This book contains miscellaneous information about the Mythos collectible card game. It contains: the rules of the game, a FAQ, a short play and deck construction guide, a sort of designer's notes on the game, background information on selected cards, rules for solitaire play and creating your own adventures, a complete spoiler list for the limited edition of the game and lists of card attributes and requirements for completing adventures.

As a collector and player of the game, I found the designer's notes on the history of the game and the design philosophy to be especially interesting. Also useful to me are the short notes on the background of selected cards and the rules for creating and scoring your own adventures. The pictures of the selected cards are black & white with a paragraph of background info. Buyers should also note that there is an updated version of the rules of the game at the Chaosium website.

Tom Baker, for being the most popular actor ever to portray Dr. Who, has also stayed out of the sportlight. This book combines episode guides with collected interviews to form a facinating look at Baker's era as the Doctor. Really THE essential book on Tom's era as the Doctor

The book is simply marvelous. Packed with information and some never before seen footage, the book is a valuable source, reflecting on a decade that witnessed the show's birth. Just as important as 'The Seventies' and 'The Eighties.'

This is an excellent book. There are many topics covered in a straightforward manner that you won't find anywhere else. Many clever solutions - I learned a lot from using this book and I've been programming in Java for a while. One of the few computer books worth the steep price.

You will not be sorry if you buy this book. The book uses a straightforward approach to some of the complicated as well as simple issues. The book is very well organized, and explanations are very clear. I would not recommend it for the beginners, but even if you are just getting comfortable with Java, this book would be an excellent value. CD that comes with this book is also very helpful.

I really liked this book. It deals with very important topics from basic to quite advanced in a very straightforward manner. I use it all the time.

Although I do not always agree with his views, I quite like Maynard Smith, so I rushed to buy this book which at its price seemed a real gem. Well, just to caution the reader that while it is classic Maynard Smith, the book is now quite old (1975). One can say that Darwin's 1859 classic, or "Selfish Gene" (1976) is also old, but these books were a milestone at the time. This book had less impact as a classic, so if one just needs latest information in a fast moving topic, there are more up-to-date works around. Even Maynard Smith's own (1998) "The Origins of Life" would be better value. You have to use your own judgement about this one.

This summary of evolutionary theory by the dean of the British school is essential reading for those who would understand the issues argued by Dawkins and Gould. It is an engrossing read, but is not trivially easy, despite having the appearance of a popularization. I would recommend it to anyone wanting more than a cursory overview of the most important theme of modern biology.

i once read an interview of joseph heller in which he stated he came up with the idea for novels by coming up with an opening sentence. assuming that to be true here, this is a novel about the jewish experience. when we view this book from that perspective, we have a better appreciation of it. we have gold, who is out trying to write a book about the jewish experience, continually rejecting his jewish heritage. it is not until the end when he finally embraces it.
the political humor is exaggerated and doesn't work as well as it did in catch 22 where the setting of war makes the absurd normal. his family life is archie bunker/michael like except for the very touching lunch between gold and his older brother sid. this conversation brought the family into focus.
other characters like liebowicz and his fiancee's father border on the ridiculous and don't add a lot to the story.
this is not vintage heller. suggest your reread catch 22 instead.

It so apropos today. Bruce Gold has a job at the White House... to make sure the politicians say absolutely nothing of any importance at all, but sound like they are. This book is biting. Hilarious. I have read all his books and oddly enough while I loved Catch-22, and Something Happened, this one sticks with me. It is all about the Orwellian newspeak which I seem to hear everywhere these days. But done with a wicked sense of humour. Laugh out loud funny. The best political satire I have ever read.

Good As Gold successfully transposes the anti-logic and hilarity of Catch-22 to the world of lecturing and high-level politics.

Politics is, of course, a natural home for Heller's sense of the ridiculous. And although the machinations of the White House staff seem absurd, they are also naggingly true-to-life. The book is actually too near the bone for comfort on occasion.

But it brings tears to the eyes, it's so funny.

Gold at home with his extended family (where he spends much of the novel) suffering their babbling insanity is supremely comical. No matter how successful he is, they just treat him like dirt. And he has to grit his teeth.

These are hilarious characters and you just feel a touch embarrassed for whomever they were based on. Because they're too real to be entirely fictional... Surely.

