I have experience with Oracle but my company has recently switched to SQL Server 7.0. This book has helped me a lot in transitioning from Oracle to SQL Server! It is easy to read and is a great reference book as well. I really liked the examples throughout the book, the real world stories and the FAQ at the end of each chapter.

A comprehensive guide to all aspects of SQL server which is clearly written in an accessible style. This book has helped me transfer my existing DBA skills in Informix/Ingres to SQL server. I liked the worked examples which help greatly in understanding key features such as backup and restore. One niggle is that the section covering master databse recovery omits the fact that the database must be in single user mode (sqlservr.exe -m).

I can also recommend:- Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 Administrator's Pocket Consultant - Microsoft Press The Guru's Guide to Transact SQL - Henderson

I'm a jack-of-all-trades type who analyses, designs, codes, deploys, trains, and maintains a series of in-house applications that have various front-ends working off a SQL Server backend. I have worked with 4.2, then 6.5 and now 7.0. I don't have time to become a total guru, but this book helps me look like one. The index is the best of any book I have and helps me get to the info I need quickly. If everyone that developed relational databases read the first 8 pages of that section, the world would be a much more organized place. I make my users read those pages before I help them with a project now. You will probably want 3-4 books to cross reference, but this one should be #1. When I'm ready for SQL Server 2000, this will be the first book I get.

The Mullet is the crowning accomplishment of white trash icons everywhere. They wear their coifs with feigned ignorance and blissful indifference to the profound impact they make.

Long live the fashion trendsetters and indomitable champions of bad taste. Your trucks...your bumper stickers...your hair...your charm!

Variety is truly the spice of life!

What would life be without Mother Nature's most beutiful creation... the mullet. I don't care what you call it: the mullet, the 10-90, the Ape-Drape, the Kentucky Waterfall, the Achey-Brakey-Big-Mistakey, the Mud Flap, the Camero Hair, the Schlong, the El Camino, the Soccer Rocker, the Canadian Passport, the Hockey Hair, Business in the front-party in the back... yes sir, it is all about no front porch and a whole lotta awening in back... anyway, whatever you call this glorious phenomnon, i want to say that this book will provide you with all you need to fulfill your innermullet desires. becuase, my fellow mullet hunters, it isn't just a haircut, it's an obsession. :)

Finally someone has got it together to document the history and variations on a haircut I have become fascinated with. In my hometown (Newcastle, Australia) which I visit quite regularly - the mullet is an epidemic. I can now catergorise them as I go about my business. This book is a must for mulletlovers everywhere - even if you are not you'll find plenty of laughs in here and will probably learn to love the mullet as much as I (and the authors of this fine publication) do. Brilliant 5 stars.

In terms of sheer facts, this book has them all. What is missing is any sense of what attractions are best for what age kid or any tips on how to manage your times in the park. Since the guide is official, the idea is that everything is perfect. I love Disney World - and agree it's a great family vacation place - but I could have used more guidance and fewer factoids.

This book gets you very excited about your trip to Walt Disney World. It has many "hot tips" on when the less crowded times are, also you find out things the "uninformed" person would not know about WDW, like the "e-ticket" and the best times to visit your favorite rides. It can truly make your vacation the most magical experience of your life! On the down side, Birnbaum's books are the "official guide books" of WDW and they tend to have a positive outlook on everything, like the hotels and food. Our family found the food overpriced and tasted the same at practically every restaurant we ate at! It over glamourized the hotels also. But I would recommend this book for first time Disney visitors, It is very helpful.

I alaways look forward to the summer weather becasue that is when I know it is time to go to Disney World. I have been getting this book for the past 10 years. I was 12 when I got my first guide. I have been to Disney WOrld 16 times, and I can't get enough.

This book is amazing.. If you want tips, and hints, and behind the scene things this is the best place to get it! It takes you though the "world" telling you about places to eat, and what rides have lines when, and hints. This is a great book for those who have a family or travel alone. It will help you with planning out your trip. One thing that I thought was great was the hint in the books about the monorail! You'll have to get the book to see what I mean! But it's worth it!

