Wow. In this book, former Muslim Mark Gabriel lays the facts about the true nature of Islam on the table. Gabriel used to be a professor of Islamic history at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, so he knows what he's talking about. In the beginning of the book, he describes in vivid detail his escape from Islam and from Egypt after being convinced that Islam was in fact a false religion--not knowing yet what the true religion might be. He describes the tortures and punishments he went through as it became known that the famous professor from Al-Azhar had defected.

Gabriel explains that jihad and terrorism are part and parcel of true Islam, and that it is a politically-correct media caricature to think of Islam as a "religion of peace." It is not. The terrorists and jihad fighters are not extremists or fanatics. They are the true Muslims, all the others having accepted a watered-down Westernized version of Islam.

Gabriel gives the reader insights into the Koran and what it says, and he explains why or how it is possible for the Koran to say at one point that Muslims should be nice to the Christians, and at other times that they must torture and kill them.

Given Gabriel's background as a former Muslim professor of Islamic history, this book is a bombshell because it is so authoritative. Here we have a former INSIDER of Islam who knows the true connections between Islam and jihad, the Muslim faith and terrorism. He is politically incorrect because he does not play the game of "the terrorists are extremist fanatics" but rather shows that "the terrorists are true followers of their religion."

The goal of Islam is the domination of the world. They want all countries on this planet to be governed by Allah, where only the Islamic rule is tolerated. Infidels must either be converted or die, so that the only people alive will be servants of Allah. Any so-called Muslims that do not will this are not true Muslims. That is what Mark Gabriel relates in this book, and he proves his points very well.

Gabriel, now a Baptist, also has a section on "Muslims and the Good News" in his book. Because he is a Protestant, however, there are countless theological errors in his book about Christianity, and I cannot recommend what he puts forth as the true Christian Gospel. Therefore, the reader is best served by ignoring what Gabriel presents as Christianity.

As far as the primary purpose of the book is concerned, however (namely, understanding and getting inside of Islam and terrorism), all I can say is TWO THUMBS UP! The book is exciting and easy to read. It is even a page-turner at times. Must-read for anyone who thinks that Islamic terrorism around the world has nothing to do with *true* Islam.

This book doesn't do the thing that most "middle eastern" book does which is to white wash the ideology that is called Islam and fill the minds of people who don't know Arabic with inaccurate presentations of the 1,400 years old Arabian faith. Arabic is my mother tongue and I come from the Middle East. I was searching for someone who can write about the facts that people wish not to talk about. I am so glad Mr. Gabriel who teached in the most prestigious Islamic university in world managed to provide a critical account of islam. I am also glad because no one can deny what he is saying because he follows the rules and present all his facts and arguments. Please remember that Mr. Gabriel at the beginning didn't leave Islam just to become Christian. But he left it because his mind dared to think about what others do not want to think about.

Dr. Gabriel portrays this half autobiographical, half history lesson in an eye-opening logical fashion. Although Dr. Gabriel professes his faith in Christianity (and in fact the publisher is a Christian Organization as well) it takes nothing from the hard fact that Dr. Gabriel delivers. Dr. Gabriel was a devout Muslim educated at Al-Azhar and lived in Egypt much of his life. He even recalls his accomplishment of memorizing the Qur'an by age twelve. His story is nothing less than shocking leaving the reader with a sense naievety of much of Islam's past and present. The author backs his clear point-of-view with scriptures from the Qur'an and other well known academic works authored by specialists in the field. I would definitely recommend having a copy of the Qur'an handy when reading "Islam and Terrorism" so that you may read Dr. Gabriel's accusations in context. While reading passages from the Qur'an pointed out by Dr. Gabriel, be prepared to become completely shocked at many of its mandates.

I would definitely advise anyone who does not understand radical Islam to pick up this book. It is a blood-stained history lesson mixed with personal experiences as the author lived it.

