I am using this book as a text in a college class. I rated it at one star because there was no lower rating. The T-SQL syntax is wrong more often than not, and this makes utilizing this book more difficult than it should be; the T-SQL examples are so poor as to be considered useless.

In addition to T-SQL syntax errors, there are plain English errors as well. I am nearing the end of the class where this book was used as a text, and in retrospect it appears that it has not been edited at all.

I would expect the editing quality from a company with Sybex's reputation to be more thorough than it is.

If you pass this exam and have writing skills, perhaps you should apply to Sybex as a technical editor; it appears as though they could use the help.

I feel I deserve my money back. Including taxes I spent $85.44 on this book. You would think for that price, you would get quality. Unfortunately that is not the case.

The syntax in this book is all wrong! Exercise 4.18 instructs me to make a stored procedure called PRINT, then it tells me to run the stored procedure called PRINT, but it doesn't understand it because PRINT is already a command. I had to find out how to do this on my own using []'s. Most of the Exercises (eg. 4.10) refer to the install directory C:\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL. The install directory is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL. Creating Views. Exercise 4.22 is totally incorrect. Again, I had to search on the Internet to find the *Correct* way to do it.

Why did I pay for this book? Is it all wrong? How do they expect me to learn SQL Server, let alone pass Microsoft exam 70-228 when all the material is incorrect? I am afraid to go on in this book. Being a student, I cannot afford to 'waste' my money. I had planned on purchasing another Sybex book on SQL Design, but I am thinking differently now. Is it full of errors too?

Unsatisfied,

Murray Hachey

Ps. More errors. Exercise 6.5 refers to an MSSQL7\Backup folder. That would be fine and dandy if the book were about MSSQL7, but it is about SQL 2000, and there is no such folder.

Exercise 7.1 instructs you BULK COPY to a file called DatabcpOrdDet.txt, and in exercise 7.2 you are supposed to do a BULK INSERT from a file called bcpOrdDet.txt. There is no file called bcpOrdDet.txt so the operation fails. You must do the BULK INSERT from DatabcpOrdDet.txt(the file that you did the copy to).

Surprisingly, the book has no coverage at all on clustering. Although not many questions are asked about it on the exam, no serious SQL 2000 DBA should not be familiar with clustering technology. Also, the syntax of T-SQL commands are not fully explained. In many cases, entire clauses and options are left out. The book is fraught with errors. Surprisingly, the book's errata section at the Sybex site lists only a few corrections. By contrast, the Sybex 70-229 book by Israel and Jones is superb, filled with content helping you both PASS the test and MASTER the actual material. The errata section at the Sybex site for the 70-229 book is very comprehensive. However, I am a Sybex devotee and will admit that the selection out there for 70-228 is weak and this book - by default - is one of the better ones available. However, definitely read SQL Books Online and additional articles to supplement your studying. This book alone is NOT enough.

There are some really good BASIC terms and methods introduced throughout the book however most is useless fluff. Why not condense to 20 pages and call the "Complete idiots Guide to Systems Analysis & Design ".

I only purchased this book because I am taking a class in Systems Analysis through an online college. I must say that the content is OK but the delivery is horrible. This is, without doubt, the most boring book I have ever had the displeasure to read. I honestly was only able to read half of a chapter at a time. I have never read a book that made me this tired and the worst part is that after I was done I couldn't even begin to tell you what I just read. The good part is that the sides of the pages have key terms defined. This book could be the perfect cure for insomnia - I'm not kidding.

I teach from this book for an on-line college. I like the book because it gives a simplistic view of the Systems Development Life Cycle to those who have never been exposed to it. The book is well organized and follows the SDLC as the book progresses.

The new strain of "history from below" is on us, and it is truly postmodern in its attempts to fight retreating battles against the clear lineage of destruction in the Soviet State.

This book is horrible. I was hoping to find some good Left Revisionist histry to give students, but I will not find it here.

And that's the problem. I can't seem to find good left revisionist history. Anywhwere. It took two pages to see it in this book.

Left Revisionism is seen here in its pure and pathetic form. Looking hard to find some kind of scholarship to work some kind of sophisticated view of the disgusting events that took place in Stalin's Russia, I will have to go back to general Volkogonov to find anything worth reading on Stalin.

