Mark A. Roeder has written a fantastic novel of the love of two high school boys. Although it shares some themes with Romeo and Juliet it is far from being a retelling of that age old tale with a modern gay twist. AP,BTNM is an original story that has the reader eager to read more.

A must read for anyone (gay, straight, teachers, parents, coaches, or friends) that knows a young gay couple. This book does a great job of letting you know how they think and feel.

I thought I had made a mistake by reading 'Someone is Watching' first and then reading this book (as they were written in the other order). As it turns out, they both occur at the same time, in the same town, to the same group of Friends. Only difference is this one is from the aspect of Mark and Taylor, and 'Someone is Watching' is with Nathan and Ethan.

The books work very well together. As I was reading this book, I was seeing some of the same events that were in the other book but from a different groups perspective. That to me is well written! And takes alot of thought! Bravo Mark Roeder!

I would, however, HIGHLY recommend reading this book 'Ancient Prejudice' FIRST and then 'Someone is Watching' as although events that occur with Mark and Taylor play out in this book, they are also mentioned in 'Someone is Watching', so I basically knew how 'Ancient Prejudice' would end before I started. This did NOT take away from the excellent story telling the author has done.

Yes, there were some obvious spelling and gramatical errors, but HEY... its better than I could have done.... I THROUGHLY ENJOYED this book and have already started on book 3 of the series 'Someone is Killing the Gay Boys of Verona...' It has already proved to be awesome also! I will give you my review of it when I finish...

But please read this book... you will be glad you did!!!

This is the first in a series that I really enjoyed reading. It wasn't the first one I read, and my only regret is that I didn't follow the chronology of the series. But they are very enjoyable regardless. I won't summarize the plot; there are several other reviews that do that. I'll just say that the characters are treated very sympathetically, and the two characters are the two alter egos of the author. Mark is his more physical side, Taylor his more sensitive side. Knowing that made it more enjoyable for me. A good book for every man or boy who feels a different kind of love.

I'm a huge mark for the WWF but aside from her brief (and embarassing stint) with that company, I knew nothing of Missy Hyatt. But after hearing some of her interviews on The Law I decided to give this book a shot. I'm glad I did!

The book is short, to the point, and just plain fun! Missy cuts straight to the chase and simply tells us about her years involved with professional wrestling. We get stories about her intro, years in various organizations, times in the big companies, and times in between the sheets with some famous wrestlers. I must confess the dirt is fun to hear but - OUCH! Hurts to be Val Venis and Bills QB Jim Kelly I think.

The pictures in the book are a nice touch and Missy does manage to convey some fine story-telling about people like her wrestling ex-husband Eddie Gilbert (who I had never heard of but came to care about). I think the only drawback to her story is that there isn't really a growth factor. Missy is all about having fun in professional wrestling. When you read the book you'll be having fun too but it won't stay with you beyond that.

Still, with the recent run of wrestling books Missy Hyatt's biography stands at #2 right behind Mick Foley's outstanding Mankind: Have a Nice Day! Both of these books should be read by all fans of wrestling.

I remember having a HUGE crush on Missy Hyatt when I was 16. She was the highlight of every week's episode of UWF Wrestling; The action was great, but I struggled with the reception of the UHF channel so I could see Missy, not Hacksaw Jim Duggan or The One Man Gang. (No offense to them!)

Well, in the wake of Mick "Mankind" Foley's smash Autobiographical books "Have A Nice Day!" & "Foley Is Good", Missy has penned her own story, with the help of Writers Charles Salzberg & Mark Goldblatt. I was expecting a sleazy bedroom tell-all, and what I got couldn't have been farther from that. It's actually a rather tame book, and Missy comes across as a sweet girl who led a somewhat wild life. She breaks the book down into brief chapters revolving around her tenures with the various Wrestling organizations (WCCW, WCW, UWF, WWF, ECW, etc.), and tells some wickedly funny stories about some of the people she met and worked with. There are a few sex-partner stories, but they don't get into explict detail. (She does tell VERY funny anecdotes about Ric Flair, Val Venis, and The Freebirds in particular.) She's got a pretty good sense of humor, and reading the book is almost like meeting an old friend you haven't seen in years and hearing an summary of what they've been up to. Unfortunately, Missy doesn't mention her recent foray into soft-core internet sites...

The book is VERY short; I'd estimate it only took a few hours to read. But when I was done, I wished it had been longer. It's a fun read, and the book is loaded with pictures, both color & black-and-white. Wrestling fans will have a ball reading this book.

