I have continued to keep the 2nd edition close by at work. The authors have put maximum in minimum of words, concise and truly useful from a trainee's point. The articles are brife, and yet complete and pictures are highly illustrative. With extensive new information added to the field of nephrology every day, a new edition of this masterpiece is sorely needed. I will wait for the new edition to hit the bookshelves. Do the authors have any such plans?

I am familiar with both first edition (spiral series) and 2nd edition (Rose and Black's) of this book. This is indeed a masterpiece in nephrology. It is good for both residents and renal fellows, as well as for all nephrologists in private practice and in academia. I highly recommend it. The only current problem is that 1996 is the last edition. I hope that the authors publish their next edition not later than early 2001.

Howard was prolific. Limited, but prolific. He wrote many tales including those of Boxers, Barbarians, Religious fanatics. But this is something different. A woman who rebelled against Middle Ages society and became a freebooter. Dark Agnes is enjoyable, fun and definitely one of the most overlooked protagonists of Howard's Menagerie. Great book.

Dark Agnes is in my estimation the finest female character Robert Howard created.As with all his other heroines she is hard and cruel but there is an extra edge to Agnes;something hard to put your finger on.Maybe it's because it is set in period France which is within a reasonable history to us or possibly because Howard paints as black a picture of childhood as can be imagined,the breaking away from which starts her on her road to fame, as the greateat living swordswoman (and possibly man!!)It is a pity that Robert Howard only wrote 3 stories about this complex character.

This book (and its second volume: Military Operations since 1871) are both required texts for my Military History class. Most students claim to only rapidly skim required reading for classes, but I've managed to read everything so far (if that tells you anything). As far as material is concerned, this text is both wide-ranging and thourough, describing the invention and development of military techniques as well as discussing the society and government of the time, and how all these factors influence eachother. Highlighted areas include the Thirty Years War and the development of limited war, and the progression though the Napoleonic Wars to almost complete total war during the War Between the States. This book does an excellent job in tying all these early battles together and showing the overall development of warfare. However, if you are interested in nitty-gritty facts on Waterloo or Gettysburg, find a book specific to that battle instead of the sweeping panoramic view this book provides.

This book is the result of the collaboration of a number of the best military historians in the US today, including Mark Grimsley, George Herring, John Lynn, and many others, skilfully tied together by the editors (who are also major contributors), Professor Ira Gruber of Rice University and Colonel Robert A. Doughty of West Point. The result is an outstanding survey of modern Western military history designed for undergraduate history courses, but easily accessible to the general reader as well. The prose is exceptionally clear and the ideas lucidly presented. These two volumes are definitely focussed on the operational level of the "military art" (i.e. on the planning and conduct of campaigns), with some treatment also of strategy, tactics, and technology, but very litte material on "war and society" subjects (i.e. how wars and military developments have affected society and vice-versa). This makes it especially useful for ROTC military history classes, but it is also a very good introduction to the "sharp end" of military history for scholars or students whose main interests lie in the effects of war, rather than its conduct.

'Enigma' is a story of intrigue that takes place at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. There are two main storylines: cracking the enigma code before a shipping convoy is destroyed, and discovering the motives and intentions of the mysterious Claire Romilly.

Both these storylines revolve around the main character, Tom Jericho, a cryptanalyst working on breaking the german naval enigma code.

'Enigma' starts off very slowly, and after 90 pages, I was about to put the book down and move on. However, Harris really starts getting to the heart of the action about this time, and the book really takes off. Perhaps he could have condensed the first 90 pages and made this book five stars, but taken as a whole 'Enigma' is quite entertaining.

If you enjoy books about wartime codebreaking, you will definitely want to read this book. If you read and enjoy 'Enigma', you should check out Neal Stephenson's 'Cryptonomicon.'

