Simon & Schuster continues to lead the flag-waving wave of children's books with "Capital," the publisher's latest patriotic primer. An informative tutorial geared for older picture book readers, "Capital" is a no-nonsense mini-text book decorated with colorful illustrations, renderings and maps. With years of scholarly research behind him as an art historian, author/illustrator Lynn Curlee takes a suitably serious approach. Though not chaptered, his book is clearly and concisely structured. First, Curlee gives an overview of the five great structures at the heart of the United States capital city, the "bustling metropolis of Washington, D.C." - namely, the White House, George Washington Monument, Abraham Lincoln Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, and the domed U.S. Capitol building - then proceeds to take a closer look at each one individually and chronologically. This is a fully fleshed account, with at least twice the text of the average non-fiction picture book, so no details are skimped, and the reader is never cheated with sketchy shortcuts. Amid the larger story, sections are peppered with interesting and memorable details such as the fact that future president Thomas Jefferson entered - and lost - a competition to design the original White House, then called the President's House. Curlee's bold, pristine paintings of buildings, settings and key figures architectural are highly stylized, yet accurately rendered to pay respect to the subjects, particularly the architectural details that are discussed in accompanying text. And at the very end, an author's note conveniently outlines the difference between "capitol," "Capitol" and "capital," which will surely aid conversations repeated again and again by teachers, students and most readers...including the book's editors who surely had an interesting proofreading task.

a great project, a necessary book to understand the Seventeens, not only in the architecture, not only for architects.

The story behind the Statue of Libery is filled with suspense even though the happy ending is well known! This book attempts to have us think more deeply about this well known American icon. Born from a deep admiration for the American democratic experiment, like many other treasures it was conceived of by private citizens and funded in the most democratic way---by the people. The story of its conception and funding is more interesting than the technical details but it is complete in all aspects including the restoration. The illustrations add to the power of the writing.

It's my belief that about 90% of what's written in computer books is excessive and unnecessary: there are a ridiculous number of them, they're overpriced, and they spend too much time telling you the obvious.

Given that context, this is a good book by computer book standards, though clearly that's not much of a compliment. What I found most interesting were the reviews and suggestions regarding third-party software (and where to get same). Most of the rest consisted of rather obvious tips on how to use the existing software, of which I found about two to be of use. In other words, the useful parts of this 600-page book was about 50 pages or less.

So if you're really at a loss on how to use your Palm Pilot, go ahead and get this book, or if you can buy it and deduct it on your taxes. Otherwise you're probably just about as well off doing a Web search as forking over ($) for a marginally useful book.

Great resource for the novice user but offers little for the advanced user.

If I were a new user this would be an indespensible book to help me get kick started into the world of Palm computing. It covers the basic built in applications very well, giving practical examples and thourough explanations. It also points you to many, many different ways to use your Palm and gives helpful examples as well as points you to the sites that sell various software and hardware enhancements.
The only problem is that I have used mine for over 2 years and consider myself to be an expert. Most of what was covered in the book I have already figured out long ago or do not have any real need to use the feature, such as a Network Hotsync. I was looking for more advanced topics such as how conduits work or what other system commands are available to use with the shortcut in additon to the Date and time stamp.

I rated this a 4 from a new user perspective, but for more advanced users I would only give it about a 1.5

I received this book only two days ago and have spent several hours poring through it. It is exteremly well written, concise, and explains things in a way that everyone can understand. You won't have to be a techno-nerd to enjoy this one. Hats off to the authors. I have learned a lot just in the short time I have had this book. I would consider this to be the ultimate reference source for palm handheld users at this time.

Enticed by a review of it in a local free-bee circular, I really wanted to like this book. The illustrations are good, but neither they nor the text were especially engaging. I'm not familiar with the author's other works, but i suspect this is not his best.