It is very intresing how it works with fractions. I am taking algebra II and trig, and it's great!

If you're looking for a compact but detailed history and description of the Arab world, it's difficult to imagine a book that can top this one. I picked it off the shelf thinking it would be just another dull chronology - but when I examined its layout, I just had to have it. It consists of three sections: a detailed and highly readable 300-page history of the Arab world; a set of brief chapters on each Arab country; and a final short section on how the Arabs are viewed by both themselves and Westerners.

The ability to pick a single country to read about individually is the aspect of the book that most stands out for me: I was really interested in reading about just five or six Arab countries, and I wasn't about to buy a book on each of them. This book solved the problem brilliantly.

This is an excellent brief history about the arab world. Very good chapters are the chronologies of different arab dynasties and guidelines between the past and present day

I had the opportunity to meet Peter Mansfield a few times when I worked in London between 1993 and 1994, a softly-spoken and dignified man who had made it his life's work to learn about and understand the Arab World and its relationship with the colonial powers.

Sadly, Mansfield has since passed away, but this book remains as a beautiful epitaph that is as close to a definitive but digestible history of the Arab people as I've read.

Recommended for those who want to understand the big picture before getting into the detail of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

Okay- I know that this is a seminal work re: the Middle East, but it is as dry as any other history text that you might find on the shelves of MiddleEast 101. In comparison to Price of Honor or other more reader friendly texts that in my opinion carry as much critical information about the volatile region, it pales in comparison.

This books provides a special insight about the Middle East. Since the author lived in the region, he has a close perspective of its intricacies. In the book, the author explains certain of the big differences that some of the countries of the region have with each other.
Hot topics such as Palestine, Israel and Iraq are also dealt in an excellent way.

This book is a very solid introduction to the modern history of the region. Although it covers a much longer span, the first chapter is subtitled "from Ancient to Modern", the book spends 34 pages on the entire period prior 1800. Rather skimpy. But, it does well given its limited treatment of pre-1800. Another problem is the lack of spirit in the book. One can tell that author is British just by the style.

Having said the above, it does a very good job of summarizing the major history since 1800. And, I would recommend it to any seeking an introduction to the Middle East, esp. the modern world.

The authors use a good mix of humor and straight forwardness. They teach you what you need to know to take advantage of all the new elements of Windows ME, without getting too into the computer geek stuff. Easy read and has useful outlines at the begining of each chapter to give you an idea about what is covered.

Like all devoted lovers of Jane Austen, I have long pondered why she chose to write this, of all books, at time she was experiencing the intoxicating success of Pride and Prejudice.

The protagonist is a loathesome little priss. Austen herself says so in her letters. Fanny Price is neurotic and oversensitive where Austen's other heroines are brash and healthy. Even Austen's own family found the ending as odd and disappointing as do subsequent generations of readers.

So there's a puzzle to be solved here. The answer may lie in the fact that this book was written when, after a lifetime of obscurity, Austen found herself, briefly, a huge success. As is so often the case with writers, the success of her earlier book may have given her the courage to decided write about something that REALLY mattered to her--and what that was was her own very complex feelings about the intensely sexual appeal of a morally unworthy person.

This topic, the charm of the scoundrel, is one that flirts through all her other books, usually in a side plot. However, the constraints of Austen's day made it impossible for her to write the story of a woman who falls for a scoundrel with a sympathetic viewpoint character.

So what I think Austen may have decided to do was to write this story using Edmund--a male--as the sympathetic character who experiences the devastating sexual love of someone unworthy. Then, through a strange slight of hand, she gives us a decoy protagonist--Fanny Price, who if she is anything, is really the judgemental, punishing Joy Defeating inner voice--the inner voice that probably kept Jane from indulging her own very obvious interest in scoundrels in real life!

In defense of this theory, consider these points:

1. Jane herself loved family theatricals. Fanny's horror of them and of the flirting that took place is the sort of thing she made fun of in others. Jane also loved her cousin, Eliza, a married woman of the scoundrelly type, who flirted outrageously with Jane's brother Henry when Jane was young--very much like Mary Crawford. The fact is, and this bleeds through the book continuously, Austen doesn't at all like Fanny Price!

To make it more complex, Fanny's relationship with Henry Crawford is an echo of the Edmund-Mary theme, but Austen makes Henry so appealing that few readers have forgiven Austen for not letting Fanny liven up a little and marry him! No. Austen is trying to make a case for resisting temptation, but in this book she most egregiously fails.