Missy. The First Lady. Melissa. Call her what you want. But you can't help but not call her successful. Missy Hyatt has done some things that many may never do. She was indeed "The First Lady of Wrestling," and this is her saga in the business. To be blunt, her saga is something. She was in the Big 3. She's "assisted" many a superstar. She was even married to the late and great Eddie Gilbert. This book tells many a tale of the ups and downs of her career. Sure, she may have left out the odd thing here and there, but that's besides the point. The information and stories contained within the book more than make up for things. In fact, the price of the book more than makes up for the tales she has to tell. Inside you'll find out about some of her "men," who are duds, who are studs, and even some input to some of her more classic angles. I have been looking forward to this book since I first heard about it and was amazingly happy with the read. I had no idea she even did "Missy's Manor" in the WWF early on. I loved her in WCW, and even that short stint in the WWF around '96, '97. I'm now looking into some of the more retro ECW footage to see her star power there. If you're a fan of wrestling, this book is for you. If you love the women of wrestling, this book will shed some light on who the real woman is who set the standards of today. Just pick up the book and you won't be disappointed.

This book was a disappointment. Mostly it shows how to create packages using the Enterprise Mgr interface. I don't need a book to do that. Right now I am coding a VB app using DTS, and this book was definitely not enough. This is a beginner book, introductory in nature. There is an Object reference, but I can see that in the Object Browser. The examples are simplistic and not real-world. The examples on the SQL Server 2000 Resource Kit are better. I am moving large amounts of data data and have to deal with permissions, constraints, dependency tables -- none of this is covered. You can manipulate the object model thousands of ways; without any guidance on these advanced topics (not covered by MSDN) you are adrift... and your packages will fail every time.
If you are a programmer, don't bother with this one.

I'm a new DBA and an ex-ASP developer. When I found myself needing to import flat files exported from an AS400 into a new SQL Server 2K database, I turned to this book for guidance. I'm glad I did.

I've used the DTS wizard a million times, and I thought I knew DTS's capabilities. I had no idea it was as powerful as it is. Due to the usual downtime the first week of a new job, I was able to run through every example in the first four chapters. All worked flawlessly and were extremely enlightening.

The first 4 chapters essentially explain the DTS Designer (very different and more powerful than the wizard) and the 17 built in tasks that DTS can perform. By the end of the week, I was importing data from all over the place, scrubbing it with VBScript built into the job, and capturing any errors in logs.

The remaining chapters deal with more specialized topics, and I expect to refer to them as needed. There is a very good introduction to VBScripting for those that might need the basics or just a syntax reference. Other topics include creating custom tasks, error handling, and data warehouse loading.

However, if you are looking for a guide to using the DTS object model, this is not the text for you. The book limits its scope to the GUI. It provides an excellent introduction to using DTS, and I know that the jobs I have been able to create have saved me a ton of time at work, even if they are heavily dependant on embedded VBScript.

Four Stars

-HawkeyeGK

My company just started using DTS and I needed to learn the technology rapidly. While many Wrox books are 1000+ pages, this book is actually 683. The rest of the pages are devoted to appendixes on the object models.

Another strength of this book is the construction of the chapters. After the introductory 2 chapters, the rest can be read in any order or skipped. This book covered many diverse topics, including data warehouse loading, the DTS object model, VBScript, and even using VB to build new custom tasks.

The book is primarily focused on DBAs. Therefore, there is more coverage of VBScript and COM object development than a programmer would require. However, given the strong chapter cohesiveness, it is easy to skip this material without missing important information.

I was tricked into reading this book due to it being a well known classic and from a desire to read a good romantic story which I thought it would be. Well, um, IT'S NOT.

I like to read books that draw me right into the story and then a couple of hours later you notice you are turning page 250 when the last you recall touching was page 97. This book was not like that at all. Unfortunately, I was always conscious that I was reading print from a page but kept reminding myself that a book this famous had to get good sooner or later. Far from not being able to put it down, I found myself often looking to see what page I was on and if I had read my quota for the night. It never did get good and when I had finished the last sentence I felt frustrated and cheated.

I worried that my lack of appreciation for this classic must be due to my inferior intellect and that I must after all be just some obtuse hill-billy. Thankfully I found that several people who had offered their reviews here shared my opinions for this book and I was quite relieved that I was not alone in my reaction.

