I have read may books where the author skirts around the real issue and does not answer the basic questions you had when you picked up the book. This book has lots of real world stuff in it - some of the things he talks about - I have seen and done myself!

Very useful overall, with lots of useful and informative side bars.
Lots of good information - low overhead!

Parts of the book were entertaining to read - a hard thing to say about a technical text!

This book is an excellent resource for the system administrator wanting to ensure the uptime and availability of his Linux machine. Iain's writing style makes it an easy book to read, and at the same time, technical enough for the experienced Linux admins. Now that Linux is being deployed on larger machines (like IBM mainframes), reliability is a key focus, and this book does a fantastic job of covering the important areas.

I think that this would be a resource that every IT Manager should read. This books goes way beyond telling you how it works. It addresses the issues of what happens when it fails. This makes it very different from any other book on Linux out there! About time.

I used this in a senior-level microelectronics fabrication technology course and rate it highly. It is a thorough and up to date reference for nearly ALL aspects of modern fabrication technology. The fundamentals like wafer growth, diffusion, oxidation and implantation are covered in the first 5 chapters. Some of this material can be overly technical for those with little background, but I found the tables, diagrams and plots quite helpful.

The rest of the text is broken into sections on patterning (optical and nonoptical lithography, etching,) thin films (evaporation, sputtering, CVD, epitaxial growth,) and process integration (CMOS, GaAs, device technology, bipolar, MEMS.) Each of the subtopics I noted is given a chapter's worth of coverage, so plenty of detail is presented. I think it's a great technical reference and a definite keeper.

I have been using this book since 1997. It is a great book, especially for those with very little knowledge in microelectronics. Reader with non-technical background can easily understand the materials. Lots of picture & diagrams to further enhance understanding. It has helped me with my postgraduate studies, a must for those who wants to know about microelectronics and a good referrence for all.

This excellent book by Stephen Campbell offers a comprehensive, in-depth look at many areas of microelectronics. It is also written in an easy to read style with a large number of relevant references. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the many areas of microelectronics.

A first person, narrative mystery thriller of the first order. Adroitly titillates your sense of anticipation and suspense while slyly giving you a close-up feeling for the Israeli/Palestinian struggle. The plot and the pages go fast and as you realize you are thoroughly enjoying the story the book comes to an end. If you like good solid writing, thoughtful characterization and a believable story you'll enjoy this book.
Rus Morgan -- Host Interviewer for PBS "Book Talk" at Radio Station WYPL in Memphis TN. (103 books read and authors interviewed in the series since its inception in 1993). The male 'Grandma Moses' of mystery fiction. Member of MWA and PMA. Author of three novels, the stunning "Blackberries Got No Thorns" and two sizzling scifi mysteries, "The Voodoo Vortex" and "Luci"...

The locks on Greg and Jill McKenzie's luggage were removed at some point on their way home from a
vacation in the Middle East. The guided tour had gone quite well for the tour group; they enjoyed the
Mediterranean and the ages old biblical sights. But tours must eventually end and the time arrives for the
McKenzie's to return home to Nashville, Tennessee, in the good ole USA. Although Greg did become a little
suspicious when he was the only one in the group that was told to put his name on his luggage tag in huge, bold
letters when boarding the plane for home. Greg is a retired Air Force officer who worked on the ground in the
OSI - Office of Special Investigations, so he just sloughed off his suspicions as being an old habit and tried to
dismiss it from his mind. But now at Kennedy International when the locks were discovered missing, his
curiosity was again piqued.

First the large name on the luggage, now the missing locks. Maybe his suspicions are founded after all.
Authorities were notified and a quick riffle through their bags showed nothing missing that they could tell.
Greg advised Jill that they would do a more thorough job of checking for missing items when they got home.

Greg's close friend, Sam Gannon, usually has a million and one war stories that he likes to relate over and
over, time and again. On one of Greg's visits to Sam's all track of time was lost and resulted in Greg being
over an hour
late after the time he told Jill he would be home. Upon entering the back entrance to his home from the garage
he was met with total chaos. His OSI training kicked in and he started adding things together: Annoying
incidents in the Holy Land; being singled out at the border; the large, identifying name on the luggage tag; the
missing locks from the luggage. After searching the entire house upstairs and down, he knew Jill had been
kidnapped. He read several little clues that were left behind by Jill that told him she had been taken against her
will. Little things that Jill knew only he could recognize,
and therefore not alert the kidnappers.