They have lots of pictures, and lots of information. I HIGHLY suggest this book for disney fans, and personally everytime I get a new one. i can't wait to walk thru the turnstyle into the magic kingdom. I love that disney air!

thank you :)

I agree with many of the reviewers below that this book was helpful and often interesting. It gives a readable orientation to one of the most important movements in the software industry today, and the editors have been fortunate to gather together so many contributors who obviously know whereof they speak. In particular, the editors' Introduction, Eric Raymond's "Brief History of Hackerdom," Richard Stallman's account of GNU and FSF, Bruce Perens's discussion of Open Source, and Tim O'Reilly's essay on "Infoware" were informative and thought-provoking.

That said, it should be noted that the Amazon reviewer above gets it wrong when she writes that the book gives a "fascinating look at the raging debate." In fact, *nothing* about Open Source is debated in this book, which is a major disappointment. As the reviewer from Princeton below notes, the goodness of everything Open Source and the badness of everything Microsoft seems to be a given for many of the writers. At the risk of criticizing the book for not being something its creators didn't intend, I think it would be greatly improved with the addition of a wider range of viewpoints and even a dissenting voice or two. (There are a number of essays that could give place to some alternate content: Eric Raymond's second essay, "The Revenge of the Hackers," leans heavily toward the self-congratulatory, as does the Netscape cheerleaders' "Story of Mozilla." And Larry Wall's "Diligence, Patience, and Humility" seems to have been included not on its own merits but on the author's reputation as the Perl Deity.)

A final wish is for the book to address a broader range of readers. As a longtime computer user but a relatively new programmer, with no formal business training, I found many of the essays to rely heavily on the jargon of hackers and MBAs. More editorial control here, in addition to a broader range of content, would make this book seem less like preaching to the choir and more effective at spreading the Open Source gospel.

This is a good idea on O'Reilly's part to try to document the history and goals of the Open Source movement, which had roots in several college campuses and research labs in the '70s and '80s, and became news in the late '90s with the popularity of Linux, Apache, and the decision of Netscape to open its browser source. The best introductory piece, however, is probably Eric Raymond's "Cathedral and the Bazaar" which is not in this book(O'Reilly publishes it separately, but it's available free on the Web and short enough to be read in one sitting). As for this collection, I liked Robert Young's business case for distributing open source - his story of how Red Hat was launched reminds me of the Compaq tale of "three guys in a restaurant". The Apache article is also quite good, and Linus Torvalds offers a brief but interesting (and characteristically opinionated) article about how Linux evolved technically. There's also a good article discussing the various open source licenses (BSD, GPL, Netscape, etc) and what they do and don't restrict.

Others I was less impressed with. Stallman's article is predictable and self-serving. He explains how he evolved his software-as-gift philosophy but doesn't come close to terms with how the software industry can support substantial employment if all source is given away. There's yet another history of the different branches of BSD Unix. There's a breathtaking inside account of the launch of Mozilla which ends with the fancy Silicon Valley party when development has finally gotten underway. The low point is Larry Wall's "essay", which is a frankly ridiculous waste of time and print.

Although this is a mixed bag, there's enough reference material and interesting points of view to keep the book around.

Open Sources is a collection of essays by people who have been involved in a prominent way in what is being called "the open source revolution." The authors are all very bright people with good intentions and diverse viewpoints; this makes for interesting reading. However, I had a problem with the introduction. In fact, I hated it. It attempts to couch the issue of free vs. non-free software in religious terms: in the bad old days, free software only came from universities or other government-funded research. Then, a few companies saw the light and began to open-source their software; currently the industry is divided between these companies (the saved) and the rest of the companies (the damned) who will spiral into oblivion due to their proprietary selfishness. I thought the presence of this sort of rhetoric in the introduction, which sets the tone for the rest of the book, was particularly unfortunate.

