I ordered this book expecting something comparable to Prima's strategy guide for SimCity 3KU (which is huge, rich, and utterly indispensible). Not even remotely. I knew I was in trouble when the table of contents did not match the pagination of the book (and it was way off -- not just by a page or two).

Most of this too-slim-for-the-price volume is pure filler: a grainy B&W photo catalog of all the objects Sims can buy (information which is readily accessible within the game, and of little strategic value anyhow), and way, way too many tedious B&W screenshots of the author's own gameplay, supposedly for illustration.

It contains a few bits of useful information -- such as detailed tables of the Careers (jobs, hours, salary, promotion criteria) -- all of which and more is available on the Web.

It also contains enough glaring falsehoods (e.g., that Sim kids can't use dishwashers) to suggest that the author played the game just long enough to crank out this piece of softbound kindling .

If you're really interested in getting the most out of the game, do yourself a favor: give this book a miss and head for one of the thousands of fan sites and BBSs instead.

cool stuff, but how much of this isn't available free, online, if you bothered to look ?? A great purchase for the lazy (and Newbies - Bob or otherwise) but if you have the slightest motivation Google has cleared it all up for you already.

If you want this book - and you have any of the add on packs - buy The Sims: 5 Complete Strategy Guides, it is cheaper than buying any 2 of the other packs together, and you can get them special with sims unleashed(lets all see how long that lasts). But this book alone is a great buy, even with an add on pack.

I thought (and still think) that it is a good idea to write such books. Well written standard specifications (in terms of readability and immediate applicability) are rare, too often they are too dry or "academic" for immediate use in all-day programming practice (best example is the MIME specification, which stretches across several complex RFCs, which constantly reference to each other).

This is where "companion" books like this come in, providing the reader with guideance, with information about real life situations and examples. They point out pitfalls, emphasize parts of the specs that are "more important" than others, or are (or can be) implemented differently in reality.

Alas, in my opinion the book falls short of achieving this goal. It barely does more than picking (sometimes random) parts of the specs and retelling them in the author's own words.

I have yet to find a book about email that doesn't confuse its reader with acronyms. It seems there is an internal competition between authors of these books to squeeze MTA, MUA, MDA and MRA in one sentence as often as possible.

Another example of the author confusing the reader is that the text keeps mentioning gateways to other (proprietary, non-internet) mail systems, and that/how messages must be converted between these different mail systems. While it's OK to mention this *once* in the introduction, this is clearly not the focus of this book, as it is geared towards folks who write software that handles INTERNET MAIL messages, and not gateway implementors (at least this is how I interpret the book's title).

Also, quite often there is bad coverage of the real world. For example, two chapters are devoted to understanding and implementing MIME, including a lenghtly explanation of "interesting" message types like message/external-body and message/partial (both of which I knew of, but have never ever encountered in my work that includes a fair amount of mail
programming). On the other hand, the "multipart/alternative" type (which is very common in today's email world - ever got a message from Amazon.com?) is barely mentioned at the very end of the MIME discussion.

All in all, it's a good idea from O'Reilly to have such a book, but the execution definitely needs polishing.

Bought this book to learn more about how email works so I could fight all the spam I am receiving. I did learn a lot about headers and how email works in general, but it didn't answer all my questions. Still, if you're looking for a general overview on email, this is a good book for the money.

This book is an excellent introduction to e-mail programming and protocols. It is as easy to read as any novel, explains everything neatly and concisely, and provides excellent examples.

This covers what a mail server does and how it works, but really concentrates on mail client-server interaction. It goes into SMTP, ESMTP, MIME, POP3, IMAP, and vCard format. The examples are clear and concise, and it includes actual code in Perl and Java. This provides the reader with excellent, platform independent ways to do what they need to do.

The writing style is excellent. One of the most fluid technical books I've ever read. In fact, all I needed was one Sunday to read the book from front to back.

The code provided is superb. It's easy to use, easy to understand, and aides in the learning process. For me, the code is invaluable. It has personally saved me countless hours of work.

Finally, this book doesn't delve in tremendous detail. It tells the reader how to program for e-mail, but doesn't go into the RFC's as much as many people would like it to. I think, however, that this is a real strength. Many technical books bog the reader down with irrelevant information. This books avoids this, but still gives the user information on how to retrieve any additional information if needed.

