"Almayer's Folly" adequately introduces the theme of culture conflict, an angle that is expressed more fully in Conrad's later works. I would certainly recommend this to anyone familiar with Conrad's body of work, which is not to say that readers new to his work should avoid this novel.

This tale, set in the colonial-era East Indies, narrates the brief rise and slow descent of a man's search for fortune and adventure. Quite simply, the treasure never appears and Almayer is left to ponder what could have been. His woes are intensified by the departure of his daughter, one of his few links to "civilised Europe." Classic symbolism occurs late in the novel, as Almayer erases the footprints of his daughter the day of their parting. While "Almayer's Folly" doesn't reach the heights of Conrad's longer (read: better) works, this effort still captures the romantic essence of the Far East in the classic Conrad style.

Although not to be compared with his major works, this is nonetheless a most impressive first novel. Perhaps because he was already well into his thirties when he wrote and published it, the book contains all the major themes that one associates with Conrad. If one has not read any Conrad at all, I would recommend going to his great masterpieces first (VICTORY, NOSTROMO, THE SECRET AGENT, UNDER WESTERN EYES, HEART OF DARKNESS, THE NIGGER OF THE 'NARCISSUS', or LORD JIM). But for anyone who enjoys the work of Joseph Conrad, this book can hardly fail to fascinate.

This book delved into the interpreted meanings of some songs but was not very in-depth and quite short. Nothing from the "Pulse" tour was included and that was disappointing because I thought the band really jelled for this venture. I formed an impression, after reading this book, that Roger Waters, though extremely talented, has a bit of a chip on his shoulder that I find sad.

This booklet really gives Floyd fans with a musical background a detailed inventory of what went into each song. What I found to be most interesting and useful as an aspiring musician myself was the technical accuracy of the equipment used on the recent, Division Bell. Occasionally, the information on the effects used by Gilmour for his solos in Another Brick in the Wall pt2, Comfortably Numb, Time and Shine on...were very helpful.

As far as I remember I've read this book twice. I like it because in Russia, where I'm living, there's not much interesting literature about Pink Floyd, because as far as I now there are not many Pink Floyd fans there. So when I saw this book last year I've bought it immediately. It's cool. I like it.

This is an amusing enough read, though rambling and somewhat poorly written. We don't really gain too much of an understanding of the man or his music, but then information about both has always been scanty, and this books does its best to at least find out the truth about reported incidents of his life.

A good enough book, full of stories, reminiscences, apocrypha. Unfortunately the writing is not that great, so all the trivia doesn't really give you a feel for who Syd Barrett was and why he's so fascinating. The definitive Madcap bio is still to be written, but for now this'll have to do...

If you haven't heard Barrett's material, this book is a really good place to introduce yourself to the man behind Pink Floyd. If you have, this book will undoubtedly enlighten you on the origins of Pink Floyd and Syd's subsequent demise. Crazy Diamond is a thoroughly researched book which is sympathetic to Syd's material. It portrays him as a vulnerable person who couldn't cope with the pressure of having to perform, after having almost single-handedly written the Floyd's suberb debut album Piper At The Gates of Dawn. A fantastic read . . . buy this book!

This is a very high level view on the subject of HA, as previous reviewers state. It does present some basic guidlines at the system, network, and operational level which in my experience are so basic and intuitive, that I wonder why the author needs to state in "Special techniques for system realiability", that you should purchase from reputable supplies and even to recommend not to use shareware and freeware ? In general for a CEO or Manager who knows nothing on HA, this book is for you. This is a non technical brief, and its undenable shortcomings are its lack of coverage on recent hardware and software based clustering, cashing and load balansing technologies in the market now, specifcally related to e-commerce applications, middleware and CMS tools which now incorporate many HA features. Additionally, its lacks clear focus with hardly any case studies or real worl examples, and the primary examples of HA in the defintion of the author are client server related hardware technologies such as RAID, redundant NIC's and clustering examples.

A must read book for all IT Tycoon Wannabe.

You cannot judge a book by its cover in most cases. This book's cover, however, subtly provides clues about what's inside. The picture is a panoramic view of Hong Kong taken from Victoria Peak. It accurately portrays the book, which is a high-level view of a wide number of topics related to high availability. If you are expecting nuts-and-bolts technical information, then you are better off purchasing Blueprints for High Availability. If you want a "how to" book that blends a specific technical approach with processes you should look at Mission Critical Systems Management. However, if you want a book that provides a clear set of processes, takes a business case approach, and touches on most of the issues associated with high availability, then this book is what you are looking for.

