This book makes the history of medicine, especially blood, interesting, and accessible to anyone. It also exposes the blood industry, GOOD and BAD, with names and dates of the people who moved it along: the medics in World Wars who risked their lives, the brilliant and tempermental researchers, and the greedy. Starr gives you well-documented facts and lets the reader decide, as a good writer should, who is the bad guy. This book doesn't tug as much at your heartstrings as Bad Blood: Crisis in the American Red Cross by Judith Reitman, but that's by far an advantage. She would have you believe that just because people died (of AIDS, and Hepatitis), there must be someone in the blood industry at fault. There certainly is some fault to go around, but this book helps you decide who and why there is fault, and tells both sides of the story without leaving Reitman's huge empty gaps in the evidence.

I originally took this book out of my local library to do a research project for my final exam in History. Since the culmination of my research, I have rented this book three more times in to read it for my own enjoyment. The topic of blood is purely fascinating. Starr has brilliantly written a book that informs the reader of important issues, as well as being entertaining and thought provoking. The reader gets a profound understanding of the importance of blood that spans from the 17th century, though World Wars, and through current problems with AIDS in the world's blood supply. I have never read a nonfiction book that has kept my attention as acutely as this one. This book is truly one that you'll want to keep.

Although I defer to Mr.Haschka's expertise in the field of blood, I must take issue with his snippy comment about Mr.Starr's affinity for bad news. I found Blood to be well-balanced-- he labors mightily to present good news and noble accomplishments alongside the tales of negligence, ignorance, and good old-fashioned greed. Yes, he does report on the tainted blood in great depth but let's face it-- mistakes advance science as much as, or even more than, successes, and should be accorded the appropriate amount of space. As far as repetition is concerned, I admit that I haven't read Mr.Shilts' tome, but Blood is perfect for those of us who are interested in the HIV crisis in the larger context of the industry as a whole, and in light of earlier discoveries. The book lost me a bit in its lengthy discussion of the business complex, but the information is important in order to understand how the impact of new discoveries (and mistakes) are felt worldwide. The history of blood is nothing less than riveting, how mysticism and individual hubris has given way to science-- and how they have simultaneously coexisted and been at loggerheads ever since. A formidable subject, nicely covered in a single volume.

I've read and re-read this book, and I can't get over how useful it has been for me. It's not like a typical marketing book that is written in a high-brow "I'm smarter than you" kind of style. Rather it's conversational and easy to understand.

A real Godsend!

I only wish I would have read this book before I put my affiliate program together. This book is so crammed full of valuable information, resources, tips, and help. I took 4 pages worth of notes. This book is excellently written both for the merchant who is thinking about putting an affiliate program together as well as for someone with an existing successful affiliate program. I doubt that there is a more complete and thorough book on successful affliate managment. I would give this book 10 stars if I could!

For first-time affiliate managers or seasoned pros in affiliate marketing -- this easy to read "how-to" book is a must-have manual for guaranteed success!

I have been setting up affiliate programs for years and in "Successful Affiliate Marketing for Merchants, I discovered great new resources and recommendations for maximizing affiliate programs that I can't wait to try!

Shawn Collins is my guru in Affiliate Marketing. Everything I know about this field I learned by reading his online editorials and articles--now all his expertise and insight is gathered together in one, completely up-to-date, easy to read book.

Well written, easy to read with examples, and quite innovative.
This book will appeal to those who prefer the visualisation of models and concepts alongside in depth examples, and the format will be particularly liked by those whom have followed an MBA degree or similar training.
The book is a step-by-step manual as well as a very detailed review of the changes we can expect to see in the future within the world of clicks and mortar.

Lindstrom draws on speeches he's given in worldwide and textbook basics to craft an informative and refreshing marketing text. Highlighting the primary tools and techniques used by marketing professionals, he encourages companies to think about the true value of a clicks and mortar approach. Since it's cheaper to retain an existing customer than to acquire a new one, companies should use all of the resources at their disposal - including marketing - in building long-term clicks and mortar relationships. Beyond the customer-value sermon, Lindstrom offers a systemic review of clicks and mortar concepts that have been very useful for me and which I can heartily recommend to beginners, who quickly will find their copies of this book glowing with highlighter yellow, as well as marketing veterans, who will enjoy and learn from the book's fresh take on familiar topics.

