This book is based on SuSE 6.3 which was one of the greatest editions of this distro ever made. It is unique as a computer book because it is extremely intelligent and at the same time well-writen. I always turn to this book when I need basic help with SuSE type questions. If you want to stay up-to-date, though, there are newer books that are better (i.e. "Linux the advanced reference" or the documentation that comes with every SuSE boxed set).

If you are downloading older versions of SuSE Linux, this might be good, but SuSE Linux is at SuSE Linux 7.2 now (3 JUL 01), so you might want to look for something newer.

Incredible but true.... in five days I started to change all my domains from Windows NT to Linux.. Extremely readable fluent and very well showed. Ibought a few italian books cause I'm Italian but nothing work like this ...

TRY IT!

I had high hopes for this book when I read the inside cover. Unfortunately this novel meanders all over the place.The conclusion of the book left me empty as if Balthasar took a wrong turn on his journey and never quite got back on track. The book does blend the historical events of 1666 quite well. That still doesn't help this story recover.

Excellent! This is the third book I have read written by Mr. Maalouf and still he hasn't disappointed me. Being able to adapt a simple story to such an incredible novel is fascinating. The way he describes all the places Balthasar visits makes the book very interesting especially because it is never easy to imagine certain things a books says about a story that took place a long time ago. Doesn't interest me to write about what the book is about; I am only interested on saying that this book is excellent.

After having read nearly all of Maalouf's books, this is one of his best. (Samarkand remains my favorite.) Odyssey is an appropriate word in the title. The protaganist makes a journey and quest with real philosophical issues. This is a Candide story, with skepticism. It is hard to put the book down at night when reading. Balthasar faces many challenges both in his quest for the book, and in love, but also about life. The reader feels for his concerns. One of the nice details is that whenever he came to a town/city he looked for and visited the local booksellers, this was in 1666. His companions on his journey help him struggle with issues. This is a book about fate and life and well worth reading.

a feast of inspirational ideas and theories hidden in an incomprehensible text.

Samir Amin's analysis of the political economy of the world system is as precise as a set of mathematical theorems and, indeed, if any work in the field of IPE can lay claim to being a work of science, this is it. This is not an easy book to be casually read in the hope of securing instant gratification or wisdom; it is a serious work which the reader will have to read through quite a few times, and think through even more. At the end, though, the reader will be rewarded with a profound understanding of the reasons behind the societal collapse in large parts of the third, fourth and Soviet worlds; of why Europe remains, and could continue to remain, politically a pygmy; of why the "free market" will keep the majority of the world's peoples and nations "free to stagnate"; and why the folks living in "God's own country" can bid goodbye to the good old days of carefree plenty.

In this offering Samir solidifies his position in the field of IPE. Center/periphery polarization is concomitant with an antidemocratic constuction of a global political system that subverts the once auto-centerd nation state. By virtue of the five monopolies, the West has controlled both the political and economic development of the world and given rise to a market economy that, in collusion with the political sphere, has subverted political rights and powers to the advantage of capital and its minnions. Hope can only be found when democratic and auto-centered political influence reigns in it's bastard son- the market, and defines it's parameters.

H. Rap Brown has been called the african-american Jim Goad. In Mr. Brown's case, however, his screed is directed not at women and liberals but instead at "honkeys," "crackers" and, of course, "THE MAN!" This autobiography gives the reader insight into the anger that fueled one man's efforts to bring down "the system." Overall, though, the book is kinda insubstantial and considering the darn thing cost nearly 15 bones, there are much better books on the subject.

While rightfully cited as an articulation of Black anger in the 60s, there are portions of this book that are difficult to take seriously. Rap/El-Amin's hilarious descriptions of pilfering items in Lyndon Johnson's White House, the story of his being stopped by the Louisiana cops for wearing ragged clothes, his refusal to eat or drink anything in prison for 43 DAYS (last time I checked in biology class, no human could go that long without water) etc. come off like wild tall tales told by one of Richard Pryor's characters. Even when the book is serious, there is never a dull moment. His observations on Ebony magazine, poor whites, and the explaination of the book's title, will make you laugh as well as think. Oh yeah, check out his "Rap" early on in the book, the contents of which would make NWA blush!

The recent noteriety of Rap/El-Amin adds a somber note to the proceedings, but in the meantime, read this. You can see why this wild, controversial, and colorful book was so popular in the late 1960s. A cross between Richard Pryor and Malcolm X! Certainly one of the most entertaining of the Black Power manifestos.

