Don't buy this book! The stories, of course, are classic Mark Twain- one of the most thoughtful, humorous, and clear thinking writers ever born. But the Bantam edition is unreadable.
To save money, the margins run from 1/4 to 1/8 an inch. Not too bad on the outside edges, but on the inside edge near the spine the words are nearly hidden by the curve of the page. Either you break the spine to read the words, or you are forced to slide your thumb along the inner edge to reveal Twain's words. Find another edition.

It is hard to believe that one writer could create such a diverse group of stories on all kinds of subject matter; each one written with Mark Twain's unique sense of humor and extraordinary gift of imagination.
These stories also stand the test of time as they are every bit as entertaining now as they were over 100 years ago.
Some of the ones that I enjoyed the most;
The Canvasser' Tale; the story of a man's collection of echoes
The Diary of Adam and Eve; a humorous look at what Adam and Eve's first thoughts of each other and the world around them.
The McWilliamses and the Burglar Alarm.
The Californian's Tale with a twist at the end.

This collection is writing at its very best; a treasure of American story telling.

The funniest, sweetest, truest book ever written. "Political Economy" and "Science vs. Luck" are very short and howling funny. "The Diaries of Adam and Eve" will make you laugh and cry. "The Mysterious Stranger," "Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven," and "Was it Heaven, or Hell" are masterpieces of religion, ethics, and humor. "What Stumped the Bluejays" is a believable account of a sense of humor in birds.

I read this book on COM+ and I must say that it is not good. Mr. Michaelis simply does not write correctly. I must say that broken English is fine when chatting with the guys at the office, but wholy unneccessary when in print. But I guess this is a technical book so I should review my problems with the programming. While they are numerous they can best be described as "theoretical." I think the examples are very contrived. It is my opinion that Michaelis does not have a lot of real world experience. Better examples would have elevated my score on this one.

Personally, I have read a few of the Ground Up Series of books and I do like them. The book is easier to follow than many of the other books out there, However, I have found that the examples do not work when you type them in. That was a source of great fustration to me....

This book begins with a look at how to program COM using raw C++ and then transitions to ATL. This provides a superb foundation in the underlying COM internals so that it is clear how COM works under the covers. After showing how to build a COM server and Client using ATL it discusses the essential COM principals such as IDL, #import, oleautomation data types, error handling, DCOM etc. The chapter on the different threading models is especially good. Finally, it delves into the details of COM+ and builds an entire COM+ sample. The one week chapter is the chapter on events as the code is pretty complicated and the explanation lacking. In summary, this is a great book for learning COM and then a great reference book.

I was first attracted to this deck when I saw it in a specialty store in downtown Manhattan, NY. I was quite intruiged by the cover art of the box and was drawn to it and bought it.

My personal choice of decks are those of the modern theme. I find classical decks to be a tad boring. Crows Magick Tarot deck is a VERY modern deck, with clear images of creatures: crows, bears, lizards, etc. This deck is definitely not something for those who are just beginning to learn the tarot. The thing about this deck is that you will be moved to another world where your visions will be varied, and you will also find it useful to use the animals as metaphors to translate them into real people. The most important factor to consider when using this deck for reading is putting yourself in a lucid state of mind, trusting your intuitions, and tapping into your subconscious.

The artwork is enchanting, dark, but not gothic. Ignore the keywords printed on the cards because they are misleading. The accompanying booklet is also a bit off, so I completely ignored it.

I've heard on some tarot card forums that they have used this deck for spells. I'm quite familiar with spell casting as a Wiccan, but I wouldn't even attempt to do that with this one. It would just be irreverent.

This is by no means a beginner deck. If you're just starting out with tarot, try Rider-Waite, but not this one.

This is my second best deck, the first one of course is the Vertigo Tarot, which has now gone to oblivion.

This is definitely tops on my top ten favorite decks. I have been reading the tarot cards for people for several years, and I've used two or three decks before, but this one just stuck with me through the years. I have another box of this deck, unopened, just in case I lose the one I use (which will never happen).

