A good if somewhat dated book on telephone survey methodology.

I will admit this book was very well written, and kept me turning pages. But after getting through half the book, I was so frustrated and disgusted, I threw the book across the room. I forced myself to put it away, and only return to it when I knew that I could distance myself from the characters and read the rest without feeling as if my body and soul had been run over by a truck. "Fall on Your Knees" is that exhausting.

I definitely enjoy a challenging read, one where characters don't lead easy lives and work to achieve things as they grow. This book definitely fit into that category, but there was no progress or relief at all. All the characters led miserable, dark lives and the only way they seemed to escape their torture was by dying. I felt as if my emotions were being constantly manipulated, and while I definitely respect an author who has the power to do that with his/her words, there *has* to be a limit. A reader should experience some grief along with the characters, but when it continues for hundreds of pages, there has to be a time to step away. And so I did.

Reading this book almost made me vow to stay away from anything but the fluffy mysteries I indulge in every so often. And that's a truly scary thought to me, wanting to turn my back on books that make me think and feel. I really hate that this book made me question my tolerance as a reader. Being well written can only take a book so far, there has to be *some* heart in the middle of grief. There is none of that here. If you like your books raw and powerful, almost cruel, go ahead and buy this. But if you are tired of your emotions being manipulated and
tossed around, skip it.

Ann-Marie MacDonald's "Fall on Your Knees" is an ambitious novel that chronicles the saga of the Piper family, who live in Cape Breton Island off Nova Scotia in Canada. The narrative starts in 1898 and ends in the middle of the twentieth century. It starts with eighteen-year-old James Piper's ill-fated love affair with Materia Mahmoud, a girl of twelve whose family is wealthy and powerful. James and Materia elope, and the Mahmouds are outraged. As the years pass, James and Materia start a family of their own, and it soon becomes apparent that the Pipers are destined to suffer.

MacDonald is a talented writer who experiments interestingly with the written word. She takes off on literary flights of fancy, using interesting metaphors, magical realism and delightful humor to hold the reader's interest throughout this five hundred page epic. The characters are uniformly well drawn. They include Materia, the clueless matriarch, who soon realizes that she has gotten in over her head when she married James; Kathleen, the gorgeous daughter with a glorious singing voice and gigantic ambition; Mercedes, the compassionate and religious sister who tries to keep the family from falling apart after a series of devastating tragedies befall them; and the father, James, a deeply flawed individual who is responsible for many of the terrible events that wreck his family.

"Fall on Your Knees" is an account of a bizarre family dynamic. MacDonald depicts the horrible pain that people inflict on their "loved ones" through weakness, malice or perversity. Ultimately, "Fall on Your Knees" sinks somewhat under its own melodramatic weight. However, I still recommend that you read this unusual novel so that you can savor the sheer virtuosity of Ann-Marie MacDonald's original writing style.

From the onset of this novel, one is intrigued by the realism of the narration. No narrator is plagued with a God-like knowledge of their surroundings, they know only what they experience. That is the key to the beauty of Fall on Your Knees.
Macdonald manages to create a dark world, focusing on the Piper family. Her ability to immerse the reader in the experiences of this family is a gift. When I began reading, however, I was not quite so enthralled with it. I thought it was strange, a bit wordy, and confusing. It was so intense and disturbing, however, that I was unable to set it aside. So, I continued reading, and I am so glad I did. It was only the end that made me fall in love with this book. The ending sums up the book, and you begin to realize what everything you previously read meant. It was a moment of realization when everything comes together. You realize that every word that Macdonald uses has been chosen for a particular reason, nothing in this book, contrary to what it seems is haphazard. At the end, I found myself wanting to go back and reread certain parts, knowing what I knew from the end of the book, to see what I had miss. It was like a movie, that needed to be watched again knowing the 'secret' and wanting to test the limits to see how well-written it was that certain subteleties that escaped the first time are blatant, important scenes, after all. This is one book that won't leave me for a long time. It is so incredibly well-written, the world of the Pipers now exists somewhere inside of me, no matter how disturbing that may be.

