This four-part story that spans the entire "Star Trek" universe (until the fifth show arrives, that is) begins spectacularly, continues well, and almost peters out before returning with a bang. The first segment, "First Strike," takes place in the 23rd Century and depicts Kirk as a hero in both his accomplishments as a warrior (impressing even the Klingons) and in his determined efforts as a diplomat who wants to avoid the war in the first place. "First Strike" could easily stand on its own. But "Soldiers of Fear" fortunately avoids the danger of becoming just a remake/sequel to "First Strike." The added element of new technology for the villainous Furies -- a weapon that strikes at the very minds of the Enterprise crew -- creates an interesting element that maintains our fascination with the story. Then the whole thing goes south in "Time's Enemy." The initial premise -- involving time travel and the mysterious appearance of a centuries-old Defiant -- is certainly intriguing, but the story itself is rather dull and turns out to have very little to do with the Furies story as a whole. In my opinion, it is completely unnecessary, especially considering that the fourth segment, "The Final Fury," picks up exactly where the second segment left off. I wasn't much of a "Voyager" viewer at the time, but I became interested in the series when "Invasion" so fluidly continued the same story from the original characters to the Next Generation to Voyager. I would definitely recommend "Invasion." But skip the DS9 segment, which is as boring and pointless as the other three segments are exciting and epic. Well, three out of four ain't bad.

This was an immensely spellbinding and interesting read... The concept of having such a wonderfully continuous storyline is great, and extremely well thought-out. The stories blend nicely, and tell different parts of the complete story in each book. The characters, especially in the last two books, are portrayed very lifelike and true to their roles in the TV series -- they had me laughing at quite a few occasions! I had to put down everything else to finish this book first!

If you're like Trek then you will like this book. The 4 novel saga spans the centuries and does so with the greatest of fluidity. The basic premise is simple, an epic war took place in our little piece of universe before we got here. The loser of the war wants the universe back and the winners are nowhere to be found. The first novel introduces the losers and reveals that their presence has actually been well documented in the history of our quadrants aliens through mythology, from the Vulcan mythology to Human mythology and so on. The second novel finds Picard and the NG crew fight the FURIES off again in a true epic. The third novel gets a little more technical but finds us finally introduced to the victors in that epic war fought so long ago. These creatures are just plain cool... If not a bit gory... LoL. The 4th brings us back to the FURIES as they attempt to simply transport their entire planet into the alpha quadrant! This is by far the best of the 4 and completes the saga perfectly. I read this installment in a day. All and all it took me 10 days to read the 958 pages and that's saying a lot for me... You'll enjoy this..

The book arrived really fast. It is brand new as promised. I am very satisfied.

This is a nice textbook. If you're looking for a good introduction to the field of law and economics intermediate between Mercuro/Medema's _Economics and the Law_ (low brainstrain) and Thomas Miceli's _Economics of the Law_ (high brainstrain), this one is a good choice.

One of the things I especially like about Cooter and Ulen's approach is that they are careful _not_ to reduce law to economics (or vice versa, for that matter). Their claim is simply that law and economics have a lot to learn from one another. And this claim is hard to argue with, no matter what other criticisms I might make about some parts of the law-and-economics movement.

For example, people who work with the law may tend to think of law as a means (solely) of securing justice, unaware that law also provides a complex structure of what economists would call "incentives" which promote what economists would call "efficiency". On the other hand, economists may tend to take for granted the existence of such institutions as property rights and contracts, and the meaning of such terms as "voluntary." These things are not as simple as they appear (as any first-year law student could tell you, although lots of "pop libertarians" probably couldn't), and legal scholarship has developed a lot of machinery for dealing with them.

So this textbook, after a short opening chapter, devotes two not-overlong and altogether mainstream summary-and-overview chapters to, respectively, microeconomic theory and law. This means that a reader from either discipline can learn the basics of the other before proceeding to the meat of the analysis.

