With stories like "Ferryman" (Eric Brown), "The White Stuff" (Peter F. Hamilton & Graham Joyce), and "A Night on Bare Mountain" (Graham Charnock), anthologies don't get any better than this. My only quibble is with the experimental narrative "Thirteen Views of a Cardboard City"(William Gibson) which rounds out the volume with a whimper, not a bang. Otherwise, this is Hugo & Nebula territory.

This book was very easy to read and spiritually uplifting. Through the book I kept wanting to know what was going to happen next. The author has diplayed a keen sense of writing and has captured the true spirit of believing in faith. I reccomend this book for everyone! I also look forward to reading the sequel.

I've read, A Brown Water Sailor in the Delta several times. You see, I was there in 1967 and 1968 myself. Mr. Sheppard did a supurb job depicting the life of PBR sailors and the hardships they endured while patroling the rivers and canals of Viet Nam's Mekong Delta. Don Sheppard is not only a fine author but a Warrior in the truest meaning of the word. If you havn't read this one, you really should; it is great reading.

We do a lot of southwestern cooking, and over the past ten years or so this has been the cookbook we come back to again and again. This book collects recipes from both well-known chefs (such as Mark Miller of Coyote Cafe) and regional home cooks. It has a lot of traditional southwestern (and southern) recipes, and also some more modern treatments that you would find in more innovative restaurants around Dallas, Sante Fe, or Scottsdale. The recipes are generally well written. They range from easy to moderate in difficulty. Some of the pictures of the food are wonderful.

I found this book an excellent introduction to the art of tailless aircraft design. It is a well laid out book which allows you either to read it through, or to browse topics of particular interest to the reader. The enthusiasm of the authors is obvious from the tone of the book and isn't lost in the translation from German. Most of the explanations and solutions are given in a conceptual form often by analogy before the maths is presented in any detail. This makes it a very easy book to use and understand.

This book was an excellent reference for me. I'm looking for a home now and wanted something to prepare me for securing a great mortgage. The authors present the material in a clear cut way while leaving out most of the technical jargon that you most likely have a lawyer or soemone your working with who is a professional in the real estate trade explain to you. You get a thorough understanding of the mortgage without going crazy trying to remember terms of the industry. It's also filled with a load of real world insight on many aspects of the various mortage types, lenders and "rule bending". I was tossed up between "Buying and Selling a Home" by Kiplingers Personal Finace Staff but again it didn't have many technical terms and industry jargon that Kiplingers had. When your a busy person with little time to yourself but want to be prepared for one of life's major puchases than this should be the book for you. I will definitely look over the other books in this line pertaining to real property before checking out other publishers.

This book has done a great job in explaining and putting in simple, understandable words all the mortgage techicals and jargon. The mortage offical that originated my loan application was amazed at how much i knew about the matter (if she only knew). Seriously, if you want to get the deal that benefits you the most, then get this book and save hundreds and maybe thousands on closing costs and interest rates during the life of your loan. It will only cost you $16.99 and some little time to read and understand. Hope your have a great deal!!!

Buying a home is the biggest financial deal many people will ever make. If you're about to buy your first home it pays to learn the ins-and-outs of mortgages. Structuring your mortgage properly can save you thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the mortgage. "Mortgages For Dummies" explains how mortgages work and how to get a great deal on your mortgage.

"Mortgages For Dummies" begins by asking the reader to evaluate how large of a mortgage he/she can afford. Tyson and Brown discuss budgeting, which is something many people will already know. The authors point out that in addition to covering your basic expenses, such as food and water, you must also allow for your other financial goals, such as retirement planning. Only through budgeting will you get a handle on how large of a mortgage you really can afford. Obviously, you don't want to wind up with mortgage payments you can't pay!

Lenders have separate evaluations of how much you can afford. Tyson and Brown suggest that lenders will expect your monthly housing expenses and repayment of non-housing debt to total no more than about 36% of your monthly income. And, your total housing expense probably shouldn't exceed 28% of your monthly, pretax income.

Tyson and Brown suggest not making an overly large down payment, "if it depletes your emergency financial cushion." And, don't accept a bigger mortgage than you think you can afford just because the banks say you can afford it!

