In
the current dino-mania, fossil mammals are overshadowed. Too bad;
there are many curious and wonderful creatures in the mammalian
lineage. Yet, few well-illustrated popular books on the subject
exist. Bjorn Kurten's _Before the Indians_ had blurry charcoal
drawings. The late George Gaylord Simpson was an authority on
prehistoric South American mammals, but little more than a doodler
with a brush. And Colin Tudge's wonderful _The Time Before History_
had no pictures at all.

So this book is most welcome. Mauricio
Anton is a gifted artist. Cats and catlike creatures such as
nimravids, homotheriums, saber-tooths, dirk-tooths, all seem to live
again in these color and b/w pictures. The only beastie which is
unconvincingly rendered is the poorly-known _Thylacoleo_, the
marsupial lion.

Through the reproductions and discussions of these
and other animals, one gets a lesson in how different animals adopt
similar body plans, based on their ecological niche. Large top
predators are robust, while middle niche hunters are more
gracile. Thus, we are told, _Thylacoleo_, the largest nimravids, and
the largest saber-tooths resemble lions, while smaller predators
resemble cheetahs and leopards. All in all, a must for big cat- and
paleontology- lovers, the latter who may be getting tired of
dinosaurs!

The story takes us to Ireland and unveils a host of new story lines to help you question the way you look at the world and help you to expand your mind. While this book comes close to the second book in the series, it falls just short of being equally as excellent. Wilson again attacks his topic through the intertwining of several story lines and does not disappoint. For anyone new to Wilson, you may wish to start with the second book in the series. If you have read the first two books, this one is definitely an excellent ending to the series.

This is a set of essays, strung together in a manner that will make you think. His style as an essayist is engaging. In fact, I enjoy his essays more than his novels. Even when I disagree with Wilson (which might very well happen if you read with an open mind), I still find something to think about and consider.

I think that his books are designed to be mind-openers, not mind closers...I actually met a RAW-Dogmatic guy once, and after I finished laughing, tried to show him that (in my opinion) he missed the message.

This seems to me to be a fantastic book. I hope you enjoy it, too.

I found that to be quite easy a task with this book. Anton has written a high-density volume, that nevertheless does not bring a student (or anyone else, for that matter) to his knees trying to figure out all this math. Every chapter is clear and comprehensive, and the examples are very well set, giving the reader a sense of understanding every single line. The unsolved exercises at the end of each chapter are gradually increasing in difficulty, giving the solver a solid grounding on the material covered in the chapter.

Overall, one of the best college books I have ever used, not implying that it could not be used by anyone interested in calculus simply for delving deeply into its wonderful realms.

By the way, the companion's books written by James E. Ward, are also great books. They take the reader into greater depth in understanding Anton's examples and explanations. These books are money well invested if you are serious about learning calculus, over time they will always have a special place in your library.

Because of the level of hatred and bile in the book, any real negative or scandalous items are lost in the barrage of charges. Let me say again that I am no big fan of the President Bush, but after reading this attack book I find myself thinking the guy is getting a bad rap. This nastiness would have made the anti Clinton book authors proud at the level of venom. I kept reading just to see what was next, what could the authors blame on Bush next, the sinking of the Titanic, the floods of 1993? Overall if you are looking for a fair book shy away from this one. If you hate the first Bush then this book will make you smile all day long.

The book is timeless and timely in the sense that no one can
understand the groups who are behind our leaders w/o knowing the
persons and organizations who run the world overtly and covertly, and
their history. (A relatively short book that can provide a worthy
backdrop for this study is "The Anglo-American Establishment," by Prof.
Carroll Quigley). It is really an understatement to say that this tome
provides names and details I doubt you will find anywhere else. You may
have read "sound bytes" about some of the topics covered, and sundry
unsubstantiated allegations of this or that, but in these 600+ pages
you get, for the most part, the cold, hard facts.