This book is ostensibly, about the world's most controversial marriage. No, not a celebrity power wedding, but the union of offline and online business. It seems not so long since books like this were urging businesses to flock to the web, but now the brakes are on. A new business model has risen from the ashes of the dotcoms: the marriage of bricks-and-mortar to the internet. Lindstrom whips readers through a potted history of the retail industry - the shopping evolution, as he terms it. A paragraph on the 1950s, half a page on the 1960s, a couple of case studies, a paragraph each on the 1980s and 1990s, and whammo, by page 10 we are into the age of the internet. But if detail is lacking, Lindstrom's argument is strong. By tracing the evolution of retail in this way he sets the scene for the e-tailing hype storm, pinpointing Christmas 1999 as the key test. 'The 2000 holiday season told a graphic tale,' he writes. 'More than 90 per cent of e-tailers closed down in the period up to January, 2001.' Each of the chapters in Clicks, Bricks and Brands is followed by a summary of the main points covered - useful for revision - and action points. For example, the action points at the end of The Power Shift (Chapter One), exhort the reader to do a SWOT analysis of their own and competitors' businesses. 'Summarise your business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Determine what threats your offline or online store is facing from your competitors and what features would be most likely to lure your customers to your competitor.' This is before we get into the substance of the book - the meat and potatoes of clicks and mortar. Even if it all seems a bit Cleo magazine (does your boyfriend really love you?), the self-analysis you will have accumulated by the end of the book should be formidable. The innumerable case studies are breezy, informative, well-written and succinct. By Chapter Five we are right down into the central proposition - that the best chance of success in the coming paradigm is the combination of clicks and mortar enterprises. The good news, though, is that the onus need not be carried by any single business. There are lots of case studies of partnerships involving an online service and bricks-and-mortar outfits. For example: 'When Drugstore.com teamed up with Rite Aid, Drugstore.com suddenly gained 3500 distribution centres around the US. 'Rite Aid, on the other hand, gained access to Drugstore. com's online databases and web presence.' This book points the way for enterprises on the threshold of web presence. Lindstrom brings analysis, insight and market skill to an area that inspires fear in many, pointing out along the way that this fear could be a costly indulgence. He sets out a straightforward path to overcoming many of the obstacles that might otherwise lead 21st-century enterprises to the scrap heap. Simply Spot On!

This is a good basic book to have on Internet customer service. I've been on the Internet side of customer service for 4 years now and find the insight Sterne provides well thought out. Some of the material is dated, as we service now moves at Internet speed.

One of a very limited number of titles, as far as Internet customer service is concerned, a good starting point for throwing up ideas, although I felt it lacked a basic frame for somebody who was new to the net and looking to establish customer service procedures. As with any text written about technology, one would have to question how current the information was, although I apreciate this would be out of the control of the author. My only other problem was that I thought allot of time was dedicated to the interests of large firms, for example a big section was dedicated to setting up and monitoring disscusion groups, important and usefull sources of information yes, but not a realistic part of a website for a small company, more your major computer business etc. All in all though considering the limited number of titles available, (about two as I write this, including this one) if you have a spare £20 its better than nothing!

One of the most unpredictable things the Internet achieved was to re-define customer service. One of the first people to notice and to write a book about how to do it in the mid-1990s was Jim Sterne. It's just been updated in this second edition.

In the real world, you can pay lip service to customer service and the resultant damage is hidden in the anonymous attrition of customers wandering away to the competition with a sigh and a shake of the head.

The Internet, however, is a ruthless amplifier of weakness in business process. Answer a snail mail letter from a customer within two weeks and they might be satisfied. Fail to answer the email the same customer sends you from your website within four hours and they're already fuming at you for your disinterest in them. As all those surveys about customer dis-satisfaction with websites relentlessly show, it's about service, stupid.

Before going further, I have to declare a bias here: I first became a fan of Jim Sterne when I saw him give a talk in which he illustrated how to use interactivity and personalisation to achieve web 'stickiness'. Sterne chose the unlikely-sounding Clairol site - the hair and beauty products company. It allows you to post a digital photo of yourself on the site and then try on several different hairstyles.

The hairstyles come in the form of 'virtual wigs' that you stick on your digital head. Sterne had tested the site and showed his audience the result, throwing up a slide of himself, bearded, tie-and-jacket-wearing, grinning defiantly from underneath a long blonde wig. It took several minutes for the audience to recover.

Sterne's wit and his relentless honesty are a powerful combination and come through in this book as much as in person, to make this an entertaining as well as informative read. Honesty? Too many Internet authors revel in complexity. Sterne de-mystifies and de-bunks, using an intentionally naïve-looking approach.