For me, Lawrence's supremely descriptive, possibly brilliant (although I really wouldn't know) and flowery writing is all for not because of selfish, unlikeable and unbelieveable characters who don't really do anything. At the very end, the only care I had for anyone in the book was poor little Winifred. I hope she was alright.

In conclusion may I suggest that you pass on Women in Love and read instead Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy. It is so much more a wonderful book about believable, likeable, women in love.

OK, the title for this review may be a little harsh, but the image is hard to shake from my mind. Imagine the close-ups used in a soap opera to show you the intense anguish and inner turmoil the characters feel. Usually, there is pensive expressions which sometimes border on the ludicrous. In "Women in Love" I can't help imagining Lawrence using the same thing. There is a narrative, there is action, but a lot of the book belongs inside the characters. We see Gudrun looking out at the snow covered valley with a feeling of awe, we hear Birkin go through endless thoughts of the ineffable thing he is looking for but can't state clearly, and we watch Gerald trying to find the next big problem he can solve. Throughout all this ruminating, we, the viewer, must be watching something. Hence, we look at the soap opera close-ups of the Brangwens, Criches, and Birkin.

This is not a bad book, but not a book which moves me like others of Lawrence. This book was a continuation of "The Rainbow," but it does not give you the span of time. The novel is primarily focused on Ursula, Gudrun, Rupert, and Gerald. I miss seeing how things work through time. You still have elements from Lawrence's other novels (like dancing uninhibitedly with nature), but it seems as if he is giving us too much information on just a few people. I feel he has more effect with "The Rainbow."

I agree that you do not need to read "The Rainbow" first. Lawrence is a thorough writer, so many times I found myself rereading passages to better understand what he is trying to tell me.

The Wordsworth Classics are inexpensive, but they do not have a lot of room in the margins for notes. This is a good volume to buy for a read, but not for a study.

Although you do not need to read "The Rainbow" to read this, I would recommend reading "Women in Love" if you have read "The Rainbow." It is interesting to watch how Lawrence develops the women after giving you their history.

"Women in love" is the first Lawrence book i have read in english (all the others in my own language, italian). I think Lawrence, in this novel, more then in "The Rainbow" is at the beginning of a search that will finally bring him to "Lady Chatterley": i mean the search of i life-sens and of the knowledge of the real through the relationships between human beeings, male and female etc. I like more the conceit that emerges from the last Lawrence's books, but i appreciate in "Women In Love" some kind of "scritto giovanile".

ASP XML is simply not well written. I shall compare it to an EXCELLENT wrox book 'Beginning JavaScript' to explain myself.

Beginning JavaScript has a superb index, in 5-10 seconds, I have a reference to information I need at any time. ASP XML has virtually no index - it has been useful exactly 0 times. This means you have to read all 800+ pages to get good information.

ASP XML has a decent object reference, but no cross-reference to code (you have to scan the whole book to find applications), BJS has excellent code samples in the Core object technology appendix.

ASP XML has out-of-date and inaccurate information on XSL (more accuratly, it is missing info on XSLT), BJS describes differences between JavaScript versions much better.

ASP XML's chapter categories are rather convoluted, BJS's categories are very straightforward and follow the proper pattern for any description of a programming environment.

ASP XML is still a beginner/intermediate book, so it should have: Introduction, DOM, XPath, XSLT, XML and CSS, String Functions, Database Functions, and then the advanced topics. The book skipped details on XPath (trust me) and details on string functions, making my knowledge inadequate to understand the rest of it. Translation, the book felt incomplete.

It may be that all of what I needed to understand XML really is in the book, but I can't find it because it is so disorganized.

I know the authors are brilliant (Having seen some of their programs) but if I can't understand them, it doesn't matter.

Donald Derrick

I would be unfair to say that the 883 pages were a total waste, but it wasn't worth it for me.

The title of the Book is "ASP XML", and from this title I choose this book, because I wanted a book that would help me to use XML in ASP. That wasn't the case in some of the book examples.

The book content (without the case study) is only 15 chapter that spans 366 pages covering all different aspects of XML and XML integration of ASP. The information presented is very basic and lacks basic knowledge of XML, for example XSL was covered very poorly in the book ( MSDN was more helpful to me than the book). Chapter 11 through 14 were very useful though, especially chapter 14 that covers useful XML procedure libraries.

The case studies spans around 180 pages, there are 6 case studies. They were very confusing to me and none of them helped me solving any of the business requirements I was tackling.