Some years ago I read a spy novel where the main characters needed to escape from Nazi Germany with some info on the bad guys they'd stolen. It was very entertaining, but for me kind of silly because I'd just read a book on the British codebreakers, and I knew the information had gotten to the Allies by much more mundane means. Robert Harris turns all of this on it's head and even makes it suspenseful. Enigma is the story, in novel form, of the British codebreaking effort that won WW2, to a large extent anyway, for the Western Allies. Interwoven into the plot is a hunt for a German spy among the codebreakers, and while that story is interesting (and the solution and motive bring out another story less often told) the main focus is a novel version of David Kahn's Seizing the Enigma, with all the suspense of the codebreakers grappling with the Kriegsmarine's codes as the convoys approach the U-boats... It's a very good book.

This book is a must read for anyone who likes smart, savvy adventure mysteries.

The main character is Tom Jericho, a mathematician and cryptoanalysist who works in a government building in Britain, trying to crack the Nazi Enigma code known as Shark. Tom and his team manage to crack Shark a month ago, but the Nazis have set up a new version that makes Shark, which already has several million ways of encoding, just 26 times harder. Jericho is overworked and tired, and distraught over his girlfriend, Claire, dumping him, but he is sent back to help the team crack the new code. The Nazi U Boats are planning an attack in 4 days, and the code is virtually impossible to crack in that amount of time. To make things worse, Jericho finds that Claire is missing under very strange circumstances. Jericho must deal with the constant memories of Claire, and team up with Hester, Claire's roomate, and his many co-workers to solve the mystery of the Shark.

The book is very intelligently written. Harris knows exactly what he is talking about, from historical facts to every little detail of the Enigma machines and codes. He delivers these facts to you in an engaging style that keeps you riveted. This book is NEVER boring. Even the long passages about the codes and mathematics are so interesting the pages just fly by. I'm a person who detests math with all my heart, but this book manages to capture my interest and hold it.

I'm amazed at how the characters are portrayed. They're all superbly characterized, even the very minor ones, each with their own unique speaking style and actions and motives. The characters are so realistic that you're able to see all them and REMEMBER all twenty or so main characters as if you've known them all before.

The pacing of the book is fast, but manages to deliver romance and deep thinking without dragging the book down. The superb, complex plot, the characters, and the intriguing details make you want to go back and read it again.

Note: you'll probably need a dictionary or at least some knowledge of WW2 to fully understand all the terms and references in this book.

One thing is for certain, you'll put down Enigma enlightened to a lot more about WW2, in addition to having read a great book.

The weather isn't the only thing heating up in Washington D.C. A young, blond woman is found strangled. The murder weapon is a white, silk priest's amice. Attached to the victim is a note, "Her Sins Are Forgiven." Police detective Ben Paris is part of the special investigations team assigned to the "priest" case, along with his long-time friend and partner, Ed Jackson. When psychiatrist Dr. Tess Court joins the investigation team, not everyone is pleased. Is Tess getting too close to the case? Is she getting too close to Ben? SACRED SINS is one of Nora Roberts' earlier suspense novels. I recently read her latest, THE VILLA, and find that her style of writing and character development has really grown over the years in comparison. Nevertheless, I enjoyed SACRED SINS. It's well-written, starts off with a bang to reel you in, and shocks you in the end. I found myself appreciating the relationship between the two detectives, Ben and Ed, more than the relationship between Ben and Tess. But maybe it's just me.

"Sacred Sins" is one of Nora Roberts' older works from the 1980's. None-the-less, it is a fantastic read, filled with sexual tension, suspense, mystery and intrigue.
Top psychiatrist Dr. Tess Court has been convinced by her senator grandfather to help the police catch a serial killer. Her profile on the killer, nicknamed "The Priest", indicates a disturbed and terrifying mind at work.
Detective Ben Paris doesn't have much respect for psychiatrists after his brother's unsuccessful treatment of post-war depression, which ended in tragedy. Ben doesn't care about profiles and motivations; he just wants to get his man. Ben and his partner, Detective Ed Jackson, are a wonderful odd-couple, and their interaction provides readers with some wonderfully witty and amusing scenes.
Tess and Ben continue to work together because they both have a common goal - stopping "The Priest". As they spend time together, a powerful attraction develops between them, and Tess and Ben's relationship blooms into a passionate romance.
As Ben and Tess work to catch the killer and delve deeper into his mind, it becomes apparent that Tess may be his next target, and his only hope for salvation!
Now Ben can only wait, and pray that when this madman decides to go for Tess, he will be in time to stop him.
"Sacred Sins" is a truly entertaining and exciting read. I was completely absorbed by the story and enjoyed every minute of it. Nora Roberts has once again created rich and realistic characters who will win readers' hearts and has crafted a top-notch tale guaranteed to leave readers sated and happy!

