don't buy this book 'cause the 70-216 has a defective CD in it and the publisher won't replace it 'cause they haven't made a working version yet and if you lost your receipt and not send your copy to them, they won't send you the working version when it done.

also this is what i got from the support of the publisher:

"Thanks for the inquiry. We apologize for the installation problems with the E-Book programs on the Sybex Interface of the CD. This unfortunate error wasn't discovered until after the CD had been sent to the CD replicator."

I bought Sybex MCSA Core few months ago and after reading each book only once I passed all my certifications. I didn't have nay problems with defective CD's and recomend these books for anyone interested in getting certified in the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system.

These poems are filled with obscene language and non-sensical usages of words. I read this for a school report, and was disgusted at Mulddoon's lack of talent.

This is not Muldoon's most accessible book, but it would be a shame to mistake the surface complexity for obscurity, or to assume that nothing worthwhile lurks beneath. In fact the book is deep, beautiful and profound -- and, of course, because it is Muldoon, funny as h-e-double-hockeysticks. "The Soap Pig" is as moving as anything Muldoon has written (at least until "Incantata" in *The Annals of Chile*), and several poems, including "Something Else," "The Mist-Net," and the excellent title poem are showcases for the poet's inimitable wit. As for those who have trouble locating the "point" of Muldoon's work, they should check out the poem called "The Point" in his new collection, *Hay*. Like his other work, it may leave them scratching their heads, but hey, if you've got an itch . . .

Paul De Man spent his early years in Europe as a confirmed Anti-Semitic fascist. When the Nazis invaded his homeland, he actively collaborated in creating and disseminating virulent polemics against Jews. After the war De Man fled to America. He was hired to teach at Yale (great background check, guys) while desperately attempting to conceal his wartime activities. De Man became famous at Yale for founding the School of Deconstructionism, an intellectually disreputable philosophy which claimed that works of art may be freely interpreted by observers without consideration for the creator's intentions. In other words, Hitler's "Mein Kampf" might have one meaning to a Bantu and another meaning to a Swede without concern for Hitler's intentions. This type of moral equivocation appealed to members of the politically correct sect, which faithfully regurgitated De Man's shallow assertions. Early in his Yale career De Man's European escapades became known to the senior staff and faculty at Yale. When confronted by his accusers, De Man lied. Yale never publicized De Man's record of violent bigotry (great moral courage, guys), allowing De Man to proselytize his message of moral relativism for decades without public recognition of the Great Scholar's character or moral fitness.

In the person of Paul De Man the politically correct are forced to confront the true nature of their inhuman philosophy. Thomas Jefferson preached freedom and liberalism while owning slaves, in direct contradiction of his philosophy, becoming a hypocrite. De Man preached genocide against helpless minorities, lied after the fact, and never apologized for his actions. In doing so he conformed perfectly to the moral relativism of political correctness. Deconstructionism became the intellectual shield behind which hides the totalitarian urge.

Although Derrida utilizes the death of a friend to illustrate reflections on other thinkers, the text primarily illustrates the double bind we find ourselves in when those close to us die, as illustrated in Freud's "Mourning and Melancholia" as well as in Holderin. We find ourselves making an impossible decision. We may repair our memories inward like a "tomb", a "bad object" incorporation resulting in an inward flow of libidinal cathexes, leading to a dead, incorporated otherness and a narcissistic and deadened state, or retrieve our libidinal investitures from our deceased friend, resulting in a sense of betrayal. A timeless human dilemna illustrated beautifully here. I suppose a third choice is a healthy dose of therapy. Maybe M. Derrida should have called on his buddy M. Lacan when he had the chance, like M. Althusser? At any rate, I can't comment on De Man's political activities prior to his Yale appointment because I don't know. I suppose I'm just an irresponsible intellectual. Nonetheless, "Memoires" is worthwhile for those initiated in continental thought and some of the nuances of presentation.

