This book tells you what a man Mark Mcgwire is and also tells you about his past.

It's too bad that in the rush to be one of the first books on the market about St. Louis slugger Mark McGwire, this book falls short by not including the culmination of the 1998 season with McGwire's record breaking and record setting home run accomplishments. Even so, it's a quick read, citing his accomplishments and setbacks throughout his career. In addition to presenting McGwire the athlete, we are treated to glimpses of McGwire the man - a person who clearly has his priorities in order, and lives his life and plays baseball with integrity and dignity. His is an inspiring story, especially in a time when athletes, politicians and other celebrities make headlines with their mis-deeds. McGwire is truly deserving of the respect and recognition he has received - and Rains presents that very well. While reading the book, it seemed like many of the quotes may have been lifted from previously published interviews over the years. I would have appreciated an index and a bibliography. The book also contains several typographical errors. Even so, it's one that any McGwire or Cardinals fan will want to read.

This book is a great history of McGwires baseball career, but I think in the interest to speed up the production of this book it end too quickly. By the time it is published the record was broken but it's not in the book. Nice to read about what leads up to the record however. All baseball players should read this to see the kind of man a professional should be. McGwire is a true roll modle not just a " Home Run Hero"

A Strong beginning for any Authorware user. This is the place to go if you need a quick start on Authorware. I was able to read this book and develop my first CBT in a week. (A small one!) But unlike many manuals, who just go over the commands, this actually shows you in real-word examples how to use those commands. Well worth every penny! I hope the next book is as useful as this one!

A great book for classes. I reccomeded it to several teachers for teaching authorware in a class enviroment. Covered all of the necessary topics in a smooth, straight-forward process. I expecially like the real-world examples used to illstrate each of the projects and practices worked on. It seems to focus a little too much in some of the theory at times, but for a beginner, this book is definitly the way to go.

As with all reviews, people only have all good or all bad things to say. I can definitly go with the good. This book covered everything I needed to know to learn, apply, and really make use fo Authorware. This no-nonsense approach to applying the principals of instructional design to CBT development and programming was desperatly needed. Too often we can get lost in the variables, functions, and specifics, ignoring the higher concepts, how to apply knowledge, and how to actually use these functions. Simply put, I could not have done my job without the help of this book. I can't reccommend it enough. By the way, Kudos for the design of the binder-cover for easy usage and quick access!

... the scripts don't work. The downloaded scripts are different to the ones outlined in the book (neither work) and the after sale support is non-existant.

The first book of the series was great... This rarely works and this book is no exception...

1. too many errors

2. the codes don't work.. and you don't get support from the team that put them together... you will have to be overly nice to even here... "Oh! we will get back to you" from them

3. Full e-commerce app? what is an e-commerce system without a checkout feature? they basically leave out all the meat and expect you to work at the same projects you bought the book for on your own

basically, looks more like a couple of tutorials taken from the internet and thrown together in the form of a book in a hurry to capture the market before a better one does.

LEAVE IT ON THE SHELF!!

Flash is becoming much more of an application/interface tool than ever before. This book does a good job of furthering the skills taught in the first book. While the book doesn't follow with a case study pertaining to all chapters, it does give you methods that you can pick and choose from, so that you don't necessarily need to read from beginning to end to get real and usable benefits.

I particulary enjoyed Chatper 5, which shows some very good ways of using MySQL with Flash: getting lists, details, and searching without having to load new pages or go back to previous pages...that's the good thing about Flash interfaces.

The book is a rather big step in difficulty from the first book, but worth it.

This book is poorly written, inconsistent, and not very helpful. It's also very overpriced. You might have better luck with another guide (Wetfeet.com). But avoid this as it's a waste of money and time.

This is an excellent book for undergraduates who are looking to prepare themselves for an interview in consulting or finance. I took account a couple years ago and didn't remember everything about it. But this book gives a good review of all the necessary topics that would be needed during an interview. It covers business strategy technics, marketing strategies, and finance related topics. While the review covers half of the book, another tenth is focused on some real interviews from MBA students or other companies. Another quarter is actual case interviews. The author does go through on how to answer these cases. However, the maximum length give to each case was 2 pages. To me, that was not nearly enough for a case. And also, there are only about 15 real cases, there are about 15 practice ones. The last 15 percent is dedicated to guesstimates and brainteasers.

So overall, it's a good book; however, I wish there were more cases.