The essays in Open Sources are a mixed bag. Kirk McKusick's history of Berkeley UNIX is great, as is Michael Tiemann's history of Cygnus Solutions, RMS's article about the GNU project, and Bruce Perens' article about licensing issues. Also, I really enjoyed the transcript of the infamous 1992 flame war between Linus and Andy Tanenbaum about the merits of Linux vs. Minix. On the other hand, Paul Vixie's article about software engineering is pretty random, Larry Wall's article does not seem to have a point at all, and Eric Raymond's

second article and Tom Paquin's account of the open-sourcing of Netscape are too self-serving to be useful.

Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. However, the year that has passed since its publication has exposed some of the more outlandish predictions made by its contributors (Eric Raymond said that Windows 2000 would either be canceled or be a complete disaster). My guess is that Open Sources is not destined to become a classic. Rather, in a few years it will be viewed as an interesting but somewhat naive period piece.

Can memory of experience be stored in one's own DNA? Scientific disbelief has to be suspended big time, but if you can get over that, Saint holds together and is a pretty good read. Why would the recovered Peter's first words be in Latin? Wouldn't they be in Aramaic? The running lesson in Italian got a little tedious, like using "non" every time a simple "no" would do. The foreign language spices up a book, but I think it was just a little worked. It was obviously necessary for Peter to get up to speed quickly on the state of the world today, but I had a hard time buying his TV-Internet education. If editors today wouldn't insist on these shorter books, I'll bet Bailey could have developed the education of Peter in a more natural and believable way. The book should have been longer. Now that the author has one under his belt, maybe they'll give him some space for his next one. This is over all a good read. For those not aware of more liberal interpretations of these ideas about Jesus and the broader interpretatons of the gospels, this could be a nice entertaining introduction. Too bad Mark Bailey didn't bring back The Man himself.

This was a fun and interesting book, but flawed by a complete implausability. The science involved is unbelievable. Some issues are never addressed that need to be.. (Niko the chimp has Andrew's complete memory and personality, and one would assume, intelligence, yet he is ignored for the most part.) Some coincidences are so extreme they are laughable... (Peter just happens to arrive at Bethisda during an archeological dig of his hometown, which evidently was burried shortly after he left to follow Jesus, since he tells the archeoligists what they will find, and then, moments later! they do.) And finally it is never believable that Peter so rapidly becomes accustomed to 20th century life.

All the same, the book is fun reading, provided you aren't too put off by Bailey putting his beliefs into Saint Peter's mouth. If you like this book, you would enjoy "The Genesis Code" by John Case even more.

A most interesting starts out this wonderful tale of triumph and tragedy. If memory is genetic, in the way that eye color, etc. is, then why shouldn't science be able to extract the memories of a long dead person from their leftover DNA? Well, that is exactly what Dr. Andrew Shepard does in this exciting book by Mark Bailey. Shepard removes the DNA from the supposed bones of St. Peter (though Shepard does not know whose bones they are at the time) and transfers the memories into a volunteer. The result is phenomonal. The Apostle Simon Peter walks and breathes in the modern day world. The author, while obviously taking a small shot at the Catholic religion, portrays Peter in a fairly realistic manner. Though I, myself, would think a two thousand year old consciousness suddenly thrust into the modern world would take much more time to acclimatize itself, the Mr. Bailey's presentation of Peters responses to our world is, nonetheless, a staggering feat. I found myself looking forward to Peter's descriptions of life of Jesus and his comments on the Bible. Much of the information presented by Mr. Bailey seems quite plausible, even in a fiction book. I do think that the use of the Vatican as both friend and foe is a bit overused, but what can one do with a book so grounded in religious history and mythology. The book is well-written and the plot develops at a nice pace, though I would have liked to have had Peter introduced to us in a much earlier chapter, but one takes what one can get. Style and substance are never compromised by Mr. Bailey's use of humor to portray Peter as a "fish out of water." I would certainly recommend this book to everyone.