When I began to read "The Turn Of The Screw" by Henry James, I made the assumption this book would be different from all other books which I have read. I thought it would be different because it is considered an American literature classic. Although Henry James is among many great authors, he is without a doubt, a one of a kind.
In this book his unique writing style has me wondering why such thoughts went through his mind. His wordy and elaborate writing style presented his strange subject matter in a style that could be accepted in his time. While it is sometimes difficult to follow the story it allowed James to express what would have been a controversial topic.
At times in this story you become anxious and excited, while at other times you are left picking and choosing what you think is going on, and when you least expect something to happen you become surprised, and become more interested in the book.
The ending surprised me. What I thought was going to be a happy ending turned into a perverse finale and a total tragedy. From beginning to end, Henry James wrote a book that is different from all other books.

I had long heard of Henry James and his short novella, The Turn of the Screw and decided to read it, thinking that at only 88 pages long, it would not take more than one evening. Three evenings later, I finished the text and I must admit slightly confused. I had to reread the ending several times to truly understand what had happened. Thankfully, I had the critical edition, which included several essays on the story, one in particular by Edmund White which profoundly changed my opinion of the story.
A simple ghost story on the face of it, but in reality a pre-Freudian tale of sexual repression. Narrated by an unnamed governess who ventures to a country house to take charge of two young orphaned children, it soon becomes a tale of ghosts, mysteries and secrets. Always alluded to and never talked about at face value, the governess becomes convinces that the ghosts are after the children and she alone can save them. But are there really ghosts? The reader must go beyond the plot and carefully read the language...all the language. James writes like no other author I have ever read. The best word to describe it is "dense". With almost no dialogue, the narrator can spend pages describing her thoughts and feelings, yet these are so "coded" as to decipher her real meaning takes much concentration on the part of the reader. I know that James himself thought the story an amusement only, but the critical essays I read after the book deeply impressed me that the story has hidden depths which make it all the more interesting.
I would recommend this novella to anyone with the patience to read it thoroughly and with an open mind as to its meaning. I would strongly recommend the critical edition which helps the reader better understand the story's meaning and importance in literature.

I had been informed, before reading The Turn of the Screw, that it would not provide many answers to the questions it provoked. After finishing the novel, I would pass this along to future readers as well. The Turn of the Screw is an excellent story with wonderful details and an extremely creative plot. It is the first book I have ever read that has caused me to be frightened. Many times while reading the story late at night, I would find myself with my hand on my chest, holding my breath because I was so intrigued with the story line. Although it had a wonderful plot, Henry James does leave many questions unanswered. This allows the reader to interpret the events in whatever manner they choose. The complexity of the story depends on the complexity of the thought the reader puts into it. The Turn of the Screw is an excellent book and I would strongly recommend it to anyone. It is a clever novel for a clever reader.

I used the Sybex books for the NT 4.0 exams so I figured why not use them for the 2000 exams.

I thought the 70-210, 70-215 and 70-216 books were good, BUT the 70-217 book is terrible. Lots of mistakes, awful questions at the end of the chapter. I even found some incorrect answers within the questions provided.

I'm not sure if I'm going to use Sybex for any of the others.

I've bought this MCSE core requirements set in order to pass the tests. Study the W2K Professional book (read, understand, memorize + practice the exercices in your own "lab"), and you will pass the W2K Pro test. I have passed my first attempt (req. score 550, my score 820). That's exactly what this book will do: get you through the (though) microsoft tests. Do NOT expect anything else from this book, now that I've passed the first test I will probably not use the book again. It does not deal with real-world IT-problems, it does not give any detailed information on various subjects (not to mention the many errors). And the writing style of the books (W2 pro, W2K server) is SOOOOOO DRY. Not a single "joke", nothing. This in contrast with what I was used to from SYBEX. Other books I have from Sybex (Mark Minasi, Mastering W NT server 4 / Tod Lammle, CCNA) are actually FUN to read and much better and accurate at the same time ....
I really hope the two last books of this set will be better, the W2K pro and W2K server-books were a bit of a pain ...
good luck with your MCSE-track !! :-)
Willem.