The chapters covering the elitist residents of Jupiter Island, FL,
the extensive (Prescott) Bush-Harriman dealings with the Nazis (to the
point of even helping to defeat their opposition), Skull and Bones
(a Who's Who of prominent leaders since its inception in 1833), Watergate,
Iran-Contra, the Savings and Loan collapse and bailout, and more, are
so well-researched, thorough, coherent, and full of key events, names, and
dates it boggles the mind, and it's hard to overdo praising the authors
for their exacting, painstaking research. I've read many books that
try to discuss maybe one or two of the topics discussed in this biography,
but do little more than present a maze of data that confuses more than
clarifies. The authors write with what seems to be first-hand, insider
knowledege, and indeed to the point the father of one of the authors was
a lawyer who fought the Bush-Harriman (along with the Warburg banking
family) support for Hitler prior to WWII.

People who reject ...a theory a priori would be faced with a
monumental challenge to refute at least most of this biography. In
tracing George Bush's multi-faceted, long career in public life, his
initial losses running for Congress followed by later successes in
obtaining elected and unelected positions, the authors also demonstrate
very convincingly that behind the scenes there often is practically no
difference between Republicans and Democrats, and that what obviously
counts is to realize who or what has the real power and is thus making
the crucial decisions and pulling the strings.

My one complaint about the authors is their one-pointed agenda to find
nothing but negative things to say about Bush. It was clear why: they
were (and still are) associates of Lyndon LaRouche, a tireless foe of
Bush, whom the latter had imprisoned shortly after he became President in
1989. Also, the book was written shortly before Bush ran for reelection
in 1992, and they wanted to help defeat Bush. But I felt that they made
too much of Bush's hyperthyroidism, his so-called liberalism (which I
could only rarely follow), and found every opportunity to critize his
gaffs, frenetic activity, and emotional outbursts, while finding nothing
to laud. To me the book would have been "perfect" had they just stuck
with providing the extraordinary amount of details on Bush and the other
controlling persons/entities. Still, this unauthorized biography is a
classic for history buffs, absolutely a must-read to understand the
politics of the 20th century, and surely even what is going on even
today. In fact as I write this review there have been widely read
articles in mainstream publications about the "new" (Anglo-)American
empire!

When you read this book you wonder long and hard about whether this was really such an unfortunate coincidence that Bush Sr. in his mudslinging 1988 campaign had ardent Nazis working in his minorities division. It was only when Congressman Stephen Solarz and others sniffed the foul odor and rose up in indignation that the elder Bush expressed dismay and dismissed the miscreants, expressing shock in the process.

Just rewind from 1988 to Tarpley's analysis of how the Bush family got rolling in the banking business, with juicy contracts with the Nazis and strengthening of the Third Reich war machine through loans and subsequent sales for pig iron. Then there was that strange society that still remains, and which Poppy and Junior both belonged to at Yale, along with William F. Buckley Jr., "Skull and Bones." Just a few harmless fraternity pranksters? I doubt it. Check out the records of the members through the years and observe all the hellish havoc they have reeked on America and throughout various portions of the world. It all happened by accident? Hardly. Yes, well, it might actually be a conspiracy! But conspiracies don't exist. Ask any loyal Bushie.

This book has become an underground classic and rightfully so. Its author knows literally where certain bodies are buried vis-a-vis the Bush clan and is not afraid to reveal the facts. Thank God there are a few people out there like Tapley who will not be intimidated and continue to speak the truth no matter what the potential consequences might be.

Since this is the case, how can we trust any of the reviews of his work? All of these are written by people who have read at least one of his books, and probably more. Are these people railing against his work actually serious in their hatred? Do the people praising it actually believe in what they're saying?

I'm going to go on record and say that this is probably the most lucid and thought out of his non-fiction books.

But to illustrate the point, why did I only rate it two stars? Why not one? Why not five? What does George Burns have to do with anything?

Only recommended if you can stomach the thought of reality laughing behind your back.

Along the way, the book dives deep into the Mafia, the CIA, the Vatican, the Masons and a host of other topics. Wilson expertly describes his voyage through uncovering a vast web of a conspiracy that unfolds right in front of him. Wilson is a master of his craft and a leading thinker in the psychological space. This book is by far the best of the series and stands alone quite well. For a reader new to Wilson, this is a good starting point. For a fan, this is definitely a must have.