In a book notable for its accessibility to non-specialists, Cavalli-Sforza presents a concise overview of the history of our species. He relies first and foremost on relationships among aboriginal populations that he has been instrumental in delineating through molecular analyses (e.g. use of blood groups and more recently other systems such as microsatellites). He also relies on archeological and linguistic evidence as independent lines of evidence. The attempt at synthesis of these varied lines of evidence is admirable. A few figures--one displaying early human migration and another geographical distributions of 17 linguistic families--show some of the key population movements described in the text. I wish there were more of these kinds of summary figures. The book succeeds in clearly explaining concepts such as genetic drift and the utility of different genetic systems for understanding human evolution (e.g.Y chromosome variations help us understand male histories and mitochondrial DNA female histories in particular). It also contains a chapter on language evolution that contrasts principles of linguistic evolution with genetic evolution, and a final chapter on cultural evolution. Overall, this book contains a good, concise, synthetic account of the history of modern humans, beginning with our origins in Africa 100,000-200,000 years ago, and migrating to different parts of the world since and at different times. Much of the work appears to build on a more technical 1994 work: History and Geography of Human Genes, perhaps a more suitable reference for those with more background on these topics. The book could have been improved with more graphical depictions of the population movements discussed, as well as by pictures of major and frequently mentioned aboriginal populations such as the Saami (or Lapplanders).

Cavalli-Sforza & The Reality of Race by Steve Sailer (www.iSteve.com)

The New York Times has hailed "Genes, Peoples, and Languages", the new book by Professor Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, the dean of population geneticists, for "dismantling the idea of race." In the New York Review of Books, Jared Diamond salutes Cavalli-Sforza for "demolishing scientists' attempts to classify human populations into races in the same way that they classify birds and other species into races".

Cavalli-Sforza himself has written, "The classification into races has proved to be a futile exercise"; and that "The idea of race in the human species serves no purpose."

Don't believe any of this. This is merely a politically correct smoke screen that Cavalli-Sforza regularly pumps out that keeps his life's work -- identifying the myriad races of mankind and compiling their genealogies -- from being defunded by the commissars of acceptable thinking at Stanford.

What's striking is how the press falls for his squid ink, even though Cavalli-Sforza can't resist proudly putting his genetic map showing the main races of mankind right on the cover of his 1994 magnum opus, "The History and Geography of Human Genes."

(Here's also a link to Cavalli-Sforza's map on the website of molecular anthropologist Jonathan Marks, author of "Human Biodiversity," one of the few leftists acute enough to notice the spectacular contradiction between Cavalli-Sforza's boilerplate about the meaninglessness of race and the cover of his most important book:........)

This is Cavalli-Sforza's own description of this map that is the capstone of his half century of labor in human genetics: "The color map of the world shows very distinctly the differences that we know exist among the continents: Africans (yellow), Caucasoids (green), Mongoloids ... (purple), and Australian Aborigines (red). The map does not show well the strong Caucasoid component in northern Africa, but it does show the unity of the other Caucasoids from Europe, and in West, South, and much of Central Asia."

Basically, all his number-crunching has produced a map that looks about like what you'd get if you gave Jesse Helms a paper napkin and a box of crayons and had him draw a racial map of the world. In fact, at the global level, Cavalli-Sforza has largely confirmed the prejudices of the more worldly 19th Century imperialists. Rudyard Kipling and Cecil Rhodes could have hunkered down together and whipped up something rather like this map in honor of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

Cavalli-Sforza's new book, "Genes, Peoples, and Languages," is a surprisingly readable updating of a series of lectures on his work that he's been giving for years. It's not at all a bad introduction to this hugely productive scientist. But to find out just how politically unpopular Cavalli-Sforza's findings really are, you need to crack open his tecnically intimidating but endlessly fascinating landmark, "The History and Geography of Human Genes." (The reaonably priced abridged version is all that you'd ever need; the $195 unabridged volume is for libraries only.) It remains the best summary of how the early humans of Africa split apart into the countless racial groups we see today.

