Well, isn't THIS a fun book! The material is extremely diverse-- some is merely cool, though not altogether useful, while other material (such as the great chapter on separating form from function) can go a long way to helping you produce more functional, configurable sites. All through the book the reader is offered insight on techniques that will keep the file size down, and since this is the most important aspect of the book, I would have perhaps liked a checklist near the top or an index at the end of these of these ideas. As it stands, you have to go through each tutorial (although they are all interesting) to get a full list of byte-saving techniques. Not a major drawback, but a small chapter that gathered all of the authors' tricks together would have been useful.

i have just bought this book, i began actionscripting about two or three months ago.
This book showed me some bad mistakes i made in programming just by doing the first three tutorials(the mouse follower, fire, smoke,fireworks)

I'm taking it step by step, but one thing is sure this book is the book for me.it explains things i like and in a way i want to see it explained.
In some of the first examples in the book one of the authors explaind emitters, particles movement, waves and amplitude.

this are some of the things in the first chapter and i really like likelikelike IT.
This book isn't a good book 4 people who don't know nothing of flash(as), but you really don't have to be a flash(as) or math expert to understand a lot of the things.
(i havent got through the whole book though, i trying to learn the examples one by one and i want 2 make sure i don't go through it to fast)

Very Good book, buying it is definitely no mistake

Finally somebody's seen fit to gather these kinds of techniques. It says on the cover youre looking at files under 4 KB, but most of these are like under 2. It's got a really good balance, going from some staple stuff to begin -- mouse trails and smoke effects and fireworks through simple scripting. After that, it passes into the really useful things, like an animated photo gallery, with gorgeous wipes and fades. I haven't yet got on to the later stuff that I've just never seen anywhere before -- an interactive 3D city, and sound! A big thumbs up, and it should have been called bit-size.

I bought this book because my son has taken an interest in dandelions and I thought it would be fun to cook a few recipes for him. I was pleasantly surprised by all the information in the book - nutrition of dandelions is covered extensively, as well as some folklore on the plant and not to mention more recipes than I could try in a year. Ideas on how to extend the harvest are included as well.

My only negative thoughts - the author states that he has over 600 recipes for dandelions, but only shares a fraction of them! He has also written a book on daylillies, which I will definitely get.

This is an excelent book lots of good recipes.I bought this book at lemans.com for 10.95 brand new.same book

The author writes in an easy to read style and is obviouslybiased towards the weed they love. recipes. END

Extrenuating and overbearing at first. I kept sighing and wondering when the barage of puns would stop. Then I sat back and enjoyed it. The book messes with your mind. At one moment, you think you understand how the author structured the book and then you think you can be ready for any setup of a pun or paradigm shift. But then it catches you off-guard. If you're put off by a book that catches you sleeping, then this book isn't for you. Otherwise, have fun!

A great parody! Robert Waller deserved every bit of it!!! I liked the part about the main oaf (main character) so stylishly opening beer bottles with his teeth! This makes good fun of Waller's original silly trashy book, where the sleazy (but gloriously "romantic") unfaithful farm housewife is so taken by her bohemian hero's sensuous ways of opening beer cans and lighting cigarettes! You're desperately looking for a reason to leave your husband or wife? Not to worry, just LOOK at the way that slob doesn't light cigarettes and open beer cans in just that precisely correct, sensuous way!!! Other parts of the book were good as well. Making the anti-heroes into low-brows for humor grew a bit stale, though, for being over-done. I like to ALSO make lots of fun of the original "Bridges" for being ridiculous in making a virtue out of unreason. The less rational you are, the more you are morally superiour to others, merely boring rational types that they are, some silly pseudo-sophisticates like Waller will have us believe. If you want a good spoof of "Bridges" done from that perspective, see the chapter "Grain Elevators of Madness County" in the book, "Jurassic Horde Whisperer of Madness County".

