Name: unknown Age: 12 almost 13

This is the best book I've read in weeks! I go to the library almost every week. I loved this story. It is about a family that consists of Jane (the mother) and her 2 children, Molly and Michael, and Dave (the father) and his daughter, Heather.

When the family moves to an old church, everything turns upside down. Heather's mother died in a fire so the family thinks that she is just a sensitive child. I the back yard of the church, the is a graveyard. Heather later finds a ghost friend, Helen. The ghost is about to make Heather commit suicide in order to stay with Helen forever. Molly finds that it is up to her to save her annoying, bratty sister. When she does rescue Heather, she finds why Heather and Helen are such good friends. You'll just have to read the book to find out the rest.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione once again have their share of magical adventure but with a few unexpected twists and turns this time around! A great, entertaining read (even if you are more than twice Harry's age!)!

Summer holidays are a hope for young students in school, but not for thirteen-year-old wizard Harry Potter. After blowing up his Aunt Marge, Harry is reunited with fellow students Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. But something's troubling in the wizarding world: Sirius Black, a mad prisoner of Azkaban, the dreadful wizard prison, has made an escape, and is on the loose. Wizards, Witches and even Muggles are on the lookout for this mad murderer. But is Sirius Black somehow related to Harry's dreadful past?

Harry, Ron and Hermione are thirteen and now possess a suspensful feeling about the world of wizards, that somethings out there are not right, and that evil is indeed growing. The third book is where darkness falls and the plot is beginning to twist and turn. Voldemort seems to be growing stronger, and servants around the world are clinging to his side. What happens when Voldemort regains power, and the wizarding world falls under his manipulating spell once again?

Rowling has expanded her enchanting world, which was already filled with strange and magical invention. In the third novel, the scope becomes bigger with newer material, creative creatures, unexpected characters and new magical powers. The action sequences possess a feeling of rush and speed, and the climactic scene in the end puts every single plot twist from the first two books to shame. A stunning surprise perfectly closes Harry's third year at Hogwarts.

This is longer than the first two novels, but the more the merrier, right? It's amazing that Rowling is able to create such a huge world in a small 400 pages. The next novel is even bigger and contains even more than what the first three books tell combined. To see wizard Harry Potter grow from an eleven-year-old to a seventeen-year-old, unsure of the treachery and magic all around him is one satisying experience.

It's a bit longer than the first two books, but when a story is filled with so much imagination, flair, unexpected creations and magic beyond belief, the short length seems to be the only flaw in this book. It has the most humanity of all the books, and emotion definitely comes into play for Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the supporting characters. "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" is everything it should be: Imaginative, enjoyable, captivating, enchanting, dramatic, adventurous, stunning, rich and much, much more. I sure hope J.K Rowling has another fifty books on the way, and not just Harry Potter-related.

The Bad:
As with any book that tries to get you to change your life, you need to pick and choose the ideas that best suit you and fit your lifestyle. Hunt tells us we should give 10% of our money away, in a sense back to God. Among other reasons, this is to feel more connected with the world. She states a few times how people write in saying that they'd rather give their time and how Hunt feels this runs counter to the principles of giving away money. I for one, feel much more connected to the world when I am volunteering - writing checks and putting them in the mail is what you do to those evil credit card people you're trying to get rid of.

Another GLARING frustration I had with the book was all the shameless plugs to her website. Not because I am against shameless plugs, but because in order to ACCESS the features she mentions, you have to buy a subscription! Key to the whole book is her Rapid Debt Repayment Plan (RDRP) which, as she puts it on her website, can be a very complicated thing to figure out on your own. If you have rudimentary knowledge of a spreadsheet program, such as excel (and no, you don't HAVE to be a financial whiz to figure it out), know how to use formulas and even hide columns, you can crete a RDRP for yourself and save yourself the $20 yearly subscription.

I found this caveat frustrating because it was not stated in the book that this was a subscription source (perhaps it wasn't when the book was published). So if you buy this book and can't figure out excel for yourself, you could easily spend almost $40 in no time that isn't going towards your credit payments. This issue made me question the line Hunt walks between her capitalistic enterprise (which she admits she loves) and her desire to truly help those of us out there with debt. What about giving 10% back to her readers?

Strangely enough, what I like most about this book is the writing style. The content is excellent, but much of it I've read before. You know, cut up your credit cards, cut your expenses, save 10% of your income, etc. etc. etc. The style of writing makes the subject matter so much more enjoyable to read. I felt like the author was speaking directly to me as a human being. Considering the author had at one time $100,000 in unsecured debt, I'm impressed. She practices what she preaches.

In terms of content, the writing style is a joy to read, but there are some really good points made in this book. One idea, which was definitely worth the purchase was chapter 8. I had already been implementing that idea a little bit, but now I can refine it with the author's method and really make it work.

The point of this book is to make dealing with debt a proactive issue. Don't just work on paying off debt. Structure your life in such a way that you avoid debt at all costs. If you plan your life properly, it's entirely possible and quite easy I might add. Been there done that.

My favorite quote from the book came in the chapter about college students getting their first credit card. Most people I know have at least one credit card in case of an "emergency." Here's what the author had to say about that:

"If you accept a credit card with a big line of credit, I can guarantee you will have lots of emergencies. They'll come in the form of pizza and airline tickets, clothes and social events."

My advice if you're going to buy this book is read it through and mark the areas of interest. The chapters toward the end really didn't apply much to me, so I breezed through them rather quickly. The beginning chapters were excellent. The author has a way of understanding human nature having been there herself.

