This book does breaks some ground on programming with Perl. Ive learned alot from this book and Ive been using Pascal for quite some time. I would say that those of you that want some quick answers from a book that is written in a way for you to get going with Perl than this is the book. Yet it probably would put some advanced users to sleep but than the title acks that. I gave it a four because it uses too many expluratives.

I would highly recommend the training courses offered by the Deitels. So far, I have used the Java and Perl Training Courses and have found with both that the instruction was consistent and well planned. The examples were done well and the explanations provided in both the book and especially on the CD were easy to follow and understand. I think particularly listening to the CD explanations made working through the material go a lot faster, at least for me.
I believe that the Deitels have made every effort to make a product that truly is an effective learning tool. They also pleasantly surprised me by promptly answering any emails that I sent to them regarding questions I had about the material in the book.

I feel confident that because of the Deitels' products I have gained a solid foundation in both the Java and Perl programming languages. For any and all programming languages I plan to learn in the future, I will check first to see if there is a Deitel training course available and start my learning process there.

Paul Goodman has laid it out: school is another racket where people are taught they need the ministrations of the school system. Written in the sixties when it was still fashionable to speak of alienation, Compulsory Miseducation is a bracing reminder that human beings are born free and possess the capacity to shape their own lives outside the institutionalized context of schooling.

Written in 1964, Paul Goodman's anaylsis of the educational system and bureaucracy has proven all too true. The system has gone farther awry than even Mr. Goodman could have guessed, as we have added the penal system and mandatory sentencing to those discarded as cogs/clones in the educational system. The sad part is, despite the warnings of Goodman and scores of others, our schools aren't getting any better. Academic inflation (quantifiable degrees vs. knowledge) has persisted beyond anyone's dreams. The whole educational/government/corporate troica has all but strangled free thought and innovation. It's a shame that this book is out of print, as it should be required reading for school teachers, legislators, parents. As our educational process becomes increasing irrelevant and more kids get lost in the shuffle to be scopped up by gangs/police, this book becomes all the more meaningful.

This is the book to buy if you want to build and run the Cellular Automata pioneered by Stephen Wolfram (inventor of "Mathematica" the absolute best math software and more). Like most of us who have been waiting for more than a decade for Wolfram to finish his opus magnum "A New Kind of Science" (available for pre-ordering here on Amazon.com), one can get a little tired of waiting and want to run some of the sterling images sneak pre-viewed on his WEB site to gain some of the same insights he has been gathering since first discovering this phenomenon in the early '80's. I first bought Gaylord's later book; "Modeling Nature",(also available here on Amazon.com)thinking that would be the definitive guide to actually programming and running the simulations on "Mathematica." It's a great book and has many good examples of other kinds of modeling software but not the kind we are interested in, his "ElementaryRules" for these [very] particular 1-Dimensional Cellular Automata. Buy it, program them, run them, view them, and forever have the way you view the world change!

How does the algorithmic approach work diffently from the equational approach? Gaylord/Wellin's neat book demostrates that. In cases of the presence of technical difficulties and the absence of the representability in terms of equations, the algorithmic approach is gainning more and more significance and enjoys a promising future. The book covers both the probabilistic systems and cellular automata. Wide-reaching 14 physical and biological systems are presented to suit various readers' tastes. [It would be a plus if in 2nd edition, the economic systems are EXPLICITLY included, although the authors did put some, say, the random walk model, in the book.] Each chapter is short [thus, time-saving for self-study], nonsense-free,systematic, and self-contained. It starts from step-by-step code fragments, to the integration of parts into a elegant program. Then, it was wrapped up with the numerical analysis and visualization both to give a feel of the performance of the model and to blow in a strand of breeze in our sometimes dry computer programming work. [Hopefully in next edition the sample solutions to the end-of-chapter computer projects will be added.] Appendix A and B on MATHEMATICA programming and random number generators concentrate on a few essential points [rather than on everything] and the authors delivered them effectively. In a nutshell, if you're interested in simulation and if you'd like to use MATHEMATICA, I recommend this superb book by Gaylord/Wellin.

We have used this book as a Spanish tutorial. It covers the material that one needs to get a good foundation in the language. We found the exercises a bit repetitious in some cases. More variation may be better but they do drill on the material presented. This book has a far better sequence of presentation than many Spanish texts.

