I begin by saying that there is no perfect practice set of questions for the USMLE Step 2 exam (not a single book that deserves 5 stars). This book highlighted several key points that actually came on my exam. However the format of the questions did not accurately represent the exam (but I have not found *any* set of questions that does). Good points: 1/3 of the questions have lots of lab values that you must sift through. In the actual exam you must be very comfortable with lab values. There are excellent quality images in the book. And the explantions are concise yet informative. Bad points: 2/3 of the questions are either "all are true EXCEPT" (which do not appear on the exam) or are quick recall (when the actual exam is more conceptual). All in all, I am glad I used this book and would recommend it as a study tool.

I just took Usmle Step 2 last month. The questions in this book are shorter than those of real USMLE Exam, but it contains a lot of high yield information. Make sure that you understand the answere at the end of each exam before you go to the next one.

I'm an IMG whose grades really matter to him when it comes to applying for a residency program in the US. I just did my Step 2 Exam hoping that I was prepared for it. MY way for doing just that is to answer as many MCQs as you can, read the answer discussions and write notes on anything that you may deem interesting. In my preparation for the exam there weretwo sources of questions that I used. Kapla's online QBank and Brochert's Mock Exam. Both of which helped me achieve a score that I'm happy with. Brochert's questions, although at times not displayin the clinical vignette format of the exam as that in Kaplan's the areas that it covers appear EXACTLY as they do in the exam. While doing the exam, I was equally surprised and content that I went through Brochert to be prepared.

The best thing about the way the Qs and their discussions are structured is the fact that you actually can imagine the author telling what is right and wrong and how to prepare to be better. There are some books out there that make you feel down when you don't know an answer to a Q, but Brochert eases your mind when it comes to difficult Qs. The author was a student before and knows how sensitive we can get when it comes to such matters.

All in all, an excellent. I cannot recommend it enough. in fact the publishers should state behind the book that you should prepare using this book and you will pass or your money back!!!

Make no mistake, Adam Johnson can write a mean short story, and maybe he will be the "next big thing," but the hype around this collection is perhaps more a reflection of his potential than of the stories themselves. His shtick (and I like it), is to explore very basic and universal themes, such as loneliness, coming of age, love, death, and other such favorites (often though teenage protagonists) in imaginative and slightly surreal, semi-absurd settings.

For example, in the first story we meet a teenage sniper who works for the Palo Alto police, dropping dot-com burnouts on a daily basis. While he does grapple with the issue of empathy, his more pressing concern is fitting in with the older guys and getting a date. The second story is about a night guard at a zoo who is tasked with killing certain animals each night, but the real story is about his attempt to relate to his son, who can't cope with his father no longer being a policeman. In these, and all the stories, Johnson manages to evoke of a lot of sympathy for his characters, as well as humor ranging from dark, to wry, to just plain funny. He's able to create these quirky, yet wholly believable settings (even the snowbound 1960s Canadian space research center), and populate them with characters you want to know more about All of this is accomplished with zero self-indulgence and a high level of prose.

Where the stories tend to falter a bit is the endings-they all end on pretty much the exact same note. Not quite despair, but the tangy hollowness of isolation. This wouldn't be a problem for a novel say, but when all the stories in a collection leave the same taste in the mouth at the end, it gets old. Still, Johnson is definitely a talent to watch for, and these stories do exhibit loads of promise, but they're not as completely stunning as some reviewers might lead you to believe....

This is an amazing collection of stories, with characters and situations that are wildly imaginative and testosterone-laden (that goes for the female characters too!). Your Own Backyard is my favorite, a frantic but insightful tale of how a father finds himself trying to connect with his adolescent son, and The Canadanaut, the most bizarre story here, is just plain laugh-out-loud funny. My only reservation is with most of the endings; the author, in attempting to show that there really is no end to the stories of our lives, has a habit of cutting the ending short, which leaves the reader puzzled and frustrated. Still, a minor complaint about the most entertaining and thoughtful prose I've read in a long time. I look forward to more by Mr. Johnson.