In March of 1997, I asked readers of Nora Roberts & Patricia Cornwell to convince me which author's stories I should try next. I was convinced to try Nora -- with a little nudge from Nora (she posts on boards on AOL). Nora suggested that I pick up a couple of her titles from used bookstores and see if I liked them or not.

My first read was SACRED SINS. Now, a year and a half later, my life has completely changed -- all due to reading this WINNER and meeting Nora & her wonderful, wonderful fans (w/them, we created a website in Nora's honor!).

I digress.

Why should you read SACRED SINS? When I first read it, I could NOT put it down. I wanted to not only read about the developing relationship between Ben & Tess, but I also wanted to find out who was killing these women in Washington, D.C. My initial impression was that it was a good, fast read.

Then, in June, I re-read it. It was even BETTER the second time around. In fact, I put it right up there as my favorite romantic/suspense stories of Nora's -- with DIVINE EVIL, MONTANA SKY, CARNAL INNOCENCE, & her DEATH books.

Why is SACRED SINS such a great read? First, you have a very believable killer. Second, you have real cops in Ben & in Ed (read BRAZEN VIRTUE for Ed's story) -- their rapport is outstanding. Third, you have a very true-to-heart developing relationship between Tess & Ben. Fourth, Tess is extremely convincing as a psychiatrist. Her attempts to reach Joey were so compelling -- I wanted to reach into the book & slap his parents -- this was as real as it gets. Nora wrenched my heart w/it.

This is an excellent story to give to a NON-reader of romances -- who believes that he/she knows what romances are all about. While there is romance in this story, the emphasis is on the suspense -- wondering who the killer really is.

Like myself, Robert E. Howard had an interest in old Scotland, back in the time of Hadrian's Wall when woad-decorated Pictish warriors held fast against the armor-covered legions of Rome. In a way, it is a historic demonstration of Howard's love of the clash of primitive and civilized. In Bran Mak Morn, he found a Scottish hero capable of rallying the primitive Picts and embodying his ideals.

Expect no historical accuracy here. Howard admits openly that he took the idea of the Picts and created his own fantasy race around them. He changed the spelling from Mac to Mak to disguise the Gaelic roots of his hero. Howard's Picts are mediterranean in origin, brown-skinned and dark haired. They shun armor and carry flint and bronze weapons.

The writing of Bran Mak Morn is not Howard's best. His best work was reserved for Conan, created later in his career. Still, I enjoyed every single story in this volume, with two or three stories sticking out as among the best of Howard's writing. The often singled-out "Worms of the Earth" is as good as you would think. Bran Mak Morn teams up with Kull the Conqueror in the excellent "Kings of the Night." "The Children of the Night" is inspired by H.P. Lovecraft's suggestion that Howard incorporate his Mythos elements into his primal yarns.

All around a good, solid series from Robert E. Howard.

