Tom Benton could have been a great writer if he hadn't have made such an important name for himself as a Regionialist painter. This book describes, in a passionate honesty, Benton's beliefs on Art and life. Anyone who wants to learn more about the man behind the irrascible myth should read this book!

I've been avoiding learning RMAN till now. When RMAN first came out, I thought that it's another way to sell more server licenses. After reading this at the local coffee shop, I've determined that this is the preferred B&R method. This is a good primer for the Oracle9i RMAN Backup & Recovery (ISBN: 0072226625), which is my next purchase.

I was trying to learn Rman from manuals and metalink articles from long time. But I could never learn enough and felt confident from these bits and bytes of info. I was skeptical about this book. But to my surprise, this is one of those rare gems. In two words - very practical.

Dump your shell scripts on hot backups and start implementing Rman. I also saw the other book from the same author on oracle 9i new features - an excellent piece.

This book is one of the most usefull Oracle book I had opportunity to read (for the past 11 years, since I started working with Oracle 5, I collected over seventy Oracle books - more or less everything usefull published on the subject). It offers in-depth overview of Oracle architecture, RMAN utility, configuration of various third party tools and number of real-life case studies with detail step-by-step explanations (these case studies resembles 'labs' in super-expensive Oracle courses). It is usefull book for every level and deffinitely one of the best-written Oracle books on the market.

Matthew Hart's "Diamond" provided an interesting and entertaining glimpse into the world of the diamond trade. Rather than giving a detailed treatment of the geology of diamonds and the history the diamond business, the author covers these in broad strokes, while highlighting key people and events that have shaped the diamond industry worldwide. More attention is given to recent events (nineties through to present), especially the diamond discoveries in the Canadian Arctic. Overall, it is a very readable book. However, I was quite disappointed by the utter lack of even a passing mention of man-made diamonds. I know there is an interesting story behind the development of the technology for making synthetic diamonds, and the impact they have had on the diamond industry.

Like hard, everlasting roses, there are hundreds of shades of red diamonds alone, from "water" pink to vivid red. As Matthew Hart's Diamond: A Journey to the Heart of an Obsession skillfully recounts, gemstone diamonds inhabit a diffuse, subtle palette of hues, as well as displaying such values as weight, shape, and clarity. Similarly, any book that covers the storied history of diamonds will have its own gleam and character, low on some qualities and high on others. Diamond begins with the recent discovery of a "large pink" in a Brazilian riverbed. The find sends miners, dealers, consultants, and investors into a frenzy over a paper packet, the contents of which cause economic and aesthetic ripples as far away as Toronto, Johannesburg, and London. The book then moves through various aspects of diamond lore - the significance of legend in the value of a diamond; the chain of ownership from mine shaft to display case - and on to science, entrepreneurism, and corporate tectonic shifts in the vast diamond trade empires of India, Brazil, and Africa. There is also the sheer romance of the whole enterprise, deftly conveyed in the sections on the spoils of queens and the booty of thieves. Hart wisely avoids those aspects of diamonds that long ago lost their lustre - thankfully, we're spared zircon-like insights into Marilyn Monroe movies - and instead brings passion and thoroughness to such unlikely dramas as the role of helicopters in Northern Canadian mineral exploration and the contemporary pressures on the hermetic, overlord-like De Beers cartel. But straying from the mine face can be a tricky business, particularly when it comes to the links between the diamond industry and official corruption. Hart's considerable political insights into the diamond trade sometimes fail by omission - for example, during a discussion of the role of diamond profits in the agonies of Sierra Leone, readers may wonder why Hart omits a wider look at the century-long exploitation of black African workers in the mines. Still, there's more than enough fire and ice in Diamond to satisfy the connoisseur in all of us.

Although the title of the book does little to convey the true allure of the book, I found it to be an excellent piece of engaging research. Mr. Hart demonstrates not just "knowledge" about diamonds but a complete mastery in the field. He grabs reader attention through very interesting stories about major finds, tracing the provenance of several well known gems, highlighting the history behind the treasure and managing to pack in a good dose of easily understandable geology as well. All this makes for a very interesting book. As one interested in economics and business, I found the Mr. Hart's treatment of the business dimensions to be very insightful.

Diamond mining is apparently a very risky business that comes complete with its own cast of colorful characters, schemers, backstabbers, awfully unethical companies, very talented artisans. Mr. Hart captures the nuances of the careers of this varied cast and does so with a thoroughness that is seldom seen. For example he discusses the intricacies of polishing and cleaving diamonds and brings the entire process to life through his vivid descriptions of the skilled people in New York, and Antwerp who make it happen. The way in which an expert labors, actually obsesses, about the potential cut and the number of facets that he'd like to use on a piece of diamond rough, the mathematical precision with which he brings his vision to life and the single minded attention to detail in an enterprise that could make or break fortunes with the tiny slip of a cutters wheel.....remarkable prose. His discussion of the evolution of the Centenary diamond owned by De Beers is scintillating in that it illustrates the dilemmas that the artisans face when they have to turn a rough diamond into an object of desire.