Then the real work starts. Cooter and Ulen do a thorough job of presenting, in a readable and accessible manner, the basics of the economic analysis of the law of property, torts, contracts, legal procedure, crime, and all the other neat stuff on which the law-and-economics movement has based its reputation -- i.e., the application of economic theory to the study of law beyond the traditional bounds of, e.g., antitrust and other areas of law directly concerned with economics.

It's designed to be eminently readable. Judgments like the one I'm about to render are notoriously subjective, but overall, the text strikes me as a good mix of clear expository prose, a well-chosen range of helpful examples, sound theory, and audience-appropriate mathematics (algebra and graphing). More advanced texts -- e.g. the aforementioned Miceli, and _Introduction to Law and Economics by A. Mitchell Polinsky -- are harder to read than this one unless you've got some math background. (Polinsky doesn't actually _use_ all that much math, but I think readers without some mathematical experience will find his book more difficult reading than this one.)

References abound; every chapter closes with at least a handful of them. So the text also doubles as a bibliography and introduction to what is rapidly becoming a vast literature.

If you're introducing yourself to the field, this book is a good investment. If you have a sufficiently strong background in mathematics, you _may_ be able to start with either Miceli or Polinsky (or both) and give this one a pass. But you'll miss a lot of helpful introductory discussion.

Besides, this book has been something of a classic in the field ever since it was first published. If you have any interest in this field at all, you'll probably want to pick up a copy eventually.

(It will probably _not_ help you much in law school, by the way, at least in the beginning. If you're just looking for an introduction to law and economics sufficient to get you started as a law student, I recommend Mercuro/Medema. You can go on to Posner and Landes and Shavell and Calabresi and the rest of them later.)

Originally, I bought this for a class in college and it remains one of the few texts that I kept. I was studying economics and had always imagined that I would go to law school some day so I took this class. The result was I went back sooner and fell in love with concept of looking at law through an economic lens. To this day, I will pull this book down from the shelf to rethink about a question using the tools this book provides.

The best part about this book is that is not overly complex or attempting to over simplify. Rather, its beauty is found in Cooter & Ulen's use of a well-timed example, beautifully simple diagrams, and realizing that this book is only an introduction to a controversial and complex subject matter. If you want to read Judge Posner's treatise I highly recommend it, but if you want to begin to understand why Posner and those like myself argue for this type of analysis-start here.

This book is expensive, but I would buy it again. If you're even remotely interested in this beautiful hybrid of human though, I strongly recommend you buy this. If you have to buy it for a class as I did, I would hold on to it and read it again without an eye toward the exam. I know it will be a good beer resale at the end of the semester, but I think in the long-run you'll be glad you kept it.

This is a very entertaining and informative book. It includes everything and more on what I need to know about the properties of various rocks.

As I am a big fan of communal stoning this book proves to be an invaluable resource. There is nothing more embarrassing than choosing the wrong type of rock at a stoning. I unwittingly chose a rock of very brittle consistency during a recent stoning I attended. You can imagine how foolish I looked when my stone merely disintegrated as it bounced off of my intended targets forehead. I still haven't lived that painful episode down, much to the amusement of my fellow stoners. My nickname is "Ole Softie" now.

Take a lesson from my faux pas; pick up this book before you are made to look the fool.

This book is a must have for any experienced rockhound. The field guide sorts mineral specimens by color and then further subdivides them by crystal habit. The color plates are nicely photographed and direct the reader to the corresponding pages which contain all the mineralogic characteristics of the specimens. All the information a rockhound could possibly desire, including North American collecting locales is contained within.

This would not be a suitable book for a beginner in the field as the retrieval of information would not be easily done by a novice. As a long time serious collector, despite the approximately 800 pages, many popular minerals have been omitted.