This book is about Mark Edmundson's senior year at Medford High School, and the teacher who broke that year - and that life - apart. The personalities of fellow students, teachers, administrators, coaches - names changed to protect the innocent! - will be recognizeable to anyone who might have passed through senior year, circa 1970, anywhere, though the particular teacher was one we weren't all as fortunate to have had. This book chronicles that slow realizing when a student begins to understand that you can become your own teacher and you can reach beyond the expectations others may have determined for you. 'Teacher' would make an excellent all-school read, a even better all-faculty read. I loved it, and have passed it along to many friends.

If you are lucky, you had a teacher back in high school you can remember, one who demonstrated that learning could be more than memorization and scoring high on tests, one whose lessons you remembered long after your education was officially over because the lessons were about learning itself. Mark Edmundson is a professor of English at the University of Virginia, a contributing editor to _Harper's_, and has a bunch of other intellectual chops. It might have turned out differently for him if it weren't for one teacher; he had all the makings of a punk, a television addict, and a sports fan who longed for his days of high school football glory. That he turned out differently he credits to one teacher, and in _Teacher: The One Who Made the Difference_ (Random House), he introduces us to him. He also introduces us to a bunch of minor teachers and role models (not necessarily good ones), many goofy classmates, and, in a book full of openness and acceptance, his own unattractive adolescent self.

For Edmundson says, "When I encountered Franklin Lears, I was a high school thug. I was a football player, a brawler, who detested all things intellectual." Lears looked peculiar and he was. Unlike the other teachers, he did not have a set lesson plan full of facts that were to be installed into the heads of his students. He had a capacity to listen and to accept the students' ideas as interesting and worth considering, without imposing his own. He couldn't make immediate changes in their attitudes, and he couldn't change everyone, but some of them eventually got to accept that thinking was useful, was within the capacities of even football jocks, and above all, was fun. Lears abandoned the planned textbook, and settled on books that people were talking about at the time, _The Autobiography of Malcolm X_, _Siddhartha_, and _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_. Besides the booklist, Lears brought the influence of Socrates, and Edmundson makes plain that the analogy of Lears to Socrates and of Medford High students to listeners in the Athenian agora is not forced and not ridiculous. Socrates (ostensibly, at least), took nothing on faith, questioned everything including what everyone else accepted either unthinkingly or with solemn thought, accepted the thoughts of others as good points of departure for reasoning, and he knew how to laugh. Lears, too.

The book has memorable portraits of fellow students, and especially Edmundson's father. It is best at demonstrating that the old Socratic method still works, and can still inspire ambition. Simple questioning, and insistence on introspection and putting answers into words, created something Medford High had not seen before. "This was a class that people looked forward to going to, that we talked about all the time, nights and weekends." There is much about good teaching in this wise book, and much about living well. Lears only taught a year before going off to law school, and Edmundson has not attempted to keep up with him. It is nice to think, however, that he will pick up this volume and recognize how much effect he had, and how much erudition and clarity he has inspired in this particular student.

Mark Edmundson's chronicle
of a year in the life of Medford High is, first and foremost, a
compulsively good read, by turns moving and hilarious, unsentimental yet ultimately uplifting. Teacher is bracing from first page to last. Yet Edmundson manages not only to delight but also--deftly, brilliantly--to instruct. Teacher taught me more about education--its purposes, its practices, its rewards--that anything I've ever read on the subject. What
makes a great teacher? What are books for? How can reading change your life? By the end of this wonderful book, you know.

I have mixed feeling about these guys, and their book, but the bottom line is that it makes a contribution and must be read. They address, in a manner understandable by the complete layman, the intersection of competitive intelligence, corporate security, and WarRoom operations. They have a number of very useful and thoughtful figures. The book is unquestionably at the head of the class with respect to WarRoom operations and exploiting information technology and basic planning and execution and visualization concepts. Where I have a real problem with this book is in its advocacy of elicitation and other deceptive techniques, no doubt a hang-over from Steven's days as a CIA case officer. There is absolutely no place in U.S. competitive intelligence for such methods, and any discussion in that direction must be forcefully opposed if we are to succeed in creating a legal, ethical, overt network of intelligence professionals able to reinforce each other in providing open source intelligence to businesses as well as non-governmental organizations.

