This is a great read for anybody living in and around Cork and I have recommended it to both local people and visitors as it brings the walker to places where the real flavour of the city can be seen and out to the country side along little roads and paths. It also adds a little history and a tale to each walk. Vincent has many of his drawings added to the book to show the reader what to expect before setting out. It also has a map to show the reader where the walks are and an estimated time for completion. Enjoy

If I was only allowed to take one book to Tibet it would definitely be the Lonely Planet. It has very useful information about the country, the religion, do's and don'ts, etc. I used this book to prepare for my trip and used it in Tibet to get more information on the city I was in or the tempel or monastery I was visiting. Very detailed information about the tempels, the history and what rooms and statues are what. Very useful information about Lhasa and great maps showing not only interesting sites but also the hotels (so you can find your way back).

This guidebook is certainly among Lonely Planet's best. It is at the same time an excellent travel guide, and also a fantastic yet concise source of insights into the life of this wonderful land. Anyone traveling to Tibet will inevitably encounter a number of restrictions on her/his travel, and will have to stick to the Chinese government's directives and itineraries. It is indeed hard to leave Tibet without a feeling that one was not really able to 'go deep' into its culture. This book might not compensate for the frustrating limitations posed to travelers by the Chinese government, but it certainly goes a good way towards that direction. It contains tips on how to make the most out of your trip, especially in terms of getting to know 'real' Tibet. Its sections on culture, religion and history are excellently written and captivating. All in all, a fantastic endeavour.

This book should be very useful for those who want to visit The Land of Snows as well as for those who just want to learn more from the Tibetan Culture. It has a lot of useful information for travelers, e.g. the best ways to arrive to Tibet (depending of how do you want to do it), and the importance of having a tour guide during your trip (because of political reasons). Inside this book you will find some interesting facts and illustrations about TibetÂ's religion: Buddhism (the spirit of the country), and a few beautiful pictures.

This is a nice, simple, easy to read book on different types of clouds and weather conditions. Fast reference when you need 'em!

This is an extremely handy book for making super quick predictions on the skies. Shows all sorts of different cloud formations and what they're bringing with them. Also nice photos of thunderstorms, lightning, etc. Good one to pick up just because.

This book is a great beginners book. The text is easy to read and the pictures are beautiful. It came in particularly handy for my cloud physics class in which I had to keep a cloud journal.

I disagree that a person could become a "master" data modeler if the contents of this book are the complete set of skills in their arsenal. While the book outlines some good techniques for interviewing end users and basic data modeling skills, there is alot more involved in data modeling than what is covered here.

As an experienced data modeler who works with large, complex data models in a constantly changing business, I find I do not refer to this book at all. The book excludes common data modeling constructs that I have found very useful, including subtypes and supertypes. The book does not explain the difference between conceptual, logical, and physical data modeling. (It covers techniques used to capture conceptual/logical level data, but nowhere does it explain that or the difference between this type of model and a physical model, and why and when you'd need one or the other.)

The book does not cover normalization, which, once one leaves the interview with end users, one will need to understand. The book does not mention data integration with other systems or databases, how this topic is important and could (and often should) arise in interviews with end users.

Some of the topics covered I found shallow and incomplete, for example, how to name things in a data model. The authors take a parochial view by ignoring real world issues such as using consistent names across database and organizations, and avoiding naming things for what they are used for, not what they are.

As a practicing data modeler, I find my users aren't as naieve about data models as Carlis and Maguire assume them to be. I often am asked why I am modeling data in a given way. In my view, this book does not address the "why" - why do you model the data in the way suggested, and what happens if you don't. When I can answer these questions well for my customers, I earn approval, and this book doesn't equip one to do so.

In sum, my belief is that this book contains about 1/4 of the information a person needs to know to become a "master" data modeler. It's a good starter book if you are a novice data modeler or are having trouble gathering information from business subject matter experts, but if you really want to become an expert data modeler, I'd recommend continuing beyong this book. I prefer 'Data Modeling Essentials 2nd Edition' by Graeme Simsion

The secret is out!

I've been using the techniques described in this book for years because one of the authors taught me. I've used them to model data about research science, business, and topology. Now others can learn it too.

