If you are a Pascal programmer, the most powerlful and easy to understand book you need is Oh! Pascal!. I have read a friend's Oh! Pascal!(Second Edition), and I was surprised of the easy-to-understand way Cooper wrote it. But now, with the Third Edition, I have learned everything I wanted about Pascal. Trust me, you will love Oh! Pascal! (third edition).

This book is great in what it does: teach you the Pascal programming language.

The authors explain everything clearly and in a friendly language - it's actually FUN to read each chapter. The order in which all the concepts are introduced is just plain perfect.

I think this is the BEST Pascal-learning book ever written.

I have used this course to teach hundreds of students. Most have found it very helpful. As a professor, I found it to be a great tool. The book is intended for people who are going to become computer science majors, but has a sense of humor (unlike many "major-oriented" books). I would guess that reviews with fewer than three stars come from disgruntled students. (Not one of mine, of course :-)).

This is my first Dennis Cooper book so it took me several pages to get use to his style of writing. At first I found this choppy style quite annoying; howerver, one I got into the book, it became easier to concentrate on the plot.
I found the book disturbing simply because of the subject matter, child pornograpy, pedophilia, drug abuse, and necrophilia all wraped up in one. I guess my curiosy keep me reading this book to find out how this all would end. I can honestly say that this was not one of my favorite books.

There are a few cliches to get your head round before reading Cooper and taking him seriously. One is the idea of the countercultural writer or punk poet. He is both of these, to an extent, but nothing like exclusively. If he borrows weight from any quarter it's in that he's gay and tackling the very established, even passe form of the pychological novel (see that blurb about Austen on the jacket). Anyone who knows Genet, though, will see the influence straight away - a writer besotted with the erotic and mythopoeic property of words, while staying far from any traditional level of erudition that could be used to boost his reputation or advance an idea of his 'level'. He is, in fact, a perfect modern incarnation of (or caterer to) Baudelaire's 'hypocrite lecteur'. He's 1% artist, and his books are 1% art, but don't underestimate that fraction's potency. Writes from the heart like no-one i know.

This is by far my favorite book from Mr. Cooper. And it's his most accessible one yet because it is not as warped as his other works.
I can't help but feel compassion for the ziggy character and love the storyline from beginning to end.
A great one indeed!

Really, what a boring book this is. So full of wretched stereotypes. And the price - for 2 minutes of amusement? Spare me!

Cooper definitely gives you some "poetry" that can leave you holding your sides. Each verse is just a couple lines long... Each verse is accompanied by colorful drawings of a somewhat abstract nature. (Most of the book is actually the drawings.) In general, this might be a great gift for someone with a good sense of humor, and who can appreciate the underlying story behind each verse. I'm just not sure that you're getting what you pay for at this price.

What a wonderful book. Truly fascinating. Walter Copper has given us a gay book of witty verses, and also included some wonderful drawings of men in briefs, etc. These are not drawings of real people but more like shadow drawings, in the line of Keith Haring. There are so many wonderful poetic lines contained in these 79 pages. You'll read it through in one setting. The whole design of the book from the cover to the color pages is unique, clever, and artistic. The Astrological Heavenly Bodies section is great. I loved the verse: "Zest for life, a relish for men, given the choice I'd be Gay again.

This book would make a great gift for all your gay or straight (in the know) friends, that's for sure. Highly recommended.

When I picked this up, I thought: hey, why not two bios for the effort of one? Why not indeed: you can't delve deeply enough into these two substantial and complex lives in this context. It is way way too ambitious to think you could. While you do get many of the factual basics, which were indeed interesting, neither of these past Presidents comes alive.

"John Milton Cooper...blends these contrasting and kindred elements into a masterful portrait of two of our most intriguing presidents," David Kennedy in the New York Times Book Review, November 20 1983. TR and Wilson are often considered to be the same, especially in the in the domestic realm. The New Freedom was simply an extension of New Nationalism. But Cooper espouses the differences through analysis of both important domestic debates and the politics of war and internationalism. For anyone interested in studying Roosevelt, Wilson, and the Progressive era this book is an important read.

This is a great work of scholarship dealing with two of the most important figures of the early 20th century. Cooper is able to bring out the differences in the approaches that both men had in setting the US political agenda in the early 20th century. Cooper is always a great treat to read. I must say that the title is somewhat interesting. When looking at Roosevelt or Wilson who is in fact the warrior and who the priest?