He reported the kidnapping to the Metro Police, then sat by the phone waiting for the call he felt sure would
come. It finally did. A strange voice demanded to know where the scroll was. The scroll? That cheap imitation
that he paid four dollars for at a souvenir stand? Or was it an imitation? Obviously someone must not think so.

Thus Greg has to pull himself out of retirement into one of the most emotional cases he has ever worked on.
Using some of his old contacts, he tries to have the scroll deciphered, while at the same time trying to find
Jill.

The conflict between deadly groups of Palestinians and deadly groups of Israelis who both claim ownership to
the scroll have Greg caught in the middle with Jill's life at stake. He has a long row to hoe with many dangers
confronting him, Jill, and his friends that necessitate another trip to the Holy Land; something Greg hoped
would not have to happen. Women were not the most respected people over there so his fear for Jill escalated
into panic.

And how was one to begin searching in a strange land for a missing person?

This is a superbly written book with an excellent plot. The action is on going and riveting. The characters walk
off the page to the reader, and one can see them as they act out the story. There is no clothes-line effect in this
story. It moves along smoothly with plenty of excitement. This one is a keeper for sure.

Mr. Campbell has imparted a lot of interesting information without sounding like a history book. In fact if
school history books were written like this every student would be a history buff. Reviewed by: Shirley Truax

The Secret of the Scroll contains the high level of political deniability inherent in the espianage novel, causing the hero to rely on something other than the might and right of countries. Going it alone, Greg McKenzie picks up an intrigueing entourage of sidekicks as he races through the tale. The refreshing part is that the hero isn't exceptionally gifted with super powers of observation, incredible martial art skills, or packing tons of hardware. It is a story of man's greed affecting the innocent, resolved by a lifetime of experience,and fueled by a determination born of love. While the twists and turns are intricate, it is all told with a smooth grace that never pulls the reader out of the fantasy. I have found a new author whose next work I'll anticipate from the time I close the cover.

Since I started to read this book I just couldn't, stop doing it, is an amazing suspense story from the first page till the last page, and the way that Montana fights against the bad guys is not out of reality at all, meanwhile you learn a little bit of autism boys.

This book got better and better as the pages flew by and tension mounted... Eight year old autistic twins, Rickie and Trace, attended a special school........while out in the school playground with their teacher, Laura Stoner, they witnessed an elderly man getting gunned down right in front of them!! As with most autistics, they had a gift for details with numbers.....they repeated the license plate number, how many shots were fired, and described the murderer.......what they had witnessed was the execution of a mafia don.... Ex-cop turned assistant U.S. attorney, Mike Montana, was in charge of protecting both Laura and the twins....Laura had no option other than to trust him while he moved them around from one state to another, running from the villains and not knowing who in the US government, has betrayed them!! This story will have you holding your breath when the good guys confront the bad guys!!

I say it again -- if you are getting a little weary of Mary Higgins Clark, then try Bethany Campbell's thrillers. I picked this one up out of the blue (on a whim) and was hooked from page one. Well drawn characters, a very tense plot, and plenty of empathy for people who are coping with children with problems. Any mother or teacher can relate to this book, and be carried along by a fast moving, credible plot as well. Bethany Campbell's publishers should be promoting her like crazy, because there is a heap of talent in this lady.

Steve Bain's book on CorelDRAW ranks among the best books I've read on any technical subject. The organization is excellent; essential tools are named and described in the first few chapters, and then explored in detail later along with the remaining tools and functions. The author's command of English is wonderful; the book is clear, concise, coherent, thorough, and readable. I have been concurrently reading through this book while I use CorelDRAW at work, and am enlightened at every turn of the page. The desire to praise this book (& author: thanks!) inspired me to write my first review for Amazon.

I recently bought CorelDRAW 9 together with Steve Bain's book titled "Special Edition" Using CorelDraw 9. I am finding the book *very* useful in helping me to better understand the complexities of CorelDRAW 9.

This is one of the best-designed books I've used. The notes, tips, and cautions are plentiful, which really helped to enhance the topics. There is also a quick reference to special features called Power tips. A large tear out section of keyboard commands is included in the front. I had no idea there were so many shortcuts.

I found the illustration techniques uniques and extremely helpful. The tables not only show the function of a tool but where to find more information if needed. The whole book has cross references to other sections, great help.

If you are looking for one book on CorelDRAW 9, you can't go wrong with this one, it is excellent!