By now I've read the third book as well, the one on networking. A completely other writing-style as the W2K server and professional book: this networking-book is accurate, fun to read and you really have the feeling the author knows what he's talking about (and not just explaining the buttons and menus of your W2K-product). The networking-book of this set has the quality I expect from Sybex ! (check back on my review when I finally have finished the last one (Active Directory) .. :-)

I liked Chellis's books for NT 4. These are good, too. I passed three of the exams on the first try, but Server took my three times. The exams are hard. I worked with Windows 2000 for about four months on the job before taking the exams. I'd recommend that much time with the OS, plus lots and lots of practice questions. I don't know if I'd shell out the $$ that Transcender requires.

Set in upstate New York in colonial times, Cooper here tells the story of the stolid colonial scout Hawkeye, nee Natty Bumppo (don't ask), who, with his two Indian companions Chingachgook (the Big Snake) and his son Uncas (apparently newly come to manhood), stumble on a party of British soldiers conducting two fair maidens to their father, the commander of British Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War. Under the watchful eyes of the young British officer who has the girls in his charge and led by a Huron scout, Magua, the party appears, to the indomitable Hawkeye, to be at greater risk than they realize as they trek through the wilderness toward the safety of the girls' father's garrison. And, indeed, Hawkeye's judgement is soon proved right as the scout Magua treacherously betrays the hapless girls in repayment, it seems, for a stint of corporal punishment inflicted on him previously by their absent parent. Since the Hurons, Magua's native tribe, are culturally akin to the Iroquois who are the herditary enemies of the Algonquin Delawares, from whom Chingachgook and his son hail and among whom Hawkeye has made his home and friendships, a natural antagonism has arisen almost at once between Hawkeye's party and the Huron and this proves salutary, when danger finally strikes. The tale quickly becomes a matter of flight and pursuit through thickly overgrown primeval forests, over rough mountains and across broad open lakes as the beleagured travelers first elude and then flee the dreaded Iroquois (allies of the French) who have joined the renegade Huron in an effort to seize the two girls. After a brief respite within the safety of William Henry however, the tables are once again turned as Magua's perfidy puts the girls once more at risk. And now the story shifts to a manic pursuit of the fleeing Magua who means to carry off his human prey in order to finally have his revenge on the girls' father, on the British and on the Europeans, generally, whose presence in his native country he blames (not altogether unjustifiably) for his myriad travails. Written in the fine tradition of the 19th century romance (which, of course, is what this book is), Cooper picked up where Sir Walter Scott (the venerable founder of this novelistic tradition) left off, creating a rich historical tale of adventure, nobility and marvelously sketched characters set against a brilliantly detailed natural landscape. If his characters are less keenly drawn than Scott's they are no less memorable for, in the quiet nobility of the scout Hawkeye lies the strong, silent hero of the wilderness which has become the archetypical protagonist in our own American westerns. And the Indians, Chingachgook and Uncas, are the very prototypes of the noble savage, so much used and over-used today. This is a tale of action first and foremost without much plot but so well told that you barely notice, as our heroes flee and pursue their enemies in turn until the very quickness of the prose seems to mirror and embody the speed of the action. Nor is this book only to be read for its rapid-fire rendition of flight and pursuit, for it touches the reader on another level as well, as the bold young Uncas moves out ahead of his comrades to place himself at risk for the others and the woman he loves. Although we never see Uncas at anything but a distance and never get to know the man he is supposed to be, he is yet a symbol of that people of whom he is the last chiefly descendant, the Delaware Mohicans. Nobly born into the finest of Mohican bloodlines, Uncas faces his final trial with heroic energy and resolve in order to defeat the nefarious and twisted Magua. Yet this struggle is also the final footnote in the story of a people, marking the closing chapter for all those Indians who, with the Mohicans, have seen, in Cooper's own words, the morning of their nation and the inevitable nightfall which must follow. -- Stuart W. Mirsky (mirsky@ix.netcom.com