This book by Pruyser turned out to be a big disappointment. While I could list a number of reasons why I did not care for the book, I will limit my remarks to two areas which I found to be especially disappointing. To state it quite simply: the overall tenor of the book is secular. For example, he repeatedly refers to the pastor as a "professional" who is counseling "clients". While both of these terms may be technically acceptable to some people, I find them both to be offensive. In the true sense of the term, the pastor is not a "professional" (according to Pruyser, the pastor is viewed as one professional among many others such as psychiatrists, doctors, social workers, and others who perform what he sees as similar "services"). In light of the Biblical qualifications and duties of a pastor, it is hardly appropriate to refer to him as a "professional" in this sense. To do so takes a man who is called and gifted by God to perform a sacred duty and secularize him and the ministry he has been given. To be sure, the ox is not to be muzzled when he threshes the floor, but to take the fact that pastors are compensated for their efforts and thus lump them in with those whose callings are of an entirely different order and label them all "professionals" does not resonate well.
Also, over the course of the 134 pages, there is only one Biblical passage which is referenced (Jn. 8:3-11, p. 117)! This was tremendously disturbing. As a book which is targeted to ministers (remember the title of the book), it was quite a let down to read page after page and chapter after chapter only to find no attempt to deal with pastoral counseling from a Biblical standpoint. If Pruyser is not first and foremost interested in what God has to say, then what is the use of writing a book that is expected to be used as a resource for those men who have given their lives to serving God based on the revelation which He has given in His Word, the Bible?
Some of the chapters were not a total loss, though. However, even in the chapters that contained some decent material, (Chapter 4- Why Do People Turn to Pastors?; Chapter 5- Guidelines for Pastoral Diagnosis; Chapter 7- Language in the Pastoral Relationship; Chapter 9- The Agapic Community) the framework from which Pruyser proceeded to write had a very secular tone to it. Maybe that word "secular" has been overused and doesn't seem to fit in a critique of a book which is designed to be read by pastors, but there was little if any spiritual vibrancy on these pages.
An interesting bit of irony is found when one compares the actual content of the book to the authorial biography on the back cover. In that brief paragraph, we are told that one of Dr. Pruyser's "unusual qualifications to write this book" include the fact that he is in possession of "considerable theological insights." In my estimation, nothing could be further from the truth. This book contains virtually no theological insight (explicit or implicit) and never makes any attempt to deal with the issue of pastoral counseling from a Biblical/theological perspective.
Having said all of this, the main point of the importance of a pastoral diagnosis in cases of counseling has not been lost. There are points at which I can agree with Pruyser and appreciate what he is trying to communicate, yet the detached feel of the book was something I was constantly having to fight against.

Paul Pruyser, in "The Minister as Diagnostician" gives an insightful view into the challenges, struggles and questions of ultimate meaning that hospital patients face. The purpose of the book is not a biblical exegesis exercise, but rather to help pastors and chaplains draw on the disciplines of spirituality and psychology to gain a deeper understanding of what patients, familiy members and hospital staff go through. Pruyser's book is a pioneering effort in this respect, because next to Anton Boisen's work in the 1940's and 50's, this book is one of the few that adopts an interpretive rather than prescriptive approach toward pastoral care. In a nutshell, Pruyser seems to be saying that if we are to be effective in our pastoral care, we must first have a grasp on what situation the patient and his or her family are in- what are their resources for support? where do they locate ultimate meaning and hope? what are their challenges? What pastoral resources can be mobilized to address these needs?

Pruyser provides an extremely helpful model and template for understanding the spirutal needs of the patients to whom we minister. For those of us who make pastoral care visits, particularly in the hospital, on a regular basis- this book is tremendously helpful food for thought. If you are looking for a book of proof texts on the basis for pastoral care, however- that is not what this book is all about. Remember, Pruyser's approach is descriptive, rather than prescriptive. This book is an excellent pastoral care resource for chaplains, pastors and pastoral care visitors. I have used it in my work as a hospital chaplain and I would highly recommend it.

the emperor's new clothes!!

While Monet is my favorite Impressionist artist, I have little affection for most of the work he did in the last years of his life. However, "Monet: Late Paintings of Giverny from the Musee Marmottan" is about more than the work the artist did during the first part of the 20th-century. What is fascinating about this book is how it talks about Claude Monet as a skilled landscape designer who turned his garden at Giverny into a living canvas which served as the subject for almost all of his later work.

The text of this book consists primarily of four essays: (1) "The Musee Marmottan and Claude Monet," by Arnaud d'Hauterives, the museum's curator, that briefly discusses the history of the Monet collection found there; (2) Lyn Federle Orr's "Monet: An Introduction" provides what is really an overview of Monet's body of work; (3) Paul Hayes Tucker's "Passion and Patriotism in Monet's Late Work" discusses how the artist started focusing on particular elements and enlarging them in his paintings. This essay is illustrated with not only reproductions of Monet's paintings but photographs of Monet's garden from that period; (4) "Monet as a Garden Artist" by Elizabeth Murray focuses on the strong parallels between Monet as a painter and a gardener. The essay includes a detailed diagram of both the Flower Garden and the Water Garden at Monet's home in Giverny, as well as an axial view of the two. What I like most about this book is that I learned more about the garden and its relationship to the famous paintings of the water lilies, the Japanese bridge, and the other familiar sights.

