Robert Hawks, a hydrologist, finds himself caught between the FBI and a Native American group in a mystery that deals with treaty rights, civil rights and water rights. Sounds a bit heavy doesn't it? But Everett pulls it all together in this book. Interspersed with actual treaty information, commentaries on peyote use, hydrology tables, this book moves effortlessly from the central mystery to Hawks' own past, filled with a distrust for authority, to Hawks' disastrous love life, Watershed seems to have a bit too much going on to be successful, but it is. Everettt builds the tension well and only the slightly pat ending interferes with the enjoyment of this book. But the journey is definitely worth your time.

I am a clinical psychologist and I have used this book for 15 years in my training of lay counselors at my church. It starts with the premise that psychology and Christian faith can be integrated in counseling to more effectively help people. It covers some basic counseling skills and cautions, and presents a 5-stage problem management model that is applicable to most situational and some chronic difficulties that people commonly struggle with. It provides a good introduction to counseling and illustrates the process through a nice case example that runs through the book; however, it is not sufficient for training lay counselors by itself.

I use Worthington and a book by Kenneth Haugk (CHRISTIAN CAREGIVING: A WAY OF LIFE) to supplement my main text, Gerard Egan's highly successful college upper division or beginning graduate level text (THE SKILLED HELPER), now in its 6th edition. Worthington's 5-stage model is easily integrated with Egan's 3-stage model; however, Worthington is written at a nonprofessional level while Egan is clearly more academically and professionally oriented. ALL of my lay counselors over the years have enjoyed Worthington and Haugk (also nonprofessional) , but some with only high school or limited college education have struggled a bit with Egan.

Powerful hurricanes are infrequent visitors to New England. 'The Long Island Express' not only paid a visit---it dropped in unannounced on September 21, 1938 just as many summer residents were on the beach and closing up their ocean-front cottages. The weatherman gave no cause for alarm. "Cloudy skies and gusty conditions" did nothing to warn New Englanders of the imminent arrival of a 500-mile wide hurricane with peak wind gusts of 180 miles an hour.

This is how the book jacket of "A Wind to Shake the World" describes the coming of the storm:

"No one could have been prepared for the storm's ferocity. Sweeping suddenly northward from Cape Hatteras, building tremendous momentum as it advanced, the hurricane raced over six hundred miles in only twelve hours. Winds of 100 to 130 miles an hour and swiftly rising water of almost tidal-wave proportions slammed into the shore from South Jersey to Boston, most severely from Long Island to Cape Cod."

The hurricane struck Long Island around 3:30 PM. Few of the summer folk or permanent residents on the Island's south shore had a chance to escape, as waves between thirty and fifty feet high pounded the coastline.

Entire homes and families were swept into the ocean.

September 21st was also the day that Everett S. Allen, recent college graduate and future author of "A Wind to Shake the World", began his first 'real' job as a reporter for the New Bedford 'Standard Times.'

It took Allen over thirty years to recover from his own traumatic experiences during the storm, and write about one of the most under-reported natural disasters of 20th century America. Six hundred New Englanders were killed in less than twelve hours, and yet it is very difficult to find accounts of the hurricane that came to be called "The Long Island Express". I first heard of it in a story told by one of my Down East relatives---

"On the day of the hurricane, a Yankee farmer received a package containing a barometer that he had ordered through the mail. No matter how many times he tapped it, the mercury remained stuck at the bottom of the glass. Finally, he re-packaged the 'broken' barometer and returned it to the post office. By the time he got back to his own property, his house had washed out to sea."

If you are an armchair junkie of natural disaster stories such as "Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History," you should definitely read "A Wind to Shake the World." Although the survivors were interviewed over thirty years after the hurricane, Allen wrote that some of them still wept, "to see again the sick color of sky and sea on that day, to hear the scream of the wind, which was everywhere...to see man himself, face down and weaving like weed in the roiling shallows or open-mouthed and still, half-buried in the damp sand."