Post 911, I have a different view of competitive intelligence. It should deliver value by anticipating risks to the total business environment instead of supporting librabrian research tasks - as amany of the SCIP members do. Thank you Messrs. Shaker/Gembicki for going beyond the typical pabulum and cooking up a strategy to address real business issues. I have applied your models to cross-industry applications with great success and at a fraction of the cost of deploying the Fuld Warroom, Gilad or Factiva models. In saving the best for last, I was introduced to your intelligence philosophy from friends at Microsoft and security geeks at AOL - both have war rooms. You are leading the pack gentlemen so realize that pioneers often wear arrows. When is the next book coming???? You two should have something to say about terrorism and business continuity as well.

I found this book to be an excellent handbook for competitive intelligence. It is a book that outlines the basics in a way that companies can understand and implement. I have all the major books on CI and can say that every good CI author from Warroom to Fuld publicizes themselves. There are no fully comprehensive CI books available at a reasonable price for small businesses. I think that Warroom's guide and Fuld's books are a good addition to a basic CI library. The reviews here both good and bad were very misleading. I would say that the Warroom Guide is a good solid informative book to buy.

If I only had one book on Win2000 Professional, this 2nd edition would be it!

Note: The first edition of this book was good for beginners but did not go deep enough for power users. However, in the second edition, the Minasi we all love from his classic "Win2000 Server" is back--and he is at his best. The 2nd edition is still useful for beginners, but it also has the meat that power users are looking for. Very clear and totally comprehensive.

Just the premise of using an operating system daily for critical content and not having a resource like Minasi's MW2k is setting yourself up for trouble. Murphy's Law has never been proven as authentic as often as in the world of computers, and it is only by offering a great review for this book and heartfelt thanks to Minasi for writing it that I can hope to persuade people to realize the priceless value of this tome. Priceless, because a signature talent of system failure is to make whatever irreplaceable work you have disappear forever. Even though I backup religiously, twice I had found myself in the situation of loosing client material at the hands of system errors, both of which I was able to solve just by referencing Mastering Win 2k. Just the chapter "Fixing Windows 2000 When It Breaks" alone justifies the price of this book. I had originally planned to use this book only when needed, but after experiencing the wealth of valuable information in one chapter I am now reading it cover to cover. If you use Windows 2000 professionally or just somewhat regularly, you need "Mastering Windows 2000", period.

When I bought Mark Minasi's first edition of "Windows 2000 Professional" and read it, I said to myself...Mark Minasi can do better than this; what in the world is going on. Had Mark lost his touch? Is he no longer #1? And, if you read the other bad reviews found here (they are all about the FIRST edition), then you can plainly see that I was not alone in my concern. Well, of course Mr. Minasi had not lost his touch. The reason for the not-so-good first edition really does not need to be addressed here. The main thing is that the SECOND edition is classic Minasi, with all of the important information you will need to get onboard with Windows 2000 Professional, coupled with his engaging wit and humor. So, the recommendation from this senior systems administrator is as follows. DAYTON SAYS: BUY THIS BOOK ....just remember to get the SECOND edition.

I never write reviews of books but this one deserves it after all the middlebrows have come out to attack it lately (first reviews were all glowing, later reviews all horrified). It's always a sign of a great book and courageous author (or authors in this case) when you have people either loving or hating a book, as they do this one. These days journalists and academics are all looking like Eddie Bauer catalogue models, and trying to live those safe lives. That's probably why some people hate this book, in which the authors/journalists get into the filth of corrupt Russia and corrupt journalism and don't try to make themselves out to be decent regular fellas but rather tell it like it is. Not for the faint-of-heart... If your idea of courageous intellectual pursuit is proving that Satan doesn't exist or that we live in a world where everyone respects each other, stay away from The Exile. If you want to read journalism as it should be done, diving head-first into the filth in order to get closer to the truth (like Dostoevsky taught), then take a chance. I know more than a few aspiring journalists and writers who said that this book changed their lives. Ok, most were male, but males have rights too!

