You can spend five minutes or five hours at a sitting with this gem. Even a casual browse through a few pages will teach you something you didn't know about Vikings. A must for anybody studying Norse culture, and a valuable addition to their collections.

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A cultural atlas presents its readers with a tremendous amount of information. Even a casual browsing through this work reveals enough information to provide the seeker of knowledge with a firm grasp on the history, geography, and culture of the efficient, effective "Warriors of the North" known as Vikings or Northmen.

This atlas explains and defines the Viking Age, beginning in the 8th century and ending in the 11th century with the creation of the Scandinavian nations of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland. These tall, blonde, blue-eyed Vikings also left their mark on lands from North America, across Europe into Russia -- which was named for the Rus, a Swedish tribe -- and into the Byzantine Empire of Asia Minor and beyond. The Vikings endowed the Europeans who followed them with the Viking genes for bravery, impudence, physical beauty, and intelligence, genes which Viking warriors spread widely in the Northern Hemisphere.

The compilers of this work, edited by James Graham-Campbell, present the reader with a plethora of charts, maps, and captioned photographs illustrating and enriching cogent expository text.

Everyone on the planet, ... will recognize this book as a valuable tool in the study of a great European people.

I love this book. It has lots of maps and illustrations. Best of all it covers the entire gamut of the Viking universe. It is a wonderful resource for getting your head around the big picture of the Viking age. I have researched Viking Age history for years now and this is one of the BEST books I have ever found

I purchased this book when I visited Chicago and needless to say, I lucked out in finding it tucked away in its respected shelf.

First thing that made me want to get it was the fact that I worship Scorsese and his impeccable filmmaking abilities. The second and final factor that sealed the deal was that this book wasn't on my shelf.It was a missing link in my anthology of books on film and film history.

This book is as analytical and influential as a book on an admired director like Marty can ever be.It has every film he ever directed, including little bits of info and background on the Armani commercials and music video he's also directed.
The book starts with his very first film he made as a child, "Vesuvius" and ends with the much anticipated "Gangs of New York," due in theatres on Christmas Day. (I will be in the ticket line!)

In a nutshell, this book is fabulous! It should not, by any means, be left out of a film enthusiast's book shelf.

if you're looking for a more in-depth analysis, you might want to look elsewhere, but for straightforward facts about Lynch films, this is a great guide. it systematically goes through a series of catagories (cast/crew, production history, cut scenes, etc. ; also some weirder catagories like "deja vu," "apocrypha,"- all of these lend to a greater understanding of the material in lynch's films) this ultimately ended up being the most helpful book on lynch I read, if only because it made finding actual facts about each subject really easy

Hughes' book is an indispensable addition to the bookshelf of the recent Lynch initiate, casual fan, or long-time follower of Lynch's career and work. Even trivia magnets will find numerous new and fascinating facts and anecdotes.

This is the rare book that can be used either as a career overview, reference work, or just a worthwhile, enjoyable read. The book is divided into sections, one for each work up to and including Mulholland Drive [not only film and TV works] and each is subdivided into categories such as trivia, cut scenes, availability, Lynch Mob (reappearances of members of Lynch's stable of frequent collaborators), or Lynch's own comments on each work. The index is very thorough as well, so the book can be enjoyed non-chronologically in bite-size pieces if desired.

Hughes has gone to the horse's mouth for many of the relevant facts and observances, having interviewed Lynch himself and many who work with him. The book is well-stocked with information, opinion and analysis without coming across as dry or pedantic. I'm very glad I picked it up.

Not nebulous and overly general like some works about Lynch, or a collection of the opinions of one writer like some others, Hughes' book should be purchased and read by anyone with an interest in the work of David Lynch,or in the wide-ranging, well-rounded and fascinating man himself.

3 thumbs up. Buy and keep near TV.

