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Book reviews for "Harrison,_Michael" sorted by average review score:

Tcl/Tk Tools
Published in Paperback by O'Reilly & Associates (1997)
Authors: Mark Harrison, Allan Brighton, De Clarke, Charles Crowley, Mark Diekhans, Saul Greenberg, D. Richard Hipp, George A. Howlett, Ioi Lam, and Don Libes
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don't bother if you don't already know what you're doing...
The book's description on the back cover doesn't even match the content nor does the CD-ROM. It looks and reads like a thrown together blob of stuff ... can someone tell me where to find the durn spreadsheet widget .. its mentioned on the back cover but not in the index, the table of contents nor on the CD-ROM....

Tcl users want this on their shelves.
I don't recommend purchase lightly. I've been wearing out its pages for two weeks now, with occasional bouts of furrowed brows and impatient snorting. I've come, though, to a conclusion in which I'm confident: if you're a Tcl user, you should invest in *Tcl/Tk Tools*.

Why? Because you'll use it, and use it well. Almost everyone involved in Tcl has questions (so how do I really compile a Tcl script? How much does it take to do drag-and-drop and tool tips? Are the RDBMS extensions current with vendor features? ...) answered here. Simplify your life by putting these 650+ pages on your shelf.

What is *Tcl/Tk Tools*? It's a collection of descriptions of different popular extensions to Tcl and Tk. While lead author Harrison gives the impression they're written by "the extension authors themselves", there are a few exceptions to this pattern. The book is not written as a tutorial or introduction to Tcl, sagely pointing to John Ousterhout and Brent Welch's books for that role (although I've been thinking of experimenting with putting *Tcl/Tk Tools* in the hands of novices, to see what would happen. I suspect they'd survive in good shape).

*Tcl/Tk Tools* isn't exhaustive. It doesn't include several of my favorite extensions, including Scotty, NeoWebScript, stooop, tclMsql, the PlusPatches, ... It doesn't matter. If you care about only *one* of the extensions described here, you'll do well to have your own copy.

Harrison and his co-authors do a good job of hitting the target of telling "Here's the philosophy behind this package, and here are some examples of how to use it effectively" that he lays out in the Preface. While it's easy to move from one chapter to another, it's not at the expense of the authors and their personalities. D. Richard Hipp's thoughtful precision and De Clarke's care in engineering effective solutions come through, as do the assurance and lucidity those in the Tcl community expect of Don Libes. Less successful is the forward look that Harrison intended, toward "the plans the extension authors had for future enhancements and extensions." I assume this was in part a casualty of the realities of the publishing cycle; certainly many of the chapters appear to have been finished before the appearance a year ago of 7.6's betas.

Two unglamorous aspects of the book multiply its value: the index is sound (that's saying a lot for me; I have high standards in indexing), and Harrison's Chapter 17 on what he calls "Configuration Management" lays out much valuable wisdom that newcomers need to learn. Reading the latter is painful: it has all the important, tedious subjects ("Combining Extensions ...", command-line munging, ...) one wants--but without mention of Win* or loadable libraries! These frailties are inevitable when broadcasting on dead trees, of course. What's disappointing is that *Tcl/Tk Tools* doesn't go farther in joining the Internet Age: although a two-page Appendix lauds news:comp.lang.tcl and lists the FAQs and nine URLs (some of which have already moved, of course), and individual authors take it on themselves to provide appropriate references,
* it's not apparent that there is any page where Harrison and/or O'Reilly maintain errata, updates, new examples, funny animal GIFs, or any of the other resources readers might be expected to exploit--I couldn't find one at the URL the Preface gave, nor elsewhere at www.ora.com;
* some authors supply no e-mail addresses;
* some authors give references ("look in the archives") that will be inscrutable for those not already in the know; and
* there is wide variation in the quality of information authors give about extension prospects, bug lists (a particular sore point with me), mailing lists, and so on.
Understand, please, that I'm not labeling these moral faults; as on every project, the good engineering comes in deciding where to make the cuts, and what definite values to deliver. I personally look forward to seeing books that build a more dynamic relationship with online sources, and am simply noting that *Tcl/Tk Tools* doesn't achieve that standard.