Thanks Vault,

I would make sure to get the updated addition:

Vault.com Guide to Case Interviews, 3rd Edition by Mark Asher (Paperback - September 2000)

I highly recommend "Teach Yourself Korean" to any beginners at the language. It has entertaining dialogues (not dry like most other textbooks) and teaches things in a systematic format focusing on the practical application of grammar principles supplemented by useful vocabulary. After learning a principle from this book, you always seem to be able to find a way to use it in a real conversation, and my Korean friends have complimented me when I use the expressions on how natural they sound. I have also purchased the more traditional "College Korean" paperback by Rogers, You, and Richards, and would say if one had to go with one or the other, most would be better off with "Teach Yourself Korean." The books weaknesses include using only romanized Korean in the vocabulary sections and grammar explanations (though dialogues are printed in Hangul), and its lack of any kind of index. Using romanized Korean as opposed to Korean script makes verb forms and pronounciation rules needlessly confusing; a good text should include both. This book is an excellent beginners course that won't bore you, but you should get another book to accompany it, such as "Active Korean" by Song-Chol Kim.

Teach Yourself Korean is a great book if you want to learn more than just "tourist phrases." The introduction with Han-Geul was clear and easy to understand. If your first language is English, the grammar and pronunciation rules will seem strange and hard to remember at first, but this is true for most Asian languages. Since Korean is not a tonal language, such as Chinese or Vietnamese, your learning will not be hindered by worries about "singing" the words. Each section includes an introduction listing the aspects of the Korean language you will learn. The dialogues in each section aren't dry either. They contain many colloquial Korean phrases and expressions that are explained later in the chapter. The dialogues are shown in Han-Geul and are followed by McCune-Reischauer romanisations. The romanisations were one of the aspects of the book that could have been improved. Sometimes they were inconsistent with the Han-Geul and left me wondering which pronunciations were correct. The vocabulary boxes were extremely helpful, but since the words were not translated directly under the Han-Geul dialogues, I had to keep flipping pages to understand what I was reading. This ruined the flow of the conversations a little bit. The commentary was the core of the book. It explained aspects of Korean culture and taught me how to construct Korean sentences. Although the authors attempt to keep the explanations simple, some of the grammar commentary sections needed to be read and re-read in order to absorb the information. The upside of this is that repitition reinforces memory. The exercises are varied and cover a wide range of problems. The book recommends that one completes the exercises using Han-Geul, but beginners can use romanistation as well. Some of the answer keys in the back of the book provided answers that seemed strange, and this was a major hindrance for me. I would re-read the grammar commentary to see if I had missed anything, only to find out that we would learn a certain verb-construction or colloquialism in later sections. All in all, this was a great book, but it needs some polishing.

In contrast with other Korean textbooks this one is written not only for business visitors or tourists to Seoul, but also for those who really want to learn basics of Korean and be able to talk with friends about everyday topics. Another advantage is the simplified transliteration, or as they call it, romanization. The way it is done, for instance, in "Korean at a glance" just scares the reader away. In "Teach yourself Korean" romanization is quite readable. The audiocassete is extremely helpful, too. This book makes studying Korean easy and quick!

I used to love Spider-Man--and for the same reasons that everyone else did. He was fun, daring, brave and most of all, human. He failed at times, he had doubts--he was just like us. But somewhere along that way, the character changed. I lost that connection that I once felt for Peter Parker and it never seemed to return. Up until ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN was released, I hadn't read a Spidey comic since he was flying around as Captain Universe (I remember the days fondly when the true identity of the Hobgoblin was a predominate concern). But for some reason, the other current Spidey titles didn't seem to interest me.

But that changed with the release of PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN: A DAY IN THE LIFE. Written by Paul Jenkins, this collection of two separate Spidey series (WEBSPINNERS: TALES OF SPIDER-MAN #10-12 and PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN Vol. 2, #20-22 & 26) has rekindled that interest. With the same contemplative and insightful style that made his take on THE INHUMANS such a compelling read, Jenkins manages to inject poignancy and humor into this classic character again. We see the personal struggles that have weighed heavily on Peter's conscience. We relive the tragedies that besieged his life and the events (and the people) that shaped it. And best yet, we see him persevere and continue fighting the good fight.

If you like Spider-Man and would like to maintain a sense of history, especially in the wake of the "Ultimate" Spidey reboot and the film, or just want to read one of the best Spidey stories in years, I strongly suggest you pick up this TPB (trade paperback). And I'm not saying that you should disregard ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN--you shouldn't. It's a great series, too. What I am saying is that this collection is one of THE definite Spidey stories that I've read, and a great way to get back into a character that had seemingly lost his way.

Check it out!