As the subtitle might indicate, this is not a book for the faint of heart, nor is it a straight-up history, though the portrait it paints of post-Soviet Russia from the early '90s to 1998 is pretty vivid in all its pornographic, bloody, vomitous, sexist glory, making it a pretty damned good history anyway.

The book is divided into eight chapters, four written by Ames and four by Taibbi. Many readers have complained that Ames' sections of the book are Waholianly dull, too petty, personal, splenous, what have you, while praising Taibbi's sections for their directness, adherence to and expressed admiration for basic journalistic principles and (false, false, false) relative modesty. But I will go on the record as admiring both.

Ames... poor Ames. A lot of his stuff will make readers cringe, but for every one of his self-pitying narratives about scabies or his girlfriend or his dependence on speed whenever left to get an issue of the eXile out by himself, there are still gems of hilarious realism like the following:

"What people forget in every article ever written about drugs is one simple, basic fact. PEOPLE TAKE DRUGS BECAUSE THEY'RE FUN. That's it. There's no mystery to the drug thing. Peiople drink water to quench their thirst, they have sex because it feels good; and they do drugs because they're fun...

Even Hunter S. and William Burroughs couldn't stait it that plainly;: they elevated drugs to the mythical level, keeping mum on the single most obvious, dangerous fact. So I'll repeat: PEOPLE DO DRUGS BECAUSE THEY'RE FUN. It's no different from alcohol or roller coasters except that drugs are A LOT BETTER."

Co-author Taibbi observes later in this book, after a brief reflection on his childhood growing up in the newsrooms of Boston and New York, that "If, as a consumer, you want good newspapers, you're not going to get them if the reporters are people who only reluctantly tell you the truth. Ideally, you have a bunch of people who are outcasts, even sociopaths, who get off on telling people the whole truth because that's the point: The other parts of society - government, business, etc. - have to be able to function while trusting the public to know the worst."

In these two quotes we can find the eXile, and this book, in a nutshell. Ames and Taibbi are two people who get off on telling the truth, and make no bones about the fact that they do get off on it. Hence their infamous "Death Porn" section, their version of a police blotter, in which the goriest crimes they could find in Russia that week are recounted with mocking slapstick horror, in true tabloid fashion, complete with cartoons illustrating basic, recurring story elements, i.e. a little Thanksgiving turkey to indicate the victim was "carved up like a turkey", a piece of Swiss cheese to indicate "riddled with bullets," a hamburger bun with a human haand sticking out of it to indicate cannibalism (quite prevalent out in the provinces where people, still waiting lo these many years for the goverment to pay their back wages, have little to do but hack each other to pieces and eat each other) and, my favorite, a squad cap next to a vodka bottle to indicate an "investigation ongoing."

But Death Porn and little drug and scabies excursi notwithstanding, why should you read this book? Because it also tells the story of a newspaper that has been a huge pain [...] to an expatriate community in Moscow that has done little to actually help convert Russia to a free-market economy or to prepare its citizenry to live in such an economy. Those whom Ames and Taibbi have skewered over the years in their paper have been both highly-placed Russian oligarchs who have taken state corruption to unbelievable new levels (I would refer readers especially to Taibbi's in-depth look at Anatoly Chubais and his loans-for-shares program which should have been a global scandal but was deemed "too complicated" to cover in the western press), and American and British consultants who lived the high life spending foreign aid money on luxuries for themselves, investing it with each other's mutual funds, and creating scandals like the Investor Protection Fund, meant to bail out poor Russians whose first forays into private investing led to their being defrauded (to date the IPF has not paid out one rouble to any bilked investors - but it made one mutual fund manager a lot of money for many years!).

But this book is not to be read as an exercise in schadenfreude: most of the worst villains in the eXile's hall of shame are Americans, and it is a theme throughout the book that once Americans are in any way freed from the usual constraints on their behavior, they are the most corrupt, scaly lizard-beasts one can find anywhere. Even an ordinary suburbanite, once she lands in Russia, winds up threatening gangland hits on the authors [...].

