This is an excellent selection of classic BSI (Baker Street Irregulars) and other criticism on the Sherlock Holmes stories, with entries by such famous Sherlockians as Rex Stout, Vincent Starrett, Christopher Morley, etc. Most of the individual articles are available elsewhere, but as a compiliation of essential writings about Holmes this is hard to beat. Mr. Shreffler does a fine job of sorting the wheat from the chaff -- I have dozens of books on this subject, and if you are only going to purchase one Sherlockian book in your life (but who in their right mind would ever do that?), this book would be a fair choice.

Two potential caveats for newcomers: 1) I am not sure why this book is so expensive; perhaps the number of remaining copies is limited. When I acquired my copy a few years ago, it was substantially cheaper. If you're on a tight budget, you can probably get more Sherlockian bang for your buck elsewhere. 2) Keep in mind that this is almost entirely a compilation of SHERLOCKIAN criticism, as opposed to the more conventional brand. In other words, the articles proceed under the tongue-in-cheek assumption that Holmes & Watson were real people -- thus, this book will probably not help you very much if you are looking for sources for an academic, literary study of Doyle's work. If you are reading for personal enjoyment, though, and have the cash, it's great fun, and **highly** recommended.

A fine addition to this volume would be Shreffler's "Sherlock Holmes by Gas-Lamp", which includes highlights of the first 40 years of the Baker Street Journal.

Henry Kamen's Spain 1469-1714, a Society in Conflict is a political history spanning the growth and length of Spain's Imperialism and colonial empire. It is also a study of how religious conflict created among Catholics, Jews and Muslims shaped the political agenda of the crown. At the same time there were internal conflicts, Spain both as an alliance of Argon and Castile and later as a part of the Habsburg empire, then the Bourbons, was thrust into a global role in the new world, the Netherlands and Italy. It is a narrative/exposition approach that uses religious and economic strands as well as politics to explore the conflicts that shaped Spain as it passed from individual kingdoms into a modern state. Kamen provides an extensive bibliography including many Spanish sources, none of which appears to include original source material.

Part one of the book focuses on the period from 1469 to 1516, which Kamen calls "The Catholic Kings." It is a time period that is often looked upon as Spain's golden age. The marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella united the kingdoms of Argon and Castile. Both kingdoms evolved in different ways which created potential sources of conflict. It was to Isabella and Ferdinand's credit that their major focus remained the pacification of Spain. Kamen investigates their pacification efforts through seven venues: hermandades, aristocracy, the municipalities, the Military Orders, the councils of state, justice and the Cortes. One of the contributing factors to conflict cited by Kamen throughout this period and all succeeding reigns was the crown's need to raise money. In spite of the wealth that came in from the America's, the Spanish treasury was always in need of money. Kamen, in effect, built as case for self-perpetuating conflict -conflict needs armies that needed money that created more conflict as the crown tried to raise it.

The kings that followed Isabella/Ferdinand set different agendas. Charles V and his descendants committed themselves to Castile and their center of government. They financed their activities by tapping four major sources: Argon, Castile, the church and the Americas. However, the Americas never became the cash cow that the kings and councilors had hoped because the trade business was dominated by foreigners with Spain functioning only as a conduit. Consequently, the government periodically declared bankruptcy to cancel its debts.

Religion was one of the other strands Kamen uses to develop his society in conflict themes. Phillip II, an extremely religious monarch, instituted the Inquisition. This required a nationalized church and its purpose was to reconvert the general population back to Catholicism. It coincided with the expelling of all the Moriscos which in itself created demographic problems and a lower tax base with its corresponding economic consequences.

Kamen continues with the economic, religious and political conflict themes through the reign of Philip V who finally unifies the country and ends the power of the old aristocracy. The empire also came to an end. The book concludes with Kamen arguing that the debate over the future is as uncertain today as it was in 1714.

The book is an outstanding portrait of Spain during the empire days. Although it had a colonial empire during this period and was recognized as a world power, Kamen's thorough analysis reveals the weakness inherent in all phases of society. It was truly a society in conflict.

