It is definitely a good overview, but I think it's understandable why you might wind up wishing you'd bought the individual countries instead. My previous experience with Lonely Planet publications has been excellent; therefore, I may have set my expectations a little too high. There were a lot of major cities of interest and note missing from the France section and corresponding maps. This book is best for anyone who tries the "21 countries in 30 days or less" style of travelling. Personally, I depend on the Lonely Planet guides to help me stay a little off the beaten track at a leisurely pace and within my budget. I certainly credit their Costa Rica guide with keeping me safe, well-fed, and satisfied for a month! Do note, that I've come across accomodations listed which are no longer in existence or closed for longterm renovations, so phone ahead!

Lonely Planet is definitely the guidebook to beat, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it ahead of the others.

However, buyers should be aware of a few problems. The first is the popularity of the Lonely Planet guides...since they're so popular, following the guides too closely steers you entirely to the same well-recommended hostels, restaurants, and so forth, that every other LP reader goes to. These institutions start specifically aiming themselves at the LP crowd. Definitely loses some of the cultural experience, and well-reviewed hostels are something like an American/Australian frat party. I'd view the Lonely Planet guide as a necessary evil. It's very convenient, but their recommendations are self-defeating, especially in the more heavily-touristed areas.

Secondly, most people visiting Europe seem to be doing massive every-big-city-in-three-week tours. This guide is suited for that, but for those spending more time in the indivisual countries, definitely buy the single-country guide.

i thought the authors provided a wonderfully comprehensive account of western europe. on those long train rides i found myself reading up on the political history of greece or the history of the plantaganets in great britain. i loved this book! there is so much to see in western europe, i'd like to ask those who don't like it exactly what they expect for a book which covers a couple dozen european countries. you buy a book about 20 different countries, and then don't like the fact that it covers them too quickly? what do you expect? anyway, lonely planet provided a good, concise guide to the most interesting countries in the world.

Shipwrecks is a book about how a remote, extremely isolated Japanese coastal village depends on plundered shipwrecks for its sustenance. It is set in medieval times.
These shipwrecks are known as "O-fune-sama". To say that these villagers are destitute is, if anything, an understatement. Every springtime sees more and more of the villagers having to sell themselves into indentured servitude to support their family. Fathers are usually the first to go.
Everyone left behind in the village hopes... indeed, BASES their entire continued existence on the good fortune of an O-fune-sama wrecking itself on their reefs, thus providing their village with a life-giving bounty of rice, utensils, wine, and unheard-of delicacies.
Yoshimura's story-telling lense focuses on the plight of nine year old Isaku and his family. His father has already left for indentured service, and Isaku, as the eldest male, is left to provide food for his mother and siblings. He develops his craft as a fisherman. Isaku, as a character, is by far, the strongest point in this novel. Well done. Yoshimura did well in providing a glimpse into the struggle of Isaku's forced initiation into the realm of responsible manhood.
Isaku soon learns the mysterious origin of the salt cauldrons that burn on the beach all night long, when he is asked to tend to these fires.
The fires are meant to lure floundering cargo-laden ships in the night... to coax them onto the treacherous shoals... to run them aground. These ships are subsequently plundered for all the goods on board, and the crew is slaughtered.
Isaku becomes a witness and recipient of one of these bounties. He, along with the rest of the village, longs for a similar occurence the following year. After all, Isaku's father is about due to return. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to present him with prosperity, however ill-gotten it may be?
Well, what the heedless waves bring these villagers next... is not quite what was expected, nor desired.

Yoshimura has written a good story, but I am of the opinion that a bit may have been lost on the English translation. (Do medieval Japanese really say "I reckon" as Mark Ealey suggests they do in chapter 8)?
I found "Shipwrecks" to be poignant in a few respects... but overall unmemorable in most.