Cavalli-Sforza's team compiled extraordinary tables depicting the "genetic distances" separating 2,000 different racial groups from each other. For example, assume the genetic distance between the English and the Danes is equal to 1.0. Then, Cavalli-Sforza has found, the separation between the English and the Italians would be about 2.5 times as large as the English-Danish difference. On this scale, the Iranians would be 9 times more distant genetically from the English than the Danish, and the Japanese 59 times greater. Finally, the gap between the English and the Bantus (the main group of sub-Saharan blacks) is 109 times as large as the distance between the English and the Danish. (The genetic distance between Japanese and Bantus is even greater.)

From these kind of tables, Cavalli-Sforza reached this general conclusion: "The most important difference in the human gene pool is clearly that between Africans and non-Africans ..." As you can imagine, this finding could get him in a bit of hot water if the campus thought police ever found out about it. So, we should certainly forgive the charade he keeps up to fool the New York Times. But, we definitely don't have to believe it.

Ultimately, what is a "race"? It is essentially a lineage, a family tree. A racial group is merely an extremely extended family that inbreeds to some extent. Thus, race is a fundamental aspect of the human condition because we are all born into families. Burying our heads in the sand and refusing to think clearly about this bedrock fact of life only makes the inevitable problems caused by race harder to overcome.

It's difficult to review a book by Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza, not because he's obtuse and overly technical - in fact his writing is very readable by non biologists - but because of the fact that this pioneer in population genetics has so much to say about so many fields in modern science drawing from a lifetime of experiences in the field. This is particularly true of GENES, PEOPLES, AND LANGUAGES which is based on lectures that summarize his lifework and theories. The man delves into biology, anthropology, lingustics, statistics, serology, evolution, and of course, genetics. He touches on culture, race, religion, and language; he has theories about human origins, migrations, adaptations, and the switch from hunter gatherers to agriculture. In short in the field of science, when Cavalli-Sforza writes or speaks, people tend to listen and read. We don't necessarily always agree with him, but we'll get to that in a minute.

From the early 1950's Cavalli-Sforza says he wondered "whether it was possible to reconstruct the history of human evolution using genetic data from living populations." This epiphany is significant for two reasons. Firstly that he followed up on it and obtained sufficient blood samples and has compiled a massive data base of human genetic data, is incredible in its own right. Secondly it is such a paradigm shift in the way science has studied human evolution and history. No longer were researchers restricted to the slim pickings from archaelogy, anthropology and history, namely: relics, human bones, and ancient documents. Cavalli-Sforza has made three major contributions to science using his genetic data on human migrations: (1) he was one of the first scientists to develop an "evolutionary tree" of human origins (2) he susequently mapped our migrations and (3) he showed that agriculture was transmitted around the world, not by transfer of cultural traits, but by movement of actual people.

More than half (4 out of 6 chapters) of GENES, PEOPLES AND LANGUAGES is devoted to looking at human population genetics. There are two other chapters; one each on the relationship between genes and language and the influence of genetics on cultural evolution. These last two chapters although interesting in their own right don't flow with the rest of the book, nor are they as well written; they could definitely have done with more editing.

Back to the first 4 chapters and my earlier point that some people disagree with Cavalli-Sforza's opinions. He is a major proponent of the view that there is no biological basis for human races. He would definitely be one who would quote the oft heard refrain that "race is only skin deep", and he provides a wealth of genetic data to prove this point. Race however is a lot deeper than skin, it is in the bones. Ask most anthropologists who deal with the human skeleton, or a forensic expert, and they will probably agree that they can differentiate between races. But wait, ask any biologist who looks at humans through a microscope and studies blood, and they will admit they have no idea what race they're looking at. This difficulty in arriving at a definitive statement on the reality of races is just one of the many debates in science. Cavalli-Sforza's opinion is just that - his view. The same is true for his support for the linear descent of human evolution, or the "African Eve" theory, which argues that we can all supposedly trace our beginnings to a single female hominid. The differences between anthroplogists known as "splitters" and "lumpers" is what you'll have to refer to in order to sort out that debate. Also what about Cavalli-Sforza's view that only cultural evolution is now taking place in mankind; contrast this with those who say human evolution is in fact speeding up.