Robert E. Howard's tales of Bran Mak Morn, last king of the Picts, have long been recognised as some of the first, and best, heroic fantasy ever written. That's certainly how I regarded them, fantasy. Then I began to notice some curious parallels between current research into the the lost Atlantian civilization and Howard's stories.
First of all, there does indeed seem to have been a high stone age seafaring culture in the area we now call the Carribean approx. 10,000 years ago. This culture also seems to have had regular contact with both North and South America, as well as, the Mediterranian region. Now the ancestors of the Picts are thought to have come from the Mediterranian region during the high stone age. This small, dark race is thought to have spread over all of the British isles, as well as, a good part of Europe. They were only displaced by the coming of the Celts. Some experts believe that the Basques may be the only modern recognisable remnant of this people.
Now, the contact between the Carribean and Mediterranian, seems to have been suddenly disrupted a little over 8,000 years ago by a collossal comet shower over North America and the Carribean. It is documented that there was an abrupt climactic change and flooding at this time. There would almost certainly have been tidal waves in the Carribean region before this. In fact, it was only recently recognised that the "serpent" imagery found in much high stone age art probably represents "cosmic serpents"- or comets.
Now, Howard has his Bran Mak Morn making claims that his ancestors: 1.) were connected with Atlantis, 2.) knew of North and South America, 3.) ruled most of Europe, 4.) were driven out by the Celts, and 5.) have a strong religious connection with a destructive serpent cult. Not only that, but the physically degenerate stature of his Picts are what would be expected of a cut-off remnant of a race that was surrounded by nothing but enemies. Interbreeding, and lack of a sufficient gene-pool, would produce just the abnormalities and degeneracy that Howard attributes to his Picts.
To verify all this for yourselves, try reading _Gateway to Atlantis_ by Andrew Collins. You'll never see the fiction of Robert E. Howard in the same light again....

You gotta love these Robert E. Howard books! The grandfather of testosterone drenched fantasy stories hits another homerun with this cycle of Bran Mak Morn tales offered in one volume. It is really too bad the other Baen volumes of Howard's works are out of print because this is excellent entertainment.

Like Howard's other superhuman heroes, Conan and Kull, Bran Mak Morn is tough as nails and doesn't take you-know-what from anybody. The stories are set in the distant past (although not as distant as Conan or some of Howard's other tales), in the time of the Roman occupation of Britain. Bran is the last pure blood king of the Picts, an ancient people overwhelmed by numerous invasions during the ages. Howard takes liberal license with the real history, creating a mystical people with links to Atlantis and Lemuria. Bran is fighting for the survival of his people in a world populated by Lovecraftian monsters, sorcerers, Roman soldiers, enemy tribes, Vikings, and other assorted evils.

In "The Lost Race," a wandering Briton stumbles on a bandit leader and his evil minions. After fleeing from the thieves, he stumbles into a cave containing the remnants of the Pictish tribes, presided over by Bran Mak Morn. It is here we are introduced to Morn and discover how his tribe fell into misfortune.

"Men of the Shadows" is narrated by a Roman soldier lost in enemy territory after his fellow soldiers died in combat. His eventual meeting with Bran Mak Morn is no surprise, but serves to fill in details about the travels of the Picts through the ancient world. Some freaky sorcery and the usual Howardian sense of doom run throughout this tale.

"Kings of the Night" is a combat tale that reminds me of Howard's story on the Battle of Clontarf in "Eons of the Night." The Picts are assembling for a battle to prevent an invasion by the Roman army. Bran Mak Morn has some trouble persuading some Vikings to fight for him until a king comes to lead the Vikings into battle. Where this king comes from and how he gets there is enormous fun, as is the gory battle with the Roman invaders.

"Worms of the Earth" absolutely reeks of Lovecraft. In this story, Bran Mak Morn swears revenge on a sadistic Roman governor. In order to carry out his oath, Morn seeks the help of the worms of the earth, a race of humans pushed underground eons ago by the Picts. Something happened to these humans during their years underground, a sickening transformation that makes them a fearsome presence.

"The Dark Man" is the story of Turlogh Dubh, a survivor of Clontarf whose exile from his clan leads him on endless journeys through forbidding lands. When a gang of Vikings kidnaps a beautiful Irish princess, Dubh hunts them down with the help of a strange icon found in the hands of a dead Pict. After a bloody battle with the Vikings, Dubh meets the Picts and learns about the fate of Bran Mak Morn.

