This was a simply written and quite charming novel. Whilst it did give an insight into the lives of a moderately wealthy English family in 1931, it lacked plot and real structure and for this reason I am unlikely to read more by this author at this stage - especially when there are simply too many other great books out there to read. A gentle, easy read but a little disappointing.

Am determined to write impressions from this book in the style of "the Provincial Lady" herself. Am doubtful however as to the outcomes of this effort as my highest labors would not reach the dry frank witticism she displays.
Provincial Lady does her best to satisfy the wishes of silent husband (... "Robert, this morning, complains of insufficient breakfast. Cannot feel that porridge, scrambled eggs, toast, marmalade, scones, brown bread and coffee give adequate grounds for this, but admit that porridge is slightly burnt...."), intimidating cook, beloved children (... "Robin - whom I refer to in a detached way as "the boy" so that she shan't think I am foolish about him..., "Vicky,.... Enquires abruptly whether, if she died, I should cry?"), Mademoiselle (the nanny), Gardner and all kinds of friends and neighbors including the tiring Lady Birkenshop, "our vicar's wife" and the hated Mrs. B. ("query: Is not a common hate one of the strongest links in human nature?... answer, most regrettably, in the affirmative.")
This is the same women world. Husband is as usual quiet and does not give any consolation and the Lady struggles to please everyone and not forget herself and her own wishes (and health) on the way. How very sad to discover it was the same (woman) world even 70 years ago ... Book is so very candid and manages to capture the ever lasting nuances of human behavior ("Mem: Candid and intelligent self examination as to motive, etc., often leads to very distressing revelations...."), little lies, social pretenses and the day to day struggles. Funny and entertaining yet can be tiring at times - since the day to day life is indeed tiring . Very very British and thus charming.

I reread this every year or two, and love it each time. Admittedly,a product of its time and place, capturing life among the genteely-poor gentry in an English village between the wars(WW's I & II). The diary format makes the provincial lady's narration of and commentary on the events around her doubly funny, as she struggles to run her household and not be driven crazy by nice but dull husband, snobbish wife of husband's boss,disputes among servants,quandaries about children, etc.--and to find time to keep a sense of herself as a professional writer. Not deep, but funny and often touching.

This is the best book about Intrusion Signatures published yet.
I teach computer security at a local university, and with the only help of this book, I could take care of all the practical aspects of my last course. If you have already a good background on this field, and read and understand thoroughly the book, then you can afford any related security certification test.
Chapters 3 through 17, present several well documented cases, which, in turn, are discussed following the same standard:
- Presentation
- Source of Trace
- Detect Generated by
- Probability the Source Address Was spoofed
- Attack Description
- Attack Mechanism
- Correlations
- Evidence of Active Targeting
- Severity
- Defense Recommendations
- Questions

Chapter 1 introduces the reader to Analysis of Logs (including Snort, Tcpdump, and Syslog), IDS, and Firewalls. Even being a quick review, it is quite useful, though.
Chapter 2 explains the way the cases are studied.

The covered vulnerabilities and attacks include:
- Internet Security Threats
- Routers and Firewalls Attacks
- IP Spoofing
- Networks Mapping and Scanning
- Denial of Service
- Trojans
- Assorted Exploits
- Buffer Overflows
- IP Fragmentation
- False Positives
- Crafted Packets

At the bottom line, this is one of the 5 best computer security books I ever read. Even for non experts, the book can be a valuable tool to improve the understanding on this field.
Try it.

I read this book out of general interest and a need to dig deeper into the technical aspects of security, and intrusion detection in particular. For that, this title is perfect!

It's great to learn intrusion detection, packet analysis, forensics, attack methodologies, attack recognition, and similar topics. And oh, by the way, if you have any interest at all in certification, Intrusion Signatures and Analysis is the study guide for one of the hottest new certs there is: SANS GIAC Intrusion Detection In Depth.

A must-have for the serious network security professional, Intrusion Signatures And Analysis opens with an introduction into the format of some of the more common sensors and then begins a tutorial into the unique format of the signatures and analyses used in the book. Readers will find page after page of signatures, in order by categories as well as a case study section on how attacks have shut down the networks and web sites of Yahoo, and E-bay and what those attacks looked like. As an added feature, the collaborative authors Stephen Northcutt; Mark Cooper; Matt Fearnow; and Karen Frederick included review questions with throughout the book to help readers be sure they comprehend the traces and material that has been covered. Intrusion Signatures And Analysis is a recommended resource for the SANS Institute GIAC certification program. 448 pp.