The rest of the book contains appendices that are useful to have them all in the same book, but you can get them over the Internet for free.

Last word to say is that I was disappointed with this book.

The chapters are laid out properly and are easy to understand. It helped us to learn a great deal about incorporating XML into ASP.We recommend this book to anyone who wants to further expand their knowledge of XML in ASP.The authors did a really good job on explaing XML for ASP developers.The depth explainations of the case studies & examples and XML are really great and relate to real world examples.The chapter explaining about the SOAP is really good which helped us a lot personally to implement an in my current project . We personally thank Dinar Dalvi for his help and support to answer our questions and immediate feedback for our emails.

We used this as the primary text for Programming course I and as a supplement in Programming course II. True it skips around a little bit, but if you discipline yourself and understand everything that happens in the book, you will have a fairly good grasp of the language. If you thought this book jumped around, you should see the book we used for the second semester class - "C++ Plus Data Structures" by Dale and Teague. Both books aren't necessarily bad, especially if you are in the classroom, but to just pick up and read they are not the best.

I used this book in an introductory undergraduate C++ course. I found the explanations of C++ concepts and features to be clear and detailed and written in a way that a non-programmer could understand. I have since gone back to this book to review my understanding of C++ for a Data Structures class I hope to take this Fall, and again I find the information clearly presented.

I think this book teaches C++ in a building block fashion, with lots of building block examples, which is how I learn best. I think the explanation of pointers and linked lists are particularly clear and thorough. At the end of the chapters, there are longer programming examples if I want to see how the building blocks come together into a program.

This textbook is the best I have ever used in any course, and I have a Ph.D. in psychology so I have had a LOT of courses. As a beginning programming student, I found this book to be clear, concise, entertaining, and very helpful. When you get tired of all of the new terms, the author "takes a break" and either introduces you to a famous figure in the history of computer science, or does a little "chatting" about tips -- stuff that it would be helpful for you to remember, but not stuff you'll be tested on. I have been in the beginner's course for 2 months now, taking a web-based course, and have learned an AWFUL LOT just from this book. You WILL LEARN introductory C++ from this book.

I was looking forward to this book hoping that it would show the fairness towards Joe Frazier that has been missing for many Years now. The late, great Phil Berger attempted to do this with his fine book on Smokin' Joe, but received unjust criticism because Joe simply stated how he felt. Kram, did his part in giving Joe a fair shake in this book and I believe he accurately ranked Joe among the Heavyweight Champs in history, despite what Thomas (Mr. Ali) Hauser feels was "silly". Kram's ranking of Joe in the top 5 is very close to my view: 1- Ali, 2- Holmes, 3- Louis, 4- Liston, 5- Foreman, 6- Frazier, 7- Holyfield, 8- Marciano, 9- Tyson, 10- Johnson, 11- Dempsey & 12 Charles. My problem with this book was that instead of just showing how Ali was mean and cruel towards Joe, Kram decided to get on his soapbox and denounce Ali as a political figure as well. Kram would like us to believe that the influence that Ali had on blacks in the 60's and 70's was not all that great. Well, with neither myself nor Mr. Kram being black, I will defer to what Reggie Jackson said, as was quoted in Thomas Hauser's review of this book on Houseofboxing.com: "Do you have any idea what Ali meant to black people? He was the leader of a nation; the leader of black America. As a young black, at times I was ashamed of my color; I was ashamed of my hair. And Ali made me proud. I'm just as happy being black now as somebody else is being white, and Ali was part of that growing process. Think about it! Do you understand what it did for black Americans to know that the most physically gifted, possibly the most handsome and one of the most charismatic men in the world was black. Ali helped raise black people in this country out of mental slavery. Then entire experience of being black changed for millions of people because of Ali." Sure Mark, Ali wasn't a powerful political figure at all. He spoke for an entire race at a time when that race did not have a voice. Was he Martin Luther King? God no. Was he none the less an important influential figure in history? Hello? I thought Kram covered boxing for SI during this time period? Wasn't he paying attention to what was going on outside of the ring during the 60's and 70's as well? Maybe Kram felt the need to make it up to Joe for all he had to endure, but this book seemed to get personal as well. The truth and facts of what went on between the two seemed to speak loud enough. To personally attack and denigrate Ali is no better than what Muhammad did to Joe. Thomas Hauser goes too far in lauding, praising and defending Ali. Kram goes too far in tearing him down. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. But if nothing else, this book did do a solid job in celebrating Joe Frazier. Which, along with Berger's book and HBO's special covering the first Frazier Ali bout, has been a long time coming. Out of five stars, I deduct three for the Ali bashing and Kram gets two for his recognition of Frazier. If he'd kept his personal and political views out of this book and just kept to the facts, it would have easily gotten four stars. Neither Ali nor Frazier were saints. But Joe didn't deserve the shabby treatment he has gotten for years and Ali didn't deserve it in the personal manner with which it was displayed in this book. For more on the author Mark Kram, I encourage everyone who reads "Ghosts", to read "Only In America, The Life and Times of Don King", by Jack Newfield. I'll leave it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions after reading this fantastic, well written book.