The final story, "The Gods of Bal-Sagoth," is a further adventure of Turlogh Dubh. Dubh is captured by Viking pirates, one of who is Athelstane, a survivor of the battle in "The Dark Man." After the Viking ship crashes, Athelstane and Dubh join forces to topple the king of Bal-Sagoth. This king is a puppet of a sorcerer who spends his free time creating weird hybrids in an underground cave. Predictably, everything quickly degenerates into an epic battle where bodies topple by the boatload.

Robert Howard is a hard act to follow. It really is a pity he committed suicide at a young age, thereby robbing the genre of countless tales that would have elevated his reputation even higher than it is today. Somebody really out to reprint the other volumes in this series. Selling them would be a piece of cake.

Most people who have even heard of Stendal know of him as the author of the Red and the Black. Thanks to the praise Harold Bloom bestows on this lesser known work in How to Read and Why, I think many are rediscovering this book as well. Imagine my surprise when I found it not hidden deep in the literature section, but right on the "new release" section thanks to the New modern library edition.

Stendal, really Marie Beyle, wrote prodigiously during his lifetime and used over 200 nom de plumes, Stendal being only one of the more well known ones. He dictated this book in 54 days, impressive when you realize its girth. Stendal has been critized by many for his lack of style and proper French grammar, but thanks to fellow writer Balzac who wrote an influential review of the book, it gained much fame. Balzac wrote, "Beyle has written a book in which sublimity glows from chapter after chapter...If the mediocre knew that they had a chance of raising themselves to the level of the sublime by understanding them, La Chartreuse de Parme would have as many readers as Clarissa Harlowe had on its first appearance."

This novel has a bit of everything, but mostly court intrigue and love plots as we follow the unlikely hero, Fabrizio through his adventures, the most exciting of which for him seems to be his imprisonment in the tower. His charm lies in his complete inability to realize the importance of anything until after it happens. In fact, he sleeps through most of the important events: he gets drunk and barely remembers his small role in the Battle of Waterloo and later during his "rapture" in the tower, he finally discovers in his boredom that he is happy. As far as actually enjoying this book, I suspect that many modern readers will find parts either boring or hard to follow since many of the Italian court traditions are far from our experience. Unlike other long novels like War and Peace or Madame Bovary, this one might not hold interest levels the same way since it has a much denser plot and much less convincing characters. Still, I think we should appreciate this novel for its incredible scope and faithful recounting of a period long gone. It's not hard to see why it's a great novel, it just may not be as enjoyable to read as other great novels no matter how much praise Balzac heaps upon it.

I'm a longtime fan of this wonderful novel which until recently almost no one seemed to read. There is nothing like it in the whole of literature, and the good reader is exhilirated and refreshed by the blast of Stendhal's sustained burst of inspiration: done in six and a half weeks and he lopped off the last 150 pages at the publisher's request (and realized his mistake but couldn't find the sheets: keep looking, folks). New readers are advised to plow through the first 50 pages, which are just as good as the rest of the book but from which it is very difficult to catch the book's unique tone; the great set-piece of the Battle of Waterloo will set you straight. I'm not sure that the vaunted new Richard Howard translation is better than the reliable old waddle of the Penguin, but that might just be my hankering for a familiar flavor. But what a book! Bliss to read it, and the Duchessa Sanseverina might well be the most magnificent woman in the whole of literature; she's certainly the only woman of such stature in 19th century fiction who doesn't have to pay the price for it by a suicide in the last chapter. Much of the book's inimitable energy derives from the enjambment of a whole range of incompatibles: a story out of renaissance Italy set in post-Napoleonic times; characters simultaneously seen from the perspective of great worldly experience and that of an enthusiastic adolescence conceiving them as larger than life (Mosca and the Duchessa primarily, but also demi-villains like the Prince and the hilarious Rassi); and so on. Fabrizio is a dashing cipher, is occasionally idiotic, the very archetype of impassioned inexperience. All right, Clelia Conti is irredeemably dull in a book suffused by the Duchessa's nearly superhuman radiance, but her stint as the bird-woman of the Farnese Tower raises to the pitch of inspired looniness Stendhal's sense of the world as a place in which all essential thought and emotion are sentenced to a fugitive life and an interminable series of codes and disguises. Fabrizio's terror of engaging with his auntie the Duchessa generates the subsequent phantasmagoria of prisons, intrigues, revolutions; and yet the tone is that of some crazed, inspired operetta, the characters speak in recitative, and the multiple ironies of character and tale serve not to distance us from life, as our modern irony usually does, but to embrace an astounding range of living contradictions. A last one such: notice that despite the utter scarcity of physical description, the sensory world comes to you crystal clear, vivid as can be. Major magic working here. The book is a source of joy for anyone who enters it whole, and nothing this side of Shakespeare is as bracing. I'm so glad it's being taken up and read again.

