Poncy is so immediate, engaging and reader-centered, that you feel you are in conversation with him -- shuffling through autumn leaves or watching the sunset dance across the ocean from the deck of a ship. His manner is light, because he has a mischievous genius for seeing the humorous side of life. But his intent is deadly serious: he confronts the inevitable erosion and universal heartbreaks of living and aging. He is an irreverent contemporary Hamlet, wondering how "To be, or not to be..." But on the brink of quicksand depression, Poncy wrenches you back with a laugh and a view of blazing horizons. His eye is on the future. This is a quick bright book with a powerful core of tough and convincing optimism.

This guy is GREAT!!! Ever notice how every bookstore in America over the past ten years has become increasingly loaded with these "How To Deal With Our Moods" and "How To Address Changes In Our Bodies" and "How To Cope" books? Well, in case you've never had the misfortune of having to read these books, they are much too serious and mopey and downright depressing or overly self-absorbed. THIS BOOK IS DIFFERENT! It's poignant, but funny! And it doesn't make you feel like a self-indulgent wimp when you're done. I look forward to reading more from this guy in the future. He demonstrates that rare combination of comic genius and social insight that most of us understand but cannot duplicate!

want to know what it will feel like to turn 50? Don't care? Well, you ought to, since you don't have much choice in the matter. This book gives a fresh voice to the subject of midlife for men, but further, provides us with an author who has a natural talent for saying it "for the rest of us"

I bought this book to relearn how to draw properly. While the book is directed at a young audience, adults-at-heart like me will benefit from the drawing principles such as foreshortening, placement, size, overlapping, shading and shadowing, contour and horizon (plus 1 and 2 point perspectives). My disappointments were that a few later lessons repeat previous lessons and that it uses blank pages after each lesson for you to practice on. I suggest you use a separate sheet of paper to do this so you can pass this book to your kids and their kids and so on and so forth. Despite these, I still rate it 5 stars.

I can now draw simple everyday objects both as cartoons and as realistically as I can. They're not professional quality yet, the book recommends daily practice until they are and that's exactly what I'm doing.

This isn't the only book you should buy though if you want to draw artistically. In my case, I'd like to draw comics-style characters and objects so I can move on to animating them later. I got Tom Alvarez's "How to Create Action, Fantasy and Adventure Comics" (separately reviewed) which is also an excellent how-to book.

Mark Kistler's books are EXCELLENT for anyone who want to learn to draw. The layout of the book is fun easy to follow. Although it is geared toward children it is appropriate for a beginner adult. It starts with simple concepts and gradually builds on what you've already learned. Anyone at any age will be impressed by what you will be drawing in a short amount of time. I bought this book for my children and was so impressed , I started drawing myself. My children love this book and so do I.

Mark Kistler's books are wonderful, entertaining books that canteach anyone (of any age) how to draw! I bought his books for my sons,and I quickly became a devoted fan and an avid drawing maniac myself! The book is packed with pages of fun drawings, as well as 'story starters' in which kids are asked to complete the story. Mark's enthusiasm for drawing and story-telling just bubbles up out of the pages of this book. As a mom, I appreciate his encouragement for kids to watch less tv, say NO to violent video games and drugs, and to expand their brain power by getting involved in art. This book is a 'must have' for all teachers and parents who would like to see their kids motivated to express their creativity and feel good about their drawing ability.

Despite its rather silly title, I've never had so much fun reading a commentary! I can't vouch for any of the other titles in this series (in fact, the others I've seen were pretty awful), but this one rises from the clichéd ashes of populist Bible books and delivers. Pinzon presents complex concepts with a witty one-two punch that makes his writing as enjoyable to read as a novel. Not only a good introduction to the Bible, but a refreshing review for those of us whose Bibles have gathered a little dust. I've been reading it to my kids on the long drive to church. Even when I think they're sleeping, they always wake up to answer the questions at the end of the chapter. (This book'll get to you, even comatose.) Lively and informative.

This book is absolutely awesome and will open your eyes to the Gospel and Book of Mark like nothing you've read. Our Bible Study group all decided to take one chapter each out of the book, review it and present a study to the group. The comments from each presenter was the same........ IT WAS WONDERFUL !

I encourage every Bible teacher, student, lay person and Pastor to read this book. It is full of insight, humor and teachings that will bless you beyond belief. You must read this book !