Languid, beautifully ascetic prose tells the story of a young boy's coming of age in an extremely poor fishing village on the medieval Japanese coastline. Isaku [9] is primed to take over as head of the household after his father sells himself into indentured servitude in a neighboring village. This wonderfully crafted snapshot of an ancient lifestyle tells of his slowly developing fishing techniques, his interaction with his mother and siblings, and his later attempts at wooing a village girl. Surviving always on the brink of starvation, the village has for centuries employed a technique of luring and beaching passing ships to supplement their staples. Once the ships have had their bottoms ripped by the rocks, the villagers kill the remaining crew and dismantle and disseminate the ship skeleton and its cargo [rice, wine, sugar, etc.]. One good size 'haul' of this type would last a family many years. Like the reader, Isaku is gradually introduced to the various methodologies employed in the creation of the salt fires which lure the ships during stormy nights. The novel spans the three years of the fathers servitude and presents the unvarying, but vitally important changes of the season which bring their own seafood type and technique for capture. This translation's writing matches the sparseness of the village, presenting itself with the stark beauty of a crashing Japanese reef. One certainly gets lost in the wonderful descriptions of this far-away time and place. Conflict arrives at the hind end of this novel in a whirlwind conclusion, the abrupt finality mirroring anguish and despondency in the reader as well as Isaku. A very intriguing and recommended read.

Shipwrecks is a tale of a town's destruction told through one resident's eyes. The witness in Yoshimura's novel is Isaku, who, at the beginning of the book is only a nine year old boy. His small fishing village is balancing precariously between a meager life and death by starvation. Family by family, the inhabitants stave off total collapse only through selling their individual kin into slavery in the town across the mountains.

After Isaku's father has been removed from the home in just such an arrangement, the boy continues to live with his mother and younger brother and sister, Isokichi and Kane. The story is, in some ways, the tale of Isaku's loss of innocence as he attempts to fulfill the duties of head of the household--fishing for saury and sardines and octopus and squid, and, most importantly, tending the salt cauldrons. For Isaku, this represents a confirmation of his own maturation, for the salt cauldrons are of prime importance to the town and its people.

A naïve boy, Isaku comes to learn that, in addition to boiling the salt out of sea water to sell, the fires on shore serve another, more sinister, purpose--that of luring unsuspecting trading ships onto the reef. The village calls it O-fune-sama and sees it--the destruction of those ships and the subsequent murder of their sailors, as a gift from the gods, no different from any other harvest, such as rice and pottery, cloth and utensils. Far from being a crime, what the villagers are now engaged in nourishes the small town and keeps it from dying.

Even as Isaku learns about the inherent risks--specifically those of luring clan ships to ruin instead of trading ships--O-fune-sama is never questioned: it is a necessity and a customary part of the yearly cycle; there is no moral question to be answered...other than the town's quiet acknowledgment that no one beyond the village must know.

In this small book, time unfolds at a leisurly, but disquieting, pace. There is a quiet passing of the seasons in which normalcy seems to prevail: couples wed, children are born, elderly persons die. As Isaku's father is not due to return for years, a routine finally settles in and it is time to fish for saury, then squid, then octopus. And, when the trade ships are running again, it is time for O-fune-sama.

One year, however, the inevitable happens and there is retribution for the town's crimes.

Shipwrecks is a horrifying and tragic book that unfolds slowly and deliberately. Because the village situation is grim and its needs are clear, Isaku's grasp of the situation is understandable; the reader can definitely sympathize...and empathize. And this is what makes the inevitable punishment so personally tragic and sad, yet so very morally justified.

Can you imagine what life would be like if you were 13 years old and homeless on the streets of Mexico? Well, if not, read "The Crossing" by Gary Paulsen. "The Crossing" is about a young boy named Manny Bustos who is fighting for survival in Juarez, a Mexican border town and who's only chance is crossing over into the United States. Manny develops a strange friendship with an emotional American soldier who decides to help him cross the border. But, to fully review the book, one must know about the characters in the book, explore Gary Paulson's purpose of the book, and finally share a personal opinion of the book.

The main characters in the book "The Crossing" are Manny Bustos, Robert S. Locke, and Maria. Manny is a young red head Mexican boy who roams the streets of Juarez scavenging for food. Robert is a Sergeant in the American ARMY. His whole life consists of being a good officer during the day and surviving his haunted nightlife by drinking himself to almost "brain dead." Robert is haunted by dead friends, who were killed during a war. Maria is a woman who worked at the Two-by-Four bar and cafe. She would sneak Manny food and also supported Manny when he decided he was going to cross the border.