And it could happen here, if we ever cease to keep an eye on each other, on our elected officials,and on our press. For, as Taibbi notes with dismay, the age of those outcast sociopaths is gone; today's "reporters," at least in the western press in Moscow, have become "a bunch of corrupt, cheerleading patsies," largely because there is no longer any competition between papers, magazines, networks, what have you, and thus there's no one paying attention to the accuracy, fairness, or relevance of what is coming out of those Moscow bureaus - and thus no reason for western journalists in Moscow to work very hard at all.

The authors leave open the question of whether this might not be true in other parts of the world or back home, but it does make me wonder about what I'm reading about what's going on in Kabul, in Israel, and in Cheyenne.

I know too many reporters to be able, truthfully, to say that nothing like that can happen or has happened here. I've done it myself, run stories without double-checking facts, accepted sources' words as gospel because of my personal fondness or respect for those sources, left out story elements I didn't think my readers would understand... I just never got called on it.

I fervently wish that there could be more papers like the eXile in the world, while knowing that there can't be: it is only Ames and Taibbi's unique position - out of the reach of American libel laws and unread by the officials whose corruption they expose in Russia because they print in English - that makes the eXile possible.

But in a perfect world, there would be an eXile in every city, Death Porn, pornographic club reviews and all. [...].

Although I agree with one of the reviewers here in that Taibbi and Ames differ in the style of writing, I don't think that Ames's writing is in any way inferior to Taibbi's.

Taibbi tends to cover more "serious" topics in the book - things like corruption, crime and the hypocrisy of the governments involved in many "economic assistance programs" of the 1990's, while Ames gives us a more "personal" take on the whole thing, focusing more on the storyline (the creation of eXile), as well as "sex and drugs" promised in the title. Ames's style in this book is somewhat close to Edward Limonov's "It's Me Eddie" and, for the right reader, will definitely be a more entertaining and personal read. I found myself laughing more while reading Mark's chapters.

Since both of these "perspectives" are packaged in the same volume, you'll know pretty much everything you need to know about modern Russia after reading it.

Like other Craft fans, I discovered "Flight Dreams" after reading the second in the Mark Manning series "Eye Contact". For that reason, I can be more objective, I think.

Every writer is constantly developing, changing, experimenting, and growing in his/her chosen profession. Craft's first mystery is a prime example of an author "testing the waters". While the killer's identity was somewhat easy to determine, the author populates the book with some fascinating, if slightly improbable, characters. Craft's attention to character is also evident with the personal life of protagonist Manning.

And the vivid descriptions of the locales and the adornments show a man that appreciates the aesthetic.

"Flight Dreams" doesn't quite ascend into the far reaches of space, but it does get airborne.

And what better way to spend leisure time than by being curled up with an entertaining and carefree escape from the daily grind?

My goodness these chaps talk alot! And it's all in that highflown tone reminiscent of novels from the '30s, like BETTER ANGEL (or am I thinking of GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST?). Mark and Neil chat about Art and Architecture and Sex and missing heiress Helena Carter (because this is, after all, a mystery). But for all their jawing I never could gain a real fix on Neil and Mark's personalities, and that's a problem because this novel is also a romance, as well as the story of Mark Manning's coming to terms with his homosexuality.

Romance has become a staple of the gay mystery sub-genre. Cool. But if romance is going to be the subplot of choice, then shouldn't it have to meet the same criterion as, say, a Harlequin Intrigue? Who are these guys and WHY are they in love? Young architect Neil Waite is 39 year old journalist Mark Manning's first homosexual affair. It is through meeting Neil that Mark accepts his own sexual orientation. So what is it about Neil? FLIGHT DREAMS is the first of the Mark Manning series, so perhaps Michael Croft will develop these promising characters and their relationship on a later leg of the journey.

As for the riddle of what did happen to the vanished airline heiress and her two prize Abyssinian cats, Craft offers a smart and satisfactory, if unsurprising answer.