This fieldguide is probably one of the best fieldguides out there on rocks and minerals. Being a geology student at Ohio State, I found this book very helpful in the identification of minerals and rocks. It contains an identification key according to hardness and cleavage for minerals, and a key pertaining to rock fabric and hardness for rocks. These keys are integeral to quick identification. One thing I don't like about this book is that the pictures and the text are in two seperate sections. That and the rock section of the book is somewhat lacking. But the main types of rocks are touched upon. However, the book is filled with information, and is very helpful. If you aren't a geologist of sorts, it is somewhat technical, but offers a good glossary of terms, and explains cleavage and other mineral properties well. Overall, an excellent fieldguide for identifying rocks and minerals.

I give this book 4 stars instead of 5 because it was published in 1997 and is somewhat outdated now. I purchased it in mid 99 because I liked the other book in the series, Win32 Programming by Brent Rector.

Feuer's book is consise and I like his approach of explaining some of the internals of MFC, such as what BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP expands out to. Feuer talks about the Win32 API too and I agree with his philosophy that MFC programmers can't hope to get by without knowing anything about the API.

The sample code applications on the CD are great. They are simple to understand, but show you most of the options possible. For example, there is one app that displays all kinds of buttons, including owner drawn ones. Most MFC books don't even say anything about owner draw stuff. At the end of the book, Feuer shows you how to make a wizard-based install program.

I recommend reading this book after you've read a beginner's book on MFC and/or Visual C++. Also, the author does not reproduce all of the sample code in the book itself. You should install the CD and read the actual code as you read the book.

After making relatively successful forays into MFC armed only with MS reference materials or books written by MS employees and I have finally found a book which explains MFC without marketing it. Very lucid and well-written. I think the Document/View model is a bit less generic and useful than is presented, but at least now I understand most of its underpinnings. One error - Delphi has never been interpreted (p.5);

As a 4th year CS BSc student I might claim to be the owner of the greatest number of MFC books. Most are like the curate's egg - good in parts. It is with regret that I came upon Feuer's book so late in the buying sequence. Had I discovered it earlier my bank account would now be better and that of Amazon somewhat less!

My MFC library ranges from the 'Do it in 24 hours' variety (often laughable - but even they often have something to offer) through to MS professional tomes which seem like those job offers where you need not only the ability but a few years experience as well. Another excellent book is Kruglinski but this only proves it's worth once you have nearly got the whole idea well understood. Feuer - much better as a starter - assumes little except a good C++ base and then takes one forward step by step.

I very strongly recommend Feuer for anybody with a good C++ basis wanting to move to VC++ and MFC. This is the one to start with if you want to protect your cash. Kruglinski should come after and then you're ready for the MS serious stuff! Happy coding!

Cover on backwards or upside down. (The RETURN the item button dosent work, it just runs you in a circle.)

A great legacy left by missionary Don Stamps even as he was battling cancer. His Spirit-filled teaching is evident in the editing. Especially significant is the Spirit inspired work he did on editing this version of the Holy Bible. The explanatory notes and the wonderful articles answer questions which other Bible teachers and commentaries usually avoid or are simply in error on. Thank God for this wonderful discovery and I heartily recommend it to all in search of, the abundant, "full life" in Jesus as taught in the Word of God.

I own this Bible and it is changing my life for the better. The title of this Bible "Full Life Study Bible" says it all--it definitely applies to a full life! The clear in depth convicting study notes will not only challenge your paradigms and beliefs, it will change them, thus changing your life. A good starter Bible! I would definitely recommend the KJV over the NIV as the KJV is much more accurate with respect to the original Bible texts. In fact, I wish the Geneva Bible was available in a Full Life Study version. Buy this Bible, it is well worth whatever you pay for it!

Contending for the faith "handed down" to us from the prophets, The Prophet, and the apostles to us, is the theme of this book, but without being contentious.

This flowed out of Seminary experience of editors to refute scholarly attempts to undo the handed down truth of Scriptures.

My ambivalence with this well written work is that it tends to fluctuate with on one hand suggest that the church must take the world of thought back through apologetics, and on the other hand, refute through apologetics attempts within the "visible" church the faith of our fathers.