Gary Paulsen tries to show the truth of what life is like for some Mexican people. He tries to show Mexican poverty and street life, of those who are faced with "the crossing." Paulsen tells us in his book about men who are out to capture young men like Manny. These men will do damage to anybody, just how they did to Robert toward the end of the book. Paulson also shows how life can be rough when trying to trick tourists by having them throw money.

"The Crossing" is a book which I enjoyed reading. I would suggest this book to other teenage readers but would not recommend this book to anyone who is a sophisticated reader. Like the relationship between Robert and Manny, this book is brief and brutal but ends on a note of hope. This book is very short in length and has a simple writing style which should give high-school students with slow reading abilities a special appeal for this book.

"The Crossing" is a spectacular book, which will make a person realize how spectacular their life is. A complete review to the book has been given with information about the characters, Paulson's purpose, and a personal reaction to the book. If you are a high school student wanting to learn about the Mexican culture along the borders, read this book.

I believed the book was pretty good. i liked how it had to do with a kid trying to better himself and escape from poverty as an orphan and start a new life in the USA. It helped give a good view on wat real friendship is suppose to be like. I would recommend this book to people who want a quick book to read and would just like to have it easy.

"The Crossing" is a great book about a Mexican boy named Manny who will do anything to try and make the crossing from Mexico into the United States so he can get him a job and maybe even buy some stuff for himself. Gary Paulsen seems to tell a realistic story of how a beggar's life is because all through the book, it tells about Manny's ideas of how to get money or food from people and how he thinks he should beg. But Manny is fourteen now and he wants to try and make the crossing to start a life for himself. Manny meets a Sergeant named Robert Locke, who Manny sees as somebody different. Manny must find a way to make the crossing over the border without being caught.

"The Crossing," like most Gary Paulsen books, is a good story. It's about struggling and how to overcome the struggle and survive. It doesn't ever get boring and you'll want to read on the whole time until you finish the book. I recommend anybody to read "The Crossing."

Mark Woodruff's 'Unheralded Victory' presents well researched arguments and evidences about the tactical and strategic victories of the US and allied forces in Vietnam. The most absorbing sections in the book presented a refreshing view of the war from analyses of the psychology of the US soldiers in Vietnam and those who did not want to go to war but abetted the Vietnamese Communists. By revealing the Vietnamese Communist propaganda, Woodruff unmasked the Vietnamese Communist regime as evil. Knowing the Communist evil, millions of Vietnamese turned their back to the Communists by fleeing North Vietnam in 1954 after the Geneva accord, and in South Vietnam during the 1975 Communist offensive. After the Communists occupied South Vietnam, hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese knowingly risked death escaping by sea rather than living under Vietnamese Communist regime after April 1975 . Never before in Vietnam's history has a regime caused such terror and oppression that people had to risk death by drowning, starvation, or rape and mutilation by pirates to leave the country. It is an insult to the memories of those people who died and the honour of women who were raped while escaping communists for some one to say that the Vietnamese saw commies as the lesser of the two evils. There is no question that for many Vietnamese the Vietnamese Communist regime is The Evil, like most Communist regimes such as those of Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Honnecker, Ceaucescu etc.... Nationalist South Vietnamese are grateful for the valiant sacrifices of US soldiers described in Woodruff's book.

Mark Woodruff's Unheralded Victory... is a must read for anyone that is interested in Vietnam. It's a scholarly work, well reserched and footnoted. As a combat veteran that served at Khe Sanh in '67-'68, this is the first book that I've read about Vietnam that rings true (very). Most of the books on this subject are essentially re-writes of North Vietnam's propaganda program;... This book vindicates Vietnam War Veterans and should be required reading for anyone teaching history of that period. BRAVO Mark Woodruff!

Woodruff's well researched book finally puts the correct perspective on the Vienam War. Unheralded Victory makes it clear that, by any yardstick of military activity, the Vietnam conflict was an endless series of crushing defeats for the North Vietnamese forces and a long, small action, hard fought victory for the US (and their allied) forces.

What escapes most observers of the Vietnam War is the distinction between winning the war and ending the war, something that Woodruff clarifies. He points out that while Westmoreland submitted plans for winning the conflict (the invasion of North Vietnam), this was totally unacceptable for political reasons, leaving only the ending of the war in the best available circumstances as the most realistic option.