Let me start off by saying that this review may be a little prejudiced. I helped David Hughes collect some of the movies and info for the book, and became buddies with him in the process. However, all that aside this is a great book. Rather than being culled from "found" interviews and information, slopped together with a little psychoanalysis and fanfare, David has based his book on three things 1) an obsessive love of all things Lynchian, 2) an obsessive **knowledge** of all things Lynchian, and 3) a personal meeting with Mr. Lynch himself, which allowed this book to have interviews, quotes, opinions, etc. from the man himself that no other source in the world has.
In addition to being the ultimate book for the ultimate Lynch fan, this book has everything you could want in a comprehensive "guide" to Lynch for those wanting to immerse themselves in the Lynch universe for the first time. Full color photos, a VERY detailed episode by episode guide to Twin Peaks, information on his newest projects (Mulholland Drive, his internet ventures), as well as those that never made it (One Saliva Bubble, Rocket Ronnie, etc.).
To sum it up, I believe anybody interested in Lynch should buy this book. It is intelligently written, thoroughly researched, and a joy to read. Lastly, I believe this book can pass the one test no other book about Lynch has been able to (to my knowledge): I defy you to find a factual mistake in this book. While I won't discuss it here, believe me that others are rife with them and this is a topic often discussed on my email discussion group. As a matter of fact, if any one is interested in learning more about David Lynch, discussing him and his works, and, as an extra bonus, getting to meet the author of this book, David Hughes (he is a frequent poster to the list) go to the yahoo groups website, sign in, and go to Lynchians! Enjoy the book!

The study guide is enough to pass the test. It contains all the material on the exam that you will need. I strongly recommend using the two CD's to implement a study network and doing the labs. I also read the book, cover-to-cover, twice.. then went back and re-read security and zenworks. The day before the test I used Exam Cram online resources to review. I have no prior Novell experience and was only A+ certified prior to this exam. The study took me one month at about 4 to 5 hours a day. The book DOES contain editorial errors, such as referring to incorrect Figures or tables and a few incorrect statements. Read carefully or you will not pick up on it when it happens.

This is one of the few books available that specifically addresses the Netware 5.1 Administration exam - rather than a 5.0 book with an update - which makes this book even more valuable if you are planning to take the most current test.

The main problems with the book can be fixed if an editor repaired the typos and a technical editor replaced the few inaccuracies that somehow got into the published text. I got the feeling that the book was rushed into publication and lacks the necessary polish that another good editing session would easily rectify.

I also felt like the coverage of NDPS and ZENworks was on the light side. I suppose I could have passed the Netware 5.1 Administration exam with the level of information provided, but I felt much better going in to my exam having worked with other resources that covered these topics in greater depth. I certainly did not want to try implementing these services on my production network without more information.

Overall, this book is extremely helpful in preparing a candidate for the exam, especially if you set up the recommended test server and network and work through all the examples. The more hands-on and "real-world" experience you can accumulate, the easier this test will be!

The book deserves a 4 but with Netware on the CD it gets a 5 even though its only a 3-user evaluation version. The comic-book approach is for entertainment but gets annoying after a while. It's more for beginners with little or no experience but won't really help if you're looking for something to help you with troubleshooting or more depth. Its a decent introduction to foundation information for the CNA exam, but you'll need to have practical skills to pass it.

It's too bad that Mr. Clarke feels the need to share his thoughts on Zen, include useless quizzes totally unrelated to NetWare or networking, and offer crossword and wordsearch puzzles instead of useful, real-life quizzes and tests. This book was quite complete as of it's publication date, but it is a little out-of-date now. Mr. Clarke also confuses readers with inconsistent terminology at times, once referring to a server as a dedicated 'workstation' rather than a dedicated computer, and a continuing reference to a 'central print queue' rather than just 'print queue.' His constant medical analogies and references are mundane and worthless. The book is written to about an eighth grade level, not an eighth grade reading level, but an eighth grade intelligence level. It's like reading a child's book of NetWare. The book does appear to be organized well and the necessary information is contained in the book. It's just unfortunate that it is buried between and beneath endless pages of medical school wannabe diatribes, 'Zen' garbage, and off-topic quizzes as filler. The book is nearly 1,000 pages, but if the useless garbage were removed, it would be more like 600-700 pages. It's truly too bad because Mr. James does appear to know NetWare very well. I teach computer courses for a business college that uses this book as a text. It is extremely difficult to teach from this book because of the filler and the lack of useful quizzes and tests in the book. The Clarke Tests on the CD are good, but are filled with stupid sound clips from movies and TV that are of varying volume, some quiet and some quite loud. They are very unprofessionally recorded and very annoying during testing. The tests on the CD included with the New Riders MCSE books are far superior to the Clarke tests, however. The saddest reality is that this is apparently the best book available other than Novell's own training books which are much more expensive and are apparently only available through authorized training centers (with training courses).