Set in upstate New York in colonial times, Cooper here tells the tale of the stolid colonial scout Hawkeye, nee Natty Bumppo (don't ask), who, with his two Indian companions Chingachgook (the Big Snake) and his son Uncas (apparently newly come to manhood), stumble on a party of British soldiers conducting two fair maidens to their father, the commander of British Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War. Under the watchful eyes of the young British officer who has the girls in his charge and led by a Huron scout, Magua, the party appears, to the indomitable Hawkeye, to be at greater risk than they realize as they trek through the wilderness toward the safety of the girls' father's garrison. And, indeed, Hawkeye's judgement is soon proved right as the scout Magua treacherously betrays the hapless girls in repayment, it seems, for a stint of corporal punishment inflicted on him previously by their absent parent. Since the Hurons, Magua's native tribe, are culturally akin to the Iroquois who are the herditary enemies of the Algonquin Delawares, from whom Chingachgook and his son hail and among whom Hawkeye has made his home and friendships, a natural antagonism arises almost at once between Hawkeye's party and the Huron and this proves salutary, when danger finally strikes. The tale quickly becomes a matter of flight and pursuit through thickly overgrown primeval forests, over rough mountains and across broad open lakes as the beleagured travelers first elude and then flee the dreaded Iroquois (allies of the French) who have joined the renegade Huron in an effort to seize the two girls. After a brief respite within the safety of William Henry however, the tables are once again turned as Magua's perfidy puts the girls once more at risk. And now the story shifts to a manic pursuit of the fleeing Magua who means to carry off his human prey in order to finally have his revenge on the girls' father, on the British and on the Europeans, generally, whose presence in his native country he blames (not altogether unjustifiably) for his myriad travails. Written in the fine tradition of the 19th century romance (which, of course, is what this book is), Cooper picked up where Sir Walter Scott (the venerable founder of this novelistic tradition) left off, creating a rich historical tale of adventure, nobility and marvelously sketched characters set against a brilliantly detailed natural landscape. If his characters are less keenly drawn than Scott's they are no less memorable for, in the quiet nobility of the scout Hawkeye lies the strong, silent hero of the wilderness which has become the archetypical protagonist in our own American westerns. And the Indians, Chingachgook and Uncas, are the very prototypes of the noble savage, so much used, and over-used, today. This is a tale of action first and foremost without much plot but so well told that you barely notice, as our heroes flee and pursue their enemies in turn -- until the very quickness of the prose seems to mirror and embody the speed of the action. Nor is this book only to be read for its rapid-fire rendition of flight and pursuit, for it touches the reader on another level as well, as the bold young Uncas moves out ahead of his comrades to place himself at risk for the others and the woman he loves. Although we never see Uncas at anything but a distance and never get to know the man he is supposed to be, he is yet a symbol of that people of whom he is the last chiefly descendant, the Delaware Mohicans. Nobly born into the finest of Mohican bloodlines, Uncas faces his final trial with heroic energy and resolve in order to defeat the nefarious and twisted Magua. Yet this struggle is also the final footnote in the story of a people, marking the closing chapter for all those Indians who, with the Mohicans, have, in Cooper's own words, seen the morning of their nation and the inevitable nightfall which must follow. If you give this book a chance and bear with some of the heavy nineteenth century prose, it will prove out in the end. An exciting and worthwhile read.