For example, in the book he asks a couple of experts to explain what the modish CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is all about, allowing the differences in their answers, which he produces verbatim, to show that the software industry is all over the place in trying to define CRM, energetically re-branding everything in sight. Salesforce Automation? Nah, that was last year. This year we're calling it CRM...

As well as offering unbiased commentary to help you steer through the maze of software and solutions on offer from the IT vendor community, Sterne takes you step by step through the basics, with impressive attention to detail.

The chapter on managing email, for example, is forty-five pages long and packed with examples of how to get it right (and wrong).

What makes the nuts and bolts 'how tos' in this book so compelling is the lacerating wit that Sterne uses to deal with those who get it wrong. There's a four-page evisceration of Volvo Cars, for example, for consistently failing to allow customers to email complaints about their cars through the company's website. Sterne catalogues the failures mercilessly, before concluding: "Volvo has tried to open a receptive ear to the public, but it forgot the Q-Tips".

As well as acting as a manual for developing effective email practises, the book shows you in detail the best ways of approaching now traditional customer help mechanisms like Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQs), how to let customers talk to each other to provide you with vital market knowledge, how to practise personalisation and get to know customers as individuals, and - all-importantly - how to develop measurements that allow you to translate the success of your customer service initiatives into loyalty and retention figures that the Finance Director will listen to.

If you want to learn from Jim face to face, and can make it to London this Fall, Jim will be giving two Masterclasses on 11 and 12 October 2000 on how to do this Internet customer service stuff better. (Email Phil@eCustomerServiceWorld.com for details). I was hoping to conclude with a criticism - that the built-in problem with a book like this is that it becomes redundant as soon as it is in print, as the toddler that is web customer service grows up fast to become a spotty adolescent. The past couple of months, for example, have seen a wave of 'assisted buying' software solutions break onto the market which further blur the sales/service departmental divide (a functional business divide that is everywhere in the real world but which, as Sterne shows, does not translate to the Web).

But, there are too many universal fundamentals covered in this book for that criticism to hold true. And, as hard as I tried to find examples of outdated material, this is one of those rarities, a thoroughly updated second edition of a book.

Don't let the title fool you... this book is not about the quick, get rich internet scams that proliferate around the web. This book is for the lay person who has a bricks and mortar business or who wants to start from scratch. The internet is not going away and it is possible, with hard work and this book as a guide, to make money using the internet as a tool. Buy this book and get out your highlighter... you'll find a great deal of information that you can put to use starting today!

This book is great. Though the main focus is to show how people have become successful online, there's no hype about making billions overnite. Examples range from people who have made a few thousand dollars a year online, to people have made millions. The book reviews how some business ideas didn't work on the web at first, how how they had to change and adjust to get better results. Gets into some technical aspects too. Also a must read for web designers.

this book is full of information for business people who has little or none technical background. Very easy to read and excellent examples are illustrated.

I love this book and I am still reading it. I have learned alot from it. The only problem is I am very new to conputers and ebay so a lot of the terms I did not undestand. Since it assumes the reader knows what a url is or a pim or where the clipboard is
, But I was able to get help from a friend . The cd was great I now can put up a great html auction and when I emailed the author he was kind enough to reply . I am not sorry i bought this book and will refer to it often.

"Confessions of an Internet Auction Junkie" is a very informative and handy book to own. The book demonstrates the author's firm grasp of selling on Internet auction sites such as eBay. How to information about the explosive on-line auction venue is badly needed and this book most certainly fits the bill. The book is informative, easy to read and complete. I especially appreciated the many screens shots of actual auctions that moves the subject beyond theory and into real life. The included CD has dozens of useful software and HTML templates to get you started. Interested in selling on eBay or any of the many auction sites? Then buy this book!

"Confessions of an Internet Auction Junkie: How to Sell Virtually Anything on the Internet" is absolutely the best guide to Internet auction selling (and buying) that I've read. It is highly readable as well as entertaining, and provides the common sense, guidance, and ideas necessary to being successful in the online auction business. The CD-ROM supplies hands-on tools to help launch and successfully manage online auctions. This is one terrific book, and I highly recommend it to anyone in the online auction world, buyers and sellers alike. It has been an invaluable tool for me in starting and managing my online auctions. I just hope that not too many people buy this book and find out how easy it can be to make money in the online auction business. Or I'll end up with alot of competition!

