This book contains, in one of the 4 interviews Preston conducts with people in the extended porn industry, and the many astute and honest remarks about a life spent in the not inconsiderable task of making permanent art out of fleeting desire - it contains the single most perceptive remark I've come across about the dilemma of art versus commerce. The interviewee observed of a series of his activities that in each case, "In the beginning you think, This is going to make me..hard! And that's the greatest rush I've ever had, ..finding something new and different to make me..hard beats them all." Then follows, inevitably, the stage when he asks, "Can I eat doing this? Can I make a living at it? Because, if I can, then I'll be in heaven. I'll have made it to the place I want to be."But, he observes, "It doesn't work that way..It doesn't work that way because, eventually, the second part of the equation takes over and, no matter what you're doing, you're doing it for the business of it and the concerns about making a living are the same, no matter what the job is."

This is a well written, thoughtful collection of essays about the concerns of any artist. It is also refreshingly free of the usual pretension that accompanies such musings when engaged in by poet, painters etc. Pornographers are more fun between the sheets, as well as between the sheets.

Who knows if this collection will ever see the light of day again but I do know that from time to time some of the 15 essays, an interview with Preston and an set of 4 interviews by Preston, will be printed in more current works about BDSM, pornography, and writing. For Preston pornography seems to be anything that includes sexuality where one of the goals is sexual arousal; a definition you may not personally agree with but it took guts in the late 1980s and very early 1990s to say that. Preston didn't just write pornography but just like today that would not have kept him alive because it pays either so poorly for quality or you create a lot of junk just to pay the bills. In a way, some of these essays could almost be classified as a manifesto for writers, especiallythose of us who use sexuality to communicate, entertain, and investigate humanity. If you aren't interested in the political, the social, and the controversial in gay porn from one of the "masters" of that field, don't buy this book. If you are interested in all of those things or love Preston's work, you have to have this book.

Office 2000 essentials takes an-in depth look at the fundamentals of MS-Office 2000 in the practical sense of a heterogeneous environment. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced user, you will be able to quickly apply its principles and examples to your everyday problems.

The book approaches Office essentials from the prespective of your work. With an introduction of elementary concepts to routine tasks. This book effectively optimizes the use of MS-Word, MS-Excel, MS-Access, MS-PowerPoint.It also gives you quick insight into MS-Outlook and MS-Publiser.

To summarize : It takes you through a step by step explanation of the essentials. Easy to understand graphics, with practical exercises and a CD-ROM. A highly recommended buy for any beginner to experienced user of MS-Office 2000.

Email: bmascare@hotmail.com

I have read several books on Office 2000 and I found that this book is the best book.The main reason I liked this book is that the Authors did a great job by placing the screen shots of the windows after the description of each topic so that the reader can understand easily. The book also covers almost every topic in Microsoft Office 2000 Package. It is a must read book for the people who want to become a master in Office 2000.

I am the webowner of the site "Borderline Personality Disorder Sanctuary." This is a book written primarily for clinicians but I also feel BPDs can learn from it. Initially, he presents a very important problem in treating BPDs. One that I have always felt. When discussing long term therapy, he states "..I suspect that only a tiny percent of borderline patients can afford such treatment." Also discussed are the limitations that some HMOs have that prevent treating the BPD. He also states "Borderline patients are often so dysfunctional that they do not have the ability to earn a good income and/or they experience significant occupational instability...The bottom line is this: These people who suffer so much cannot afford long term treatment..." He discusses BPD symptomology, therapeutic strategies and even discusses how the limbic system in the brain is damaged and how medication can help. I recommend this book to clinicians, borderlines and families.

Most books addressing the treatment of borderline personality disorder recommend intensive treatment. Let's get real. People with this type of disorder suffer tremendously and lead chaotic lives. One manifestation of the chaos is unstable employment and marginal incomes. For 99% of borderline people, long term, intensive treatment is financially unrealistic. This book discusses practical approaches primarily drawn from cognitive behavioral therapy and psychopharmacology that are reasonable alternatives in treating this very difficult group of clients. The author's use of the concept "shorter term" refers to weekly psychotherapy lasting from 3-12 months. This book is well written, clear, and practical.