This book is written for Step 1 of the National Boards. This is a comprehensive review of pathology. The information is clearly written with the most improtant points in bold letters. This makes the matterial easy to absorb. In addition, the information is strictly categorized, and there is little irrelevant and wasteful writing. You will find this quick reading (for a comprehensive review) simply because of the way it is written. Furthermore, each chapter is followed with a short but thorough Q&A review section. Another additional feature is the frequent use of very useful tables, which often give a good understanding of a whole chapter. Although the book is thorough, I have never regretted having read it. I have found it useful even though I did not specialize in Pathology. It is enlightening in just about any general specialty one may be interested in. The book's only short coming is its number of pictorials which are few and far in between.

This book has strong word-of-mouth press, as well as a glowing review from the First Aid book. Its thickness is intimidating, especially for the BRS series, but the pages aren't too dense, so that it can be covered in its entirety in four days or less. Without having compared it to its competitors, I can still say that it does cover just about everything necessary to study pathology. Sometimes the book is a little skimpy on details that, in my own case, were filled in by previous overlapping study through other subjects.

A more substantive complaint is that the book is in dire need of an update: it was published in 1993. For example, the sections on lymphoma classifications and HIV treatment are hopelessly outdated. Along the same lines, the questions at the end of each section and the comprehensive exam at the end don't reflect the current USMLE testing style. For one thing, about 70% of the questions in this book are phrased negatively, as in "all of the following are true, EXCEPT...". For another, many of the questions are quite a bit pickier than my experience with the USMLE step 1 (three days ago).

The book also contains far too few photomicrographs, and those are all black and white, but this can be remedied easily with supplemental materials.

Pathology is one of the hardest and longest subjects in medical school, and when finally you are on the other side thinking you wouldn't dare to take the course again, USMLE comes...... but fortunately, the Lord has inspired this people to write this excellent book. With key essentials, friendly text, excellent organization, handy review questions and a comprehensive exam, I just wish I had this book during my course of pathology. If you don't want to get admitted in a mental institution when reviewing pathology for the USMLE step 1, well....then what are you waiting for buying this book.

About time the Prudent King received treatment worth his contemporaneous status! Not much has been written on Phillip II that would pass the most superficial test of historical accuracy. This book, a survey of his reign, is balanced and well written. Kamen describes neither a demon (the characterization of Phillip which most English readers would find familiar) nor a saint (the preferred version among Spanish monarchists), but the first modern bureaucrat. Kamen scholarship has some precursors in the English historical world, ie Elton, Parker, but his contribution to popular history in the form of biography is unique at this point. The 30 Years War, the casus belli for Modern Europe, is inconceivable without Phillip II's presence. This book paints with an informed brush the Spanish dynastic cause. I recommend this book highly.

Kamen offers a very complete and detailed description of the great grandson of the Catholic Kings and the difficulty of managing the most extensive empire the world has ever known. The facts are taken from great sources and presented in an honest fashion. Kamen strays from legends and myths and even challenges some of them as he did in "The Spanish Inquisition". The dedication of Felipe II to his realm is explained realisticly. Finally, the chronology is followed with discipline and is commendable. I would recommend this book to anyone desiring information on this Hapsburg leader.

That's right! I am, at this moment, making a powerful epic screenplay about the greatest king in the 1500s. It is called PHILIP, KING OF SPAIN - and it will star me as the great king Philip II. I will show him as the man, the king, the warrior, the father, the husband, and the ruler of his court!

So forget about those other little biopics like THE LAST EMPEROR, AMADEUS, ELIZABETH, and others! PHILIP, KING OF SPAIN will be an Academy Award-winning, Best Picture epic film made by yours truly - Kristoffer Infante! It will be a companion to my other Oscar-winning Best Picture, PRISONER OF WAR - written, directed, produced, and starring me - and TRIANGLE, another Oscar-winning Best Picture!

I will be faithful to the man and the myth, and destroy all that negativity that has dogged Philip in the last 400 years! Philip will be loved and appreciated again!

Count on it!

At first glance, this might seem like a good textbook. However, after having to deal with it for 3/4 of a semester, I've learned to not judge a book by its cover.

