Smoke Jumper is a fast paced story, and even though it seemed like you knew where the story was going, it was still hard to put it down!
The story centers on the friendship of two young men, Connor Ford, a quiet photographer from a ranch in Montana, and Ed Tully, a musician from a wealthy Southern family. What they have in common is being smoke jumpers, which forges a very strong bond between them. Ed falls in love with a young woman, Julia Bishop, from a New York working class family and brings her to Montana. The three of them enjoy a strong friendship. The fire season begins and between Ed and Connor smoke jumping and Julia's work with troubled children the story begins to take unexpected turns. The friendship is tested when life and death decisions have to be made. The aftermath of these events ends in the marriage of Ed and Julia. Meanwhile Connor takes his photo-journalism interests to a professional level, ending up in all the war torn hell holes he can photograph. The author Nicholas Evans rapidly pulls the reader into a tale of love and friendship, loss and redemption. While some of the events are a bit of a stretch the story still holds the reader tight in it's grip. This was a good novel even with the predictability which is present but the paths it takes are varied enough to maintain a fast paced tale.
I had just finished reading FIRE by Sebastian Junger which is a true life story of Firefighting in the mountains, combined with stories of wartime in Sierra Leone, Afghanistan and Kosovo. It was an odd combination of good books, one fiction and one non-fiction. Together these books give an amazing view of people in these fields.

This is most of all a well-told tale of love, friendship, tragedy and triumph. Not new material at all: a love-triangle, a friendship that is challenged by disaster and love for the same woman, the adversities of life and finally fate working in a good way after all.

Since the "horse-whisperer" we know that Mr. Evans is a solid story-teller and takes his time to develop the lead characters. For this he spends the first half of the story on the beginnings of Ed's and Connor's friendship as smoke jumpers in Montana. At the same time he introduces us to Julia who is the central love interest. After a climactic forest fire there is a scissure in the story that I believe is well-placed. Just as the lives of these 3 people are changed dramatically, so are the pace and the main storylines of the book. Evans pulls this off, though, because his characters and settings are well-developed by his groundwork in the first half of the novel.

The book is an overall very good weekend, page-turner read.
Less one star for it is predictable after all.

Having read some reviews prior to reading the Smoke Jumper I was prepared for the worst. Lucky we all have different tastes, how boring if we all thought the same because I enjoyed Nicholas Evans latest tale.
The Smoke Jumper certainly holds up with the best for a good portion of the book. The relationship between Ed, Julia and Connor is one of true friendship and the difficulties they all faced and how they dealt with them after the fire was truely sad.
Connor's exploits after were a little disjointed, or should I say the telling of them didn't sit well. But, this was a life story by Nicholas Evans and life doesn't flow along evenly either.
Yes, parts of the african theme weren't needed but then it's part of this story.
Overall, a good read by Nicholas Evans. Yes! I have to say a worthwhile read.

Deja esta novela un regusto ambiguo, a medio camino entre la almibarada felicidad de los cuentos infantiles y el resginado sufrimiento de "Los Puentes de Madison". Un planteamiento inicial prometedor construido sobre una original idea (un hombre que sana las mentes de los caballos) va perdiendo intensidad a medida que la historia transcurre, para acabar convirtiéndose en una reflexión más sobre la necesidad de vivir la vida con intensidad, con pasión, sin olvidar que el tiempo es implacable y nunca permite pasar dos veces por el mismo lugar.

El interés se mantiene, en cualquier caso, gracias a la extraordinaria habilidad de Nicholas Evans para la descripción, y a su capacidad para provocar intensos sentimientos a través de su visión de los paisajes del medio oeste americano. Sin embargo, la acción se vuelve previsible rápidamente, y tanto los personajes como el hilo conductor traen al recuerdo la mejor tratada historia de "Los Puentes de Madison", ! aunque los papeles aquí estén cambiados. En "El Hombre que..." es una mujer urbana y triunfadora la que encuentra los valores vitales perdidos en la simplicidad de la Naturaleza en estado básico donde habita el "susurrador" (quien, por cierto, no susurra). A partir de ahí, lo dicho: demasiado previsible. Crisis personal, cuestionamiento de la vida superficial en las grandes urbes, reencuentro de los principios vitales, amor imposible y final... (tranquilos; no voy a desvelar el final). Con respecto a los personajes, están continuamente rozando la frontera del estereotipo, lo cual de alguna manera contribuye a restar intensidad a la novela.

En resumen, una novela para disfrutar más con sus descripciones que con sus narraciones. Incluso a pesar de su previsibilidad, tiene algunos momentos intensos que harán necesario el uso del kleenex, especialmente si uno es americano. Por cierto, aunque en los libros traducidos nunca se sabe de quién es el mérito o la cu! lpa, se diría que la versión española es demasiado american! a, no sólo en el fondo sino en la forma del lenguaje.

Computer books seem to break down into one of three major categories: theoretical concept overviews, exhaustive step-by-step learning guides, or pinpoint reference guides (e.g. O'Reily In-A-Nutshell). This book is a muddled mix of all three without achieving the benefits of any. It's too lightweight and disorganized to be a reference manual and too cursory to be a learning guide.

I am over 100 pages into this and I am not quite sure if I have learned anything useful. It was clearly written without an objective in mind, which is evident chapter after chapter. It was comforting to see that many others share my opinion. I wish I had read these reviews before purchasing.

I was asked to develop some simple web pages for a database project using Visual Interdev and Active Server Pages, which I had never worked with. I usually learn a new RAD tool by taking code examples from a book an adapting them to my project. After becoming flustered with the lack of helpful examples in the "Using Visual Interdev" book, I switched to "Inside..."

I skipped to the chapters on the data form wizard and database development and got list and form pages up within a few days using the Data FOrm Wizard and other development tools. It did a good job of explaining the basic idea behind ASP and how Visual Interdev works.

It does waste time covering the basics of things like menu navigation, but I did like the step-by-step through the code generated by the Data Form Wizard.

I would recommend this book to database developers making the switch to web development who need a jump-start, but not to the seasoned developer who will find the majority of introductory chapters a waste.

I read what the other reviews said and must say that they miss the point. Visual Interdev is not the same as FrontPage98. It is not for beginners. What the reader should be seeking is a way to add database interaction to a website (which is not the same as interactivity!). I found myself turning to this book again and again as I switched to Interdev. I had to fight with coworkers over the CD from it. I would say it is a "must have" book for its intended audience.