Emporium delivers a vision that produces a profound and immediate sense of rightness. More than just a glimpse into the future of our baffling world, Johnson provides a preview of where fiction itself is heading. Prepare yourself for characters more real than your mother, language that demands to be read aloud, images that will delight and haunt. This book soars in the same rarified air as the best collections of our time: The Night in Question, Birds of America, Poachers, Dogfight, CivilWarland, Hotel Eden. I'll end with my own prediction; years from now, you'll be having a drink with friends arguing about who read Adam Johnson first. Count on it.

This is a great book for anybody thinking about programming RPGs... And even if your not going to I would at least try to take a peak at the book and think about buying it.

First off the book assumes that the reader has a through knowledge of C programming and that you have some experience with coding. And has, like the rest of the series, quite a few pages devoted to C++... (The best thing with this book is you actually make a rpg game following the book and it's practices!)

The first part of the book covers what is role-playing, desiging role-playing games and some basic story-telling. The Jim covers basic programming with C++ as well as some engine architecture that is different from most other books - ex. Tricks from the Windows Game Programming Gurus. It introduces concepts like state managers, process managers and data packages - some great stuff for programming big games. The third part covers basic DirectGraphics concepts ("a whirlwind tour", according to the author). The code does the job really well and the concepts are well-explained.

After that the book covers information about DirectInput and DirectSound, the chapter on DirectInput includes information on programming joysticks, and other information in the book includes: wrappers for Direct3D, DirectSound and DirectInput, and followed by that, octrees and quadtrees, 2d tile engines, mixed 2d/3d engine, collison detection and so on.

The only problem I see is some of the real super newbies will see the book go at a fast rate... It has great explainations but he does move fast. And the author likes to leave out the obvious - so you have to pay attention in the beggining or you'll be turning pages back into the book to see whats up.

Basicaly, pick up this book if you are starting DirectX, pick up the book if you plan on crreating RPG games. The book is great, you'll have a working RPG game after going through the book, you will learn alot about DirectX and storytelling at that! 5 Stars.

I'm an experienced (6 years) C/C++ and windows programmer. Over the past two years I have been focusing on learning game development. This is the first time I have EVER reviewed a book.

What an amazing book! I read this book cover to cover over a weekend and am preparing to go through it again at the computer. It answers a lot of questions I've had concerning game development that weren't covered in other books.

Sometimes the author mentions things that there wasn't room for in the book (It is a huge book already), but guess what? It is all in fully commented code on the CD. That is not even mentioning the fact that the author has a web site where he is posting new ideas, updates, and other examples.

This book gives everything the "Programmer" needs to get a solid foundation to an RPG going. This includes developing tools and scripts to assist you in your game development.

I'm giving the book 5 stars because that is what it deserves. The book does include some rudimentary introductions to C++ and Windows programming that could have been left out (or just put on the CD), but that's for me, and I don't take away points for including information. This book is great for people who are having problems with 3D concepts such as Vectors, Matrix Math, Transformation Matrices, etc. This book by far teaches these better than any other source I've found.

Like I said, I can't wait to go through this book again!

I don't have many books about programming, but this one is awesome. You've got whirlwind tour to all aspect of directx before learning about rpgs. This book is a good one to start learning directx. Buy it!

Here is the TOC:
Chapter 1 - A World of Role-Playing
Chapter 2 - Exploring RPG Design Elements
Chapter 3 - Story-Writing Essentials
Chapter 4 - Starting with C++
Chapter 5 - Programming with Windows and Application Basics
Chapter 6 - Drawing with DirectX Graphics
Chapter 7 - Interacting with DirectInput
Chapter 8 - Playing Sound with DirectX Audio
Chapter 9 - Networking with DirectPlay
Chapter 10 - Creating the Game Core
Chapter 11 - Using 2-D Graphics
Chapter 12 - Creating 3-D Graphics Engines
Chapter 13 - Mixing 2-D and 3-D Graphics Engines
Chapter 14 - Implementing Scripts
Chapter 15 - Defining and Using Objects
Chapter 16 - Controlling Players and Characters
Chapter 17 - Working with Maps and Levels
Chapter 18 - Creating Combat Sequences

Chapter 19 - Getting Online with Multiplayer Gaming
Chapter 20 - Putting Together a Full Game
Chapter 21 - Marketing and Publishing your Game

Well, this book is better than the hype. It's got to be one of the most intelligent (and funny) books of all time. Really. And I'm the type who laughs at Star Trek.

