Monty-python-esque approach to language...this is the British version of what in America are called "sniglets", little neo-logisms invented for things and situations which don't have proper words to designate them but ought to. The difference is that these creations ala Douglas Adams & John Lloyd use already existing town names in the UK and re-define them to make them useful (and funny)...this is altogether different from American sniglets like "bevemirage" (the black plastic bottom of a liter bottle of dark cola that fools you temporarily into thinking there is more cola left in the bottle than there actually is), which tend to be creative word-fusions of already existing words. The only U.S. linguistic construction I can think of that comes close to what Lloyd and Adams are doing here is the phrase "in a New York Minute", aka "really fast". Though there is no collorary such as "in a Topeka minute" (or whatever) to mean slow, drawn out (but maybe there ought to be). I bought this book in the UK for £4.99 GPB, but it seems it's out of print here in the USA, alas. Probably out of print in Britain also. Well worth it, if you stumble across a copy!

(Attention, if not warning: this comment contains two or so profanities. When confronted with them, just block your eyes then, eh??! OK, great!!:)

I've tried 'em all, Webster's, Oxford's, Cambridge's, but none of those dictionaries ever really made sense to me. I mean, I could not possibly care less how many people live in a town named Aalst (nothing personal, Aalst, but that's where I always gave up)??! It wasn't until I found a small, black, paperback with some graved letters on the cover, that I was able to enjoy anything else more than the phonebook!!!

I didn't, for example, know that I ski with Zeal Monachorum before I read THE MEANING OF LIFF. Nor did I know that Aird of Sleat was placed upon Heathrow Airport!! Thanks for warning me, Doug and John!! Also, this little black book can help all of us, when, for example, confronted with a glossop, or what we did, when someone says we've just commited a wigan. Now I can play golf AND enjoy it as well!!! Instead of the frustrating how-many-bogies-have-I-got count, I just count Whaplode droves. Then this once-useless game finally has an amusing purpose.

No, really. This book, alongside being pantwettingly funny, is, in my opinion, an honest and respectable attempt to save the English language from a violent and tragic destruction. For English, as it exists today, is becoming a language of three words: .... This book, and indeed the Deeper Meaning Of Liff as well, is a guide to help us all to save this beautiful language (as all languages are).

At least my Liff has a Deeper Meaning now.

Although a number of your friends may think you a bit weird if you tried to retell them. This rates as one of the few books that makes me laugh out loud (very loudly). A collection of explanations of strange & bizarre place names from around the world, Mr Adams and Mr Lloyd truly show off their incredibly imaginations and pure wit. While the reader may need a "Monty Pythonish" (or even a Hitch-Hikers Guide!) sense of humour, this is a genuinely very funny book

"Microsoft .NET XML Web Services Step-by-Step" is a straightforward text, which beginners and intermediates should enjoy learning from. Everything about this book (including its .NET Components coverage) is simplified. Anybody who has a vague understanding of XML and WSDL can cope comfortably with it. It is that reader-friendly!
The book offered flexible presentations on the correlations of XML and .NET programming. In fact, its primary objective is to enable readers understand the interdependence, which exist between the two technologies.
This is a fine, smooth-sailing, info-book; only that it has very little to offer non-beginners. Advanced learners need not waste money on it.

If you have a knowledge of VB or C#, this book does a pretty good job teaching you how to create your own Web service and use other out there on the Internet, even if you don't have prior experiences.

This book assumes you have VS.NET. If you don't have it, it won't be helpful. VS.NET makes using and especially creating Web Services easy and this book tells you how easily you can do it.

Here are why I think the book is good.

* Presentation is clear. You'll know what you'll be learning in each chapter.

* Sample code is provided on the web.

* No talking down.

* The authors really mean "step-by-step". Little rooms for mistakes.

Bad things.

* Because the book explains the basics, you may be able to find all the information on the Web. You'll probably need more time searching and filtering them, though.

This is a good book for everyone to learn XML web service! It is very straightforward and easy to understand!When reading this book and following the instructions step by step, I learn a lot of concepts and understand the basic ideas of XML web service! After reading this book, you can read the advanced books about XML service! I really recommend this book to all of you!

