This book is a wonderful way to firm and tone your muscles while achieving a balletic grace. I usually hate workout books or even using exercise machines because the routine seems so pointless. This book, however, gives a purpose to the exercises. It won't make you a professional dancer, or even an amateur one, but you'll feel more graceful and become more flexible.

Before you even start the exercises, you're inspired by the excellent photographs of the beautiful dancers. If you're as out of shape as I am, at first the stretches and exercises seem almost impossible, but after only just a few days they become easier as you regain flexibility and muscle tone. Most importantly, you develop an awareness of your body that stays with you long after you've finished your workout.

This is the best workout program I've ever used. I recommend it especially as a post-partum routine for women who want to regain their pre-pregnancy muscle tone and flexibility.

After a hiatus of my regular cardio workouts (usually biking and running), I recently decided to update my exercise regimen. In the meantime, I've been committed to regular weighttraining and maintaining my flexibility through yoga and calitsthenics. I evaluated my "old" cardio workouts and realized that constant, rigorous biking and running weren't great for MY body, so I danced because it came naturally for me. I found this book and was very motivated. The photography is beautiful, and the writing as straightfoward and fluid as the moves and exercises throughout. Now I enjoy a broader and more beneficial fitness schedule. Along with weights and regular lighter cardio exercise, the ballet workout elongates my muscles, so they're not only strong,but they're shapely, not bulky.

What this book WILL do is guide you through an exercise routine that is as challenging and fun as you want to make it.

The exercises are divided into different sections: warm-up, stretches, abdominals, legs, floor barre, and ballet. There are also sample routines in the back of the book for emphasizing different aspects of fitness: endurance, strength, abs, etc.

Each movement is shown step-by-step with written instructions, and almost every one moves your body through motions it is probably not accustomed to doing. After just the 10-minute stretch, I am already feeling energetic and relaxed. The exercises are fun, often quite challenging, and they accomplish what they claim they will.

This book will not make you a ballet dancer ~ one-on-one classes are irreplaceable for that. But using the exercises contained in it will supplement your dancing (or any other activity you're involved with!) by making your body stronger and more graceful.

Not much can be added to every terrific review here. On a scale of one to five self help stars -- priceless.

From the introduction: "When I first considered writing the book, I couldn't figure out why it had never been done before. Several months into the project, the reasons became quite clear. Borderline Personality Disorder is a controversial, complex topic. Just defining it is like trying to catch a fish with your bare hands, blindfolded and in the rain. Theories on what causes BPD are plentiful but inconclusive. Treatment is hotly disputed by reputable researchers. ....The result of our three years of effort is the book you now hold in your hands. It is not the last word on the subject. It is only the beginning. We hope that it sparks interest in new research, helps clinicians educate their clients, provides support and comfort to family and friends, and offers hope that people with BPD can get better. Most of all, we hope it will help you -- and countless others like you -- get off the emotional roller coaster you've been riding since someone with BPD came into your life."

CONTENTS: Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Intimate Strangers: How This Book Came to Be -- PART 1: UNDERSTANDING BPD BEHAVIOR -- Walking on Eggshells: Does Someone You Care about Have BPD? -- The Inner World of the Borderline: Defining BPD -- Making Sense Out of Chaos: Understanding BPD Behavior -- Living in a Pressure Cooker: How BPD Behavior Affects Non-BPs -- PART 2: TAKING BACK CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE -- Making Changes Within Yourself -- Understanding Your Situation: Setting Boundaries and Developing Skills -- Asserting Your Needs with Confidence and Clarity -- Developing a Safety Plan -- Protecting Children from BPD Behavior -- PART 3: RESOLVING SPECIAL ISSUES -- Waiting for the Next Shoe to Drop: Your Borderline Child -- Lies, Rumors, and Accusations: Distortion Campaigns -- What Now? Making Decisions about the Relationship -- APPENDICES -- Causes and Treatment of BPD -- Tips for Non-BPs Who Have BPD -- Coping Suggestions for Clinicians -- Resources -- References

Paul T. Mason, M.S., C.P.C., is a program manager of Child/Adolescent Services at St. Luke's Hospital and a psychotherapist in private practice at Psychiatric Services in Racine, Wisconsin. His research on borderline personality disorder ("BPD") has appeared in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, and he teaches seminars for mental health professionals on the effects of BPD on partners and family members.