When H.Rap Brown's classic autobiography was first published, he was former chair of SNCC, the leading Black liberation group in the United States. Back then, I used this book as an introduction to the Black Power movement. Rap Brown was a grassroots leader, and he spoke the language of the grassroots community. In my estimate, H. Rap Brown was one of the most successful political agitators of the black revolt. With the exception of Malcolm X, there were few that could match his effectiveness of moving people in the streets. For that precise reason, Brown, now Imam Jamil Al-Amin, has been a key victim of repression, for fighting for black liberation.

Peter Allen certainly loved Uganda. He spent over 30 years there, first as a policeman when the country was still a British Protectorate, then as a law lecturer, magistrate and judge after Uganda had gained independence.

His diaries of his days as a policeman are interesting - his experiences ranged from his ADC role to the Governor in the pillared residence at Entebbe to his days working in remote Karamoja, policing warring tribesmen and cattle thieves.

The more intiguing part of the book, however, relates to his years working in the judiciary under the Idi Amin government. As Uganda degenerates into a melee of government-sanctioned murder and lawlessness, Allen's diaries record his own efforts to extract at least individual instances of judicial order and discipline from the chaos enveloping him.

Clearly, the Ugandans thought of him as a bit of an oddball - ironic bearing in mind the insanity of the behaviour of many of those in Amin's regime - and his reputation as "the only white man left" no doubt excluded him from the vicious tribal politics of the time and helped in his unlikely ascent through the Judiciary.

But should the reader feel a little uneasy at Allen's readiness to carry on regardless - however corrupt and tyrannical the behaviour of the authorities that paid and promoted him? Yes, he showed no sycophancy to Amin or his governmental colleagues - his lambasting of the government in his diary and his frequent references to the civil but cold way in which he would converse with Amin and his henchmen make that clear. But he still attended their jamborees and drove their Mercedes. Yes, as he often points out, he believed strongly in the role of the judiciary in serving as a brake on the authority of executive government. But in Uganda in the 1970s and 1980s, these rules were not applying. And yes, he clearly felt that to leave the country in its time of need would be to desert the Ugandans he loved. But did he not love just a little the power, prestige and sheer idiosyncracy that rested in being an oddball English judge in a banana republic? After all, as the title of his book records, these were "Interesting Times".

Perhaps this view is too harsh. Atfer all, the easiest thing would have been to wash his hands of it all and walk away. Interestingly, he never really discusses this dilemma in his diaries. In the end he was given little choice. He left Uganda in 1986, devastated at having to depart the country he so clearly loved.

Like his earlier book about his experiences in Uganda (Days of Judgement), Sir Peter Allen's latest offering is a very well written account of Uganda's most critical era.

The diary format takes one to the scene and moment, as his life (and Uganda's story) progress from the blissful days of a British Protectorate, through the horrors of Amin's rule to the anarchy of the post-Amin period.

For anyone interested in Uganda, this is an essential document. It is the record of the experiences and observations of a man who was intimately involved with the story, yet one who was relatively detached from the political and military fighting that held the country in its grip throughout the entire period that he lived there.

I must say, however, that there is something rather unsettling about the authenticity of the good judge's entries. One gets a nagging feeling that some parts of the diaries have been edited in hindsight, so that many of his "predictions" might have been penciled in many years after they had in fact come to pass.

Of course he might have been an excellent forecaster, but he gets so many predictions correct that one just wonders. But then again, who knows.

Also there are some entries that are definitely on the wrong dates. For example he claims that President Milton Obote visited Kings College, Budo in 1968, and asked the Headmaster to stay on for another year. In fact the year was 1969, a fact I know because I was there.

Notwithstanding these minor quibbles, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, especially his entries during the colonial and early post-colnial years. His sense of humour comes through.

MKM

I found this book captivating. I particularly enjoyed the (almost) daily accounting of events - short and to the point There were several funny moments - such as when Sir Peter fell into a sack of flour and the episode where a witness at a trial was unsure of his age! His parents had told him many years ago that he was twenty and so he insisted that he was still twenty (15 or so years later).

I could feel the many bumpy rides over almost non existant roads and could almost taste the dust and feel the heat as he travelled to the many districts for which he was responsible. Yet these hardships seemed to be joyful for him as he made so many friends and encountered many wild experiences (like being shot at)!

The rise to power of Idi Amin is well captured and the brutality of the times is frightening.

Sir Peter's home was broken into many times and on occasion by his own servants and his life was threatened on numerous ocassions.