There has never been anyone like Robert Anton Wilson, cosmic jester/philosopher extraordinaire who has generously expanded more minds through the years than most so-called teachers of higher learning. "Higher Learning" through the RAW method produces a frightening, staggering number of people who end up thinking for themselves and - this part's really scary - actually start enjoying their lives.

How wonderful.

The book, after some expository material, details 11 projects of increasing complexity. They use PHP, MySQL, PEAR::DB, Smarty and PHPLib. The target audience, according to the book jacket, are programmers who already have a good knowledge of PHP, SQL Databases and XML. Frankly, I think they overdo the amount of experience you need to use and benefit from this book. If you are on top of all those topics well enough to consider yourself "professional" then this book may be too simple. If, on the other hand, you are, like me, conversant with PHP and SQL but would like to take yourself up to "professional" use of technologies like XML, templating and WAP enabling then this book will be good.

The book is stuffed full of code examples -- and while you can download them in a ZIP file of over 3Mb you shouldn't think of this book as a "cookbook" as such. It shows various methods for performing most of the tasks you need to build solid backend web site systems to deal with a large variety of data. The projects cover importing and exporting of XML, messaging systems, forums, content management, using templates for both HTML and WML, search facilities and both simple and complex content management among other topics.

One thing I did appreciate about this book is how much they left out. No coverage of PHP fundamentals, SQL fundamentals and simple stuff like web forms might be covered once, at most. I certainly didn't need another book on my shelves explaining the basics.

My largest criticism of this book is one shared by too many modern titles for computer programmers; there is too much explanation and too much repetition. The section on SQL is the perfect example. Most projects contain some tables describing each database table, a diagram of the relationships and then the full SQL required to build them, their indices and some example data. For their proposed target audience this is way too much information, and as it is safe to assume that everyone who buys this book has a decent 'net connection, why put a printout of SQL available online in a PHP book? I could have easily written the SQL myself and having it in the book doesn't make it much easier and since it was available online it was a total waste of space.

I also have to take exception to, an (admittedly short) chapter devoted to installing and configuring PostNuke. It gives you no more information on this simple task than the online documentation. As someone who has installed PostNuke a couple of times and never needed any assistance beyond the readme files (and the first was long before I considered myself a good PHP programmer) I felt this was a complete waste of space and not "web development" at all.

My final criticism is once again shared by too many modern titles, there isn't really enough discussion of the design decisions and complications. There are enough code examples and walk throughs to satisfy anyone, but not enough key design decisions are discussed at all, with only a few short examinations of any real design problems. I would have appreciated some walk throughs of such things as code that was too slow, problems with race conditions, methods for mixing static and generated parts of a site and all the real world stuff that intrudes when your site gets slashdotted and that code that was so neat with a hundred visitors a day becomes a thousand. Then show how the code they provide is better, avoids the problems and how to get my code to the same state. Since this book is "professional" a little more real world, please.

BUT, it never really stops to explain the actual coding. It takes time to explain only the approach they take to the problem and the rationale for their approach. It assumes you understand the code and moves right along. You will not find ANY hand-holding here.

Moreover, of the solutions presented, at least two use XML. So, you might also want to have some xml skills on hand, if you are to make use of a significant part of this book.

Once again, the book seems good and you can learn from it. But, understand that you need a solid php foundation to effectively use this book.

The story is narrated by an English gentleman Currthuers, who received an unexpected invitation of duck shooting from an old friend Davies. Being tired of his neglected position in "society," he accepts it to go to the North Sea only to find that he is involved in a mystery, or "the riddle of the Sands." His friend claims there's something in the air, something hiding behind the misty coast of Germany. But how can they prove it?

As a story, "The Riddle of the Sands" is far from perfect. It is full of authentic descriptions of local landscapes (the author actually cruised his yacht there), but at the same time frequent reference to the geographical data and nautical terms are a bit wearisome to readers, and moreover, the narrator often refers us to the maps in the appendix. Those things only slow down the action of the novel, and actually the book sometimes has to go through lull.