Like Hong Kong, where realities are in the eye and mind of the beholder, the book can be viewed as addressing either high availability or service level management. In fact, the book uses service level management as the driving force behind achieving high availability.

Included in the panoramic view of high availability are the many issues and factors that need to be understood in order to achieve high availability. It starts out with reasons why high availability is important, and quickly segues into factors, such as total cost of ownership (the treatment is pretty close to what GartnerGroup has been peddling since the early 90s). It does cause one to get back to basics and consider that a high availability solution has a lot of hidden costs.

The book goes through the process chain needed to develop a business case for high availability (one of the book's strong points, in my opinion), through implementation of the solution itself. If you are familiar with other books in this series you will recognize the pattern. Unlike the companion books, though, this one does not contain contradictions or have glaring gaps in the processes. The authors have thought this one through and have the writing skills to make it readable and understandable.

The treatment of service level management is highlighted by a chapter on user availability. If you are in IT you should read and take to heart this section. User availability is a key component of aligning IT to business. The complex and myraid political issues in Hong Kong sometimes seem trite compared to the political issues that surround aligning these two factions. The authors, like seasoned China watchers, provide insights about how to understand the seemingly inscrutable players and sage advice on hot to achieve consensus among the two opposing factions.

Another area that impressed me was the attention paid to facilities as a key component of high availability. Although this was a high level view, it can serve as a checklist of considerations as you are developing the business case for high availability. There was one missing fact that I wish the authors would have highlighted: compliance with fire and safety regulations and local building codes. I have seen cases where well designed solutions that were supported by excellent processes and sound management were compromised by failing a regulatory inspection. Imagine explaining to a CEO why the multimillion dollar investment in people, process and technology failed because an inspector shut down a mission critical data center because of a building code violation.

There is some token attention paid to the technology at the end of the book where high availability features are examined for specific products. Among the products covered are Windows 2000, Novell Netware, Solaris 8, AIX and OS/400. Also covered are various hardware platforms, such as S/390, AS/400, RS/6000 and Compaq Proliant server, and Oracle 8i availability features.

Bottom line: This book is about processes. It complements and augments Blueprints for High Avalability by wrapping a sound approach to making a case for, and implementing, high availability. It is also a great companion to Mission Critical Systems Management, again by providing complementary processes to the approach taken in that excellent book.

I wish the authors had summarized the issues and factors in an appendix of checklists, but other than that, this book is a solid addition to any service delivery library.

This book just tells what Kwanzaa is really about andremarkablefriendship of two friends who used to hate each other.

This book is a good introduction to Kwanza for children and yes adults too. It explains the meaning of Kwanza, The symbols, and the terminolgy associated with this cultural festival.

This is a great way to introduce children to other cultures, and specifically to Kwanzaa. One child, excited about celebrating Kwanzaa, learns that it is not about just her, but about Umoja or unity with others.

This is a relly good book for the beginner with little knowledge about invesments. However, I would not let this book be my night in shining armor (or princess actually). The book does not go into enough detail to thouroughly explain the most common types of investment options or how they work but it does provide a good general overview.

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I am most impressed with the overall content of this book. It provides the basics and reminds us why we should invest during this somewhat "nervous" time, and presents the options to do so in a straightforward, factual way. I appreciate the historical overview, but also this book is relevant since it's newly published and thus reflects lessons learned from 2000/2001 investment experiences. Experienced investors will find this a little too simple, beginners will struggle a bit, but for the majority of us who know just enough to be dangerous, the information and viewpoints are helpful. We purchased this book for our community library; I then bought a personal copy so I could highlight and mark up pages for future reference as I put my own financial plan together.

I saw this book in my library and decided to pick it up because the book is quite recent. I found that the book was easier to read. Not too complex and it talked about the bursting of the bubble, etc. I liked the section on evaulating stocks and the on analysts. I think it is a good read. Highly recommend.

"Aurora Floyd" may not be the best novel Mary Elizabeth Braddon wrote -- the honor goes to "Lady Audley's Secret" -- but, the book is still intriguing because of the contrast it makes with the other book and many other comtemporary novels, especially "Jane Eyre." And if you don't have these historical interest, the book is pretty interesting thanks to its good story telling.