The author tried to write this book with a "lighter side" style and with more "test taking" strategies than some of the more well established study guides. A good attempt, especially concidering how dry the material can be. But if you are stuggling with how to spend your time and money preparing, I suggest strongly the following:

1) PMP: Project Management Professional Study Guide
by Kim Heldman

2) PMP Exam Prep (4th Edition)
by Rita Mulcahy

After you've completed these two "must reads", you may want to add PMP Certificatoin for Dummies by Gerald Everett Jones as a third pass at the information. But I'm afraid that this publicaiton only fills that limited role.

Get to work on the "must reads" and good luck with the exam.

R.T.

My study group reviewed this book and came to the conclusions that PMP Cert For Dummies has the best formulas, graphs, explanation of Quality and EV of any book you can find for studying for the PMP Cert exam. There is an 'everything but the kitchen sink' approach to listing formulas and the quantitative section really is easy to follow. I needed this spoon feeding to get the hang of the math.

Now, I believe I can ace the exam

This is the easiest of all the cert books to read.

Although the PMBOK Guide is organized along the lines of skills sets called the nine Knowledge Areas, the exam is organized along the lines of the five Process Groups. That provides a linear flow through the project lifecycle, which is how I work. This book (and the less complete ISBN 0782141064) are both based on how the exam is structured, rather than on the PMBOK Guide's structure. While this organization can be confusing to beginning project managers, PMI repeats over and over that these processes all connect, overlap and interact with each other. The PMBOK Guide was originally written by a bunch of engineers who really liked the idea of feedback loops and they understood that these processes happen simultaneously. So, in order to pass the exam, you have to think along the timeline of the project lifecycle as well as the Knowledge Areas. Otherwise, you'd miss every question "what do you do first?"

1.The familiar For Dummies icons make it easy to spot important information.
2.The answers are the most complete of any of the cert books. The questions are well thought out and representative of what is on the exam.
3.The CD has a study schedule (Microsoft Project template file) that provides a detailed roadmap to keep you on track. They suggest that you use this schedule and monitor your progress using Earned Value Analysis. That way you can practice the EV metrics that are on the exam.

Thanks, it's a great help! And it's the best value of any of the books in the category.

Of course this is my humble opinion, but I thought this book was extremely lacking. I thought the description of the book sounded great and that this would be a real psychological thriller. But the characters weren't well developed at all and the story really lagged. I should have felt something for some of the characters but I just didn't. I didn't feel badly for the victim and I didn't feel any anger for Alex Leonard (the murderer). I felt like I was being dragged through the book rather than involved in the story. And the ending was anti-climatic I think. I saw it coming a mile away and was rather disappointed to discover I was right.

Reverend Alson Pierce loses his wife and child to a sadistic racist madman. He slowly plots his revenge in the form of forgiving the man who destroyed his life and then entering the prison to end his existence. The novel is full of interesting (and tragic) characters but the saddest is the Reverend. He starts to almost lose his sanity and way of life by following the path of revenge. It ruins his relationships with family, church and friends. He breaks many of God's commandments on his mission of redemption for his wife and child. The plot also involves a camera crew filming a documentary about the reverend & the killer, a prison riot and a sad friendship with a lonely woman from the church. The story held my interest and the end surprised me. I will not reveal anymore but the book was quite fascinating.

The best way to descript this is "Dead Man Walking" meets "Silence of the Lambs". I have read hundreds of novels in my life and I can honestly say that "A Story of Scorpions" is the most intense book I have ever read. The dialogue is brilliant and Everett's descriptiveness is captivating. The characters are strong, all with a purpose.

Although Mr. Everett weaves a good story, I found his characters one dimensional and his style of writing annoying. His use of punctuation, particularly exclamation marks, made me wonder if he had an editor at all. At one point I counted 53 exclamation marks in three pages. I felt like the characters were constantly yelling. Although this may seem appropriate at some times, as in battle scenes, it hardly seems necessary in everyday conversation. I never felt like I got to know his characters, and could not tell one army officer from the other. They were not developed at all. His heroine, Julia, was an annoying, bratty teenager with few redeeming qualities. I found this to be a wholly unsatisfying read.