Set in upstate New York in colonial times, Cooper here tells the story of the stolid colonial scout Hawkeye, nee Natty Bumppo (don't ask), who, with his two Indian companions Chingachgook (the Big Snake) and his son Uncas (apparently newly come to manhood), stumble on a party of British soldiers conducting two fair maidens to their father, the commander of British Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War. Under the watchful eyes of the young British officer who has the girls in his charge and led by a Huron scout, Magua, the party appears, to the indomitable Hawkeye, to be at greater risk than they realize as they trek through the wilderness toward the safety of the girls' father's garrison. And, indeed, Hawkeye's judgement is soon proved right as the scout Magua treacherously betrays the hapless girls in repayment, it seems, for a stint of corporal punishment inflicted on him previously by their absent parent. Since the Hurons, Magua's native tribe, are culturally akin to the Iroquois who are the herditary enemies of the Algonquin Delawares, from whom Chingachgook and his son hail and among whom Hawkeye has made his home and friendships, a natural antagonism has arisen almost at once between Hawkeye's party and the Huron and this proves salutary, when danger finally strikes. The tale quickly becomes a matter of flight and pursuit through thickly overgrown primeval forests, over rough mountains and across broad open lakes as the beleagured travelers first elude and then flee the dreaded Iroquois (allies of the French) who have joined the renegade Huron in an effort to seize the two girls. After a brief respite within the safety of William Henry however, the tables are once again turned as Magua's perfidy puts the girls once more at risk. And now the story shifts to a manic pursuit of the fleeing Magua who means to carry off his human prey in order to finally have his revenge on the girls' father, on the British and on the Europeans, generally, whose presence in his native country he blames (not altogether unjustifiably) for his myriad travails. Written in the fine tradition of the 19th century romance (which, of course, is what this book is), Cooper picked up where Sir Walter Scott (the venerable founder of this particular novelistic tradition) left off, creating a rich historical tale of adventure, nobility and marvelously sketched characters set against a brilliantly detailed natural landscape. If his characters are less keenly drawn than Scott's they are no less memorable for, in the quiet nobility of the scout Hawkeye lies the strong, silent hero of the wilderness which was to become the archetypical protagonist of the American western. And the Indians, Chingachgook and Uncas, are the very prototypes of the noble savage, so much used and over-used today. This is a tale of action first and foremost without much plot but so well told that you barely notice, as our heroes flee and pursue their enemies in turn until the very quickness of the prose seems to mirror and embody the speed of the action. Nor is this book only to be read for its rapid-fire rendition of flight and pursuit, for it touches the reader on another level as well, as the bold young Uncas moves out ahead of his comrades to place himself at risk for the others and the woman he loves. Although we never see Uncas at anything but a distance and never get to know the man he is supposed to be, he is yet a symbol of that people of whom he is the last chiefly descendant, the Delaware Mohicans. Nobly born into the finest of Mohican bloodlines, Uncas faces his final trial with heroic energy and resolve in order to defeat the nefarious and twisted Magua. Yet this struggle is also the final footnote in the story of a people, marking the closing chapter for all those Indians who, with the Mohicans, have seen, in Cooper's words, the morning of their nation and the inevitable nightfall which must follow. The book is a bit short on characterization and plotting and the prose is heavy for modern tastes, but the action is richly visualized in the flow of the narrative and the images are compelling. In the end, despite its flaws, this book of Cooper's is, in fact, the classic we have been told it is. -- S. W. Mirsky

It is somewhat ironic that of all Summer's works, his translation of the Malleus Maleficarum would become what he is most famous for. Most people who would call themselves occultists in our time would, also ironically, like to see every last copy burned. What fascinates me is not only the fact that the book's survival is now ensured, but that Summers goes to great lengths to actually defend the book and the Inquisition in his 1948 introduction. It is possible that he chooses his translation's second printing for this because that by 1948, the Malleus was no longer history's most infamous book. As to the actual content set down by Kramer and Sprenger, it provides a most interesting look into the minds of fifteenth-century biblical scholars-- and at the time these were considered two of the best. The text, though fascinating, often seems to be endless, but one must understand that this was the style of the time. Though it is doubtful that an actual witch (a better word would be "malefactor") was ever punished with this book's help, it remains a wonderful look into history and I for one am glad it will be around for future generations.

I really must admit that I'm amazed at the people who either are horrified that this book exists or think it's the absolute truth. This book was written nearly 400 years ago, and needs to be viewed in context, which too many of the reviewers are incapable of doing. But enough of the soapbox, on to the book...

First off,... ignore the introduction. Rev. Summers has some truly bizarre and unsupportable beliefs about the prevalence and organization of witchcraft in the middle ages. Fifth column working to overthrow the whole of Christendom? ...

Once you get past the oddly humourous intro, the book begins to bog. It's a slow, dull read. However, the material is vital in getting an understanding of the Church's then-current philosophy on dealing with witchcraft. You're not going to get a better picture unless you read the original Latin, which I doubt few of us are prepared for anymore. How much of this is necessary to the casual reader is debatable. There are multitudes of general histories written with a slant towards any position you favor that cover the same ground. They also don't get into as much detail as this, but then, how much do you need? It's primary source material for the truly dedicated.