Flight Dreams is another one of those books that you want to keep reading. Great character development and enough continuing plot lines to know that Mark Manning is going to have more dead bodies to trip over in the future! This is definitely a fun read! I have read every book in the Mark Manning series, and Flight Dreams was a great kickoff. This book is the first of a series that just gets better.

I just got back from a month in Mexico. The book was probably quite impressive back in the early 90's. However, many of the hotels and restaurants listed in the book have gotten so much business that they have lost what good attributes they originally had. Also, many of the prices quoted in the book were way off. The book prices were frequently one-half what the concierge or waiter quoted. The peso has not changed enough for a 5 dollar hotel room to become 12 or 15. Perhaps that is the risk one finds with any guidebook.

Museum hours were consistently incorrect, especially for Mondays, weekends and evenings.

This book might keep you out of trouble, but it is not the guide for a budget traveler.

Lonely planet guides are absolutely invaluable for the independant adventurous budget-minded traveler, and LP Mexico is no exception. Included are informative sections on pre-departure info, cultural tips, etc. I travelled extensively throughout Mexico with the 5th edition last year, and it really got me to explore some of the remote places I otherwise wouldn't have found- such as the silver towns of Guanajuato, Zacatecas and Taxco. Plus, out of the way beaches, hard-to-find ruins, centotes, you name it. They're covered. Don't borrow you'r friend's old dog-eared copy of the 3rd of 4th edition. Spend the money on the latest edition, because price info is almost always out of date within months after printing, and an older edition is usually hopelessly out of date. I found myself disregarding their accommodations recommendations, because once a place finds its way into the LP Guide, their visitor traffic usually increases exponentially, the staff gets surly, and prices go up. If you're just going to Cancun, Mazatlan, etc, skip this book, but if you're not afraid to venture out into the 'real mexico', grab it.

I have just returned to Norway after backpacking around in Latin America for a year (of course accompanied by the Lonely Planet book). I do not claim to be an expert, but I do know what I am looking for in a travel guide.

The Mexico guide is a good, complete guide. Filled with information, history and beautiful pictures about almost every corner of this gorgeous country. Reading the whole book gives you a good update on your history and geography knowledge! (Something to do if you are trekking around by bus like I did!)

I have always been satisfied with the LP guides. The information given is good, just what you need to get around. The only negative with this book (and the reason I give it 4 and not 5 stars) is that it was completely outdated on prices etc. Another thing (that goes for most of the travel guides) is that many of the hotels that are listed in the book has gotten so much (too much?) business so that the service is down to a minimum. This we found especially in Isla Mujeres where the price was the double of what the book said, and really lousy customer service, if any.

I was extremely excited about ordering this book. I saw the 5-star reviews and thought this would be a great book to add to my real estate development collection. I was sadly mistaken and now believe that the author and his friends are behind the 5-star ratings.

This book contains a whole lot of checklists and bullet points, but lacks any clear explanations or descriptions. This seems like a half-hearted effort in which the author simply pieced together a number of his own forms and checklists. Don't get me wrong some forms are useful (hence the one star), but not useful enough to warrant the price. I quickly returned the book and recommend others to look elsewhere for real estate development info.

I found the book "GO/NO GO" to be valuable source of real estate development reference information. It's concise and to the point format made the information easy to comprehend and retain. The book has enhanced my ability to communicate complex development concepts to others. - It's a great book!

Go/No Go is the best quick reference book I've seen on Real Estate Development. I am a developer and I purchased the book for my son who is a General Contractor. I started leafing through the book and was impressed with the advice and checklists that I could use on a current project. I ended up reading the book (and stealing some ideas) before I sent it to my son. You will find good advice on subjects from entitlement issues through the "C of O" (Certificate of Occupancy). This book will definitely help you remove emotion from your decision on whether you should GO or NO GO with your investment. I also appreciate his breezy style of writing. He reduces legalese to understandable text. I highly recommend this book.