2. Austen is famous for never showing us a scene or dialogue which she hadn't personally observed in real life, hence the off-stage proposals in her other books.

Does this not make it all the more curious that the final scene between Edmund and Mary Crawford in which he suffers his final disillusionment and realizes the depths of her moral decay comes to us with some very convincing dialogue? Is it possible that Jane lived out just such a scene herself? That she too was forced by her inner knowlege of what was right to turn away from a sexually appealing scoundrel of her own?

3. Fanny gets Edmund in the end, but it is a joyless ending for most readers because it is so clear that he is in love with Mary. Can it be that Austen here was suggesting the grim fate that awaits those who do turn away from temptations--a lifetime of listening to that dull, upstanding, morally correct but oh so joyless voice of reason?

We'll never know. Cassandra Austen burnt several years' worth of her sister's letters--letters written in the years before she prematurely donned her spinster's cap and gave up all thoughts of finding love herself. Her secrets whatever they were, were kept within the family.

But one has to wonder about what was really going on inside the curious teenaged girl who loved Samual Richardson's rape saga and wrote the sexually explicit oddity that comes to us as Lady Susan. Perhaps in Mansfield Park we get a dim echo of the trauma that turned the joyous outrageous rebel who penned Pride and Prejudice in her late teens into the staid, sad woman when she was dying wrote Persuasion--a novel about a recaptured young love.

So with that in mind, why not go and have another look at Mansfield Park!

this book was interesting enough. i love jane austen. my two personal faves were pride and prejudice and emma. this was interesting, the plot was intriguing and everything. i just thought that way too much was going on throughout the book. it was event after event after event. it was definitely suspenseful. the end was satisfying enough. fanny is not the best of jane austen's heroines. my favorite character was sir thomas. he was cool. i enjoy reading books of this sort generally. fanny could have been more interesting. i don't get why she was so totally in love with edmund the whole time that he was in love with mary crawford. it is a good read if you have time. it took me a month or so to read it because i had to read in the few spare moments i have aside from school reading and other work. i do recommend it to people who enjoy jane austen and those who are willing to take a good chunk of time out of their day to read.

As Jane Austen's most controversial novel, Mansfield Park continues to occupy an inveterate place in literature for its dark charm, its slow yet steady rhythm, its dry yet sharp and ironic humor, and of course fabulous charaterization built on extensive description all within a country challenged by progress.

Readers become acquainted with Fanny Price, a victorian era Cinderella so it appeared--plucked from her family in destitude to be allowed to blossom at her wealthy uncle's house, Mansfield Park. Of course being passive, steadfast, timid...certainlly lacking the very fierce which makes Emma and Marrianne among other Austen heroine memorable. Yet withstanding the seductive charm of fortune and of consequence, Fanny Price resists the wooing of a stranger Mr. CRawford who puzzles everyone with his light gallantry and dark desires. A soulmate since childhood, Fanny's cousin Edmund yields in to Miss Crawford, who is all but a nonessential part of Mr. Crawford's scheme of stolen pleasure. Henry Crawford, certainlly one of the darknest characters ever portrayed, more so then Willoughbe (excuse the sp.) is too caught up in the sensual delights of his incessant conquests (including Fanny's 2 pretty cousins) that even though he ackowledges the good influence Fanny's purity has on his heart, he is too deeply sunken in his web of "play" to rise and face truth of love. Yes, Henry Crawford did love Fanny with his heart, at least the pure part of it, unlike Edmund who loves Fanny only out of brotherly affection. But Fanny, whose steady character makes her an unlikely candidate to Crawford's actual reformation, refuses Crawford's sincerity and thus almost pushes him back into his bottomless hold of scheme. The storm thus takes place in the heart of London's upper society, casting its shadow on the peaceful Mansfield Park community and shattering everything Sir Thomas has persevered in building up--with fortune, and with consequence...a mention of slave trade as well.

Mary Crawford is a complex player, tainted by a society blindly wooing money and status, that even Edmund is not able to save the good side of her. Apart from Henry's scheme, Edmund is forced to refocus and, voila, there is Fanny (no matter how distasteful cousin-courtship is to many).