Traditional 78 card deck, 22 major arcana and the minor arcana. The World is replaced by the words "The Universe". I would say 96% of the cards have fantastic, computer-generated graphics that are just dark and gothic. I read an interview with the author of this deck, Londa Marks, and she said this is her tribute to the animal kingdom. I was also intrigued that what inspired her to create the Crows Magick Tarot was she was lonely about the loss of her son. When she completed work on this deck, by coincidence or miracle, she was united with her son!

There are two keywoards that are printed on each card, but I personally find them quite misleading. This is by no means a beginner card. Experienced tarot card readers will either immediately connect to the fascinating imagery, or find their way around them. The astrological symbols printed on each card are also useful. For example- the Emperor has the Aries symbol on it.

For the advanced reader, I suggest that you find the softcover book that used to be very much available. Because this deck depicts mostly animals and birds, it would be useful to find out the characteristics of the animals on this deck. I also suggest that when you use this for readings, be really on a very meditative state so that you will see further into the images on the cards.

I give this deck five out of five. Thank you, Londa!

Cryptic meanings are printed on each card. Sometimes the relevance of the card to one's question is difficult to fathom. The way I overcame this was by using the cards to forecast daily events. In that way I was able to see specifically what the cards referred to in everyday reality. Based on that, I made my own notes on the meanings, and now I use the Crow's Magick Tarot quite often. The meanings of the cards are easy to understand because I am the one who supplied them. I especially enjoy the mystical touch of the cards, and this often gives greater depth to interpreting the events in my daily life. For all Tarot card decks, including this one, I supply my own meanings. I give four appropriate meanings to each card. I use only a two-card spread to answer all my questions, and the meaning of each card depends upon whether it is dealt rightside up or upside down, and its position in the two-card spread. In this way I get fantastic answers to all my questions. My system is quick and easy, and I obtain extraordinary relevance and insightfulness in all the answers I receive to my many questions.

This is without a doubt, the biggest waste of time of any Cisco Press book I ever purchased. I was VERY excited about the coverage this book promised for poorly documented topics such as Cisco Secure Policy Manager.

What a bitter disappointment. This book is as wide as the horizon and as deep as a backyard puddle.

I wish I could give this title a negative number, but I'm forced to be polite and post a "1".

I can't believe any self-respecting CCIE would attach his/her name to such a fluffy, insubstantial work of garbage.

Save your money and buy one of the specific security titles:...

I can hardly believe that this book was written by CCIEs as it contains a lot of errors. What do you think about "service ROUTER-encryption" command, phrases like "unless you are purposely using SNMP version 1, the "snmp-server community" command must be avoided at all costs (because it enables SNMP ver 1 instead of ver 2)" and so on. A lot of the text was directly borrowed from cisco IOS configuration guides without any modification. And believe me, extended numbered access lists can be edited as well as named ACLs!

This book goes hand-in-hand with the MCNS coursebook. Where the MCNS book is Wordy, this book gets right to the point and tells you how to use Cisco Secure Policy Manager and Cisco Firewalls. However, This isn't the book for you if you need to have everything explained to you in great detail. MCNS is the book for that.

This book is well written and keeps your interest. (Something that is hard to come by in the networking field of books.)

Kudo's to Andrew Mason, and Mark Newcomb for an excellent book.

This book is puzzling. It's a contorted read that breathes platitude after platitude, but does more to demonstrate how to write obscurely than with clarity. At first, I thought the book was a satire, deliberatly using ambiguity, the absence of punctuation, and the lack of clarity to make its points. But, that's clearly not the case. The authors seriously believe they are about making "truth" clearer, but then fail to make a single argument to support any of its propositions. This is one of the worst books on style and clarity I've seen. Not only is it superficial, but its grammatical and syntactical mistakes are glaring. Do the authors know anything of punctuation? IF they do, they don't show it.