I went to theological seminary 25 years ago. One of the reasons I went to seminary was to learn how to use the tools for studying the Bible. I took Greek and Hebrew and read lots of books with dense type. It wasn't easy for me but I am glad I spent the three years it took to acquire the tools.

However, I recognize that most Christians, even if they were so inclinded, can afford neither the time nor the expense of Seminary. But they are interested in studying and knowing more about the Bible. This book on the Gospel of Mark will be helpful to such people. Persons who have never owned a commentary on an individual book of the Bible will find a wealth of information about the history, language and culture of the New Testament that will enable them to better understand the teachings of Jesus.

The combination of good biblical scholarship along with the helpful tools, outstanding quotes and fresh, humorous writing makes this book very readable and accessible as a Bible Study resource.

The "McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms" is famous for its broad-spectrum coverage. Its soul is general science; and its audience is anybody who has any business with any science: biological, chemical, or physical. Whether you are a student, a teacher, or even a consultant, this unabridged lexicon lets you discover scientific terms, methods and applications in a very simple way. It is overflowing with references and definitions.
And, for the mobile professional, who may find it heavy to lug around, it is available on CD-ROM. The prices of both the text and its CD version are not out-of-reach. Either of the two is dependable.

The dictionary, as I expected, is excellent. I can easily and directly grasp the clear concept of meanings without imaging in my mother tongue, Japanese. Each explanation with the technical field is very concise and accurate. I believe that the dictionary helps me to perfectly understand the target words, for translating from English to Japanese, equivalent to those of an educated English speaker. Then, this will automatically make my task much easier.
Hopefully, I will also be able to obtain CD-ROM, which can be installed in my computer, Windows ME/MS-Word, for accelerating my job.

The dictionary, as I expected, is excellent. I can easily and directly grasp the clear concept of meanings without imaging in my mother tongue, Japanese. Each explanation with the technical field is very concise and accurate. I believe that the dictionary helps me to perfectly understand the target words, during translating from English to Japanese, equivalent to that of an educated English speaker. Then, this will automatically make my task much easier. Hopefully, I also will be able to obtain CD-ROM, which can be installed in my computer, Windows ME/MS-Word, for accelerating my job.

Well, I really don't have much to say about the book. However, this Jonathan Pollard has caused me a great deal of embarassment over the years. I will be grateful when he is forgotten. When the news media distributed stories of his capture, an erstwhile friend of mine who was living in London at the time called my mother and expressed shock at my arrest. My mom was a bit shocked by the news, too, considering that we had just had lunch the previous day and I hadn't mentioned any big news - such as imminent arrest! Good riddance to Jonathan Jay Pollard!

Jay Pollard for some reason is one of only a handful of spies that most Americans heard of. Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen being the others. Pollard was given a life with parole sentence. But at that time, no American who ever spied for an ally was given more than 8 years. People who had spied for the Soviets have been paroled from prison. There seems to be a double standard. Apparently, the US was upset that close friend like Israel was using a mole in Naval Intelligence. It seems they punished Jay Pollard to punish Israel. The ironic part is that there are Israelis serving time for spying for the CIA. Pollard was wrong in what he did. It's true that US Intelligence was withholding intelligence information that it had promised to give Israel. Pollard felt this wromg and gave the informtion to Israel himself. He should have gone to the Naval Inspector instead. Pollard it was shown had a lousy lawyer. Pollard agreed to a plea bargain as recommended by his lawyer. The problem was the plea did not set a determinate sentence. It was open ended. He could have gotten as little as a year or as much as life. This was the lawyers fault. What kind of lawyer plea bargains for an open ended sentence? The worst is that his appeal in which his new lawyer said that Pollard had his rights violated was rejected because it was filed late. Pollard was wrong in what he did. He deserved to go to prison. He does not deserve to be labled Americas worst spy. There are least 15 Americans who gave secrets to the Soviets who deserve that honor.

MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
VS. "INFINITE JUSTICE"

The bitter irony of the life of Jonathan Jay Pollard, U.S. Navy spy for Israel, is the haunting, tragic message of Miscarriage of Justice: The Jonathan Pollard Story (Paragon House, c. 2001) by Mark Shaw. This former criminal defense attorney thoroughly captures the countless flaws in the judicial maze that has left the entire Pollard family distraught and millions of Pollard supporters worldwide desperate for justice.