Clarke has an easy way of presenting what is otherwise complicated technical concepts. The book is organized well for the reader to take breaks in the middle of topics.

I like the way Clarke organized the relevant topics in passing the CNE exam---adding Humor to a boring concept. This book also contains stuff that would help you even for MCSE. It is really a good source of knowledge for both CNE, CNAs etc. wannabees.

Based on the previous reviews of this book, I relied on this book as my main source to get me through the exams, and I was very disappointed. The Advanced Admin section was adequate, but just barely. I passed the exam, however there were several questions on the exam on points that were not even mentioned in the book. The NDS Design & Implementation section, however was much worse. One of the keys to passing the test is knowing the concept of how Subordinate Reference Replicas are placed inside and out, and how to read a server chart to determine where these SR Replicas are placed. The book mentions how these types of replicas are placed in one or two very cryptic sentences and only mentions that you need to know how to read a server chart without actually explaining it. I failed this test miserably on my first try. After that I visited a friend of mine who is a CNE, and she drew me a server chart and explained how to determine how SR replicas are placed, and I 'got it' in about 5 minutes - it really isn't all that difficult of a concept. I retook the test one week after the initial attempt and aced it. In fairness, the section on Design & Implementation does cover EVERYTHING ELSE you need to know for the exam in sufficient detail and explains it very well. So, if you rely on this book for the Design and Implementation exam, make sure to know everything in that section of the book, and then seek out an actual CNE and have them explain to you how to place Subordinate Reference Replicas. I cannot overemphasize how important that is for the exam.

This book is the exact same thing as the larger CNE study guide but without all of the stupid ACME jokes and cross word puzzles. Many of the passages in the larger guide are just copied and pasted into this book. There are a few things however that just aren't covered in enough detail. You have to have a good knowledge before you read this book. If you are going to use this alone I would make sure you have a practice server to play with.

I know that this book is suppose to augment the main CNE book. But quite honestly I only read this book for both tests and passed both of them in one day with just reading this book. I found it to be very good and accurate for these tests and had no problems passing both tests. And if I can do it with only reading this book, anyone can.

Dack N+, CNA+4, MCP, CCNA

Princeton University Press published this book by a Political Science professor at Arizona. It is a psychological study which aims to sort various assassins into several "types."

While the book has a certain merit when discussing 19th Century political murderers and mandmen, it is full of outright disinformation about the murders of the Kennedy brothers. Oswald never met Sylvia Duran; she was tortured by the CIA and forced to "confess" that she had met him. CIA officials such as David Phillips have admitted under oath that the visitor to the Embassy where Ms. Duran worked was NOT Oswald. See Peter Dale Scott, Deep Politics and the Death of JFK, University of California Press 1992.

I first came across this book in preparation to direct the musical "Assassins". It was extremely helpful, because of its extremely insightful look into the 16 men and women who have tried (successfully and unsuccessfully) to assassinate national political figures, including (but not limited to) the President. Clarke has a simple, easy to read chapter on each assassin. He explains that very few of these people were actually insane, and goes on to suggest that thinking them insane does not serve to explain them, and therefore does not help to prevent future assassinations. He explains their actions without excusing them, and allows us to understand them and their acts without presuming them "insane" or "evil" ahead of time. I highly recommend this book.

For those of you familiar with the Stephen Sondheim musical Assassins, this book is essential to understand the show's themes in a historical context. Clarke suggests that there's something uniquely American about these assassinations, and his conclusions are as brilliant as they are disturbing.

I was somewhat disappointed with this book. Being a family member of Gary Tison, I was shocked that someone could put so much fiction in a book that is supposed to be a true story. He should have done a little more research.

Professor James W. Clarke has carefully and vividly recreated the escape from prison of convicted murderer Gary Tison, and the subsequent killing spree he and Randy Grunwalt embarked upon, along with Tison's three sons. Clarke describes Tison's early days, when he was committing crimes at a young age, and the romance he started with a young woman visiting prisoners as part a church mission. Tison continued to commit more serious crimes, but still managed to have three children, whose memories of him consisted mainly of their father behind bars. Tison's wife helped him escape by giving him a handgun, and the Last Rampage was on. The most memorable part of the book is the senseless and brutal murder of a young family by Tison and Grunwalt on the side of a deserted Arizona road. Clarke himself was camped next to the Tison clan in Northern Arizona one night, and sensing something was wrong, he quickly gathered his belongings and left with his wife, perhaps saving them both. The only drawback is Clarke's complete reliance on Stanley Milgrams Obedience to Authority thesis to explain the reason that the Tison boys willingly followed their father into murder and mayhem, without considering any other explanation.