Though there are not many e-mail programming books out there, this is by far the best one. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

As has already been noted, one of the biggest and most glaring problems with this guide is when it instructs you to equip a Revolver that you don't have. Specifically, when you reach the Coastal Ruins, the guide instructs you to "quickly equip the Revolver with LaserSight." The thing is, you don't have one because the revolver isn't available until much later in the game, when you reach the City of the Dead. (Where the guide states that you can "pick up a Revolver, if you don't have it already." Of course, you wouldn't have it already because it's not possible to get it before then.) The trick, actually, is to equip either the Crossbow to fire at the targets, follow the strategy another reviewer stated of using the grenade launcher followed by the shotgun, or load a super grenade into the grenade launcher and then one blow can take out all nine targets.

If this was the only problem, then perhaps the guide would still be worthwhile. This guide, however, also completely misses out on many cool secrets. This is absolutely insane, as the spine states "ALL SECRETS REVEALED." Yet it misses two very easy secrets at the beginning of the Valley of the Kings, making this a blatant lie!

Edit--- okay, so now I realize that the book actually does reveal all secrets- *in a separate section in the book of the book that isn't mentioned anywhere in the course of the normal text!* How, I ask, is that helpful? (Which means, of course, that they stuck in some time after they were originally finished writing the guide, just so they could claim on the cover, "All Secrets Revealed." Sorry, doesn't wash.)

Add in descriptions that often confusing (despite provided photos) and you have a guide that, while it may get you through the game, is definitely not worth of the title of "Prima's Official Strategy Guide." Don't buy this strategy guide. Instead, just locate one of the many walkthroughs available online. Not only are you more likely to get complete information because site readers can e-mail in if the guide-writer misses something, but you can also check against other walkthroughs to make sure you're not missing anything. The only problems I see with this is if you must have something to hold in your hands (you could print one, if you don't mind using up printer ink, or you have a hookup where you can print stuff for free), or if you don't have Internet access (in which case you wouldn't be reading this.)

This book is a "must have" to get through this game. I would have given up on the game long ago without it! The problem is when you get to Alexandria, you need the revolver and the book doesn't tell how to get it. I haven't found it but I found an alternative way to shoot the targets: Put wide shot ammo in your shotgun and the equip yourself with the grenade launcher. Slide down the ramp to the target area and jump up and fire the grenade launcher. This will get all lower targets. Immediately grab your shotgun and jump to shoot the remaining three targets. With luck, you will get all targets and receive the token for the trouble.

THIS GAME IS FILLED WITH CHALLENGING LEVELS AND PUZZLES. BATTLE NEW AND OLD ENEMIES. BUT OVERCOME IT ALL WITH PRIMAS TOMB RAIDER THE LAST REVELATION STRATEGY GUIDE. IN DEPTH STRATEGY GUIDE FROM THE FIRST TO LAST LEVEL TO AN ANCIENT BAD GUY. CONQUER ALL THE PUZZLES DEFEAT ALL THE ENEMYS AND MAKE IT BACK TO ENGLAND FOR TEA WITH HELP FROM PRIMAS STRATEGY GUIDE.

Considering the reputation of the primary author, I found the book to be ponderous to read and seemingly focused more on what the authors wanted to discuss than what might be really useful to students and those practicing M&A. The authors should have sought a more appropriate balance between theory and practice. This tome is weighted in favor of theory. It seems to spend more time addressing societal issues and issues of government policy than addressing the mechanics of how to plan for and implement transactions. In fact, only the last few pages of the book deal superficially with an approach to doing M&A.

The book also assumes substantial knowledge of accounting, finance and economics on the part of the reader. The dearth of examples also hinders the readers ability to readily understand how to apply complex concepts explained in torturous paragraphs of prose. It would have been helpful to use more illustrations to communicate concepts that are difficult for those of us that don't have Phds to understand.

Thankfully, there are other books that are far more helpful in explaining both theory and application of M&A. I have found Mckinsey's book on Measuring and Managing Valuation to be a much better guide to understanding how to apply complex valuation techniques. Integration methodology is well explained in Marks and Clemente's Winning at Mergers. For an excellent detailed overview of M&A, see Depamphlis Mergers Acquisitions and Other Restructuring or Weston's other, more recent book on M&A.

