This optimistic view of Islamists published in January 2001 was rendered somewhat dated by events later that year. Even though Legacy of the Prophet continues to be a solid account of the moderation and rise of religious political movements in the Middle East, some of the more hopeful assertions would have been naive even if the World Trade Center remained intact. September 11th, of course, also changed some assumptions that would have been reasonable otherwise. All that aside, there remains considerable merit in many of the author's analyses of the region and its politics, and much of the book holds up. Legacy deserves three stars--but barely.

Author Anthony Shadid was an Associated Press correspondent based in Cairo. He understandably focuses much of the book on Egypt, and this provides Legacy with some great insight from the sources he cultivated there over the years. Unfortunately, the concentration on Cairo also minimizes those Islamic countries that probably are more important to the future of the relationship between the Muslim world and the West, notably Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Shadid does an excellent job in explaining the contest between Islamist groups and the repressive regimes that govern them. The social welfare system provided by Hamas, for example, stands in stark contrast with the corrupt government led by the Palestinian Authority. Hezbollah provides for the impoverished Shia while the Beirut government stuggles to bring the nation back from the ashes of civil war.

The darker aspects of these and other groups, though, aren't really explored. One particularly galling aspect of the book is Shadid's near-apologies for the persececution of Christians and other religious minorities in the region. This is particularly strange given that Shadid comes from a Christian Lebanese background. It is difficult to imagine that anyone would try to minimize the persecution of Egypt's large Coptic minority, but that sometimes seems to be the case here.

The author does take a long, hard look at the failed Islamic experiments in the Sudan and in Iran, and attempts to differentiate between those governments and those where religious and secular parties compete. What Shadid fails to do is explain exactly why an Islamist Egypt or Turkey wouldn't, in the end, resemble the Sudan. Shadid's thesis is that once in power, the Center Party in Egypt, as one example, would synthesize the Islamic concept of the umma with Western-style pluralism and tolerance. The record indicates otherwise.

So the question that always lingers, but is never answered, is how a state based on religion can truly embrace democracy and pluralism. Shadid thinks it can, but history---events that predate Osama bin Laden and even Mohammed by millinnea---indicates otherwise.

Anthony Shadid, though not a native of the Middle East, comes off sounding like one. From his vantage position of a Boston Globe Middle East reporter and Lebanese lineage, he has spent significant time in the Middle East and seems to have an insider's eye in analyzing the torrid political landscape there.

I went on a spate of reading books on the Middle East and Islam after September 11th and this book is at the top of my list and comes highly recommended. In comparison to V.S. Naipul's "Beyond Belief," I would point you to Shadid's book for a good in depth analysis of Islam's current and powerful effect on the Middle East. Naipul's book is good for telling a story of people's lives in non-Arabic Islamic countries, but Shadid's work is what I was looking for...a well-written and engaging breakdown of a variety of Middle East countries and how Islam shapes the politics and daily underpinnings of those places.

Shadid's purview is definitely broad but doesn't loose out in the details of each country and movement. "Legacy of the Prophet," primarily covers Sudan's failed Islamic government, Iran's petered out revolution and Khatami's reform, Egypt's emerging democratic Islamic movements, with several stops in between in Turkey, Palestine, Lebanon, and Afghanistan to name a few.

Shadid's overly optimistic thesis is that Islamic extremism is taking in it's last dying desperate breaths and emerging from it, or as a more widespread alternative, a form of democratic political Islam that seeks to inculcate change from within existing governments. Though optimistic, Shadid at least has taken the time to expose the broader good of political Islam to a West that largely seeks out confirmation of presupposed suppositions of a political Islam that is violent, close-minded, and bent on death and destruction of all things Western. It seems a case of a narrow-minded and hopeless small minority of Islamic extremists that continue to represent to the West what is accepted (but uninformed) as the face of Political Islam. Shadid points out that this may not be the case and does it in a way that will keep you interested from beginning to end.

I'm surprised more people aren't reading and reviewing this highly engaging work.

Legacy Of The Prophet: Despots, Democrats, And The New Politics Of Islam by journalist and Middle East expert Anthony Shadid offers the reader a broad, authoritative history of Islamic politics today. Drawing upon his many years of reporting in more than a dozen countries throughout the Muslim world, Shadid accurately chronicles how a new generation of Islamic militants are coming around to a more realistic and potentially more successful advocacy of their goals through democratic politics. Legacy Of The Prophet is strongly recommended for Islamic Studies, Middle East Studies, and International Political Studies supplemental reading lists and academic reference collections.