I'm giving this book 5 stars. That was easy. I found a couple of pieces of really valuable information in here. I plan to go back and read the book a couple more times to start mapping out my plan to the next level. If you have already paid off your debts, this book will help you keep it that way. If you are in debt, that's two reasons to buy this book. Just be sure to use your debit card, not your credit card. Well, in this case, you can cheat.

I loved this book, and read it many times over again after I first picked it up, and it still delighted me. Lucy Maud Montgomery is a stunning writer, and I believe that she must have been like Anne, for no one could create such a realistic character and write everything that poured out of Anne's mouth...her made up stories, the things that she she thought of, her wild yet delightful imagination...all in all, Anne of Green Gables is one of the finest books I've ever read, and were ever written. I strongly recommend it to anyone, old or young. Everyone can relate to Anne and she could make you smile like she did for me.

Rowling introduces plenty of new characters - Professor "Mad Eye" Moody is a really welcome addition - and continues to flesh out such familiar ones as Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, and - of course - Harry, who at fourteen is starting to come of age. This novel also features the rather horrific - and I suppose inevitable - death of another fairly major player.

Rowling continues to impress me with her seemingly limitless creativity. I continued to be surprised and delighted ... and also rather repulsed by some of her less savory characters and incidents. A storm is definitely gathering and I look forward to seeing where things lead in the fifth and subsequent volumes.

It's well known by now that Rowling's prose draws you in (enchants you, if you will), and the fourth installment in the series is no exception. Never have I had the pleasure to read a series that has gotten *consistently better* with each sequel.. not until Harry Potter, that is.

After staying up far too late on the seventh (or would that be far too early on the eighth--?), I stumbled out of bed and brought the newest book with me to the gym, drawing some interesting looks from the folks around me as I kept my eyes riveted to the pages instead of the treadmill readout. My only regret is that I couldn't continue to read it when I did my laps in the pool! =)

Rest assured, those who doubted, that Rowling has, once again, surpassed herself. Not since Roald Dahl have I enjoyed so-called "children's books" so immensely; Rowling's dark sense of humor and knack for the fantastic remind me of such classics as "The Witches" and "Matilda," favorites of mine since I was a young'n. But curse the woman for writing so well -- it takes me one day to read the books, and a year for the next to come out!

Ah well. That's what rereading is for, I suppose.

Much of the wonder that the first book elicited is now gone--but only because we've already been introduced to the sport of Quidditch, the living paintings of Hogwarts, and the moving staircases that make getting to class on time a contemptible ordeal. Rowling takes the care this time around to paint a more vivid image of the new settings she introduces on Harry's second school year, making the world feel more natural, and making us, in turn, more envious of the luck that Harry, Ron and Hermione have to be part of all these wonderfully whimsical events.

The major improvement here is that every last detail given serves to advance the plot in some form or another. There's practically no pacing problems as in the first novel, and the stronger brand of humor that's infused into just about all situations makes for a quicker, more enjoyable read.

And of course, there's a much sharper sense of poignancy this time around--it's hard to believe how these characters can just keep getting better and better.

Of course, Rowling's not quite at the top of her game until the third novel. But this is a fantastic follow-up that manages to outdo the original, and once you get your hands on it, it's hard to put this series down.

Singh has done a very nice job of demonstrating how deep an impact cryptography has on history. He opens the book by recounting Mary Queen of Scots' conspiracy to have Queen Elizabeth murdered and how she attempted to use encryption to cloak her intentions. It was a very exciting way to open the book.

Singh has found the right combination of technical detail, historical detail, and character development.

Singh's explanation of how the German WWII Enigma functioned is exceptional. He made it very easy (and fun) to understand.

Singh's last chapter is also very neat on the subject of quantum cryptography. Though I have a BS in computer science, I'm no physics genius and Singh did a nice job of making (what I consider) difficult physics concepts easy to understand and of showing how they can be applied to modern cryptography.

Although I don't know a thing about "Fermat's last theorem", I've been so pleased with Singh's writing style that I'm considering reading that book also just to see what it is all about.

If you like codes/ciphers and want to read about their impact on history without reading a thousand pages then get this book. You'll be happy you did.

Singh (the author) discusses the use/importance of code and cipher throught the ages by using historical events to illustrate the importance of secure communication. In several of his examples, security breaches affected the course of history (e.g. outcome of WWII; fate of Mary, Queen of Scots).

I'm not what you would call a "math person." Regardless, I was still able to enjoy this book. Singh is wonderful at explaining complex processes in steps and illustrations we all can understand. For example, instead of launching into a discussion about the algorithms associated with authentication and encryption schemes, Singh first tells you to picture a metal box affixed with several locks. I found each of his examples are relevant, clever, and helpful.

For those in the security trade, this is an invaluable book, as it explains the "why" behind the "how" with regard to information security. (Ever wonder what RSA stands for? Thought about how our national standards for bit encryption came about? This book will explain.)

Highly recommended to security-saavy persons, puzzle lovers, or anyone interested in history. Excellent!

I truly enjoyed how the author used a lot of description and detail in the novel. This description enabled me to paint vivid pictures of the beautiful, Australian land in my mind, as well as clear pictures of the many different characters' inner and outer appearances.

This extraordinary love story was like an emotional rollercoaster. It twisted and turned leaving me feeling many different emotions including love, humor, sadness, anger, hate, and malice. I often found myself crying as well as laughing while I eagerly devoured every word on the page. It kept me reading and reading until the very interesting ending. I would recommend this captivating novel to anyone who is looking for a great story about life and love! I'm sure you will enjoy it just as much as I did!