"Aurora Floyd" follows the history of the heroine of the same name, who has a shady past left in France. Aurora, unrestrained morally in her youth, hides some secret, but still attractive enough to make the two heroes fall in love with her. Without telling the nature of the secret, Aurora, strong-willed and candid, a gives a clear warning to one of them, proud Talbot Bulstrode, that he may one day regret his rash action if he dares to marry her. While he vanishes from her to marry other woman, tame and tender-hearted Lucy, the other suitor meek John Mellish succeeds in winning her heart, and he immediately marries her, not knowing her secret. As the time goes on, however, her hidden secret emerges from the past, and finally catches up with Aurora, living now quietly in a countryside. She must face the past, but how? While she is tormented by the sense of guilt, her husband began to suspect something wicked is going on, and he too began to suffer.

The story is melodramatic, but it is the merit of sensation novels, the genre in vogue during the 1860s, and Braddon, as she showed in her previous (actually written almost at the same time) "Lady Audley's Secret," is very good at handling the subject. It is notable, however, that the author intends to do something different this time, spending more pages on the analysis of the psychology of the characters. The result is a mixed bag; sometimes she shows good descriptions of characters with a witty touch, which reminds us of Thackeray, the story sometimes gets slower because of too much philosophy. Compared with the fast-paced "Lady Audley's Secret," her new experiment may look somewhat damaging.

But as a whole, the book is agreeable, and after you finish two-thirds of the book, Braddon makes the plot speedier. The last part includes one of the earliest examples of detective story, and a good (but short) portrayal of detective Joseph Grimstone's work is still fascinating. But the greatest merit of the book is its sub-text dealing with incredibly violent passion of Aurora, whose image is clearly mocking the typical angelic image of Victorain women. One of the book's scenes, in which the heroine gives a shower of blows with her wrip to her stable-man who bullied her dog, caused sensation and scandalized some critics. The description is still impressive today.

In conclusion, "Aurora Floyd" is a fairly gripping story, even though it is not the best place to start reading her books or Victorian novels. If you think you are familiar with those Victoraiin novels, or want to read one of the effect following the impact of Bronte's "Jane Eyre," try it.

Trivia: Braddon lived long (died in 1915), and before her death, she even watched the filmed version of her own "Aurora Floyd." Her life story is as intriguing as a story she wrote.

[NOTE ON THE TEXT] Oxford University Press's "Aurora Flyod" uses the later edition of the book while Broadview Press's uses an earlier edition. The former one is considerable changed from the latter, so for the academic use you must be careful.

Having devoured Trollope, Willkie Collins, I happened onto Aurora Floyd and was truly surprised to find such an outstanding story so beautifully written. A dark secret revealed, a murder and a love story, this is a wonderful book.

This book was okay. . . that's the best word I can think of to describe it. I did like the emphasis on the "leave no trace" philosophy. The dictionary of terms in the back is funny, and there are some good photographs. It is somewhat hard to find specific places, without reading it cover to cover. In the future, as well, I think Mr. Floyd might benefit from better editing. . . there were more than ten glaring grammatical/spelling errors. All in all, not a bad effort. I'd buy it again.

I found that this climber's guide had many things that my otherclimbing guidebooks did not have. Moving to Missouri from Colorado, Iwas hoping to find more than "moo-moo cows and piggys." Well... I have found, with much help from this guidebook, that Missouri has some hard stuff and a wide variety of rock types. I give the author two thumbs up; this guide is bomb in comparison. Thanks for the great beta! Oh checkout the Glossary in the back of the guide. It's hilariously too true...

I know this is intended to be very simple, but the commentary is just too simple. It asks questions or states facts that are nearly identical to what the actual text of the constitution reads. This would be a good book for kids, and it is still a good buy if you just want to have a hard copy of the constitution on hand. But in general, I don't think the commentary added anything to the original text.

A very simple edition, it was exactly what I wanted and needed to take a first look at the USA Constitution, cost-effective.

While I appreciate the comprehensive coverage of the materials, I find that errors in examples, answers and explanations have no place in a book that purports to prepare one for a college level examination. I have yet to finish reading the book and have found several examples of poor editing, or typographical errors. The coverage, while certainly not in depth, should be adequate to prepare you to pass the examination, if you are already familiar with the material.

This book does not explain everything very well. It will show you problems and answers but lacks some explainations. Math is not something that can easily be learned from a book. Along with the book, I watched an Algebra class on the local college channel. I only watched about 5 classes but that was enough to explain everything the book does not - for this test anyway. I studied for about 8 hours and passed with a 560. I don't think I would have passed with so little effort if it was not for this book.

i used this book and it guided me through the steps i needed. i also used a decrepit "general clep study guide" book, whew....it's from '85 or something. but both covered everything given on the outline. i scored a 570!!!! definitely recommend!! oh, and know probability, it's everywhere on the test. and although listed on the outline, there were no binary numbers.