In cataloging the allied victories, Woodruff draws into sharp relief just how ill-served the world's public was by the western press corps. A group of people who were in the main (and there were some notable exceptions), a self serving, self appointed tribe of freeloaders interested only in getting a good story, rather than telling the truth. Aiding the western press corps was the propaganda machinery of North Vietnam who must have viewed the western journalists as the best free advertising on the planet.

Unheralded Victory draws no specific conclusions as the right or wrong of supporting the government of South Vietnam. Many antiwar commentators gleefully point out that the Saigon regime was despostic, cruel, repressive, corrupt and undemocratic, while failing to acknowledge that the North Vietnam government was essentially the same. Additionally, the Saigon government's stated position was to be left alone to mismanage its own affairs, while North Vietnam's stated position was to invade the south by force of arms and mismanage the whole country - something it continuously denied during the conflict, claiming that the war in the south was due to local action.

The book itself relies exclusively on facts, documenting both the sacrifice and valour of the individual soldiers and the overall conduct of the war. It dispells the myths of fragging, combat refusals, drug abuse and most other icons of the antiwar factions. In place of these it demonstrates the war could not have been concluded in the sense of a clear cut victory, but that up until the last combat troops left the country, there was no question that the allied forces won every decisive engagement. This is what makes the book so readable - the bald statements of victory all speak for themselves. There is no 'stab in the back' concepts, no political rantings, no finger pointing, no revisionist history, just plain good old 'political theory' destroying facts.

It doesn't matter which side of the political fence you want to sit on, Unheralded Victory shows that something went on in Vietnam that was missed at the time (for whatever reason) and it is opportune to revisit the scene - not to rewrite history, but to try to understand why the glaringly obvious victory by the allies, and patent military failure of the North, was so badly misunderstood both then and now. Woodruff has done us a great service in presenting the truth as it was and in doing so highlights the price paid by those who fought and didn't come home.

A first class read.

This is a masterpiece! Though some say that this Sith War has no "Sith" or "war" in it, they are dead wrong. The Sith portion of it is littered all throughout, in Exar Kun's powers and ancient weapons. As for the "war" part, there are several battles: 1. Raid of Foerost Shipyards 2. Assault on Coruscant 3. Destruction of Kemplex Nine 4. Battle of the Cron Drift 5. Evacuation of Ossus 6. Invasion of Onderon 7. Showdown at Yavin 4 . . . not to mention the Jedi assassinations! I think that perhaps Kevin J. Anderson weakened the end, when Exar Kun was defeated; it was only 5 comic book pages long! I rate Exar Kun as the most powerful dark Jedi in the Star Wars universe thus far, for, without any resources but himself, it took 14 Jedi to destroy him in "Star Wars: Champions of the Force", whereas even Emperor Palpatine took only two Jedi to defeat him (Luke and Leia in "Dark Empire"). Exar Kun's personal power, plus his hundreds of darkside-focusing pyramids ("Sith temples") meant that it took ALL the Jedi - thousands upon thousands - to defeat him! Plus, in this book, Anderson adds the story of the Mandalorian warriors, whose armor is also Boba Fett's trademark 4000 years later. This is definitely a MUST-READ!

This story is great! Everything you can expect from a battle against good and evil. You can see was Exar Kun was like before the Jedi Academt trilogy. Good story plot. They got rid of the characters that the fans wanted to get rid of. It portrays a chapter in Ulic-Qel-Droma story and how he was after he turned the dark side and the price he payed for returning to the light side. The art work was pretty good, except the book cover art. A real action triller. A must read for Star Wars fans.

Lucas Books latched on to a brilliant concept for telling the stories from ancient Jedi lore. Instead of telling these stories in book form, which could be a bit much in terms of asking the fan base to learn and empathize with new characters, they contracted with Dark Horse Comics to tell these stories in graphic novel format. The series was called "Tales of the Jedi". "The Sith War" was the first of these graphic novels that I read and it is also one of most compelling, involved, and relevant tales of the old Jedi order. The time of the events in this story takes place some 4000 years before the original trilogy and the events and characters involved will have an impact in the modern Star Wars universe.