I know this author as an honest student of his subject. I was much impressed with the accurate description of the physical surroundings and people of the 1860s. The reader can almost smell the aromas and visualize the countryside of the rural South. That, along with the factual presentation of the Yankee raid so well-known in Eastern Carolina, and the fictional romance that symbolically began a healing process between the two sides, makes it a good period piece. The author's easy, uncomplicated writing style results in a good book to relax with on a rainy day.

"Coolmore" is an intriguing story of a minor Civil War incident and its aftermath. It's not "Gone With the Wind" because it is set in North Carolina, where plantations were fewer and smaller. It does portray, however, what one of those plantation families suffered at the hands of Union soldiers near the end of the Civil War.

"Coolmore" is the name of the small plantation with four slaves. The house (an actual historically significant house in Edgecombe County, N.C.) is also midway between two objectives of the Union troops, who have a foothold in the eastern part of North Carolina.

After Union troops do significant damage to Confederate stores and supply lines in the town of Rocky Mount, they head to Tarborough to do more damage. On their way to Tarborough, they pass Coolmore. The unusual architecture of the house attracts them, and they stop and plunder the plantation for rations. After freeing the slaves and burning some of the support buildings, they contemplate burning the plantation house. But one officer stops the men because of his appreciation for the house's beauty as well as the beauty of Julia, the owner's teenage daughter.

When the war ends, the Union officer decides to stay in the South, and his memory of Julia leads him back to Tarborough, where he is not wanted by the defeated townfolk. He persists in trying to make a living in unfriendly territory because he is still attracted to Julia. But Julia has no interest in the man who brought ruin to her family and so many others.

A chance meeting at church, starts a romance destined not to be easy.

"Coolmore" really does show how the Civil War did affect ordinary people--soldiers and civilians alike. A sequel certainly is in order to explain the same characters as they live ordinary lives during the hardships of Reconstruction.

My only reservation comes from my not being a Civil War buff. I found too much detail in some of the military descriptions and, possibly, not enough detail about work in the fields of the plantation. Even so, I found it kept my attention and kept me reading past my bedtime.

Perfect for Japanese pop-culture devotees and off-kilter stylists, this slim, strangely sized hardcover is a guide to the enduring trend among Japanese teenage girls for a deep fake tan, day-glo eyeliner and platform sneakers.

Ganguro ("Black Face") Girls were inspired by the adult video actress turned TV host Ai Iijima, who popularized the post-nuclear tan look when mainstream ideas of feminine beauty championed pale skin. Teenagers, delighted by the disdain it caused in their elders, beefed up the look with press-on nails, platinum locks and odd accessories.

The book, while minimal on shopping details, does have a few pages devoted to background information. Each picture is accompanied by a bio which asks a few (boring) questions. There's even a section on how to do the favorite dance of the Ganguros, the "Para Para", which consists basically of arm movements because of the extreme difficulty of dancing in super-high platforms!

Unlike Shoichi Aoki's FRUITS, which showcases mostly "cute to attractive" youths, Ganguro Girls has no problem showing some really UNattractive girls, in some very unflattering poses. FRUITS is a far superior book in just about every respect, so if you have to choose between the two, leave Ganguro Girls on the shelf.

I think this book, while arguably not as polished as the comparable "Fruits," is really fascinating. The realistic view of these young women helps to reveal an underlying idealogy in Japanese fashion -- something niave and straightforward that I'm not accustomed to seeing in Western designer fashions. Both cultures recycle past fashions, but with such contrasting aims. These women make Vogue seem tired.
...

Ganuro Girls, basically a picture book, gets as deep as these girls are - a photo book. Not much substance here, except that this is one book packed with photos and questionnaires on these interesting Japanese girls. Some are in HS, some are in college, many answer that they will be ganguro until age 25, some are prostitutes, and how much money they had in their purses. Many recognize that this is a trend, and this is temporary identity.

The book, "Buying and Selling Real Estate by Owner" has had many terrific reviews from QUALIFIED Reviewers as, Midwest Book Review, Magzines, Newspapers and Real Estate Agents. The book is very easy to understand, it gives many tips of how-to and what-to look for when buying or selling with or without an agent.

The author is sorry if a reader is not happy and will be glad to replace the second edition with the third edition, free of charge if the reader sends the second edition to him along with a copy of the sales slip from amazon.com. Within two weeks from purchase date.