I'm all in support of the latter, given the analogy in St. Paul of likening false teaching to yeast and its quick spread and dough dominance if left undealt with. To this I concur and endorse these enthusiastic apologists of the first class.

However, to suggest that the culture dominated by secular, deceived thinking can be countered with apologetics is naive and unbiblical to this reviewers way of confession. However, to be sure we cannot nor must be be discouraged to continue apologetics to the unbelieving world, but our sites must only be as "a minfield" clearing exercise that the Gospel might be heard in its purity. Prophecy predicts what we are seeing, both in and outside the visible church, e.g. 2 Tim. 4 and those who refuse to follow true doctrine and find and establish false teachers who tickle their ears. This has always been in the church of Christ and world, but we who are of the body of Christ are to be aware of this, test the spirits and develop discernment through constant time in God's Word (Heb. 5). When all the dust settles on theological debate within the visible church, true confession of the faith handed down can be the only practice that counts!

Thus, I commend this excellent collection of concise, precise apologetics with this mild comment. There is much here to chew on, pass on, e.g. "Christian apologetics that's worthy of the name is a call to martyrdom--perhaps not a martyrdom where we spill our blood (although this too may be required) but a martyrdom where we witness to the truth without being concerned about our careers, political correctness, the current fashion or toeing the party line." "Indeed, we have permitted the collective thought of the world to be controlled by ideas that prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything but a harmless delusion. It needs to be emphasized that we, the Christians, the church of Jesus Christ, have done this." "One we thoroughly understand a false idea, we need no longer be intimidated by it." "The Christian apologist is a contender for the faith, not merely a seeker after truth."

(...) What about this book? I read it and enjoyed its several essays. Although I am in no position to review its conclusions on the several domains (critique of naturalism, authority of scripture, virgin birth, the incarnation, design in science, etc), I tend to agree with the main conclusions. I also favour the return of apologetics to theology courses, as long as it is done with intellectual rigour. The entire point of the book seems to be that the premisse you start with really makes a difference on the way you deal with the main tenets of the christian faith. The main alternatives are:

1. Nobody created Nature. Nature developed intelligent beeings by pure chance (random mutation and natural selection). Our lives have no meaning. Some may try to find meaning for life, some may not. Some my even try to destroy life. Why not? Since there is no meaning, there is also no absolute moral and ethical norms. Madre Teresa and Osama Bin Laden are just a bunch of selfish genes trying to survive. Genocide may be considered a normal and legitimate strategy of gene survival, as Charles Darwin and many evolutionists acknowleged. Who can blame them for that? Even if it is the result of pure chance, our intelligence is suficiently powerful and reliable to be the measure of all knowledge. You can trust your selfish genes for that. You can also enjoy a free lunch and relax while you listen to a just-so story.

2. God may have created Nature, and let it develop into intelligent beeings by pure chance. God did not create Man in his image. He simply may have accepted the results of the evolutionary process with fair play. In fact we don't know that. There is no evidence of God whatsoever. If he exists, that's the philosophers and theologians problem. Let them speculate. In the real world (if there is one), objective science sees no place for God and no fingerprints of its presence. Faith is purely subjective and precarious. Knowledge is totally objective and reliable. They never meet in the real world. Here again you can trust your selfish genes for that. Here too, you can enjoy a free lunch while you listen to a just-so story.

3. God created man in his image. Subjective reason and objective matter have their own foundation in the Absolute Logos. Both are the product of intelligent design. Probabilities theory, design theory, complexity theory and information theory allow us to make a design inference scientifically beyond reasonable doubt. There is no free lunch here. There are no just-so stories. The complex specified information that structures matter also makes it intelligible and renders both possible and meaningful objective knowledge by our subjective reasons. You can trust the Word that became flesh and lived among us, for that. He is the source of all intelligence, all information, all matter, all life, all love, all freedom. He became flesh so that flesh can know the Word. He did it in a way that respects our freedom to accept or reject. If we accept him and his revelation as the foundation of all truth, instead of trusting our own "naturalistic-bunch-of-particles-reason", things start making sense. It even promotes the progress of mankind. Remember that all data shows that those countries mostly influenced by the genuinely christian revelation (the Inquisition, or the Index Librorum Prohibitorum have no place in that), tend enjoy stable democracies, economic progress, human rights protection and the rule of law.