Excellent, intelligent, funny, thought-provoking novel. But it's probably safer to not read it on the train. People might stare while you lose your composure.

I purchased this book prior to moving to Denmark from the US. This was the second Culture Shock book which I purchased and I have been disappointed with both books. Overall, I find the Culture Shock series to present the worse stereotypes of a culture. Some people may find these stereotypes to be true, but I certainly have not experienced all of the difficulties which the author has described. The author is Danish, but has returned to Denmark after living in Asia for a good number of years. You will find the author lamenting about such things as not being able to find someone to wire his stereo for him which he blames on the Danish mind of being self sufficient. I do think that the author does have some valuable insights into the Danish culture, particularly the welfare state. However, overall I found the advice to be discouraging rather than useful and not indicative of what I have experience during my past year and a half in Denmark. I would recommend referencing one of the guide books such as Rough Guide or Lonely Planet instead.

As a to be exchange student to be next year I had been looking for a book on Denmark that was more than just a travellers guide to the sights. I found the book to be a very helpful insight into Danish culture. Some parts are very brutally honest, Danish laziness under the socialist system and other things...

I reccomend this book to anyone with a serious interest in Denmark if, and only if, they will not let Morten Strange's opinion on things get in the way of expierencing Denmark for themselves.

After a trip to Denmark, I found this gem of a book. I could relate to many of things written in the book, but learned much much more. The author certainly knows his subject and writes so that everyone who reads it will have a better understanding of the Danish people and their culture. It also explains the school, medical and government system in an easily understandable way. A true MUST for any traveler or just for good, interesting reading. I know it will assist me when I make a return trip!

I guess I expected that a platform independent standard such as XML would have been better expained using a platform independent language such as java. For the unix/java engineers out there....this book contains much useful information and don't get me wrong, I learned a lot. The question is, would I have learned as much or possibly more if I didn't have to put up with 90% of the code examples written in VBScript? Many examples require Internet Explorer. Content was up-to-date and informative but somewhat repetative (12 authors).

I could find all XML releated subjects in the topics of this book i.e. XML syntax, Document Type Definitions (DTD), data modeling, Document Object Model (DOM), Simple API for XML (SAX) 1.0, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), , namespaces, schemas, linking, XML--database integration, server to server transfers, eBusiness applications, and SOAP.

It is very usuful for beginners and some advanced programmers in XML. Thanks to authors for this collabrative study.

Volkan Evrin

I have bought several xml books and this one has educated me, taught me and interested me the most. There's no doubt the Wrox technical books are a match to the Oreilley in terms of readability and thoroughness. This book is a little peculiar in that it is written by several people, each contributing a separate chapter. As an introduction, it probably wouldn't be too helpful (although that wouldn't be a problem for someone with a programming background). The strengths of the book (at least what I've read so far) is the discussion of sax v. dom, the section on business applications on edi (really interesting for me), and the great reference source in the back. Can you believe I have xeroxed the css list of command options in the back--amazingly useful? The variety of writers give a fresh perspective, which can be bad and good. With the exception of the first few chapters, which give a good overview, the rest of the chapters are a grabbag of subjects, including 4 case studies. These were very useful in learning xml. It also discussed WAP, which may or may not be useful, depending on how much enthusiasm there is for that standard. For variety's sake, I also bought, XML Unleashed, a bulky book with not as much organization, but just a lot of code (unlike the professional xml book, which really explained almost everything well). XML unleashed is helpful, because its topics really don't overlap with professional xml. It discusses SMIL, parsing xml with java xml tools on the market, using asp with xml and different subsets of xml (vml, and a variety of other specialized languages specific to one discipline. Unleashed is good because it contains discussions (albeit rather brief) of several different languages. Professional XML sticks to explanations and analysis, a lot of microsoft stuff (but not asp, and not too much stuff that linux lovers would want to reject the book. Finally I want to mention another book which I used as a first tutorial, Just XML by John Simpson. It's the best written of the three, although a little bizzare humor sometimes. It was written in late 1998 so some things may not be up-to-date (however simpson does a good job of emphasizing the things that weren't likely to change). This would be a good book for people starting, or if the book were available used. It would also be good when simpson publishes the second edition (later this year).