More than any other human being, Jonathan Pollard is responsible for attempting to avert the current American war that was initially called "Infinite Justice." During 1984-85, Jonathan alerted American and Israeli military authorities to the looming threat of biochemical terrorism by militant Arab and Islamic factions. Years before the Iraqis used poison gas air raids in murdering and disabling over 10,000 Kurds, Jonathan brought the issue to the military leadership of the U.S., to no avail. He was told that the Jews were overly sensitive about matters involving poison gas, so he decided to save as many human lives as possible by providing Israel with U.S. intelligence on chemical weapons factories in Arab countries and plans for Arab terrorist attacks.

Jonathan Pollard potentially and intentionally saved millions of human beings in the Middle East and worldwide from excruciating deaths and painful lifelong physical disabilities. Although he never had a trial and was never convicted of a crime, he is the only person in U.S. history to receive a life sentence for friendly-nation espionage, a common practice of allies.

Jonathan's remarkable story begins with his extraordinary family, especially his devoted Jewish mother, Mollie, and his prominent father, Morris, a renowned international leader in prostate cancer research. Morris had sometimes assisted American intelligence agencies and has devoted his life to serving America as a preeminent scientist at Notre Dame University. As a boy growing up in an anti-Semitic town, Jonathan was the daily target of verbal and physical assaults, which made him resolute in his commitment to protect Jews everywhere, and especially in the Jewish homeland, Israel.

For decades, Jonathan's grotesque mistreatments in prison after prison have only served to highlight the malicious, malignant miscarriages of justice against the man who saved human lives en masse, at the expense of his own safety and personal health. For most of nearly 17 years behind bars, Jonathan has been locked up in solitary confinement, suffering countless and pointless "cruel and unusual" mental and physical punishments in prison cells two stories underground, with temperatures ranging from 30 degrees to 107.

At the hands of Iran-contra figures like Caspar Weinberger, the Secretary of Defense who was indicted on five felony counts, Jonathan's life sentence was a direct retaliation for his efforts to expose Arab threats to the world, while American officials were secretly engaged in supplying arms and chemicals to militant Arab and Islamic nations. Weinberger still insisted for years after Jonathan's life sentence had begun that Jonathan should be shot.

The essential question that Miscarriage of Justice answers is how much punishment is enough, no matter where you stand on the Pollard case. The book boldly concludes that "Enough is enough"; and when the judicial, political, and penal systems inflict gross mistreatments, the American conscience must intervene to demand restoration of the constitutional guarantee against "cruel and unusual punishment."

The aftermath of this miscarriage of justice is the needless deaths of thousands of Americans through merciless terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers, Pentagon, postal stations, media, and more because of heedless American leadership. The final image of Miscarriage of Justice is the pitiful mental picture of Jonathan wasting away in prison, as a political pawn of the Reagan-Bush administrations, which busily conducted the covert, illegal Iran-Contra operations with terrorists, and of the Clinton presidency, which bestowed a presidential pardon on billionaire financier Marc Rich instead of poor, penniless Pollard.

One of the most enjoyable reads I've had in years.The unique way the author re-origins the werewolf is a reverse angle that will keep you turning the pages quickly. I lent my copy out never to see it again, it took me almost two years to find another.I won't let this one out of the house again,that's how good it was!

I first read this book years ago, loaned it away and never saw it again. A few months ago I tracked another copy down in a used book store and, though a little afraid it wouldn't be as good as I remembered, read it again. It didn't let me down. It's too bad this novel (probably Sackett's best by far) is so hard to come by, as it is really the most interesting and entertaining horror novel I think I've ever read. No other book I can think of mixes classic scares, history, and spirituality in such an entertaining way. At times it can be a little pulpy, but the facinating recollections of the lead character are worth the price of admission. Give it a try if you can find one.

I think this book was perfect for my reading needs, it doesn't start really slow and it is interesting the whole way through, this is my first book read by Jeffrey Sackett but now I am tempted to read another one of his books. This book was a great depiction of a werewolfs life and doesn't have some of those corny superstitions like other werewolf books or movies, this is a must read.

The ace it series is very easy to understand and has helped me alot. Good for anyone that knowns how to use the topic but need to learn a little more to pass the test

This book is a great study guide for the NT Server exam! I used it to review, and by the time I started taking Trancender exams, I knew almost everything I needed to know.

In the past I've used Exam Cram, MS Readiness Review, TestPrep and Ace-It books, and the Ace-It are always the most helpful. I'd recommend the whole series

A great supplement to your studies for this exam. I purchased Mark's book along with Microsoft's self-paced kits and Readiness Review book. Mark's was by far the best! He gets right to the point with just the essentials you need for passing the exam. I plan on purchasing his other book for my next exam - Server in the Enterprise. For this exam in particular, I prefer Mark's book over the Exam Cram series that I felt was too wordy! Good luck to all, with this book you can't go wrong!