Randi Kreger is a professional writer and an executive in public relations and marketing. She has collected more than 1,000 stories detailing the devastating experiences of people in close relationship with persons suffering from BPD ("BP's"). Kreger moderates two e-mail discussion groups for friends and family of BP's on her comprehensive Web site about BPD: [....]

Mason and Kreger's carefully written, highly readable book provides a brilliant analysis of a disorder that wreaks enormous havoc. In addition to clarifying what BPD is, they provide crucial survival techniques for those who wish to stay in relationship with the BP's they love.

There are extensive references and a list of recommended resources in this 258-page book as well as appendices on the following subjects: coping suggestions for clinicians, tips for BP's who have other BP's in their lives, a summary of causes and treatment of BPD. The topics covered in the main body of the book include: (1) understanding BPD behavior; (2) keeping control of your life while in close association with a BP; (3) resolving special issues, including raising a BP child, distortion campaigns of the BP against you, making decisions about continuing your relationship with the adult BP in your life.

The authors state that the central irony of BPD is that "people who suffer from it desperately want closeness and intimacy, but the things they do to get it often drive people away from them." Their needs are extremely difficult to meet, because they are so turbulent and irrational.

In a profoundly important departure from the militant-environmentalism stance that has engulfed the mental-health establishment for decades, the authors freely admit the existence of children with BPD. In the Freudian tradition, most psychiatrists continue to believe that BPD is caused entirely by poor mothering, with the damage only showing up in adulthood after the destructive childhood has ended. The real truth is, however, that BPD can occur very early in life, and in the most nurturing of families, both of which indicate there is a strong genetic component to this disorder. This vital insight on childhood BPD will bring great comfort to besieged mothers of BP children who are unfairly shamed and stigmatized by mental-health and educational personnel as the "cause" of their child's condition.

I believe this book should be required reading for every psychological and psychiatric training program in the country. It will also bring enormous insight, comfort and encouragement to the friends and families of BP's everywhere.

After three years of marriage with a wife who suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Borderline Personality disorder, this book removed the fear and confusion I was living in and provided clarity and clear cut answers.

With the help of the book I was able to understand the dynamics of the marriage I was in and pinpoint better the cause of the crazy, absurd behaivor my wife was exhibiting. I could see better her actions and my actions, and the associated triggers causing our joint actions.

The book is credible and provides tremendous real-life experiences that easily mapped to my own indivdual situation. Based on the organization, content, and real -life experiences I literally had an answer to the confusion I had been living in.

The book is written in a format that moves from clinical diagnosis to real-life examples to suggested 'how to's'. Of added value is information on available on-line resources which complement the core value proposition of the book.

I was able to, with confidence, and absence of emotion, make the proper decisions for my marriage and my life. If you find yourself in a relationship that has your spouse or significant other diagnosed with BPD this book will help you understand what has happened to you and what your options may be for your future. BPD is a terrible disease. SWOE is a great tool to have.

Sheehan tells the history of the war in Vietnam paralleled by a biography of one of its most colorful figures, the Army Lt. Col. and later civilian pacification leader John Paul Vann. Regardless of where you stand on this most controversial of all America's wars, this book is a must read to understand its background. Sheehan thoroughly researched the story with interviews of many key players. As a young correspondent he spent several years in country. The book raises many fascinating "counterfactual" history questions: what if military and government leaders had listened to Vann's early (1962-1963) assessment of the weaknesses of the South Vietnamese military and the Diem regime? The only weakness of the book is its abrupt ending. After Vann's death in a helicopter crash in 1972, the author fails to analyze later events including the withdrawal of U.S. troops by 1973 and the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. Writing in 1988, Sheehan should have reflected more on Vann's views and their relation to events that occurred after his death. Nonetheless, a must read for those who want to understand the most divisive war in American history.