I checked out quite a few books to help me review basic math and algebra concepts, not knowing which ones would click with me and which wouldn't. Of the six hefty workbooks I selected, this one was my favorite. It offers lots of pre-tests, exercises, and follow-up tests with explanatory answers at the back. The first test in the book tests what you already know overall before studying the information inside, and then each answer is listed in an index next to a label of what sort of problem it is, allowing the reader to pinpoint areas where help is needed. The book has some cartoon drawings which some people might find distracting but I liked the light-approach, the actual verbal descriptions are clear and not 'jokey' or distracting like some of the other books were. I found the methods and how they were presented easier to work with than the other books.

This book helped me get my "math" legs back under me. I feel that it is primarily aimed at those with a prior knowledge and only need a good refresher. It starts out with basic things such as percents and long division, and it ends up touching upon some basic algebra. If you need a good refresher, this book is great.

this was a brilliant book for 6th graders going into 7th, it reviews elementary maths, and explains the subjects you hadnt got before, or widens your knowledge on that subject. it provides examples, tests and exercises, it also has the solutions, and answers at the back, if your not quite sure how to do it.

this book is truely the easy way!

One Hand Clapping is a short, bitterly humorous look at a British working-class couple who strive to win a fortune on a TV quiz show, then spend their fortune in a rather peculiar fashion. Although Once Hand Clapping was written in the early 1960s it's satiric message still rings true. I loved it.

However this novel is not for everyone. Firstly, the book has a very British feel about it. Much of the wording is not used in America, and is even distinctly old-fashioned here in England. But otherwise One Hand Clapping is an excellent introduction to the brilliant world of Anthony Burgess.

I can't disagree more with something12_2@hotmail.com. *One Hand Clapping* is a terrific book, funny, profound, and memorable. Although I read it several years ago, I think about quite a lot -- and remember quite vidily the pleasure I had reading it. I highly recommend it to both Burgess fans and those who have never read him, or think he just wrote *Clockwork Orange.* It's good to see *One Hand Clapping* is still in print.

_One Hand Clapping_ is that rarity, a truly rousing, dark, and hilarious satire which doesn't get lost by either being too silly or too dark. An excellent compromise, with an added bonus of not uncovering its true point until around the end. I can't help but sympathize with poor Burgess, whose entire life's work was defined by _A Clockwork Orange_; while that, too, is an excellent work, he has so much more in his back catalogue than just droogs and moloko!

Forget about this little book. It's so basic that really it's almost useless. Save your money for a more detailed look at the industry.

This book was invaluable to get started quickly in a restaurant business. It was concise and easy to read. It gave the complete overview of how to start a restaurant without agonizing detail. One giant cost savings was the "employee training" section.

This is a great book to review for either a mannager or a owner. After working several years in the resturant business, I wanted to open my own resturant. This book gives a complete guide for checking off all the bear neccessities. It is very easy to read. It also has several good points to keeping a good staff and keeping customers happy and returning.

If the idea of this book appeals to you, go for it! Your in good hands generally. But it doesn't entirely pass my laugh test on several counts.

First the title (which could be the work of the editor or something) doesn't make much sense. These aren't seven fundamental categories. You really need at least a separate category for chisel work (smushed in with mortises) and a separate chapter for carcass joints like dovetails. Even then they would only be the essentials of square boxes.

The other area where the book has shortcomings is in the author's verdicts on tools or techniques. He comes off as ill-informed and short tempered in some of his comments. Take saws. He favors a bowsaw, and he has the courage to push this least popular of all types in NA (even his beloved German makers are stocking Japanese style saws). But what shred of credibility does his comment that a backsaw saw is inefficient have? Or the same in reference to panel saws? These tools, when well made, are highly superior. Panel saws may not cut as fast as bowsaws, but they cut where bowsaws can't. There are many other examples.

In two areas, planing and tenons, while there is much that is good they are not the best techniques. Missed is the key technique for planing to a flat surface. And paring the sides of mortises that have been drilled is an occasionally useful technique, not a central one for the cabinet sized work featured here.

I think the harsh tones of the book may come from the author's well intentioned effort to get us all moving more towards doing work rather than arguing about tools and technicalities. He hopes that setting seven goals, and keeping us on the straight and narrow will help us to be better woodworkers. If you haven't already been there and done that, then it is good advice. But he doesn't appear to see the irony in the fact that he has just waded further into those very same waters he counsels us to avoid. He has written a book that seeks controversy while he counsels the rest of us to stick to the work.

I had mixed feelings about this short book. It makes a few points well, energizes the reader, and motivates one to practice fundamental skills until they are mastered. But the book was surprisingly short and contained less information than most. For example, while Guidice champions the bow saw over the familiar European-style saw, he doesn't even acknowledge the now popular Japanese saw. Also, he says that woodworkers should pay more attention to the aesthetic aspects of plans but says very little about the principles of style. He gives almost no advice about buying or using machine tools. When I bought the book, I somehow thought it would contain a series of excercises toward mastering woodworking, but I didn't find a systematic plan of practice. The book is still well worth its price, mainly to reinforce one's motivation and one's appreciation of beautiful work.