I used to love Spider-Man--and for the same reasons that everyone else did. He was fun, daring, brave and most of all, human. He failed at times, he had doubts--he was just like us. But somewhere along that way, the character changed. I lost that connection that I once felt for Peter Parker and it never seemed to return. Up until ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN was released, I hadn't read a Spidey comic since he was flying around as Captain Universe (I remember the days fondly when the true identity of the Hobgoblin was a predominate concern). But for some reason, the other current Spidey titles didn't seem to interest me.

But that changed with the release of PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN: A DAY IN THE LIFE. Written by Paul Jenkins, this collection of two separate Spidey series (WEBSPINNERS: TALES OF SPIDER-MAN #10-12 and PETER PARKER: SPIDER-MAN Vol. 2, #20-22 & 26) has rekindled that interest. With the same contemplative and insightful style that made his take on THE INHUMANS such a compelling read, Jenkins manages to inject poignancy and humor into this classic character again. We see the personal struggles that have weighed heavily on Peter's conscience. We relive the tragedies that besieged his life and the events (and the people) that shaped it. And best yet, we see him persevere and continue fighting the good fight.

If you like Spider-Man and would like to maintain a sense of history, especially in the wake of the "Ultimate" Spidey reboot and the film, or just want to read one of the best Spidey stories in years, I strongly suggest you pick up this TPB (trade paperback). And I'm not saying that you should disregard ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN--you shouldn't. It's a great series, too. What I am saying is that this collection is one of THE definite Spidey stories that I've read, and a great way to get back into a character that had seemingly lost his way.

Check it out!

What makes Spider-Man a fascinating character is not his great powers, but the man behind the mask, Peter Parker. Spidey has enjoyed tremendous success ever since his conception nearly 40 years ago. Throughout all this time, the most unique thing about him was not the colorful suit he wears while swinging, but the simple average, all-so human Peter Parker. Stan Lee, his creator, knew that a long time ago and what better way to bring this character to life but through mastery of one of the hottest British writers of all time, Paul Jenkins.

Jenkins became a household name with his unbelievable work on the INHUMANS, but it is here in his take on Spidey that he truly does shine. His characterization is par none, he takes you on a trip into the Spider-Man saga and fills in points of history, with original art of that time, but never truly changes anything for the old reader. He makes things come to life with his words. The take on going back and forth in the past sure does display his powers as a writer. This is a man that was set to write any hero and make him out to be more human than the people you see walking the street everyday while going to work.

The whole story delves completely on Peter Parker and how his life as Spider-Man has come to be in the recent years. This is a man who has been through much and still persevered to tell the tale. He is your average guy who you might bump into while playing softball in the park or the guy next to you in the movie theater. He is a living, breathing human being and not a comic book character. At times, a person might think that he's probably too human with all his flaws and gestures. The TPB starts off with how the Chameleon, one of Spidey's first foes views him. This trip goes without saying is an in-depth look at Spidey and Peter Parker that has never been explored before. This culminates in Chapter 3 where Spidey is defined as the true character he really is. The following 4 chapters take you on a ride of how Spidey came to be through the eyes of Peter Parker. Flashbacks on his life as a child help create the man he is now and the hero he then later becomes. Jenkins takes you all the way, with a day in the life. The witty humor and the pretenses don't leave you laughing out loud, but keep giving you that smile that you carry on throughout the story. Anyone could be Spider-Man given the right circumstances, but it is only Peter Parker that makes the character who he really is. You feel the loneliness that he feels and the sadness that he carries each day with him. The loss of his loved ones, his uncle and his wife. You just learn that no matter, to be who you are, you have to learn how to laugh. In the end, that's what helps us being ourselves. That's what makes us appreciate our life for what it is. This is a smart piece of fiction, superbly written by Jenkins and drawn by the industry's top artists.

Spider-Man is a comic character, but Peter Parker is a real man in all sense of the word.

I bought this book, hoping that it would give me some insite into certain questions I had on little 'trivial (yet annoyingly persistant) question that arose with the House Party expansion pack.

This book was obviously nothing near what I had been hoping for! Yes, it gave you a printed out list on the pricing of ALL the objects in the game, but who on Earth would need that?!?! I derived nothing I did not allready know from this game, which made me a firm believer I had wasted my money.

The Sims is not an RPG, there is no *MIND BOGGLEING* test that you must accomplish to be able to proceed in the game. Having a guide takes away from the experience of discovering new things to do--BY YOUR SELF!

Heed my warning, avoid this book and discover things for yourself!