The book seemed like a novel that was expanaded from a TV drama pilot outline...The characters other than Julian were never delevoped and what happened to all the characters in Guatamala? The General, the Rabbi and most all Rubios. This is a case where less is not enough. Perhaps with another 200 pages, this could have been a different historical novel.

I prefer my history imbedded in a good story. Jose Raul Bernardo has not disappointed me with SILENT WING; a historical novel based on the life of Cuban patriot/poet Jose Marti. Julian, Bernardo's protagonist is a romantic visionary who must choose between two forces he had always thought identical- truth and duty. The author's rendering of locale is as convincing as Graham Greene's. -Al Gowan, author, SANTIAGO RAG, a novel of the Spanish-Cuban-American War, also available at Amazon.com

I look forward to the opportunity of meeting the author and thanking him for his eloquent expression. His book brought much reflection and analysis of the three internal conflicts that tend to haze our decisions - love, truth, and honor. I want to believe that Julian (Marti) and Sol (Maria) are . . .

I picked up a copy of the original 1935 version of this book and gave it a chance. This is not an area that I normally read so at first I did not know what to expect. I am also not an overly religious person so I do not have a large stock of other books to compare it to. I found that the book was well written and easy to move through. I was concerned it would be a little high handed, but it was not. It was full of information that was beneficial. You certainly gain a positive view of the church from the book and it has spurned me on to look for more titles on the subject. If you are like me, a first time reader in the area this was a good way to start.

German theologian Karl Adam makes here the best case I have yet found for the following proposition: The Catholic faith not only speaks to all people, it speaks to each part of every person. Adam knew, and showed, how rich the Catholic faith is, from art and literature to intellectual and architectural cathedrals; from piety and community to mysticism. Each part of a person is addressed: the intellectual, the affective (or emotional), and the imaginative. And each part is brought together with the others to form a beautiful, brilliant, and vibrant whole.

Adam shows the teachings of the Church as lived realities. They are beautiful, intellectually sound, and viscerally charged. lamentably, contemporary writings about the Church's loveliness tend to fall miles beneath the august standard here set.

Though written in the 1920s, this book's appeal is not primarily historical. It presents a fresh vision of what the Catholic life may yet again be, and inspires one's journey toward that lovely horizon.

This book helped me immensely with my apologetics "homework", especially concerning communion of the saints and other issues that are so alien to Protestants. The book is extremely well written and contains so much information that I haven't found in one source anywhere else. If you are sitting on the theological fence then this book is a MUST read!

To one tall, tiki glass add stylishly hip artwork from Shag, stir in a compendium of recipes that exemplify the way of Tiki and garnish with a teeny umbrella, maraschino cherry and pineapple slice.
I am enjoying this book immensely.
So, while it is nasty outside, or the cold cruel world has temporarily beaten you down, throw on a little Hawaiian music, crack out the shaker and mix up a Malaysian Dream or two. A perfect way to unwind.

Great Book! I own a number of Tiki Drink Books and this is fast becomming one of my favorites. If you haven't yet, try mixing up a Horny Monkey. My wife says they are actually better if you double the rum.

Not only is this book one of the best collections in my library, but it features one of the greatest American artists of all time, Shag! The artwork in this book is amazing and the recipes are the best.

Although the story makes little sense from an adult perspective, my 3-year-old loves it for some reason. The art is great. The book is short and easy to read. It is a good one for bedtime, since it is shorter than most and is full of crazy fun. One aspect of this book that could be viewed as either a plus or a minus is the fact that it doesn't try to work any lessons into the story. Any learning that is derived from this book will be due to discussion with your kid, rather than from the story itself.

This is worth buying if you can find it for a reasonable price.

I found this book by accident browsing in a children's section in a bookstore, and have since purchasing shared with about fifteen or so others--all love this goofy book about a girl who misses her nice friend chicken. The subtle art works: chickens in her eyes, badminton birdies lying all over the place sad on the ground....and the very happy ending. I highly recommend!