All of this is housekeeping among biologists. Non biologists (myself included) need only be aware of these differences of opinion. This book is not argumentative, so it's not a polemic about race, culture, or politics. As a well written general introduction to some of the more interesting topics in human genetics, by someone universally recognized as a true pioneer in the field, this is a good place to start.

Having just wrote a glowing review of the first Death series, The High Cost of Living, I must now relate my rather deep dissapointment with this second series. While the first was a jaunty tale of Death's adventures in Manhattan, this series rapidly becomes a plodding study of quick fame and the subsequent relationship fallout.

For the lead characters, Neil Gaiman takes two minor players from the first series, who were much more interesting there in two pages than three whole comics here. Foxglove (a name that somehow grated at me as I read it) is a wildly successful folk (???) singer, and Hazel is her lesbian lover who has struck a deal with Death. This same-sex dynamic is the only really interesting aspect of these character's lives, but while their feelings for each other is the supposed crux of the story, the relationship is never fully fleshed-out. And normally chipper Death is relegated to sitting on rocks in purgatory, sullenly listening to Hazel's droning story of life as a kept woman.

I said that the first series was a meandering tale that somehow hit its targets; here the tale merely meanders, goes nowhere, and ends perfectly predictably. While there are some nice jabs at celebrity culture and a few interesting periphreal characters I was wishing would kick these whining nobodies out of the frame and take over, it's not enough to drag these comics up from mediocrity. Go read The Preacher series. They won't put you to sleep.

Despite the title, Death isn't the central character in this graphic novel; but that's fine with me, as I find Hazel and Foxglove equally interesting. I don't know what people are talking about--I *like* the art. It's not like Sandman art, it's very slick and airbrushed-looking. But still cool, especially the scenes with the neat checkered borders. You should probably know that you're unlikely to get the version you can see a photo of on this website--the black-and-white cover with Death drinking coffee. My version has quite a different cover--some person who doesn't look like Death. Still, it should be the same story.

I liked this just as much as The High Cost of Living, maybe more. Death is less bubbly, more subdued...still not as cool she is in _Sandman_, but fine. This is more human and moving, I think, than THCOL. I love Death's "Nobody's creepy from the inside..." speech. I think the reason she's so melancholy in this book is because...well, this is just after The Kindly Ones and The Wake, right? You know what I'm talking about, if you've read them.

Like High Cost of Living, this isn't quite up to the standards of Sandman, but quite worthwhile. If you want my opinion, it's best to read both _Death_ series one after the other, between A Game of You and Fables and Reflections. Earlier, you wouldn't recognize certain of the characters; later, you won't appreciate the _Death_ books so much because they can't come close to the beauty of the later issues of Sandman.

In the hands of most ordinary writers, this book would be a disaster. It juggles a myriad of complex issues, such as sexuality, the fleeting nature of fame, the multiple meanings of love, desire, and committment, and the value of friendship and life. Each of these concepts would be enough for a book on its own...
Aren't we lucky that Neil Gaiman is definitely no ordinary writer? And his character of Death is extraordinary too; she cares.
Foxglove is struggling personally even as her fame shoots through the roof - she wonders whether she should stay in the closet, and whether she should stay with Hazel and their son Alvie or go it alone. Hazel is struggling too; she wants to know the value of her relationship, and to save her son's life, most of all. Death listens. Understandingly. Patiently. And because of her, Hazel and Foxglove realize what matters most to them.
Though it lacks the immediacy and emotional power of Death: The High Cost Of Living, this is still a captivating companion piece. It carries through the same message as D:THCOL - the most important thing in life is to remember to live.

I bought and read this book on the recommendation of some of the reviewers on Amazon. It's a light read, not very deep, and it was a good diversion. But from my point of view, there's too much of an emphasis on angst and romance rather than sex.