I read this book after watching the Manila fight on ESPN Classic. Don't be fooled (as I was initially) by the book's size; while not the tome I was expecting, it had more than enough information and definitely held my attention.

On the negative side I did find the editing to be subpar in some places which at times made the text difficult to discern. This is especially annoying because much of the book is written in a Sports Illustrated coulmn style. But overall the pace was quick and fluid.

I was impressed that the author was able to debunk the Ali myth while still acknowledging Ali's talent as a fighter. Contrary to one of the other reviewers here, Kram did NOT see the Manila as just another fight. In fact, he made it plain to the reader that both Ali-Frazier I and III brought out the best(and worst) in both men and rank as the some of boxings greatest moments.

Whatever your personal feelings of Ali and Frazier you won't regret reading this book.

Mark Kram appears to know the boxing world inside and out. My biggest complaint is that at times the metaphors and allusions the author uses are more than a bit on the purple side. However, the book in general is well written and holds your attention. The author knows his subject well.

What a subject! He's somewhat merciless to Ali. But he cites more than a little evidence to show Ali as an arrogant, pretentious, and mean bully to his opponents, and frequently to his close associates. One has to feel sorry for many of the women that he got involved with--although with some of them you have to feel sorry for Ali. Ali comes off in Kram's book as being the perennial petulant child. As a political leader he is portrayed as laughably uninformed which could not be compensated for by his very real personal charm and charisma.

Kram sees the Black Muslims in a very negative light. He sees Ali as being almost totally dominated and manipulated by them. He touches on Ali's abandonment of Malcom X--a man of much distinction in Kram's eyes. He also hints that Sonny Liston might have thrown his two fights against Ali out of fear of the Muslims. He quotes George Foreman as saying that Liston was the only opponent who ever backed him up in a ring. He also draws a highly sympathetic portrait of Liston--much like David Remnick in his 1999 book. It's good to see the restoration of a man who has been maligned by so many people. Sonny was no saint, but then who would be with the kind childhood and life that he had to suffer from? May his spirit rest in peace. By comparison, Ali had a life of ease and privilege.

Kram is very kind towards some of the other of Ali's opponents. He obviously displays much sympathy and compassion for Joe Frazier. The poor boy from a family of 25 children in South Carolina. He was the real flesh and blood black model for Stallone's Hollywood treatment/white transformation. He portrays Frazier as a sympathetic person and great fighter with little of the meanness and malice of Ali. The author deals at length with Ali's racist taunts of Frazier.

The author is also obviously very fond Floyd Patterson. Another unfairly maligned heavyweight--and underrated one as well. Ali's verbal treatment of Patterson, Frazier, and others was not one of the highlights in his career. He apparently learned much from professional wrestling theatrics. And today's pro wrestling probably owes some of it's hype to his example.

Kram, the veteran sports writer, writes admiringly of Sugar Ray Robinson and sees him as being truly the greatest boxer of all time. He admits that Ali might be the greatest heavyweight of all time--although he claims he was not a particularly good inside fighter and did not have particularly impressive hooks. He admits to his very impressive skills and also his magnetic charm. However, in this book he more or less tells the Ali worshippers that they need to take a lot of cold showers. From his view, this guy is not the great hero that so much sports writing puffery has proclaimed him to be in recent years. It's very hard to be the great political figure and leader when you haven't a clue as to what politics is about. Writers should definitely cool any comparisons to Martin Luther King or Malcom X.