I think the art is very original and bold for a children's boo

The people described in this book are true heroes, and their stories make me feel humbled and ashamed. But the book attempts to describe 50 different people. Each person gets 3-6 pages, and at least one of the pages is a photograph, leaving room for only a short, unsatisfying glimpse of each life story.

The flyleaf states that "'Speak Truth to Power' is accompanied by a major exhibition opening at The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., then traveling nationally." It almost appears that the story is secondary to the photographs--a pity.

I bought this book for the sole purpose of a class where I was required to do some outside reading. This book was on our recommended reading list. I read the entire book, only one story was required. It was astonishing how these people change the world. I was moved by these stories.

The stories and photographs are deeply moving profiles of several of the most courageous people in the world. There are few terms to describe the total power, since I turn to this work on many occasions to gain some inspiration.

For someone not immediately interested in the field of human rights, the work is probably not quite as affecting, as personal stories about those who are involved in human rights will be unlikely to move the unconcerned. "Speak Truth to Power" is essential sustenance for the converted.

Delightful, off-the-wall, light entertainment. Who'd have thought a Prozac overdose could lead to such an amusing story (when I took too much, it left me anxious, wired, and paranoid)? I picked this book up in desperation, looking for some light reading ... and it was perfect--engaging enough to hold my attention, amusing enough for chuckles and the occasional belly laugh (wait 'til the "Vikings" make their appearance), off-beat enough not to be predictable--just what the doctor ordered on vacation! (Silly me, I had brought along an entire trunk full of political philosophy!) Shames' tale is less outrageous than the Hiaasen novels I've read (Sick Puppy and Stormy Weather) and a bit lighter, too. It's not as dark as an Elmore Leonard novel, either. Neither is it total mind fluff--and it's ambiguous enough to avoid a Hollywood Ending. For those suffering from situational depression, it has a not-so-subtle message: "Better chemistry through living." Break out of the life in which you're trapped and the brain chemistry may just sort itself out without the Prozac, St. John's Wort, or $100/hr therapist. Four stars for solid entertainment value. Four stars for whimsy. Four stars for daring to be just weird enough to be interesting. (If you'd like to dialogue about this review, please click on the "about me" link above and drop me an email. Thanks!)

I have currently read Tropical Depression by Laurence Shames.
This book was about a man going through a semi-stage of depression.Murray Zimmelman is going through his second divorce while contemplating suicide.Suddenly he snaps and drives 14 hours non-stop to Key West Florida where he begins a new life.He meets an indian who is fighting for his rights.Murray helps the indian get an island named after his tribe.I would suggest reading this book.

This is a hilarious book with zany characters and situations. I dare anyone to read to the Indian fishing scene without laughing out loud!

People always repeat the phrase, "don't judge a book by its cover", but the cover of my copy of THE REAL LIFE OF ALEJANDRO MAYTA expresses the content more appropriately than almost any other cover I can remember in that it points directly to Peru and the central problem of literature. A mass of Peruvian-style figures stand in darkness, almost obscured. You have to look carefully to see them at all. A single chink in the cell door, a single beam of light in a dark place---all that is revealed in color are the eyes and brow of a solitary man. Do we know what is happening in Peru---exploited, misgoverned, racked by revolution and poverty ? Can we know what really happens in life ? Can we understand the motivations and deepest emotions of other human beings ? Can literature actually create or, at least, reproduce these ?