A Bright Shining Lie is a true story about a man named John Paul Vann and America's involvement in Vietnam. The author, Neil Sheehan, was a war correspondent for the United States Press International and the New York Times. His book in 1989 was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. The book starts out at Lt. Col. John Paul Vann's funeral in 1972, ten years after he arrived in Saigon, after a helicopter crash back in Vietnam. His story shows America's failures and disillusionment in Southeast Asia. In 1954, the French were defeated, Vietnam then was divided by Ho Chi Minh's Communist North and the Southern regime of Ngo Dinh Diem. Vann had an opportunity to go to Vietnam and he took it right away because he wanted to fight his way up the ranks. When he arrived he was teamed up with South Vietnam's Colonel Cao. Right away Vann notices the corruption of the South Vietnamese regime and their incompetence in fighting the Communists. Sheehan shows this throughout the book with many examples of what the South Vietnamese did. Colonel Cao was shone taking pictures of his men pretending to be dead VC's (Viet Cong) to impress the higher officials and to show that we were winning the war. The South Vietnamese army did not know what they were doing and lost many battles. As Sheehan graphically describes the battles, the Viet Cong are winning them, but that is covered up by South Vietnam and America portraying them as being the supreme force. Vann secretly told reporters how the war was a waste and Neil Sheehan was one of these reporters. The peasants in Vietnam were caught in the middle between the North and the South. We gave the peasants guns then they were seen used by the Viet Cong in battle. Sheehan noted that the corrupt South Vietnamese did not care for the peasants and carpet-bombed their villages because of known Viet Cong inhabitants. This whole book is based on Vann's telling the self-deceiving illusions of the American military and civilian bureaucracy. Vann was sent back to the United States after the army found out about his meetings with reporters. America hid the truth throughout the whole war. He then resigned, but could not stand not be in on the action. Sheehan said, "The war satisfied him so completely that he could no longer look at it as something separate from himself" (745). Later Vann was able to get a position as a civilian aid and went back to Vietnam in 1965. This is when Sheehan depicts another corrupt South Vietnamese soldier. Colonel Dinh, he resisted America's help in the war. He killed his own soldiers, did not want to help the villagers in any way and destroyed their villages. Vann's main goal was to stop this and gain the villagers trust. He ran pacification programs, mobilized allies among South Vietnamese forces, coordinated America's support and had many theories on how to turn the war around. Sheehan also wrote detailed descriptions of John Vann's family and the struggle he had with it during the war. From this the reader is able figure out why Vann always cheats on his wife. His mother, Myrtle was like this and it was a hard subject for John to talk about. In Vietnam Sheehan tells about two secret lovers of Vann. He could not control his sexual compulsion. His military career was almost ruined years earlier because of his affair with a babysitter. Sheehan writes a lot about Vann's character flaw. His wife divorces him later because of this. He was able to get all of this information with interviews of many people while his time in Vietnam as a correspondent. Vann wanted things to be done his way, he wanted to win. Sheehan said, "He was not supposed to accept defeat" (269). Sheehan talks about Westmoreland, the Commanding General in Vietnam and how he believed that the Viet Cong would not attack Saigon during "Tet" the Chinese New Year in 1968. Vann believed that they would and they did. Vann helped lead the fight against the VC and they were successful. Vann took a position in the South Vietnamese army. He served as general in command of the Central Highland Regime. President Nixon had ordered U.S. combat troops out of Vietnam in June of 1972. The U.S. said it was the South Vietnamese war and they are giving them more control. Sheehan in the story points out that the South Vietnamese had little interest in the war in the first place. Vann in 1972 had his coordinates in Kontum carpet-bombed by B-52's to try to wipe out the second, the third and the fifth divisions of North Vietnam. This was a big risk Vann was willing to take, because of the corrupt Dinh who changed orders and they were forced to retreat into a mine field as VC's advanced forward. Sheehan points out that Vann had a different outlook on the war. He was concerned now about his fighting and not the peasant revolution. Earlier he was bothered that, "...the United States could generate an astonishing reaction from the peasantry once corruption was eliminated and the American millions were getting down to the poor instead of being siphoned into the feeding trough of the Saigon hogs" (539). John Paul Vann soon died in a helicopter crash during a rain storm, ten years after he first arrived in South Vietnam. The biography by Neil Sheehan was very detailed about the war the way John Paul Vann experienced it. First as an Army Colonel and later a civilian pacification leader. Sheehan's book clearly shows the corruption of the South Vietnamese regime, their incompetence to fight Ho Chi Minh's Communists and their brutal alienation of their own people. Vann was able to bring these secrets out to reporters like Neil Sheehan to inform the public of what was going on in South Asia. This brings up the question that what if the military and government leaders had listened to Vann's earlier assessments of the weakness of the South Vietnamese military and the Diem regime? What would have been different? This book was very well written and brings much of the war right out into the light. If the reader does not have much knowledge of the war in Vietnam, this is the book to read. Vann personified our good intentions, our courage, our arrogance and are folly in the war. There is one shortcoming of the book. The book ends after Vann's death in a helicopter crash. The reader is left there wanting to know more about the events in Vietnam after his death.