The highly disorganized and thoughtless crime spree that Clarke describes is one of the most chilling, unpredictable true crime accounts I have encountered. There are not many true crime stories published that document murders that take place in Arizona and I feel that the atmosphere and chaos surrounding this story is well portrayed. Although I am an avid true crime reader, I try to skip over gruesome parts because they seem to lack empathy for the victims by being methodically descriptive. Clarke's description of the crimes instigated by two desperate sociopaths who had absolutely no regard for human life put me in the shoes of the victims. I will never forget the way I felt after reading the chapter about young family that were the first victims of Gary Tison and Randy Greenawalt. It is no longer hard for me to imagine how vulnerable we can be when we feel that we are within the safe confines of our family.

The book is rather long for the CNA test, but very, very good details about commands in Novell. Exercises where O.K. I can't stand crosswords, but if you like crosswords this book is for you. Passed the CNA exam the first time! Good luck if you take the exam!

I found this book very easy to understand, and a good study guide overall. On the other hand, I've never read a "technical" book so full of fluff. By fluff I mean countless stupid ZEN quotes, cheezy "quizes" that weren't even related to NetWare, and numerous other silly captions. The writers could have easily condensed the book by 50% by cutting out all the crap.

I found this book to be VERY informative, it was written in easy to understand text and although technical in nature, I did not get bogged down by it. I would happily reccommend this to anyone who is taking or contemplating taking their CNA

With all the mindless new age claims and so-called paranormal tripe being uncritically accepted by a naive public, James Randi has done a great service in writing this excellent and enjoyable book. While Randi is bound to upset some, this book is a first rate source of information about crop circles, channeling, Kirilan photorgaphy, dowsing, and other assorted tripe. I would recommend this as required reading for all interested in occult claims. My only complant is that many of the entries and too short and insufficiently developed. Greg Klebanoff, Ph.D. philosophy

James Randi's encyclopedia is a fun, fun read. It's virtually a history of superstitious beliefs, as well as an overview of conjuring ("the art of seeming to perform genuine magic") and the basics of applying logic to illogical claims. The entries range from "Nessie" to "crop circles" to "thoughtography," and they are often peppered with hilarious asides. The entry on "om," for example, cites the Hindu notion that "whoever knows this syllable obtains whatever he wishes." "Well, now YOU know it, too," writes Randi. "Good luck." To be sure, the volume gets a bit tedious at times, but this has much more to do with the silly and unsubstantial nature of the subject matter than with Randi. In fact, it's almost a miracle that anyone can so entertainingly present material so inherently dry and silly. I say "almost" because, of course, miracles don't really exist. Oh, and Randi provides the best explanation of "parsimony" I have ever read. This perpetually maligned concept, better known as "Occam's razor," is here defined with clarity and completeness. Those who take this concept to mind and heart will have a kind of real-life talisman against irrational nonsense. The concept describes precisely what credulous believers in the occult do NOT do.

Rest assured that James Randi's curmudgeon persona is purely an act. A couple years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting this charming and gracious man in person, and I'm happy to say that a good amount of that charm finds its way into the entries. Very highly recommended!

I read this book some time ago, and found it quite interesting. Some entries are indeed short, but they are excellent springboards for one's own research into the subjects covered. I think of it as a 'what to look into if you're interested" reference book. There are a few possible errors, such as the Necrinomicon info., but unlike most psuedo-science/Paranormal writers, I'm sure Randi would update his information if the error was brought to his attention. A few errors are to be found in almost all published references, and I wouldn't let this small example dampen one's enthuiasm for this wonderful book. In response to one reviewer's complaints about the book containing what Randi doesn't personally believe in, and another's references to the sacred cow of rationalism, I'd like to say that there are far more validated facts here than in any book I've read so far about the subjects he covers written by pro-paranormal, pro-psuedo science authors. As long as the facts support him, I'll subscribe to his "sacred cow". The alternative is intellectually irrisponsible and decidedly flawed.