In this enlightening book, Petroski, who is professor of civil engineering, has succeeded admirably in conveying what engineering is and what engineers do in a manner that is accessible even to my grandmother, i.e., the general public. His presentation, although somewhat repetitive, is clear and sprinkled judiciously with humor. Moreover, it is illustrated with familiar analogies, and also numerous mechanical and civil engineering examples including everyday objects such as paper clips, toys and knives.

To engineer is to design, 'making something that has not existed before'. Petroski provides insights into the design process (which involves computers extensively nowadays) and its limitations, and also the means employed by engineers to prevent failures in their designs.

He emphasizes, however, that it is not possible to anticipate all possible ways a design can fail and thus failures inevitably occur because engineers are, after all, humans. Numerous examples of catastrophic structural failures throughout history are presented and discussed. All involved the tragic loss of lives (for instance, the collapse of two crowded suspended walkways onto the crowded floor of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency hotel in 1981) except the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge in Washington State in 1940.

Petroksi also discusses the failure analysis or forensic engineering that is performed in the wake of a catastrophic design failure to understand how and why the failure occurred. He argues convincingly throughout the book that understanding such design failures can advance engineering more than successes. Design failures, like other failures in life, should be embraced, rather than denied or ignored, and learned from. Great engineers, and great people in general, are the ones who heed George Santayana's famous dictum: 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.'

I have to admit that I am a fan of the author's works, so this review may be biased.

I agree with previously posted reviews here that this work is repetative and covers engineering failures at a very high level. However, I believe that this is an important work for those that do any type of complex design or work with designs.

I am not an engineer -- I'm an information systems professional who believes that professionals should be able to review failures, even those of other professions, to better address risk in future projects. The author does a great job of introducing this concept in this book's preface:

"...I believe that an understanding and appreciation of engineers and engineering can be gotten without an engineering or technical education.... I believe that the concept of failure - mechanical and structural failure in the context of this discussion - is central to unerstanding engineering, for engineering design has as its first and foremost objective the obviation of failure. Thus the colossal disasters that do occur are ultimately failures of design, but the lessons learned form those disasters can do more to advance engineering knowledge than all the successful machines and structures in the world."

Take the word engineering out of the above quote and insert any profession there and the quote still works.

I found particularly erie the background on the Comet, the first commercial jet aircraft. In the the chapter on Forensic Engineering, Petroski tells of a early Nevil Shute novel, _No Highway_, in which Shute tells a very, very similar _fictional_ story about a failed commercail aircraft called the Reindeer. I did not know that Shute was an aero engineer working for de Haviland at the same time as the Comet design. Shute is best known for his work _On the Beach_.

Of interest to other information systems professions is the chapter entitled From Slide Rull to Computer: Forgetting How It Used to be Done.

The bibliography of 11 pages may also be of interest to anyone researching this subject.

This Petroski work is a good introduction in to his other works, as well as the topic of failure analysis....especially if you aren't an engineer.

I am not really sure how I came across this book. I think it was by following relevant links on Amazon. Anyway I bought this as well as The Evolution of Useful Things at the same time. I found this a very insightful reading in light of my occupation as a software engineer. Several of my coworkers recently had an email conversation regarding the quailty of software engineered products vs. "real" engineer's and their feats of construction, bridges, airplanes and buildings all things that Petroski covers in details.

Some additional thoughts on how structural engineering is different from Enterprise Application Software Engineering:

1. --In general software is unlimited, where as Structural Engineering has natural laws. Higher level Patterns are pretty constant, where as within the created construct of software they are reinvited (Object Patterns, EJB Patterns)
2. --structures have the added requirement of no death, where as Enterprise Software only has revenue associated with it, not as powerful a motivator as death.
3. --software is interactive with behavior, where as a bridge is a bridge

http://www.niffgurd.com/mark/books/2002.html#eng

The section on humor is very good, but if you want to improve your presentation skills, it's no point reading a big book, you have to practice to improve.

This book could have been more useful if it were more concise.

As a professional speaker, I found this book full of useful information. The author covers everything from how to be introduced to how to end your presentation effectively. He tells you how to involve your audience, how to use humor, how to design your presentation, and more. It's full of tips and examples. While it's true that the best way to improve your public speaking is to just do it, this book will shorten your learning curve by years!