Finally, this book will not make you want to pick up the gloves for a career as a boxer. Moreover, if you have children, it will cause you to want to injure them if they ever even think about pursuing boxing. When I was younger I admired the courage and skill of those who were accomplished boxers. But now I have to agree with the ex-amateur boxer, Rod Serling, who portrayed the "sport" as a decadent, disgusting, barbaric aberration. This isn't sport, it's about brain damage to the participants and the moral degradation of the "fans". At one time I, too, was one of those "fans". Hopefully, boxing will eventually be seen for what it is and die a quiet death of irrelevance. Anyway, this book is truly about the "living death" of the two gladiators of the "thrilla from Manila".

I may just be an armchair philosopher, but I don't think this book's challenge is nearly as radical as it's rhetoric would suggest. Surely, the authors are part of a wonderful project, and one with very important consequences; it seems they know this and with this book aim to convince a wider audience of this fact. It's a noble endeavor; the inclusion of the findings of cognitive science are impressive enough to warrant a reading by anyone who wants to broaden their base of informed philosophical opinion. Nevertheless, the authors' attempts to make this text more accessible tends to oversimplify their critique of philosophy and effectively weakens their overall argument. Many crucial movements - post-structuralism, for example - are merely paid lip service here, and the more comprehensive commentaries seem to be conveniently selected. It's not difficult to finish this book with the impression that these authors are better linguists than they are philosophers.

For over two millenia, nearly all worldly knowledge was regarded as falling under the general heading of philosophy. Physics, psychology, politics, and even economics were all regarded as various branches of study growing out of a single, philosophical trunk. Aristotle, the most systematic of the ancient philosophers, even dabbled in biology. But as human knowledge advanced, these various branches of study broke off from the philosophic stem and established themselves as independent sciences in their own right. Philosophy soon found itself reduced to metaphysics, morals, aesthetics, and epistemology. But now even epistemology is trying to break away. "Philosophy in the Flesh" documents the attempt of "cognitive science" to make epistemology an empirical science separate from philosophy. Its authors, Lakoff and Johnson, seek to challenge the largely introspective and "a priori" speculations of philosophical epistemology, which they regard as discreditable.

"Philosophy in the Flesh" commences by laying down three major findings of cognitive science: (1) that the mind is inherently embodied; (2) that thought is mostly unconscious; and (3) that abstract concepts are largely metaphorical. Assuming that these three findings are true (and, according to Lakoff & Johnson, they are empirically validated beyond any question), then it follows that many of the central tenets of the major philosophic traditions must be dismissed as hopelessly inadequate. "Once we understand the importance of the cognitive unconscious, the embodiment of mind, and metaphorical thought," our intrepid authors advice us, "we can never go back to a priori philosophizing about mind and language or to philosophical ideas of what a person is that are inconsistent with what we are learning about the mind."

All this is very important. If true, it constitutes one of the great revolutions in philosophy and science. But are Lakoff & Johnson the men to carry it out? No, I do not think so. They may be competent scholars and solid citizens within the academic fold, but their philosophical interpretation of the empirical data of cognitive science definitely leaves something to be desired. While I whole-heartedly agree with their contention that philosophy needs to become more empirically responsible, empiricism, though vital and necessary, is not enough. The empirical facts must by synthesized into a grand interpretive vision, and this can only be done by a philosopher of genius. And indeed, in some respects, it already has been done. Most of the valid points in Lakoff's & Johnson's book have been made by philosophers working within the critical realist tradition, especially the philosopher George Santayana. Lakoff and Johnson operate under the illusion that the findings of cognitive science are radically new, but they are not: they simply are new to those whose philosophical knowledge doesn't extend beyond the major traditions taught within academia. Yet well before second generation cognitive science, Santayana had been arguing that the mind has a natural locus within the body, that it contains a large "vegatative" (i.e., unconscious) component, and that concepts (and, indeed, all knowledge) are essentially metaphorical. Cognitive science, in discovering and validating these great truths, merely affirms what Santayana contended throughout his long philosophic career. If we could but merge the findings of cognitive science on the one hand with Santayana's philosophic vision of man and his spirit, we might at last have the honest, empirically responsible philosophy which Lakoff & Johnson are so eager to provide for us and which, thanks to analytic and rationalist philosophy, we have so desparately lacked.

Lakoff and Johnson's book "Philosophy in the Flesh" adds the voice of cognitive linguistics to the growing chorus of voices from science of mind that have informed philosophers: the Platonic World View is nearing the end of its reign over Western philosophy. The human mind is a product of its physical embodiment in the flesh, not some non-physical mystery.

