Yikes! Looks Mr. Mills needs psychiatric help, and fast!

Roy tells of his experiences in the realm of the spirit world BEFORE coming to Earth as well as a scattering of ephemeral divine events he witnessed while here. At times these accounts sound almost too bizarre to be true. For example, the time he saw the clouds open up and heaven unfold right before his eyes while out in a field, and of course his thoughts while still in his mother's womb. But you know, you can't help believing this man. The way he presents his story is too simple and sweet to be a fraud, but he left many unanswered questions. I would like to see him write a sequel and elaborate more about life on the other side, e.g. spirits who have been gone for centuries...Do they return to Earth as another being or do they continue to remain there after their life on Earth is finished? Now, I'm talking about going back to the caveman! Are we reunited with old friends, loved ones, relatives when we return? What about our pets? Birds? Butterflies? Insects? Do they have a place in heaven? And what does one do all day? Do earthly things such as sports, music, jobs, marriage, food exist? Yes, you've got it, Roy, I'm one of these who likes to get down to the nitty-gritty and I'm afraid your book doesn't quite cut it. Therefore, I implore you to write another in your same simple "down home" style that I love.

I believe this man wrote from his heart. It was a book I didn't want to put down or end. Worth the reading and everyone who feels connected to God will feel the impulse of this book. For those looking for something else, or expecting the pages to be written for their educational standards...I feel for them for lacking the insight necessary to understand what the author is conveying. This is a wonderful inspiring book. All should appreciate the "gift" Roy Mills brings to us having written it for our benefit.

This book is relatively useless unless you intend to write the programs he has made into examples in the book. Nothing is explained or defined, many explanations are missing as far as terms, ideas, or even how or what something does. I would not recommend this book.

Although the "C++ Weekend Crash Course" is a decent starting point for C++, it doesn't deliver as promised. Digesting the content of the book will take much more than the proposed 24 hours. Triple or quadruple that if you've never programmed with C++ before and you'll have an accurate estimate as to how long it takes to complete this book.

Good points: 1 - includes DJGPP and RHIDE (a compiler and environment) so that you can work on coding right away. 2 - covers classes quite thoroughly, and devotes several chapters to debugging. I can say quite confidently that I can debug my own code properly. 3 - 500 pages of info is bound to benefit you.

Bad points: 1 - The code contains errors. Once you figure out how to work around them (use "cin >> whatever" instead of "cin > whatever") you'll have a lot more success. It -is- frustrating for the novice, however. 2 - There's no real reference in the book. Unlike some titles, there's no decent list of functions, variable types, etc. You'll need to invest in something like that separately. 3 - Most sections are fairly chaotic. Although the author does have a basic pattern to his chapters consisting of "introduction of topic, practical coding, conclusion/summary", the practical coding section is a mishmash of coding and an assortment of unorganized points that the author couldn't put into a chapter.

Overall, some readers may feel confused after having read this book. A complete novice to C++ may still not know when to use a pointer instead of a global variable, and there were sections in the book that were too advanced for the time they were presented (such as bitwise operations). If you're already a programmer fluent in another language, this book might work for you. If you need to review C++ before an exam, this is your book. For complete newbies, however, skip this one.

I see many folks saying it's not a good C# book because the author didn't teach you how to use VS.NET, ADO.NET, Web Services, etc. Just remembering that IMHO, a C# book is supposed to teach you the aspects of the programming language and Not how to use an IDE or anything else.

This book concentrates entirely in the C# OOP aspects and will give you a good foundation on how to use OOP in the .NET world.

I give 4 Stars because A weekend is not enough time to learn it all, although I could Read the book in a weekend but needed more then that to learn and do the examples.

Another good thing is that the lessons/chapters are time based (an average of 30minutes each) and they are very straight and compact.

Note : The other reader comments seem to be from C++ Weekend Crash Course ?:(?

