What a book! I bought it... sort of sight unseen. (They don't have a graphic of the cover online...) I was having trouble finding any books on him in my local stores. What a painter! And this book really does an excellent job of recording his life's work. He was talented and very dedicated - continuing to paint even after having a stroke. I highly recommend this book to other painters interested in figurative painting (this seemed to be his specialty, though he has landscapes too.)

This beautiful 'coffeetable' book is something every Sudan scholar should take a look at, perhaps once a month? The book illustrates and catalogs an exhibit at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, and goes from Neolithic gravesites to the Christian era of Meroe. Anyone who doubted the complexity of prehistoric Nubian society will be convinced that here was an extremely interesting and complex society. The artisanship evident in the jewelry, construction of temples, and pottery, is stunningly skilled. If you can't justify buying it for yourself, give it as a gift to a friend.

Godfrey wrote the ultimate dive-guide to the Maldives. His book provides very useful informations to fact-seekers: Climate, water-temparature, marine life, wrecks and their history, current & tide, history of the maldives etc: It's all there. The information given about the islands is rather short, but precise. Anyhow, the book's best part is the description of the dive sites. A map shows precisly where to go, fotos give you an impression of the marine life to be found there, and the underwater photographer will appreciate the camera-sign that shows where it is worth taking the Nikons and motormarines down under. Especially on safari-boats a perfect aid to plan the day and the dive.

Walking into any half-way decent bookstore (or searching through an online alternative), the contemporary computer professional (or novice) is met with an overwhelming array of options (particularly in the realm of over-hyped technologies like Java). I've discovered a pretty good metric to separate the wheat from the chaff: look for Peter van Der Linden's name on the cover. If you see it, it's probably a good book. It's worked for me so far. Mr. van Der Linden has met his previously set high standards with the Third Edition of "Just Java". The new version is about twice as thick as the first edition and does well at keeping the reader up-to-date with the most recent major release of the JDK and its libraries. His chatty style is a pleasure to read. His historical and hysterical insights into the computer industry are fun diversions (thus it isn't "Just" about Java), but the bottom line is that this is a comprehensive overview of the Java language, industry and environment. The box on the back of the book qualifies it as aimed at the experienced programmer. That is probably a good thing not due to any inaccesibility, but because the book doesn't provide too many working examples (probably my only substantive criticism). Instead, it is assumed that the reader is sophisticated enough to look at examples from the JDK distribution itself. Bar that, this is the most thorough coverage of the subject I've seen in a single book (and *CERTAINLY* the most fun!).

On the advice of a coworker, I picked up this book by Peter. I have experience in C and C++, and this book is a *fun* read and doesn't have the overly stuffy, boring elements of most programming books. Learning can be enjoyable, and this book is a great read. I like the fact that his style does assume you have some programming knowledge; all too often I find books that waste hundreds of pages giving you the basics, and other books that jump completely into the middle - i.e. "Let's write a database application!" Here you get the classic "Hello World" followed by a slow buildup in Java programming concepts. Peter also takes pains to point out the uniqueness of Java in many areas, giving the experienced programmers something to hold on to (and look forward to). Get it!

This book is pretty good in the sense that it covers a lot of stuff providing a lot of background and presenting the whole thing in a interesting manner (with a lot of anectodes and humourous asides). But the problem with the book is the very same thing -- it simply has too much noise (idle chatter). For a beginner the book may be a good experience, but for a programmer coming from a C/C++ background, the book is frustrating when you are trying to learn Java fassssst. The book is also not very useful as a reference. So if you are a beginner go for it, if not look for another book.

I liked this book, especially the way he comes up with funny phrases you don't see coming. I've read several other programming books (Safer C, Writing Solid Code, No Bugs!, etc), but this is definitely one of the ones that is enjoyable to read. It adds a light humour to the serious, useful information he provides.

He goes into depth into the subjects of C declarations, memory, pointers, and arrays. He also explains some of the concepts behind the procedure activation record (used when calling a function), linking and compiling. He also challenges the reader with programming assignments to discover more, and provides programming advice.