Whether it's Thomas Hardy, Tolstoy, or Dickens, I've never met a 19th century novel I didn't like. In his 1999 book, WHY READ THE CLASSICS?, Italo Calvino calls THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA "the best novel ever written," and Harold Bloom also praises it in his HOW TO READ AND WHY. Written in 52 days, THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA (1839) opens amidst the rumble of cannons on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, and then follows its young Italian protagonist, Fabrizio del Dongo, from one "nasty scrape" (p. 193) to the next. "A little drunk" (p. 46), we find our unlikely hero sleeping through the Battle of Waterloo. Later imprisoned for killing another character in a street fight, he exclaims, "I've never been so happy in my life! . . . Isn't it funny to discover that happiness was waiting for me in a prison?" (p. 327). It is in his prison cell, in the "extremely ugly" (p. 299) Farnese Tower of the fictional Citadel of Parma, that Fabrizio is transformed by love. THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA may be read as a historic novel, a picaresque adventure, a love story, or simply as "a great Italian novel." As translator Richard Howard tells us in the book's Afterward, it is "a miracle of gusto, brio, elan, verve, panache" (p. 503).

G. Merritt

As the title proclaims, this book contains the Kull stories, including the fragments, by Robert E. Howard. No DeCamp, Carter, or Drake; just pure Robert E. Howard!

Out of the 9 Kull stories in this book, only two appeared in print during Howard's lifetime. The Shadow Kingdom and The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune were both published in Weird Tales in 1929. The Shadow Kingdom is a lively, fast-moving tale, foreshadowing numerous Conan stories, on Kull's battle against the Serpent Men of Valusia. In contrast, The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune is a moody tale, much more akin to some of Lovecraft's horror stories.

The other 7 stories are of variable quality. The Exile of Atlantis,reads more as a fragment than a complete story. Kull is only a bystander in the The Altar and the Scorpion. While some what predictable, Delcarde's Cat is a readable story. The appearance of Thulsa Doom in the story is done quite awkwardly though. Howard presents him in as a continual rival of Kull, but this was his first and only appearance in the Kull series. By This Axe I Rule, is quite readable compared to much of the sword and sorcery fiction published today, but is not Howard's best. The Striking of the Gong,is reminiscent of The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune, but instead of creating a sense of mystery, Howard only details and explains Kull's experiences. Swords of the Purple KingdomEis similar to The Shadow Kingdom and By This Axe I Rule.

While enjoyable, this volume is not Howard at his best. It is clear why some of these stories didn't get published in WEIRD TALES while REH was alive, particularly when you compare them to the Conan or Solomon Kane stories. Compared to a lot of the fantasy written today though, this is great stuff! So while I may only give it 3 stars out of 5, it is still worth the cover price.

While Conan is R.E. Howard's most famous creation, I've always enjoyed the stories of Kull a great deal more. The brooding man of honor at the helm of a decadant nation has always held more fascination for me than the hack-and-slash adventures of Conan. If you like fantasy and/or pulp fiction, you MUST read this book!

Don't let the awful movie from a couple of years color your impressions of what these stories are. You'll find some echoes of them on the screen, but their true power can only be found in this anthology, the only place that I know where all Howard's Kull tales have been collected.