I always suspect I should give two chances to anyone who disagreees with me ideologically. And I am always leery of events which reinforce my political views, as I suspect that they are leading me down the same type of path that Believers hold everywhere.

But here I shouldn't worry. This is leftist tripe. You might want to read this book if only to confirm how bad the revisionist school has fared up against the Conquestian and Pipean view of the Soviet world. It is instructive to note how good the Anti-Soviet crowd was and how much of a vomiting rercord the crowd of Revisionists has accumulated.

Want some lively and plausibe history? Read "Stalin, Tragedies and Triumphs" by Volkogonov. This book is only good as a high seat for Junoir.

Robert Thurston has written an interesting --if flawed--history of the Stalinist terror. Correctly criticizing previous histories of the period, Thurston falls into the trap that awaits most revisionist historians: he spends more time looking for information to disprove their arguments than building his own case. A major problem is the author's use of Soviet archival material. Dr. Thurston uses Soviet statistics to build his case often neglecting their obvious bias. For example, he notes that only 63,889 people were arrested for counterrevolutionary crimes in 1939 (119), while later noting that in the same year more than a million Poles from the eastern Ukraine were deported to Siberia (218). Nevertheless, the book is important for students and academic interested in the impact of the terror on Soviet society.

What generally has dominated the conversation about Stalin's regime has been recognized as a "Totalitarian Paradigm" by Philip Marsh, outstanding non-Marxist scientist in his essay "Stalin And Yezhov- An Extra-Paradigmatic View". His definition of this paradigm is that when researching this historical period, Western historician always proceeds from the assumption that Stalin was a dictator and his rule was monolithic and tyrannic, thus always negating new evidence that would suggest otherwise. A good example of this is Robert Conquest and the case of Kovalev. Conquest's standard accusations against Stalinist regime have traditionally been that it was elitist, bureucratic and priviledged, suppressed workers and peasants with ruthless force, was only interested with fabricated harvest records etc. When Conquest then found that these people who practiced this were the main targets of the purges and were considered as unbearable burdons for Leninist party (demonstrated in the case Kovalev who was purged for exploiting toilers) he simply whitewashed these people as "victims of lynching mood" while not grasping that he was himself protecting tyrannical strata which was the remnant of Czarist rule. He was later espoused for this- but still remains among the most respected scholars on Stalin, while more responsible research- based on archival data rather than rumors and gossip, basic sources for information respected in mainstream - has been simply downplayed as an attempt to "absolve Stalin from his crimes" while these critics themselves suffer from all-too-typical paradigm blindness. They don't understand that this new research questions whether we can even talk about "crimes", which is useless term and out of historical context. This work contains good deal of original material and is thus very respectable and reliable- but still, those who simply consider "Stalin The Tyrant" as absolute dogma won't accept new evidence that conradicts their beliefs- not because this evidence would be invalid- but because it CONTRADICTS this almost religious belief.

I, personally, have a story to tell: One of my friends- Russian emigre whose parents had to flee so that Khrusthev would not execute them- as he did to all those who he considered "Stalinists"- had a relative who is actually here in (United States of America) right now, who was unemployeed in the Soviet Union in the 40's. He found that there was a building work going on in Vorkutta, Siberia, examined and found it was GULAG. The only way to get there was to get arrested by NKVD. So, he went to NKVD and ASKED them to sent him there. They asked, "did you do a crime?", he replied "no, I'm looking for a work". In the camp, there were hundreds like him. You wouldn't even know who was a prisoner and who was a guard, and ordinary workers would form relations with prisoners and have children with them. They even had strike -guards, prisoners and everyone- when Khrustchev pulled coup de'tat and murdered Beria!

Thurston's work is as good and responsible than bourgeois one can be- and he deserves full recognition for it. The so-called "Getty-Ritterspon-phenomenon" throws new light to this period, during which Russians achieved more than probably any other nation in history.