The book is really only useful for those interested in a literature survey, discussion of public policy, and somewhat tedious discussion of theoretical concepts.

On balance, this book provides a good overview of the subject and of recent academic studies. However, it is often theoretical and "ivory-towerish." There is relatively little that really instructs the reader about transactions are actually done. A great deal of time is devoted to discussing why they occur, but little practical insight is provided as to the challenges and issues that must be resolved. This book may be suitable for someone who is curious and interested in reading about M&A but provides little guidance for those interested in learning how to undertake transactions.

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
As concerns the practice of alchemy this statement is important,
is it not? Could someone please explain how this statement is satanic? Should I spin the record backwards in order to reveal the hidden satanic message?
I've not yet progressed far into the book, yet have already found a few items to object to, such as, the phrasing of the word alchemy as "all-chemistry", the root of the word doesn't bear this out, which is < OF < Med.L < Ar. al-kimiya, < LGk. chymeia < Gk. chyma [meaning] "molten metal". And yet, perhaps this is a relevant conotation.
My main concern occurs on page 25, "In my historical experiences preceding my ascension-which was identical in its raising action to the elevation of Jesus the Christ-...", this bothers me far more than the possibilty that the Beatles might be satanic.
Also the Beatles being called satanic bothers me, though I'm not a Beatles "fanatic", let us not forget the Sin of the Holy Ghost, which concerns due deliberation before pronouncing something as evil.
This book should probably be read after reading something such as Denise Hauck's "The Emerald Tablet-Alchemy for Personal Transformation".

Be there nothing so fair as this propspect by which I may in the recesses of the night transform this vessel from the appearance of a man to that of a night bird! O, that I might prey on mine enemies and smite them unseen. O, that I should amass jewels and treasure, all for the fiefdom which the prince of the East most unjustly has assumed and made his lesser bailliwick, my father not being in the spirit of discerning judgment when last he drew breath. Would that this scribe had so enabled me, for a mere part is not enough.

M stated: "This book actually states that the Beatles have Satanic origins. Page 173. After reading that page I had to put the book down I was laughing so hard."

Here is the complete paragraph on page 173:
"The destructive energies which poured through the Beatles and entered the subconscious minds of the youth... are gradually working their way to the surface, revealing their true colors and Satanic Origins"

Now here is what was left out:
"These unholy emanations have drawn many young souls into the mistaken belief that the taking of drugs... and illicit sex can give them freedom from all imposed limitations..."

Making a connection between drug abuse, illicit sex and rock music does not seem to me to be such a funny joke or such a far-fetched idea.

I get more out of this book each time I read it. Thanks M for getting me to reread that part!

searshing for books is very amazing in Amazone.com but i wish if we (customers )have more information about authers where do they teach; thier email andsome things like that so we could make our desecion

If you want to implement a compression scheme fast easily, or to have general knowledge about compression algorithms this is a very good book. If you really want to deeply understand compression algorithms, to have some kind of insight about them, and to know about the best algorithms available today - this book is has less benefit (understatement).

PROs: 1. It is one of very few books on data compression available on the market. 2. Description of the IDEAS of compression techniques is very well written. 3. The books comes with the C code for most algorithms. 4. Fairly wide scope of data compression techniques is presented.

CONs: 1. Possibly for copyright reasons, the formats of commonly used file formats are not disclosed; the enclosed propgrams are generic compression algorithms, which do not create (or open) actual .ZIP, .ARC, or .JPG files, which can be opened by commercial programs. Therefore, this book will not help you to open standard compressed files from your home-made programs. 2. There is a missing link between the well described ideas (general principles) of the compression techniques, and their actual algorithms presented as C programs - namely, the algorithms are not described verbally. You have to analyze typically 6-page-long programs to understand how the actual encoding is done. 3. Although there is a section on sound compression, the MP3 standard is not explained. The same applies to MPEG.

SUMMARY: Good to get a general idea how the data compression is performed. Helpful if you want to develop your own compressed data format. Of very limited help if you want to work with standard compressed files in your own program. Requires knowledge of C and some time to study the enclosed code.

This book's coverage of JavaScript is spotty at best. Not even close to being worth the trees it took to print this thing.