Only CAUTION: Don't read the intro before finishing the book. There's a SPOILER in there.

I read this book expecting a lot - I had heard numerous references that were supposedly to this book, so I decided to finally read it and find out what all the hype was about.
I'm glad to say I wasn't disappointed. Quite to the contrary, the book exceeded my expectations. It's beautifully crafted, and the humor is so whimsical and Pythonesque, that it's both clever and absurd at the same time.
It was especially great to read one seemingly absurd part of a story (like a detailed description of a flowerpot hitting the ground), and then, several books later, find out how it ties with the story. Adams does an excellent job and bringing things together - reading these series is like watching a puzzle unfold in front of your eyes.
Another great aspect was finally reading about the many references found to the story - you'll never look at number 42 the same way.
While many people have given negative reviews to the last book (Mostly Harmless), I thought that while it was a bit hard to follow, it wasn't any different from any other H2G2 book.
If you're a Python fan, you owe it to yourself to read this book (Adams wrote several skits with the Pythons and was a close friend). If you're not, you might still like it, if you like whimsical, clever humor.

I have never been much of a science fiction fan, so when my uncle gave me this book, I was a little bit skeptical, thinking it would be just another book about aliens and teleportation and space ships. How wrong I was! Well, it was about aliens and the like, but it was also probably the funniest book I have ever read.

It tells the tale of an average, if not slightly depressed man, who, one day, unexpectedly finds himself travelling the galaxy with an alien named Ford Prefect. The dialogues are wonderful, the characters hysterical, and the stories are ... I don't know that there is an adjective good enough to describe them.

For anyone who has a sense of humor, this book is for you. It will leave you rolling on the floor in fits of laughter.

this book rules britney spears is great i love he

BRITNEY SPEARS I LOVED YOUR BOOK IT IS SO GOOD.YOUR MUSIC IS SO GOOD I LOVE IT.YOUR LIFE HAS BEEN SO MUCH OF A IMPACT ON MY LIFE ,CAUSE INYOUR MUSIC IT TALK HARTBRAKE AND LOVE ALL THAT STUFF I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU FOR EVERTHING AND BRITNEY I'M YOUR #1 FAN FOR SURE.

It is a Great book for any real Britney Spears fan!!!!!!!!!!!! I am her biggest fan and this is just a really Great book to have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just met her!!!!!!!!!! She rocks!!!!

Adam has a very cheerful and optimistic outlook which just has to rub off on you if you spend any time at all with this book. The chapters are short so you don't get bogged down in a long boring saga of things that may not apply to you, and they can be read in any order. The reader actually has control over what part of life's many struggles he or she can seek help with. If you buy a self help book for yourself or as a gift, you can't go wrong with this one.

I'm not sure about you, but I have a bad day atleast twice a week. You know them. Those days where you want to punch the first person who doesn't agree with you on everything. Well, if you actually punch that person, your not going to end up with a good result! Duh! Thats where this book comes in helpful. I don't want to sit down for 6 hours reading about finding inner peace with my problems, and anolizing my childhood! Adam Khan has done something absolutely brillaint... he has consolidated everything in the self-help world you need to know, and made it into chapters that you can understand. Believe me, he knows what he is talking about. I should know, I'm his 14 year old niece, and I'm proud of my uncle, the self-help author. I'm not saying this because I have to, I'm saying this because it's the truth. His book has helped a lot of people. He has shared with me some of the many emails from people all over the world about how this book has helped them. So if your reading this, considering buying the book, do it. It's worth every penny. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. It's not like those other books by people with a bunch of fancy letters in front of their name... just because their Dr. whatshisname, doesn't mean that they know what they are talking about. Buy the book, and save yourself a lot of time and money wasted on other books. It's all explained in the title: Self-Help Stuff That Works.