This approach helped the authors of the essays that make this book make sense of problems that are complicated only for naturalism. I advise its reading.

While the discipline of apologetics has fallen into disuse and disfavor among mainline scholars who have subscribed to a more pluralistic philosophy, this intrepid group of Princeton alumni battle to keep that old apologetic spirit, so integral to "Old Princeton", alive and well. They succeed admirably. Many issues are tackled in this book, especially naturalism and the effect it has had on biblical and theological studies. The book reads like a conservative theological journal, and, believe me, I would be thrilled to see more books from this group on the market. Every person preparing to enter seminary or study religion in a college setting should read this book and keep it handy for research purposes. Although some subjects could have been developed further (the chapter on universalism ended much too soon), all in all it is an outstanding resource.

I've had to search numerous large University libraries for a copy of this book, and all copies seem to be perpetually checked out (some for months at a time). It isn't much of a surprise considering this is an excellent primer for microwave engineering and RF circuit design. The derivations are well laid out and the majority of each chapter's formulas are displayed in a nice tabular format every few pages.

It's a must have for any elec student (or physicist) that's interested in microwave engineering, RF circuit design and electromagnetic waves.

A BASIC TEXT FOR STUDENTS AND PROFESSIONALS ALIKE. IT GIVES INSIGHT INTO A WIDE VARIETY OF ASPECTS OF MW ENGINEERING. THE CHAPTERS ON FILTER ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS ARE WELL EXPAINED AND USEFUL FOR FIRST APROXIMATION DESIGNS. MODAL ANALYSIS TREATS BASIC ASPECTS OF UNIFORM WAVEGUIDES. THE CHAPTER ON AMPLIFIERS IS VERY DIDACTICAL AND GIVES INSIGHT IN THE PRACTICAL PROBLEMS INVOLVED IN DESIGNING ACTIVE CIRCUITS IN MW TECHNOLOGY. IN BRIEF, A VERY DIDACTICAL BOOK AND A BASIC REFERENCE (AT LEAST FOR ME!!).

I was first introduced to this book through my professor. After reading this book I had a very good understanding of the material: wave guides, networks, S-parameters, filters, impedence matching, and transmission lines. This book does it all. It is an excellent introductory to intermediate book on Microwave engineering. You can understand the book entirely without getting lost in theory. Pozar does a good job at not confusing the reader, and it provides some real world examples that help the user relate. I myself go to GA Tech, and I recommend any electrical engineering student who is interested in electromagnetics or RF engineering to buy this book. If only because the GA Tech Library only has one copy and it is always checked out.

This book is a nice introduction, into something with quite some potential.
If you've never heard of OCL, and wonder what it's all about, then you definitely need this book.
If you have seen OCL before, but you don't have a reference manual, this is also the book you need.
If you're looking for a coherent way to use UML and OCL together, then you might want to take a look at 'Object, Components and Frameworks with UML; The Catalysis Approach'.

The Object Constraint Language is an extension to the latest version of the Unified Modeling Language (UML). It is a formal specifications language that has an easy understandable syntax and semantics.

The sample class diagram model that is used through most of the book is semi-complex but understandable if first you have read the Unified Modeling Language Users Guide written by the three amigos: Ivar Jacobson, Brady Booch and James Rumbaugh. You may not completely grasp the sample class diagram from a conceptual or practical point of view but can understand it enough to verify how the stated constraints are valid and well formed. That is you can read the example constraints and verify their correctness by navigating the sample class diagram.

Overall I would say that the OCL removes ambiguity from UML models and better states constraints and business rules than visual notations used in UML. I recommend this book and think it can be another notch in an Object-Oriented developers arsenal to offer something more to their software projects and employers.