In the fourth installment of the Leatherstocking Tales, Cooper introduces a nautical theme upon the surface and along the shores of Lake Ontario. The Pathfinder is ultimately a love story tinged with the conspiracy of treason, though it takes no extra-sensory perception to uncover the traitor long before he is exposed in the book. Cap, a grizzled saltwater veteran, accompanies his niece to visit her father stationed at the British outpost of Fort Oswego, NY. Once there, the two become embroiled in the confrontation between England, France, and their Native American allies for control of the lake. Cap is dismissive of landlubbers and "freshwater ponds", such as he describes Ontario, setting the stage for his mind to be turned by the derring-do of inland waterman, Jasper Western. Indeed, Cap is so outspoken in his contempt for the ways of his new found associates, that he becomes somewhat of an annoyance to the reader. Cooper chose to give the character little in the way of redeeming qualities nearly spoiling the pleasure one takes in Cap's ultimate and grudging respect for the wilderness and the men who master it. Such a thoroughly boorish character simply creates no emotional connection. But, Cap isn't guilty of treason. You'll spot the traitor shortly after he appears.

The Pathfinder is formulaic, utterly predictable, and, at times, almost childlike in substance, but throughout, as in all other Leatherstocking Tales, radiates the simple goodness, manly deportment, and rustic charm of Nathaniel Bumppo. Indeed, Bumppo as a character is so masterfully wrought that Cooper could place him in a melon patch for the duration of a book and still manage to eke out a classic. Having previously read The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, and The Prairie, I find The Pathfinder the weaker of the four, but fourth in favor in this wonderful series of stories isn't any black mark. Indeed, it qualifies The Pathfinder as yet another loveable yarn from the pen of James Fenimore Cooper. 4+ stars.

In this, the third Leatherstocking tale chronologically (after Deerslayer and Last of the Mohicans), James Fenimore Cooper takes us, once again, to his vision of pure, unadultered, nature. Once again he weaves a tale around his ideas of morality, race, and religion. This time around Leatherstocking (known here as Pathfinder) is the pursuer of love, whereas before (in Deerslayer) he was the pursued.

These three books are the only ones that I have read to this point, and it is true that both this and the Deerslayer are more of romances than the Last of the Mohicans, which is an adventure.
Alot of people give the other books in the series flack because they are expecting the same as what they read in Last of the Mohicans. However, if you begin reading the book without those preconcived notions leading to disappointment, I think you will find that the other books are equally entertaining

All three are great books and I highly recommend them all.

I originally wanted to read the Last of the Mohicans because of the very enjoyable movie but I picked up this book and chose to read it first. I do not regret my decision. I was unaware when I began reading this book in the Leatherstocking series that it was not the first book in the series. A reader who has not read other books in the series can feel confident that they won't feel lost if they start reading this book. The book portrays very detailed images of the forests, lakes, rivers, and people of the French and Indian War time period during the 18th century. The character development and plot are very well done. The book also gives a glimpse of the harsh realities of war during this time period. The writing style of the book is also fascinating and reminds me, at times, of epic poetry. I highly recommend it.

To correct a comment in a review on this site - the brilliant, talented Olivia Manning was not a friend of the thoroughly unlikable, secretive Elizabeth David. Read the book to find out why. As for David herself, a graphologist summed her up when she was 17 - "she does not shine, she absorbs". A taker, not a giver in other words, and this book certainly does not contain any examples of her alleged charm.

When friends and relatives and acquaintances gathered together Sept. 10, 1992 to memorialize Elizabeth David, they shared bottles of Macon Prisse 1991 and Morgan Chateau Gaillard 1991, as well as conversation. Artemis Cooper, author of 'WRITING AT THE KITCHEN TABLE: THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY OF ELIZABETH DAVID suggests David would have approved. In the space of several decades, David had revolutionized cooking and meal preparation in Britain and introduced the British to really fine wines. Like her counterpart in America-Julia Child-David had no idea she would cause such a stir when she began to write articles about French, Italian, and other Mediterranean cuisines after WWII. David's notion that one could cook and eat other people's food-a multiethnic moment if there ever was one-was downright avant garde in the 1950s.