One of my recommended books for woodworking. The others being Ian Kirby's Dovetail book and Tage Frid's set of three woodworking books. All of these authors have opinions and are not afraid of stating them. All of them tell you how to get the job done with hand tools, practice, and perseverence. And that is the key with most things. Get the right tool, get a technique that works, and practice until you persevere. You don't need to argue about the subtleties of a dozen different methods, you don't have to collect old tools and restore them, you just have to cut and plane wood to get good at cutting and planing wood.

My biggest complaint is the book is not long enough. I wish Guidice had written similar chapters on a few other important aspects of woodworking. I also wish there was a bit more technique in the planing chapter and mortise and tenon section. I would have liked to have seen shoulder planes demonstrated. And spokeshaves. And maybe the use of a few other planes besides the scrub and jack and smoother. And the chopping of mortises with mortise chisels instead of drilling with a brace and paring the sides.

The truth of this book came to me as I was practicing my rip cuts with my new bow saw. It was the Putsch saw mentioned by Guidice, now sold by Woodcraft. The set on the blade is awful now so Guidice will have to rewrite that portion of his book. I followed the directions to pound the set out of the blade and reset it. Did it several times until I was no longer mystified by saw sharpening. If you do something enough you get good at it and comfortable with it. Finally made the blade follow a line and ripped some oak with it. I also tried ripping with a Stanley Shark tooth saw. The bow saw put the western style saw to shame. I have a super slow cutting Japanese saw too.

Guidice also says to get a good plane (Lie-Nielsen is his recommendation) and plane wood with it. He says you will learn more about planing wood with a quality plane for a year than reading 10,000 magazine articles. Or engaging in 10,000 internet discussions I might add. Hard to argue with that fundamental advice.

If you really want to learn how to be a competent woodworker, follow the instructions in this book. Buy a few good tools and use them to work wood. Practice the fundamentals. Planing and sawing.

If your woodworking goal is to collect tools, argue about tools, polish, file and sand old tools, and argue about which technique to use to accomplish a task, then this book is not for you.

This book is essentially a list of 30 Job Search web sites. The author obviously had a good idea for a book, spent a week looking up job search web sites on a search engine, and rated the first 30 that he found. Why he would incude the bad web sites is beyond me. 20% of the links were either dead or linked to other sites that were also rated. Only 1 or 2 had freelance opportunities and nothing to write home about.

The book is too $ to return, but believe me - save your money. thought I would do a kindness by preventing others from wasting their money.

I noticed the review below, and I really must disagree whole heartedly. The book was written in 2000, which probably makes some of the links outdated (I really doubt if the reader below actually followed them), but there's a ton of information in the title about how to freelance work online. Great sources for information, great ideas on how to get set up, and, more importantly, real life profiles from freelancers all over the world who are actually making it online. I've contacted some of them myself and have collaborated their stories in the book. So I know that the material is credible.

If you're looking for a book that will show you how to magically materialize freelance work, this book won't do it... nor will anything else. There's too many people out there who think that freelance working is the pannacea to getting rich. It's not and the book points that out). It does, however, give loads of valuable and worthwhile advice to freelancers who are thinking about taking the Information Highway to work. And, to a disabled person using the Internet to find valuable freelance work in order to make a living, it is a Godsend.

I read the "Save Your Money" review below, which was pointed out to me by a friend in my writers group, and I adamantely disagree. The reviewer says that the book is "essentially a list of 30 Job Search websites. WRONG! Obviously this reviewer, who didn't leave a name, did not read the title. The book begins with an articulate and obsorbing review of the history of freelance work dating back to Fuedal Age. It then provides a detailed and very compelling timeline on working online, and how doing so can be of value to the average working freelance worker. The applicability of freelance work is then expanded to include all freelance workers, not only writers and creatives.

The book then outlines specific technologies and tools that are available to today's freelance workers, and how these tools can be employed toward finding gainful work in the freelance markets. I, personally, have used several of these tools and techniques to successfully find freelance gigs, one that is keeping me busy almost full time. There is golden advice within the pages of this title.

The last few chapters of the book then reviews several websites that are available for freelancers to use in finding jobs. The sites are preedominantly freelance sites such as freelanceworkexchange.com, r144.com, and freelance.com. So, "A Reader's" assessment below that only 1 or 2 sites in this title are for freelancers is obsurd.

This title has developed an almost cult-like following amongst the members of many freelance websites. The author writes columns for two nationally acclaimed writers publications, and has personally responded to several of my email queries about how I can best pursue freelance work online. The wealth of information I received back from the author personally has been invaluable to my career.

I say this title is a must for anyone doing freelance work who wants to do it online using the Internet.

P-town loves you! Mr. Cappola is hilarious both in print and in real life.

