I am the Exploratory/Rapid test lead for Manpower Managed Service that is contracted to do the HP LaserJet R&D testing. I have over 3 years of hands on experience in this capacity and had a conserable amount of training from Satisfice.

Exploratory and Rapid based testing differ from the more accepted automated system test infrastructure because tests are developed, executed and evaluated in real time by the test technician, this form of testing is extremely valuable and finds a great many defects and is best used in conjunction with automated regression and feature tests.

Because one person is doing what 3 people normally are tasked with the person must develop excellent critical thinking skills as well as the ability toe recognize and work around their own biases.

This book covers many of the important aspects of Exploratory/Rapid Based testing in a fun and easy to read way, the layout of the book is excellent.

This book is great, it teaches you great lessons on software testing

Rapid Testing
This book provides a testing process and associated techniques that adds the agility required to meet fast-paced business requirements without sacrificing the due diligence or controls necessary to manage risk.

There is nothing especially new about the processes or techniques that the author proposes and explains; however, the way the processes are designed recasts tried and true methods into a streamlined process. Indeed, if the rapid testing process is correctly implemented it's possible to reduce testing cycle time while *improving* quality. I like the way the author begins by clearly defining terms. I know from experience that "acceptance test" means one thing in one organization, and something quite different in another. What I especially like, though, is the clear process itself, which consists of four major elements, each of which is thoroughly addressed in the book: (1) people, (2) integrated test process, (3) static testing and (4) dynamic testing.

Another key strength of this book is the way the traditional (and much maligned) waterfall model is transformed into a hybrid called a parallel waterfall. This hybrid model is the best of the waterfall and V model, and like the V model, it tightly integrates testing and development. The author's approach to activity-input-output in the discussion of life cycle models is close to the entry-task-validation-exit process model, and the structure that is presented allows you to develop a process chain that produces predictable and repeatable results. This approach is partially why the testing process can be rapid without compromising quality or ignoring risks.

In Part II the book provides tips and techniques. Again, there is nothing especially new, but all of the key techniques are covered, including requirements and analysis, test planning, executing and reporting. Black box testing is covered well, as are an array of dynamic testing techniques (equivalence partitioning, boundary value analysis, memory leak testing, use case testing and performance tests.) If you're in a Microsoft-centric environment you'll appreciate the material on memory leak testing, and if you are in a development environment that employs UML or the Rational Unified Process the techniques for use case testing will prove helpful.

Part III provides detailed examples that are based on material presented in Part II. Overall this book lives up to its title by providing a 'safe' and effective process for rapid testing.

As a math minor at Mount Holyoke (yes, my professors actually wrote the book!) I found the book extremely useful especially as an introduction to writing math reports and papers. You will too. :)

This book and the accompanying course helped me enter higher mathematics and discover what being a mathematician was really about. It gave in depth insight into the beginnings of mathematical research and how it gets done.

I've heard a lot about this book, and in fact I will be involved in a faculty summer discussion group about it. Some people I respect think very highly of it. I can't for the life of me understand why. Moses deserves nothing but credit for his history of activism and his obvious talents and commitment as an educator. But he is utterly unconvincing in his argument that math literacy is a central civil rights issue. His whole argument seems to be based on the increasingly discredited "new economy" thesis about jobs and calls for "economic access" as a "radical" change similar to those in the 1960s. I disagree heartily. His attempt to link math education with the civil rights movement is a stretch, and I think he trivializes his own experience. His discussion of cultural experience as the basis for education is nothing new. And I still don't know what the "Algebra Project" is! I found the description in the appendix to be even more alienating and incomprehensible than my high school calculus teacher, who flunked me. If Mr. Moses is getting kids to demand algebra classes, more power to him--he is doing something right. He is probably a far better teacher than I am. But this book leaves me cold and confused. I look forward to my discussion group--perhaps they will show me what I'm missing, but I doubt it.

Robert P. Moses, a leader of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, has (correctly) reached the conclusion that Math literacy is, in these times and for the predictable future, a prerequisite for first-class citizenship, and since he still wants everyone to be a first-class citizen (and rightly so) he has embarked on a campaign to enable every child to be mathematically literate, and he has enjoyed a considerable degree of success. There is still a long way to go; his program (or more accurately, the program developed by Moses and his associates and the children, parents, and teachers they have worked with) has so far been adopted only by a small minority of the schools, but in those schools where it is in place, math achievement has increased significantly, and (SURPRISE!) reading scores have also improved significantly.

THIS IS A RESULT THAT EVERY TEACHER AND EVERY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR SHOULD KNOW ABOUT! THIS BOOK SHOULD BE IN EVERY SCHOOL LIBRARY!