Taken for what it is, a historical document, it gets 5 stars. Take off a half-star for the sometime ...[bad] printing you get from Dover. Take off another half-star for lingering doubts about the translation. Anybody with as much of an axe to grind as the Rev. Montague Summers may have 'aided' the translation a bit, but that is simply speculation on my part.

I find this book a difficult one to actually evaluate, but decided to give it five stars on the basis that it is a historical text that accurately documents the beliefs of the Catholic Church during the witch hunt era. (It is important to note, however, that not all Catholics at this time subcribed to these beliefs). This book is very significant in explaining the origin of witch hunts and persecutions of witches throughout history. The text was written originally by two Catholic priests, in which they fabricated evil practices of witches and ways to identify them and eradicate them. On the contrary, in the Pre-Christian era a witch was originally the doctor, spiritual healer, counselor-"everything woman" of her village. She was highly respected as the village's "wise woman," which is the original meaning of the word "witch." When the Catholic Church developed and began to gain more power, its higher members recognized the political power of these women and feared their pagan influence, and so the Malleus Maleficarum was born. Most of the accusations it makes are highly off base and ridiculous. I myself, do not practice Wicca, but am a born-again Christian. Therefore, I was very offended and upset by the comments made in the review entitled "Their Mother's Sons and Daughters," if this was even a sincere review. The reason neo-paganists are so offended by this book is not because it rings true to their beliefs, but because it was used for centuries as the justification for the death and torture of thousands of their predecessors and other innocents. Those who practice Wicca, in particular, do not even believe that Satan exists, therefore would never worship him or use him as a channel for evil purposes. Their religion, although I do not accept it as truth, is fundamentally peace-loving just as Christianity is. The comments that were made in this particular review I speak of and similar prejudices are ignorant, narrow-minded, and no doubt, are part of the reason for the widespread misunderstanding of Christianity in our modern society.

The editor of this book could not have possibly played a significant role in getting this book reviewed prior to publication. The editot should have cleaned up the grammar. There were simply too many short thought that could have / should have been grouped together for increased clarity.

Nothing but an overview. Covers very nicely the topics of what can be done. It is extremely lacking of details of anything that you may need to implement. (If you are a system Admin I would hope you would not need this weak reference.) For implementing the SMS product, especially in an enterprise setting, It is a horrible reference.

This book is good for setting up the software on the servers and on the clients,and gives an overview of how it functions along with the different services and how they interact, but to truely use sms u need to have some scripts, and this book sorely lacked any sms scripting training or setup, what scripting information was given was very vague...

First of all, let me say this: I'm a big James Dean fan, I love the guy. The bio had given a lot of info, especially about his childhood. However it may have gone too far with Jimmys sexuality. Some parts kind of lead me to believe that the auther himself was gay and made a statement with this biography. Although the biography had told a lot about Jimmy, there was also a lot more details that needed to be added. And with Deans relationship with Pier Angeli, I thought needed a lot more detail. Nevertheless though, the book is a supurb one.

Honestly, the book isn't as bad as the others have said about it. I'll admit at times the book was getting too graphic in some of the descriptions of Dean's sexual life, but I wouldn't consider Alexander's portrayal of Dean's enigmatic lifestyle as being tastelessly done. Since Dean's death and his past encounters with the various people mentioned in the book remain a mystery, you should judge for yourself whether or not the book is factual. Overall, it was a really fast read and I recommend this book if you want to read up more on the tragedy of James Dean.

Of course James Dean as subject matter is about as fascinating as icons get...but this can be done interestingly, or in a empty, methodic, matter-of-fact way. Fortunately Alexander chose to eloquently string together Jimmy's whole life in such poetic form. You can't help but watch-as if on the silver screen-a birth to death biography highlight reel, in your mind. Other reviews' complaints about the sexual prominence pervading the work seem to suggest the readers were uncomfortable with bi-or homo-sexuality to begin with; thus causing a jaded un-objective viewpoint. Yes, some of the sexual references are superfluous, but never pornographic as other reviewers imply. I have read 8 JamesDean bios and found this to be the easiest and most comfortable read of all. It reads like a novel, not a history book, which I for one like. If all you want are the core statistics of ultimate highs and lows in his life, you could find that through some basic database. This is still my favorite bio on Jimmy. And if you have the consciousness to digest sexual references with maturity(rather than with the disgust and fear of a hateful homophobic) none of the mentions of homosexuality should shock Any reader more than those of heterosexuality. The book IS about his Whole Life-Not just sex. Learn who Dean was, Love him for his ravenous exploration life, and his refusal to compromise himself for anyone. Enjoy!