Peter has written one of the greatest books to hit the computer book stands in a long time! This is not your typical C book, but is rather a fun book to read. As I told Peter, most C programming texts are really boring as all they do is describe the functions, give a abstract example and then move onto something different. This book is chock full of real world C stories and folklore, including a story about the C bug that brought down the AT&T network. I found the tongue-in-cheek attitude and real world examples/stories very, very interesting. Click the 'add to shopping cart' button and buy this book. I really really loved this book, and I read most of it in one sitting. There is also a great introduction to C++ for C programmers that will get you started with C++ and Object-Oriented programming. This book is not for beginners, but is a great second book on C.

Expert C Programming is also ideal for those C programmers who want to move to C++. According to the author, the book puts the "fun" back in "functions" :)

This title has been sitting on my shelf for years, but for some reason I decided to start flipping through it the other day. It's sad to admit this, but I couldn't put it down! I really wish I had taken the time to read this years ago.

In a reasonably short title, this book covers more about the nooks and crannies of C than almost any other book I have come across -- and does it in a way that keeps the reader's attention. Subtle aspects of the language are presented in detail and accompanied by interesting stories and suggestions (called "Handy Heuristics" in the book) for improving your own code.

The book then steps a bit outside of the language to explain (briefly) how linkers work and how executable are structured. This information helps to round out the language specific material and is something you won't find in too many other places.

The only downside to this title is that the information is probably a bit dated and somewhat Sun specific. However, I wouldn't let either of these items prevent you from adding this to your software development collection.

Many doctors have forgotten their foundations and usually are making mistakes about their practice in different areas of their field job.

It is presented among the current context and denotes a deep knowledge of the matter treated, but also it could include situations in different countries. A well done selection of topics.

All the doctors ought read this book, to prevent wrong decissions that could produce adverse effects in them, if they do not observe the style elements and a normal behaviour accord with the foundations of the philosofy, morality, ethics, science and medicine.

The realisation that doctors are human after all may have been a long time coming - but is certainly no shock. The strict selection processes and training involved in becoming a doctor do not guarantee that all graduates will be competent for the entire length of their careers, or that they will always put their patient's needs ahead of their own. In any large population of individuals there will always be a small percentage of "problem" members of this sort. In the US and Britain the issue of dangerous doctors currently has a very high profile, as both governments work hard to find more effective ways of dealing with the problem. But of course dangerous doctors can exist in any country. This book examines the entire scope of the problem - including the processes, organisations and expectations which combine to produce dangerous doctors and goes on to discuss possible solutions. It's approach is reasoned, not alarmist - the actual percentage of problem doctors is very small - but large enough to be of urgent concern to the profession. Perspectives from many countries are presented in the book, as is data from large-scale ethnographic studies on the incidence and nature of problem doctors. The book is scholarly, detailed and well written and is a must-read for anyone involved with any medical supervisory organisation.

Maybe the only book that attempts to compare (rather...state) the big 3. However I think that it degenerates to being a history book that just states facts that are already available in any monograph on each. There is less commentary and more facts. I guess it is a biggeners book to understand who these men were and what projects they did in their lifetime. The only good thing is that this seems to be the only place where you can read about them as a kind of a time-line.....realizing how each one affected the other.

I wish there was a more discussion and comparison/differentiation of the kind of space that these 3 were talking about and a more indepth analysis of their ideologies. Guess we have to wait for someone else to take that risky venture.

This book by Peter Blake is very good if you are just beginning to know about these three iconic architects. It has everything someone who is not an architect could need to know who Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright were. If you want to go deep into the career of these architects, study their lives and works, this is a first step, and a very good one, but only that.

It is well written, entertaining and true. As a teacher, I would recommend it to architecture students as mandatory reading, best if read in the second or third year of their college years.

Even as it is a basic book, I have it on my night table.

This book provides the reader not only with deep insight into these three great pillars of the 20th century, but also helps one understand their influence on art as well. One can see the bridge between their buildings and artists like Braque, Rothko, and those associated with De Stijl. I think it is a fine book for those who may not be familiar with these three men. It is highly readable and recommended!

As many of the other reviewers have already stated, the author does make the assumption that you're familiar with programming and OOP. Having said that, this is one of the finest programming books that I've ever purchased. In fact, I like the idea that he doesn't try to cater to absolute beginners. It clears the path for him to talk about all the good stuff like swing, XML, JDBC, Beans, and so many more of today's most relevant topics. This book covers just about all the import aspects of the Java language as well as all the important things that people are doing with Java. Aside from the content, the book really is a joy to read. It's smooth and easy to understand. The important points of the topics are emphasized and the not-so-important points are covered but not stressed. All in all, you end up feeling like you have a really good idea of how Java works and what people are using it for today. I really can't recommend this book enough.