To manage large computing projects, we need two things. Precise languages and the will to use them. While the Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a valuable addition to our tool set, it is limited when used to describe and restrict the behavior of our objects. The Object Constraint Language (OCL) allows for the formal description of constraints on the data to be used. Given the ability to write specific constraints on information, it is then possible to use a design by contract model in the creation of software. The advantages of such a model are obvious, in that so much of our personal and professional lives are based on contracts, albeit most are informal. Professional interactions that take place in the creation of complex software are also contracts. I have participated in many discussions of the form, "You construct this function so that it does this and I will use it to do the other thing." However, so much of this is informal, which leads to disagreements over interpretations. It is for this reason that I have long argued that the real increase in productivity from the use of formal languages will be a reduction in the amount of time needed to settle disputes over ambiguities.
While some exposure to the principles of formal logic will be helpful, it is not necessary to understand the material of the book. Knowledge of basic Boolean expressions will suffice. As the title suggests, the UML is used as the basis for the OCL. The use of the similar notation and terminology really simplifies the approach, making it very easy to pick up.
I was most impressed with the OCL as well as the explanatory style used in the book, although I must confess to having a bias towards formal languages in computing. After reading the book, I came away with an even greater appreciation for the power of formal languages, which given my nearly two decades of exposure to them, is not an easy task.
The design by contract model of computing is a very powerful mechanism whereby ambiguity can be removed from the design and implementation process. To do it properly, a formal language such as OCL is needed and this book will teach it to you in the minimal amount of time.

The book is well written and informative about the events of Powell's life and the geological survey in which Powell played such a major role. My primary disappointment with the book was that I felt I didn't know the person John W. Powell much better after reading the book. The book provided very little information about Powell's life outside of his work.

Reading this book was like being present at the creation of America. It will appeal especially to U.S. history buffs and to anyone interested in the American West. Worster's telling of the feat that won Powell fame, leading the first expedition down the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon, has definitely renewed my passion for exploring the West. Powell was a man of ideas, as well as action. For a quarter century he was at the forefront of debates over reserving land for American Indians, how to foster family farming in the arid West, and the thorny issue of water rights. For many years, Powell was a prominent official in Washington, as head of the U.S. Geological Survey, which he helped create, and in other positions. From what I gather in this book, Powell may have been as important as any single individual in making support of scientific research a normal function of the Federal Government. From the perspective of one man's career, Worster touches on a multitude of topics: railroads, telegraph, photography, landscape painting of the West, Mormon settlements, and many more. For the comprehension one gains of American life in those times, this biography is the equal of a first rate novel. Although a work of scholarship, it is written to be enjoyed by the general reader.

I enjoyed this book immensely. Thorough, evocative, thrilling, and comprehensive in its scope, it was a delight from beginning to end.
I completed a major in Geography at Illinois State University many years ago, where Powell taught at one time, and I am embarrassed to admit the sad truth that in all the courses I took nary a word was ever mentioned about the great man. Considering his extraordinary contribution to our understanding of the natural world, it is all too sad.

The author is very good in leading the reader through how money and its avaliability play an important role in determining the economy of any country.
The banking industry and its role are covered as well - starting from a historical perspective to the present day. Our class was doing a chapter on the various reforms in the banking industry when the Enron-Anderson scandal happened. We had some very though-provoking discussions in the class based on the material in the text.
While I am not a complete stranger to economics, I took home a lot of valuable information by the time I was done with this course and this text book. I only wish the publishers had included a CD ROM of real-world exercises / problems that stimulate thought on issues to consider when determining monetary policy.

Highly recommended for both dummies and people familiar with economics. The author presents an unbiased, unpartisan, clear introduction to numerous aspects of monetary policy, financial institutions, and financial markets. Along with factual material the author presents important and profound generalizations and principles.

For once, there is an economist with a passion to teach and communicate well. Although it is supposed to be an introductory text in monetary economics, I return to it again and again to check my basic understanding of this subject.