This is the last (chronologically speaking) of Clavell's Asian series that started four centuries ago with "Shogun" and proceeded through "Tai-Pan", "King Rat" and "Noble House" ("Gai-Jin", which takes place earlier, was published after this book). It's a gallant effort that continues the Noble House's business adventures, only this time it's a subsidiary company that provides helicopter operations in Iran at the time Khomeini came to power. The main problem, however, is, at least for me, he genuinely has a difficult time getting the reader to really care about either his characters or the plot as a whole. Samurai warlords are interesting, Chinese political intrigues and business/criminal enterprises allied with European colonists in Hong Kong are interesting, but the Iranian Revolution and its effects on a handful of expatriate helicopter pilots are not. Part of what made Clavell such a good writer was he really had a feel for the intricacies of the Far East, its culture and its people. He presents both as a combination of the exotic and the familiar, the Japanese and the Chinese possessed cultures that may have been alien to the Europeans of the time, but are nonetheless fascinating to us because of their sophistication and their historical depth. In contrast, the Iranians are presented as, well, boring. The Shah was a decadent, if sometimes progressive, tyrant, but the fanatical Islamic fundamentalists that gave him the Order of the Boot are simply mindless thugs, medieval throwbacks whose "solution" to modern life is to wind back the clock to the 7th century. It's almost impossible to take such people and create a great fictional drama around their actions in Iran, no matter how valiantly Clavell tries.

I bought Whirlwind at a used bookstore with a mixture of anticipation and regret. Anticipation because Clavell always writes one hell of a good book. Regret because, besides "the Children's Story," this was the only Clavell book I hadn't read, and, due to his unfortunate death in 1993, I guess we won't be seeing anything new from him ever again (will anything be released posthumously?) Instead of his normal Japanese or Chinese locales Clavell delves into Iran, circa 1979. The Revolution is going on and it's looking bad for the European and American members of an Iran-based helicopter company, secretly owned by the Noble House of Hong Kong. Clavell flawlessly combines the small struggles in life, like taboo, cross-cultural loves, business, life and death, with the religous zealously that swept across a nation and changed it dramatically. All of his familiar plots and subplots are here, not as manifold as "Noble House," but still the novel is much deeper and far-reaching than just about any other modern fiction. And character? Every one of Clavell's characters seem to be cut out of real-life, with their own dreams and desires and challenges. One last cool thing is that certain characters from Noble House appear in this book, letting us see what's happened in their lives in the past seventeen years (Noble House takes place in 1962.) My recommendation: if you like Clavell, you'll like this, even though it all takes place in the Middle East, with no Asian locales. If you can, read it in order, after Noble House, as chronologically this is the last of the Eastern Saga, even though "Tai-Pan" was written in 1993.

There are several important things to note about Whirlwind: one, it continues the saga of the Noble House, begun back in "Tai-Pan," by showing us some of what's become of Ian Dunross and his clan. Two, chronologically it falls after all the other books in this series, and since Clavell has passed away, this is probably as much of a conclusion as we're likely to get. It provides a "whirlwind" tour of Iran at the start of the Revolution but prior to the taking of American hostages. While the usual European power-brokers dominate much of this book, sharing time and pages with fervent, machine-gun-weilding revolutionaries, the characters who stood out most in my mind were the Iranian women. Sharazad and Azadeh bend but never break in this tempest and linger in the mind long after the story is over. Not the best book in the Asian Saga, but not the worst, either. If only Clavell had lived long enough to answer the questions surrounding the Struan/Dunross dynasty this book poses...

Professional JavaScript is great as a reference and one can find some good nuggets in some of the non-reference chapters. However, if you do not already have formal programming training, and possibly some good familiarity with JavaScript itself, the book may do you better just as a reference tool. Also, because it was written by so many people (each one responsible for a different chapter) the text reads more like a disjointed collection of essays.