Vargas Llosa creates a gripping novel out of unlikely pieces. An obscure Trotskyite revolutionary, a member of a party whose membership stands at seven, gets involved in an uprising in an Andean town in 1958. The author-as-narrator is in Paris at the time. He returns to Peru later and in 1983, spends a year trying to track down the people involved (family, colleagues, co-conspirators), to learn what motivated this event and its central character, Alejandro Mayta. He interviews everyone he can find. We jump between these interviews and the re-creation (or is it the actual truth ?) of what happened twenty-five years before. The time line is obscured. We shift constantly between two or more times on every other page, sometimes even on one page. This is a literary trick which some people may find annoying or disconcerting, yet I urge you to stay with the novel. Slowly, the author puts together a picture of an idealistic revolutionary who dissented from nearly everything. The sources tell him of a homosexual dreamer who lived a secretive life in every respect, who had no money, and who was (or wasn't) the inspiration behind the Andean mini-revolt of 1958. "If he had been able to control his sentiments and instincts, he wouldn't have led the double life he led, he wouldn't have had to deal with the intrinsic split between being, by day, a clandestine militant totally given over to the task of changing the world, and, by night, a pervert on the prowl..." We begin to understand Mayta, though some of the interviewees are obviously lying. But Vargas Llosa creates a present (1983) in which Peru is overwhelmed by a Vietnam-like war---invaded by leftwing Cuban and Bolivian forces with Soviet help, who are counterattacked by American marines and airforce. Cuzco is destroyed, the country is collapsing. Though Sendero Luminoso did bring Peru almost to its knees, none of this happened. So can we believe the stories told by everyone about Alejandro Mayta ? Is the story about Mayta years ago true as written by our narrator ? I mean, he's obviously exaggerating even about the present. Suddenly, after a vivid description of the uprising, the narrative ends. The Rashomon-like last 34 pages reveal everything or nothing. We are left with questions, but no answers. Vargas Llosa writes, "Since it is impossible to know what's really happening, we Peruvians lie, invent, dream, and take refuge in illusion. Because of these strange circumstances, Peruvian life, a life in which so few actually do read, has become literary." No matter what you decide, if you live in Peru, you'll have to face the garbage in the streets. In America, it's on TV. There's a lot of garbage around us. Is it in people's minds as well ? Can there be truth ? This is the question this powerful, disturbing book leaves with you. A tour de force.

While this is easily a great book Vargas Llosa's writing style may turn off some. The bouncing between an unnamed author researching Mayta's life and the various characters in the novel was an interesting approach and really added to the confusion of the incidents & people being profiled. It's an incendiary approach & leaves some cold, but I felt his character development was right on & disclosed just enough to get us to the next interview, remembrance, encounter... Mayta's involvement w/ the RWP(T) (Revolutionary Worker's Party [Trotskyist]) is about as fractionated as you can get. This revolutionary group of 7 or so people had to keep breaking ties w/ more "mainstream", sellout groups (you know liked Marxists, Stalinists, Socialists, etc.). So it stands to reason that any book following his endeavors would be equally disjointed. Even the settings add to the effect: Mayta's home, the street he avoids crossing, the mountainous Jauja, the rented room where the RWP(T) has their meetings. All add up to one unifying effect. What great literature does.

Vargas Llosa isn't merely a writer on Latin American politics; he's an exiled Peruvian presidential candidate himself, so his attention to detail is appreciated.

You don't have to be into Latin American politics to enjoy Mayta's mid-century revolutionary endeavors.

I started this book with a slight hesitation. I wasn't so sure if I'd really enjoy a novel about South/Central American politics. What I found instead was a brilliant book that walks the line between invention and reality. The surprise ending of this book is not quite as explosive as the endign to The sixth sense (but almost.) This book is fascinating in the combination of the erotic with the poetic. And then in the last chapter, rather than feeling unforgiving for the fact that I'd been "deceived", I was thrilled that I HAD the wool pulled over my eyes. How? you may ask? I will not say any more. Let's just say that this story on a writer's quest for truth, and the truth as he sees it is a great intoroduction to the works of Vargas Llosa, and one that you won't be able to get out of your mind. Don't be surprised if you find yourself up at night thinking on the myriad plot points. That's when you know a book really was worth your time.

But I don't expect anything more from a book of purely comic strips... and it was a blast back to the past for me, when I used to work for the nation's biggest telco. :-) Must be why I love Dilbert so much!

HAVE FUN WITH THIS BOOK IT IS A-OKAY AND I LOVED IT. BUT IT NEEDED MORE DOGBERT AND MORE WOMEN

This book is a classic compilation of comic strips in the days that were not so focused on business. Dogbert can be seen more than the current strips doing other things besides consulting, and a glimpse of Dilbert's personal life is seen. Alice, Catbert, and Asok were not characters yet, and the boss hadn't been quite fully developed, but getting there. However, the pointy-haired boss is still a main and hillarious character, along with Dilbert's lazy colleague, Wally, and the many annoying co-workers that fill up the office.