I'll keep it short and sweet. I am one of the authors of SIP and
of many of its related technologies that are discussed in
this book. As such, I am frequently asked by people how they
can quickly understand the benefits of SIP technology, why
it is important to them, and what it can enable. The answer is
simple - read the Sinnreich/Johnston book. The book helps you
understand how SIP, its extensions, and related technologies
all fit together, and why SIP is revolutionizing communications.
This is a fabulous piece of work, written by two recognized
leaders. I highly recommend it.

This book is wonderful because this is not a textbook for SIP protocol itsself but is a book representing what SIP being characterized and how different from other voip protocols and what we can do using SIP focusing to the INTERNET COMMUNICATION not just voice over IP nor video over IP. This book is very helpful when we systems engineers propose our customer what additional applocation services can be provided by the system using SIP.

I've been involved in the development of the SIP specification for several years, and currently co-chair the Internet Working Groups overseeing its continued evolution. I'm closely involved with the application of SIP to next-generation mobile phone networks. Between standards work and speaking on SIP frequently at trade shows and conferences I've seen a lot of SIP books and tried to explain SIP to many people. Most of the books on SIP cover the dry technical details of the specification and implementations. This book, "Internet Communications Using SIP" goes into an entirely different realm.

Henry Sinnreich and Alan Johnston are two of the most knowledgeable authorities and notable figures in the SIP world. I expected a lot from them them. They've greatly exceeded my expectations, doing a surprisingly good job of explaining WHY the SIP protocol works the way it does, WHAT sort of advanced services it is making possible, and HOW service providers can use it to enrich their business offerings.

This book is an absolute "must read" for anyone in the industry, especially for people familiar with traditional telephony who are trying to design, market, or implement new telecom services of any kind. If you haven't read this book and Gonzalo Camarillo's new SIP book, don't argue with the old-timers on the SIP mailing lists -- they're likely to just tell you to "RTFB" . . . and this is one of the books they're referring to.

This book is great news for lovers of historical mysteries, but even better news for those who love books with a great setting, intriguing characters, crackling dialogue, and wit to spare. One of the best new series going.

Jester Leaps In equals Gordon's Thirteenth Night in being an exceptionally entertaining and inventive story.

This is not because of what Gordon does with Shakespeare's characters from Twelfth Night, but because of how he uses history. Early thirteenth century Constantinople is brought to life, and the idea of a Jesters Guild continues to be a clever and original plot device.

I'll be eager to read the third book in the series, as the Fourth Crusade approaches Constantinople.

In JESTER LEAPS IN, Alan Gordon posits a medieval Jester's Guild responsible for bringing some sort of sanity to a world in trouble. Now a Crusade, dominated by Venice, is under weigh and all of the Jesters in Constantinople have vanished. Trouble-shooting fool Theophilos, along with his beautiful new wife (and Duchess and apprentice Jester) Viola are sent to find out what has happened and what it means.

What has happened is murder. Someone has killed all of the Jesters in Constantinople in an attempt to hide a plot to kill the Emperor. Theophilos has to find out who, why, and then decide if the world would be better off with a new Emperor.

Gordon does a wonderful job describing Medieval Europe and the role played by the Byzantine Empire at this time. The concept of a Jesters' Guild is wonderful and just believable enough to make the plot more enjoyable. Better is Gordon's character development. Both Theophilos and Viola are fully characterized, likable, and motivated. They may be fools, but they're no dummies and they're a joy to see in action...

This classic by Alan Watts is one of my favorite books for remembering the elevating side of the psychedelic experience. It
was sensitively written during the period when psychologists were
more optimisitic about lsd psychotherapy: after all, it gets the
patient to talking, and that is what pays, especially if the result is elevating fascination. Furthermore, many of
the effects were memorable and salutory. Of course, since those
days it has become evident that lsd-25 is not entirely foolproof, and that frequent use at unknown dosages using material of unknown quality can easily lead an explorer to a hospital where he may have to recover from an induced nervous
breakdown. The reveries of Alan Watts concerning his experiences are agreeable and have a sacred quality to them. However, Interested investigators would be well-advised to read LSD: MY PROBLEM CHILD by Albert Hofmann, the chemist who discovered lsd-25. This book is less sanguine, more medically realistic, and contains specific information about disagreeable effects at high dosages, information on specific toxicity, other accounts of pharmaceutical industry professionals regarding the useful
properties and post-use side-effects, scenarios for safe usage,
and so on. All that will be left is a hunt for some blessed land of freedom where men may still take lsd once in a while without the hauting side-effects of police pursuit, imprisonment, and jailhouse blues.

