A bleak book that was difficult for me to finish. While the author sketches the landscape wildly beautiful in its austerity and the book seems very well researched, the characters are somewhat flat and unreachable. While the writing is fine, the story drags and becomes oppressive. Tragedy, betrayal, abuse, selfishness and hopelessness abound. The ending is a bit of surprise, but still grey and dull. Let me recommend Lillian Beckwith's wonderful books if you are wanting a more upbeat (though hardly glamorized) glimpse of the Scottish Isles.

I found this book at the nursing home where I work. I don't know who dropped it off as there is no one there who would be interested in reading it. It has no relevance to most of us regular folks. We have no interest in Onassis or his family. Their problems aren't/weren't ours. We don't care about them!

I found this book provided a compassionate and insightful view about the lives of the Onassis family. Kiki, the author, was closely involved in the family's affairs and business matters, so her perception is close enough to dispell some of the gossip and rumors often associated with their tragedies. The descriptions of the Greek lifestyle and traditions are beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book while on vacation in the Greek isles portrayed by the author.

I missed the one page on Sam's training partners, mostly because the photo of his ice-breaking stunt was a real turnoff. The author should have written that he studied a number of non-Kenpo arts and trained with proficient partners. One line reads that he collected black belts in several other arts. The more I read, the fishier it gets. Kuoha will have to write a detailed chronicle of his training to explain his lineage. Right now, it appears that he has difficulty explaining how he inherited the top position of Chow's organization with a few years of off-site training.

After reading the book several times, I'm still left with the impression that Kuoha really needs a show to promote Chow's art. Somehow, I get the impression that the pressures of commercialism are great on the shoulders of Kuoha. Perhaps it's time to leave Kenpo and move on to disco karate.

2 stars is earned by the unique historical information on Prof. Chow in Ch. 1. Obviously, I am unable to make comments on his art. Detailed history would get 5 stars. Ch. 2-3 is about stretching, stances, and a plug for pills. Yawn. The photos include complete bodies. The captions seldom describe form rather than function. Yawn. There are more pictures of conditioning and leaping high kicks than anything else. That's acrobatics, not street fighting. There are many pictures of a female holding a foot high in the air. This looks like a book about tournament-oriented kickboxing.

Then, there's the touchy subject of mastery. Ok. Here's the fishy part. How does one secure a promotion from 1st degree black belt to 5th degree in two years (1978-80, plus his training with Chow from age 18-21) and then to 9th degree in four years, 1978-1984? Mastery takes a long time. Hand out grades do not. Kuoha writes that he was training remotely because he visited Chow weeks at a time. He insults all of the schools in California and doesn't mention a training partner in California. So, unless he names his training situation in California, we can only assume solo practice. In one chapter, Kuoha writes that these training sessions were 14-15 hrs/day. In another, 15-16 hrs/day. Didn't he check his own book? Also, he states that he medically retired from the police force and then renewed his studies with Chow. How does someone so physically-challenged manage to train hard core martial arts? This makes little sense to me. This situation deserves a more detailed explanation to rescue it from a a Grand Canyon in credibility.

Kuoha should write a detailed book on Kempo, specifically the training methods and demeanor of Chow. Little is written on the life of this Hawaiian pioneer. I bet Kuoha has a *lot* to offer, but it's not in this book.

I enjoyed Bootsie Barker Bites and thought it genuinely clever; however, Bootsie Barker Ballerina is simply too agressive--and I do not generally consider myself to be politically correct about these things. Bootsie is mean to others and they are mean to her, which doesn't really teach positive moral values. And while morality isn't everything, the book lacks the spark that Bootsie Barker Bites had.

My six-year old enjoyed this book, but she did not ask me to read it again.

Save your money and spend your time on the Linux Documentation Project web site.
This book does not contain a single useful detail on how to install and configure the software used to render documents, so make sure you're using a distribution of Linux which includes the tools. Windows users are out of luck.
None of the Chapter 5 example links work on the CD-ROM. The examples in the book and on the CD-ROM are not very complete or useful. The book and CD seem slapped together without organization or quality control. I'm sorry I bought it.

For a complete beginner, this book is OK, otherwise I think people are going to find it light on the details. Of course, it's the details that are hard to discover and get right.

Also, space was devoted to topics that are not really germane, like CVS, Emacs and vi. Of course one has to edit DocBook files, but devoting 3 chapters (out of 12 total) seems like padding.