I am a BIG fan of Robert E. Howard's work, from Conan of Cimmeria to Solomon Kane. I started collecting the 1970's Conan paperbacks (by REH, Bjorn Nyberg, L. Sprague De Camp, and Lin Carter) a little while back, and have almost completed my collection. Not only Conan catches, my interest, though, and I'm interested in REH's other characters as well (did you know he used to write WESTERNS? It's true.). Thus, when I found the newer published editions of his works, I decided to buy his Kull compilation. Kull is an excellent book, combining a great many of Howard's antediluvian tales which take place before the Hyborean Age of Conan. Kull is more of a contemplative character than Conan, more...moral, I suppose one could say, more brooding, where Conan is more of a James Bond with a sword, which is part of his appeal. Kull, however, IS prone to outbursts, fond of intrigue and, of course, no prude when it comes to battle, and all are combined in equal amounts to make an excellent read. I actually prefer the Kull stories to the Conan stories in terms of characterization and plot, though the Conan stories are a gret deal more varied in their concepts and more action-packed. However, if you read this book, don't just stop here. There's a wealth of literature by REH out there just begging to be read. Check it out and enjoy!

This is a great book (as to be expected from Alex Homer) for beginning to understand .Net and ASP+. It doesn't go into the .Net framework in too much detail but explains how ASP has progressed to ASP+ and ADO to ADO+. A must read for any ASP devloper who wants to move to .Net

It's true that it's currently the only ASP+ book but it's great nonetheless. I was waiting with great expectation it's release at Amazon since I'm plugged to their ASPToday web site.

This book is worth 5 stars because of the following:

It came out barely after MS announced it but contains a lot of information about the subject.

MS has work with the writers to make sure the content will be right.

It is well-written by known ASP programmers (and writers).

The content is get-to-the-point on current ASP issues and how ASP+ will fix this.

Show ASP+ coding with both VB7 & C#.

There is a lot more information than the ASPToday's articles so that the book is more than handy.

Written well enough for newcomers to understand it, but I would strongly suggest having ASP experience before-hand. Remember it's a PREVIEW and it means that it's good for people who wants to know it advance where MS is going with ASP.

Although I am a little late I'd like to add my review for those of you who are planning to purchase this book. I think it is a nice pioneering review for ASP+. (ASP.NET). A lot has been said about .NET, the only thing I'd like to add that this book was probably the first one to be published about the .NET platform even before the name was .NET. So the info in the book is still relevant but the names have changed a little bit. If you are interested in learning the .NET platform get a more recent source other wise to learn ASP.NET I believe it is a good choice. I'll give it 5 points mainly because the examples are written in c# which is a nice change. If you'd prefer VB there are still enough examples.

I purchased this book while developing an intranet for my company. It does a fairly good job to get you started with Personalization and Membership (P&M), but after a while you'll realize that there's still a lot of information missing.

For example, the book speaks nothing of applying filters with ASP or querying the DS using SQL commands or even any other objects other than the Membership.Userobjects. Many of which is vital in developing almost any website with P&M. There's a lot more that I'm just now learning about that I needed to know but this book never explains.

The best way to learn? Until someone decides to write a comprehensive book on P&M, I will continue to use the web administration pages that came with Site Server (the ones that allow you to go through and administer the DS via. the web) as the examples and use this book only as a reference from time to time.

Good luck!

I learned a lot from this book that I could not get from the Site Server documentation. I hope a book will come out soon on the publishing aspects: content areas, stores, etc. I also do not like the trend of Wrox books putting the author's mug on the front cover, spine and back cover. It is thoroughly obnoxious.

This book was my primary entry point into Site Server. Basically it saved my butt. One problem it does have is that his pages all allow anonymous access and he deals with security in a patchy, circumspect way. For secure entry into the Membership Directory, you will need ADSI. I suggest also buying "ADSI ASP", by Steven Hahn, also by Wrox Press. It will help fill this gap and round out your knowledge. Unlike the others, I rather enjoyed Mr. Howard's face on the cover. With the application of some sharpie and a little scraping with a pocket knife, Mr. Howard's face can offer the reader endless amusement in times of high stress. Site Server will provide many of these.