I did have a great literature professor, and he was Wallace Gray. Professor Gray was a wonderful, brilliant man with clear and unique interpretations of each book. Each essay is straightforward, enlightening, and a pleasure to read. Gray always used to say that books "talk to each other," that reading one book affects the way you read another and that later authors were always aware of the great works of literature that came before. Through his book Gray highlights this phenomenon and really shows his love for each text. As he was one of the foremost authorities of James Joyce in world, his essay on Ulysses is particularly illuminating. If you love the Western canon, do all you can to find this book.

For the reader who never had a great professor to explain many classic works in our Western canon, this book is a must. Gray, a professor at Columbia who taught humanities for many years, walks the reader through the Odyssey and the Iliad all the way to Swift, Eliot and Joyce with pit stops along the way with Dante, Sophocles, Cervantes etc.... These explanations and explications are extremely well-written and jargon-free. Save yourself a year of tuition and savor this book instead. It's a shame it's out of print.

I don't normally buy how-to books. But a friend recommended this book, and now I'm recommending it to everyone I know. Everyone talks about how important it is to get exercise. But what if you're not the sort of person who has the time or wants to go to a gym? That's why this book is so helpful. It's a week by week guide to adding physical activity to your day to day life. It talks about the obstacles that get in the way, and how to get around them. It's full of stories of people who have faced the same problems and have found ways around them to become more physically active. For me one of the most helpful parts was learning how to measure how much exercise I get and then shoot for more. This is a really useful and inspiring book for anyone who knows they need to get more exercise but doesn't know how.

Tales of Terror: 1877 introduces Marshals and Posses to the wonders of the Weird West. There are new weapons, Edges and Hindrances and Knacks, but the best part is the Tombstone Epitaph, incorporated into the book. The first part relates the happenings of the year 1877, as told by a reporter travelling the West. The second part reveals to Marshals (and Marshals only!) what's "really" going on behind the scenes of the various news stories.

The writers of this book did their homework, and this book is a very enjoyable read, whether or not you actually intend to play the game.

Finally a prophecy book that is not 300 pages long. Mr Marcus' concise explanations for the events that are about to happen shows great insight. I like the way he takes prophecy and puts it into layman's terms so that you can understand it. I particularly like the way he blended the Old and New Testaments together, shows great insight. The story of his conversion is fascinating and I look forward to his future books.

I never knew that Hammett could be beyond hardboiled and noir. These stories have O'Henry like twists to them and some really funny prose. And they're long enough to get some development but short enough to finish in a normal sitting. It's fun.

During the years of radio drama, Dashell Hammett's Nick Charles and Sam Spade had their own weekly radio shows, and movie flings. But one series based on a Dashell Hammett character was puzzling: "The Fat Man". He was named J. Maxwell Smart, weighed 240 lb., and of course was one tough character. Yet, you'll never find him under that name in any Hammett story. The radio, tv, & movie character was, in fact, based on the nameless Continental Op.

Truly, he is the most interesting of Hammett's series characters. He is tough, ethical according to his code, and keeps his true emotions buried under the toughness and the physical bulk. He is a cynic, one who assumes that each person involved is undoubtedly lying. On the occasions that a female character makes a play for him, he assumes that she has an angle. And he, in turn, formulates his own lies which have the effect of bringing out the truth. There are times that he is as surprised at the outcome as the reader is.

Hammett is skillful in the way he keeps the op in character, and the reader needs to be alert to catch some of the subtleties such as a restrained sense of humor when the crooks trap themselves by thinking he's after them when he's completely unaware of what they've done; a buried feeling of remorse when a client is murdered because the op had the wrong assumption; a decision not to unnecessarily involve an erring wife who's resigned herself to having her infidelity revealed.

These stories indeed have literary value while being engrossing crime stories. If you enjoy today's tough police detectives such as Harry Bosch, you will find these far earlier stories engrossing.

This is the first Dashiell Hammett book I've read. It's actually a collection of short stories revolving around the exploits of the Continental Op, a nameless private dick who works for the Continental Detective Agency. The Op is a hard-nosed, intelligent guy who always cracks his cases, along with a few heads. Hammett originally wrote these as serials for magazines way back in the 1920's. That was one of the things that surprised me about these stories. I couldn't believe they were written so long ago. The edginess and violence seems much more modern. These stories could easily have been written around the time that Raymond Chandler was banging out his Marlowe stories (during the 1950's). You cannot help but like the Op. He's sarcastic and smart and operates on his own code of justice. He's the kind of guy you would want to have around if you were in trouble.

All of the stories are good, but some are better than others. The best story, in my humble opinion, concerned a jewel heist gone bad in which the Op ends up in a gun battle in a dark apartment. The bodies stack up quickly in this one. Other stories involve a trip to Mexico, nine "clews" that don't add up, and a theft that the Op accidentally stumbles upon. All of the stories involve murder and mayhem. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how the stories would end while I was reading them, but Hammett always seems to make it end in an unexpected way. The writing style is quick and cool, with many neat metaphors I've come to expect from noir writings.