First of all, formulas are not presented in a way that is helpful. Facts should be highlighted and processes explained more clearly and concisely. As a non-programmer (I've taken web programming, computer science 1 and 2 up through binary trees), I felt that the symbols used for representing a lot of the rules were more confusing, and the text didn't help much in the explanation of what these combinations of symbols actually represented. Luckily I had a friend who could help me sum up what these things meant!

Our instructor also posted solutions to the problems from the instructor's book. One week there were 5 corrections for 10 homework problems (where the meat of the problem was actually approached in the WRONG WAY). Not to mention the multiple typos that any spell checker could have found.

For $[money], I'm sure there's a better textbook out there. To quote one of my friends, there is a better interpretation of Jim Gray's quote:

"This is a great book!" (I didn't read it at all!)
"This is the book I wish I had written!" (Then it wouldn't be so messed up and I'd be rolling in the dough!)...

First I need to explain my background: I only knew a little about databases and SQL in general, but I knew the topic was rather complex and very broad. Since I wanted to understand how transactions are implemented I decided to find a book on them and stumbled upon this book; I am glad I did.

Do I now understand how transactions are implemented? Not 100%, but certainly a great deal more so than before I read this books' chapters on transactions. Indeed, I am far more equiped to work with transactions because this book helped me understand what is going on "under the hood". While it wasn't "code level" details, it certainly satisfied this novices' thirst for a general understanding of transaction implementation plus it piqued my curiousity to go on and learn more about transactions as written by the likes of Gray.

Further, I have been given a nice introduction to Database Theory and the topic of Entity Relationships - an entire study of how best to design our data, which before hand I was completely unaware of!

Two chapters seemed rather difficult and one of the authors was kind enough to suggest I study Susanna Epp's fine "Discrete Mathematics with Applications" before heading back into foray of DB theory.

So, all and all, I found this book a delight and well worth working through.

Database and Transaction Processing by Philip M. Lewis, et al. is written as a multi-purpose textbook and practical reference guide for software engineers. One can use this book both as an undergraduate introductory course in database theory and design, as an advanced graduate-level course in databases, or as a graduate level course in transaction processing.

Being outside of the academia, but still needing a foundational theoretical (but not necessarily formal or overly detailed) reference, I was impressed on the ability of the authors to present concise and useful practical facts. Some other textbooks suffer from overwrought attention to topics in database normalization, correctness proves, and such - this one gives a lot of practical advise in optimization, distributed databases and issues of concurrency control and transaction processing. Chapters are organized in a self-contained fashion, so with a bit of background in databases, reader can just read a chapter in isolation if she is interested in a topic.

In summary, a very useful book.

Forget this lame outdated atlas. For a beginner's atlas, try Wil Tirion's "The Cambridge Star Atlas" instead. This includes a similar limiting magnitude of stars, but plots many more deep sky objects (and gives many common names as well, completely lacking on Norton's maps). The graphics and printing are much cleaner in Tirion's tome, and deep sky objects are color-coded.

The moon atlas in Norton looks like a bad photocopy of a photograph. And Norton's star charts go right into the gutter. Just try to get a look on Map 5/6 at delta Orionis (the westernmost star in Orion's belt). The Reference Handbook in Norton is OK, but beginners should try Terence Dickinson's "Nightwatch" and "The Backyard Astronomer" instead. Sure, Norton was great for its time, but who wants to drive a Model T today?

Just because this book isn't "pretty" is a lame reason not to buy it. The star charts are not meant so much for telescopic work as to give you a naked-eye reference. Sometimes, not having a million stars crammed onto two pages is nice. No self-respecting astronomer (apparently the 1 stars aren't) would be without this book. Heck, even the editor of Sky & Telescope uses it...

As another point, the star charts only comprise about 15% of this book. The "Reference Handbook" is where this is a gem. The lists of objects to view interspersed between the star charts are invaluable as are the 100+ pages of astronomical information. If you skip this book because two reviewers gave it one star (while the others gave it a 4 or 5) you don't deserve it. Sure, the information concise, but when you're out at night, reading through fluff isn't what you want to do...