This strategy guide is good for those who have limited experience with The Sims. I'd say 95% of the book is common knowledge for those who have been playing the game for a while. The party score section is useful, but the book has several mistakes in it. For example, it states that there is 1 way to have a baby in the game, there is actually 3; it lists 10 career tracks but there are 15. I buy these guides for the hidden stuff and I was extremly dissapointed with this one. The book only discussed in full the campfire secret, it completely overlooked the pink gorrilla, boxer etc.. and did not give any details about the celebrity guest other than to acknowlege that he's in the game. Buy House Party, don't buy the book.

I find this to be an incredibly good guide. Not only does it cover two games (original Sims and House Party) in one, but it gives excellent advice. It also has a bit of humor in one section (Chapter 8) The book has a total of 15 chapters, each describing something else. While one chapter goes into detail on Sim's personalities, another talks about throwing parties. Another chapter has a buying guide, with tips on what to buy, while another chapter is dedicated to telling you who can show up at your parties and how to get them to show up. The book also has pictures. This book is very helpful if you are having trouble holding good parties in the Sims House Party.

This book was helpful to me, in contrast to what the other negative reviewers have said, but I probably could have gotten the same info from the Microsoft online help if I had looked there. I was appalled at how outdated this book was when I got it 2 years ago (Summer 2000). The advances in home networking hardware were significant and just not mentioned in this book. I have an auto-sensing switch - a choice you would never come to from this book.

The book has two authors, but either they didn't talk to eachother or there were many others involved that didn't get cover credit. There is one place where they talk about filling in the identification tab of your network applet, but it's many pages later where they tell you how to make sure that the identification tab will actually be there to fill in! At the end of one chapter there is a quick overview of why you should do backups, but they don't bother to mention that there is a whole chapter devoted to backups later in the book!!!

Finally, one big personal complaint: can all the stupid humor! Every chapter and section has to be humorous somehow, but this is at the cost of being clear and informative to the reader. I may be an "idiot", so don't confuse me with titles like "Sunny and share".

A good source for general information about home networking but it definitely lacks all the little details and the necessary information about installation. You could get the same type of information by simply consulting Microsoft help and support. Sadly, the book left me with a lot of unanswered question. I would not recommend it!

On the whole, this book is quite succinct and well written. It covers a lot of ground and because it's new, it can update the professional on the latest in connecting your home as well as serve to teach the novice about home networking.

With the advent of free PC's, the convergence of PC's and TV's and the onslaught of personal digital assistants, together with a growing number of protocols serving these devices, the underlying home networking architecture is an inevitability.

I liked the paragraph on connecting speed (P66) where the authors are trying to explain the importance of speed. They say that it " . . . doesn't just allow you to do what you would normally do faster, it allows you to do different things." You could have this as the underlying theme of the book because by networking your home you are going to be able to do what you couldn't before.

At the end of the book the authors share their vision of the future home. I particularly agree with a few of their statements: " . . . the average homebuyer will be far less tolerant than corporate network administrators." (P. 260) and "The line between home and office will continue to blur in the next millenium. In many cases, the technical capabilities of home offices will exceed those of corporate offices." (P. 262)

One thing they didn't stress was the effect home networking will have on those living in isolated regions. In fact, in generations to come, these country folk will end up with some better services than the rest of us.

I bought this as soon as I heard about it. I skimmed a couple of pages and thought it was new and that what little I read was just a reprise - but there is nothing new about this book; it's just two of Ms Lackey's already published books (Wheels of Fire (I think), and When the Bough Breaks), both from the SERRAted Edge Series. I should have suspected the possibility since this is not the first time Ms Lackey's publishers have done this (they published Knight of Ghosts and Shadows and Summoned to Tourney as a 'new' title and republished a couple of the Bardic Voices books as 'new'.) However, the fact that I have been suckered before doesn't make me any less mad! It was like getting set for a gourmet meal and finding you have been served left-overs, or worse. I ALREADY have BOTH these books, and this sort of thing just is not fair to fans!Having said that, if you have NOT read these stories in their previous incarnation, you should get this book. The stories are probably two of the grimmest and most thought provoking of Ms Lackey's tales because of their core subject matter which involves Child abuse. However, the subject is handled well and, allowing for some of the fantastic aspects of the stories, pretty accurately . There is plenty of action and, if you enjoyed the other SERRAted edge books - or even the Urban Fantasy books- where Elves occupy center stage - you will probably enjoy these stories. I would give them 3 stars for content and -3 stars for conning the fans!

Yes, I know these books are a reprint. That's because I read the back and it says in not so tiny letters: Publisher's Note: Formerly published in parts as Wheels of Fire and When the Bough Breaks.