I also know Mr. Cappola personally, and he's a great person, as well as author. I highly recommend this book to anyone. You won't waste your money. Sure, there may be spelling and grammtical errors, but that just shows that he means what he says and he's allowing his REAL self be shown.

This book is incredible and lives out to its title! I knew the author personally and it was just INCREDIBLE to see in the book how the man thought and how he was able to express what most of us are thinking and not being able to say. I offer incredible props to Mr. Cappola, and I just hope that he will continue to write for the people who can't write due to work conflicts, school, etc. More power to Mr. Cappola and thank you for writing your book! 5 stars!

This is a textbook designed for a one semester undergraduate course in cryptography. This makes it seem a little tamer than what it is. Crypto buffs will enjoy it, and there is little here than is not in some other advanced texts. What is of value is a section on RIJNDAEL, the new advanced encryption standard.
Useful as a starting point but not as easy to follow as some other texts. You better like this stuff already or you shouldn't dive into this book.

If you really want to learn cryptology, this is the book.
If you just want to know the superficial concept of it, then,
this is not the book for you.
Mathematics used in this book is very concise and clear.
This book also has the complete answers for many exercise
problems (not just short answer). The answers for exercise
problems are well written with the full explanations. Well done!! I really enjoy reading this book.

Only those who fear learning even some moderate math in order to learn
the crypto data will not like this book. The payoff is big time with
historical bios of people to fill in the background, symmetric-key and
public-key cryptosystems covered in full, and the facts on primality
testing and factoring to gear up for the advanced topics which are
superb. We even get to learn about quantum crypto. This book just makes me
want to learn more about the subject. I'd recommend it to all but those
who think you can learn crypto without math and who are only interested
in learning how to cryptanalyze algorithms. For them there are many
otherwise useless books out there. This is for those who really want to
learn about crypto and enjoy it in the process!

A good book on an ignored area of film. It does what it promises.

as someone who has just gotten into k-movies and is eating up everything I can find on it, this book rocks!!!

forget about trying to find stuff on the web, it's all here!

It's about time that someone wrote a book about Korean cinema from recent years. Up until now, the only books available were about films before the early 90s and read more like textbooks. Korean Cinema is an easy read and has a good balance between insight and irreverence, such as how the author makes a parallel between Korea right now and Hong Kong ten years ago, his thoughts on all those time travel romances, and how he shreds absolutely horrible movies like Dream of a Warrior to pieces. This one is a keeper!

Dry. Dull. Boring.Each page a torture to read.Abundent information to be sure but Mr. Birley managed to convert an interesting, amazing man of history in to the most lifeless read I've ever encountered. Skip this book and search for another volume...one with some life in it.....

Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D.) inherited the principate from Antonius Pius, the fourth in a succession of emperors whose reigns were marked with peace, prosperity and internal stability. Marcus was unique in several respects. Not only was he groomed for the throne from an extremely early age, he was also schooled in Eastern philosphy (Stoicism) rather than the conventional military upbringing of most emperors hitherto.

Ruling as the senior "co-emperor" with his adoptive brother Lucius, and later his ill-starred son, Commodus, he began his reign in classic 2nd Century style, as a benign despot, touring the provinces and engaging in continued correspondence with his favorite childhood tutor.

But then it things went horribly, horribly wrong. The Northern Frontier, which Trajan and Hadrian had done so much to secure, suddenly collapsed, with hordes of German tribes ravaging the countryside. So did the currency, leading to massive debasements of the coinage. And then the worst of all evils arrived - bubonic plague decimating the population. Marcus had to draw on all of his strength of spirit and learning to hold it all together, and hold it he did, restoring the frontiers and defeating the barbarians. Despite his successor, idiot son Commodus, he helped win Rome another good fifty years.

Birley's narrative is sharp and well-paced, and stunningly timely. Reading this at the same time as anthrax outbreak and modern barbarian invasion, I had a sick sense of deja vu.

Anthony Birley's biography of Marcus Aurelius manages to give the reader a good view of the life of an Emperor by pulling together the very few resources available. Marcus' early years and education are given in good detail including some letters between Marcus and his teachers. It is true that the chapters dealing with Marcus' personal life and family are not as 'exciting' as some might wish but they show a side to an Emperor rarely seen.

The Parthian War, which was commanded by Co-Emperor Lucius Verus, is given a good overview. However, the Marcommanic Wars are covered in excellent detail. Anthony Birley reviews all the sources that are available and gives reasons for his conclusions. Coins, The Colume of marcus Aurelius and Cassius Dio are the prime sources for the Marcommanic Wars. The Commanding Generals are named and fans of 'Gladiator' will be disappointed.

This is real history and a look into one of Rome's most popular Emperors. If you are a fan of 'Gladiator' then read this book and see how much more exciting reality is.

The role Commodus played and the reasons Marcus made him Co-Emperor after Lucius Verus are explained very well. This book by far is one of the best Imperial Biographies I have read.