This is not a scholarly book in the sense that it's not part of any visible academic debate. It does not treat any particular issue in enough depth to be so.

It is, rather, a sort of textbook. Call it "Introduction to Academic Thought About the Bible." Following the order of the biblical texts and with detours to discuss such topics as the pseudepigrapha and the inter-testamental period, the book lays out basic issues of historical, archaeological and textual biblical criticism, such as, for instance, the idea of the J, E, D and P-authored components of the Old Testament, or the question to what extent the books of Joshua and Judges present different narratives of the conquest of Palestine by the Israelites, and what archaeology has to say about that conquest.

The book does not discuss theology (at least, not modern theology). If you're an inerrantist, this book is not what you're looking for. If you're reading the Bible for the first time, this is probably too much information and not the kind you need to help you follow the narrative. Though it has a section of color plates (and black and white photos throughout) and a limited number of maps, this is not an atlas. This is also not a debunk-the-Bible book -- mainstream believers in the inspired nature of the Biblical should by and large have no objection to the contents of this book.

But if you're generally familiar with the Bible, and interested in increasing your knowledge (in particular, I would suggest reading this alongside a reading of the Bible itself, a method to which the organization of this book lends itself) about Bible studies, I recommend this book without reservation.

This book goes through the Bible historically and gives you the latest in textual and archeological research. It is an easy read, and it seems written for mass consumption, but it is not unscholarly. It is for true students of the Holy Scriptures and not for people who think the holy books are magic words from God. It is a sane, yet reverent approach to the study of ancient literature which we believe is inspired by God. It is NOT fundamentalist. If you are serious about Bible studies, then I recommend this volume whole-heartedly.

What a wonderful tool this little book is. This LP guide to the midatlantic states provides information that both a foreign tourist coming to the area for the first time and a local searching for a new experience will find useful. In addition to being chock full of information the text is illuminating and humorous reading as well.

Of all the guidebooks I've read, I've found this guide to be the most helpful, well setout, motivating book yet. I've been in New York for 1 month now and I have found the book invaluable. I especially like the sections on transport. It offers choices not just a statement of what you need to do. Also, the way the attractions are all logically set out by areas is helpful in trying to plan your days and getting the most out of them. I will be in New york for the next 11 months and I'm sure I will continue to use my 'bible of New York' till I leave. Well done Lonely planet

Jim Clark was first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 with a rear-engine race car, which he did in 1965. In 1963 and 1965, he won the Formula 1 World Driving Championship. Eric Dymock's book helps keep Jim Clark a legend. This is an excellent book on one of the greatest race car drivers of the 1960s. The spirit of Jim lives in this book.

While surely not inexpensive for a paperback book, this is an important study---perhaps the best single volume relating the history of magnetic sound, video, and data recording methods over a century. Written by a number of Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) authorities, the 20 chapters provide clearly-written and well-illustrated (nearly 100 photos and a host of diagrams) accounts of the rise of various modes of recording. One need not be an engineer (I'm not!) to understand the discussions here.

Of special value is the pulling together of material on all of these methods in one place, allowing ready comparison of who did what and when. We learn about inventors, marketing, hardware, and the means of recording, allowing a clearer understanding of how later developments built upon earlier ones. Some of the principles of modern videocams, for example, have been known for decades.

Each chapter includes references to contemporary studies and more recent research, allowing the reader to pursue topics at greater length. In all, this is a valuable anthology of original research that sheds considerable light on a fascinating story.

In detailing the largest and most significant research study of its type (i.e. The MacArthur Study of Mental Disorder and Violence), Rethinking Risk Assessment describes what is surely to become the seminal work in the area violence and mental illness. The authors point to the methodological flaws in many earlier studies that failed to establish clear links between mental illness and violence. It moves beyond previous studies to point to a clear link between serious mental illness and an increased risk of violence.

Although based upon a North American population (i.e. with its higher societal rates of violence generally) the size of the study, and the relationships it demonstrates suggest that this work has significant implications for other jurisdictions. The book illustrates tools clinicians can use to assist with identification of those with higher for risk of violence.

Although actuarial methods do not offer a panacea for problems associated with risk prediction, they nevertheless provide pointers for increasing the precision with which such assessments can be made. Monahan et. al. acknowledge the limitations of such methods, and point to the complexity of clinical risk assessment for violence potential. The authors also point to the broader contextual, and problematic issues associated with false positives and negatives, in terms of prediction.