Ladies and Gentlemen, This book is a very helpful to the common joe with not much time but a strong desire for self improvement. We all have days where we just want to be uplifted, yet we dont always have 45 minutes to read a chapter on how to improve self esteem and happiness. The most important thing in self help, in my opinion is that you have a good mental coach, a good concience rooting you in the right direction. When your feeling down, a good mental coach (aka your mind if you haven't gotten that yet), will tell you how to direct your life. The length of the chapters is just a nice little meal for your mental coach to help you learn without having to completely smother your mind with extra information that isn't very helpful. So ladies and Gents, buy the book if you want the help without sacrificing all the time. It really is worth it.

On the positive side, this is a well-written and well-researched book. It's a good, clear account of the writing of Boswell's Life of Johnson. However, it has no new facts or insights, and it doesn't achieve the author's stated aims.

Most of it is merely a summary of Boswell's journals, particularly while he was writing the Life. It's a good summary, with some background information and some clarification of points that may be unfamiliar to the modern reader. However, Sisman usually just repeats Boswell's own descriptions of his thoughts, feelings, and actions, and presents them to the reader (chapter after chapter) with little or no comment.

In the introduction Sisman raises many interesting questions, such as the extent to which Boswell 'invented' Johnson, and the nature of biography and its limits. Unfortunately, he doesn't provide any answers, or even any real discussion.

There are some strange omissions. He rightly states that Boswell polished up and 'improved' Johnson's conversations, a fact which is obvious to anyone who has compared the relevant passages in the Life and in the Journals. But even though this issue is crucial to understanding the writing of the Life, he not only fails to discuss it, but even fails to show a single example of such polishing.

Sisman states in the introduction that "I have attempted to deconstruct the Life of Johnson". However, this 'deconstruction' seems to be limited to remarking that, in the Life, we see Johnson through Boswell's eyes, and that Boswell tended to emphasize things that mattered to him personally. These are truisms that hardly need stating, and he takes these points no further.

I can't help thinking that the introduction contains intentionally misleading hype, intended for lazy reviewers. It's like fancy icing added to a dry cake. People who only read the introduction and then rapidly skim and sample the rest of the book could easily get the impression that it's more profound than it really is. A thorough reading shows that the author makes no real attempt to address the issues that he says he does.

There is some liveliness and interest in Sisman's book, but it is just a little of the light of Boswell's journals filtering through. If you are looking for a summary of Boswell's later life and the contents of his journals at this period, this book may be useful, but overall I would say that although Boswell succeeded in his 'presumptuous task', Sisman didn't succeed in his.

Boswell's Presumptious Task (The Making of the Life of Dr. Johson) is an examination of a biographer creating a biography, or, in this case, THE biographer creating THE biography. This book is itself not quite a biography as it concentrates mainly, although not exclusively, on Boswell's life as it pertains to the creation of his book. It is also not a careful examination of the book Boswell wrote itself. Instead, it is a fascinating view of the human interactions, both between subject and author, but also those between the author and his sources before and after Johnson's death, that went into the creating process. The literary masterpiece that came to be the Life of Johnson was born out of the social and cultural mileau both men enjoyed in London and this is well recreated in this book. This is a readable, sometimes funny, sometimes touching book.

Before Boswell, biography was like a formal portrait, a flattering way to honor the subject. Today, biography is more likely to be critical than to be positive. All of this has happened in less than 220 years. How was the line originally breached? That's the key element of this rewarding "biography of a biographer doing a biography." In fact, this book's perspective on Boswell's task has itself has now broken new ground. Where will this new view take us 220 years hence?

This book will probably only be a three or four star effort for those who have not yet read (or cannot remember much about) James Boswell's Life of Dr. Johnson. If you think you are interested in this book's subject, go read or reread the biography first unless it is very clear in your mind. Otherwise, many of the juiciest bits of this book will not connect as well for you.

Before reading the Life of Dr. Johnson, I could not make any sense of why Boswell had written the book. Surely an attorney had something better to do than to follow another man around, taking verbatim notes of his conversations. After seeing the biography, I realized that the relationship was in many ways like that of the fictional Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes in the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories and novels. Boswell adored Johnson, as did most people. But it still wasn't clear what all his motivations were, aside from adoration. This book is very helpful in that regard. I had never invested the time in reading a biography of Boswell, so many of these details about the time after Johnson died were new to me.