I finished reading this book just to see how bad it could get by the end. Released in September 1999, the author should have known that Y2K was already big news, even with the Everyday Joe. He writes about embedded chips (that have no need for any date or time information) failing and causing massive systems failure. He has nuclear reactors failing or being taken offline. In perhaps the most egregious error, he suggests that the NY subway could fail due to computer error -- when in reality, it is well-known that the display board at Jay Street was never correctly wired, and all switches and signals are mechanically controlled.

The plot is severely lacking. Four geeks rewrite the entire city infrastructure in two years -- and are stuck on some control passwords! A multi-billionaire wants to cheat the bank whose systems his company is rewriting!

This book has no basis in reality. Any similarity to Planet Earth as we know it is coincidental.

Mark Joseph's new novel raises some startling and often disturbing questions about the potential effects of the Y2K "bug" and the very nature of millenialism itself--all within the framework of an entertaining narrative. Joseph writes to romp here: the action is crisp, the characters are believable (due to some good research and detective work)and the plot flows full steam ahead to a conclusion we should all expect( that IS why we bought the book). There's even some interesting insight along the way. Take it for what it is, kick back, and learn a little about the "bug." All in all, a fine novel by an author who knows how to make us think "techno." Three Stars!

The book Deadline Y2K is about what might have happened on January 1st 200. It describes two interesting characters. One is a computer programer who wants to find a solution to the Y2K computer bug, and the other is a successful businessman who's only interest is making an ungodly amount of money. The story is very well written and some of the events described are very realistic. However I think that this book was prompter by some public fears that the Y2K computer glitch would do an extreme amount of damage to peoples lives. Maybe the author could have taken a more realistic approach to the situation. Overall I think it was a good book and it certainly was very interesting to read, it was hard to put down.

I bought several books on learning the piano at the same time. I found this book to be the least useful. As several other reviewers mentioned, the author's sense of humor is pathetic and he tries to throw in a "zinger" every other paragraph. "Thats's right, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, pengiums and parakeets...". Believe me. I not exaggerating on this. I cringed at almost every one of the author's attempts to be humorous. However, this was not enough to discourage me from continuing to read the book. That occurred after having to read over 50 pages before the author presented the first exercise. An excercise that it does not use a middle C hand position, requires you to move your hand, does not indicate which fingers to use for which keys, etc. After looking at this first exercise, I decided not to continue. I suspect that the author has never taught a single piano lession.

I also picked up two books called "Total Piano" and "Alfred's Basic Adult Piano Course" both of which I've found quite good so far. If you have a digital piano with a MIDI interface, check out "Teach Me Piano". I've been using it for a few days now, I can't say enough good things about this piece of software.

I have some basic knowledge on Indian classical music. I wanted to learn Electronic Keyboard and hence chose the dummies book. The first few pages were great to learn the basics. Once I crossed chapter 4 I was lost. The important thing I wanted to know was the fingerings. There is no mentioning of extending the fingerings from the basic position. I would rather prefer a lesson & practice approach. When it comes to Music (instruments), the approach must be "build one block over other". Precisely a strong foundation. The Author must emphasise more on practice sessions and most importantly the recommended No. of hours for an average beginner to get hold of the piece. I am sure the book will be really useful if I know the basics of (piano) music or if I'm a student in a music school. Last word, very nice to learn basics, misses important aspect....Fingerings....

I was looking for an introductory book for adult piano student. Although I could do without the title "dummies," the cartoons, and the jokes, the meat of this book was the best of all the others on Amazon.

Most of the other books teach very little except simple popular ditties. This book actually had -- yes -- scales and other exercises for both the left and right hands, with fingering techniques simply applied, but fully explained.

And for those who want some tunes, there are (in addition to the standard ditties) actually some worthwhile classical adaptions, such as some of the best-known themes from the Bach cantatas.

I was quite impressed with how much basic and even intermediate material was included in the book, and explained with clarity and simplicity.

Since I read music already, I was able to skip many of the first chapters and get right into the practice and technique material, so I can't comment on how clear the music-reading chapters would be for a total beginner. However, I expect that if they are as good as the rest of the material, they should be fine for that purpose as well.