This book is unique in a useful and interesting way. I agree with the negative reviews, to the extent that the book's structure as a 'useage' description was more confusing than it needed to have been. And I agree with the positive reviews, to the extent that I also recognize the philosophical issues within forceful, memorable prose. Since few other books, and virtually no intellectual traditions, look at the issues involved here, the strengths of the book are more important than the failings within the structure and the rhetoric.
One can especially see that the authors are doing something very unusual when reading their discussions of Descartes. Most intellectual traditions and institutions prattle on about 'Descartes' Error'. In fact, criticism of Descartes is so common, I would suspect that there is a book on aerobics that is built around a criticism of Descartes. The error discussed is the way in which Descartes understood and located the certainty of objective knowledge. Certainly many of our worst problems derive from intellectual traditions that rely on Descartes' error--though it is always a question of the level of culpability, regarding Descartes and his users. This book asserts that Descartes' writing style exemplified an understanding that 'truth can only be understood within the context of the speaker and audience'. Descartes' Error ostensibly springs from NOT understanding this. The authors have strong evidence, and while I'm not necessarily convinced, at least they are swimming against the current in a way that abjurs glibness and rejects mainstream intellectual glibness.
Also worthy of praise is that the authors identify, describe and discuss at length the nature of classic prose vis-a-vis the nature of all prose. They are almost hyper-aware of the fact that classic prose can only say things in a very limited way, and that classic prose is not the only--and not certainly even the best--way to be eloquent. I'll certainly give a chance to anyone aware of the holes in their perspective, and I think it is worth it for others to give them a chance too.
The one concern is that the limits of classic prose becomes an excuse for the problems that arise from it. But a more positive view of relativism is fine here, because errors here are often benign, often recognized and addressed, and usually quickly and persuasively identified for the ignorant. I won't pull down an idea that can be exploited by scoundrels no more easily than a typical idea or view. Maybe, though, there isn't enough time in the book to the limits of classic prose made clear by the use of the word 'classic'--i.e., that ideas outside the 'classical' mainstream or the everyday mainstream can't be integrated into classic prose, or proven to be worthy of inclusion in the 'classics' through a defense written in classical prose. For example, I could never say 'classically', "Each man faces his culture as Winston Smith or Winston Rodney," because the eloquence of the statement can't make people more familiar with reggae music, and if you don't know much about reggae, Rastafarianism, or the artist Burning Spear (Christian name: Winston Rodney), then you can't understand or recognize the eloquence or cleverness or usefulness of the equation. Orwell's 1984, though, is almost too 'classically' prominent. How then do we expand the classics?

Contrary to other reviewers, I have found this book wonderfully useful. It was not written as a how-to book, but the style -- indeed the whole philosophy that the truth is both pure and simple -- is refreshing and enticing. While Oscar Wilde didn't believe it, neither did he believe half of what he himself said.

The writing is clear and pure. Classic style does not portend to talk down to the reader, but assumes that she is capable of understanding the concepts presented. It is a style to intelligently present information and ideas for the consumption of the intelligent. And, as the authors rightly point out, there are frequently other styles appropriate for other things. Unlike other books about writing style (the best of which is perhaps Williams' "Style"), this book does not give rules or advice, but simply observes and inspires.

To me, this book is the prosaic equivalent of Edward Tufte's books on visual design (and Robert Bringhurst on typography). I re-read these books regularly, and try to follow their intelligent examples.

Mr. Anthony has went from a good first book in a downhill slide.Ending with the second book and throughout this book the main "heroes" mostly seem to be boy gets boy scenario instead of the usual.Though this may appeal to some,the majority of readers would be more likely to relate to a hero who's after the princess instead of the knight.

This book took me a while to get into. It had been a while since I read the other two books in the series, so I had to re-figure out all the characters. I like the variety of characters in the book. Each new character adds something to the mix. However, some characters are ignored after the first section, which is odd--because they could figure into the rest of the book.