Neil Sheehan's book on the experience of John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam is one of the handful of essential readings on that era.

We follow the life of Vann in Vietnam and through his life see the American involvement from a unique perspective. Both as an officer and later a government official Vann was actively engaged and dedicated to the Amercican cause. The contrast between a superpowers strategy and the story of one man's involvement is wonderfully done. Biography, diplomatic history and war intertwine. The story documents the leadership's willingness to believe what they wanted to hear, Vann's attempts to illuminate the realities in the field to them and his struggle to implement what he considered the correct actions.

Sheehan is an excellent writer and weaves a narrative that is informative, exciting and sometimes opinionated. His bio of John Paul Vann serves as the vehicle to expose the hopes and failures of the American involvement.

An excellent telling of an American tragedy, well deserving of the Pulitzer. Highly recommended.

Unfortunately, Paul Auster's unique work, "The New York Trilogy," is one of those books usually purchased because of word-of-mouth advertising than off-the-shelf interest. The problem with people telling you about this little collection is that you often build a preconceived notion about what to expect from the work, either good, bad, or strange. If a book ever existed that should be read without any prior knowledge of it whatsoever, The New York Trilogy is it.

The book - really a collection of three novellas, originally published separately - follows the adventures of three different men on three different pulp-novel-style investigative cases. To give away more plot does the reader a disservice; after all, while one can describe a series of exhibits on a carnival's "Freak Row," recreating the emotions involved in walking down that alley defies the conventions of language. Language, and its employ, surrounds many of the events in these books. Auster plays with the reader, offering a mystery as engaging as the ones his characters attempt to solve. He scattered the clues throughout the book, but the responsibility of creating meaning from them - and, by extension, from the book - lies solely with the reader.

If that seems unfair of Auster to expect of a reader, and too intellectual and highbrow for people interested in a casual experience, "The New York Trilogy" contains plenty more to recommend it. The mystery of meaning (provided the postmodernists and their odiously pretentious "scholar"-lapdogs haven't ruined such fun things for you) is an optional part of enjoying this work, and those looking for a great read should not be turned away. Vivid, haunting descriptions of The City (by all means, read this book in New York if you have the chance) mingle with stories that show an obvious awe and respect for film-noir and pulp detective stories. Hopelessness, sorrow, happiness, luck and chance, double-crossing, and redemption all combine to form three solid stories that tickle the mind. One gets the impression that Auster wrote this work almost as a tribute to the noir-pulp style, while attempting to offer the reader another mystery, should the reader desire such a challenge.

The seeded subcontext in the book offers quite the literary experiment, and like all experiments it doesn't always work. It usually lies in the background, suggesting its presence, but occasionally comes forward and distracts - and detracts - from the main work itself. In addition, the content matter and strange circumstances might put off those with preconceived ideas (thus, my attempt to say much while revealing little). Auster's "Trilogy" certainly merits a read, although it may not immediately appeal to all sensibilities.