The first 750 pages or so of the book comprises the main content of the book. It is divided into 20 chapters, covering just about every aspect of the language. Some of the more advanced chapters, which I did not get a chance to read, are integrating JavaScript with Java, Server-side JavaScript, and stand-alone JavaScript via Windows Script Host. There are also chapters on integrating JavaScript with ASP, and detailed looks at a couple of fairly complex JavaScript systems including a family tree and an ecommerce tool. The problem is that there's little ramp-up. There are lots of code examples throughout the text, but they are primarily small snippets. So it's like shock therapy when you are presented with such major applications of coding without anything in between! But this has to do more with the aforementioned nature of the book in that so many different authors with different styles and topics wrote it. Some of the chapters are great; they have some really good information that any level of programmer can use. The chapters on Forms and Data, Multimedia Plugins, Debugging and Disappearing Data, and Windows and Frames were all extremely helpful. Other chapters for me were completely useless to me - they droned on and on about theoretical issues without getting into practically any coding. I had great hopes for the chapter on Privacy, Security and Cookies, as well as the one on Rapid Application Development, but neither was helpful at all.

The last 300 pages or so comprises the reference section. The reference section is great, it goes into every aspect of the language, including the core language attributes, objects and methods, and there are a ton of JavaScript/browser comparison charts that give you a great idea of what functions and features will be available to you in Netscape and IE from the earliest version to the latest.

Ultimately what you get out Professional JavaScript really depends on your level of expertise when it comes to programming. I do not personally have any formal training - it's all been self-taught, so some of the more advanced stuff, though I'm sure I could learn it given the need, was not presented in a way that instructs people who do not have a familiarity with advanced programming techniques. There seems to be a lingo that some programmers use when talking about programming and for people who don't have formal programming training (or haven't been programming since they were nine) is just completely baffling. Most O'Reilly books seem to be full of this, but then they are written for the professional programmer. Professional JavaScript, as the name implies, probably is as well, however, there is enough great information here for any kind of programmer, and you just have to be selective as to which chapters you try to tackle.

As a web developer, I've been using this book for the better part of a year now. That, coupled with the fact that it's getting a little worn, should be a testament to its overall usefulness. I haven't yet found a professional application for the advanced material presented -- I mainly work in DHTML -- but I like knowing that if I had to do server-side JavaScript, for instance, I could.

However, the reference chapters -- always the most important part of a computer text -- are fairly useless. The IE DOM is hardly explained -- it could warrant a book of its own, but this book's sketchy outline is useless. The way the appendixes are laid out is inconsistent and not visual enough -- you have to dig for the information you need (for instance, which browser supports which core object).

Finally, and worst of all, the methods reference doesn't give you any clue as to the parameters of the methods! I often find myself looking up the object description here, then going to MSDN to se what the parameters are. How silly.

3 of 5, because it *could* have been truly the only JavaScript book any serious programmer needs. As is, I'm off to the store to finally get a decent reference book. (Problem there is that all of them pre-date IE5. Where's the update, O'Reilly?)

I am your typical Web architect. Not really a pro, but knowledgeable enough to make me one of the best people in my company to work with consultants and do a certain amount of pre-visualization and early prototyping. My project is to get an Intranet/Extranet completed using either Microsoft or alternative products. I have to research and oversee (with others) implementation of both visual design and user functionality, for client (Intranet and Extranet clients) and server ends (including administrative tools).

I know the tools I "want" to use and the strategy I want to take, but I need some hard facts and intermediate to advanced descriptions of implementations.

This book has what I need.

Facts. Loads of example scripts. Analysis of using Java and Javascript. Analysis of extending application functionality through standalone script interpreters. Security issues. Client issues (for all relevant browsers) Server issues (for all relevant servers).

Awesome. Definitely the fruit of an enormous (there's that word again) amount of expertise and trial and error development.

If you have a little bit of knowledge about Web technologies (graphics, databases, servers, browsers and plug-ins), and have some familiarity with programming principles (best if you've taken a programming course or studied on your own for a few months) this book will be the glue that ties it all together for you.

Part reference guide, part bible, and all relevant.