From the momentI first grasped this weighty tome between my turgid palms, it consumed me - consumed me the way a sponge consumes water or the way a drunk fraternity boy consumes a piece of pepperoni pizza (except if this book were a pizza, it would definitely have anchovies and probably peppers too). The book reads evenly - first you turn one page and then another - and so on, and so on, and so on, until, just when you and the book have reached a deep level of personal intimacy - it ends. It's gone, and like yesterday's meatloaf, the memory just spoils. great book

I bought this one for my daughter who was studying Robert Frost in first grade. The illustrations are lovely, and she treasures the book. The only disappointment was that it doesn't contain the poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay" (one of our favorites). From the cover picture, I'd expected it to contain that one.
Still, I'm glad I bought it for her.

I have read this book by Robert Frost end to end. When I first saw this book I had to read it. I read Robert Frost last year in school. This book can be read to any age at any time. I thik some of Robert Frosts pomes can tech kids about life. That is what I think of this Robert Frost book.

I love Robert Frost's poetry and was looking for a good way to introduce his wonderful words to young children. I have found that way through this beautiful book. I am an assistant principal and can't wait to share this book with my teachers and students. As I read this book, I felt like I was in New England during all four seasons. A must buy for poetry lovers and Robert Frost fans.

The map and information provided are quite good, but the illustrations are disappointing, I would have rather seen photographs.

In June of 2000 I used this map to visit Lighthouses in Maine. This map was very useful. On one side is a map pointing out the locations. On the other side there are details for each individual light such as: directions, hours, and phone numbers. I am from Michigan so I was not familiar with New England at all. Some of these lights were hard to find even with the map because some roads are not clearly marked. But I did find everything I was looking for. The price of these maps is an incredible bargain. Some people buy two of them so they can hang one on the wall to display the watercolor images and get another to use.

the book made it very easy to find where the lighthouses are located. nice article about each one.

This book has some wonderful ideas contained between its covers. The underlying assumption is that people are either motivated by rewards or punishment. There is a flowchart that helps you understand how to influence (read manipulate) people into behaving as you want them to.

The author gives many examples that make it seem as though his method of dealing with people is the most effective one. There are more aspects to leadership and management than he describes, and I can just picture in my mind's eye a person with no people skills trying to apply these techniques to his work. Then I get scared.

I would suggest reading books by more principle centered authors first - such as the various Covey books or other ones. If you are just looking for a new perspective, buy it. If you are frustrated because nobody seems to listen to you and you want to manipulate them all to do your bidding - please quit your job. This book wont help you.

This book will change how you deal with performance problems of all sorts. Mager's step-by-step approach can be used in a broad range of situations, including team environments, manager/employee relationships, production situations, and even with your children! He makes it easy to see the logical solution that may currently be evading you.

Ann Pavkovic / Consulting Technical Writer

Before you begin your discussion of performance problems by talking about training, you need to read this common sense book by Robert F. Mager and Peter Pipe. Following a systematic algorithm, you will learn to identify your performance problem, decide how critical the problem is, and identify the underlying reasons for the existence of your problem. Problems can be a result of invisible expectations (you didn't tell me how) or what the book calls "upside-down consequences" (doing it right is not as rewarding as doing it wrong).

Using many common sense examples, this book demonstrates that solutions other than training can solve your performance problems. In fact, you will discover that training may be a useless solution that will not solve your problem. Until you take apart the expected performance, look at the component parts, and identify why the performer chooses the wrong action, you cannot correct the performance deficiency.

Training as a possible solution does not appear until the middle of the book. Training is needed because a person has never performed as required and does not know how to perform as required. Training can also help when skills have decayed over time and training is needed to refresh them.

When you look at human performance, you need to remember that people will usually follow the path of least resistance. They do not choose wrong performance because they want to be wrong. They choose the wrong performance because it is the best solution for them. Mager and Pipe uncover why people make these choices and offer you a way to achieve the correct performance you seek.

