platform. If you're in the right niche audience, the book could prove useful. Otherwise, give it a miss.

This is the most up-to-date (7/97) book on the subject that I could find. While an update is needed for better information regarding CDRW and DirectCD / i.e. Packet Writing, Mr. Chambers has done an admirable job at creating a document that provides a strong foundation, terrific narrative and many, many jewels of knowledge. While he puts great emphasis on Adaptec products, it could be argued that they are about the best products on the market anyway. A section on more comprehensive potential troubleshooting philosophy would also be helpful in an update. Overall, no better reference is available at this time. It's a great book.

This book told me everything I needed to know as a novice with CD-R. It provided step by step instructions on how to install my SCSI card and Ricoh recorder, and it has many great tips on how to organize your discs. I use CDCreator 3 and the book describes it completely. I think it is well worth the money and I refer to it all the time.