Some of the very enjoyable characters in this book are Marji, Mitchell & Davis (the cowboys), Ellie (the chimp), Glinda, and the fairy. The usual characters are still interesting, but I felt like the whole "who does he really love" thing was getting old after a while.

All the characters come to face their greatest fears. Grace finds out who her parents really are (now THAT'S a plot twist I didn't see coming). Travis still has to figure out where he belongs, but at least he is not as wimpy in this book as in others. Aryn has many things to figure out in this book, and it isn't quite known if she does figure them out.

This book is about defeating evil, in its many forms. Duratek and the Seekers play prominently in this book. Some interesting clues are given throughout the book to lead readers to other things. I call this book a placeholder because while it does advance the series, it still seems that there is something larger on the horizon, and this is just a prelude.

I would recommend this book.

I guess I'm one of the few people who is enjoying this series more with each book. I liked this book just as much as the first two. I like the fact that the author is able to juggle a number of subplots and keep them all interesting, whether they're occurring on Earth involving the Seekers and Duratek, or on the alternate world named Eldh involving gods, myths and magic.

I have no problem with the increasing number of characters in the book, in fact I think it adds to the story since each character brings something unique into the mix. Mr. Anthony has managed to give us some essential scenes with each of the characters, revealing some of their motivations and secrets, making them that much more real. All are essential to the plot. It's interesting to see how the friendships are growing and the romantic interests are weaving together. In each book, the characters have been evolving and deepening. Some reviewers seem to have a problem with the way some of the relationships appear to be developing, but to me, the characters have become so familiar and so real that their yearnings and growing awareness are all the more poignant. How can you not wish them well?

In this third book of the series, Travis and Grace return to Earth to seek medical care for the gravely wounded knight, Beltan. However, while there, the evil Duratek Corporation (who are planning to rape the ecological resources of the world Eldh) have managed to locate them due to the betrayal of a friend, have captured Beltan, and plan to conduct medical experiments on him. Travis and Grace are forced to turn to the Seekers for assistance. Meanwhile, back on Eldh, Melia, Falken and the others travel to the fabled city of Tarras to find out who is killing the New Gods. Grace and Travis are finally forced to come to terms with the shadows of their pasts that have haunted them all of their lives. This, of course, is a great simplification of the plot, which has many more twists and turns, trials and tribulations. It is a fast-moving, interesting, and enjoyable story, and I for one am looking forward to Book Four.

It is bunch of baloney. I undestand it is possible to interprete Egyptian culture and spirituality not only from the from the standpoint of professional Egyptologists. Without doubt one can wirite about Egyptian deities (netroo) and rituals e.g. from the point of view of Hermeticist. But author's theses about four fundamental physical forces, about physical cosmology etc. are shocking and unheard-of. Ths way of thinking goes astray.

This is a good book, however the author clearly shows that he is but a beginner in this subject. This is a good book for beginners in egyptian cosmology being that Gadalla's explainations are not wrong just incomplete. The true nature and purpose of egyptian cosmology is much deeper than the author suggests. Read this book then read Ra Un Nefer Amen's "Metu Neter Vol I & II" for the definitive explaination of egyptian cosmology. If you want only but a brief description of this topic this book is a good buy but trust me you will thirst for more so it might be wise to leave this book on the shelf and pick up Ra Un Nefer Amen's works instead.

Gadalla does an excellent job of pulling together the myriad aspects of ancient Egyptian religion and symbolism and presenting it as a complete, unified, and understandable system. It is so easy for modern western monotheists to simply dismiss ancient Egyptian religion as bizarre polytheism, where even animals are worshiped as gods (and so it seemd even to the average ancient Greek and Roman!) After reading this book, however, I came away with a deep appreciation of Egyptian thought and philosophy. In fact, their world view is not so alien from our own as aspects of their thought was picked up Pythagoras and other ancient western philosophers and so comprises some of our own world view today.