I initially bought this book for a friend but then used a couple of times for reference when the person I leant it to asked questions... After a couple of times reading sections I quickly noticed a style in the author I had seen before. Not realizing it was an author I had read before and swore I never would buy a book from again I missed it... but here he is again parading through the book like he is some programming genius and you are some idiot who should not be learning to program in the first place. The book title fits the way he treats his reader... I found his technique to be even more insulting and arrogant.

Well yes, I mean exactly what I have written in title. Windows 98 programming is definitely not for dummies. You ought to know a good deal of C programming before you start programming for windows else you will find this, otherwise real-interesting, field a difficult one to an extent where you will feel more or less discouraged. So, if you think you are dummy don't buy this book. If you are determined to buy this book knowing that you are one of the dumb fellow then at least go through its page 1 and page 2. When I bought this book, I thought it's about windows programming using win 32 API (the original way of programming windows). Nevertheless, I felt very disappointed to see that it's all about MFC after chapter 4. In addition, there too, book lacks a lot. There are so many shortcuts (this is one of the major reasons "why not to buy?" for those DUMMIES out there). Chapter 1-4 are not bad but I think the work is more or less sum-up version of matching chapters written in Charles Petzold book. After these start MFC. I think even mastering visual C (a bad book near me) has more to say here then this book. Why I haven't given this book one start? Only because of it's price but I tell you it's not worth of even this price. So, stay out and clear. To add to the injury "part of 10" is worst among all I have seen so far in dummies' series. I was really missing our dear writer when I was reading page 295, which was telling me about "telephone help" and "divine intervention" in "Ten Help Resources" chapter. I am still thinking of giving it one star. Any way last no least this is the worst DUMMIES series book I have ever read. DON"T BUY. Instead go for Charles Petzold if you are interested in WIN32 or else buy teach your self visual C++ in 21 days if you want to dive in ocean of MFC.

this is not stephen r. davis's best work, it just skims over windows programming, if you have a copy of MSDN, good beacuse your gonna need it. it covers MFC but that part isn't very helpful. there is alot of very help full information in there (i can program in windows now).

BTW: the first example is missing a line wndClass.Size = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX); it won't compile without it.

I was hoping for a book more about the J++ environment. When I began reading, I found the Java language specific information helpful such as the size in bits of the intrinsic data types in Chapter 2. But then I noticed a Year 2K bug on page 28.

Considering that this book has a copyright in 1996, the author should be sensitive to Year 2000 bugs. His code calculates the number of days from a given date to the beginning of the year. He comments the code "// in February, gotta consider leap year". Well this code does not know that February 29th, 2000 exists.

Well you "gotta" also consider that we have far too many Year 2K bugs that we need to fix. Why introduce a ton more by teaching people who want to "learn Java now" to calculate leap years improperly. Especially in such a powerful new language such as Java which has a class called java.util.Date built into the core API that even takes into consideration Leap Seconds.

Well, if Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Server's User Manager does not recognize 2/29/2000 as a valid date then I guess it is OK to publish a Java code that does the same.

Over all it is a good book, and it has some good content. I would not recommend this book to a beginner who does not know how to program. There are many other books out there for beginners. If you are looking for a manual for J++ this is not the book for you, either. If you have programmed before, you will find this book helpful to learn Java.

The book provides a good introduction to object oriented programming concepts. The style of the author makes this book fun to read for a technical book. Yes, there are some gaps in the presentation of Java and J++.

If you want a good theoretical and philosophical introduction to Java, the "object oriented programming language," this book is a great choice. In addition to being sold at retail, this book is also packaged with the J++ system. You might think that the book that comes packaged with the software would be focused on explaining that specific software. On the contrary, "Learn Java Now" is focused on helping you understand the "larger vision" of Java and object oriented programming in general. It has very little to say about J++. I recommend "Learn Java Now" very highly. Even if you don't plan to use J++, consider buying this book retail. The concepts behind object oriented programming are difficult to grasp, but "Learn Java Now" makes them as clear as possible. The examples and illustrations - built around a metaphor of the family TV - are familiar and relevant. I found myself constantly having the "Ah ha!" reaction. "Ah ha! That's what encapsulation means!