There are so many books about .NET now, so it's very difficult to make a right choice. You can't go wrong with this one - it provides very systematic coverage of .NET database programming and guide you through DOs and DONTs of it.
This was my second ADO.NET book. After I read (and in fact reviewed) an excellent Bob Beauchemin's "Essential ADO.NET", I thought I wouldn't need another ADO.NET book. But actually I did. There are plenty of ways to solve a database task using .NET, and Shawn Wildermuth carefully guides you through alternatives, not only identifying the best approach but also explaining his reasoning. Here is a brief example: data scalability (chapter 11). Shawn explains different caching scenarios (per user, per application, per server), its drawbacks, discusses how to scale out a DataSet, and if you should duplication or segmentation. Then he gives the following advices (again, with explanations):
1. Use DataSet schema
2. User typed DataSets to create business rule layers
3. Reduce roundtrips to the database
4. Cache data early and often
5. Use the DataReader
6. Use connection factories
7. Do not hard code connection strings
This is just one example of in how this book can help .NET database developer. It helped to get cleaner understanding of .NET database interfaces and its best use.

I found this book was very easy to read. The examples in the book are very easy to understand and use as a reference. The book explained very good information about ADO.NET concept and all the aspects of it. I have already started to use this book at work for a quick reference. I liked the chapter 9 "ADO.NET and XML" the most.

From the beginning of the book in chapter 1 it was easy to understand the ADO.NET concept. This chapter provided a very good understanding of how ADO.NET works and how technology of data access evolved into ADO.NET. Chapters 2 and 3 provided good explanations and examples of getting connected to the database and issuing SQL commands. Chapter 3 also provided good information and examples on how the result of the SQL commands. Chapter 4 gave very good insight on the DataReader and how to use most of its functionality.

Chapters 5, 6, and 7 were all about the Datasets, how to construct datasets, worth with datasets, and a new programming model the Typed Datasets. Chapter 8 provided a good explanation with excellent examples on how to update the Database and how to manage concurrency whether the Dataset is connected or disconnected. Chapter 9 explained the relationship between ADO.NET and XML. It described how well XML and ADO.NET are integrated. Chapter 10 discusses DataBinding, something I don't normally do. However, the examples were very good. Lastly chapter 11 gave some very well thought out design suggestions. --Review by Annie W.

Pragmatic ADO.NET is an excellent introduction to database programming using ADO.NET. The author uses very easy to understand language an code that even a beginner could understand, yet still manages to cover the material in enough depth to make the book still useful to intermediate programmers.

The book starts with an introduction to database connections and ends with XML Datasets and database programming best practices. Everything in between is covered with great attention paid to detail. The one thing I would have liked to see in the book was a brief introduction to database system setup. Since it is a beginner book, a brief overview would help those inexperienced, which would make the book even better.

This was one of the few programming book I have read in a long time where the code examples very clearly demonstrated the concepts being explained. Far too often, I have to sit scratching my head trying to understand code examples in books. This book is not like that at all. Shawn Wildermuth does a fantastic job making fairly complex ideas easy to understand and engaging. I found the book to be a wonderful, easy read, which left me feeling I really learned a lot.

This is the only book I used to study for the E-commerce exam and I passed with an 85 percent. I think it is very adequate for the exam, but perhaps has some extra material (like Actinic Businees and so forth) that you do not need to know.

This book can be a bit confusing, so I recommend that you do all the questions in the book and also all the practice questions on the CD.

Here's what I did: the two nights before the exam, I reviewed every single chapter's pre-test as well as the chapter reviews and the questions at the end of the chapter. I also read all of the exam tips in each chapter (these are life savers for the exam). Make sure you do this!

The night before the exam I took three out of four tests from the CD. I recommend if you have the time and are confused to do all these tests and to go over them an additional time. This process will help you focus on the priorities for the exam. Best of luck on the exam!

Hello! I wanted to share my experience with this book. My goals were to gain a better understand of e-commerce and to use the book as a study guide for passing the CIW exam.

If you are looking for a book to give a good overview of e-commerce and some helpful hints and tricks, I highly recommend this book. The book gave a great overview about the development, maintenance, and management of an e-commerce site. After reading the book, I feel prepared to make educated decisions about selecting e-commerce software. The book did a great job with stating and explaining the important concepts. Plus, the book was an easy read.

If you are like me, and wanted to save some money and self-study instead of taking a class, I recommended this book; however, it should not solely be your only study guide. I passed the CIW e-commerce test with an 87%. I read the book, highlighted, went over all questions, and took the practice exams ever day for over a month. However, what helped me equally was going to CIW cram sites to get a better feeling for the questions. The book did not cover everything that was on the test and I don't know if I could have passed the test with just reading the book.