"The Sith War" focuses on the evil machinations of a corrupt Jedi named Exar Kun (who will play a major role in the "Jedi Academy Trilogy" books) who has become poisoned by the seductive dark side power of the Sith. Kun used his influence to corrupt a number of good Jedi with this power. One of these Jedi, named Ulic Qel-Droma, was so perverted by Kun's influence that he turned on his family, friends, and the entire Republic and was responsible for actions that thrust the galaxy into a devastating war. Qel-Droma is not an evil man, just a vulnerable man corrupted by the pure evil of Exar Kun. He comes to realize, to his horror, the consequences of his actions and tries to fight back at against Kun at great consequence to himself.

"The Sith War" provides a continuation of earlier "Tales of the Jedi" stories and answers many questions that readers may have from reading the current Star Wars novels. "The Sith War" is notable for showing the culmination of this bloody conflict, while also explaining what happened to Exar Kun. In addition, the warrior who was the inspiration for Boba Fett and the armor he wore is introduced here. A brilliant military strategist named Mandalore (the inspiration of Fett's Mandalorian Armor) allied himself with Kun and Qel-Droma in this war and fought valiantly. This graphic novel is one that the reader will go back to time and time again to read about the events of that war and to try and pick up on additional details they may have missed the first time around. It is definitely worth getting.

After reading Beyond The Pale, I wrote an online review (not for amazon.com) stating that it was "a good start". I really enjoyed some of the aspects such as the iron hearts, the travails of modern Americans trying to adjust to medieval living, and the mysterious Child Samanda et. al.. But I was fearful that the subseqent books would be a letdown.

In this second book of the series, Mr. Anthony continues some themes and introduces others. Once again, he focuses on a specific stone of power (this time it's the stone of fire). Our heroes work to prevent the misuse of the stone and the destruction of Earth and Eldh. We get more information about what it's like to live in medieval times. Child Samanda makes a brief appearance. The main characters finally have to face their inner demons. And so on. In addition, we get the character development that is typical of the second book of a trilogy, including the homosexual knight mentioned in other reviews.

In general I like Keep of Fire and the series. It may be a ripoff from other epic fantasies (Tolkien, Eddings, Donaldson, Hambly), but there is a lot of new stuff as well. Mr. Anthony has given us a rich world and some interesting characters.

Much like the book that came before it, "Beyond the Pale", this book is filled with the precise detail that I've already learned to expect from Mark Anthony. "Keep of Fire" contained the awe-inspiring imagery and gorgeous prose of its predecessor, and elaborated significantly on the already-real characters. I was helplessly caught up in this book, and encourage everyone who enjoys a good fantasy to read "Keep of Fire". The third book promises to be every bit as fascinating as the first two. All that really needs to be said is that this series is, without a doubt, my favorite. I've never encountered such believable and likable characters, or waited so nervously for an ending, or delighted at each new turn -- read these books for yourself, and see why!

Let's face the harsh reality of customer reviews. They're either 5 stars, or 1 star. Benedict, or scathing. I choose the former, or rather, Mark Anthony earned it. Simplicity is the weapon of masters and fools, and clearly, Anthony is a master.

His plot is simple, yet enthralling. Gone is the complex plot and multitude of indecipherable subplots. I would take this book to school, and amidst the cackling children and ranting teachers, I found nothing but pure ecstacy, or sorrow, or horror. It is the kind of book that will keep you pensive all night long, pondering over who is the epitome of this vile undertaking, or who Tira really is.

His character development is commendable. One moment a character's ignorance almost gets him/her killed, and the next, he/she is the savior of the party.

For a budding author, Mark Anthony has displayed a skill in authoring which surpasses that of any other author, either self-promoted or reputably commended. If you are a reader who enjoys a captivating mystery/action book, then I recommend The Keep of Fire and Beyond the Pale. If Mark Anthony lives up to his well earned reputation, then The Dark Remains should par, if not surpass, the entertainment that The Keep of Fire has served me.

