This book is very useful for planning the trip. For example, the author suggests that the "bamboo temple" outside of Kunming is of most interest. It is a bit off the path, and would have been missed if not for this recommendation. The brass drums in the Yunnan Museum are very interesting.

I found that almost everything mentioned in the detailed advice about less permanent sites had changed, but then noticed my bookstore had sold me the 1987 edition! There were some amusing discoveries: the restaurant for workers, peasants, and soldiers had been changed to an expensive linen tablecloth place called "Ambrosia."

This book has a lot of information on this less-popular but nonetheless worth-visiting region. The author's voice is quite objective, unlike Lonely Planet's, which can sometimes be sarcastic. The photographs are pretty captivating. There were lots of good facts. There aren't very many books on just this region, so if you're planning to go, I'd definitely recommend getting this one. One drawback: no Chinese characters for the names of cities, sights, and other Chinese terms.

Ambassador Melady has succesfully brought together prominnet catholics from various fields to present to the catholic community the vocation and calling that each of us has from God. The essays in this book show how each of us, no matter what our occupation or station in life, have a unique and important role as catholics.

I loved this book! It is a wonderful easy read and the author's sense of humor keeps you laughing! His spin on Science Fiction and comedy has put this book on my favorite books to read over and over again! The best word to describe this book is "Addictive!"

My 9-year daughter & I loved this book. The star of this story is a very bright, physically clumsy girl who is socially out of it with her cousins. She has adventures & saves the day using her ingenuity. In the process she earns the respect & friendship of her cousins. Some of the metaphysical time travel concepts (i.e., parallel realities based on different outcomes to certain events) were hard for a 9-year old to understand, but she could certainly relate to the characters. She found the book very exciting & couldn't put it down.

In "Walking with Thomas Merton," the teacher, lecturer and author Robert Waldron allows us to follow him through a summer as he prepares a presentation on the works of the Trappist poet for a September retreat. It is a journal-like chronicle of Waldron's contact with one of the more energetic minds of the age, a glimpse into the impressions of a humbly astute reader as he encounters Merton's thought in poetry and prose.

The book assumes a familiarity with the works of Merton, but readers who have encountered only two or three Merton books need not fear: Waldron's style is accessible and congenial, sometimes surprisingly, pleasantly conversational. He speaks as one reader to another, one spiritual explorer to another, confident that we will catch his enthusiasm not only for Merton, but for poetry in general.

As we see Robert Waldron sift through the compendious opus of the celebrated monk, making choices about which poems to present in his lecture, which portions of the prose to incorporate, we see him remembering when he first encountered Merton, we get brief commentary on how the work affected him (we echo his praise for the poetic prose in "A Vow of Conversation" and share his befuddlement at the attempted innovation of "Geography of Lograire"); we receive a sense of Merton's influences, and are pointed in the direction of his kindred spirits. He is compared, briefly and sagely, to another Catholic author and diarist, the late Henri Nouwen -- the differences being highlighted, as well as the similarities.

The life of Merton is generously assessed: the monk is lauded, justly, for his refusal to abandon his Cistercian life at a time of much turbulence for Church, nation, and the monk himself. His explorations into Buddhism are seen as evidence of a magnanimously ecumenical spirit; his affection for a Louisville nurse, as a humanizing moment that broadened and made tender the heart and soul of the monk. (We are offered a small but moving excerpt of one of the "Eighteen Poems," written during the days when monk and nurse were often in each other's company. It might be worth noting that "Learning to Love," volume 6 of Merton's journals, contains three or four excellent poems from this time.) Merton's sometimes uncritical enthusiasm for the politics of the left is not dealt with extensively, as Waldron's concern here is with the contemplative, creative, and poetic aspects of Thomas Merton's life-work.

"Walking with Thomas Merton" is the culmination of a lifelong enthusiasm for Robert Waldron, and he manages to convey, charmingly and disarmingly, why Merton's poems and prose fascinate him, and just might fascinate us. Merton's poems (and all fine poetry, as Waldron can attest, being an English teacher) cause us to pause from the hustle and hullaballoo, and gently urge us to pay attention to the minute particulars we often overlook, to go with the poet to a quiet space and re-create ourselves. Waldron baptizes (literally, immerses or plunges) himself in the poetry of Thomas Merton, that he might better speak forth the word (praedicare verbum) to his September retreatants. That we are allowed a glimpse of the retreat via the book's final pages, and to be alongside Waldron as he prepares for it, is a significant blessing. Waldron has given us a triune ode: to Thomas Merton, to the art of writing, and to those grace-filled moments of regenerative serenity that, please God, happen in the lives of us all.