Carlis cured me of normalization. There's a difference between normalization and "normal forms". A goal of modeling is to produce databases in high normal forms - Boyce-Codd Normal Form, fifth normal form, etc... Most modelers think the only way to do this is through normalization, a specific process that step-by-step improves to a draft model. This book shows how to avoid that process completely. I used to do normalization. Now I use the conversational techniques of this book to reach high normal forms sooner. One thing I always hated about Normalization was that I usually did it after talking to users, which means I was making decisions that the users should have been making. I have not performed normalization in at least ten years. Yet I still produce databases in high normal form. This book does include a chapter about normalization, with normal forms up to fifth, so you can see for yourself how the technique produces high-normal-form databases. If you learned that normalization was essential part of data modeling, this chapter will help you learn this different way of working. If you are new to data modeling, you should start with this book to avoid learning normalization altogether. The principles of high normal forms are important, but the process of normalization is ludicrous.

This is a book about data modeling, not physical database design. It concentrates on the modeling in users' language. The naming conventions it recommends are based on guidelines of language and categories. If you follow these naming guidelines, you will not need to learn a huge list of more specific, special-case naming rules.

I also like what Carlis and MaGuire say about constraints. By following their constraint advice, I have become a much faster data modeler, and my team mates (programmers, DBAs) do not have to wait so long for me to finish my work. It also helps me keep my data models flexible, good for a changing business environment.

This book has more examples than any book on modeling I have ever seen. I stopped counting sample data models when I got to 300.

The hardest part of application design is understanding the user's data. This book concentrates on solving that problem, leaving the technical details of database design to other books.

This book will be on my table always. It cuts through the computer science's obsession for esoteric notations and undue rigor (that scares the end users even before the analyst has had a chance to begin!) and puts the user needs at their right place: right in the center. I have used this methed several times now with exciting results. Users are more forthcoming, there are lesser I-thought-this-when-you-said-that instances. Two thumbs up for the excellent work!!!

I had heard through sources that this was an indispensable book and I purchased it with eager though guarded optimism, considering the price.

I was thoroughly pleased with my purchase. The book is huge by any standards and the layout; with lucid, terse text to the left and clear, concise maps to the right; is an historical reader's dream come true. Another feature I loved was the fact that towns and places were referenced in the text with a co-ordinate system that made finding them on the map that much easier.

To be sure, the text is not as highly detailed as those of books dedicated to singular battles or campaigns but this book is intended as a quick reference and in this it excells. Having only recently delved into reading about the Napoleonic Wars in depth, I was somewhat overwhelmed by the vast history and the wealth of material available to go along with it. Now I can have a passing knowledge of the greater part of this period and use this book as a "jump-off" point for further reading.

If you are new to the Napoleonic Wars or if you are looking for a condensed version of them, this book is definitely for you. I have used it as a supplement when reading magazine articles or other books. The maps are THAT good. Indeed, Peter Hofschroer used some of the maps in his volume on the Battle of Waterloo.

You will not go wrong purchasing this book if you need a concise reference for the Wars or if you love good maps. An added bonus is the section on leader biographies which make for very interesting reading.

If you are tired of military history accounts that have you flipping pages back to poorly detailed maps to try to follow the action, this atlas and the authors' American Wars series is the answer. There is a map to each page of text that follows the pertinent campaigns from macro to micro scale, as needed. The text is very insightful and concise. The version I have read is from the 1960s, so I don't know if the graphics have been updated, but the old maps are just fine for the purpose of showing how the campaigns and battles unfolded.

A perfect book for the visually oriented person interested in military history and a good compliment for other Napoleonic campaign histories.

I first came in contact with A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars when in the 5th grade. My brother, who graduated from West Point that year and used it as a textbook, gave it to me to read. While not understanding all of the military terms without the aid of a dictionary, I found the book fascinating, and it turned me into a definite admirer of both Napoleon and the Grande Armee. I later used it at West Point myself as by then it had been phased out as a text book. It is the one indispensable book available in English on the Napoleonic Wars, and it is the best operational study available in English. Superior to the much longer Campaigns of Napoleon by David Chandler, Col Elting based his study on largely primary sources and he tells us the story of the campaigns in a lively, witty style that lets you glide through the marching, fighting, and killing that was 23 years of almost constant horror, bloodshed, and high deeds. Strengths and losses are accurate, being a careful study of the best available sources, and the maps reflect the text. There is a good introduction to the book, covering weapons and tactics, and an excellent section at the rear of the book on the Marshals, outstanding general officers of all nations, as well as political figures. The greatest strength of the book, however, is the Recommended Reading List, which is annotated. The best, most reliable books are listed for the period, including much new scholarship which has been written since 1964 when the book was first published. The maps are superb, being meticulously prepared by the staff at West Point, and they are annotated to correct minor errors from the first printing. The format is large, as it was in the original. This is a perfect companion volume to Col Elting's Swords Around A Throne, and his four volume study on the uniforms of the period, Napoleonic Uniforms. Reliable, accurate, and one of the best books in English on the Napoleonic Wars, this book is a neccessary part of any library or collection on the period. If you own only one book on the Napoleonic Wars, this should be it.