Your Employee Stock Options is a useful book for someone with options. It provides an interesting approach to making decisions on when to exercise options and when to sell. As an engineer that received pre-IPO options, the concept of leverage wasn't relevant to my case. When your exercise price is less than a dollar a share, the decision of when to exercise is almost purely a tax issue. Leverage may be more important to others. The concept of securing your critical capital is excellent. Just going through the planning process of deciding what you want with your life makes this book worthwhile. Considering cost vs. benefit, I recommend someone buy this book and use it to help define what end result they want. I also recommend that the reader search for alternate opinions and do a dry run through the tax calculations before they exercise options. Don't blindly put you financial future in the hands of financial professionals. (If they really know what they're doing, wouldn't they be too busy making money for themselves?) Decide what YOU want and run the numbers.

I am a Certified Financial Planner with over 30 years experience. My staff and I deeply appreciate the authors' concept of Critical Capital as a tool for helping clients determine when to exercise and when to sell their stock options. Their companion web-site reinforces the points they make and is easy to use. The chapters on why to hold and when to sell options is a must read for anyone who owns options or anyone who advises clients with options.

I am re-reading "Your Employee Stock Options" by Alan Ungar and Mark Sakanashi to sharpen my stock option knowledge.

This book is not only a must-read for anyone who owns options, but it is invaluable to me in my financial planning practice. The concept of "Critical Capital" is the most common sense way to look at the timing of cashing in options that I have seen. My clients benefit by having a rational way to look at how options can best be used to reach their financial goals.

Throw in the tools available on the website, and you have a complete resource for guiding yourself or your clients through the complicated maze of stock options. I highly recommend this valuable book.

This text is not for the faint of heart or the judgemental. This book demonstrates a valiant attempt by a member of the zoophile community to come to grips with who he was and his acceptance of his orientation. This story is one of humanity, and a deep sensitivity toward our kindred spirits of the animal world.

In the realm of alternative reading this provides a look into a world of a society of people who are unduly ridiculed, persecuted and misunderstood...even by their gay constituents.

For zoophiles, this book is a an epiphany and should be a must read.

I read this book when I had a hard time, and it helped me much. I think is is a necessity that this book is available for people who need it. It can save lives. My German translation is also out of print at the moment, but I will do what I can to have it republished.

I never thought I'd see the day when a book would be released to the general public about zoophilia. AT LAST! I hope this can put so many closed minds at rest and answer so many questions that those who don't understand zoophilia ask. Every day I am challenged by these questions as a zoophile myself, and it has become woefully apparent that we are grossly misunderstood by the world at large (as if I didn't know that already) With any luck, this will set the record straight about a few things in the public's perception of our lifestyle.

What a great book this could have been!

The idea that Gojiro not only actually exists, but is also a deep and cynical thinker at the center of a quasi-religious cult is very creative. Unfortunately, there are two problems that prevent it from being the book it could have been.

The first problem is the story, or lack of one. Nothing really happens in the book. In it's 300 plus pages there is so little action and character growth that it's easy to find yourself dozing off if you read it at night.

The second and biggest problem is the over-pretentious, forced writing style. Jacobson tries so hard to be hip and trendy that the story (what little there is of one) becomes difficult to follow and the book just becomes painful to read.

"Gojiro" has some great philosophical ideas regarding God and Man, and Nature and Science, but it lacked the cohesion to pull any of those ideas together. Instead we're left with a rambling story with no focus written in a heavy-handed, fake ultra-cool narrative. It's clear that the author had something to say. I just wish he would have said it in English.

This book has touched me as few others have. It really is an awesome and engrossing novel, unusual and eccentric as it may be.

I'm aware it's not for everyone, as I can see by the other reviews posted here. And, to tell the truth, it's not really a genre sf novel, so people looking for long-winded physiological descriptions of Godzilla, leave now.

Frankly, this is NOT a Godzilla book. It is NOT an action-packed thriller or a pretentious hard sf novel filled with technobabble. This is a deeply philosophical work that uses the image of Godzilla, a mistake of human technology becoming the defender of humanity, as a symbol of evolution; mutation becoming adaptation becoming progress. The author freely edits scientific and historical details for the purposes of the story, which is more like an epic poem or painting than a straight narrative; characters, while on one level being very real people, also serve as symbolic archetypes, and the many seemingly-impossible events, while reinforcing the otherworldly atmosphere of the story, also all have a point behind them, once you look. (For example, the creation and growth of Radioactive Island through seemingly haphazard chance serves as a strong metaphor for evolution throughout the story.) The premise, a Godzilla-like creature developing a sort of religious cult philosophy that becomes inadvertently broadcast in a series of movies, seems silly at first, but the thing is, it works. More than that, it works so well that it strongly colored my perceptions of the real-life Godzilla; I'd been aware that he was a symbol of the Nuclear Age before, but this really brought it home to me.