As a longtime follower of the annual Project Censored guides, I was distressed by the last few editions, which were becoming marred by whiny conspiracy theories and a bleeding-heart editorial style (especially the 2001 edition). This latest 2002/03 edition gets back on track with a newly hard-hitting stance on the increasing weaknesses of the mainstream media. Given the partial revival of seriousness in the media world after 9-11, Project Censored has in turn hardened its stance on the new realities in the media and why certain types of stories continue to be censored. As usual, the problem is profit-driven media conglomerates that focus on lowest-common-denominator fluff to appease advertisers; and empty patriotism that actually becomes an unquestioning acceptance of simplistic government dogma, especially concerning the causes and effects of 9-11.

The control of most of the US media by a shrinking number of huge multinational corporations continues to be a very serious problem. This can be seen in this year’s preponderance of censored stories that involve corporate wrongdoing and corruption. You don’t get these stories in the mainstream media because they will damage the profitability for shareholders in those controlling corporations. Another dangerously recurring theme this year is the harsh effects of globalization on sovereign nations and disadvantaged peoples, and the media’s pathological disdain for globalization’s opponents. There is mounting evidence that nobody benefits from globalization, NAFTA, or the WTO but corporations and their largest shareholders. But in the corporate media you won’t hear this. That’s why the Project Censored analysis of these trends is so important.

This edition delivers strong treatments of these dire trends in the corporate-controlled media and offers in-depth coverage of these worthy but under-reported stories. There are also several supporting essays by media analysts and watchdogs that are fascinating in their own right. The only glitches in this book are two particular essays that detract from the analytical nature of the rest of the book and drift into self-serving opinions. These are "Power Sources" by Ina Howard, a mind-numbing and predictable parade of statistics with few big-picture conclusions; and "Truth About Afghan Casualties..." by Marc W. Herold, which contains useful information but an annoying amount of self-aggrandizement and a debunking of the author's opponents that seems like more of a personal crusade than a quest for the truth. Fortunately, overall this edition of the great Project Censored series achieves its goals in bringing tragically hidden and extremely important stories the attention they deserve.

The battle to free the press is still being waged on the fringes, but progress is being made. More and more people are losing faith in their corporate news sources, and there is good reason. People know that there is more than they are being told. That things are not merely black and white, good vs. evil. And more and more people are starting to view media reform as a viable subject for political debate. But you won't hear about it in the mainstream media. Luckily, people like Project Censored and Seven Stories Press are doing an excellent job of both getting the news out there and offering critique of the corporate news conglomerates. Censored 2003 offers an excellent introduction by Robert McChesney on the current state of the media in the U.S., the top 25 "Censored" stories and runners up from the late 2001 and 2002 (Censored in that they did not receive nearly the coverage the issues warrant in importance.) Also included is Mark Crispin Miller's diagram of the "Big Ten", the ten leading media conglomerates listing all of their media holdings and earnings... looking this over, you start to feel how enormous and just plain not right their power is. Also included is an essay on the New York School Systems censored standardized literature and reading comprehension tests, a detailed account of how the U.S. military works for big oil (the stuff of conspiracy theories one may think, but reading the hard facts and evidence will make you think again) and some excellent cartoons from the famed Tom Tomorrow. All this and more, and without commercial interruption. If you wanna know what you didn't know in the past year, pick this up.

A *great* book, filled with many stories the main stream US media chose not to cover, or to under-cover, undoubtedly because of their corporate interests. It's truly amazing what is hidden from the American people.

Also, worth at least the price of the book itself, the last 65 pages are listings of additional resources ... organizations, publications, web sites ... hundreds of places to find additional independent (ie- not corporate sponsored) views on the world.

BTW, contrary to the previous review, I contacted Seven Stories press, and they informed me that this book at amazon and the book available at their site are identical... amazon is apparently just a little slow to update their description/cover photo.