This book is an embarrassment. Poorly organized, full of debased lies so incredible that one wonders rather the author himself actually believed them, and of such a personally vindictive nature that the reader feels as though he/she have just sat through a 330 page temper-tantrum. I can't believe anyone takes this book seriously.
The first obvious clue to the unreliability of this book is Bennett's 60-page tribute to himself. It's been said, and I agree wholeheartedly, that anyone who needs that much space to prove the good nature of his character is a scoundrel of the worst sort. And scoundrel he was. He sold college diplomas under auspicies of a bogus university. At one time he abandoned a wife and children in Ohio. He was famous for seducing young women with the promise that, should they get pregnant, he would perform an abortion on them (he was a doctor by trade). Yet these facts (and many others) are oddly left out of his first-chapter shrine to himself. And, wisely so, for if anyone knew the true character of the man, no one would have read the rest of his book.
So, what is contained in the rest of his book? Actually, there is very little of Bennett's own material. The bulk of the work is simply a series of very long excerpts from previous anti-Mormon books. So, what does one have to profit from reading this work? Absolutely nothing.

Overpriced for the cliche approach. I'm sure I should have purchased a more innovative work.

First of all this book is not cliche or a rehash of earlier material as other reviewers have stated. This book is also not very good. The book is written by John Bennett the first mayor of Nauvoo and one of the first major opponents of the Mormon movement. It is one of the first works of anti-mormon literature. I give it a five not because of any inherent academic achievement by Bennett (it has none the book was little more than a money making scheme and a political tool) but because of what we can learn about early mormon dissenters and their views of Mormonism. It also has great significance as a first hand account, albeit a biased one but all views of Mormonism are obviously biased one way or the other.

What a disappointment! I managed to make it through 5 chapters before throwing it into the living room wall. I have read my share of mafia/organized crime books and for the most part if they are written by ex cops, or crime writers, they are usually well written. Unfortunately that cannot be said for those written by the "figures" themselves, and this little collection of "tall tales" is no exception. I simply couldn't find anything believable. Franco would have you believe that the labor wars were won with a stick of dynamite at every turn. The book reads like a John Wayne script, except this time Wayne is the "bad guy" getting the best of every situation. The only consolation is that I bought it used. And it's getting cool even in Texas, nothing like a little kindling for the fireplace.

Poorly written account of the life of Joseph Franco, basically spends the whole book tooting his own horn. He is "friends" with every one from politicians to movie celebrities...do we care? Other than using Jimmy Hoffa's name in the title to boost sales, the actual book has very little to do with JH.

Fascinating account of the history of the early labor movement. Great story telling from a man who was close to Jim Hoffa, Sr. His personal accounts take you back in time to an era lost forever.

This book simply does not deliver any content. It is a well-written, attractively formatted, 199 page advertisement for a commercial product. I was extremely disappointed. It is the only book I have ever bought (and I've bought thousands) that I sent back. You will not learn anything from reading this book as most of it is spent describing a demo of the commercial product.

As Mr. Downey writes, this book is horrible. There are about 2 sentences of valuable information in the whole thing. Half to book is dedicating to instruction for the included software, which crashes my PC. Obviously this book was written to try and sell software, not as the technical resource it claims to be.

Whatever you do, do not buy this book, unless you want to waste some money.

I bought this book expecting at least a little information on what the book promised to tell about: Robot Sensors. What I received was completely vague theory of what a robot could have to do theoretical things. This is a fictitious book that most anyone could write without any prior knowlege on the subject. It astounds me that any respectable company would publish a book like this. I hope that in the futre, the author of this book will actually tell readers what the book is about and not try to swindle them.

A sample sentance of this book might say something like: "If we had a robot that had to navigate through a room, what would he need? Sensors! These would alow it to navigate through the room."

This is about the depth of the book. To make it worse, I was expecting a sizable book. Instead, the book is very small and filled with giant diagrams which contain absolutely NO information.

Why should you listen to me? I am a microcontroller programmer and I actually do many of the things this author dreams of in his book.

Bottom line, this book is the worst book I have ever seen on any subject. Do not buy it. I was forced to return mine and luckilly get a refund.

Allegro: a novel by Machlis seems to be lacking a stylistic approach to novel writing. This is certainly not meritable literature, and seems to parallel many qualities that of a romantic trash novel. Machlis lacks strength in his prose. It is dull, unriveting, and almost defines an immature writer, unaware of his audience. It is no wonder I found this book for three dollars in the bargain section of a bookstore. No bravos here Joseph. Sorry.