The contrived slang, the "hip" lingo, the monster's cynicism... While some might be turned off by it, it worked for me. If you can start to accept the novel on its own terms, try to understand the beautiful alternate world and belief system it depicts rather than judging it, then before long the internal logic of Gojiro becomes clear, and concepts and events that initially seem silly become poignant and touching. The novel purposely uses unfamiliar, strange-sounding language to get us to see difficult issues in a new light, and get us to think from the monster's perspective. Somehow it all works, it all comes together, and it does make its own mutant kind of sense. Which is really what the novel is about, at heart, evolution and change, misfits from the old order becoming the seed of the new one, mutants making their own mutant kind of sense, and prospering.

The novel's ultimate message was uplifting and optimistic while at the same time remaining realistic and consistent with the cynical points it made earlier; it seems corny and weird, but, in the end, I believed it. It brought the whole novel together masterfully, and the touching epilogue left tears in my eyes. This novel made a huge impression on me, and I'd recommend it to anyone willing to keep an open mind and experience serious ideas from a different point of view.

The thing about this fairy tale is that it creates a more beautiful world view than any religion I've studied. The sublime theme of the book is that belief systems, whether they be religious, philosophical, or societal, are all subject to perversion, destruction, and absorbtion from conflicting systems of thought. 'Gojiro' presents a charmingly ridiculous and heart warming system of thought which tries it's best to account for all the craziness of the modern era. It's is tempting to make 'Gojiro' a bible, a centerpiece for a new religion, but 'Gojiro' warns against this sort of reverence, to quote a passage; "...it's a heck of a space saver, having only one book on the shelf. But which Book?" How could any illuminated person not dig this crazy levia-thang, man. Gojiro be the monster that blows metaphysics like Miles Davis blows the bugle, it's jazz for seekers who don't give a damn about finding an answer.

Are the first few chapters designed for the beginner? Yes. Does he say that up front? Yes. So the beginner has an excellent starting point (I really thought the graphic shortcuts in the front of the book were a nice touch for those people), while the "nuts and bolts" stuff in later chapters were more suited towards people who do this for a living.

But then if I find even a few tidbits that make my life easier when supporting MS products (which can be a royal pain), I consider the book to be well worth it.

If you are looking at supporting XP, don't assume that its the same as 2000. Get this book, read it over, and find out what new goodies they put into this release.

An excellent in depth start-to-finish referance for Windows XP users. The 96 page fully illustrated Essential Skills section at the beginning of the book is a great getting started point for novice users. This book is very well written and concise. A must read for anyone upgrading to Windows XP Professional.

Over 900 pages of information designed to advance an intermediate Windows XP Professional user to the limits of advanced use. By the time you close the cover on this title, there won't be any unfamiliar areas to you. The author has done a great job of extensively covering the majority of the OS without crossing the line from advanced user to IT Administrator.

Ninety six pages of full color screenshots marks the beginning of the book - all before you even start Chapter one. The full basics of the OS are covered, along with most of the standard Windows XP bundled software, such as Media Player, Internet Explorer 6, Outlook Express, CD Burning and more. So much more than just the how-to of the interface is detailed - providing just enough technical information to make it interesting and to let you "get it", without turning into a dry textbook. Hardware installations and troubleshooting, Internet connections and ICS/NAT, LAN/WAN connectivity with TCP/IP and IPX/SPX, performance monitoring and MMC/System Policies are just a few of the area that this title covers that many others gloss over or miss altogether.

A well mapped out Table of Contents and a 54 page index assist in making this not only a start-to finish read, but an easy find what you need reference. Although I can't recommend this title for anyone looking for a study guide towards certification, this is certainly a great choice for user who want to know Windows XP Pro inside and out as well as for desktop administrators who want a reference for their user's interface.