Let's face it: 17 year-olds in 1999 are ready to go at it like animals, not sit around and get kissy-faced for an hour. I'm not saying that the book's got to get real explicit, but I think there's a way to balance sex and romance in a story like this in a way that can be both realistic and yet also sensitive.

I also felt the language was a bit stilted in spots. Maybe I'm reacting too much on how I hear kids talk on TV, but the high school teens in Roeder's book just don't speak casually enough -- especially for rural Indiana. I also felt that the characters' dialog didn't delineate their personalities sharply enough. There's also two surprise deaths in about the middle of the book that I thought were handled poorly, because the author chose to deal with them in the past tense. If we had actively participated in the scene, I think it would have had a lot more impact.

That having been said: the mystery in the book is engaging, and the angst of the characters involved -- despite being overblown in spots -- is often entertaining. I enjoyed the book enough to recommend it, but with reservations.

Small literary side-comment: I was dismayed to find several annoying typos, and the slightly-amateurish printing and binding quality was a little disappointing.

The important thing is that at least books like these are being done, and maybe they'll reassure kids out there that yes, it's OK to be different. Kudos to the author for his messages of tolerance and understanding.

This is one of the best novels I have ever read. Mark Roeder is an author of the highest caliber. His writing is clear and direct. He has a finely tuned dialogue ear. His adolescent male conversations are very close to the way young men actually speak, instead of the vulgar, course dialogue attributed to them and used in current movies and television. Yes, people still do speak correctly, and not just in rural Indiana. He uses repetition to help us know what his characters are experiencing. and what they are thinking about. The first time I experienced love I think I thought about it all day long and told my best friend about it 500 times a day. This is a beautiful story, beautifully told. I've read all Roeder's books and I can say that each is a wonderful journey. Just go along. Let Mark Roeder help you feel. Help you learn. This is a very well-written work, a work that is not oblique, but understood by any intelligent person from 14 to 104!

"Someone is Watching" was one of the best reads I've had in years. Ethan is a farm boy and a high-school athlete with a secret. He's gay. He finds himself enthralled by the bodies of his fellow athletes and in particular by his friend Jon. While struggling to keep his secret he also deals with his growing awareness of Nathan a slightly younger boy that his uncle has hired to help around the farm. Nathan comes from a very poor family with troubles of his own and looks up to the slightly older much more self assured Ethan immensely.

Others have criticized this book for repeating some themes over and over but I found this very realistic. Having grown up in a small Midwest town where most of the school athletes were also farmers I found this book to be very accurate. Having the same fears over and over was quite common. At the time these differences between myself and the other boys seemed overwhelmingly large and I only wish I'd had the courage to handle them as well as Ethan does. Perhaps I needed a better writer...

I don't agree with some other reviewers that this book gives inadequate information or that people can get hurt easily using the program. I'm a 42-year-old male who had been lifting weights sporadically for years without seeing much improvement. Within a few weeks of starting Mark's program, I noticed increased definition all over, especially in my arms and abs. Unlike weightlifting, I've had little soreness. Also unlike weightlifting, it's impossible to drop a barbell on your foot, since you're only using your own bodyweight for resistance! I think most people would be more likely to hurt themselves using weights or even weight machines.

For anyone who is even remotely in shape already, the only way to really get hurt with this program would be to do too much, too soon. Mark emphasizes repeatedly that beginners need to take it easy, and the beginner routines involve minimal repetitions. I found the progression from beginner to intermediate levels to be clear and logical (you work up to the next level gradually; you don't just jump from one level to the next.) I also found the explanations and photographs of the various routines to be adequate to permit proper form.

Maybe this isn't the ideal book for former couch potatoes, but every book doesn't have to serve every possible audience. I recommend Mark's book highly.