Cooper covers David's (nee Elizabeth Gwynne) life from her early days on the family estate in Wales, through WWII when she worked for the British in Egypt, to her amazing career as an author of books on food and food preparation. Before, during, and after WWI, David lived in Italy, the Levant, Egypt, and India where she learned how to make many local dishes and to appreciate "home grown" foods we call organic today. When Ms. David began to write about her dishes on her kitchen table, rationing was in still in force in Britain. Nevertheless, her first book on French country cooking was a hit. She then went on to write a number of books and many articles focused on what various people grow, cook, and eat.

Elizabeth David certainly lived in interesting times. A most intriguing aspect of Cooper's biography is her skillful placement of David within her age, a period during which the social mores of the UK changed somewhat dramatically. David had many interesting friends, including the writers Lawrence Durrell and Norman Douglas. Her book agent was Paul Scott, author of the RAJ QUARTET, and Olivia Manning, who wrote the Balkan and Levant trilogies known collectively as THE FORTUNES OF WAR was a friend from her days in Egypt. If you enjoy biographies as social history, I recommend ELIZABETH DAVID.

When I purchased this book, I had no idea who Elizabeth David was, but as a writer I couldn't resist reading about such a successful cookbook author. Artemis Cooper sorted through an immense amount of material and produced a wonderful story of a woman and the times that created her.
Born well-to-do in Britain, Elizabeth David started life basically ignored by her parents, and grew into a dilettante. With some bad judgement she ended up in the wrong place (Italy) toward the beginning of World War II, and spent years being exposed to a completely different kind of food than she had known in England. So one of the "bad" events in her life helped guide her to cookery writing.
The biographer has a lovely writing style, and fills in the bits quoted from letters and interviews very smoothly with narrative explanations. For example, Artemis writes "Robin Fedden invited Elizabeth to Chantemesle, some fifty miles northwest of Paris, where his parents lived. On one side of the house was the River Seine, winding between little green islands alive with birds, and on the other, the abrupt ascent of a dry limestone escarpment. Cherry and apricot trees stood about the house. 'It was beautiful there. I have never forgotten it,' Elizabeth wrote. Perhaps it was then that Robin proposed to her; many years later, she admitted to Robin's daughter Frances that she and her father had been engaged." The biographer does this throughout the book, turning one little quote into a lyrical paragraph (though if you think this sample was overdone, then you probably won't like this book).
By following Elizabeth's life, I learned that food rationing remained in place in England until the mid 1950's, and what horrible things can happen to an author when the rights to her books pass to other publishers than the ones she originally signs with (shudder!). While the story lagged for me when she returned home and began writing cookbooks, other readers who are more familiar with her and the people in her life will likely disagree.
On a personal note, I resolved to learn from some of Elizabeth's mistakes. Much of the unhappiness in her life stemmed from her personal weaknesses. A very rigid woman, she had trouble seeing things from another person's perspective. This allowed her the joy of being right, but separated her from other people.
Although a rather dense read, this book is overall very enjoyable.

Aside from the numerous errors and inaccuracies I found just skimming through the book, I found that it lacked information that might be useful to collectors who wanted to know about dealers and internet sites that specialize in the kinds of CDs found in the book. Their much touted web site proved to be a wild goose chase too. Not recommended.

Admittedly, some of the pricing is way off and could use a refresh. But this field of collecting is so new (even the author points that out) that it is very difficult to establish pricing. For overall layout and identification of early CD's, there is simply no other guide out there. Great coverage of things like the "Edison Sampler", which was the first compact disc ever pressed in the U.S. As a bonus, Laser Discs are covered as well.

This is the best book on music collecting I have ever seen. The two prior reviews couldn't be more WRONG! This guide has tons of color pictures of collectible CDS and information on just about every aspect of the compact disc and CD collecting. The book also has a huge listing of collectible CDs from around the world (more so than most record guides). This is a book that I have read over and over again and always find something new. I give this book five stars and is a must for every CD collector. (Plus it only cost me the same as a CD.)

The book has wit, and some useful info, but in an attempt to make it too cool it is virtually impossible to really find what you are looking for, and harder even to look for stuff you don't already know it exists. Skip the book, get a reverent guide that will give you more info.

Having lived in Boston now for 2-1/2 years, I was looking for a guide that could provide both insights on what I've been missing and good perspectives on what touristy spots would be best for out-of-town friends.