This book is a total waste of money if you are seriouly thinking about programming in JavaScript. It doesn't have good examples in fact not once in the book does it even give an example of how to do a roll-over. I thought complete meant complete. This is a waste of money look toward WROX Press or O'Reily.

This is definately a great choice for anyone trying to learn, continue to learn, or master JavaScript. This book can be considered a tool. With several examples in every chapter and definitions, this book has been real useful to me. As a webmaster on the net, and a person who has learned the programming on his own, I strongly would reccommend this book to all!

This is probably the worst book I have read on C++ to date. The author does not clearly explain the details of the C++ language or how to implement them. Contrary to some of the other comments, I believe this book is NOT a good choice for someone learning data structures and algorithms for the first time.

I am writing this review of Data Structures and Problem Solving Using C++ by Mark Allen Weiss on the heels of completing an undergraduate course in data structures. On a scale of 5 ( being the best ) and 1 ( being the worst), I would rate this text at a 2. I am being generous because I don't want to underestimate the possibility of this book having some future usefullness.

Mr. Weiss has an impressive academic record. With a PhD from Princeton in Computer Science and having studied under Dr. Sedgewick, a king of algorithms, he now teaches at Florida International University. Clearly, he is an authority on the subject. However, he should pursue something other than writing textbooks. Let's examine the flaws in his approach.

The author works heartily to impress you with his ability to demonstrate proofs for algorithms. He illustrates various proofs throughout the text and gives a liberal discussion of each. He then provides implementations of each algorithm and spends considerable time discussing the C++ language statements that are used. What he never does adequately is to provide a discussion of data structures and algorithms absent the details which distract the reader of an introductory text. As a point of comparison and constrast, I ask you to consult Data Structures with C++ using STL by William Ford/William Topp.

Consider the study of stacks and how compilers utilize them to evaluate expressions. This is a subject taught in every data structures class. Let's examine the approaches of Weiss and Ford/Topp.

Pages devoted to the topic. Weiss ( 38 ) vs Ford/Topp ( 45 )
Number of tables+figures(excluding code listings) Weiss( 5 ) vs Ford/Topp( 27 )
Pages devoted to writing about data structures ( not C++ implementation ) Weiss ( 8 ) vs Ford/Topp ( 17 )
Questions at the end of chapter with solutions provided . Weiss ( 0 ) vs Ford/Topp ( 11 )

From the brief analysis above, you may recognize a pattern that Dr. Weiss himself admits to following in the writing of his book. In the preface, he says that "fundamental choices need to be made including ... level of mathematical rigor, balance between implementation of data structures and their use ... and programming details related to language chosen ". Regrettably Dr. Weiss has made poor choices on all three areas.

First, the mathematical rigor which might be highly valued in a graduate level text is seen here as a mere annoyance. Second, the balance between implementation and their use is skewed toward the former when it is needed toward the latter. Finally, students who have had adequate instruction in C++ do not need to be led by the hand as the author guides the reader through an implementation. Too many other authors do a much better job with C++ than Dr. Weiss ( read Schildt, Meyers, many more ). Dr. Weiss would be well advised to keep the code examples in play but cut out the narratives on the code.

I was able to do well in my class because I recognized the deficiencies in Dr. Weiss' book and quickly abandoned it in favor of the Topp/Ford text.

On a final note of disappointment, the binding of this book, purchased brand new, failed after just two weeks. I treat my books with respect and in the last twenty years have had only one other occasion of a binding failure ( the pages separate from the web and glue that holds everything together ). My bookseller replaced the text without question.

You will probably be required to buy this book for your data structures class ( as I was ). It is a sad waste of money but many faculty remain impressed with Dr. Weiss' output. I recommend buying a used version ( absent the broken bindings ) and gettinf another readable text from a different author. To be fair, I did give this book a 2 rather than a 1 ( worst ) on a scale of 1 to 5. Since I am planning graduate study in computer science, I believe that the book might hold some value as a reference for the very items that I criticize here. That is, the proofs might be of some interest in a advanced data structures or advanced algorithms course.

This book gave a lot of useful examples for code in programs and defined the algorithms clearly.

