While Ventry may not be on the same grand scale as say Stephen King,it does manage to convey a skillfully structured storyline. With twists and turns on each page, Daniel Lynch leaves you on the edge of your seat right to the very end. A good suspense novel well worth reading it will be enjoyed by mystery and suspense fans everywhere.

1998 is the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Maine and the Spanish-American War, instigated, many still say, by William Randolph Hearst. "Yellow" (for yellow journalism) recounts the period leading to the Maine's sinking through the first-person fictional account of Ambrose Bierce, the legendary American artist and writer, as he traveled to Cuba on Hearst's payroll. Fascinating for fans of true Americana. Lynch is a gifted storyteller.

RUNNING WITH THE MACHINE is the only book I have ever encountered about an unsuccessful campaign for a state legislative seat. In that, it is a valuable addition to the campaign story genre. For me, it was an extra bonus that I work in state politics in New York, where the story takes place. The first virtue of the book, then, is that it is in a way a totally new contribution. The second virtue is that it is an interesting story about the thing that I do. Not everyone can share an appreciation of that latter point, but thousands of legislative staffers and candidates in this state alone certainly can. I think those interested in politics more generally can as well, especially since people writing books usually ignore campaigns of this size and magnitude.

The third and greatest of the book's virtues is that it really details what happens in a competitive legislative campaign (at least in New York State). As a story, this book works better than a "how to," yet it contains just about as much instructional detail.

Nevertheless, RUNNING WITH THE MACHINE is flawed, in large part because it is a memoir. Dan Lynch is a very bitter man, or at least he writes a very bitter story. He seems to have been motivated to run by a sense of idealism that was totally eviscerated by the experience of running. His level of contempt for voters, his opponent and his opponent's team, some of his less than enthusiastic allies, and the process itself becomes so shrill as to detract mightily from the otherwise fine account of an interesting campaign. Lynch has been around politics for years, but he just...can't...get...over how his opponent claimed that he "led the charge" for a bill that he had merely voted for. Lynch labels hyperbole as lies and fails to recognize when he is guilty of exactly what he complains about.

Lynch, a former reporter and newspaper editor, is also astounded by the media's lack of interest in his campaign. While once he may have criticized politicians for trying to make news via press release instead of action, now he is flabbergasted that his press releases are ignored. Once he may have sneered at scripted candidates, now he is flummoxed when reporters want to pursue their own story line instead of the one established by his campaign team. After years of writing, he chooses not to mention an example of a story or column he ever wrote comparing a local candidate's voting record to campaign material (almost certainly because he never wrote such a piece...or seen one), this time he is amazed that the local newspapers ignored that scoop about his opponent.

All this and more detracts from what is otherwise an enjoyable, informative book. Nevertheless, it does not detract so much as to slow the book down or make it any less interesting. RUNNING WITH THE MACHINE is certainly all that - and it is well worth reading.

I have a lot in common with Dan Lynch: I am running for New York State Assembly (in the 1st District -- eastern Long Island) as the Democratic candidate (even though I'm not a Democrat) in a district that's highly Republican against an entrenched GOPer. I'm also a former longtime journalist. Website: johnson.gs

So far, this book has been right on with detailing what it takes to run such a race. It's a blueprint and interestingly written. Hopefully, I can avoid some of the mistakes Lynch made and go with the flow a little better. Lynch's book is helping me visualize what my own race could end up being like.

Thanks, Dan.

Having just seen what a few million dollars can "buy" in my local election, I found Dan Lynch's book particularly fascinating...all citizens need to get much much better informed about who we elect and not vote by the ads. And to do this, we need the media to be much more responsible in covering the issues and the candidates' backgrounds. Otherwise, we get a lot of hidden "special interests" that we don't know about and find that the slick ad messages have little or nothing to do with the person who is now our representative.

Easy to follow field guide of the major plants of the Austin, Texas area. Good line drawings. This will not replace Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of Texas by Robert Vines, but it certainly easier to carry

This book was a big disappointment. In very short words the book is a plug for the author's company. But even if you can live with that, the outdated material is not very valuable. My recommendation is for the authors to update the book as much of the cyberlandscape has changed in these few short years. On a positive note, the business models presented are informative. The writing style is not very clear or structured, and in 2 chapters I found more than 2 mistakes. The figures are very primitive and don't add much to the already scant information. It is a shame as I would have loved for this book to work for me. The information the book has to offer can be found free on the Internet and it is more timely.

In the brave new world of Electronic Commerce money or the concept of medium of exchange is morphing. This book lays the ground work for understanding the technology and issues of transacting on-line. Encryption, authentication, smart cards and general security issues are discussed in sufficient detail to grasp the concepts. A must read for all company owners and managers contemplating the era of digital money and preparing for the future.

Although not extremely thorough or insightful,the authors paint a clear landscape of the changing role of money in the new digital economy. Touching on several related products such as smartcards and encryption, they give the reader a solid footing in these new technolgoies

I just finished the book and the pages turned well and I was impressed by the the author's use of past examples. His work on early Mao and Zhou's and Jing's roles were especially important and useful. However, I have worked in the media field in Beijing and Shanghai for nearly ten years, and I feel that the autrhor does lack adequate ideas of the media's role today. A simple monitoring of the major papers such as Beijing Youth, Southern Weekly, PLA Times, and Yangcheng Evening News, would throw many of his propositions to the wind.

So, basically kudos to the reasearch of the past, but shame on the author for not realizing that China has indeed changed greatly in the last 6 years. Too bad this was not taken into account in the book.

We've been waiting for years for a book on the Chinese communications system that not only describes it but also explains it and relates it to the economy and larger political milieu. This book is it. The author deftly details changes in the Chinese government's regulation of the communications system and shows how those changes have caused the government to lose control over information flows in Chinese society, what he calls the "symbolic environment". But unlike most commentary on the Chinese media, he doesn't see this loss of government control as contributing to China's democratization, at least not right away. Instead he sees it as causing chaos, or "praetorianism", and predicts a politically uncertain Chinese future in which neither the forces of democracy nor the forces of dictatorship can prevail. He foresees all sorts of new social movements arising in China, but not necessarily democratic movements. It's truly astonishing that this book must have been finished a good six months before the Falun Dafa movement burst upon the scene, but that's exactly the kind of movement the book predicts. A must-read for anyone interested in China.

i picked this up because it was on clearance and at the time (a grad student) i couldn't afford stevens. i'm glad i did, it covers a lot of the internet protocol background you'll need to do any serious research. however, it really lacks any of the depth in most places that you'll find in stevens or comers. i still refer to some of it, but frankly a lot of the background material is out of date and covered better elsewhere.

probably reccomended for people who can pick it up on the cheap or want a fair overview. i'm glad i read it, but i have better ones on my shelf.