But, wait a while. The story gets gradually faster, and as the adventure of the heroes slowly gets near to the core of the plot, the tale becomes more and more gripping. Though characters sometimes are just more than cardboard (and especially female part is poorly done), your patience will be rewarded.

It is well-known that Sherlock Holmes in "His Last Bow" turns a spy for his country, and says "There's an east wind coming." The meaning of what Holmes says is clear to the comtemporary people, and Childers, a politician, also wrote his book not as an amusement but as a warning to England about the coming threat of Germany, and actually "The Riddles of the Sands" was written about 10 years before WW1 began. In this historical context too, the book is interesting, and the tediousness of the opening chapters is justified if you keep it in mind that it is meant for Childers's sarcasm against indifference and complacency among the English people (talking of English complacency, we remember later in 1938, immediately before WW2, Alfred Hitchcock again uses it as a satire in his thriller "The Lady Vanishes" with brilliantly silly two British gentlemen who are more concerned with cricket games than surrounding danger). People don't change.

So, the book itself is still enjoyable, but these historical matters will make it more precious; after all, it is one of the proof how people reacted to the coming change in the history of mankind. And if you're interested in this kind of book (I mean, books reflects German-England relationship), check out "The Battel of Dorking" by George Chesney (written in 1871) and "When William Came" (in 1913) by Saki once.

Two stories run side by side: the riddle of the title, concerning an unknown threat to England, and the redemption of a feckless civil servant named - naturally - Carruthers. The setting is lovely; the life aboard ship is vividly described; the author never leaves important details vague. But do pay close attention to the map in the front of the book as you read.

Wilson manages to stay objective and open-minded through most of the book, though he shows tendencies of the worst conspiracy theorists by assuming that simply piling on examples of suppressed ideas actually proves the existence of an organized conspiracy against them. This fails, as does Wilson's use of the vague term "Citadel" as the supposed cabal of mainstream scientists who have devoted their lives to stifle creative thinking. Of course there are specific examples of this, as Wilson convincingly demonstrates, but he fails to reveal an organized effort by "the enemy." And as always, Wilson's sarcastic, stream-of-consciousness writing style has a negative impact on his credibility, as does the very awkward final chapter of this book in which he attempts to wrap up many disconnected ideas into an overall philosophical theory.

If you approach this book with an open mind, you will definitely learn how to read what you get from the scientific community with a healthy skepticism, and will want to see more evidence before you believe everything you read. This can definitely help you become a freer thinker. But if you're one of those folks who claim that Wilson's books have changed your whole way of thinking, you've pretty much missed his point entirely.

Wilson argues for creative agnosticism in all areas of thinking and ideology. Models are regarded as "tools to be used only and always where appropriate and replaced (by other models) only and always where not appropriate". All forms of dogmatic thinking are cleverly undermined with irreverent humour and intelligence, Wilson continually pointing out the consequences of accepting limited perception.

The ideas of various 20th century "heretics" are explored to support Wilson's insights. Wilhem Reich, Velikowsky, David Bohm, Rupert Sheldrake and Jung are just some of the original thinkers touched on. Throw in some quantum physics, UFO sightings, all manner of reported strange phenomena, a bit of Zen, and you have some idea of what this book is about. Brilliant.

"The New Inquisition" basically sends the fundamentalist materialists (such as Richard Dawkins, et al) a big and well-deserved thump upside the head. As biologist J.B.S. Haldane remarked, "The universe is not only queerer than we imagine, it is queerer than we CAN imagine". Or Spinoza's remark that the human mind is to the mind of God as a dog is to the Dog Star. Anyone, scientist or theologian, who thinks they can explain anything away uncritically is dead wrong. We live in an era where materialistic science is accepted as uncritically as the Catholic Church was in the Middle Ages. If more people read "The New Inquisition" (and other of Wilson's books) we might start to change that and think for ourselves.

Now we know who the little boy who shouted out "The Emperor doesn't have any clothes on!" was - it was Robert Anton Wilson, and thank God (or thank Dog) he's still pointing out naked emperors for us to see.