If possible, you probably want at least a 20% down payment on your home. Lenders borrowing to people with less than 20% equity have found that there is an increased risk of default. Because of this, Tyson and Brown explain new homeowners with less than 20% equity in their homes will need to pay Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI). PMI can cost hundreds of dollars a year. PMI benefits the borrower, not the homeowner. Tyson and Brown suggest that as soon as you have 20% or more equity in your home, you should eliminate PMI.

Another option is to have the government insure or guarantee your loan. Mortgages For DummiesTM mentions FHA, VA, and FmHA government-guaranteed loans.

Chapter 3, Fathoming the Fundamentals, was one of my favorite chapters. The chapter does a good job explaining the secondary loan market and the purpose of the Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA, or Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC, or Freddie Mac).

"Mortgages For Dummies" discusses the difference between conforming and non-conforming mortages. Tyson and Brown write: "This delicious tidbit of information can save you big bucks. Conventional mortgages that fall within Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's loan limits are referred to as conforming mortgages. Mortgages that exceed the maximum permissible loan amounts are either called jumbo loans or nonconforming loans. ... You pay dearly for nonconformity."

"Mortgages For Dummies" goes on to give the money-saving tip: "If you find yourself slightly over Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's limit, don't despair. You can either buy a slightly less expensive home or increase your cash down payment juuuuuuuust enough to bring your mortgage amount under the conforming loan limit." The "juuuuuuust enough" isn't my typo, although I probably got the number of u's wrong. It's Dummies' humor.

Today, "Mortgages For Dummies" Chapter 9, Refinancing Your Mortgage, will be popular. Tyson and Brown provide an example showing how quickly your refinancing will breakeven. They give us "Refinancing's Magic Formula" to calculate if you should refinance.

"Mortgages For Dummies" doesn't formally introduce the annual percentage rate or APR, and I believe this is a critical oversight. (The book does mention APR in its glossary). So, you might be quoted 7.2% and not realize this rate doesn't take into consideration points and fees you will pay, i.e. it's not the APR. Suppose your current mortgage rate is 8% (APR), you might quickly calculate that you save (neglecting tax effects) 8 - 7.2 = 0.8% on the principal loan amount. This would be incorrect, because your actual APR would likely be higher than 7.2% due to the added fees. You really need to distinguish between the fee-inclusive rate and the fee-exclusive rate you might be quoted.

Overall, I think reading "Mortgages For Dummies" is useful for people who are buying their first home or considering refinancing an existing home. Enough dollars at stake that you should pursue all information on the topic and become an informed consumer, even if you need to tolerate some siiiiily jokes.

Peter Hupalo, Author of "Becoming An Investor"

In "Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Two Spies" there are some brain twisting investigations. And the answers are very elusive. I think that Donald J. Sobol has very good ideas and knows how to make them into mind bendng stories. I think it is a very good book.

The Two Spies Two spies are exchanging top secret information- but how? They never see each other! It's up to Encyclopedia Brown to solve this case! The Stolen Coin A very valubale 19th Century coin has been stolen. And the man who owns it has been drugged! And also, the lights went out. Who did this? Encyclopedia Brown will figure it out! The Kidnapped Dog Someone has stolen Royal Blackie, a dog! And it's almost time for the dog show! And the theif wants ransom money! Who's doing this? Encycloepdia will figure it out!

Don't worry, that's only three of the ten cases! Look back at this book and find more reviews!

Encyclopedia Brown is a ten-year-old detective, for those of you who don't know that. He solves cases for his police chief dad, as well as the kids around his city. There's also Bugs Meany, the big, tough leader of the Tigers. And Wilford Wiggins, the high school dropout who tries to cheat little kids from their savings. And, of course, Encyclopedia's junior partner, Sally Kimball. She isn't just the prettiest girl in the fifth grade and the best athlete, she can beat up Bugs Meany! By the way, with Encyclopedia on a case, none of these "seemingly cool" older kids (not counting Sally) can ever succeed on even one thing they want to do bad (as in the good, bad type of bad). My opinion on this book is that it's great, but since any Encyclopedia Brown book would be the same to me, all of them are truely terrific.