I enjoyed reading about his leaves to Britain and his conference trip to Montreal as I have also lived in both places and it made the book come alive.

I think the flavour of Uganda and perhaps most of Africa is well documented. It is not for the faint of heart. It certainly made me realize how well off we are in Canada where we take so much for granted. Health and Education for instance. What a struggle the Africans have - still - to enjoy what we assume is our right.

It was interesting to travel through Sir Peter's career and it was sad that he had to leave the country and the many good friends he had made. He obviosly loved them and their country.

This is a book about Haj Mohmmad Hasan Amin al-Zarb, the first major Iranian entrepreneur. It is based primarily on his family archives in Tehran and some of his unpublished letters. He was a self-made man who, in his late twenties, had begun the most extensive commercial enterprise and became the richest and most influential merchant in Qajar Iran in the latter part of the nineteenth century. His business agents were active in all major Iranian cities and in a number of European capitals. He imported luxury items for the Qajar royal family and the Iranian aristocracy, invested heavily in industry and was engaged in agricultural and mining projects. It was, however, his penchant for constructing a railway line in northern Iran that took him to Europe where he was struck not by the dazzling displays of a libertarian life style but by the byproducts of the industrial age and signs of a civil and democratic society. In his numerous letters written during his European travels, Amin al-Zarb compares the sorry state of affairs in his homeland with the advanced and orderly life of the Europeans.

Amin al-Zarb was both a financial genius and a visionary who grasped the fast-changing economic conditions in Iran and the outside world and saw both the need and the opportunity to involve his country in the post-industrial revolution in Europe. However, circumstances mitigated against him. He lived in an era of foreign concessions, British and Russian rivalries and bewildered but well-meaning Qajar Shahs who were no match for their European counterparts. Thus, a combination of court intrigue and foreign intervention prevented many of his projects from reaching fruition.

With the publication of Elpeleg's excellent biography, Hajj Amin al-Husayni is now the subject of six biographies in the English alone, as well as several in other languages. Why so much attention to a seemingly minor and failed figure now repudiated by his own people? Because, as Elpeleg shows, Hajj Amin established many of the basics of Palestinian nationalism which endure to this day-from the adoption of the 1916 Sharifian banner of as the Palestinian flag to the inveterate anti-Semitic tone of Palestinian politics. Elpeleg credits him, "more than any other figure," with turning a local conflict into a major regional crisis. More: Hajj Amin determined the lines of Palestinian politics that endure decades after his influence eroded: "There is almost nothing in the PLO doctrine, or in the national charters of the Palestine National Council, which had not already been conceived and given expression by Haj Amin." Despite his profound importance, the man is neglected by his heirs today, embarrassed as they are by his overt extremism, his failure, and his smell of evil (he joined the Nazi cause and succeeded in preventing Jews from escaping the Nazi death machine). Still, along with Yasir Arafat, he remains one of the two outstanding figures of Palestinian nationalism; thanks to Elpeleg's meticulous, comprehensive, and fast-moving account, we have a real sense who this figure was and how it was that he did uniquely much to poison relations between Jews and Muslims in Palestine.

Middle East Quarterly, June 1994

Fascism is often portrayed as an error in history, born out of desperate conditions and a weak social fabric. Richard Rubenstein, in THE CUNNING OF HISTORY, cautions against reading the Nazi rise as a freak accident, and attempts to frame it as developing logically from the course of capitalism. Mahmood Mamdani cautions us against seeing fascism in Uganda as a result of the individual, Idi Amin. Instead, he sees Idi Amin himself as a product of the specific conditions of the country at the time, which arose from a specific historical context, colonialism. He argues that fascism was supported by a continuation of colonialist thought even after Independence, thus the title which associates imperialism and fascism. Mamdani writes a brief but extremely insightful analysis of the foreign influences which shaped Uganda from the perspective of dependency theory. He argues that Amin was a social, political, and economic phenomenon constructed not just by Uganda, but with the help of the British, the US, and the Soviet Union.

Islam in America is written in the first person. It is concise, well written and down to earth with stories we can all relate to. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about the Nation of Islam from the inside.

Although I enjoyed Amin's book, I was quite frustrated with it. Most of its content deals with questions that go unanswered and many different reasons as to why he wont "go further" into a subject. Although the book contains analysis, it seems to be a review and and explanation of Marx's communist mannifesto. However, despite the lack of analysis, the book contains many significant facts and helps explain Marx's theory and why it applies to the current world.