I found my copy of Topaz Dreams and it's prequel Pyramid of Dreams earlier today and couldn't wait to read these wonderful stories again.

I read then in order but Topaz Dreams is my favorite. Falcon is introduced in POD and gets his own story here. He's sent to find a missing ring and runs into Steve (Stephanie) who's after a missing computer geek. They discover the same guy has what they're looking for and decide to team up.

I love the scene when Falcon and Steve first meet. I don't want to spoil it for anyone but just let me say that Steve's inital impression of Falcon is that he's a gorgeous pervert:)

This is one of the rare books where the heroine is not a total weakling. Steve is a martial arts expert with a tough attitude I found very refreshing. If you're sick of the sickly sweet, saintly heroine, Steve's your girl.

I usually read a book and forget it. But Falcon has stayed in my memory since I read this book when it was first published in 1992.

I can't believe 11+ people have this book for sale. You'll have to pry my copy from my cold, dead hands before anyone will take it!

Marilyn Campbell truely knows how to captivate a reader. Her talent knows no bounds and this is one book that derserves a spot on your bookshelf!!

After reading this (one of the first futuristics i ever read) i was hooked on them. This book was great. I think it was the best of the 'dreams' series. 'Pyramid of Dreams' is also worth checking out - the first in the series. I found similarities to Dara Joy's work - although our hero never actually changes shape like in Rejar - he's definitely to die for - very hot!

The author's vivid descriptions of the mountains and terrain, the weather and the trials and tribulations of hiking, camping, building log structures and the camaraderie of such an outstanding troop is nothing but masterful ! What the author has produced should be a legend for all those presently in scouting. I truly doubt that any other troop has ever been or will be as dedicated or productive as 511. Braman has really chronicled the true spirit of scouting in a way that will inspire future generations of scouts, even though I doubt that it will ever be equaled. Where "The Fuzzy Marmots Grow" is a work of art. This book was a pleasure to read, it captivates the reader and it's hard to put down. I certainly enjoyed it

Very funny! Amazingly detailed memories. A great read-aloud for the whole family.

This delightful memoir of boyhood is a chronicle of humor, nostalgia and charm. It's story-telling at its best. Unequivocally recommended to those who enjoy remembering, reliving, the spirit of youth - when the miracle of adventure was an everyday occurrence. Lovingly conceived, deftly written.

This is the long awaited 2nd part of Joseph Campbell's journals of his trip to the Orient in the Fifties. The first, Baksheesh and Brahman, told of India, and this book tells of other countries but mainly Japan. The book reads like a journal with varied entries about traveling, people and places of interest, etc. The post-war mood is obvious, and the political climate is interesting.
This book is less naive than the first where JC was disappointed by the spiritual/caste hypocrisy of India, and more insightful of modern Oriental life.

Sake & Santori is the fifth volume in a series of collected works of philosopher/spiritualist Joseph Campbell and focuses upon his cultural and spiritual interactions with Japan during his 1950s Asian journey. The changing social and political world of Japan come to life in a a set of entries relating Campbell's discourses with Japanese from all walks of life.

". . . passages convey his appetite for the sights and sounds of Japan. For Campbell, religion was a subset of mythology, and the exposure to Japanese Buddhism was important to the next leg of his journey as a scholar. "Sake & Satori" is a glimpse of a supple mind, mid-career."
- Shambala Sun Magazine

One of the first books written about the Wake, A Skeleton Key has been largely supplanted by the wealth of Wakean research done since its 1944 publishing date, but its value as a seminal text is undisputed, and many -- including me! -- still find it a very useful guide. It opens with a beautiful introduction by Campbell, then explains the purpose of the text, moving on to a synopsis of the overall story. After that, it breaks down FW page by page, stripping the text of much of its obscurity and serving up possible interpretations via footnotes and bracketed commentary. In this way Campbell and Robinson more or less retell the Wake, "prosifying" the text in an attempt to make it more comprehensible to the lay reader. While this is certainly helpful, it must be said that this technique can come across as being a bit dry, and is certainly no substitute for the breathtaking immersion in Joyce's scintillating river of prose! Additionally, many of Joyce's meanings were overlooked by Campbell and Robinson, and a few of their interpretations have long since been "overturned" by more recent and intensive scholarship. Because of all this, A Skeleton Key has lost some of the polished glow of its initial reception, and some Joyceans have gone so far as to call it almost completely tarnished, finding it occasionally more misleading than helpful. Although there may be some truth to that, I still enjoy this book, and I find its mythopoetic angle -- this is that Joseph Campbell, after all -- uniquely refreshing, and some of his mythological insights possess a brilliance that has rarely been matched. Still, however, it is no substitute for the text itself, but for a work written only a few years after Finnegans Wake was published, A Skeleton Key is a pretty amazing accomplishment! I would not recommend it over a more recent guide, but I do occasionally enjoy turning to it -- like a slightly dowdy but favorite aunt, I still like to curl up by the fire and hear her stories over a cup of tea.

