When I bought this book, I thought I was buying a history of Fall River, Massachusetts. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it's a reference book, comprised of everyone who was ever involved personally in the Lizzie Borden murder case. Bios are listed alphabetically and I can't think of anyone Mr. Hoffman's left out. I gave this book 4 stars because there are some errors here and there, and more photos of those we don't usually see would have been fantastic. Still, it's a good piece of work and fascinating whether you're looking up a person or if you just want to sit and read it cover to cover. Don't miss it before it becomes unavailable, as many Lizzie Borden books do.

Although there's a lot in this book that you could find in the documentation if you looked long enough, there's also lots of new stuff that I haven't seen anywhere else.

Perhaps the reviewer who says it's just a rehash is talking about the ADO.NET Programmers Reference, which I've also got and it's really just a printed and commented summary of the documentation.

Unless you have loads of time to scour the documentation and endlessly experiment, this is a great way to learn ADO.NET.

Although this book lacks real world examples, it provides complete reference for ADO.NET, and this book has examples in both VB.Net and C#.
For ADO.NET beginners to start to write code in ADO.NET, this book is not enough. This book is for developers who already have some ADO.NET experience, and need some information about specific method or property. --Reviewed by Richard X.

I liked it that each chapter is based around the most important parts of ADO.NET, so that I know exactly where to go to get the help I need. This makes it almost like a reference manual.

It also has excellent coverage of XML with ADO.NET and XML Web Services. My copy is getting worn out.

how anyone can read such a book filled with gore and violence is beyond me. i am the child of one of the men mentioned killed in this book, and do not find it flattering or appealing the incident was wrote about at all. it is like airing dirty laundry to the entire world and broadcasting for millions of people the personal and private lives of those mentioned in here. it is a story filled with some facts, some are unknown to be reality. and as it is filled with truths, how anyone can seem to misinterpret fiction over the pains of the lives of others who were left behind in this mess, is completely beyond my comprehension

I FOUND THE BOOK TO BE TOTALLY OFFENSIVE IN NATURE AND CONTENT AND DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW ANYONE COULD FIND THE MATERIAL TO BE SO SUITABLE TO READ. I AM THE CHILD OF ONE OF THE MEN MENTIONED KILLED IN THIS BOOK AND FIND THE WHOLE THING TO BE INAPPROPRIATE THAT "FAMILY" BUSINESS WAS BROADCAST TO MILLIONS OF READERS WHO APPROVE OF THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR

This book is mesmerizing and impossible to put down. It gives the reader a blow by blow of murders as they are commited. This book is 100% true. A masterpeice for fans of true drime or those interesterd in the lives behind some fascinating forensic cases. A must have for anyone who fancies this genre.

The author prefaces his diary of day-to-day life in Rome with the comment that some of his journalist friends wished that they lived in Rome. It struck me that his object then was to show that Rome was really just a dull, hodunk kind of town, not really worth pining for, and that the romantic perceptions of the tourist were all in their heads. (which is probably true)

So perhaps for this it is useful for those of us tourists who thought it would be nice to live in Rome. This book seems to say we are just as well off staying in whatever dull place we already inhabit.

The selections from the reviews overstate his writing. The writing most often reminded me of the musings of a columnist in some small town paper (it's definitely journalistic prose). His ability to express complexities seems limited. Lots of exclamation points in the first half of the book! (He tends to be bemused by certain aspects of life in Rome, but often resorts to expressing this bemusement with exclamation points.) At worst it struck me as pedestrian and irritatingly banal (but perhaps this is because he chose to write of the banal aspects of life in Rome).

The book is generally very topical, that is, current as of the late '90s. Some recurring content are reports on the pope's health and the days of Mussolini. The latter I found interesting, the former I did not. He also discusses the Etruscans here and there in a way that is insightful and knowledgeable.

On the whole, the book has a nice, low-key, meandering style, which I found readable and pleasant enough to finish. However, I don't think the author put a great deal of effort or thought into its content and design--it just follows the calendar year, like a diary.

I compare Hoffman's travel writing to that of Mathew Spender's Within Tuscany, which is lighter, richer, with more content, and which shows a remarkable facility with English that Hoffman's prose lacks.