In addition to its main story line, "Philosophy in the Flesh" also has a meta-story line. Lakoff and Johnson were well aware of the fact that many philosophers who remain bewitched by the West's Platonic legacy do not want to listen to what the science of mind has discovered. As Lakoff and Johnson clearly explain the situation, Platonic Idealism, Cartesian Dualism, and Anglo-American analytic philosophy are the natural products of a priori philosophical assumptions that are based on certain common sense metaphors such as 'seeing is believing'. Lakoff and Johnson carefully explain how the science of cognitive linguistics has accumulated data that show the limitations of such Folk Psychological views.

Within "Philosophy in the Flesh", Lakoff and Johnson included an anticipatory critique of their critics, explaining why these critics remain trapped in a dead-end philosophical world view. The key point is that many philosophers are still trained in the belief that science can have nothing useful to say about the mind. This attitude towards science is a fundamental part of the philosophical tradition that is invalidated by modern science of mind. Thus, we are dealing with the latest installment in the rather intriguing situation of an entire intellectual nation being declared intellectually bankrupt by another intellectual tribe. A perfect setting for a protracted battle! In addition, Lakoff and Johnson explicitly explain what is wrong with postmodernism and why it is at odds with their views. Amazingly, this has not stopped some from calling Lakoff's and Johnson's approach postmodern. There is exceptional irony in this kind of desperate attack on the ideas expressed in "Philosophy in the Flesh".

The meta-story line within "Philosophy in the Flesh" serves a useful role for potential buyers of the book. Many critics of "Philosophy in the Flesh" are adherents to the Platonic World View and they have voiced exactly the complaints about "Philosophy in the Flesh" that Lakoff and Johnson explicitly anticipated and accounted for with their meta-story line. What can we conclude when these critics of "Philosophy in the Flesh" fail to mention the meta-story line and how it anticipated their complaints? Most likely, such critics of this book did not read it. If they had, they would have seen the meta-story line and addressed IT in their reviews of the book.

If you are a member of the anti-science tribe of philosophers of mind and language, you will have been trained to ignore the arguments and scientific data that are presented by Lakoff and Johnson. If you are already devoted to an investigation of mind and language by making use of scientific studies of brains and human behavior, then you will enjoy this book as it explores the philosophical implications of physically embodied minds. If you are still thinking about mind and language with an open mind, this book will be useful to you. It presents a strong argument for a new way of doing philosophy that is rooted in the science of mind.

Here are some challenges to the philosophers who are upset by "Philosophy in the Flesh". Take the time to actually read the book. Come back and tell us what you think of how Lakoff and Johnson explained why you are upset. There is a close parallel to how the current philosophical debate over mind is playing out and how the debate over Vitalism played out in the last century. Many philosophers of mind argue that the mind is a special case in philosophy because of the mystery of subjective experience. In "Philosophy in the Flesh" Lakoff and Johnson explain why the old dualistic distinction between objective and subjective is bogus. The response of critics to this specific issue would be a good place to begin a dialog about the actual content of the book.

This book has ok for anyone that has the time and patience to read over 1,600 pages of text. I too agree with an earlier review that the book does contain too much "fluff" and does not get to the point of the pertinent material in a concise mannor. The small text is very hard to read and the glare from the glossy paper used to print this book make the book hard to read for more than an hour at a time.

If you have already read the Mastering Windows Server 2000 by Manasi, don't waste your money on this book. About 90% of this book is just a reprint of the material in the previous book. Manasi would have done better in writing a book that was geared toward just the material that was new to Windows Server 2003 and saving about 1,000 pages in the process.

My recommendation would be to find one of the other book that are available for Windows Server 2003 that are more "to-the-point" and specific to the subject matter of Microsoft's new Server 2003 release.

I am an MCSE, NT 4 and Windows 2000, and I have my CCNA, A+, and Network +, and I have developed a much greater understaing of Windows operating systems in general, and Server 2003 specifically, by reading and completing the activities in Mark Minasi's book. It's true, that there is quite a bit of material, but ther topic requires it if one is to develope a thorough understanding on the Windows servers.

I enjoyed Mark's humor and comments throughout the book, and I believe this makes the book more enjoyable to read, and less like any other IT book published. Most technical manuals and books I have read (there have been too many) are as dry as the Mojave desert, and it's about time we are able to read an educational IT book that makes IT both entertaining and educational.