In equal measure he discusses the developments in Brazil, India and South Africa showing how industry performance drivers are changing and how these factors make or break the viability of new finds. His elucidation of the latest developments in geology and prospecting are equally interesting even to those with a passing interest.

I know I am waxing poetic about this book. I really feel very strongly positive about the contents that Mr. Hart has placed in his reader's hands. Thank you for a wonderful read Mr. Hart.

There is a type of stone which, when polished, refracts more light than other stones. All the world wonders about it.

This is an interesting overview of diamond history and business. It details the history of humankind's fascination with one of the rarest of gems-the carbon tetrahedron. From the jungles of South America, to Canada's arctic north, to the Siberian tundra, to South and Central Africa, to the west coast of Africa, the Australian outback and elsewhere humans have searched for the mother lode-the diamond kimberlite/lamproite pipe-one of the rarest of geological formations, but also one of the richest of treasures-many billions of dollars worth in the richest pipes. And of course, where there is money, there is every breed of deceit, vulgarity and excess. In Africa, (and elsewhere), many have died from civil wars or have been murdered from the lust which seems to spring from this crystal refraction.

The major players are outlined-eg DeBeers, BHP, and a long list of wily rogues and speculators who make and break their fortune on the flippancy of billion year old crustal pressure distribution. The process of diamond formation is described- from the formation of kimberlitic/lamproitic magma deep within the earth, to their eruptive surface craters, which are, incidentally, quite rare in geological time.

Diamond indicators -purple 'G10' garnets, and green diopsides-indicate to geologists where diamonds may be found. Kids played with shiny bright stones, and diamonds could be picked out of the walls of brick farmhouses in 19th century South Africa, before the fantastically rich Kimberly and Premier pipes were found. Mine managers laughed when thousand-carat gems landed on their table, and threw them out the window in disbelief. Millions had also been washed down to the African Atlantic coast, where they are trawled today for considerable profit, the sea washing away the weaker gems and producing a high proportion of better gems. From the diamond mines of South Africa rose Cecil Rhodes, the 3,106 carat Cullinen gem, Ernest Oppenhemier, and De Beers, along with substantial wealth, slavery and a good deal of imperialist oppression. (J. Reader contends in "Africa-biography of a continent", that the strongly segregated capital-labour relations of the gold and gem mines of South Africa formed a precursor to Apartheid).

Grade, shape, size and impurities within diamonds determine their prices, but it is not clear whether the finders always benefit, the money passes up the chain from the worker's mud and slime to the corporate mud and slime, and finally into what most people see-sparkles in shiny glass shop-cases.

Some of the stories related to diamond stealing are worth a mention. In Namibia they would tie diamonds to pigeon feet and accomplaces would retrieve them from bird nests, high in the trees outside a diamond camp. Diamond-laden arrows would be shot over fences, until the time one hit a security truck patrolling the camp. Bodily orifices act like built-in security codes, unless you have the inclination for that kind of investigation. Re-sorted batches would be dispatched slightly lighter than the initial dispatch, since re-sorting is apparently not the same thing as initial sorting, at least not to some accountants, and to some dispatching managers (Australia). Decimal points and the significance of significant figures was lost in some London sorting houses, where mathematical finesse slumbered. Russian entrepenurial dealers enjoyed a game of re-distributing Russian diamond wealth after the breakup of Russian political wealth. Civil wars in recent years have been fought in Africa over shiny stones- where they are, who owns them, who finds them, who sells them and and who owns those who sell them. Coroporate business is fought elsewhere over the same pieces of stone.

It's not all exploitation and corruption of course. Legitimate finds have made people and nations wealthy, particularly in Botswana, Australia and elsewhere. Lustrous gems have long been a symbol for commitment, love, and financial, personal and emotional investment, and have facilitated 'tying the knot', (rightly or wrongly) for millions, since time immemorial.

In the book a quote is given that the entire diamond business rests on two supports-vanity and greed, in which the human race could be relied upon for a steady supply of both. This is not entirely true. There is also love, in which a steady supply, is also assured.

And so the show goes on, but not without purpose or merit. She (or he) might love one more if only one could show her (or him) that refractory sparkle. A piece of glass might also do a similar thing, which too many, to their dismay, have paid good money for.