My only quibble with the book is that the author tries to show that the ancient Egyptians "had it right all along" by comparing their beliefs with what modern science teaches about the way the world works. No problem with this, except I caught a few errors in his understanding of science. Also, he is not too subtle in suggesting that the world might be a better place if we returned to believing this ancient "truth". But is is easy to overlook the author's advocacy because his explaination is so clear and thorough.

Unless you know a lot about Mormon history, and about the Hoffman bombings, this book can only confuse. It's poorly written, a long recitation of facts and supposed facts. It reads like an attempt to defend the Mormon church, rather than provide any history or narrative. It's unfortunate, because it's certainly a fascinating subject.

After reading this, the only thing I wanted to do was re-read A Gathering of Saints, Robert Lindsey's book about the same period.

This is one of several books written in the wake of the murders and forgeries committed by Mark Hofmann in the early 1980s. Hofmann forged hundreds of documents, but it his forgeries affecting Mormon history is the focus of this work. Several of these forgeries went to the heart of Mormon origins, and were done in an apparent effort to embarrass The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In financial trouble, Hofmann murdered Steven Christensen and Kathleen Sheets to delay discovery of his duplicity.

Turley begins his account by reviewing the canonical account of the Church's origins and a history of other prominent forgeries intended to discredit the Church. Turley then goes over the history of the Hofmann case. An appendix lists all known documents acquired by the Church from Hofmann. Unlike other writers, he had access to a wealth of Church documents. The result is a well-documented account presenting the Church's side of the story. Though he is hardly objective in his account, he avoids the sensationalism characteristic of the so-called true crime novel. His tone is mainly that of a scholarly historian.

The Hofmann case is extremely complicated, involving Church officials, Mormon historians, document dealers, journalists, law enforcement officers, attorneys, and others. Turley attempted to keep the major characters in focus, but the reader is still liable to get lost. I found myself going back over previous material several times to keep everything straight. Fortunately, this book contains an index.

Complicating things further, Turley often digresses from the narrative. Sometimes, the digressions are faith-promoting stories more suited to Church magazines. In others, they seem like personal attacks against real or perceived enemies of the Church. Turley also occasionally pauses to score an apologetic point. Turley should have omitted these things entirely or relegated all of this to the notes. This material is not very appropriate to what is supposed to be a scholarly history.

Hofmann said he was not afraid of being caught by divine inspiration (316). Some people have raised the question of why the Church's "prophets, seers, and revelators" did not detect Hofmann's forgeries. To his credit, Turley does not attempt to answer this question. While this is perhaps an interesting theological question, it would be out of place to try to answer it in a historical work.

This book exists in relationship to other books on the Hofmann case. Turley has relegated most of the direct interaction to the notes. Discerning Turley's intent concerning these books is not easy without reading them. It seems clear he wants to refute the work of Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith (The Mormon Murders [New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988]). Other sources tell me this work is most distorted account of the Hofmann case. Richard Lindsey's A Gathering of Saints (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988) is not mentioned as often. Turley may be correcting misconceptions, but does not accuse Lindsey of willful distortion.

Though Turley perhaps comments on Linda Sillitoe and Allen D. Roberts' Salamander (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1988) the most, the relationship is harder to discern. Some Latter- day Saints portray Signature Books as an anti-Mormon press, but Turley is rarely dismissive of the book. At times, he may be trying to refute it. Sometimes he treats it as though its perceived misconceptions were due to lack of information available to him. At other times, he accepts its information at face value. It will be interesting to see if and how the second edition of Salamander deals with Victims.

The weaknesses aside, Turley has given us a well-balanced account of the Hofmann case. What it loses in complexity is more than made up for by its thoroughness. It is remarkably free from speculation, and highly recommended for those looking for a book placing the focus of the Hofmann case there it belongs: on Hofmann's victims.

The first reviewer to this book is probably robert lindsey himself, or at least some one who's trying to slyly sway the opinion of some unsuspecting shopper toward the 'anti' end of the spectrum.