I found this book by pure chance and sent it to my Nephew who was failing misserably in the 11th grade. His biggest problem was anxiety to taking tests and getting organized. He has read this book twice and since then has passed every test this year with a breeze. He gave this book to a friend that has had the same problems, hopefully he too will turn it around.

I am so happy I found something so simple with so much common sense to give to my Nephew, and at so little cost. This book in my opinion is priceless and a must have tool for success.

Rick T Oregon

Just the book I need to score my SAT exam

Excellent principles of study in an easy-to-read format. When I graduated from high school my GPA hovered around 72. I graduated from college witha 3.87 GPA. This book changed my way of studying forever. I thank Ron for his inspiration and guidance. I still share my book with prospective students. In fact, my younger brother had failed an LPN course with the Army; I rushed him the book and told him to follow Ron's advice. I am proud to announce that my brother graduated at the top of his class and is now employed by a top hospital in NYC. He is only 20 years of age.

Thanks, Ron!

Sincerely,

William at Headstart4@aol.com

The thing that I remember most clearly about _Dancing with the Virgins_ is that both of the detectives in it were a little annoying. Not drunken and rakishly annoying to women, but fussy and disorganized and at least a little bit thick at times. It takes courage to not give in at the last moment and not make your heros larger than life, and Booth at least has that courage.

I know that I enjoyed the book at the time-- it was a quick read and kept me well occupied in a week where I was sick, but the plot felt a bit overdone. And now that I sit (one week later) to write a review, I found it really difficult to remember who had done what to whom and why.

A woman's body is found in a ring of standing stones which legend has it are the remains of Virgins caught dancing on a Sunday and turned to stone. Bound up in the mystery are a woman with a disfigured face found wandering in the same location, a very angry farmer on the brink of ruin, and a missing girl with dreadlocks who nobody seems to be able to identify. Even while still being at odds, Ben Cooper and Diane Fry need to work together to solve the mystery.

Excellent mystery set in the north of England. Good sense of place, main characters well developed. plot complex and moves at a good pace. Detective Ben Cooper, a local copper with a good feel fo the locals is not led off on tangents like the others, particularly Detective Diane Fry, who has recently arrived from the south. The murder of Jenny Weston and attack on Maggie Crew appear to be related but it is only towards the end that the link between them becomes clear but is muddied considerably by the apparent link with a dog fighting business.

The resolution is slow coming but very satisfactory. The on-again-off-again relationship between Ben and Diane appears to be warming up but both have depths and secretes not yet available to the other.

Reminds me somewhat of the early books by Peter Robinson. rating 4.5/5

This is a long, continuously rewarding whodunit, featuring two young detectives who do not get along. Sergeant Diane Fry and Detective Constable Ben Cooper have to work together to try to solve a murder near the Nine Virgins--ancient standing stones decorating the moors of the Peak District. They also have to link the murder to the hideous disfigurement of a woman who may have survived a first attack by the killer, though scarred Maggie Crew will never be the same and has very little memory of who attacked her. Through it all, Fry picks at Cooper's "naive" personality, while Cooper...well, I'm not sure that he does anything to justify Fry's critical remarks, so Cooper is technically the more sympathetic character, though maybe too wimpy?

This book is packed with red herrings, but in superior story like this, you can't just call the red herrings red herrings. They are full fledged, highly involving subplots. What I mean is, the police connect victim Jenny Weston to a whole lot of strange people, with odd secrets. There's the nasty farmer, with the quiet, scared little boys, whose wife found Maggie Crews after she'd been slashed, and who is up to something sinister in his barn. There is Mark Roper, area Ranger, who may be dangerously manic about the rules, and who seems to know a secret about his lonely boss, Owen, who doesn't always answer his radio when he should. There's another missing woman, Ros Daniels, who may have visited Jenny Weston in her home, but if so, were they friends or enemies?