I would recommend this text to anyone who would like to develope a thorough understanding of Server 2003; for those that want a quick fix to pass a MCP exam, this would not be for you.

IT should be fun, at least most of the time.

Once again, I am extremely pleased with this book. This is an in-the-trenches type book that will help you get your job done. It is not meant to be a general overview of Windows 2003. It is not meant to only uncover the changes that have been made in 2003. What the heck kind of book would it be if it only had all of the new features that 2003 offered. Minasi could put that in a stinkin magazine article if he wanted to. For all you people out there that want a read that just outlines the new features of 2003, then download a blasted white paper from Microsoft. I don't agree one single bit with any of you folks who cry about seeing the same matierial in the 2003 book as in the 2000 books. If the feature is implemented and managed the same way in both 2000 and 2003, what in the heck does the wording need to be changed for. The book is called Mastering Windows Server 2003 not Mastering What's New In Server 2003. The book has to cover the full spectrum people! And it does just that, magnificently. You folks that gave this books such a low mark (1 star) and wrote the most unprofessional and incorrect comments are probably the very ones that live at his web the he provides us for !!!FREE!!!,by the way, trying to fix your Active Directories that you let the "Wizard" create for you, or pulling your hair out trying to come up with a solution for all the infighting and political turmoil that exists in your organization because this group of admins does'nt want that group of admins to get the Enterprise Admin privelages. The answers to these and many, many more issues are brilliantly covered in this book. In a nutshell, you will be a better Windows administrator after reading this book..period. You will read about things that you will not find anywhere else...promise! Minasi crosses bridges in this book that most people don't. Everything that he writes about is thoroughly tested by him or his co-authors before they even think about putting it to paper. I truly beleive, that the "Mastering" series of books have done more to make me a better administrator/designer ( and I am really good!), than any other book or class that i have ever read or taken, hands down!! And if you don't have the 2003 book in your arsenal, you are going to spend a lot of time searching white papers, forums, and many other books for information that you could have found right here in this book. I'd rather spend my time being productive instead of searching all over the place for answers to something. It's your choice!

After a mere twenty-two pages into the book, I was starting to doubt the usefulness of this book. The very top of page 22 talks about "examples above" on handling special characters. Flip back to page 21, however, go to the bottom of the page and read about examples that "are described below". I give up, are the examples on the magical page 21 1/2?

While other reviewers seem willing to let slide the number of typos, omitions and code examples that simply don't work, I am less forgiving. I got this book on the assumption that I would be able to learn how to integrate XML with my knowledge of ASP. Most examples in this book, however, are for Visual Basic, and while that only requires little to moderate tweaking, the pure ASP examples in this book are almost non-existant.

Add in the fact that the book constantly interrupts a lesson to add new concepts we're supposed to either immediately understand, or bookmark and thumb through the book hoping they remembered to include the examples, makes this a frustrating book to learn from. Doing a quick search on Google for "XML help basics" gave me more insight into XML in just a few minutes than reading this book for a few hours did.

I agree with a number of other reviewers, skip this book. It is more frustrating than it's worth. Shame too, cause it starts out strong and then just fades away.

Code Examples are REDUNDANT.
Code Examples are INCOMPLETE in the book. (Even the "Complete" examples. Had to download the source code and go line by line to figure out what was "missing". VERY FRUSTRATING.

Book skips arround quite a bit and is confusing at times. The Summary Case (3 tier architecture) which I was looking forward to was pretty much......um USELESS.

Oh well, I didn't listen to the others, maybe you will listen to me. Take a pen, paper and write down the 3 useful pages in this book and save your money.

This is a short introduction and overview to using XML with ASP and VB. It should take your understanding of XML from beginner to intermediate. Plenty of code samples are provided to illustrate the concepts. This is very much a practical book.

The book does contain several typos, and some of the sample code does not work correctly. However these are minor points.

Many XML books are quite esoteric and concentrate on the detail. This book takes an alternative approach of giving the reader details of the most relevant XML objects, properties and methods. In essence the reader gets a kick-start into the practical world of XML.

You may need to read the book twice (or at least the code-related chapters 4 and 6) to get the most from it.

The book contains several important snippets of information sources (e.g. Schema tools, generating a DTD from XML data), which could be quite rewarding.

The book tries to be comprehensive and detailed (e.g. by giving a n-tier application) but it probably fails in this since it also brief. Additionally only very brief details of schemas and BizTalk are given.

Overall an enjoyable read.