While it's refreshing to read both pros and frank cons of various venues, I felt the Frommer's Irreverent content wasn't as broad as I'd expect from guides built up over several years: my favorite sushi joint, Jae's Cafe, was mentioned six times in 20 pages as a great spot for Terminally Hip, Vegging Out, Global Harmony, Same-Sex, Thai, and After-Hours dining experiences. Additionally, I felt it lacked the benefit of a local editor (the John Hancock tower is referenced not as being on the well-known Clarendon Street, but rather on a fictitious Claridence Street).

I would heartily recommended the Irreverent Guide as a complement to another book to give any recommended itinerary a reality-check, but I wouldn't exclusively depend on this guide to plan a multi-day visit.

I go to Boston at least twice a year and always am interested in the nightlife scene. This book hit all the hot spots in retstaurants and bars. My friends who lived there were going through the book and saying, "yep, that's in," "that's still hot" If you're into that sort of thing, this is a great guide to have, especially if you're only going for a short trip.

This book basically covers ground other Cooper books have covered, but in a more confusing way. If you have read the other Cooper books, there is little need to pick up this one other than a few pages on retaining bone density. If you have not read the other books, this one is an o.k. introduction if you are willing to wade through a lot of crapola to get to the good stuff.

This is mainly aimed at the generation above 40. Cooper reaffirms his belief in aerobics, but doesn't mention the new research in interval training that seems to displace his old steady pace concept. He also covers stretching, strength training, diet and supplementation. Cooper is not really very strong on strength and his advice is probably better avoided in that area.

On supplementation, Cooper's prescriptions seem to be safe if one is to overlook that a previous recommedation, taking extra beta carotene, has proven to be a problem for many people.

The book mostly comes off as a bunch of notes that were gathered together in a hurry. The case stories are pretty uninspiring. His introductory story about falling off a mountain bike seems to have no relevance to anything. And references to himself as "Super Doc" are, to say the least, irritating.

By inventing the concept of aerobics, Cooper has done the world a service. Yes, the promise of aerobics has not been fulfilled in practice, but Cooper's recommendations are better than nothing, which is pretty much what they replaced. However, the Doc needs to move along and keep up with the exercise research coming out of other countries, as The United States is behind the learning curve in this area. His intentions are good, but he either has to teach this dog to hunt or turn the quest over to a hungrier author.

This books presents basic information anyone can incorporate to try to evade the ravishes of advancing age. Cooper gives recommendations in regards to exercise, stress management, diet, supplements, and related matters that will help people to retain their youthful energy.

He also explains that most people have unrealistic expectations on how much their physical abilities will decline with advancing age. Most people tend to think the decline is much more rapid and pronounced than it really is. This is particularly encouraging to me since I just turned 40!

His recommendations in regards to exercise include doing aerobic, strength training, and flexibility exercises. It is important for one to do all three kinds of exercises. Doing so will reduce the loss that most people experience in each of these areas.

He correctly notes that emotional stress can be as much a drain on one's vitality as poor exercise and diet habits. And as a Christian, I appreciate that he emphasizes that spiritual activities like prayer, Bible study, and attending worship services are ideal ways to deal with stress.

In regards to diet, he presents "bedrock principles" like eating more fruits and vegetables and reducing one's intake of fat. And he correctly points out that trans fat, found in hydrogenated oils, are the worst kind of fat. He doesn't go into too much detail in regards to diet in this book. But what he does give I tend agree with as I present similar information in much greater detail in my book "Creationist Diet: Nutrition and God-given Foods According to the Bible."

But it is in regards to supplements that I disagree with Cooper. He wholeheartedly recommends high doses of the antioxidant vitamins beta-carotene (the precursor to vitamin A), vitamin C, and vitamin E, along with the mineral selenium. He claims taking amounts several times the RDA helps to prevent heart disease and cancer. However, the evidence is not as clear-cut as Cooper makes it sound. I include a chapter in my book citing scientific studies in this regard. Some have shown a reduced risk from taking antioxidants, but other studies have shown no effect.

But that disagreement aside, this book does present helpful information for those of us who are starting to worry about our health and vitality as we age.

This book has helped me to understand the importance of good nutrition and fitness as no other book or speaker ever has. It was well researched, and many different aspects of fitness and nutrition are covered to provide excellent health for different age groups.