The books are some of the best I've ever read. When you can't put the books down, when they make you cry, when they make you feel sick, that means that you are reading some darn-fine material. Both of the books deal with the matter of child abuse and torture, a subject most people don't even think about on their own time. Mercedes Lackey deftly combines Urban Fantasy with a real social issue, something I admire greatly.

Wheels of Fire is the story of the kidnapping of a young boy, a medium, and his rescue. He has been kidnapped by a fanatical cult but with the help of the elf Alinor (a race car driver) and his human mechanic/mage friend Bob, they try to save the day. It's a pretty fast-paced book and the characters are absolutely amazing. It's not a book you can put down with ease. You HAVE to know: does Jamie get out? It's postively gripping.

As for When the Bough Breaks, this book is even tougher to read than Wheels. It's a story about child abuse and the results. It deals with several young girls and a gaelic witch trapped together in one body, multiple facets of her personality. It's up to Maclyn, an elf, and Amanda's schoolteacher Lianne to save her from destroying herself and the elfhame with her out of control magic and fury.

If you like urban fantasy, stories that deal with elves and whatnot in the present day, you'll like these books a lot. They are gripping and the characterization is astounding. If you like urban fantasy but can't stomach the sometimes horrifying child abuse, read her other reprint: The Chrome Born. Chrome stars the powerful human mage Tannim and a cast of elves, kids, and kitsune.

These are my favorites of Mercedes lackey's books, even surpassing her Valdemar series. They are excellent

Enjoy!

Luckily, I had read the reviews before purchasing this title along with "When the Bough Breaks" and "Wheels of Fire." I like having two books in one! (I also own "The Chrome Borne") I've read many of M. Lackey's novels and these were most enjoyable especially because they were so DIFFERENT from the Valdemar series.
I especially like how M. Lackey and her co authors deal with modern day social grievances - in this case, severe child abuse and cult tendencies.
I used to teach emotionally disturbed adolescent females and I feel that more books like these are needed in order for society at large to understand what non-intervention does to exacerbate the problems. This is a wonderful tale of Elves, Magic, and human emotion. If only we could find the Seleighe court to help us with our society's problems! But since we can't, Lackey and her coauthors provide contact numbers and associations that can help stop the abuse in the back.
Not only a wonderful read, but also a great social commentary and it even gives you the tools to take some action!

I had high hopes for this book. Although I haven't yet read Mary Shelley's classic, (it's in my huge "to read" pile at home), I am familiar enough with the story to have been intrigued by the premise of hearing it from Elizabeth's point of view. Unfortunately, THE MEMOIRS OF ELIZABETH FRANKENSTEIN ultimately falls far short of my high hopes.

I enjoyed Elizabeth's early years, and her last few, leading up to her discovery of what her lover, Victor was really up to at school, and her eventual ill-fated encounter with "Adam". It was the stuff in between that disappointed me most. Elizabeth's adoptive mother initiates her into a bizarre secret society of women, who participate in a number of odd lesbian rituals and secret midnight meetings in the woods, where women are celebrated and men are reviled. These scenes weren't offensive or enlightening, just silly.

I'm not sure what Roszak was trying to accomplish here. Elizabeth's voice did not come across as a strong, female one; but rather a confused, manipulated girl, severely influenced by her delusional mother.

The writing is decent enough, and parts of the story are commendable, but overall, this book misses the mark.

I think that although this book is marketed as a prequel or retelling of "Frankenstein" and the author said that this is the book Mary Shelley would have written today, I would disagree. It's not written in a similar manner -- it shifts between her diary and a commentary or interpretation based on the view of her contemporaries. Although the horror aspect is still contained in "Memoirs" it is a horror that focuses on the technological worship of impersonal science. The horror also may be the sexual, psychological, political, physical, and spiritual oppression of women, all of which are explored in some manner in this book. Elizabeth's sexual explorations and themes of "witchcraft" may put some readers off of this book. My personal favorite part of this book was the ecofeminist idea that oppression of nature can be linked to oppression of women -- in other words, that science objectifies and dehumanizes both the natural world and women. These themes might seem a little "out there" to some readers, but may be fascinating to fans of women's studies or liberal minded folk. Certainly well-written.

This is a novel that works in amny levels. Of course, it is indeed, a masterful gothic. A bouquet to Mary Shelley and a very modern horror story, but beyond these layers it is also a study of the secrets of the women at a time when they were best thought of "in the dark"... and this is a dark story all right.

For those of use who longed for more about the enigmathic and tragic Elizabeth Lavenza-Frankenstein here is a book that won't be easily read, but neither will it be easily forgotten.