I admit that I didn't do more than skim this book. As a horror fan I couldn't get past the authors' factual error in stating that the early 1990's was a pinnacle of horror. WRONG! In terms of the number of horror films released the height would be the mid-1980's. In terms of box office returns it would be the mid-1970's (The Exorcist, Jaws, The Omen, Carrie, Halloween). We are now (2002) at a much higher peak for horror than the period that the Professor calls the pinnacle; the early 1990's was actually a nadir.

The first exasperating aspect of this book is its overambitiousness. Through some divine insight, it purports to explain ALL of American culture (almost) through the trope of the gothic. Forrest Gump, Tonya Harding, Walt Whitman, Wordsworth. They're all in there. Moreover, it uses broad brush strokes that hide more than they reveal. Its second offensive characteristic is a tone that's self-righteous. It stands far above the foibles of all these pathetically mortal characters.

Edmundson has got hold of a powerful idea here: that strategies and characters of Gothic literature have burst out of the realm of fiction and infiltrated our public life. While he sometimes pushes his broadly defined notion of the Gothic too far (it sometimes it seems as if everything belongs to the realm of the Gothic depending on his say so), for the most part he does stick to his original definition of a hero/villain, haunted structures, seduced and screaming heroines and the occasional heroic rescuer.

He suggests, quite believably, that the powerful Gothic themes, have been used by Marx (the capitalist as vampire), and by Freud (humanity haunted by the past, in the grip of infantile memory which dooms us to behavior we can never fully escape except with the help of modernist magicians like Freud). Moving from the talk show (where families reenact Gothic scripts wherein hero/villains describe their inexplicably destructive behavior without understanding or regret as their families hurl abuse at them), to movies (pick just about anything including Disney films), Edmundson strikes at the root of the malevolent vine of the Gothic, a vine which snakes through our political life - Gothic monsters such as Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, through our social life - our collective perception that we are in danger even in the most benign circumstances.

He does see hope for using the Gothic the way it was intended: to throw off the dead hand of the past, originally the aristocratic, then the plutocratic, or therapeutic, now bureaucratic hand of power and discipline. His writings on Freud are particularly incisive on the therapeutic hand. Here's a quote: "Freud, in his most resolutely Gothic moods, believed that we never forget anything, so that every past moment is stored somewhere in the psyche... He also thought, at least at times, that *any* negative event that befalls us -- no matter how apparently contingent -- is in some measure the result of our guilty need for punishment, our wish to self-destruct. Edmundson also notes that Foucualt and Derrida and other "new" critics favor the Gothic as well. And if you think of Foucault's evocative prose style, and Derrida's "terrorism," Edmundson has a point, a minor point, but a point nonetheless.

The Cold War Gothic has now been replaced by the Terrorist Gothic, the apocalyptic version of Gothicism. George W. Bush whips up the external apocalyptic Gothic, while at the same time we're being terrorized internally by the second variety of the Gothic - the "terror" gothic - in this case, the recession terror gothic. The Gothic can be a powerful tool for critiquing the status quo. The problem is, it has become the status quo, and, unlike "healthy" Gothic horror, it never opens out into new territory now. Instead, we're all doomed, doomed, doomed!. Edmundson notes a few exceptions: the first Nightmare on Elm Street by Wes Craven for one. I heartily agree on that score!

This book reads like it was written for four-year-olds and doesn't say anything more than the manual would. (If there was a manual.) Don't even bother ...

This is the latest in the Prima's series of Official Strategy Guides for the Sims and it's expansion packs. As with the previous books for the expansion packs, the first half of the book deals with the basic strategies of playing The Sims regardless what expansion packs you have. If you've bought a previous book in the Prima series, you'll want to go right to the second half of the book.

There's not a lot of earth-shaking information here. A Sims junkie with any Internet skills can probably find all the information that's in this book. But if you depend only on what you find online, you'll find lots of incorrect garbage as well. What you find in this book you can take to the bank as being correct. You also won't find all this information in one place online, and it won't be organized as well.

If you're looking for some previously unknown secret to be revealed, you won't find it in this book. If you want a little more insight into The Sims, and the Unleased expansion pack, you'll find it here. The insight I gained from this book has helped me enjoy the game a little more. I have no regrets about buying the book.

I love having pets for the sims. This helps a lot. But I have to say that the game stinks.