I wish this book had not been done as a novel, but rather as a report of an actual trip. I don't know why it wasn't, since it seems to have been based on one. Anyway, I never felt much for this narrator, who goes wandering around smoking hash and matter-of-factly looking up Brion Gysin (who for some reason keeps letting him in) whenever he happens to be in Morocco. In the end he manages to take a completely fascinating cultural and musical world and figure out little about it. What was the point? I still don't know. Those interested in Jajouka would be best served listening to its music instead.

I thought I might be the only person to consider the role of money in the fighting that broke up the peaceful village.

The writer is loose with the facts and down right inaccurate in my case. I should know I was there.

With all the money he's made, you'd think Patterson could slow down his rate of churning out dopey stuff like this and reach deep down for something that is challenging and satisfying.

There are so many other spectacular books out there right now. Spend your money on one of them, instead of perpetuating this kind of drivel.

Like most Patterson novels, this one raced along (on top of his usual short chapters and fast pace) to a relatively satisfying conclusion, although somehow it seemed like the last 15 miles of a 500 mile race were mysteriously eluded. But unlike the author's other efforts, there wasn't much original in this story. Not only is the cast identical (except for the villain) to "When the Wind Blows" (namely, Kit, Frannie, and the six bird-children), but the plot is virtually the same as well, substituting the evil "Hospital" for the evil "School" that hatched the kids in the first place. At the Hospital, a new practice called "shucking" removes all the organs of the unknowing subject "donor" at once so that in effect a total transplant to a "deserving" older wise man can extend the life of such a valuable human. The perpetrator of this miracle work is mad Dr. Ethan Kane, who takes an interest in the six bird-children for what they can add to his "resurrection" feats. The book culminates with the first 30 total transplants while Max, Kit and Frannie are fighting for their lives to escape their captors.

If this sounds a bit like Dean Koontz and Robin Cook, move over, it is. We would urge you to skip the original story else it will probably spoil this one out of sheer similarity. We had read it, but fortunately don't recall it in detail from about ten years ago. But this one can stand fine on its own, as how the bird-children came to be, their relationship with Kit and Frannie, and their special powers (flying, hearing and visual acuity, etc.) are adequately explained. How the bad guys were so totally overcome near the end is conveniently glossed over, leaving us to feel a little hoodwinked as we came down the final stretch.

So - a reworked fantasy plot, and a weak tail-end are offset by an entertaining, fast-paced book in the Patterson style; so on balance, average. This book is in no way related to his similarly entitled "Beach House", but that just might be the best place to read it!

The flying children are back in a non-stop thriller.

Max, and her group of winged pals have escaped the horrors of government experimentation at a place called "the school." Now, living among the civilized world for the first time, Max and crew long to be reunited with Kit Brennan and Frannie O'Neill, the couple that rescued them, and at long last return to the lake house, the cabin of safety for the winged children. Unfortunately things will not go smoothly and the children will battle for their lives.

As a legal battle ensues over the custody of the children, Max realizes her worst nightmare is about to become reality as a survivor from the destroyed "school" has re-surfaced with a sinister plot.

Max, Matthew, Icarus, Oz, Peter, and Wendy, with the help of Kit and Frannie must fight for their lives while staying one step ahead of a monster set out to destroy the future of human existence.

'The Lake House' is the thrilling sequel to 'When The Wind Blows.' From the prologue to the last page you are held captive by science, action, interesting characters and surprising plot twists in this fantastic thriller that stretches the imagination. Only at the hands of James Patterson can a story of winged children be an entertaining page-turner. Trademark short chapters, and shocks at every turn keep things cooking as you race to the satisfying climax.

Once again, James Patterson scores a bulls-eye with a novel that's sure to please his fans, and land at the number one spot on all the bestseller lists.

Nick Gonnella