Now that the academic and critic types have found Paul Auster, I guess he'll be lifted out of the general readership and stashed with the rest of the classics on some hoity-toity shelf. Once that "postmodern" labelling starts, it's goodbye accessibility, hello pretension.... Anyway: City of Glass is one of the best constructed stories I've ever read. There is an incredibly complex concentric circle of narrators: there's the author, then the narrator, then his pen name, then his detective character, then his pose as Paul Auster. Then there's the real Paul Auster he meets, not to be confused with the one who's writing the book. Kind of spooky.

Also, an English woman once showed me more disturbing information about City of Glass. If you take a city map of New York and mark out the well-described twisting journey of the characters, a picture emerges. What does it mean? With so much description of the streets they travelled, it can't be accidental. I was actually spooked.

Unfortunately, I think everything Auster's written since this trilogy has been sliding downhill in quality, and this opinion seems to be shared by friends all around.

Paul Auster's "New York Trilogy" consists of three seemingly unconnected novellas which though complete in themselves should be read as integral parts of a total literary experience. Unlike a conventional mystery thriller which focuses on the "who done what to whom" aspect of the storyline, Auster turns the table on the reader by taking him on a journey of self discovery past a hall of mirrors which reflect and expose by stages the psyche of the pursuer, not the pursued. The effect is so spooky you want to scream in your head as you encounter the next slice of reality about yourself. Readers familiar with the music of rock star David Bowie will find the reading experience similar to that of listening to his 1977 album "Low", a dark and creepy introspective piece of work. All three vignettes deal with questions of identity, reality and illusion, the meaning of words and language and explores the fine line between commitment and obsession. Both Quinn in "City of Glass" and the anonymous narrator in "Ghosts" are trapped in their own circumstances and forced to make human choices which lead to their mental breakdown. There is also a noir-like cinematic feel about the trilogy that just begs for this masterful piece of work to be brought to the screen. Auster has produced a highly original post-modern thriller that will mesmerise and enthrall readers for years to come. It is simply superb and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

What I enjoyed most about this book was the simplicity of language and the direct truth of human needs. Erik was physically deformed and sickly. Mostly, he was unloved and cast out from society; he was bigger than just the Opera Ghost. He was society's shame -- a shame they felt that should be hidden and not acknowledged (either out of fear or because of it... you choose). That lack of positive acknowledgement is what makes this book so sad and frustrating. He had love to give, but it was not wanted; he was deemed a creature of horror. But it was really the general attitude of society that was the horror -- not him. The book really echoes the truth that it is what is on the inside that matters, for that is what lasts the longest, and that people should be more open-minded to the mental and physical flaws that either God or Nature or both created. Erik is a symbol not of darkness and the gothic motif, but of light and life and living. If anyone liked this book, they should read Susan Kay's Phantom; it is a good precursor to Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera.

Raoul knew the was something fishy about a voice behind Christine's dressing room door, especialy when he went inside her dressing room right after she left and there was no one there, but he didn't expect that it could be a Phantom. The Phantom lives under the opera, for he fears others seeing his deformed face, but he falls in love with one Christine Daae after giving her singing lessons, which hightens her status at the opera. Yet, Raoul is in love with the prima dona as well; Christine has a choice. You will not be able to put this book, which describes everything in large detail, down one second, as you follow the gripping tale of "The Phantom of the Opera". Leroux brings out his characters' personalities in a such a way that the whole story is believeable. This book could make a GREAT movie if they stayed close to the book, so that means that you ought to read this VERY VERY good book.

Take one beautiful, mysterious and talented soprano opera singer, add two bold opera house owners, a dashing, confused, in-love young man in searh for the opera singer's heart, and one tortured, genius, masked man, and you've got one great book. This book is not merely a book, but a haunting story of horror and love. The noted opera singer, Christine, has been taking secret opera lessons from her adoring Angel of Music, who loves her enough to kill an opera and its audience. Christine also has another admirer, Raoul, who would do anything for her, including save her from the dread Opera Ghost who kills everyone who stands in his way, with the help of the Persian who is owed a favor by the Phantom. As we read on, we find that Erik, The Phantom of the Opera, the Angel of Music, and the Opera Ghost (a.k.a. O.G.) are one, and indeed a terrifying collaboration. Christine refuses to marry Erik, so she, the persian and Raoul are in fatal danger. For years upon reading the haunting story, I can't get it out of my head. I love it. The opera is one to see also. This book will enthral a captivated audience, I quite assure you.