This book ends with the Exhibition of 22 paintings displayed at the Musee Marmottan, from two "Water Lilies (Nympheas)" paintings from 1903 to a painting of "The Roses (Les Roses) from 1925-1926. Almost all of these paintings reflect the darker style of his last years. However, I think with this book you will come for the paintings, but stay for the garden. Of course, now I have a strong desire to go there and see these things for myself. For a visit there, albeit a slightly fictional one, check out "Linnea in Monet's Garden," a children's book that adult will certainly enjoy by Christina Bjork and Lena Anderson.

This book was recommended to me by my physician. He wanted me to learn about different types of depression, their causes, and possible treatments. I read the review here and thought, "Well, I can take a little Christianity along with the psychologically helpful information the book will provide."

Boy, was I wrong! This book is a little bit of the basic psychology of depression and a bunch of Christian propaganda along with it...

This book ended up making me more depressed than before I read it. It's depressing to think that the majority of our country is populated with people who share his biased opinions about humanity.

If you're asking God "Why (me, my child, spouse, parent)?", read this book!

anyone who checks the formula on these will find them replete with errors.

Best book I have ever written

There is more marketing of Netscape technologies in the book than there is valuable information. The information in the book is severely dated; but even when it was "fresh" it was of no real value due to a lack of detail and explanation.

this book covers all the topics for web developers including, CCS, HTML, javascript, and DHTML. it is very comprehensive

Strathern's summary of the life of Issac Newton is less than 90 pages of unusually large print -- a very quick read indeed. At best, it is a superficial glance that provides little insight into the life or work of Newton.

In many ways, the book is a contradiction. Strathern's approach is more suited to a children's book, but his writing style is intended for an educated adult. For me, the result was fast-paced boredom.

This book told me several significant points about Issac that I (and most other people) are not aware of. It also inspired me to learn more. It requires a small amount of time to read. For me that is an advantage.

This is a great book for people that avoid fat books which are padded with trivial details that can't be remembered anyway.

A mismash of sociological, economic babble which doesn't seem to go anywhere. Are they trying to apologize for the shortcomings of the sectarian state or minimize them ? Their historical perspective is minimal. A complete waste of paper, ink and the readers time.

In this review, I will concentrate on the global approach of Bew, Gibbon and patterson on the Irish question. Their book itself is very good, especially their analyisis of contradictions within the unionist bloc. I recommend it to anyone interested in Northern Irish politics. But I think that what is highly contestable is their "red marxist" approach on the national question. in Ireland; they claim that the struggle for emancipation is opposed to the struggle for reuniting the country. They argue that "the democratic, that is to say the national stage of the Irish revolution seems to have been complete as it ever could in 1921." They claim elsewhere that recent "urbanisation and industrialization have relegated the national question to the margin of Irish politics" ; thus "there is nothing inherently reactionary about a national frontier which puts Protestants in a numerical majority". They even adavance that "Imperialism's real impact upon Irish society has not been a substantial one"!!! Thus, for them, the issue of partition has no substantial material basis, it divides catholic and protestant workers (thus hinders socialist struggle) they refuse to see it as a question of democracy and emancipation regarding it as an issue of "territorial completion". Socialists should work to democratize the two partition states and not concern themselves with national reunification as "reactionary nationalists" do. As to the mythical nature of the national question today, nothing could be further from the truth. Every single aspect of economic, political, and ideological life in the north of Ireland is overlaid, "overdetermined" by the national question. Until the national question is settled, there can be no "pure" class politics in Ireland. To presume that the left can organize solely on class issues is to judge that the national question will go away if we only ignore it. Or to presume that the working class in the north can forget about the national question and unite on social and economic isssues only is volontarism of the most crass kind. The conflict over territorial boundaries is not a question of some instinctual "territorial completion". It is not the struggle over the territorial extent of the NI state per se which, in an emancipatory perspective denies its legitimacy. The border is a geographical expression of the sectarian class relations through which the state operates, and on which its very existence depends. The border is the over-arching manifestation of the structural inequality between catholics and protestants. This is why socialists work to "smash the orange state", one of the main reasons being the irreformable caracter of the state. But, this is not to say that nationalism is suficient (or synonymous with) to bring socialism about. But, appart from their contestable views, it should be well stressed that the book is really worth reading, the authors are very rigorous in their analyses which attain a high level of quality, unfortunately abscent from most books relating to the questions relating to the north of Ireland. (For those who would like to have more bibligraphical informations on criticism relating to Bew, Gibbon, Patterson, contact me through e-mail). Liam O'Ruairc.