

Kyle Boone
Excellent Reference - a must have!
Excellent Reference - a must have!

Concepts Explained BeautifullyI agree with some critics that a chapter on how to use MRJ would have been a good idea. Since I had CodeWarrior Pro already, I can't comment on the software that comes with the book.
A terrific primer for beginning programmers
Great for the beginner!

Omits Vital Information
An Elegent Gem!--Kentucky Reader
Rare piece of Americana!--Western Writers of America

A biography that won the Newbery Medal.
Fine Newbery WinnerAppropriate emphasis is put on Boone's important role in the opening up and settlement of Kentucky. Boone proved to be the ideal man for this time. The author's style, vigorous and simple like the subject's life conveys the pioneer spirit and suggests the frontier speech without reproducing the idiom in tedious detail. The lithographs of pioneers and Indians--done in black, brown and forest green--enhance the epic proportions of the narrative.


Unfortunate developments at LP
A nice guide, but hampered by the region's magnitude
This book is delightfully informative and always necessary!

A different view of corporate AmericaOverall, Boone is a read which provides a glimse into the personality which exemplifies the corporate raider. Upon finishing the book I was taken two things: 1. The names of some partners: Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken, and so forth. 2. The continued "bloatedness" of big business (regardless of the industry) in America -- apparently things have not changed much in the last 15 years since Boone was originally written.
An enjoyable look at the corporate raiders of the past.
Good Corporate Raider Story!turned out to be a very good book. You are able to get a good
history of Picken's very own company,Mesa Petroleum.You also get
an insight into Picken's marriages and life. Most of the book
was taken up with the various corporate raids that Picken's had
a hand in initiating on some of the bigger companies in America.
It is a very interesting look at the actions of a corporate raider.Pickens also gives you his insight on the management of some of the big companies that he was raiding. All in all a very
interesting book.


Boone's LickThe book has some of McMurtry's strengths: the humor, the clear, spare writing style, the appealing working-class characters (including the mules). But the plot is shallow, the characters are never really developed, and the end sudden. Overall, the book feels as if the author were just going through the motions; as if he were bored with the work. Mary Margaret and Seth, particularly, might have been interesting people, but the reader never gets to know them. I'd skip this in favor of McMurtry's more carefully written work.
A Nice Romp In The Saddle
A GREAT YARN FROM A GREAT YARN SPINNERThe book is about the trip of the Cecil family as they travel from Boone's Lick, Missouri to the West. Mary Margaret, the mother and matriarch of the family, wants to get a divorce from her wandering husband and she aims to get it even if it means packing up and traveling all those miles. In the meantime, it tells of the story of the United States in the post-civil war era--the lack of meat, Indian massacres, renegades--everything to make this tale a hum dinger and hold your attention. He also tells his tale while winking at you at the same time. The asides, the Mark Twain-type wry pundits makes this book very hard to put down.
Even though it started out slowly, it turned into a quick read. Mainly, because after a while, I could not put it down.


Lacks good examples, too high level to be worthwhile
Not What Title Promises
Rosetta Stone?I found the book an easy read and the examples very reader friendly. He spends a lot of time and detail explaining the migration of code syntax, in straight forward examples and helps the reader move into OOP concepts. The book could easily be subtitled "Transitioning to OOP for old C guys".
Sticking with the platform-independent nature of the JAVA language, Mr. Boone tries to be non-platform specific, yet in doing so somehow comes across as anti-Microsoft, which I'm finding out is quite popular in books on JAVA. Bottom line, since I own a copy of Microsoft's Visual J++, I found some of the examples hard to get working. This was a bit fustrating, but learned a lot more about VJ++ in the process. I got a sense that if I had a SUN computer, the examples would work flawlessly.
Once Mr. Boone gets through the easy examples, "Hello World", goes inta, goes outa, classes, etc., he kind of blows through several applications and implimentations, some of which could be useful. By then, I was ready for a book that went deeper in to the lanugage.
Although I found the book to be tailor made for the likes of me, I do not think it is an obvious choice for beginning or advancing one's understanding of the language. For me, it accomplished exactly what the title states.


HoHum!
Shallow!!I didn't want to know them and most romance novels make me yearn to meet the characters. I wouldn't recommend this at all. If you like shorter reads with more emotional depth, I'd recommend Peggy Herring.
Good premise, not long enough

disappointed but not surprisedI had problems outlined by others here, e.g. knowing when the soap is "done" cooking, how to deal with a batch that too much water cooked off from, getting rid of bubbles. Clearly, either you do it the author's way or you don't do it at all. That's a poor way to view one's students.
The attitude about HP vs. CP was overly defensive. A lot of us in the CP community awaited this book with baited breath because we'd never really gotten straight answers out of the author on the HP lists she runs, but the book was simply more of the same. Either one "gets it" and does HP and it comes out swell, or you're clearly messing up.
What I would recommend in lieu of this book is the Ann Bramson book and/or the second Susan Miller Cavitch book. At least the oils info is right on, the technique is okay, and if you're on the internet, you can find instructions for doing HP and adapt recipes accordingly.
Great for beginnersaccurately.
Hot Process soap does take a little practice to recognize when the soap has newly finished. The book advises to not stir the soap during the cook so the new person can see the by-product of saponification (glycerin) floating on top of the finished soap. This is mentioned in the book, most event on page 101.
If a soap maker reduces the water amount needed or lets her soap cool too long before adding fragrance then yes she will have a poor texture soap. But if one knows the tricks on how to add low flash point fragrances at a slightly higher temperature without losing the scent they do not need cool the soap to the point of it looking like mashed potatoes rather than hot Petroleum Jelly
it should resemble.
As for needing a chemist to explain soap making it is not that hard of an equation: fat and oil plus lye plus water will create enough heat to saponify those ingredients into soap and glycerin. My understanding is that synthetic detergents are what chemists have worked with since about 1942. If that is what a reader is searching for they can probably find this information in Essentially Soap written by a Chemist named Robert McDaniel. But if someone is interested in making real soap the safest way possible, and have patience to practice the craft she is learning, then this book is great! Anything unexplained in the book can be easily asked of the author herself who offers her soap list address in the back of the book. I found this an extremely gracious thing to do and as person who signs my real name as opposed to being anonymous, I will say that this act does not sound like someone who willfully put out a poor book.
Great Pictorial of HP Soap Making !I am on the author's list and even though I had already made my first HP soap while waiting for the books release I had to get the book because it is the first of it's kind.
If you are an experienced soap maker then you may not want to invest in a this how to book. But for a beginner it is perfect, explaining to the timid newbie how to make lye soap using heat without worries of soap boil overs. There is a reason for doing it the author's way as opposed to what might be found on the Internet: safety. Whether you are a list member of her group or someone she has never met but purchased her book your safety is her first concern and it shows.
The only down side of the book is what the editors cut out of it! What was turned into them was so much more but there was no room in the predesigned format for everything and the editor chose what to add and what to cut. They chose make a great book into a beginner book. Insulting the author is misdirected by those who criticize. Publishers invest money and make most of the decisions on book content. It is a pity they failed to listen to the author who wanted to put it all in because it truly would have been a soap makers bible if they had.