Con Mucho Gusto is a logical, well-sequenced, detailed, and user-friendly textbook with superb support materials. I began learning Spanish with this text in university in 1985 and am now teaching with it in my university night classes. This work puts to shame the modern "whole language" muddled mess that has been infiltrating pedagogy in the United States. Con Mucho Gusto provides a fine framework for learning and practice, allows the student to work outside of class with greater facility, and can be supplemented with as much realia and authentic practice as desired. I give this work my very highest recommendation as both student and teacher!

This book is an easy and entertaining read about our first branch of government. It deals with Congress from a variety of angles, providing brief context for each section before each group of ancedotes. It provides insight to political junkies and the average reader alike about the greats and not-so-great who have served in the National Legislature. It reminds us that Senators and Representatives are imperfect human beings, just like the constituents they represent. Unlike the sometimes surreal press coverage of Congress, Paul Boller's effort gives those who have served, are serving, and by inference will serve, on Capitol Hill the respect they deserve while desmistifying its reputation among the naive among us all.

This book is a must for anyone interested in politics be they Republican or Democrat. The anecdotes are humorous, thought provoking, and interesting. Simply delightful!

i think this book goes in to the right amount of detail for a review... it give's you all the main point, ideas, and definitions without any nonesense.
also the practice tests were pretty good.. fairly similar to the ap test i guess.

As with most The Princeton Review study guides, 'Cracking the AP US Government Exam' begins with a very informative 20-30 pages simply about the exam itself: topics breakdown, percentage covered on the exam, performance range for specific scores, multiple choice strategies, free-response essay breakdown, etc. Unlike other publishers, this informative briefing on the test is especially particular to Princeton Review study guides, and extremely helpful. More than 80 pages cover the details and general concepts of the subject material of the AP US Government course. Concise and well organized presentation of a large amount of material is a remarkable talent of The Princeton Review. A thorough and active reading (highlighting, underlining) of the review one week in advance should prepare the competent student very well. Displeased with my class textbook, I never read an entire chapter (or took notes) but felt very confident after completing the study guide and practicing with copies of former AP exams. One minor drawback is a lack of review questions at the end of each chapter, yet the practice exams are almost exactly identical to former AP exams I received from my teacher. In addition, thorough explanations for each question and free response section make the practice exams great learning and review exercises. One note: If you are particularly interested in purchasing a study guide for the practice exams, my experience as a very study-guide-dependent-honors-student has led me to the conclusion that The Princeton Review and Kaplan create the most representative practice exams for AP, SAT II, and SAT exams. In that respect, I do NOT recommend: Barrons, Petersons, Teach Yourself, etc.

Based on a PBS Special, I have given this book as gift to several of my supervisors as I left to go on to greater things with the hopes that it would inspire them to make the workplace a great place to be.

For those who were as disappointed of "How to think like Leonardo Da Vinci" as I was: This may be the one!

This book clearly and succinctly discusses what went wrong with the US Army leading to the debacles of Viet Nam. It is good reading for those interested in the military, but the lessons are just as true for industry. I highly recommend this book.

I first read this book as a student in ROTC in the mid-1980's. The author shows how thousands of years of military philosophy and practice were thrown away by the Pentagon in exchange for modern corporate practices. Soldiers must be lead; not "managed" to their deaths. Manamara and crew subverted lessons learned by commanders in battle through the ages, and substituted corporate methods which were the detriment of the US military; especially in Vietnam. An army can fight anywhere, anytime, so long as it is properly trained and led by skilled military leaders who innovate on the lessons of the past. Corporate practices should be left to those in Admin and Supply. The author cites examples of the military successes that were due to adherence to historical military truisms. This book will describe the REAL cause for our failure in Vietnam- to the surprise of most University intellectuals. This book causes an epiphany of ones sense of military history.

With this book I learned a lot about the economic forces that shaped Argentina into what it is today up to 1991. Not particularly light reading, but worth while, especially as an Argentine that was too young at the time to remember any of the events described here.

Excellent book about the facts that caused Argentina's failure in shaping a modern economy.
Lewis makes a very thorough analysis, full of empirical data, that begins in the colonial era of the country and ends up at the first administration of Menem, with some hope at last.
Some years later, the country will show again its ability to destroy confidence and people's savings again...

Think that you can eat frozen foods in a third-world country. Think again. This book is a must have for people who live, work, or travel in third-world countries. We recommend it to all people bound for Asia and India. Just think - this book may save your life - does that make it worth reading?

I wish that I had this book while traveling throughout China in 1993 and 1998. I will certainly use it on my trip to Thailand next year and to other parts of Asia in the future. I share Paul's love of that part of the world and realize that we must educate and protect ourselves while there. Thanks Paul