My best friend let me borrow 'The Joyous Cosmology' and I read it in 2 hours. An intellegent perspective of such things was very interesting to read because most of the time when you hear about Acid, Mescaline, and shrooms, all you hear is a bunch of incohearent praise with nothing to back it up. With a scientific understanding of it, I would feel a lot safer doing such things. A super book!

"The Joyous Cosmology" has been selected for listing in "Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: An Entheogen Chrestomathy." http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy

Oscar Wilde entirely dedicates this play to the exploration of the way a woman can be saved from destruction in this society of appearances. A woman was the victim of an imbroglio in the past and abandoned her daughter. This woman comes back and the daughter ignores her relation to her. She is brought back into societry by the daughter's husband who knows the truth but does not want his wife to know it. But there is some kind of malediction that flies over the heads of these women. The daughter nearly does the same mistake as her mother but she is saved by her mother who accepts to be tainted in her daughter's place. Bus Oscar Wilde must think there is some kind of reward for a good deed and all is well that ends well, and this play has a happy ending. In spite of all the melodramatic sentimentalese atmosphere, Oscar Wilde definitely explores in this play the great disadvantage of a woman in society. Men can do nearly all they want. Women are extremely limited and have to walk a very straight and narrow line. Oscar Wilde seems to be ahead of his time as for the fate of women: he seems to aspire for real equality for them, though he shows in all possible ways that this is impossible in his society.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University of Perpignan

My first experience reading Oscar Wilde... and certainly not my last.

Wilde's sardonic wit and ineffable satire had me enchanted from page one. Wilde writes with devastatingly appealing witticisms, and with a style and cleverness matched by few other authors. It is said that he is one of the more oft-quoted authors in the English language, and I now understand why.

In addition to axioms and aphorisms of pure genius, the plot both captivates and surprises the reader. Lady Windermere discovers that her husband has been cheating on her, and a folly of misunderstandings and poor advice then unfolds; all the while satirizing society.

This play is very interesting to read (according to me). I saw a lot of hypocracy and snobery of people in this play. But a lot of peole said that the plays of Oscar Wilde have no satire, means, there is no factor of politics, socials,etc. I think, what he wrote in this plays and other plays had something to critize the people in that time. I want more information about Lady Winderemere's Fan, I mean what is the background of Wilde wrote yhis novel. Is there any important effects so that he wrote this first play?

This is a truly inspiring book on creativity. Thank God it is not a rehash of all the other books on bringing innovation into the work world. It doesn't offer insipid phrases like, "out-of-the-box thinking," or, "doing more with less." Nor does it contain those warn out "gimmicks" like the connect the nine dots with four straight lines routine. What it does offer, is wisdom -- our own!

Dr. Gregerman's prose, metaphors, and humor inspires us to rediscover and apply our wisdom in creativity in solving our thorniest organizational challenges. He takes us through the minds and spirit of young children in helping us understand and remember how minds that are not encumbered by past experience forge new possibilities through imagination.

As I was reading Lessons from the Sandbox, I was constantly reminded of the importance of (unencumbered) imagination, a critical rule for Albert Einstein. Einstein wrote, "Imagination is more important than knowledge. To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination." In Dr. Gregerman's mind, adults have created "boxes" through the filters they have acquired through both experience and their current surroundings. Children are not encumbered with these filters, and thus we can learn from their outlook on how the world works. It has been said that children enter schools as question marks and wonder, and leave as periods and right answer machines. Lessons from the Sandbox clearly underscore this insight.

Dr. Gregerman has organized his book using thirteen "gifts" of childhood to re-ignite the creative sprit for people in the business world. These lessons range from the gifts of focus, urgency, wonder, questioning, and participation.

I have read many business books on creativity, and none have sparked my imagination as Lessons from the Sandbox. It has brought me laughter, recaptured the lessons I learned from my own childhood, and I have profited from the ideas I have already generated as a result of this gem of a book. - Bob Bookman, President, Team Productivity Programs, Inc.