Structured as a series of interviews with the key players behind TAC Web: -- the senior director, project managers, technical writers, and site manager - the book is laced with e-support terminology as well as high-tech colloquialisms (e.g., bleeding edge appears frequently). The interviews themselves convey a sense of intimacy; you feel as if you're sitting in a meeting with all of Cisco's e-Support teams, getting an interior view of how their organization is structured and what methods they use. For example, you learn that Cisco has dedicated technical writers within the support teams to transform customer issues into meaningful support content. Also, a bonus of the interview format is that it allowed the book's designer to leverage white space effectively, alleviating the feeling of density that sometimes characterizes a text-heavy book.

The target audience for this book is CEOs and Senior VPs seeking to either implement an e-Support solution or improve an existing one. Of particular interest to these execs is the chapter on metrics, which provides graphics and sample charts showing the kinds of metrics Cisco relies on. (Walker Information regularly surveys Cisco customers regarding the TAC Web site content). It examines the greatest challenges involved in acting on these metrics, as well as what metrics are meaningful and where they come from. For example, Cisco measures what technical articles customers access most frequently so that their tech support team can proactively get that information to customers in a more direct form - either via e-mail messages or by making the content more visible on the TAC Web. Cisco also measures customer satisfaction with the technical content on the Web site, so that they can improve its effectiveness and accessibility..

As for the book itself, it has one big weakness: It is not a blueprint. Although it provides a useful peek inside a successful e-Support implementation, it does not offer a step-by-step method for creating a comparable system for your company or for "saving millions" with your own e-Support solution. The authors could have done a better job of setting appropriate expectations in an Introduction explaining the book's scope and goals or by writing a Conclusion that summed up the interviews. Also, they really don't talk about how the Cisco e-Support model might translate to other companies. Will it scale down for companies that don't have the resources to assemble a marketing team devoted exclusively to e-Support or a team of writers and editors to gather and shape content from support engineers?

Collaboratively written by Cisco experts Andrew Connan and Vincent Russell, E-Support: How Cisco Systems Saves Millions While Improving Customer Support is an intrinsically fascinating, informed and informative presentation of the E-support system -- a self-service, web-based means of providing help and support to customers that is much less costly than traditional telephone-based support services. A thorough and "reader friendly" guide to what e-support is, and how it can benefit the conduct of business (especially focusing upon the e-support network created by Cisco Systems), E-Support is very highly recommended reading and directly applicable to understanding and developing an e-support corporate marketing strategy.

detailed review of emergency thou suffers from a lack of information on certain key areas.can be verbose at times thou is a generally a good read

The book comes in 3 hardback volumes, well worth the price. I am a practicing Paramedic with a desire to know more about the how's and why's of patient care. The book is well organized, with a reading level of college sophomore. The section on resucitation takes ACLS just a little bit further. I consider this book recommended reading for Paramedics who want to stay on top

I'm disappointed that the first verb I looked up, "provare" (to try) was not in this book. How many other verbs will be missing? I'm looking for another definitive guide to italian verbs now, or maybe a new edition with some modifications?

This book was very helpful for the Beginner to Intermediate. A constant source for reference as well as for "pulling together" the thousands of idioms and related vocabulary which is helpful only if you can use the verb correctly. A basic and a must for Italian studenti! I lost my copy to my professor and had to buy another one. A great value.