The two main detectives--with some support from an extended cast of law enforcers, each with well-drawn personalities--bicker, and criticize each other (Fry gets especially incensed by Cooper's investigations beyond the obvious scope of the case; but then Ben Cooper is the one more likely to follow up a vague hunch that turns over the wrong rocks), but they do follow all the various trails left by all the colourful suspects, and naturally it can't all relate to the main chain of violence that cultivated in murder.

In the end,I think some of the clues could be classified as a bit transparent by the adept mystery reader (though the large quantity of red herrings and smokescreening in the form of bona fide interesting subplots may help to counter this if, like me, you read too fast to do any really diligent sifting). I maintain that any stalwart ready to pounce on every apparent clue may pick out the real clues, especially the ones near the end of the book that do some last-minute "pointing" at the true culprit. Plus, I recall a few chapters--short ones in the first half or third of the book--that probably could have been cut. One short chapter basically focuses on Sgt. Fry driving somewhere after an intense interview with scarred and bitter Maggie Crew, and Fry's ruminations and reflections don't really add to the plot. I recall another chapter of a similar nature; mood and character are slightly attended to in ways that merely buttress what is already clear in other chapters, but overall a few chapters that could possibly have been eliminated, or just boiled down to a nub and summarized in a longer chapter. See if you spot this in two instances.

But only two. Mostly, this crime novel is engaging from the get-go, with lots of details, and a powerful mood brought on by a simmering rural pot of explosive ingredients, where not just a murderer has something to hide.

I have not read this book yet. I just got it. It is important to note that this is a reprint and does not include the CDROM of sample programs..

I thought this was an excellent book. It gives a very clear and concise introduction to java and OO programming. The chapter on The Fourier Transform is a bit misguided. Why is that here? I can only guess that the author was trying to give real world examples, but it's a bit too esoteric for most people, I suspect. I particularly like the way the author has taken the trouble to introduce the concept of design patterns, which are not java specific but which are of use to people using an OO approach in any language. This is a concept which is usually introduced in 'advanced' OO training courses. I was familiar with some of the patterns from using them in C++ but the author does an excellent job of explaining what they do and how they work and why to use them. But watch out: one or two of the examples given in the book don't seem to quite work correctly as they are given in the text, which caused me a bit of frustration.

This book gives a thorough treatment of OO concepts and how they can be implemented in Java. It's a good intro to the language as well, and is example-based in its coverage of concepts. After becoming frustrated with various reference books, I decided to look carefully for a book that would teach solid principles of OOP and also provide immediate experience in writing useful programs in Java. This book distinguishes itself by going above and beyond those requirements. The introduction to the emerging area of design patterns was inspirational. However, the book omitted treatment of Threads and Networking in favor of "miscellaneous" topics like RMI and JDBC, and particular applications that illustrate the principles of design patterns like Fast Fourier Transform and printing. Not a complete reference, but as an introduction to some very important software design concepts it cannot be beat by other books that try to cover the entire language.

Although Lysander is supposed to be the lead character being the man who made husbands jealous, it was a good idea to focus on the several couples' marriage & their respective disasters. Here we witness the various forms of marriage...those out of comfort, convenience & love. It might have been too wild with all of Rannaldinni's promiscuity & scandalous sex practices (oh morality, whert have thou gone?)but the writer tempered the scenes with humor so as not to totally appall the readers.

Some scenes were sort of weird especially that of Rannaldini's well-planned & well-executed Othello party (but of course, what do you expect of that devil!) & a bit too long for Lysander & Kitty to finally stage a courageous happy ending. But overall, it's a funny read & highly entertaining. You can't help but curse some characters but fall for others.

P.S. Meredith... is superbly witty & funny :)

I'm in agreement with the other reviewers -- it's not her best (my opinion is that "Riders" and "Polo" are). That said, I think it's an excellent escapist novel! It's not really fair comparing it to "Riders" -- the first is always the best. Lysander is a fun and different hero -- he may not be as smart or as witty as the leading men in previous works (like Rupert) but he has a charming innocence despite the "job" he's been hired to do of making womens' husbands jealous! He has a genuine sweetness that shines through. And don't skip over this book in the order of things like another reviewer suggested. It comes after "Polo" and should be read that way!

I've read many romance novels & this is one of the best authors around. As this was my first by this author, I've bought all the rest of her novels I can get. I bought this in desperation on vacation, & couldn't put it down. I thought Lysander was a turkey at first, but by the end of the novel wished I could meet him in real life.

