My husband is taking AutoCAD Drafting and Design at a note worthy technical school and out of all the tech books they have reviewed this one stands out with the most precise and informative information. This is the first year they offered this program.

This book has the best organization of all the GIS texts I've read. Other texts have either too little or too much on some topics (especially GIS project management and GIS analysis). This one has an excellent balance. A little more on data sources would have been nice. The British authors use a few terms American students won't recognize, but it reads very well. I'm recommending it right now over other overviews of GIS.

This book introduces the basic principles of GIS from the perspective of a new user. Topics are covered with enough depth so that the book will also be beneficial to longer-term users. The writing style, graphics and case studies are presented in a simple and easy to read format. The book could be used as a text for a course or read by anyone interested in learning the fundamentals behind GIS technology. There is also a web site for the book that will allow readers access to current trends in GIS and URLs for case studies.

I was introduced to this book because my enlightened sociology prof used it as a text for our discussions of sociology and cyberspace.

Some intellectually stimulating articles, like Jodi O'Brien's discussion of gender. It was very stimulating . . . However, the book was far too focused on issues relating to North America and the West generally. What about the rest of the world?

Some sections were extremely dull. This is exciting stuff, why must people pervert it into intellectual cheeseburgers?

This book covers four main areas in regards to online communities: identity, social order and control, community structure and dynamics, and collective action.

Like many other texts on community, this book tends to focus on older technologies, i.e. Usenet, and MUDs/MOOs. That said, it contains a lot of good analysis done in these areas, and can provide good background for writing about online community. Note that the articles tend to be from the perspective of sociology. The strongest articles, in my opinion, were chapter 2, "Identity and deception in the virtual community," chapter 7, "Virtual communities as communities: Net surfers don't ride alone," and chapter 10, "The promise and peril of social action in cyberspace."

If you are interested in building a community or just in the ideas of online communities, this is probably not the best book for you -- it's pretty academic. Check out Jenny Preece's _Online Communities: Designing Usability, Supporting Sociability_ as an alternative.

Very good articles above important aspects of virtual communities like identity, gender, sociability and other stuff written by people that really knows about the subject, famous researchers. If you are a researcher, you'll love it.

I found this book both intruiging and interesting from cover to cover. The sort of book that could not be put down once it was in my hands, and being a fan of Both myself the tales of his destruction of the Aussies in '81 etc were even more exhilerating. This would act as a great introduction to cricket for anyone and also a top read for those already in love with the sport and everything involved with it.