As the publisher says, this is a workbook. It basically contains very brief commentary along with lots of fill-in-the-blank questions. It is a good workbook; however, it is useful only as a workbook and is not a useful purchase if you are looking to supplement your organic chemistry reference materials. It is also really quite short for the price, approximately 120 pages excluding the index and answers.

Patterson's last couple of books have definitely not been up to the standards he set at the beginning of his Alex Cross series. At the end of his last book, Roses Are Red, Patterson reveals who The Mastermind is, thus leaving us hanging only in the area of how long it will take Cross to figure it out in Violets are Blue. Throughout Violets are Blue, there is never any indication that Cross even has an inkling as to who The Mastermind is--no little suspicions, clues, or niggling feelings leading up to his mind-boggling realization that it is none other than his close and trusted friends of many years. The fact that Cross never even suspected the man, and then suddenly figures out who it is totally ruins any credibility that the storyline might have maintained leftover from Roses are Red. Couple this with the main storyline that people are being murdered by vampires and wild cats and you've got yourself a disappointing read, espcially if you have followed Patterson from his first Cross book all the way through--somewhere along the way he detoured. Let's hope he finds his way back to the quality of books we know he is capable of writing.

My first book by James Patterson was "Along Came A Spider". Since then, I have been hooked. I just can't wait for his books to hit the shelves. When I was in the US, I bought an autographed copy of "Cat and Mouse" and it is now sitting proudly on the top of my shelf.

This time around, in "Violets Are Blue", James Patterson writes about ritualistic killings and mind games. As usual, the protagonist in this story is Dr. Alex Cross. This book is slightly twisted and weird. However, according to the author, such events (or the existence of vampires) do occur in real life. Much research was done on this topic for the book.

I think this book is the darkest of all James Patterson's books so far. I mean, vampires and ritualistic killings really put the creeps into everyone. I didn't mind so much the kidnappers, serial murderers and schizophrenic killers. But, vampires really give me the creeps.

Overall, I still think this book is worth reading. James Patterson's style of writing makes reading his novels easy. I like the short paragraphs and quick flow of action.

If you are reading James Patterson's books for the first time, I would suggest that you get "Along Came A Spider" first before reading this, in case you think all his novels are so dark.

One of the top fiction writers of today and the true master of suspense is James Patterson. At twenty-seven years of age his debut novel, The Thomas Berryman Number, won the Edgar Award for the best first mystery novel. This novel was followed by a string of national bestsellers that include seven books with the main character in each being detective/psychologist Alex Cross- beginning with Along Came a Spider, to the more current novels Roses are Red and its sequel Violets are Blue. Violets are Blue is Patterson's latest #1 best selling novel to hit stores in the paperback edition.
Violets are Blue continues the mystery featuring Cross' nemesis, The Mastermind, a psychotic genius who has been on a killing spree for many years, but add ann unexpected twist to the novel- a second mystery. Mystery two is revealed when two joggers turn up dead in San Francisco and soon after people are turning up in various cities just like the two killed in San Francisco. The victims are found hanging upside down, bitten, and drained of their blood. The second part of the thriller revolves around vampires. The vampire angle is intertwined throughout the book with the Mastermind angle. Cross chases the vampire killers all across the United States. Alex is assisted in the gruesome investigation by SFPD detective Jamilla Hughes and FBI investigator Kyle Craig. As usual Alex Cross is just one step behind the murderers, arriving at one horrific murder scene after another.
As one mystery (the vampire angle) climaxes and is close to being solved, the other angle heats up. The Mastermind stalks and taunts Alex by continuously threatening his life and the lives of the people he loves. The identity of the Mastermind is revealed and the roles are reversed. Alex Cross becomes the hunter and sets out to capture the monstrous killer.
All of Patterson's novels have been fast-paced with a high energy level from beginning to end, making his books hard to put down. What makes Patterson unique, and the reason he is one of my favorite authors, is his writing style. His short chapters make the reader feel like the book isn't so intimidatingly long. The reading seems easy and therefore the reader wants to continue on without interruption. I also like how Patterson's style changes from chapter to chapter. Some chapters are written in first person point of view where Patterson tells the story through Alex's eyes. In other chapters he writes a third person narrative of the killers.
Violets are Blue is written in the same tradition and writing style, making it a great book to read. The book was full of suspense and had a strong impact. The only downfall to this novel was that it was too predictable, other than that I thought the novel was excellent. James Patterson once again proves, he is one of the best suspense-thriller novelists of today.

As the name suggests, the book is more inclined towards marketing types. The book is not that technical and addresses the technology aspects of layer 3 switching using different vendor's implementations. The case studies aren't really practical. Given the recent advances in IETF standards in label switching, this book is little outdated.