The quality of production is high, higher even than the elevated expectations I have of O'Reilly. Typos, mistakes in word choice, and code errors seem to sum to around zero to five per chapter. Screen shots are judicious and illuminating, rather than gratuitously space-filling. The CD-ROM (with binaries for indeterminate but predictable releases of Solaris and Linux) does the little I asked of it.

Summary: whether you're a full-time Tcl-er or a greenhorn, you'll profit from having *Tcl/Tk Tools* at hand. Whenever you're in a pinch, there's a fair chance the Index and/or Table of Contents will quickly lead you to a useful datum. During more contemplative moments, you'll want to read the chapters in a connected fashion, and the accuracy and insight of the authors will make you glad that you do.

"Tools" is helpful
This was the first book I read on Tcl/TK (a mistake), but it was nonetheless helpful. I do refer it often. I particularly found the introduction to Expect useful.


Fire from Heaven
Published in Paperback by Skoob Books Pub Ltd (1993)
Author: Michael Harrison
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Poorly authenticated rubbish
Harrison's book, first published some 20 years ago, is now seriously out of date. More recent research has shown much of his material to be ineptly researched, misleading or downright wrong and it's a great shame no effort has been made to correct the numerous errors identified by careful reinvestigation of some of his leading cases. Those interested in SHC would do much better to check out more recent books such as those by John Heymer, Jenny Randles and Peter Hough, or Larry E Arnold (if you want a generally 'pro' point of view), or Joe Nickell, for the skeptical perspective.

Spontanous Human Combustion tied to other phenomena.
Harrison does an interesting job tieing Spontanous Human Combustion (SHC) to other paranormal phenomena. The book is well-researched and detailed, although the telling of it is a little rambling (a trait I consider common to many older British authors). The man is a believer in SHC, and the book is written from that viewpoint.


I, Sherlock Holmes: Memoirs of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, Om, Late Consulting Private Detective-In-Ordinary to Their Majesties Queen Victoria, King Edward
Published in Hardcover by E P Dutton (1977)
Author: Michael Harrison
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ZZZZzzzzzz......
Even though no one will probably read this, I feel I have to warn Holmes fans if they find this book and want to read it. I'll put it bluntly, it was very boring. I had to force myself to finish it, mostly because it was due back at the library soon. I have no idea what the author was trying to do writing this book, since it obvisously didn't get much attention. The book is not really a biography, he (Holmes) does not start out saying where he was born, in fact he never goes there but sort of skips to his childhood in the middle of the story to explain why he never talked about his childhood with Watson. Which isn't reason enough to read this book. Some things that annoyed me was the fact that the author tells us that "the woman" was actually a famous (or is that infamous?) prostitute; Holmes had never gotten married because the type of women he liked were of "a certain occupation." Holmes? Never! All in all a very bad, boring, and not worthy of Sir Author Conan Doyle.


Harrison Town: Stories of Grace
Published in Hardcover by Concordia Publishing House (1996)
Author: Michael W. Newman
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Hummingbird Words: Affirmations for Your Spirit to Soar and Notes to Nurture by
Published in Hardcover by Health Communications (1992)
Authors: Marvel Harrison, Terry Kellogg, and Greg Michaels
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Immortal Sleuth: Sherlockian Musings and Memories
Published in Hardcover by Wessex Pr (1987)
Author: Michael Harrison
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Accounting 12-26 and CD Package, Fifth Edition
Published in Paperback by Prentice Hall (27 August, 2001)
Authors: Charles T. Horngren, Walter T. Harrison, Linda Smith Bamber, and Michael A. Robinson
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Accounting: Chapters 1-12
Published in Paperback by Prentice Hall College Div (1995)
Authors: Charles T. Horngren, Walter T. Harrison, and Michael A. Robinson
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Accounting: Chapters 13-27
Published in Paperback by Prentice Hall College Div (1995)
Authors: Charles T. Horngren, Walter T. Harrison, and Michael A. Robinson
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Accounting, Chapters 12-26 (5th Edition)
Published in Paperback by Prentice Hall (27 March, 2001)
Authors: Bamber, Walter T. Harrison, Horngren, Charles T. Horngren, Linda Smith Bamber, and Michael A. Robinson
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Related Subjects: Author Index Reviews Page 1 2 3 4

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