Armed with the information contained within this text, clinical staff will have a thorough grounding in the most up to date evidence in the field. This should provide a solid foundation from which staff can approach the complex issue of considering risk assessment generally.

I found this book very encouraging and it gave me a whole new perspective in understanding Down Syndrome. Being a new mother of a baby with Down Syndrome, I can relate to much of this and I am glad to see it gets easier.

Eric's Gift is the story of a small boy with a loving heart and the family that learns what unconditional love really means. Kimberly Thompson is the mother of Eric, a little boy with Down syndrome, and this book is the journal of her first two years being Eric's mom. Kimberly takes us on a roller coaster ride of emotions as she records the fear, anger, happiness, and love she experiences. Finally, the little boy with a congenital heart defect gives her the greatest gift; he teaches her to love unconditionally. This book is the gift that Kimberly gives us. Through it she shows us that we are not alone and that other parents are experiencing the same emotions.

A nice collection of artists, with some great examples of what they can do. But....
Paper stock is poor and some prints are a bit blurry.

This is a great artbook, featuring many famous furry artists. I love the art, and look at it regularly. If you're a fan of Michele Light, I recommend it.

This book started my physical collection of furry publishings, and still remains the best singal pice I have. Not only is it perfectaly published, but contains excellent examples of anthropomorphic artwork. Its my personal bible.

This book is awful! I know the fundamentals of programming in Flash and ASP.NET so regardless, if you are advanced or know the basics this book is still AWFUL!!! Trust me do not buy it! The Poll in the first chapter does not even work. I went to peachpress to find the updates for the book and the Poll sill will not work. The book constantly points to the CD and the CD is missing the files the chapter is pointing to. The Poll.XML on the CD does not match that in the book, I mean come on! This was all before I even got through the 1st chapter! ...

... I am sure that some of these examples worked, but only in the head of the author who authored the chapter. I am so upset about this one; ...

I couldn't agree more with the reviews that have already been posted. This book assumes WAY too much knowledge and leaves large chunks unexplained (like the #include .as files that don't even get a mention...)

The layout is sloppy and poorly thought out - eg they have 2 pages of code and THEN they describe what is happening in the previous 2 pages, requiring you to be costantly flicking back and forth. Simply repeating each line of code with its explanation would have made it so much easier to read (authors should check out "OOP with Actionscript" to see how it SHOULD be done).

The code that is included is full of stuff like

gotoAndPlay("whatever");//used to be gotoAndStop

making it obvious that the author hasn't even bothered to clean up their code before slapping it in the book. When covering a complicated topic like this, having comments that reveal the "mistakes" that the author made along the way is confusing, annoying and inexcusable (not to mention very revealing about the amount of effort [or lack thereof] that went into this book).

Save your money

cheers

I came into reading this book with very little Flash experience. All I'd done was simple timeline based flash movies. I chose to read this book to help get an understanding of Flash's capabilities and how to further the skills I had, enabling me to create dynamic content in my Flash movies.

I thought this book was unique in that it didn't get into the hows and whats of Flash, but straight into some very interesting example code. It also doesn't focus purely on Flash, but integrating flash with web application server products like ColdFusion and ASP.

While I'd never be able to create any of these examples on my own, it was quite cool being able to walk through each code example and see how everything works. Some of the Flash code was a bit hairy to follow, but they did attempt to explain it. Rather than learning what the code meant, I just read the comments stating what the code does and moved on. Unless you're experienced in flash, you won't be able to follow the code line for line. However, wading in example apps above your capabilities is a great place to learn.

Each chapter is a different example application, focusing on a dynamic backend. Some use ASP, some use ColdFusion, etc. So you can pick your middleware of choice and they'll be an example here for you where you can view both the Flash code, as well as the code it interfaces with to achieve dynamic content.

I wouldn't recommend this book as your soul source of Flash instruction, but it is a unique book rich with very usable example code. I didn't learn much Flash actionscript from this book, but I did come out of it with a good understanding of how Flash can be dynamic, using XML to communicate back and forth to your scripting language of choice. If that's what you're after, this might be a good book for you.