A little disappointing work for Metz, whose previous book was titled, IP switching.

Bottom line, if you are developing the code you won't extract much out of it but it is good for sales/marketing people.

What I liked best about this book is near the back. I could show it to less technical people and talk about technology trends, and some vendor approaches. For marketers and decision makers. It doesn't really help with network design. It is also missing some other key points with respect to decision making.

In this book, he really explains how Layer 3 switching is different than routing. He ends with a comprehensive overview of how several companies responded to a hypothetical lan problem (bottleneck etc..). 3COM responded with a CB3500 solution. Cisco responded with the 5000. Several other vendors responded with technology avail. at that time. Yes, the book is a bit outdated (market surveys and available technology are from 1997), but the theories presented remain current. I recommend to those trying to compare L3 to routing.

For the bulk of the novel, Fennimore Cooper seems to spin his literary wheels attempting to develop depth into his characters. Failing miserably, the plot quickens and the novel becomes more entertaining, although hardly believable. The ultimate reason for the danger in the book becomes rather silly, but still there is some redeaming quality to the novel. This was basically Fennimore Cooper's first attempt at an American novel and so some tolerance is warrented. I shall try the next book, The Pioneers, in time.

The plot of this book is based on a real spy story. Therefore, although some do consider it unbelievable, the basis of it is entirely true. The way that the author slowly brings out the character of Harvey Birch is wonderful. He creates numerous sub plots that make the story very interesting. The only weakness is the fact that the author was rushed into stopping the story abruptly. As a result, one hears no more about many important characters until the very end when some are fleetingly mentioned. The ending is so strong, however, that this fault isn't as glaring as it would have been.

This was a terrible book. Multiple authors were not able to successfully make the book flow from chapter to chapter. Character development was disjointed to say the least. Way tooooo much celebrity name dropping...it almost read like People Mag. Buy "The Greatest Player Who Never Lived" instead.

At first I thought this was going to be a serious mystery novel, until I realized that each chapter was written by a different author. It was almost like they were challenging each other, coming up with situations that were more and more ridiculous. I found myself laughing out loud. I should have known something was up when I saw that Dave Barry was one of the writers. It's a great book for those who like golf and for those, like me, that have never swung a club.

It is said that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. Since a camel is very efficient doing what camels are intended to do, then the remark must mean that a camel is a very funny looking horse. Well, in The Putt at the End of the World, a committee of nine individually popular writers has turned out a very funny golf story.
The Putt at the End of the World is apparently the brainchild of last-listed author Les Standiford, shown as editor and compiler. It also seems to be a salute, at least in part, to recently deceased British writer Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy series which includes The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. It is certainly reminiscent of Adam's work, with zany characters interacting amidst nefarious schemes, all centered around a golf tournament. But not just any golf tournament. Computer zillionaire Philip Bates has bought a Scottish castle and cleared original growth timber to construct the ultimate golf course-as well as rehabbing the castle into an exotic hideaway retreat. This infuriates both environmental terrorists and the last of the MacLout clan, who claims that the MacGregor sellers usurped his family's claim to the property and he should have gotten the money. Then Bates (no relation to this reviewer) scheduled a conference and golf tournament inviting all of the world's political leaders and top golf players.
One of the invitees is Billy Sprague, club pro from Squat Possum Golf Club in rural Ohio. Billy is a magnificent golfer, unless there is money involved in which case he can't even get the ball of the tee. Billy's mentor is the old retired family doctor whose life is golf, who build the Squat Possum Club and who dies immediately after giving Billy his invitation and telling him that he has to go to Scotland and play in order to lift the curse and "...save the world as we know it..." Then FBI and British Secret Service refugees from the Keystone Kops get involved because of the terrorist threat, and the rest is-not history, but hilarious.
Each of the nine authors wrote one of the chapters. They did a good job matching styles, and/or Standiford did a great job of editing, because the novel is seamless. It is a farce, but at the same time has a "Bagger Vance" note of paean to the wonder of golf. It reads fast, and it reads great.

Compared to his other 'Columbo' works, this is by far Harrington's worst. I never thought I'd see the day when I couldn't wait to finish a Columbo mystery just to finish it and get it over with, rather than for the finale where our hero normally breaks down the case and explains all. As it is in this one he explains bugger all and the 'Hoffa connection' is both ludicrous AND unnecessary. Top that with the fact that the Columbo we see in this book is so far removed from our beloved Columbo on TV that it looks like an entirely different detective PLUS the fact that one of the main characters, Mickey, switches from a last name of Newcastle to Newhouse with irritating regularity and you've got yourself a pretty lame effort... sorry!