I hope someone buys the option & makes this as a movie with someone like Brad Pitt! It would be a dynamite hit!!

One can't help but wonder if Cooper would've preferred that Chile had ended up like, say, an Argentina or a Venezuela rather than the stable and prosperous (relatively speaking) country that it is today. There's a sense of profound resentment ... that permeates the entire book, revealed by the ... attempts to discredit the (yes, material) advances Chile has made in the past decade. It seems that Pinochet's main crime is not the horrific human rights abuses that occured under his regime, but rather the meteoric rise of Chile's economy and standard of living. For these successes, and the embarrassment they engender on the rest of the continent and in dinosaurs on the Left, Pinochet and the "Chicago Boys" can never be forgiven.

I think that people would have to wait a lot longer to read a more balanced and maybe objective (from my point of view at least) vision of what had happend in Chile. And please don't be so pretentious to think that was US who caused the fall of allende. The mayority of the chilean wanted him out. The problem came after that (the crimes and all the rest) and that in my opinion is a problem of any goverment based in total control.
In economy, please give me a break, look at the rest of south america and compare it with Chile, that was Pinochet stronger point.

Cooper provides chilling details concerning the Allende overthrow that otherwise would lost to history. This is an excellent first-hand account of one persons experience during that tumultuous time. Although Cooper provides a biased account of the political environment in Chile during this time, it nontheless is a true account, whether we Americans like to look at our complicity in these events or not. Bravo to Cooper, the truth shall set you free!

Pro: There are some outdated information or errors, but livable as this directory is the most comprehensive in the market.

Con: However, a time savings database requires a steep ($). Otherwise it deserves 5 stars.

If the economy is bad, this book does not help a lot. Because companies do not use headhunters as much. But as soon as the economy comes back, I would buy the latest version again....

I've used this book a few times and know many execs who regularly use it to keep headhunters up to date with their resume. Half of the pages are indexes to you can find recruiters by where they are, what industry they cover, or what function (finance, marketing etc.) The most useful index is the one with hundreds of different detailed specialties for the headhunters. Basically the way to use this book is to contact recruiters who specialize in what you do. Don't expect hundreds of replies: they only call if and when they have a match, and your resume needs to be word perfect. But it only takes one offer! Another useful thing is they list "contingency recruiters" separately - these are more useful for technical and mid-level jobs around $50-75k. Definitely use the current year's book to avoid wasting time on old addresses, like the other reviewer said. Best used in conjunction with a resume-writing advice book.

I've never read the first one, so I can't compare and have no opinion on it. However, I did find this book is be very good. Gets straight to the point, has a dozen step by step strategies and methods that I'm positive will work with proper money management. I don't agree with all the theories, nor will I necessarily use these in my own trading. But, for someone new or looking for short swing type of trading methods .. this one is worth a look.

Pricey, but consider it an investment.

Looking at Jeff's second book, I am happy to say that I found it to be very useful. It goes into a lot more detail than his first book and gave me a better sense of how he trades. I mean, he introduced a number of new strategies and also included a pretty detailed section on the data feeds he uses, how he interprets charts intraday, and recommends a reliable brokerage system for you. It's a great little package with lots of helpful information.

Following up the original collection of successful strategies in Hit and Run Trading is Jeff Cooper's second and equally outstanding book on capturing explosive moves in stocks. I imagine the question on everyone's mind is, "Great, but will this improve my trading?" and the answer is - YES. The first book kick-started daytrading careers for thousands, and this one is bound to make you wonder how much further the author can break down the complexities of the markets and delineate methods for taking advantage of it.

Hit and Run Trading II, like its predecessor, is all about taking advantage of strongly trending stocks. There are four parts of this book revealing 17 new strategies:

1. Trend continuation patterns, holding for a few days

2. Cooper's best strategies, including Stepping In Front of Size

3. Reversal strategies

4. Techniques to improve your trading, including 40 learning examples.

Cooper provides solid groundwork for interpreting the dynamics of stocks and the market so traders can recognize the strategies for themselves. For example, the Intraday Relative Strength Trading Strategy (IRSTS), used to identify and exploit strength in big-cap Nasdaq stocks by comparing to the S&P futures action, is clearly defined for makings risk-adverse decisions. After Jeff outlines his strategies with a set of rules and examples, a trader is practically given a map of what to look for. All of the strategies of the book are discussed and broken down to a specific set of rules to follow. Of course, every situation in the market is truly different from the next, but it's the basic pattern and trends that repeat themselves over and over that Jeff has identified and made obvious.