The Hosre and his Boy by C.S. Lewis, is a highly imaginitive book. It is a story about a boy named Shasta and Bree, a talking horse. The two want to reach Narnia and leave their slaved lives so badly they can taste it. When they escape, they are bound to find a young girl named Aravis and another talking horse named Hwin who are also making their way to Narnia. As they join together and try to fight their way across the scolding desert, their journey has just begun. Will they reach Narnia? C.S. Lewis made the book so compelling that I couldn't put it down. In a waay that he made me get into the story with a lot of detail and voice. I never expected the book to be so good, but time just flew by! It made me ask myself questions and got me thinking about what was going to happen next. In conclusion, The Horse and His Boy is an overall, fun, riveting book and I highly reccomend this book for everyone who loves imagination.

The Horse and His Boy is about a boy named Shasta who lives with his mean, grumpy father who makes him do chores. One day Shasta finds out the man is not really his father and meets a talking horse from Narnia which was stolen. The horse's name is Bree. Bree and Shasta decided to ride for freedom and try to get to Narnia, where they will be safe. Along the way, they meet a girl named Aravis who is also trying to escape to Narnia on a talking horse named Hwin. They all decide to travel to Narnia together and have many adventures along the way. I liked this book because it is exciting and has many unexpected turns on every page. I think this is a great book and you should read it.
--Andrew P.

C.S. Lewis is a genius, and this is one of the best out of the chronicles. I love this book, because it gives you a better understanding of how horrible Calormen was. In this story a young boy who was adopted by a Calormene fishermen escapes to Narnia with a talking horse Bree. On their dangerous journey, they meet a Tarkheena named Aravis and her horse Hwin. They are on an amazing adventure and have to face the challenges of getting through the busy city of Tashbaan and crossing the desert. Their most difficult challenge is to get to Archenland before the Calormen army to warn the king about their surprise attack. This book introduces new characters and has the lovable old ones. I recommend this book to anyone who can read!

I actually have the 4.0 edition of this one, and it covers a ton of HTML codes, applets, tables, frames, surveys, etc! Other pluses of this book include the fact that it is presented in a relaxed manner to get you up to speed.

The book also includes a CD-ROM, containing dozens of useful graphics, programs, tools and so much more. I actually downloaded the entire disk to my hard-drive so I would have it when I needed it!

I had been playing with my own web-site on and off for years now and I got fed up with having a boring site, so I picked up this book. I was not disappointed! I have learned how to wean myself off of an easy web-editor, to pure HTML. I've also learned how to make an image as a link, how to META tag and a whole bunch of other cool stuff I've been wanting to know how to do.

The only real complaint I have is that he tells you how to get a radio-button survey on your page, and then you have to link it to his site to get the results. I would have thought it cool if he had included the section on how to do it all yourself (although he mentioned the fact it would have made the book a bit thicker).

If your looking for the basics and maybe a little more, this will get you started! Now all they need is a C.I.G to Java!

If you are looking to purchase a GREAT book on the subject of HTML...get this one! This series has, to me, some of the best ideas, tips and helps available in the field! The IDIOT'S GUIDE will take you by the hand and lead you on an adventurous path of wonder and UNDERSTANDING of the sometimes complex world of HTML. It is a MUST have reference book to what you need on HTML and Web Page authoring! My 12 year old daughter and I were both able to put up our Web Pages starting in March 1998, using information found in this VERY humorous book, with NO prior HTML knowledge! We both highly recommend this GUIDE for beginners, AND advanced users! You will too!