The core of the book deals with the issue of great men having their downsides. I often am shocked by how often it seems that the greater the genius, the worse the person is in his or her private life. It is as though the genius withdraws them from all else, and gives them psychological license to break the rules of ordinary mortals. The Prometheus myth comes to mind as a parallel.

Dr. Samuel Johnson was no exception, although certainly not as weak in many ways as other "great men" have been. In biography terms, what was exceptional was that Boswell recorded and reported much of the flaws he encountered.

What this book reveals that was new to me (and possibly to you) is what Boswell did not include in the biography. Now, that part of this book was even more interesting that what I had read in the biography.

This point was even more striking to me because Boswell seemed to be a classic case of a man who lacked emotional intelligence. He was surprised when he offended people, and that some were stricken to the quick by what he had written. This occurred despite having had these experiences over and over again. But even Boswell had some scruples.

You will probably also be interested to learn about what the Boswell notes and journals have shown about Boswell's writing process. Boswell's notes were not actually stenographic records. They were fragments and general references to jog his memory about what had been said and what had happened. Boswell did not write in the journal every day, and so the journal is more like new writing than summarization. So we should give Boswell more credit for what we like about The Life of Dr. Johnson.

I enjoyed the comparisons to the other biographies and collections of letters that were published at about the same time. Boswell's accomplishment seems all the greater in that context.

Boswell himself is someone who goes down in my esteem from this book as a person, while up as a researcher and as a writer. In a sense, this "biography of a biographer writing a biography" has done to him what he did to Samuel Johnson. That seems apt.

I disagreed with the book's final point. The author says "never again will there be such a combination of subject, author, and opportunity" as coincided to create Boswell's biography of Sanuel Johnson. What do you think?

After you finish this wonderful and interesting book, I suggest that you think about great people you have met. Have you created notes about your contacts with them? Have you written up anything from those notes? Have you published any writing about them? If not, perhaps you should. What will you include . . . and omit?

Presume to share what is important for all humanity to know!

For anyone who has ever wanted to know about Mozart, but does not want to dig through massive tomes, or the intracacies of counterpoint, Peter Gay gives a thorough linear analysis of Mozart, his life, and times. Describing the growth of a musical genius, with commentaries on major works, Gay places Mozart firmly in his historic period. We see the role of the musician as hired tradesman and Mozart trying to equate his genius with social standing, only to play secaond fiddle to the second rate. An excellent and enjoyable window into a complex mind and a brief but indelible life.

Noted cultural historian and Freud scholar Gay, author of the autobiographical My German Question (LJ 8/98), here presents an intriguing psychological exploration of the life and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Using copious excerpts from Mozart's family's letters and drawing on a variety of secondary sources, Gay constructs a portrait of a developing genius who appears obsessed with the scatological and financial aspects of his existence. Gay traces the artist's maturation in his relations with his father and other authority figures while describing the culminating musical masterpieces of Mozart's later years. Gay is an eloquent advocate for Mozart's place in the very highest echelon of composers. He performs a valuable service in debunking several myths, and his exemplary bibliographic essay directs readers to other relevant titles. Recommended as an illuminating guide to Mozart's psyche; seek elsewhere for musical analysis or straightforward biography.

Peter Gay's brief biography of Mozart is the third of the new Penguin Lives which I have read, but only the first to offer a reasonably complete portrait. (The others were "Mao Zedong" by Jonathan Spence, which seemed disappointingly incomplete, and "Woodrow Wilson" by Louis Auchincloss, which seemed terribly superficial.) As an eminent cultural historian of Europe since the Enlightenment and a native of German-speaking Europe himself, Gay is more than qualified to write a superior life story of Mozart and certainly rises to the occasion with a captivating style that made reading this book a pleasure.

For a book that is only 163 pages long, exclusive of endnotes and bibliographic essay, this volume offers an unusually full picture. It depicts Mozart as man and musician, while placing him and his art in the context of his times. Gay delves into Mozart's complex relationship with his autocratic father, describing his evolution from docile Wunderkind to assertive mature artist. He also explores Mozart's unusual personality, including his often juvenile sense of humor, his devoted commitment to his wife, his tendency to constantly live beyond his means and the resulting sometimes obsequious dependency on his patrons, and his interactions with contemporary composers, particularly Johann Christoph Bach and Franz Josef Haydn. Gay is especially good at explaining Mozart's major contributions to the development of classical music in terms that even someone who lacks a technical understanding of music can fathom, showing how he contributed to chamber music, the symphony, and opera. And he briefly points out what is distinctive about a number of the composers' major works.