A chapter of Q&A's is another valuable resource of this book. Through the years Jeff has been interviewed by radio shows and newspapers, and this represents the best and most useful insights from that material. This is where the reader can really get a feel for the thought process of a trader. Trading isn't just about having some great strategies to apply to the market; to be successful requires lots of hard work and devotion. From being fully prepared each day by locking in hours of research, to having a good understanding of how your judgment may be flawed, this section is an important part of this book and alone makes it worthwhile.

If you read the first Hit and Run book, you are aware of Jeff's style and well-thought-out strategies. This book is of the same spirit and quality. Having Jeff's strategies on your side would be a tremendous asset to any trader. Simply getting a glimpse of his perspective on the market would be beneficial to everyone from scalpers to intermediate-term traders. Jeff is a daytrader and a highly successful one. If given a chance, this book could take traders a long way, but as always, the decisions are always yours.

Thank you Ann Cooper and Lisa Holmes! If you really believe "you are what you eat", this book may scare you into ACTION! This book was suggested to me by a parent of one of my son's friends, and I am so glad it was. Though sometimes "text bookish", this compilation of information really makes you stop and think about what you eat and what we feed our families. I found the historical information to be very insightful and the suggestions for how to offer healthier choices were terrific. The resources listed in the back of the book were nuts and bolts suggestions that answered the question, "now what do I do?" With recent "Mad Cow Disease" scares, and ever increasing rates of cancer, heart disease, etc. this is a fabulous resource for helping people to think about small ways to make changes in what we put in our bodies every day. READ IT!!

Bitter Harvest is a wonderful book. It highlights the importance of natural foods vs. the artificial foods we eat. However, this is a distinction NOT between junk food and vegetables, but agribusiness vegetables and local organic vegetables.
It turns out that, in search of the maximum profit, the massive agribusinesses engage in pratices that make vegetables much less healthy, and, in some cases, toxic.
Since allowing land to fallow and regain its nutrients reduces profits that could be generated from using that land, agribusinesses use the same land over and over again, and pump it full of chemicals to try to restore the nutritional content of the soil. This is not some wild claim, it is simply how agribusiness works according to their own information.
As a result, many vegetables are becoming less healthy and less nutritional. For instance, a USDA report comparing American broccoli between 1975 and 1997 shows that it has decreased in many important nutrients: broccoli in 1997 had 53% less calcium, 20% less iron, 38% less Vit A, 17% less Vit C, 35% less thiamin, 48% less riboflavin, and 29% less Niacin than 1975 broccoli. Additionally, food that is transported loses nutrients over time. Our vegetables travel an average of 1500 miles.
Unfortunately, thanks to NAFTA and GATT, our vegetables can be toxic. Mexico currently does not ban at least 6 pesticides that are banned due to health effects in the USA. Why does this matter to us? We get most of our off-season vegetables from Mexico: 97% of tomatoes, 93% of our cucumbers, 95% of our squash, 99% eggplant, and 85% of our strawberries. We are eating the poisons Mexico allows in its food.
The news is not all bad, and this book is largely a celebration of life, food, and nature. Above all, it stresses the need to find food sources that don't use the damaging practices of agribusinesses and are not far away-local organic farms. According to Consumer Reports Jan 1998 issue, "organic foods consistently had the least toxic pesticide residues." Similarly, it is more nutritional. Organic Corn has 20 times the calcium and magnesium of store corn. There are many more nutrients and vegetables listed.
And so, to question an earlier reviewer, who found it "really hard to figure out why any of it matters"--are you concerned about eating poisons and pesticides? Are you concerned about declining nutrient levels in our vegetables? If you are, then this book matters. In fact, it is difficult to imagine anything mattering more than what we eat and the damage it may cause.

This book is a must read for anyone who cares about the food they put into their bodies. It is definitively NOT a cookbook, nor does it make an attempt as such--the other reader from New York clearly did not read this book!