After deciding to create a Web site, I went down to my local bookstore and purchased this little gem of a book. The thing is so damn easy to use and read that I read the whole book in two days. It is so informative that I knew how to create a site in a day. It gives you in-depth info on fonts, how to import images, colors etc. It also tells you about various HTML editors and how they are used. The only bit that I found disappointing was that it had no section on how to put sounds on your web page. Overall, an excellent boo

Greene is a syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune and Life and is the SON;FATHER is Bob's father, once a Major in the 91st Infantry Division of WW II -famed for Its role in the Italian campaign; THE MAN WHO WON THE WAR is retired Brig. General Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay, the B29 that took the A-bomb to Hiroshima. The father lived in Columbus, Ohio and Bob had grown up there. Father would announce now and then: "That man going(standing)there is Paul Tibbets". Bob contacted Tibbets and they became friends just days before the father died . Not stated, but clear to the reader: Bob is going to be writing articles in the Tribune and, finally, this book. His quest was to understand his father's generation and to find out Paul's feelings about dropping the bomb. Bob learns about the disgust and disappointment his father's generation has for those whose freedom they preserved with such devotion to purpose. The current and older generation have quite different rules for societal conduct and that accounts for a lot of the differences. But in my view the most salient point Paul makes in their many discussions is the one about discipline. To do great things, he said, you must have discipline. We had it. Much of today's society doesn't have it and it shows in so many ways. No, Paul didn't lose any sleep over dropping the bomb. It was an 1,800 man project which he was under orders to organize and lead. Countless men and their relatives wrote him to express their thanks for saving them from a bloody invasion of Japan's home islands. The toughest people for him to make understand were those who would say, "why didn't you just tell them you didn't want to do it." But he did want to do it.

This moving tribute by Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Greene will inspire many baby boomers (and others) to think deeply and perhaps differently about their parents. Back in Columbus, Ohio to visit his dying father, Greene met 84-year old Paul Tibbets, the pilot that dropped the bomb. In getting to know Tibbets, Greene came to better understand his late father. Tibbets and the elder Greene (1915-98) never met, but they shared many values, including a sense of duty and horror from World War II. Like many, Tibbets believes the bomb shortened the war and spared lives, sending home safely many future dads like the elder Greene (and my own father). I wish the author had pressed Tibbets on alternatives such as demonstrating the bomb non-lethally, but DUTY isn't really about politics. It's more about the author's father, Tibbets, the war, and the ties binding and divisions separating baby boomers and their war-generation parents. I particularly liked reading the elder Greene's life memories, which he spoke into a tape recorder before passing.

DUTY is a readable, moving tribute to two men and their dwindling generation.

When I finished "Duty" I calmly set the book down and spent several minutes thinking about my own dad. To say that this book is touching is an understatement. Bob Greene learns much about his father after his dad dies, through conversations with another World War II military man -- one General Paul Tibbets. It so happens that General Tibbets lives near Mr. Greene's parent's home and, after some 20 years of attempts, agrees to talk with the author. It also so happens that Paul Tibbets is the man who piloted the B-29 that dropped the atomic bomb at Hiroshima.

The many interviews with Tibbets let the reader view the Second World War (in particular the dropping of the first atomic bomb) through the mind of the man who flew the Enola Gay and very probably ended the war.

Think about your dad, then read the book. You may never think about him the same way again.

(:

This is the absolute best Javascript book for learning to actually use (i.e build stuff correctly) the language there is!

If you have even a basic knowledge of programming, and a good grasp of html, web design, IT, etc. and you want to learn to program in JavaScript, this is the book to buy!

It covers the kind of stuff most of the guys who write these books just slop over (you know, the old, "if you dont know this, that's your problem Lame-O " well, you wont find that here!!).

Kudos to Paul Wilton ! I hope he writes one on Java soon !

Over time, I've read my share of computer language books, and I was generally confused and disappointed until I discovered WROX. The only reason I bought the Wilton book was because I was pleased with the other WROX titles I had read (and I needed to learn Javascript, of course).

Even for WROX, the Beginning Javascript book is outstanding. Wilton has the skill and patience to describe how everything fits together (important for the Javascript novice like me). He makes it real for you through excellent examples in every section of the book.