This book was a real eye-opener for me. I had no idea of just how much treachery, deceit, betrayal, and bloodshed can be laid at the feet of many in the diamond industry over the years. Author Matthew Hart regales many such tales in this very well written and well researched book. We learn about switching, a common sort of theft, in which diamond sorters seek to replace a higher-value stone with a lower value which he or she has brought to work, done to take advantage of a universal practice, the control of diamond inventories often primarily by weight. More common though is outright theft, which takes place anywhere from the diamonds mines to the massive diamond sorting and sale houses in London, Antwerp, and Tel Aviv. The tales of diamonds that have been smuggled out of mines are particularly interested, which have been moved out in gas tanks, have been tapped into ears, even taken away by homing pigeons and hollow arrows fired over the fences that encircle the mines. It is a common belief in the diamond industry that if a person can touch a diamond he or she will try their best to steal it; Hart chronicles the often extraordinary lengths to which the industry seeks to keep them away from human hands.

Unsavory actions often occur with diamonds even before they are found. Hart tells of prospectors who switch allegiances, finding potential diamond pipes in a particular region for one company, than going private or working for someone else when a mine is discovered (or in some cases being sold out by their employer once their use had ended). Several of these type practices were referred to in the author's excellent chapter on the rush for the diamonds of Canada's Arctic Barrens region, where prospectors often sought to claim lands ahead of other prospectors based on pure rumor, laid out false maps that were to be "found" and lead prospectors on wild goose chases, even acting out fake conversations in bars that were meant to be overhead, all to lead away the competition.

All of this unfortunately pales in comparison to the sad state of affairs that is conflict diamonds, a horrible stain, almost a scarlet letter, on the industry, a problem De Beers and others are still tackling with. Conflict diamonds, products of such war-torn African nations as Angola, have gone from being a side product of such civil wars and revolutions, something used by one side or the other to finance their activities to the very reason such wars are fought in the first place. With thousands of Africans having died in the fighting over these diamonds, both solider and innocent civilian, the civilized nations of the world have been increasingly reluctant to have anything to do with these diamonds and sometimes diamonds in general. And as diamonds from one source are sometimes difficult to distinguish from those of another source, the whole industry has had to come to grips with finding and dealing with those who deal in conflict diamonds, lest governments and the consumer do it for them. The sections on conflict diamonds are gripping and worth the price of the book alone.

In large part the book is the history the De Beers, a juggernaut of a cartel that for decades has controlled the sale, distribution, and price of diamonds worldwide. Hart chronicles the often Byzantine politics within De Beers and the industry as a whole, noting the rise and current possible decline of De Beers, which has within a decade went from a control of 80 percent of the rough market to around 50 percent. Increasingly sources outside the old cartel are offering alternatives to consumers and stiff competition to De Beers, which has been frustrated in attempts to control, discredit, or destroy such sources. They range from Russia, long uncomfortable with its partnership with De Beers and seeking its own way now; to Canada, rich with possibility in the newly discovered Arctic fields; to India, king of the small diamonds, specialists in producing huge volumes of affordable diamonds, able to polish to jewel-like quality diamonds once relegated to industrial use; to Australia, whose Argyle mine has produced a flood of diamonds, many of which are vital to the Indian diamond industry.

Hart does not forget the beauty of diamonds, nor the skill of the diamond cutter. An entire chapter is spent on the art and science of diamond cutting, with the author detailing the process by which the magnificent Centenary diamond was cut, an impressive stone with 247 facets that took 3 years and specializing designed equipment to produce.

I liked how throughout the book Hart introduced many arcane terms about the diamond industry, many of which I had never heard before, ranging from sightholders (diamond buyers with a good standing in the trade, invited by De Beers sales of rough or "sights" ten times a year at the Diamond Trading Company or DTC in London) to boxes (selling mixtures of rough put together by De Beers and sold to clients at a price set by De Beers) to gletzes (a word of Dutch origin, meaning a fracture in a diamond) to knots (places inside a diamond where the structure alters, where there different orientations in the planes of the crystal) to makes (if a stone is cut so that is a brilliant as it can possibly be, it said to be the best "make").

This was a fascinating book; I highly recommend it to anyone.

This book is fascinating and beautifully written, a great example of the new style of investigative journalism in which the observer leaves his own peculiar tracks, thereby dumping the supposed "objectivity" journalists have wished they have. Its strong narrative voice took me on a "can't put it down" ride around the world. The author's insights into (in particular) the world of exploration geology is spot-on.

Good explanations on windows features but doesn't go into step by step details on windows tuning. A lot of detailed information on High Availability databases from Windows clustering to Advanced Replication (Step by step instructions). There is an outstanding chapter on database connectivity. This is a very advanced DBA book, don't expect information on SQL staff, index tuning, tablespace tuning so on.