If you have given up on the Wake, try this. The characters and storylines of Joyce's last book (yes, there are real characters and storylines) are brilliantly revealed here. What makes this book really exceptional is that it is not a commentary or series of notes alone, but a paraphrase of the entire Wake. The flavor of Joyce's invented language remains, toned down a little. I even venture the heresy that a person on a desert island with just this book and no copy of the Wake would still find it a good read.

First, please accept my disclaimer for this review: I have been a fan of J. Campbell for several years... The objectivity may be lacking, therefore, in this assessment: freely admitted, and accept my apologies.

Campbell spent ~4 years, if memory serves, on this book. He said he finally had to get away from the Wake because everything he read started to sound as though it was from the Wake..

Having been an avid reader of Joyce for the last 5 years, Campbell's KEY is to my mind THE definitive work on the Wake. Anyone can criticize another's work, and perhaps it is unreasonable to expect a critic to be as brilliant as the victim of his wiseacreing, but to my mind criticisms of this beautiful and inspired work are rather worthless..

The Key is always my primary reference for the Wake. "Annotations" is just a phone book of references; the Key is first-rate scholarship. Infallibility is not a requirement for brilliance, assuming there is merit to criticisms of this work.

But as Joseph Campbell would say, don't buy a book because it is said to be important; buy it because it "catches" you. Campbell's grasp of the Wake is a wonderful help to appreciating the Wake in less than a lifetime.

I worked backwards through "The Thing" stories. I remember as a young kid in the 60's watching Howard Hawk's A Thing From Another World. I had a much older brother who had a color TV who I spent Saturday nights with. We had 3 great "Creature Feature" tv shows for about 6 hours each Saturday. I got to see all the great classic Sci-Fi movies, and Hawk's Thing was a favorite.

I had just been commissioned an Ensign in the Navy in '82 when Carpenter's Thing came out. I loved it. I then didn't get to see the movie again for another 12 years. Finally, with my own boys, I found both movies on VHS. Scared the hell out of my boys. Both are now avid Sci-Fi / Horror fans.

Enter 2002. Now there is a video game, based on a proposed sequel to the 82 movie. It starts off where the movie ends. It is an odd game, but very enjoyable. I found Campbell's novella at a game site. Was it really written in 1934/37? The storytelling is very good for that vintage. Like EE "Doc" Smith, some of Campbell's vision was extraordinary. I love reading the historical, genre-defining early Sci-Fi stories. I think any fan of the movies and or the new game will love this story. It is a quick read, and an amazing story coming out of the '30s.

This collection is a superior value. It contains not only Campbell's superb novella of sci/fi terror (Who Goes There?) but six other stories! All in a quality hardback! John W. Campbell, Jr. was one of the great science fiction writers in history. His approach to his craft in his all too brief career as a writer, and his long career as an editor (his employer would not allow him to both write and edit, so when he started as an editor he quit writing) were of incalculable influence. Many of sci/fi's greatest honed their craft at his feet. Unfortunately (indeed the word is disgracefully) very little of Campbell's work remains in print. Happily, Buccaneer Books has published this excellent collection. It opens with an interesting forward by Campbell himself. It contains the novella "Who Goes There?", and the stories "Blindness", "Frictional Losses", "Dead Knowledge", "Elimination", "Twilight", and "Night." 230 pages all told, nicely hardbound in blue cloth, and well worth your time and money.

I first read this short book back in 1960, when I was ten. Coming off of Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke, this one grabbed me by the short hairs and dangled me above the floor. Then someone told me they had made a movie of it. You can't imagine how disappointed I was to see James Arness as a humanoid plant. What riles me more is how John Carpenter's remake was lambasted by both the critics and the director of the previous film for its excessive violence. Carpenter had only remained faithful to the original novella. For fifties-era SF, this was not your typical pre-teen reading, and it still packs a strong punch even today.