I'm a therapist and lend this book out to clients who come for help with their depression. When a copy gets "lost" I buy another. Too many clients are feeling hopeless and wouldn't buy it for themselves on my recommendation, but reading just a few pages of this well written gem will convince them that there is much to learn and there is a path to getting well and feeling better. It maps out the steps to take. It's an easy read. It makes the process move much faster. Hats off to you John!

Clinical psychologist John Preston reveals that clinical depression differs from normal sadness in five distinct ways: depression is more intensely painful, last longer, interferes with normal day-to-day functioning, is destructive, and is often a cluster of symptoms involving problems in social interaction, behavior, thinking, and biological functioning. In You Can Beat Depression: A Guide To Prevention & Recover: 3rd Edition, Dr. Preston recommends a series of self- help actions to promote emotional healing when afflicted by clinical depression: accept that it is normal to have painful feelings; express your feelings to at least one other person; stay in contact with supportive friends and/or relatives; maintain a realistic perception of your life and yourself; engaging in problem solving which promotes growth. This guide will enable readers to recognize when and how to help themselves (and when to turn to professionals for treatment). Also offered is an up-to-date consumer guide to medications; material on the prevention of depression; brief therapy interventions, exercise, and other non-medical approaches. If you suffer from clinical depression, or know of someone who does, then give a careful reading to John Preston's You Can Beat Depression.

I had to learn Access for my job, and found this three-volume series. The books were designed for classes, but worked very well on their own. In this first book, all of the basic topics (creating tables, forms, queries, reports, etc.) were introduced using a step-by-step method. The examples were real-life, not some widget company, which really helped. I am not a computer whiz, but I picked up this difficult subject without too much trouble!

I had to learn Access for my job, and found this three-volume series. The books were designed for classes, but worked very well on their own. This book built on the topics (creating tables, forms, queries, reports, etc.) that were introduced in the first two books, and added some more complex topics. It used a step-by-step method, and the examples were real-life, not some widget company, which really helped. I am not a computer whiz, but I picked up this difficult subject without too much trouble, although some of the topics in this third book took more time to digest than the others!

Dr. Hubbard presents a story of imprisonment under the Japanese that no one would soon forget. While it contains all of the ingredients of a first rate war memoir, this is no mere tale. The author waited some 40 years to tell his story and has taken the benefit of that time and his extensive education (he holds a PhD in history from Vanderbilt) to analyze and evaluate his thoughts and responses to torture and deprivation. A fine historian, he is able to look past the animosity that anyone would feel toward former torturers and give a detailed and exciting account of a man facing the extremes of human brutality. It is this perspective that sets this book apart from so many other books by former POW's. In a day when "Saving Private Ryan" has introduced a new generation to the realities of the second World War in Europe, this book would well serve to introduce any interested reader to the conditions present in the war in the Pacific. A very readable and engrossing book for any age of teen to adult. My highest recommendation.

The 'Big Gay Book' is full of information on everything. I can't think of anything that this book did not cover.

Both of the two short novels in this collection explore the gay male Ds erotic universe. Set in a fantasy kingdom and a post-apocalyptic future, Preston creates characters with strong drives both personal and sexaul. This is a collection I return to time and again, especially "The Heir".

The late John Preston's collections of essays by American gay male writers about where they live now or lived when they were growing up is always interesting and often insightful. Among other things, it shows that the elite (creationist) discourse about social construction remains very far from the lived experience of even articulate and reflective natives. Michael Nava's memoir of Sacramento and Jesse Monteagudo's of Miami struck me tas the most poignant and insightful. The absence of any Asian-Americans was noticeable. It would be interesting to know if American lesbian writers have similar senses of place and to link these splendid accounts to theories of cognition of place, but these are both other projects.