Alan Gregerman has struck a forgotten place, way back in childhood, when we used to have a lot of fun with whatever we did. In his book, Lessons form the Sandbox, he reminds us of what is important in life and work; tapping into our least used resource, our creative mind. He also reminds us that, tragically, we begin to loose our creativity when we are very young, bombarded with structure and other peoples ideas of what is important, like following all the rules . What can companies learn from the heads of small children? Plenty! Lessons from the Sandbox is a wonderful ride through the new world of business and an absolute gold mine of fresh ideas and straightforward wisdom about what it takes to create a greater sense of energy and excitement for customers, employees, and partners. This is one of the few business books I've read that not only challenges you to use more of your brain, but delivers practical guidance for improving the performance of your people and your balance sheet. Pick any chapter and be prepared to laugh, smile, dream a little, and even re-live your own childhood. Then roll up your sleeves and get to work putting his great ideas to the test. Want to learn how to focus, come up with better ideas, asking the right questions, or be more enthusiastic? It's all here and impossible to put down.

This book takes a refreshing look at life, redefining the mundaneness of business-as-usual. Many of us have forgotten the power of imagination and curiosity we have as children. This book helps working adults use simplicity as a starting point in their own work. Not only is it okay to ask simple questions such as "how?" or "why?", but healthy. The overlap between parenthood and business inspires rejuvenating energy if we take the time to look at the gifts of childhood as Dr. Gregerman does.

Lonely Planet always publishes great phrasebooks, and this one's no different. Luckily, they provide the original cyrillic script alongside of the phonetic transcriptions, so you can actually read things while inside the country (unlike their Central Asian phrasebook, which was entirely in phonetic transcription). I haven't been to Mongolia yet, but this book is definatly coming with me when I go! Its content is very similar to their Russian phrasebook, which I found extremely useful while in Russia.

I took this phrase book to Mongolia with me in the summer of 2001 and foud it to be extremely helpful. While there is a phrase section in Lonely Planet's main book on Mongolia (which I HIGHLY recommend as an essential if travelling to Mongolia), this book was much more comprehensive. I found it very useful when trying to communicate with our non-english speaking driver when out in the middle of the Gobi desert. Even if you are unable to pronounce the words correctly, you can at least show whoever you're trying to communicate with the word you are trying to say. Mongolia is a travel experience far different from anywhere else in the world. Communication is a vital part of making that experience more enriching. For that, I recommend this phrase book.

Wherever you travel in the world, the Lonely Planet guides are the most helpful, the most lucid, and the most fun to read. After struggling with Mongolian-English dictionaries, this book was a breath of fresh air. Their phonetic transcriptions of the Cyrillic are by far the easiest and least technical that I've found. And on top of that it is convenient and pocket-sized!

This book was referred to me by an encouraging friend. I am a college student and my upbringing stems from a very spiritual background. As a student away from my family, my lifestyle isn't always modeled after my upbringing. I recommend this book to everyone, regardless of your background. The author uses realistic situations that help you understand the daily walk with God's love. The author is very down-to-earth, understanding, sarcastic, and captivating enough to keep me reading until the very last chapter. The chapters are short, always related to a real-life situations, and always end with a significant message. If you're looking for a book to put your walk with God into perspective, you've found it! I encourage anyone to read Lover of my Soul.

This book gets at the heart of the gospel better than all the others. Writings on God's grace which we have seen alot of - are secondary to this - the real heart of the matter. God's love -intimate, powerful, expansive and expensive, the only real power to change our lives.

Absolutely one of the best books I've read. I cannot keep a copy in my collection because I'm always giving them away. Fabulous words of encouragement and wisdom to Christians reminding us of how much God loves us and desires to be the true LOVER OF OUR SOUL! A must read for believers (and non-believers alike)! Will definitely minister to those who know Christ (and will encourage those who don't to dig deeper)! God bless you all!

Abridged edition. Covers everything from UFO's, bigfoot, the myth of dracula, atlantis, and Witchcraft (or the Old Religion). This book was very informative and enjoyable. I particularly liked the section on lost civilizations. I'm proud to say that I own all of Alan Landsburg's books, no library is complete without them.

this book was really cool when i opened it it was like i stepped into another world.