What this book is great for is its focus on the Windows 2000 operating system. Those using other OS's may find it helpful as well. It even contained a rare answer (and solution) to why 8i wouldn't install, there was a bug running with Pentium IV CPUs.

I found it very helpful that this book also references 8.1.7 as well as 9i. The index, found in the back of the book, has several references to the SPFILE. It also has a detailed section on memory usage. Not only does this book give a summary of
Oracle Memory usage on Windows 2000, but goes into detail on how
to set up the boot.ini file when using 8i. Therefore, the reader
knows what 9i can do, and what it can't. This is very helpful
when tuning your database and deciding what version to upgrade to. It is obvious that the authors put a lot of research into this book.

This book lightly covers all the theaters of war. The Chapters include: Moulding the Soldier; Infantry; Panzer Forces; Artillery; Airborne and Special Forces; The Waffen-SS; Casualties of War; France 1940; North Africa 1941-43; The Eastern Front 1941-43; Defeat in the East 1943-5; The Italian Campaign 1943-45; Normandy 1944; North-West Europe 1944-45.

It is not for the serious student that already has an overview of the Wehrmacht and wants details. That is why I got the book.

Example: It talks about how well the Waffen-SS did in actual combat and about their stringent training requirements. It does not mention that the Waffen-SS Division had more tanks, equipment, and men than the Wehrmacht Division.

It had a lot of personal stories in it.

The book is full of large, clear photographs.
However, there are several errors and inconsistencies that I found distracting to the point of lost credibility. Overall, the book is a nice overview, has some interesting personal stories from several German soldiers, but it is not for the serious WW2 student.

The book has NO references or bibliography. With the numerous quotes from German soldiers, this lack of references seems incongruous. On page 21, the bold statement is made that "statistical analysis have CONCLUDED that German troops 'typically' inflicted 50 percent greater casualties on their opponents that they suffered in return, regardless of whether they were attacking or defending, even in the face of overwhelming Allied numerical advantages and air superiority later in the war." [emphasis by reviewer]. I find this conclusion hard to believe, when one looks at the German killed, wounded, and captured in western Europe in 1944-1945. If this is a fact, I would like to see the numbers and type of statistical analyses conducted.

On page 15, the photo references "the private," yet the soldier shown has the white piping on his collar indicating he is a NCO (Handbook on German Military Forces, pg 553, US War Department, reprinted 1990, Louisiana Univ Press).

On page 24, the authors fall into the common error of calling the MP38/40 sub-machine gun a "Schmeisser" (Military Small Arms of the 20th Century, pg 118, Hogg & Weeks, Krause Pub, 7th ed).

There are several references to quotes from Guy Sajer, evidently from "The Forgotten Soldier," an autobiography of a German soldier who fought with Grossdeutschland in Russia. I read "Forgotten Soldier" in the 70s and loved it. ...
For authors from universities to use such a questionable resource casts doubt as to their other sources [and how they are teaching students to conduct defendable research].

On page 33, the authors place the ultimate demise of Germany on strategic blunders. While true, the lack of unit cohesion by 1944-45 clearly was a key element to the loss of many late war battles. When a group of men are thrown together and have a matter of weeks or months to train together (with some units assembled from the Navy, Luftwaffe, and other broken units), how can they form a cohesive unit needed to win in combat. See "Band of Brothers" by Stephen Ambrose and "When the Odds were Even" by Keith Bonn. Addressing this lack of cohesion is a missed opportunity for the authors.

Page 46 shows a photo of a tank commander with "two sets of headphones." These are headphones and throat mike. The authors also miss the opportunity to point out this tanker is a member of the SS (note eagle and unit armband on left sleeve). The deaths head badges probably mean this is a member of the 3rd SS, Totenkopf.

Page 97 references German Paratroops, yet no Luftwaffe eagles are visible, only Wehrmacht.

Page 107, photo claims to be soldiers in France. Eagles are visible on several sleeves, thus, authors miss opportunity of indicating they are SS. According to "Das Reich," by James Lucas, 1991, this photo shows members of the 2nd SS in Poland in 1939.

Interestingly, in the authors other book: "Weapons and Fighting Tactics of the Waffen SS," they have a bibliography and correctly label the MP38 as not a Schmeisser.

This book is a simple look at the ground forces of the Third Reich. It cover each branch of the armed service(Infantry, SS, Panzer, Artillery,etc) the training and role in WWII. I must admit that I skipped through most of the "historical" chapters, they offered very little insight and seemed quite basic. While this book is great (5 Stars) for the casual reader, it is less of a key tome for the serious WWII historian.