Mr. DeLisle challenges the readers of his book to raise the bar on their fitness level. After an educational and inspirational introduction, he offers up workout plans for beginners to experts. I have been doing the beginners workout for three weeks, and am making remarkable gains in strength and definition. The pyramid system that is used for the upper body portion of the workout is very effective in fatiguing the muscles involved. If you follow this program you will definitely see results. Other reviews of this book have mentioned the lack of a lower body section. While it is true that leg training is not given its own exlusive section, I feel that the stair sprints that are included from the second week of the beginners running workout on are sufficient.The author also advises the reader to include hill running, which many pro-footbal running backs include in their workout. So leg training is technically included. The most impressive part of this book is that the author gives readers a phone number and makes himself available to answer questions about the program(within reason). An excellent book for those interested in achieving an exceptional level of fitness without investing hours of time and large amounts of money.

After having quadruple bypass, open heart surgery, I thought, "What could this program do for me?" How about a new life! I originally purchased Mark De Lisle's first book, "Navy SEAL Workout." The results I experienced were nothing less than phenomenal. As soon as I found out that Mark had completed "Breakthrough To Master Level Fitness," I had to have a copy. Breakthrough blows away anything else I have encountered in the fitness market. I have purchased other Navy SEAL workout books and videos but they were either too incomplete or did not sufficiently layout an effective program. Breakthrough however, contains exercises for upper body, legs, cardio workouts, sprints, long distance running, abs and plateau breakers such as Burn Outs, Intervals, and Circuit Training. And with 12 Weeks To Better Than Ever, which lays out routines on a day by day basis, you can't wander off the path to improvement.

With the 12 Weeks, I simply took the evaluation test and checked off each day. The routines were laid out right before me. It even told me when to do my burn outs, intervals and circuits. With the new book combo, I have been able to take myself up another notch. For a middle-aged business executive with heart disease, I need every edge I can get. I highly recommend this book combo over any other SEAL/fitness exercise book or video. Thank you Mark De Lisle, your program is saving my life and dramatically improving my lifestyle.

I was a young girl living in Ogden, Utah when these murders occurred. I read this book shortly after its publication, and found it very enlightening and true to form. It was a terrifying mystery when the events occurred, and the media never fully explained the behind-the-scenes facts surrounding the bombings. I feel this book was very objective about the Mormon religeon and its reaction to the events surrounding the bombings and forgeries. The book is a fascinating account of the greed and murders, and anyone remembering the events will find this an eye-opener. For those who aren't familiar with the history, it's a wonderfully written, insightful book that you'll find difficult to put down.

A friend who had picked this book up (used) but hadn't read it gave it to me. After I read it I told him about it--and he wanted it back!

I won't recap the other reviews (so do check them out at this site. Suffice it to say that immediately after reading it I went on line to do some research and was told by several "recovering Mormons" (their term) that it was entirely accurate and, if anything, understated the power and goals of the LDS church.

Mormons have a reputation as having both the best morals and weirdest beliefs of any "Christian" sect. Discounting the high rate of suicide and divorce in Utah, Mormon beliefs are based on Joseph Smith's wild (delusional to be charitable) claims of golden plates, magic glasses, heavenly babies, Egyptian writing in New York (???) and other such oddities. Despite the fact that the Book of Mormons has undergone literally thousands of edits (its prophecy and history are bogus) it is still revered as the WORD by the faithful.

This book presents an excellent look at the cutthroat politics of Mormonism, the fear of undisclosed revelations and the lengths to which the church will go to keep such revelations from being brought to light. The loss of faith by a Mormon missionary set in motion a chain of events that culminated in the taking of human life. What is particularly sad is that all this evil was so unnecessary.

The fear here is that newly discovered documents showed Smith as a charlatan and the Book of Mormons as phony. Belief systems by necessity ignore scientific and historical evidence contrary to their teachings. DNA demonstrates that Indians are of Asian - not Jewish - origins. Archeologists have never found a scintilla of evidence of advanced Indian civilizations. Anthropologists have dismissed stories of writing, libraries and exotic animals as sheer fantasy. If these finding have not bothered the Faithful why did church leaders think a few old papers would be any different?

This is an engrossing mystery and its setting makes it all the more enticing. The research was stunning, particularly the disclosures into the ins and outs of church life. Buy a copy today.