I have the first edition but either way this book is AWSOME!! Very useful and handy whenever you're in doubt about any verb conjugation in Itlaian. I recommend this refernce book for anyone across the line from professionals to students or to anyone who wants to brush up on grammar skills

Three Segments are Told in the Stories from the Works of Edgar Allan Poe. The Segments are:Morella-About a Dying Father (Vincent Price) and also His Dying Daughter (Maggie Pierce) trying to Make Peace until thier Ghostly Mother (Leona Gage) comes to Haunt Them. The Black Cat-About a Alhocolic (Peter Lorre), Who takes Revenge on his Adulterous Wife (Leona Gage) and Her Rich Lover (Vincent Price). The Last:The Cast of M.Valdemar-When a Dying Millionaire (Vincent Price), who wants the Best for his Beautiful Wife (Debra Paget) but When he died, but His Mind is Still Alive, a Greedy Doctor (Basil Rathbone) wants to use his Mind for His Own Amusement.

Directed by Roger Corman (The Intruder, Little Shop of Horrors-1960, The Raven) made an Uneven Anthology of Horror Stories but This Flick does have a Few Moments of Scared and the Tongue in Cheek Humor. The Movie does have a Terrific Score by Les Baxter and a Strong (Often Bizarre) Cinematography work by Floyd Crosby, also the Screenplay is by Novelist and Screenwriter:Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, Stir of Echoes) are One of the few High-Lights of this Cult Horror Classic. The Best Segment is:The Black Cat, Which is Funny and Bizarre Entertaining Story. Unrated but Equivalent to a PG-Rating for Brief Violence and Tense Situations. Panavision. Grade:B+.

Directed by the venerable king of quality low-budget filmmaking, Roger Corman, and scripted by the prolific and popular SF and horror writer Richard Matheson, TALES OF TERROR is comprised of three vignettes based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe. The incomparable Vincent Price stars in all three, with Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone each co-starring (separately, alas) in one of the others. Any knowledgeable horror fans should be nearly euphoric after reading the credentials behind this flick--and they won't be disappointed!

The first story is based on Poe's "Morella," but Corman and Matheson take great liberties to make the tale darker and scarier than the original. Unfortunately, the altered plot and its resolution (?) are a bit hard to follow, and it is therefore the weaker of the three plays.

The second--and best!--vignette, "The Black Cat" is actually a composite of Poe's story of the same name and his "The Cask of Amontillado." Peter Lorre hilariously hams it up as the cuckolded Montresor Herringbone, and Vincent Price is also a riot as Herringbone's nemesis, Fortunato. In spite of the humor, however, there are still plenty of chills when Lorre builds a wall around his "problems."

The final vignette, based on Poe's "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," features the wonderful Basil Rathbone as the hypnotist who uses his powers to put the titular character, Valdemar (portrayed by Price), in a sort of limbo between life and death. Again, Corman and Matheson have taken liberties with the original story (e.g., making the hypnotist malevolent and self-serving), but this time it's to great effect, as Rathbone makes a delightfully devilish villain. The make-up job on Price in the final scene is pretty creepy, too, in spite of the film's low-budget effects. Good old-fashioned frights in this one.

The DVD edition of TALES OF TERROR is short on extras (trailer only)--it would've been great to have a Corman commentary on this one, which many of the other MGM releases of Corman's films DO have--but seeing this film in widescreen makes it well worth the reasonable cost. A worthy addition to any fan of classic horror.

Mention Roger Corman's 1962 "Tales of Terror" and you immediately think of Vincent Price teaming up with Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone. But for me this film owes as much to writer Richard Matheson, who adapted four Poe stories into three film vignettes. "Morella" is another one of those dark family secret stories. The title character (Leona Gage) had died in childbirth 26 years before, cursing her baby daughter. When Leonora (Maggie Pierce) comes home suffering from a fatal disease, she discovers her father Locke (Price) has been keeping mom's mummified corpse in his bedroom. "The Black Cat" also works in elements of Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado." Montressor Herringbone (Lorre) finds out his wfie Annabel (Joyce Jameson) is having an affair with Fortunato Lucresi (Price), a rather foppish wine connoisseur. Unexpectedly funny because of the comic performances of the two stars, the story is this sequence inspired Corman to make "The Raven." Finally, "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar," an elderly man (Vindent) whose dying days have been eased in part because of a hypnotist, Carmichael (Rathbone), whos wants to hypnotize Valdemar at the moment of death. The experiemnt succeeds, after a fashion, but Carmichael refuses to release Valdemar until his wife Helene (Debra Paget) agrees to marry him.