This is probably a book to buy after you've stuck to the hobby for a year and know yo're hooked :)

Clear skies!

PS Never trust people who only buy things based on how "pretty" they look...

Norton's simply keeps getting better. Earlier editions nurtured multiple generations of amateur (and not so amateur) stargazers. This latest edition is a concise, complete atlas AND reference. The Sky Atlas 2000 or Cambridge Star Atlas are also fine road maps to the skies. An even better bargain is the Bright Star Atlas 2000 (Wil Tirion did all three and is tops as a celestial cartographer), but all lack the wealth of other reference information that is contained in Norton's.

The style is definitly in the Sgt. Friday mode: "Just the facts". But there are so many of them! Page after page of succinctly written information on practical astronomy, the solar system, moon, deep-sky objects, etc.

For an evening looking at the heavens, if you don't want to carry around the local library, this one volume easily suffices.

Brave and Bold

Neil Philip writes the book, The Tale of Sir Gawain. He also is a critic who has written many other books such as: Guteesh and the King of France's Daughter and Drakesdail Visits the King. The story is made up of many different tales and legends that tell about Sir Gawain numerous ventures. The tales vary from quests, to banishment, marriage and death. Although it does have a few differences, the book doesn't have many contrasts. For one, it's the fact that the story is not based on King Arthur, but the brave and loyal knight Sir Gawain and the hardships he journeys through. He tells the story of his years at the round table, from his perspective.
I would not recommend this book for younger children because I think that the story is confusing and with so many of the tales, you can't tell who is speaking. I also believe that the word choice is also confusing from the way we speak today. I may not have enjoyed this book but they're still others who would be delighted to read this book.

The Amazon.com entry for this book recommends it as reading for ages 4-8. This book is grossly inappropriate for young children. This novel tells the entire cycle of Arthurian legend from the point of view of the dying Sir Gawain who is dictating his memoirs to his young squire. As such, the novel focuses on the violence and sexuality inherent in the subject matter and uses sophisticated language appropriate for the young adult (12-14 and above), but not for the pre-school and elementary school set. For the right audience, this is a very interesting and unusual take on the legend of Arthur and well worth the reading. And Charles Keeping's illustrations (too intense for the very young) are a bonus for those old enough to appreciate them.

This is a great book! I being an adult enjoyed it and I feel that it would be enjoyed just as much by a young child as well. This book gives the reflections of Sir Gawain as he lies dying outside Lancelot's castle towards the end of the time of arthur

hey guys, standards are slipping here.

this is not a mystery book--this is early science fiction.

and, elizabeth peters is not englihs, she's american, and the mitchell book is about a comanche, on a reservation--definitely NOT english.

you need a better editor here.

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) is now chiefly remembered for his excellent Sherlock Holmes stories. However, Doyle wrote many exciting stories of adventure and mystery. This book contains four such stories.

1) In The Lost world, reporter Edward Malone accepts the challenge to explore a recently discovered South American plateau that allegedly contains dinosaurs. Teamed up with the eccentric Professor Challenger, the dubious Professor Summerlee, and the heroic Lord John Roxton, the heroes of the story find themselves immersed in an adventure beyond their wildest dreams. 2) In The Poison Belt, Malone is summoned by Professor Challenger with a cryptic note. It seems that the Earth is moving towards a poisonous section of space, and Challenger hopes that he can rescue himself and his associates-the last people left on Earth. 3) The Terror of Blue John Gap is a short diary telling the story of one man's confrontation with a monster that any modern man knows could not possibly exist. And finally, 4) The Horror of the Heights is another short diary excerpt that tells the story of a daring aviators discovery that the air also has its jungles and predators.

While somewhat dated, these stories are well written and quite exciting. They reflect a world that is now gone, but is quite interesting to read about. Overall, I must say that if you like adventure stories, then you must read this book!

The cover blurb calls Guedalla's style 'glittering' and 'epigrammatic'; I'd call it tortuous and frustrating. How sad that the definitive biography of the taciturn, straightforward Duke of Wellington is so wordy and vague.