For a general overview of homebuying, this book is well written,easy to read, and well-designed in typical Dummy style. But for more detailed and down-to-earth practical advice and examples, we liked Eldred's 106 Mistakes Homebuyers Make. We found the Mistakes' book much easier to apply. The Dummies' authors seem not to be aware that most first-time buyers do not live in California. Overall, though, both (or either) of these books can really help prepare you for the trials and tribulations of what to expect (and watch out for) when buying a home.

This book is amazing. I never considered buying a "for Dummies" series book because I thought they would be overly simplisitic, but this book proved me wrong. The authors do an awesome job of presenting just enough detail on every aspect of buying a home- I kept catching myself having a questions, then reading on to the net chapter and finding the answer. You may be tempted to skip around from chapter to chapter, but I've found that reading this book from the beginning is almost necessary since things like understanding which mortgage to get and how much of a house you want are all dependant on answers you arrive at in early chapters. I've just finished the book and feel well prepared and educated to tackle the house-hunting task now. A definite read.

As a first-time home buyer, I found this book invaluable. It explains alot of concepts, has a great appendix of terms, and is a 'fun read' - i.e., humor throughout keeps it interesting. I read Tyson's Personal Finance For Dummies and loved it, and I have the same to say about this book too. It starts off with guiding you through numbers, how much you can afford, and ideas about accumulating a down-payment. It explains the looking process, how to spot good property and "OPT's" (Over Priced Turkeys!) More chapters on mortgage, closing, and most importantly, reminds you that the time to think about selling your house is when you're buying it. I keep going back to several chapters as a reference. More than once, my mortgage broker said, "Wow, you've really done your homework!" I have another book, but this one is the biggest help. I plan on buying Mortgages For Dummies now too. Tyson and Brown did a great job here, thank you!

I wish I had read this book BEFORE hiring an agent, it would have saved me a lot of grief and maybe some cash. Don't think that this book is just for people selling a house themselves -- there is a lot for those who choose to work with an agent. If you go into the selling process without knowledge, you're largely at the mercy of someone who interests don't overlap yours in every way. This is the most important financial transaction of most people's lives, self-education is the best way to prevent stress and getting burned.

The only reason I didn't give 5 stars is the relative lack of information about how to leave your house -- what is expected of the seller in terms of patching walls, cleaning etc.

While I agree with a previous reviewer that it was a little discouraging that the authors thought so highly of realtors, I just ignored that part and used all the other very useful information in this book. Short story short, our house ad went in the paper on a Friday (in what the book termed "Death Valley" season, no less) and we had our buyer the next Monday!!

The info on how to spruce up your house and how to negotiate the contract was a big help. We did it all without a realtor, got the price we were aiming for, and avoided that ridiculous commission.

This book was indispensable while I was selling my house. The numerous practical tips on preparing a house for sale and the explanation of the legal ins and outs were certainly helpful, but what was absolutely invaluable was the advice on avoiding the emotional pitfalls that can make you miserable and keep you from making the best business deal. Using this book's advice, I priced my house right and staged it well, and it sold very quickly for above the asking price.

This is a very small investment that will help you with a six-figure financial transaction, so it's well worth the cover price.

This is a great book because it shows you exactly what you need to know. They get to the point effectively with every topic. I like the real world questions being answered. Like client side or server side cursors. And topics on how to write the more efficient rs object. The only problem I have with this book is the writers lack of expertise with other databases. Like MS SQL server, and Sybase SQL server. Getting information on pitfalls with other database platforms would be invaluable. They kind of tickled us with the Oracle info, I want more now.

Awesome book for somebody wanting to learn more about ADO/ASP/Database Interaction. I was dumped into the middle of a project with very little ADO knowledge and this proved extremly helpfull through my journey. I have recommended this to all of my friends interested in the subject and countless others who ask me for good books.. Definitly worth every penny!

I first bought this book for the RDS part since I've been working with ADO since it got out. I tought I knew ADO and even though I knew a lot about it, I've learned as much about ADO than about RDS with this book!

Good for any programmers working with ADO, as always, Wrox made it possible for beginners to understand the book and for experienced programmers to learn new stuff.

Another must by Wrox and I'm waiting to get a hand on the "Professional Ado 2.5 Rds Programming With Asp 3.0" that should be coming out soon.