In short, this is a book that offers all the fun of "Amadeus," but a far more satisfying portrayal of Mozart and a fuller explication of why he is an icon of Western civilization. For readers who lack much knowledge about the composer, Gay does an artful job of tantalizing them into wanting to learn more, then pointing the way with a helpful and thorough bibliographical essay.

I recently finished an entire semester studying the Amistad mutiny, and Pesci's book was required reading. I read it both before the class began, and later in the semester; it didn't improve with time. Those portions of the story that Pesci did not fictionalize were interesting, but he writes in passive voice, which I found incredibly boring as well as frustrating. His descriptions of characters go on for paragraphs, and often serve no purpose other than to fill space; his adjectives are stale and overused. His stereotypical characters speak in modern slang that at times borders on the ridiculous. It is terribly distracting to have the captives look at one another and say, "We are in a world of sh--!" I agree with Pesci that it is difficult to write period dialogue, but he really should have made the effort. I suggest that anyone truly interested in this event investigate the many factual, well-written books available, including those written for children.

This isn't the kind of book I would normally buy. I don'tusually read historical fiction. In fact, I stick to John Grisham,Scott Turrow, and James Paterson. But since it was a gift, and since I needed something to read on my flight from NY to LA, I picked it up. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. The first part read like a thriller and the second part like a legal drama. There are so many things going on, and yet Pesci made it flow. It's a great read and even more stunning because it's a true story. I can't wait for Pesci's next book.

I received this book as a gift and almost exchanged it for something else because I usually don't read historical novels. However, I decided to check-out the first few pages. They grabbed me and I quickly became completely fascinated with the story. Pesci does an excellent job of weaving in the numerous facts and personalities that inhabit this incredible incident. The writing is smooth (although the paperback copy I got had a few typos) and he moves easily from the action thriller that makes up the book's first part to the courtroom drama that ensues. Highly recommended, even if (like me) you are not generally one for history. I hope he writes something new soon.

Christopher Dickey's memoir of his relationship with his father has helped me to understand James Dickey, the artist, as never before. The book picks up steam about halfway through and *becomes* utterly compelling. (The last two sections are as moving as anything I've read in a long time.) In the beginning sections, though, I tired of watching the son invent ways of stating that his father imagined himself the God of poetry--and of all his world--and that for him the imagined life matched, even exceeded, the real in terms of its significance. It's true, no doubt, and tragic. But it becomes trite through so much repetition.

Anyone with a father can relate to this book. No one needs to live the horrors of alcoholism to identify with the unrelenting need to be loved by our parents, especially our fathers. Regardless of age,race,or financial status, we continuously seek the approval of our parents. And Christopher Dickey paints an honest portrayal of what it's like to trust,love,hate and endure our parents. His experiences stir our hearts as we identify with the pain a parent can inflict on us. As his story unfolds, we see a part of ourselves in him as he learns to put things into perspective and let go of the pain. Refreshingly honest,and poetically constructed, Christopher Dickey has a magical way with words that makes us better for having shared his, and our, life experiences. A timeless story,excellently written, and guaranteed not to be forgotton!

This is a wonderful book, painful and redemptive at the same time, plus interesting as hell. If you thought of James Dickey only as the author of Deliverance, we are made aware here of what a remarkable poet he was and how pathetically ill-equipped he was for fame, marriage or fatherhood. It's far more than just another story of wretched excess, though. Christopher Dickey writes extremely well and honestly about his father and his feelings for him, and at the end you kind of like the old man, which sure seemed impossible for much of the book. But how many of us, if we had his brilliance or prestige that he gained from it, would have been any better at resisting all the trappings that come along? I'm still thinking about this book long after I finished and the end, where James Dickey is quoted at length on what it means to be a poet, is spellbinding and inspirational, worth the price of the book and the time it took to get to the end.