I've had a string of bad luck with computer books lately so I was hesitant to get this one but I'm glad I did. The title says it all. I would not encourage people who are new to Maya or people who already know MEL to read this book, but for those of us experienced Maya animators who need a place to start with MEL it's perfect. Very well done and clearly written.

This book is a very clear introduction to the mel scripting language. Often a user will need or want to explore mel to get the most out of Maya, to speed up workflow, repeat tasks more quickly, or achieve complex actions difficult to do in the GUI alone. Those users with programming experience will have little difficulty understanding mel fundamentals from the documentation included with Maya, but those with little or no previous programming experience will have a tough time learning from the documentation alone. Now Maya users of all levels of experience can gain the benefits of mel through the concepts presented in this book, in the form of detailed explanations and dozens of example scipts.
Mark Wilkins and Chris Kazmier have writen an excellent book for anyone who wants to learn mel and get the most out of Maya. I highly recommend it.

Mark and Chris have done an enormous service to the Maya animation community by writing this book. I was very impressed, as I reviewed this book prior to its publication, with how well they were able to communicate important programming concepts to an audience that usually has little or no experience with writing code. Many of the chapters will serve as an invaluable reference for future projects, while the examples show how the concepts are applied in the context of specific requirements. There is no other book on the market that specifically teaches this language, even to experienced coders. Animators with absolutely no prior knowledge of programming may buy this book with confidence, knowing it will clearly explain the concepts they need to know to use MEL effectively in their work. Highly recommended.

One gets quite a lot for one's money with this one-volume encyclopedia. It's impressive how the editors at Merriam-Webster are able to make a book that is so comprehensive and concise at the same time.

There are a couple of odd things about it, though. Many of the articles cover topics that concern current events, with articles on recent celebrities like Jerry Seifeld and companies like Microsoft. Unfortunately, such current topics must come at the expense of other less current topics. This excessive concentration on current topics could make the book date quite rapidly.

Also, many of the articles have been lifted straight from the Encyclopedia Britannica. This would not have been a problem if the editors had taken advantage of the opportunity to revise the articles to bring them up to date, but unfortunately they didn't do so in many cases. The net result of these two editorial decisions is to give the book a straight-from-the-headlines feel for one article, and then an ancient feel for the next.

This conveniently-sized encyclopedia is a portable and inexpensive desktop reference to put alongside your dictionary. The volume includes 25,000 entries, 1,300 photographs and illustrations, 350 maps and diagrams, and thankfully includes pronunciations of some words and names. Developed with , the reference features clear and concise entries of about 100-300 words.

Perfect for dormitory rooms, home offices and libraries, this essential volume is affordable,accessible, and authoritative.

Created in cooperation with Encyclopedia Britannica as well as a host of academic consultants, Merriam Webster's Collegiate Encyclopedia is a one volume treasure of information. It holds more than 25,000 entries covering every facet of scholarship and discipline, such as the arts, business, geography, history, literature, medicine, philosophy, pop culture, religion, science, technology, and up to the minute info regarding computers.

Pursuing an area of interest is easy with alphabetically sequenced listings, and 70,000 cross references which lead to additional data.

A pronunciation guide with some 10,000 words increases fluency and self-confidence.

Graphics heighten interest with photographs, maps, diagrams, and tables, thereby enriching awareness as well as learning.

True to its reputation of producing high quality reference materials Merriam-Webster again offers a first-rate volume.

As a SQL Server DBA I am often called upon to deal with 6.5 installations. All my training has been on 7.0 and while many of my peers may have gotten their start on 4.2 or 6.0 or 6.5, I learned on 7.0 and it is different. The 6.5 DBA Survival Guide has helped me to figure out how to do things in 6.5 that are done quite differently in 7.0. I have found it to be an excellent resource manual for making sense out of how things work. Online help in 6.5 is a great disappointment compared to 7.0 so a book like this is essential.

I don't know how to compare this book to others on 6.5 because I have not read any others. But my readings in this one have compared very favorably to what I have read in dozens of references dealing with 7.0.

This book gives you the information you need when you need it. The authors will tell you what works, and what doesn't. You get the right answers, not just the Microsoft answers.

This book is more clearly defined than the Microsoft manuals. Buy it! It's money well spent!