The movie adaptation of this tale certainlly emphasizes the fighting nature of Fanny which is rarely detected on pages. Yet what IS acknowledged and admired in the quiet little herione, is the perseverance so rare in a world on the verge of revolution.

I found the book to be well laid out and written to allow a wide range of users to understand the operation and configuration of Windows 2000. The examples contained are precise and step by step so that the novice or expert can easily find the path to a well structured operating system in their home or office PC. The forward references found in the initial chapters allow the reader to fast forward to places of special interest or need and delve into the details or specific functions they are searching for. I believe this will be a valuble addition to any Windows 2000 users library.

I bought this book expecting the usual coverage of how to work with Windows and some theory. I got a lot more. When I ran into problems with my printer, I was able to go into the troubleshooting section and get useful advice on how to fix it. I also found the MSMQ coverage helpful. The company I'm working for is looking at this technology and knowing how to set things up is a real plus.

I found this book to be exactly as advertised. The indexing was easy to follow and the book well written in plain English. There seems to be an understanding for the people that buy this book really need it. My enjoyment of Windows 2000 improved 100% and is still on the up swing. I can, without a minute's hesitation, recommend this book for the beginner and up; I was a beginner in Windows 2000 after all. Thanks for a great book.

This book is disappointing. The title IS misleading.
This is NOT a COMPLETE GUIDE to improving eyesight.
The author is a Bates practicioner and gives you alot of theory and opinion until page 104. In Chapter 8 first paragraph the author even agrees with me by saying " This is not a 'how to' book. A book can explain an idea, but practical skills need to be learned in practice. A book will tell you what, and to some extent why, but only a teacher can show you how."

Any descriptions of "the Bates Method" are just an outline. This book DOES NOT teach you how to properly use the method and should not have been called a COMPLETE GUIDE.
The outline of the Bates exercises are in Chapter 8 and only 27 pages long in the 164 page book.
BE WARNED, DO NOT BUY THIS ONE. Get it from the library like I did if you really want to look but he pushes being TAUGHT by a Bates teacher more than anything else.

Garbage!

This book purports to be a complete guide to improving your eyesight, but turns out to be little more than a commercial for practicioners of the Bates method. The author is one of these, and gives some cases where he was successful, but there is little info of practical use in improving your eyesight by exercises and whatever mental shenanigans the author discusses. If you are looking for the actual methods to apply yourself to improve your own eyesight, look elsewhere.

This is an excellent introductory text to the Bates Method. The author, Peter Mansfield, goes over the behavior of the eye and various visual problems (a pretty standard practice in Bates books), then he goes over what the Bates Method is and isn't.
The previous reviewer said that this book does not offer practical "exercises" and "mental shananigans". But that reviewer may need to read the text more thoughtfully, for I think the author makes a good attempt at dispelling wrong ideas the reader is likely to have about what to expect from this book, a Bates teacher, or the Bates Method in general. I recommend this book to people new to the Bates Method, as people too often approach it completely wrong.

A couple quotes from the book:

"This is not a 'how to' book. A book can explain an idea, but practical skills need to be learned in practice."

"We have to learn a different way of thinking, a process that may take a little time, for the simple reason that if our thinking were right we would have nothing to learn."

After having this book (1st ed.) on my shelf for several years, I am compelled to write a review. This book seldom provides answers to any of my NT questions. Recently, after installing a remote disk drive, I encountered a STOP error (fatal error) upon startup. The error message said something about an IRQ problem. The only mention of IRQ in the book's index refers to a single paragraph in the glossary. There was nothing on errors, debugging, system errors, dump files, log files ... anything that would help me understand the problem. This has been my experience every time I open this book. It more likely to infuriate than to inform. However, at nearly 900 pages it does make a good bookend.

I've used this book over the years with enthusiasm. Even though it is somewhat out of date, Norton's books, as always, make it easy to understand what he has to say.

There should be a special corner of Hades for publishers who foist such a piece of junk on the public. It consists of 318 separate sheets of (unnecessarily heavy and coated) paper which are brushed with glue on one edge, then slipped into the jacket. This is touted as a reference book. As such, it should last through several years of serious page flipping. No Way! It starts falling apart after several weeks, and you are left with 318 separate sheets of paper.

This book was easy to follow and more helpful than any expensive computer class! If I had a question, I check the index and was referred to the appropriate chapter - I always found an answer to my problem!!

I can't wait for the next book to come out!!