Phew. Judging by this book, Merton was a much better person than he was a writer. Maybe I went into this book expecting too much, but I finished the book utterly unimpressed with what it had to say. It boils down to a series of very discrete strategies for living one's life in a loving and satisfying way. I can't really ``disagree'' with it--yeah sure, ok, love is good, uh-huh--but that doesn't stop me from wishing Merton were a lot more explicit and rigorous in his prescriptions. As it stands, I don't know how anyone could possibly profit from reading this touchy-feely manifesto.

This collection of some of Mertons mature work from the 1960's covers, in essay form, meditations on love, life, death, Christian Humanism and more (you want more! ), always given the penetrating and broad social perspective of one very spiritual master, who chose to share with us. Still relevant.

Some of the questions contained in this book seem to come from other sources.

I also found that the questions were unclear, poorly phrased, and contained discrepancies.

There is some merit in reviewing this book before testing, but you would think that with all the contributors (9 being CISSPs), that the answers on the sample exam would be correct. Two of the first 100 questions (#67 and #97) of the sample exam are wrong and a handful of others were borderline. Even though they may have quoted other sources, being a CISSP, the authors should have known difference.

While studing for the CISSP exam, my time is best used for absorbing facts, not proofreading. I did not finish the sample exam for fear of committing errors to memory (my protection domain).

However, in all fairness, the questions segmented by domain appear to be of better quaility.

Full Disclosure: I've worked with all of the contributing authors of this book and consider them friends of mine. I also consider each of them consummate professionals who truly know their stuff.

This book is NOT for those who are just beginning their study for the CISSP exam. It IS for those who are nearly ready to take the exam and simply need to ensure that they have a complete understanding of the 10 domains and the types of questions likely to be on the exam. (One reviewer states that some of the questions are unclear... well, *perhaps* that is true, but then again so are the questions on the actual exam. The purpose of this book is to prepare you for that exam and I believe it closely mirrors what you are likely to see when you sit for the CISSP test... therefore, the book accomplishes it's goal very well indeed.)

This book does not replace books such as Shon Harris' excellent "CISSP All-In-One Exam Guide". Nor does it try to do so. Nor should it. Shon's book is excellent for those who need full disclosure of all of the information covered in the ten domains... those who are just beginning their CISSP study. This book is more of of a polisher for those who already know most of the material and just need to find (and plug) knowledge gaps... and for that purpose, it is nothing short of outstanding!

In short, I highly recommend this book. It is not for everyone and most will need to work up to it. But if your almost ready to take the CISSP exam, then you should definately go through the questions in this book first.

Keith Palmgren, CISSP

Save your money!! This is the most superficial book on complex subject of the history of U.S.-Vatican relations ever written! Without the slightest doubt, a High School senior would have done a better job on both the subject matter - and on the prose! In effect, from the author's own admission, it would seem that he did not take a step in the diplomatic field without first consultling his spouse. In addition, he seems to have had her accompany him to most of his major diplomatic meetings! Let us hope Ambassador L. Boggs will do a better job describing her mission at a key U. S. diplomatic post at the end of her tenure in Rome!

I found this book to be an enjoyable easy read! Ambassador Melady is a deep and interesting author. My only complaint is that i felt there was more to the story that he may not have been aloud to say! As a politically apointed Ambassador he seemed to really work for what he believed in! He is an insperation.

The book appears to be a collection of paragrahps from a myriad sources on the same subject. A very non-scholarly book.

As someone new to the field of High Temperature Electronics, this book was of inestimable help to me in coming up to speed rapidly. Using the valuable information provided in this easy to read resource, I was able to complete a system design in rapid time and under budget. I would highly recommend this book to others in this field.

I read this book in 1988 just prior to arriving in Burundi as a Peace Corps volunteer.

The author, the former US Ambassador to Burundi during the 1972 massacre, suggests that Burundi would be better served if they geographically divided the country along ethnic lines: part Hutu and part Tutsi.

I chuckled at the notion, and after 3 years living in Burundi, I felt that the mere suggestion was riduculous.

With violence ongoing in Burundi, it seems that on a certain level, perhaps sub-division is a valid idea, but that would be akin to the US being two seperate countries: North and South.

Peace will only come to Burundi when the various warring factions realize that power must be shared.