"Tales of Terror" is noteworthy for two particular impacts it had on horror films. The first was the emergence of anthology films that followed in its wake, such as "Dr. Terror's House of Horrors" and "Black Sabbath." The second was the revival of interest in former movie stars at American International, which would soon add Boris Karloff to their roster. The stand out segment of this film is certainly "The Black Cat," with Lorre and Price showing marvelous comic timing. Lorre takes such perverse glee in walling up his wife and Price, plus there is nothing like the macabre politeness of movie villains . There is something transcendent about watching these old Hollywood pros have fun with taking these roles so seriously, so to speak.

My parents left the East New York section of Brooklyn in the mid 1960's. They moved to Long Island were I grew up. They always cursed John Lindsay. After reading this book I now know why. Vincent Cannato shows in brilliant fashion how Lindsay was in the wrong place at the wrong time. While Cannato does use the term WASP too many times to describe Lindsay, his WASP heritage (actually Scottish-Dutch, not English) was not his reasoning for not understanding NYC. Maybe it did not matter who was mayor of NYC from 1965-73. Lindsay was the in the wrong place at the wrong time. Whites were leaving the city for the suburbs. They were replaced with poor, low educated Blacks and Puerto Ricans. The demographics were changing. Lindsay did inherit a mess with NYC's grossly overpaid (even today) Civil Service workers asking for super pay raises. Lindsay handcuffed the police too much. Lindsay allowed black militants to run buskshot over the city schools which went downhill. Crime went out of control. Welfare dependency skyrocketed. Lindsay only cared for Manhattan and militant minorities. It was changing racial/ethnic demographics that made life for Lindsay tough, but he made the situation worse with his big government, appeasment of criminals attitude. What NYC needed in the 1960's was a Rudy Guiliani. Rudy came 30 years later to clean up the mess left by Wagner, Lindsay, and Dinkins. Lindsay may have been a good man, but he should have been mayor of Salt Lake City instead.

When John Lindsay was elected mayor in 1965, his supporters already perceived that New York was in decline. Lindsay's appeal was as a disinterested outsider, a liberal Republican brought in to reform a city run by a corrupt Democratic machine.

Lindsay was challenged from literally the first day he took office, when the transportation unions went on strike. Cannato examines the Lindsay administration as it lurched from crisis to crisis. Mostly Lindsay was grappling with larger historic forces unleashed by the civil rights and anti-war movements, as well as the changing demographics of a city which, like many others of the time, was losing population both to its own suburbs and the sunbelt.

But Cannato makes it clear that Lindsay's ignorance of the nitty gritty of New York politics left him vulnerable and unprepared for much of the wheeling and dealing of city government. A denizen of the affluent Upper East Side of Manhattan, he was successful in reaching out to African-Americans. He was much less successful in his relations with the white ethnics of the outer boroughs, who also filled the ranks of the police and fire departments.

When New York went bankrupt two years after Lindsay left office, it was climax of a narrative that had been developing over the course of thirty years. But Lindsay's years in office are perhaps the most significant in the telling of that story. One can more sympathetic to Lindsay's liberal instincts than the author and still appreciate the work Cannato has done to present a definitive history of the era.

Dr. Cannato has done every student of urban history a favor with this eminently readable book that is not just the story of a promising politician who failed but of promising policies--and an era--which failed as well. They failed their promises and their constituencies and the story is well told, unlike too much history which is dry or not made relevant to current events, trends, and understandings of social policy. Mayor Lindsay was a "phenom," but so too were his failures in the most recognizeable city in the world during the most tumultuous times of the last century in America.

While a reader may not agree with all of Cannato's conclusions, s/he cannot help but understand the diagnoses in this thoroughly researched book about more than a man, more than a city--but urban policy in general.

The city and urban policy have gained more and more interest from social scientists for a generation now and this book explains that interest in that it explains the crucible of a time and of a person--all well-intended.

Race, religion, partisan intrigue and ambition--it's all here and generations from now when city politics and New York City are studied, I'd predict "Cannato" will be mandatory reading just as other great historians' books are known by the hisotrian's name; "Cannato" will be a standard and Cannato's future career as a social historian is well set from this, his maiden voyage.

I loved this book about a topic I only knew little about--before I read it.