If you have read The Essential Drucker, Balanced scorecard etc. , the book essentially has the same information repeated under a different title. Recommend Essential Drucker, Balanced Score card which is more comprehensive than this title.

This collection of eight articles from the HBR is a must IF AND ONLY IF you want the only highlights of some of the new management tools and theories out there. If you've ever wondered what Activity-Based Costing (ABC) is or what Kaplan's "Balanced Scorecard" is all about, this may be just the introductory text for you. I mention these two tools first since 2 out of 8 articles deal with ABC, either in whole or in part, while another 3 deal specifically with the balanced scorecard. So, if you've got ABC and the balanced scorecard already firmly laid out in your head, this may be a bit redundant.

The remaining three articles are still worth a quick read though. I found in one article, "How the Right Measures Help Teams Excel," ideas that I hadn't seen anywhere else (for example, the team "dashboard"). And, the "How High is Your Return on Management?" article might give managers a moment of reflection on whether or not they have a good ROM and what they can do to improve it.

As I stated before, much of this is merely highlights though. Do not expect to be able to use this book as a primary source to implement any of the measures. It's a tease that gets you excited (at least it did me), but doesn't provide much of a game plan for bringing it all about.

Still, if what you want is a quick overview and a few case studies where these principles and tools have been applied, by all means, read this. It's worth at least that much.

Looking for some informative, original and clear thinking about measuring performance? This book is a great choice! This is a collection of eight outstanding articles selected from past editions of the HBR. The articles cover such subjects as activity-based costing, the use of nonfinancial criteria, and tools executives require to generate the information needed. Each article begins with an executive summary which, for the fast-forward crowd, is a big plus.

So many books are merely ONE GOOD ARTICLE embedded in a thicket of verbiage. Chopping away through such a jungle of verbosity for the gist-of-it-all often proves tedious and disappointing. (Blessed are the laconic!) This book, on the other hand, just serves up a bunch of 'gists' -the pure meat and potatoes of ideas. Happily, the HBSP has published several other collections of this sort on such topics as knowledge management, change, and strategies for growth. Each of these is collection of first-rate 'gists'. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and the Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.

I have learned to be skeptical of financial privacy and asset protection books, most promise far more than they deliver--this book is no exception.

When it arrived from Amazon, my doubts began when I saw that the book was shrink wrapped. This usually means they don't want potential customers actually looking at the content in the bookstore. Also, the back cover prominently displays an internet site for the book. This Web site links you to the authors' professional Web site.

In my opinion this book is an overpriced infomercial for the authors' legal services.

The first one-third of the book is devoted to stating the obvious, that personal financial data is readily available for purchase and that our society is highly litigious. Is there anyone out there who didn't realize this?

Most of the rest of the book is devoted to an overly general discussion of various legal entities for asset protection and privacy such as corporations, family partnerships, limited liability companies, and trusts. For those who are unfamiliar with these issues, the book provides an adequate introduction to the topic. The book is 268 pages in length, but the author squanders page after page on filler, fluff and padding. Obviously, the authors want you to to go on to purchase their legal services.

In my opinion, the authors' enthusiasm for the limited liability company is a bit premature. This is a relatively new legal entity and there is not a large body of case law--especially in the complex and thorny area of asset protection. Also, there is no meaningful discussion of the all important tax implications of the choice of an LLC over that of a S or C corporation.

Despite the title, there is very little useful discussion of privacy preservation devices and there is much more emphasis on asset protection. The authors tend to overstate the protection afforded by privacy trusts and to understate the level of inconvenience that can result from their use--and there is absolutely no discussion of the costs of setting up and maintaining any of the plans they recommend.

I was particularly dismayed by one of their case studies in which they set up a privacy trust to hold title to the modest real estate and financial assets of an elderly client. In such instances, I would tend to advise conveying the residence to the person(s) she intends to bequeath the property to, while retaining a life estate to protect her interests. This would be much less expensive to set up and would have almost no maintenance costs, unlike the privacy trust.