The book was helpful in pointing out some concepts that would be on the exam by marking sections that were of importance. The exam does not cover vendor specific products, but the book does go into detail on some products. The test questions are helpful and are similar to the exam questions.

I am glad that I have this book as a reference and had it as a study guide, but I highly recommend that if you are going to take the CIW exam, study the cram web sites as well as reading the book.

After being unimpressed with some of the stale CIW material
available, I was pleasantly surprised with the CIW E-Commerce
Bible.

The book is well suited to self-study, it treats the material
in depth, and yet weaves in exercises and labs to keep you
interested. The labs give you a reasonably "hands-on" feel
for the material. You're expected to have a Windows 2000
Professional or Windows 98 PC on the net for the labs.

The book comes with a Boson practice exam and a CD
with various packages. My only gripe is that the three were
not as well integrated as I would have liked. The practice
exams weren't great, but after taking and passing the CIW
test, I'd have to say they are as good as the real thing.
It's important to learn the CIW exam way of thinking, which does
not necessarily match the real world.

The packages on the CD did not match what the book expected.
For example, it's not necessary to have Winzip to unzip the
E-business software on the CD, but the book believes it is.
The Apache source code package on the CD won't install,
but you can download it from apache.org. The errata sheet atThe book did the job for me. After a read-through, the labs,
and the practice exams, I passed with 88%.

As a IT consultant, I get to read my fair share of pundits claiming the .com business model will replace today's brick and mortar system. Braunstein and Levoon have written an excellent book which challenges the .com business model and asks valid questions. It is a pity that the entrepreneurs who started companies like Highwired.com, Hotoffice.com, Hardcloud.com etc.. didn't read this book prior to their own launchings. Braunstein and Levoon anticipated the .com collapse and create new and interesting conceptual models to better understand the true nature of Brands and how they must translate to the Internet.

Bravo. A must read for academics and Internet industry types

As a senior executive for a well known .com, I found this book well read and full of useful examples of past mistakes made along the way by Internet companies being run by headstrong MBA types with little if any real world business experience. Marc Braunstein obviously wrote the lionshare of the book as his wit and candor are what makes this book not only pleasurable, bit also a very valuable and timely expose on the economic environment surrounding the Internet generation. Firebrand is lucky to have such a talented man working for them. Bravo to Firebrand.

Finally a book that puts the approach to the Internet economy in perspective.Far too many companies have made costly mistakes with misguided thinking and high expectations of e-commerce return.Many jumped in before looking and were equiped with business models that in other mediums would be considered totally unrealistic.This book is a landmark because it gives Internet branding and marketing a balanced view.The Internet is a tactic not a brand.In fact it is the focus of the book. The premise that heat(value) and pressure(marketing) makes sense regardless of the medium.Perhaps more sobering minds will heed much of the information contained in this book.It's obvious that the authors know this challenging, unpredictable field well. Money well spent.

This book has more depth on e-commerce than most e-commerce books. That is surprising since it is a "Complete Idiot's" series. The applicability to the business side of e-commerce is especially good. The book, taken as a whole, is a great starter's bible on e-commerce and technology businesses in general. If you want to know how to program Java or build a router from scratch then you'll need a different book but if you are building a company (any company) then don't miss some of the gems of wisdom buried deep in the book.

This book is a valuable resource for people starting a tech company or running one from the business side. I thought it was worth the money and feel that there are lot's of valuable hints especially in the 'landmines lurking on the net' area. I got great value out of the concepts hidden deep in the pages. The 'links' to online resources are dated and the writing could be better at the start but overall the theory is great.

I can't stand reviews in general but the negative ones on this book suck. This is an unusually good starter book on e-commerce. Note I said starter...not expert (read the title). I like the approach and the content. I can't find more than a couple of references to the authors websites and if you've ever listen to a Comdex keynote, self promotion is the name of this game anyways. The fact that they only made a few references is surprising in this day and age. Here's what's good and bad. The good is the forward looking stuff. The bad is that this stuff dates very fast (it needs an updating especially website references). The basic stuff on business design is good but the stock stuff is maybe better suited for a book on the stock market. It's a bit slow at the start and that's bad but picks up the pace after the first chapter and that's good. If you do e-commerce, buy the book and you'll learn something unless your some kind of freakin e-wonderboy. But then you wouldn't be reading a "Complete Idiot's Guide now would ya?