This book is for everyone who does not have an uncle in the business. It contains information that is pertinent for every transaction. A definent must for every person who is entering the real estate market for the first time.The reader will carry knowledge from this book for as long as he buys and sells real estate. Do not buy your first home before reading this book!

Thanks Gracey, I believe I can now sell my home by myself. Mr. Gracey has the guts to speak out about "Buying and Selling your home by Owner". Mr. Gracey has stated before that if someone is unhappy they are entitled to a refund if they send the book to hin along with a receipt from amazon.com. A comment noted; A real estate agent will edit the next printing for a 6% commission (the normal real estate fee.) He should edit his own review. I found Mr. Gracey's book, "Buying and Selling Real Estate by Owner" to be a very easy to read and to understand. Us common folk appreciate it when someone writes that way.

"R.S. Hall, an Engineer, January 19, 2001,
A Challenging View

This is a significant work that requires a bit of thinking. What he has to say about these things should be analyzed carefully. These concepts should not be discarded lightly simply because they differ somewhat from what one's own viewpoints may be. The author should be complemented for the depth of his vision.

Also recommended: 'Democracy in America' by Alixes de Tocqueville, 'Language and the Problem of Knowledge' by Noan Chomsky, 'Schzophrenia: The Secret Symbol of Psychiatry' by Thomas Szasz, 'What the Buddha Taught' by Walpola Rahula"

"A reviewer, January 19, 2001,
The truth, for the first time! The content of this book is a wake up call for humanity. For the first time that I know of someone is focusing on real causes of our problems. This is the most important stuff I have ever read. I can relate to just about ever word of it, even though some of it hurts.

Also recommended: I can think of no previous book I have ever read that goes for the roots of our problems, although Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is what comes to mind.

"A reviewer, January 19, 2001, The truth, for the first time!
The content of this book is a wake up call for humanity. For the first time that I know of someone is focusing on real causes of our problems. This is the most important stuff I have ever read. I can relate to just about ever word of it, even though some of it hurts.

Also recommended: I can think of no previous book I have ever read that goes for the roots of our problems, although Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is what comes to mind."

I bought this book with the intention of learning more in depth use of actionscript with all of its wonders...Instead, I was bombarded with too much game design stuff. The table of contents was misleading and the focus of the book was useless for true web design.

There are many books out there for actionscript, I suggest any of the others.

This book is, along with Moock's Actionscript book for O'Reilly, the first really solid book covering programming in Flash 5. That includes good stuff on planning projects, code structuring, OOP, design, and XML much more in depth than any other Flash book I've seen. It is definately advanced, perhaps not to the point of some of the hardcore OOP coders on the Flash lists, but quite complex and more than enough to challenge most readers, which is good.

The projects are good and varied, and it seems like Friends of Ed has at last gotten someone to insure that coding styles are reasonably consistant throughout the book--other of their Flash books have been essentially collections of inconsistant and often incompatible articles. The usual suspects do show up (spaceship games and rotating 3D cubes), but presented with a level of detail and thoroughness totally absent in other books (short tutorial in matrix math anyone?)

The great chapters on Sound and XML are almost worth the price alone, but the standout chapter is called "Creativity in Practice" and covers invaluable stuff like: working in teams, interaction planning, prototyping, information architecture, even some usability. In other words, the stuff that professional designers do the 80% of the time they're not messing around with software. It's exciting to see these topics appear in what could have been just another coding book.

I won't dock it a star, but one qualm is that it doesn't come with a CD (again contrary to Kevin's review below). You have to download about 80Megs of files from the publishers site. Come on guys, if there's no CD at least knock a few bucks off the price. And even at high-speeds, that 80Meg download is kind of a pain.

Friends of Ed has been publishing great books on Macromedia Flash consistently in the recent months, and this one actually has some fundamental coverage like concept design and project structure then moved on to advance topics such as XML integration, Generator, etc. Basically a little bit of everything starting from the intermediate level Flash developers can use. My only complaints is the black and white printing, and no CD-Roms, but all the source files can be download from Friends of Ed's web site. Keep up the good work FOE!