Amusing and brisk, "Welcome to Higby" could have been called "Melrose Place, Mississippi"--although Dunn's ear for dialogue is far superior to any trashy sitcom's script. I admit I couldn't put it down, and I certainly laughed out loud on several occasions. Yet, like a television comedy you just can't stop watching in spite of yourself, Dunn's sophomore effort will undoubtedly fade quickly from memory.

The novel follows the adventures of a large number of Higby's residents over Labor Day weekend in 1993, and there are some truly crazy and truly troubled and truly loveable people in this town. The kind but insecure Euless Ludlam and the homely and lonely Carmen Valentine are certainly favorites, while the put-upon and illiterate (but fully reformed) ex-convict Bowmar Stambler can be my neighbor anytime.

Another reviewer's rant disparaging the "stock characters" isn't in the least fair: In what Southern town would these people be cliches? To cite just one example, I didn't fully realize until halfway through the book that the Leigh sisters, neither of whom match any type I've ever imagined, were "people of color" (to use the author's expression). Yes, the plot may be predictable--a bit too predictable, in fact--but the characters, their beliefs, and their behaviors certainly are not. Still, I agree that the novel occasionally go so far over the top that it turns from sitcom to farce: a vegan fundamentalist Christian cult that kidnaps wayward drunks and imprisons them until they become complacent believers? What's the point?

If you're looking for an undemanding, eccentric romp, you may well enjoy the hijinks of the inhabitants of Higby. It's a nice place to visit...

This is a feel good story about a whole bunch of small town characters told in short rapid fire chapters. There is nothing special about the plot, and the characters certainly aren't deeply drawn. As light reading, I kind of liked the book. The characters are often fun, sometimes fresh, and it is fun how so many of the characters will appear, exit, and then re-appear some time later. It is multi-generational, and ranges over the entire middle class, even upper lower class! The book isn't mawkish, and fails only when attempting to meaningfully depict personality change (one partial exception being a lonely woman who meets her man). Let me confess that I stopped reading the biblical quotes which begin each chapter, and perhaps I did not properly appreciate the deeper significance of the work and its themes of salvation and redemption.

Mark Dunn's new book is the perfect antidote to winter chill. Curl up with it in front of a fireplace while a blizzard rages outside, and watch it warm your heart and cheer your soul. Set in a small town in the Bible Belt south, the book traces the lives of several characters, including a despondent minister, a sagacious masseuse, the local male heartthrob and several cultists, over a Labor Day weekend. Stereotypes quickly fade in the author's able hands, as he weaves a tale of his characters' endearing foibles and takes the plot round some unexpected twists and turns. There are some absolutely hilarious passages, written with a deadpan humor that had me laughing out loud in the middle of the night. The book is in many ways richer than the author's award-winning "Ella Minnow Pea", and demonstrates Dunn's extraordinary versatility as a writer - the subtext is more subtle, the humor more biting, the author's command of setting and tone more skilled. Well done!

Poor Editing. Full of printing errors in the practice tests

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I appreciated the concise and to-the-point style. I found it easier to brush up on my quantitative and verbal skills with this book than with other GMAT books. If you are short on time then this book would be a good choice. However, the sheer volume of errors really bugged the hell out of me. Most of them are stupid editing errors (occurring on virtually every page), but I also found some critical errors with the practice questions. The massive number of mistakes detracted from my ability to study effectively because I was always second-guessing the book. I found this to be an unforgiveable sin for a test prep book and so I only give two stars instead of four.

I highly recommend this book. Small in price and page length, but packed with practical skill-building materials that don't insult the reader's intelligence. Explanations for practice questions are the most thorough of any GMAT book I've seen. Kudos! What I liked best is that the author provides online support for the book. (Why don't more authors do this?) At the end of each lesson the reader is referred to online materials (at the author's web site) that supplement the lesson. Cool!