I have only one small carp with this book. On page 7 is the statement: "The result was the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC), the world's first programmable computer. I asked three Afro-American students, ages 15-21, what was the world's first programmable computer, and not one of them mentioned ENIAC. Rather, they all replied that the first programmable computer was the Zuse Z3. They were all correct. The Z3, disigned and built by Konrad Zuse in Germany, and operational in 1939, approximately 2 years before ENIAC, was the world's first programmable computer. Fortunately, the German High Command didn't take Zuse and his computer seriously.

However, the error is understandable. Most textbooks on the subject in America incorrectly credit ENIAC with being first (I would expect that few if any German texts fail to give credit where it belongs.) Moses was probably innocently repeating what he had been taught at Harvard. And in any case, this one minor error is but a very minor blemish on a very relevant and valuable book. If you are a parent of school-age children, you should get this book, and then get together with other parents and with your children to demand that your school adopt the Algebra Project curriculum. Your children deserve the best education possible, and that means using the Algebra Project curriculum. Also, buy and read "Victory in Our Schools," by John Stanford. The two books complement each other.

If you are a parent of school-age children, you owe it to your children to buy and read this book and also "Victory in Our Schools, by John Stanford (the two complement each other).

This is a very good book on how math literacy is the next civil right. The book discusses the Algebra Project, an organization founded by 1960's civil rights leader Bob Moses, to teach algebra to kids in inner-cities and rural communities.

The beginning of the book reads like Moses' autobiography about his years organizing in Mississippi. He then discusses how groups like the Jews, Koreans, and Chinese relied on math as the basis for their upward mobility. Moses' theory is that as the world becomes more and more focused on technology and innovation, math will have an even greater importance.

Summation: Read this book -- it is very eye-opening.

The Fiends have long been a source of hardship to play, mainly because no one understood them. I think this book goes a long way in helping you get a total grasp on your character and it's clan. Personally, I have always liked to play the Tzimisce, even without insight from white wolf. I enjoyed this clanbook more than the first version they put out, it certainly seemed better thought out. I recommend it.

Clanbook Tzimisce springs from a truly warped, yet incredibly creative mind. The twisted brainfolds of Mr. Hatch are in full glory throughout the book; from the opening short story, to the amazing character templates that bring the most evil of the vampire clans to the widened eyes of the players. The book is sharp, fun, and horribly, wonderfully deranged. It is clear that clan Tzimisce is to be feared and revered, as well as marveled. Highly, highly recommended for all vampire enthusiasts!

This is by far one of the most excellent clan books that white wolf has written. It gives full detail as to the Tzimisce rising up and participating in the vaulderie for the first time, the destruction of their antedelluvian(even though he ain't gone)and the sadistic trappings of their homes and unlives. If you want to make a really fleshed out charachter with an interesting hobby/discipline then the tzimisce are perfect. The book also had some very interesting artwork. Even though some would call it revolting I found it pleasing that they didn't hold back from what the Tzimisce do, they're not kine or kindred but something darker and even more twisted than you can imagine.

A careful reading of this book compared to your favorite Bible verses about the Personage of God shows how misbegotten is the whole enterprise to refashion deity into a palatable, preferable,processistic being with little resemblance to the Biblical God of Truth. If you're looking for a finite, multi-present, penultimate, quasi-eternal, reductionist deity, you've come to the right place. No matter your position on process or openness or free-will theism, as Clark Pinnock once said, 'theological novelty and a high view of Biblical authority do not fit well together'. 'use of process thought cannot be explained in terms of Biblical reflection, but in terms of the influence of secular modernity.' What God hath been wrought?

I loved this book! It is an excellent layperson's introduction to an intellectually honest approach to faith. Process theology doesn't pit science against religion, or try to proclaim the supremacy of one particular path to salvation. Even so, it is largely consistent with Christian teaching, as long as one doesn't subscribe to the literal truth of the Bible.

I won't attempt to summarize the author's arguments here, as I am bound to do them an injustice. I will just say that if you are looking for a theology that is optimistic, inclusive, internally consistent, and consistent with what we know to be true about the natural world, then this book is for you. It won't answer all your questions, but it will probably give you more satisfying answers to most of them than you've found anywhere else.

I would say that process theology is not for everyone. It appeals mostly to people, like me, who want religious beliefs that are consistent with what they know about science, or at least do not outright contradict science. That would amount to only few hundred million people, nowadays.

But, there has been a pretty big problem with our efforts to fully comprehend this vision of theology. Most of the books about process theology seem to be written for the professional theologians and philosophers.

Now, C. Robert Mesle has distilled the subject down to an understandable read. It's the first book of its kind as far as I know and undoubtedly a classic. Thanks to Mesle, this approach to theology is accessible to general readers.

Everyone who wants to better understand theology in the context of our scientific world needs to read this book, whether or not she or he agrees with process theology.

A nice companion to this book would be "What is Process Theology?" by Robert B. Mellert. It's a little more traditional and it's also harder to find because it's out of print, but very readable and enjoyable. I found Mellert's little book about a year after reading Mesle's.