I've bought 4th edition ob it and 5th, too, because it's easy to read and explain a lot of important programming tips with straightforward words.

I'm not a beginner for Java programming, but I still feel this book is useful. We tend to fall into programming syntax and specification pitfalls... this book shows how to solve them! Sometime I refer oher Java books like "Practical Java" or "The java programming language", but mostly, I can find what I want to know in "Jast Java", with simple code examples.

5th ed. has lots of update and additing new topicsfrom 4th! that's why I bought 5th, too.

OK, for starters I am not a professional programmer. I do know the rudiments of a few programming languages (VB, C++, Java, Tcl, Linux Shell Script, JavaScript, etc.) and enjoy writing automated test scripts at work. I also like the process of learning new languages and writing short programs with them in my spare time.

"Just Java 2" is a great read and one of my favorite programming books (and I have stacks of them, some good, some bad, many so-so).

However, if you are completely new to programming "Just Java 2" is (probably) not the book for you. Instead, get a beginner level book (or two) on learning Java and programming basics and work your way through them.

Then, when you know the basics, sit down with "Just Java 2" in a bookstore and re-read Peter Van Der Linden's explanations of a few of the subjects that your beginner-level Java programming books tried to teach you ...especially subjects that you "kind of know" but wish you understood better. Chances are that this book's short yet lucid explanations will periodically set off little light bulbs of sudden understanding over your head and bring new clarity to your grasp of the Java language. It did for me.

I think this is a great intermediate level Java text and a clearly understandable introduction to more advanced subjects like the JDBC, Servlets and Java Beans.

As for other Java books, we all have our own learning styles and likes/dislikes but here's some of what I've found in my quest to teach myself Java.

1) I have personally found many of the O'Reilly books (on a range of subjects, not only Java) to be unsatisfyingly terse.

2) Ivor Horton's "Beginning Java 2" provides a lot of detail but in a long-winded, scattershot, myopic, stream-of-consciousness style that make it difficult to separate key kernels of knowledge from what amounts to background noise. In other words, the cloudy writing, apparent lack of coherent editing and poor formatting (e.g many unlabelled tables) tended to confuse me as much as educate me and turned attempts to later go back and locate and quickly reread key topics into long "Where's Waldo"-like wadings through "deep text".

3) Dietel & Dietel's "Java: How To Program" at the outset offers the Java novice clear and explicit line by line explanations of sample Java programs. However, about half way through the book that style really bogs way down in wordy detail and becomes tiresome as topics become more advanced. Still, it's not a bad book for an absolute beginner.

Anyway, that's my two cents.

This book is billed as "Everything IT professionals need to know about Java". Sadly, it isn't.

Mr van der Linden is at his best when talking about how the Java language works - the chapters on applet programming, Java libraries and the Java environment were good - but he waffles around the topics of the Internet and e-commerce. Sure, you can buy books from Amazon.com, and isn't it nice to know that Amazon runs its retailing site on a Sun Microsystem Starfire server, but what of it?

One of the major weaknesses of the book is that it does not go far enough in discussing Java in the context of enterprise computing - there was no explanation of what an application server is, and I expected much more about Java Beans. Merely saying "To write a Java software component or 'bean,' a programmer just needs to follow a few simple naming conventions" did not leave me much the wiser. Similarly, there could have been more details on Object Request Brokers, or some discussion of how to integrate Java with legacy applications.

The biggest irritation of the book is the constant Microsoft bashing. Yes, I know that Bill Gates is really Darth Vader and Windows is the equivalent of the Death Star, but I don't need to be reminded of it in every other paragraph. One of the constant refrains of the book is that Java is an open platform (i.e. good; despite Sun controlling the Java standard), and that Windows and its allied technologies such as DCOM are proprietary (i.e. bad). (Unfortunately, in constrasting open and proprietary standards, Mr van der Linden makes the factual error of categorizing the CMIP network management protocol as being proprietary, when in fact it is an international standard widely used by telephone companies.)

The reader would have been far better served if Mr van der Linden stuck to the technologies of which he has a good grasp, and had left the propaganda to his boss at Sun Microsystems, Scott McNealey.