Wilton also does a great job of explaining how Javascript is implemented in the latest browsers and how all this relates to the most recent decrees from the W3C. Even if you don't want to learn about Javascript, you should buy this book as an example of what good computer language books can (and should) be.

I needed to refresh myself on JavaScript since I hadn't looked at it for a year or two and really haven't gotten into programming it much. I have read the first 100 pages, word for word and it is just like having a college professor with you only is speaks to you so you can understand it and JavaScript syntax easily.

Also, his examples are excellent. He will start off with a small piece of code and build on it section through section while incorporating new items each time such as arrays, objects, etc. so that you are basically like I said, being taught.

Experience programmers can still use it as a reference because his writing style is to the point so therefore you can find syntax quickly.

He explains items to look out for and common mistakes also that only an experience programmer would go through saving you a lot of hard aches with syntax pointers.

This book would be excellent for a college student in CIS or CS, I wish I had this one while I was in CIS, it would have gone well along with my course book.

If you are a beginner, you better read it like a book or you will keep jumping around confused if you don't know the basics of programming, syntax, functions, and interactions with forms and ASP. Patience to all beginners, don't try to skim this book quickly unless you are using it as a reference.

When I started reading Moon Palace by Paul Auster I expected to be very bored because I thought M.S. Fogg's life story would never become interesting for me. But I was surprised that it was so easy for me to get into the story and after a while I constated that I really enjoyed getting to know more about the devellopments in Marco's life. The topic of coincidence leads trough the whole story, and when you think there is no way out for Marco, Paul Auster offers an unexpected new way. The complicated situation of Marco's family seems too unreal to me, but I must admit thatI liked the ideas the Author presents in his book. In some parts, the reader needs lots of imagination to get what the author wants to express.
In general I would say that the book is worth reading it, though I would probably not have chosen it on my own( we read it in school). You can find lots of interesting and up-to-date topics in it, so it does not belong to a special kind of books like "love-stories" or "crimes". The story offers many different items so you start thinking about the same things Marco has to deal with, so you can sometimes really identify with him and ask if you would have reacted in the same way.
It is a pity that Marco explains what will happen next right at the beginning of the chapter, so a lot of suspense is taken, even if the story does not get boring when you get to know all the details. With "Moon Palace" Paul Auster offers an unusual but great story full of surprise and coincidence and leads Marco Fogg's life not - like the reader would have expected- to an end but to another perspective for the next steps into his future.

Typical Auster: strong line writing, well-defined characters, coincidence-heavy plot, a nonexistent ending. The latter two separates Auster from the pool of countless other "literary" authors. Nobody else has Auster's uncanny ability to evoke the desperation of loneliness.

This is a strange novel, but if you've read Auster before, it's going to feel as familiar as that pillow you sleep under every night. There's this guy named M.S. Fogg, he's an orphan, and all sorts of crazy things happen to him, some by his doing, some by coincidence. The density of Auster's plot is staggering; the entire story of Effing, a character Fogg meets, could easily have been another book. That whole section almost reads like a Reader's Digest version of a bigger book, but I didn't mind at all. I don't mind efficiency when it's done right.

Don't expect much from the ending. It just is. If you expect a nice tidy package at the end, you're gonna be disappointed. Just take it for what it is.

This is my third Auster, already having read "In the Country of Last Things" and "The New York Trilogy." I love them all. I'm also a fan of Haruki Murakami, and I highly recommend you check out his books if you like Auster. They have striking similarities: both tend to utilize an unsure unwilling first person voices (faux noir, almost), work with weird plots, have coincidences aplenty, and have nonstandard endings.

- SJW

In search of a good mystery I went to the Edgar Awards to find an author with whom I was unfamiliar. The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster was unavailable, so I picked up Moon Palace instead.

I finished the book in one sitting. It seems to be more than a novel or stories strung together to tell a tale, but rather a grouping of real and beautiful pictures orchestrated with words. There is a sense of loss at its end, as if people you have known are now, once more beyond reach. It is one of those books that you wish you had only just begun, or that it was three times longer in length.

I'll go back to the book and read it again and I will read the rest of Auster's work.