It was a really good book so I think every kid and grown-up should read it.It had a lot of Drama and Action in it.It sent chills down my back.It had a really nice middle plus in the end it kind of fades off into the distance and doesn't tell you what you want to know so you want to read the next book then the next then the next and so on.......

Kelsey Jenkins Age-10

This book is just what it promises, "a guide for the rest of us." It explains how things work, clearly and in logical order, and is laid out so you can easily pick out the parts you need to read.
I used the book to set up a firewall. I had previously purchased a perfectly good one with simple controls, but had no idea what all the buttons meant in terms of blocking unwanted intrusions while retaining normal Internet access. (I'm an experienced Macintosh user, but naive about the underlying mechanisms of the Internet.)
Oppenheimer defines the underlying concepts and provides simple instructions, and with his book I was able to set up my computer security system in less than an hour.

Internet Security for the Macintosh - A Guide for the Rest of Us is I believe a "Must Have" Computer Manual, alongside David Pouges "Missing Manual" and Steve Schwartz "Internet Explorer for Macintosh" for every serious Mac Users reference library

The authors, Oppenheimer and Whittaker come impeccably credentialed and their expertise as filtered by joint authorship has clearly made use of their backgrounds with measured and pragmatic effective advice taking you carefully through security requirements from the bottom up. One undeniable advantage in this respect is that they also currently provide ISP services so they know what the real world is about and it shines through.

In addition the timing of the publication is excellent.

Whilst it is Mac specific it could well be considered an essential basic Internet Security Manual for PC Users as well.

The Manual of around 400 pages and 18 chapters is broken down into four sections 1. General Security Principles 2. Securing Internet Services 3. Enhancing Overall Security and 4. Advanced Topics.

The message comes through. If you don't get the basics right even if you apply the advanced advice there may be holes in your system (Microsoft where have we experienced this before!)

There are chapters on Viruses, Personal Firewalls, Home Networking, Securing Mac OS X and an intriguing - Just say no to FTP!

Here I believe in the one place is pragmatic and sensible advice which if followed will make your computer far less vulnerable to Villains, Hackers and Mischief Makers, particularly now that the migration to Cable, ADSL and other broadband DSL technologies leave us a lot more vulnerable than with dial up connections.

Peachpit Press has set up a website to facilitate feedback updates and more recent information for purchasers of the guide.

At last..a timely and well written book that specifically details the essentials of Mac security...highly recommended

Such sad lives were led by the the Bronte's, loneliness, loss, despair, all were experienced and fed into the imaginations on charlotte, emily and anne. This book is a brilliant book by E C Gaskell (who i normally dont really like), it is basically a collection of letters by charlotte and a great narrative, when speaking of the deaths of emily, anne and charlotte, i actually felt tears in my eyes!

Mrs. Gaskell understood a man's or woman's life to be lived within a social and natural context -- and her deployment of anecdotes and impressions of the North of England in the early pages of this book is captivating. But she also understood us to be souls, present to but distinct from God. Hence, even though in a few instances Gaskell's facts may been correctible (which the editor has done for us in this Penguin Classics edition), she is concerned with truth, and this gives readers the opportunity (rarely offered by modern entertainments) to escape from the trivial.

A very nicely written biography by Mrs. Gaskell about the life of her friend Charlotte Bronte, although most of the content was made up of letters written either by or to Charlotte Bronte rather than Mrs. Gaskell's own writings. Still this is a very concise book containing mostly everything that an ordinary reader, or well, a beginner of the Bronte novels, should know about this famous family. Nonetheless at some point of the book, I do find Mrs. Gaskell a bit too subjective, especially when it comes to the depiction of Charlotte's brother Branwell Bronte and his downfall. But consider the fact that this book was written only within one and a half year, with Mrs. Gaskell herself alone traveling all the way from Manchester to Haworth, and then to Brussel, doing all the necessary researches and interviews on her own, I must say that this is just an awesome piece of work!! And just as what Patrick Bronte himself had said about this biography, 'It is every way worthy of what one Great Woman, should have written of Another...it ought to stand, and will stand in the first rank, of Biographies, till the end of time'.

One more word though. From a more scholarly point of view, however, I think so far the 'best' biography on the Brontes should be Juliet Barker's 'The Brontes'. If, after reading this biography written by Mrs. Gaskell, you still want to know more about the Brontes, then I will say: go and buy this other book by Juliet Barker and you definitely will never regret it!