As a person who came into reading this book as a skeptic about Java and the internet I found many of Van der Linden's argument's well concieved and convincing. The first six chapters were a good introduction to the internet and helped me to see why Java could be a good language to learn. Given that, the seventh and eighth chapters were a bit dry (I had to force myself to read the eighth). Besides being concerned with the internet and Java, the author delves into the Microsoft vs. Sun ordeal. Although many good attacks against Microsoft are made, the author sometimes seems go too far in his portrayal of Sun as the saint of the computer industry. Overall it is a good book and a must read for anyone who is trying to decide if Java is worthwhile to learn. the Overall it was a good book and I especially recommend it to anyone who wants to know if

If you're like me, you've been wondering what all those acronyms floating around the tech world mean. What's CORBA? What's IIOP? This book describes, with graphical illustrations, what new ideas are emerging, how to use them, and how they're supposed to help us survive the techno revolution. It was very well written and very interesting. The only problem I had was the author's constant attacks at Microsoft. Given that the book was published by Sun Microsystems, who designed Java to be simpler than C++ and Microsoft's Windows, I can understand the resentment. However, in describing Microsoft's new technologies like ActiveX, the author only points out the flaws and not any of the benefits. I would have prefered a book that was more neutral on competing trends. Other than that, Not Just Java is an excellent book

If you want to learn Java in a hurry, go for this book. But if you have some time at your hands, forget it. I say this because of the following

1- It's a small book on a big language which means brief explanations and very few examples.

2- Even with this size, the author has wasted quite a lot of book space to show his sense of humor (which I didn't find very humorous, sorry Peter).

3- The book is not very well organized.

4- The author claims that you don't need to know C++ to learn Java from this book. I find this claim a bit ambitious. Specially when author himself refers to different aspects of C++ to clarify certain concepts.

In short, if you want to read some jokes, learn how to make a paper airplane which can carry payload (I'm not kidding), know authors views about how software are and should be named, read some inside information on Sun Systems, enjoy digs at Microsoft and learn Java, buy the book now. But if you just want to learn Java in an organized and professional manner, read Wrox Press' book "Beginning Java 2" by Ivor Horton. You won't be disappointed.

I studied no less than four other tutorials, ranging from "okay" (Thinking in Java, Bruce Eckel) to downright bad (Learning Java, O'Reilly). For a while, I was convinced that Java was a sickening, convoluted language with about 850 weird little "rules" that seemed to change for every possible situation. I was never going to get it.

Then I gave this book a try, and soon realized that it was not the language that confounded me, but the other authors' explanations of it. Peter van der Linden does an outstanding job of explaining the language with a style that makes his text very easy to read and understand. Things began to click almost immediately, and at more than one point in my discovery of the brilliant design and engineering of the Java platform I caught myself laughing out loud and thinking, "That's *so* cool!" at some particular feature that had just been described in the text.

Since reading it, I've written a few useful applications in Java, including a network monitoring tool, and a Java servlet that helps Netcool monitor some of my web servers at work (with the help of "Java Servlet Programming", from O'Reilly).

If you've been struggling with learning Java, I strongly recommend giving this book a try. The language really is incredibly well thought out by Sun, you probably just need the right guide to show you around. Hopefully you'll find, as I did, that Peter van der Linden is that guide.

It's not often that you find a book that can both teach you a new language and function as a great reference. This book is it. Aside from the JDK help, this is my only reference and for the most part it has served me well.

I started from a C++ background and had no trouble learning from this book. It might be tempting to skim through some of the beginning chapters that seem like something any C++ programmer would know (e.g. Object-Oriented Programming), but I recommend reading them. There are a lot of really good Java tips you don't want to miss, such as how constructors are invoked and how static blocks are loaded in the JVM.

Probably the biggest benefit of this book is that it tells you both the how and the why in many cases. Another positive is that the examples are small and to the point. In general there was a good amount of information per page.

The book's biggest weakness is the chapter on File I/O. This is common functionality that many Java programmers will use, but the presentation is not as easy to follow as the other chapters. Another drawback is the networking chapter, but there seem to be entire books dedicated to this subject.

If you are learning Java from an object oriented background, you will be glad you got this book. It's one of the thinner books on the shelf, believe it or not, but the information is top notch.