As a violinist, and avid reader of all subjects, I found this novel to be quite tasteless. Machlis presents a crude and unartistic manner (I would not call it style) in his prose. The story-line is overly dramatic, gossipy, and almost connotes a soap-opera quality. Machlis should stick to co-writing textbooks, not novels.

This book Allegro: a novel, I think it could've been muchmuch better if there hadn't been so many unecessary sexual scenes, and so much use of profanity. The story itself was fantastic, but too crudely written, I, as a violinist myself, was somewhat disapointed...definetly not reccommended for children!

"Big Night" was a wonderful movie. This book, purporting to be a novelization, is about as compelling as Cliff Notes. Moreover, it's promoted as having recipes from the film. Yeah. It includes a recipe for the scrambled eggs they cooked the next morning, but where's the recipe we really want, for the Timpano?

I have not read the book, however; the Timpano is in a cookbook by Tucci and Tropiano among others titled "Cucina & Famigila"

Purchased the book because of the promise of each chapter beginning with a recipe for one of the dishes from the movie. While technically this was true, I was disappointed in the recipes included in the book. Was expecting to have the recipes from the Big Feast - especially a recipe for the famous Timpano. It was glaringly missing as were recipes for just about all of the dishes served at the Big Night. On the plus side, since a book needs "a lot more words" than the visuals of a movie, there was much description of what was occuring while preparing the meal. Still, that did not make up for the lack of the recipes.

Aside from the poor production quality of this dictionary, organization makes translation of text from english to hindi, and vice versa, particularly frustrating. The section breaks occur at random intervals, requiring tabbing the sections manually, and the english to hindi does not give romanized characters. Only fans of cryptology will enjoy this text.

Inexplicably, the editors deemed it important to include the word "nigger" among the english words selected, and to provide a phonetic pronunciation for hindi speakers. Further, they define "nigger" as "A Negro." with no explication of the patent offensiveness of the term itself or the definitional analog they've provided. The only racial terms in the english section are "Negro", "Negress", and "nigger", as if to drive home some point.

Shame on the editors and the publisher. Hippocrene was founded by a survivor of the Holocaust. They should do better than to allow racial hatred to be peddled in this sub-par text.

Naturally I have returned the text, WITH my comments.

Like many Hippocrine dictionaries, the number of words entered is few. I bought this dictionary for a friend because it has romanized spelling, but I found out that even that is not useful, because the english to hindi does not give romanized characters. So, I am returning it.

There are many other much better dictionaries on the market.

The Romanized edition is the key to this dictionary. I do not have any help from anyone to learn this language, so the Romanized edition helps when you are not sure of the correct script. There could have been more words. All in all it is pretty good.

tapes sound like copies of copies of copies. I bought this with great disappointment. What a waste of money. Also, the people speaking sound like hebrew is the most boring language on the face of the earth. Don't be suckered into this one. It genuinely stinks. This is poor, poor, poor. At least make the recording off the original copy.

I bought this years ago before my first trip to Israel in 1995. It of course got buried and not used. A couple of years later I studied Hebrew at an ulpan here in Los Angeles. I've supplemented ulpan studies with tapes, videos, and lots of books. The Pimsleur series is very good. "Aval" ... this Barron's series is a disappointment for many reasons.

The biggest is: It's on tape. Good grief ... with technology where it is, why is anything being (re)produced on cassettes anymore? Oy! The recording quality is "kacha-kacha", and the grammar and choice of words is very different than what I learned in ulpan and what I'm continuing to imbibe.

Parts of the tapes ARE semi-helpful, where the grammar/vocab are near up-2-date .... it does help with my listening skills.

Overall, get the Pimsleur set (but let them know we all want a Level 2).

I was interested in learning Hebrew to converse with the suprising numbers of Hebrew speakers in my neighborhood. (Upper East Side of Manhattan). I looked at Encounters in Modern Hebrew series, but there was no indication of stress for each of the words. So I bought this set... I did the first dialogue and wanted to show off to my Israeli primary care doctor... boy was I embarassed!! The language presented here is way too old to be respectable any more. Pimsleur is a good alternative,but they only have one level.