What happened? Columbo would be deeply saddened to read how his character has been so trivialized and packaged for sensational appeal. So much of this story is padded with solicitous sex and violence. What dose oral sex have to do with case? Do we need to read how some second-level victims are "blown apart" by a large caliber weapon? Who can't tell what the Hoffa connection is going to be from the very start? I was very disappointed in the handling of this. There is a very minimal story line to begin with and the superfluous verbiage just makes it more tedious. Mr. Harrington can do better than this. You don't have to print ANYTHING; wait until you have the kind of story line that was so evident in the original TV series. That's what brings in the interest. What we've been given is an overdose of rumpled fluff and all the references to semen, gore and peek-a-boo sex don't make this a hotter, more palatable bowl of chili.

Mark David Hall has tried to fill a void in the historiography. A biography of James Wilson was certainly overdue by 1997. Hall does shed light on Wilson's unique epistomology and how he integrated it into the liberal and republican ideology of the time. Indeed, Hall demonstrates how Wilson's belief in a "moral sense" that existed in all human beings necessitated an optimism toward popular rule, an optimism that surpassed that of many of the other Founders by the late 1780s.
Nonetheless, this work has numerous unforgivable mistakes. Hall over-emphasizes Wilson's democratic tendencies, going so far as to actually call him a democrat -- a title that Wilson would have abhored as much as aristocrat. Hall notes Wilson's belief that majoritarian government had to have its power checked, but this aspect of Wilson's ideology he gives slight attention to. He makes a disengenuous argument that Wilson believed that balance of power was needed to check corruption rather than the democracy. This distinction is hollow. To believe that democratic government needs to be limited is equivalent to believing that democratic rule needs to be checked. The truth is that though Wilson did believe that the people could be trusted more than did the other Founders, he also believed in limiting popular power. Wilson disagreed at many points how these checks ought to be achieved and to what degree they were to be implimented. But the same can be said for most of the Founders. Wilson is better classified along with the majority of the other Founders as a republican and a liberal -- a republican willing to allow the people a slightly greater role in authority, but a republican nonetheless, not a democrat.
Hall also over-emphasizes Wilson's role in developing the governmental ideology of the new republic. Likewise he often underestimates the activity of others. This work also fails to place Wilson's ideas in the context of broader, external, intellectual activity, therefore giving the reader the impression that he originated more than he did. Finally, this author fails to chart Wilson's intellectual development. There seems to be an assumption that what Wilson believed in 1789 was what he believed in 1768 soon after he arrived in America.
This is a book that I wanted to like and it does have some redeeming value, but ultimately it is too flawed to allow any more than a single star. I will be looking for a new biography of Wilson, soon.

Stats nerds may love this book, but anyone else might want to wade in carefully because from page 1 of the introduction to the conclusion 270 pages later it spits out statistics like a pitching machine gone haywire. Unless you're a computer, your eyes may glaze over long before it's done. If you read on, hoping for a respite in a succeeding chapter, be warned, the breaks are rare and brief. Now the author does have some good points, particularly regarding the 7 shortstops, some of whom are in the hall and some who are not. Another is his idea regarding the number of times candidates have led the league in various categories. On the other hand it is hard to understand why he puts so much emphasis on fielding and ensuring that the hall's population is proportional by position when everyone knows that good hitting is the majority of what wins baseball games. The complaints about certain players being eliminated from consideration by the Veteran's Committee seem overblown, more based on principle than reality, as those players would in all likelihood never be approved anyway. Many reading this review will probably wonder at his views on the number one hot button issue facing the hall for the past decade: his brief on Pete Rose suggests that the hall is being inconsistent on him and on Shoeless Joe Jackson as it appears that two of the game's greatest stars, Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker, are similarly tainted. Overall, what might have been a quaint and somewhat satirical history of the hall's induction process is instead turned into a relentlessly hard hitting position paper which lacks any charm for the average reader. Apart from actual hall of fame electors, who should read it but won't, I don't really see a general audience for this book. In the end the lingering question is "why does the author care so much?" and to wonder how much stress he is causing himself by being so passionate over such tiny matters as no doubt the millionaire ballplayers he's writing about haven't lost a wink of sleep over it, or shouldn't.

This book gives us a brief picture of life in the South Pacific during WWII. But, it's not so much about the war as it is about the inevitability of change. The author tries to present the so-called tragedies of industrialization injected into an idyllic environment of stagnant (though supposedly blissful) island culture. Although I did enjoy this book, especially the can-do attitude of the American Army and Navy engineers, the obvious dichotomy between the American sense of life and the anti-technology philosophy that plagues the main character is disappointing.

This was Hall's first and last foray into a full length account of an island time other than that during which he lived. It is not vintage Hall; pretty subpar.

Unless you want to have everthing he wrote, you can spend your money better elsewhere.