Paul Hofmann writes about his hometown the way any native would, with equal parts admiration and frustration. Sure, he describes the great trattorie, touches on the sordid histories of Rome's luxury hotels, and is continually mesmerized by the city's ancient ruins. But, anecdotes about such topics as the irregularity of the postman's visits, motorino pollution, municipal strikes, and lousy restaurant service, make the book come alive. Thank god this isn't another tired, old, tourist piece about how great it is to live abroad ("A Year in Provence," anyone?) Hofmann's grouping of chapters by month is also innovative and helpful to travelers who want to know what goes on in the city the REST of the year. The book tends to be a bit dull in some places, owing probably to the fact that Hofmann wrote this book in his 70s or 80s. He knows little about hip, modern Rome. Nevertheless, his "diary" makes for a good read and a good history lesson.

I expected more out of the cliff notes ap us history book. Upon opening the covers of the book, There were key terms and definitions, HOWEVER, the review itself was not helpful (no real review)! The only reason that i could ever imagine why anyone would buy this book is for the 4 practice tests at the back of the book.

Dont Buy this Book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

However, If you are an ambitious student and are hoping to earn a '5' on the exam, then listen to my advice...

While this test prep book was helpful in that there were many tips on how to write the DBQs and FRQs, there was next to no information on actual terms, or concepts in history, although the 4 practice tests in the back were helpful. I'd use this in conjuction with Peterson's or the Complete Idiot's Guide to U.S. History... it may sound stupid, but it was really helpful.

Although this book lacked depth of information when reviewing history, the tips on the multiple choice section and how to write the essays was fabulous. The practice tests were very helpful to me because I used this book to skim through the material, to look at the terms and to make sure I knew what those terms were (even though they were not defined). The tests will help you know how to deal with the real test. I used this review book with the one by REA and the Princeton Review, and found it very helpful.

This book is for the person who knows nothing about netscape. It covers only the basic information about netscape. Anyone who wants advance information should look else where. It is a truly a "for dummies" book.

You are probably like me, thinking that you would never need a general reference book on the Internet. You've been around from the start, before there was even elm, and you know your way around a Unix prompt. But really, how long has it been since you had to use elm and the vi editor? Now that you've got Eudora to handle your email, and you've been following each successive release of Netscape Navigator to play with JAVA and VRML, chances are that it's been a few years since you had to stare at a % and type a command. I know because I've been there--my company sent me to Santa Fe, New Mexico for two weeks on a job assignment and I was adrift without my PPP connection. I found Zuma's Electronic Cafe, an Internet cafe (a place where you can rent time on a computer with an Internet connection), but to check my mail at my home system I was forced to rely on telnet. I remembered how to get connected, and I remembered how to run elm, but as soon as I went to reply to a message and got thrown into a character based editor, I had to admit that I was stumped. Was it CTRL-C to exit, or the ESC key?

That's where a book like Paul E. Hoffman's The Internet Instant Reference: Third Edition [1] can come in handy. Hoffman covers those little known commands for the remaining popular character-based software for dealing with the Internet, programs like ee, elm, ftp, lynx, nn, rn, tin, and vi, along with a brief history of the creation of the Internet, the bodies that "govern" it, and coverage of every major Internet focus. While a lot of this will be unnecessary for long-time users, newcomers could benefit greatly from having a single reference source to check for some of the more esoteric aspects of the system.

The Internet Instant Reference is thoroughly researched. Hoffman even surprised me with some of the "governing body" information (I had not known that there as a "Internet Monthly Report" that covered the discussion of standards and forecasts for Internet growth, security, and stability). And, like any great reference work, it is as easy to read for the beginning user as it provides needed information for the experienced.

There's likely to come a time when a book like this will be unnecessary, given the trend on the Internet to more graphic-based programs that have help for users built-in to the applications themselves. Until that time, however, The Internet Instant Reference can help rescue from the forgotten terrors of the Unix prompt.

This book had very little about Netscape Communicator. The three chapters that are devoted to Netscape Communicator tell you what it can do. It does not show you with examples. The majority of the book is about surfing the net, a little of HTML code, and examples of web sites. You can learn more accidentally by experimentation and on line help. My recommendation is save your money do not purchase this book.

I borrowed this book from the library hoping to gain some insight into Netscape Communicator. Little did I know I had inadvertently borrowed Internet for Dummies. A scant 3 chapters are devoted to Communicator and the rest of the book is internet reference material for various sites and a brief history of the internet.

Of the 325 pages of text, this book had only 54 pages relating specifically to Netscape's browser. I know readers need to be aware of the generalities of Internet surfing, but given the title of this book, I thought there would be more on the specifics of using this particular browser. I generally like the "for Dummies" series, but this was a disappointment.