On the plus side, the authors do a good job of warning people about offshore tax evasion schemes and other absurd internet scams.

Also, the authors overstate the benefit of keeping a low financial profile. Asset searches are quite expensive. A potential litigant who believes you have hidden assets may simply file the suit and in discovery (usually via an inexpensive interrogatory) will demand disclosure of all your interests in corporations, trust, etc.) If you perjure yourself and get caught--you're in big trouble. If you are not the big fish he thought you were, the litigant will at least try and pick up some chump change--and even the weakest of cases do have nuisance settlement value. Keeping a low profile is a great idea, but it is no panacea. What the authors call dangerous assets should be protected by some limited liability vehicle, but the choice between a corp. and an LLC is often more driven by tax implications than legal issues. Your first stop should be your accountant, not your lawyer.

While this book has some good points, it unfortunately seems to be intended to generate clients and legal fees for the authors.

I only wish the authors had written the book the title implies--a solid, detailed, practical manual on maximizing personal privacy. I believe there is a good market for such a book. There are already enough mediocre books on asset protection.

This book will make anyone think twice before giving out any type of personal information. There are several books written on this topic but none of them explain the issues they way Mintz and Doft do. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in protecting their privacy.

I found the book very interesting. We all know we have less privacy today than yesterday, but this book brings it home in a very personal way. If you have assets, this book is a must read.

My wife waxed rhapsodic over the prose and poetry inherent in Fanny Burney's neglected classic The Wanderer. The narrativ tells an exciting story of the French Revolution era even though the action occurs mainly in England. The "Incognita" is a fascinating character who moves through English society as a subordinate to the rich and cruel society folk with whom she is forced by circumstances to live. "Miss Ellis endures the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunate to triumph over her enemies at last. Burney's prose is musical and her sentences flow with insight into the human condition. As a friend of Hesther Thrale
she was influenced by that excellent writer. Her father was the famed musician Dr. Charles Burney a close friend of Dr. Johnson. If you want to look at a classic of early feminism and encounter one female difficulty after another this is a good place to begin.
I liked the novel so well I am now engrossed in Burney's second novel "Cecilia" with her first work "Evelina" on my reading list.
Fanny Burney is an excellent new author to explore and be enriched by as you loose yourself in her voluminous pages!
Well recommended!

"The Wanderer" is a wonderful novel detailing the struggles faced by a single woman in England in the era of the French Revolution, who due to circumstances beyond her control must remain nameless and "family-less" and thus rely on the charity and goodwill of strangers. Readers familar with Jane Austen's writing will recognize a similar style, indeed Fanny Burney was an inspiration to Miss Austen, yet with an even more critical eye turned towards the upper-middle-class social structure.

I found it a little more plodding in parts than "Evelina," my favorite of Burney's novels, as Burney occasionally gets bogged down in minutiae of social interactions, but even those long descriptions give insight into what details would have been considered monstrously important to Burney's contemporary audience.

Regardless, the difficulties faced by the nameless heroine and the mystery of her circumstances are more than enough to engage any fan of 18th and early 19th century literature.

Fanny Burney's _The Wanderer_, her last published book, is the best of all her works. The heroine is easy to love, and only a callous reader could not feel pity for her friendless situation. The basic premise is this: a young, elegant woman of obvious good breeding is suddenly forced to flee France for mysterious reasons. But she has lost all of her possessions during her crossing of the Channel, and she finds herself in England, friendless, penniless, and completely dependant on the charity of those around her. The crux of the novel is how she is able to get by under these circumstances. Her fortitude is uplifting, and her plight shows us the problems women had two centuries ago in merely obtaining a subsistence upon which to live. The plot gets more and more complex as we find out about the life of the Wanderer herself. We don't discover her name for the first time until the middle of the book! _The Wanderer_ is a truly engaging novel, and once read, it becomes clear why Fanny Burney was one of Jane Austen's favorite authors.