The introduction to this collection is pretty useless and boring. I recommended skipping it and going right to the meat. This is noir. Who needs an introduction? Read!

Although this commentary on one of the most interesting and enjoyable of Cicero's speeches for the modern reader is heavily slanted to the needs of US students for Advanced Placement Latin, it is nevertheless a great introduction to the speeches of Cicero for anyone learning Latin anywhere. There is a lot of help with grammar and vocabulary, and the methodical way in which the structure of Cicero's periods (long, involved sentences) is explained is particularly clear and helpful. The introductory sections giving the context and historical background to the speech are reasonably comprehensive without being unduly detailed. The notes draw fairly heavily on Professor Austin's Oxford University Press commentary, to which reference is made on more detailed points. However, Austin's edition is for the more learned. For anyone still in the Latin learning process, this book is much more accessible.

On the downside, the commentary does not cover the whole speech. Lines 620 to 892 (about a quarter of the whole) are completely without notes or vocabulary, which is probably not a problem for Advanced Placement students, but disappointing for everybody else.

This book contains all of the Cicero required for the AP Latin Literature. It says in the preface that this book was designed specifically for AP students. Each section consists of about 30 lines of Latin (two or three "chapters") followed by explanation of words and difficult grammar (and some of it is extremely difficult). It is difficult to translate, but well worth it. This is the epitomy of persuasion.

This is a great gardening book to own. It has two handy charts, "working winter diary" which lists seasonal tasks and "winter-flowering guide" which lists 4 - 8 names of winter annuals, bulbs, perennials, climbers (!) and shrubs. It has many color illustrations with descriptions and a good Table of Contents and Index. A few of the flowers mentioned are not illustrated.

This book was wonderful! The photos are so inspirational and it gives you quick and easy ideas for setting up a winter garden. This book is truly motivational in getting you out in the yard at a time of year that you aren't likely to do so. This book is perfect for the beginning gardener who wants to know the In's and Out's of seasonal gardening. It may be a little elementary for those of you who are not so "green" to your garden, but it will still offer some beautiful, inexpensive ideas.

Steven Saylor's novel is aptly named -- a good deal of Roman blood is indeed spilled when Gordianus the Finder agrees to help a young lawyer named Marcus Tullius Cicero with his first case. Cicero has been hired to defend one Sextus Roscius, accused of killing his father, also named Sextus Roscius. The crime of patricide was punishable by death in ancient Rome, and neither Cicero nor Gordianus wants to see an innocent man executed.

Saylor does a good job of bringing Rome to life; he includes many details, including descriptions of the narrow, winding streets, the oppressive heat of summer, and the intricacies of the Roman legal system, that create a sense of place and painlessly educate the reader. There are only a few places where the description intrudes into the story. Since the story is bound up with the political intrigue surrounding the rule of the dictator Sulla (80 BC), a knowledge of Roman history will help the reader keepthe characters and their motivations straight. Saylor does give an explanation of Sulla's rise to power and the atrocities he and his followers committed, but it comes late in the book and drags on for several pages, so this is not as useful as it could be. Readers not familiar with (or uninterested in) Roman history may have trouble getting into the book, but overall the setting is well-done and convincing.

The mystery aspect of the novel was not as interesting as the historical aspect; the story is slow in places, and it was hard to care about the characters, especially since many of them lack redeeming qualities. Also, Saylor has an unfortunate tendencyto overemphasize key plot points, as if he doesn't want the reader to miss the fact that a certain discovery is a clue. Part of the mystery reader's responsibility is to find the clues on her own; it is the mystery author's job to confuse the reader about what is a clue and what is a red herring. Saylor doesn't seem to have mastered that skill. The end of the novel, which includes the requisite court scene with Cicero making his argument on behalf of the accused, seems to take forever to lumber to a conclusion. Read the book for its setting, but don't expect too much in the mystery department.

"Roman Blood" is a whodunnit set in ancient Rome near the end of the Republic. It features Gordianus the Finder as the gumshoe. Gordianus a down-on-the-heels Roman detective is hired by Cicero an up-and-coming republican, lawyer/politician to gather evidence proving the innocence of a murder suspect he's defending. Gordianus's footwork unveils a not just the murder, but a political intrigue involving the highest levels of the dictator Sulla's regime.

Whodunnits are pretty formulaic. This one reminds me a lot of the best of Ellroy mixing murder, money, and politics. The spin of setting it in ancient Rome makes it more interesting. Saylor writes well. His prose is tight, and graphic. The obligatory gratuitous sex is especially well done. His violence and action passages are just a little weak. In addition, the story is twisty enough, not to figure it out ahead of time.

"Roman Blood" is good. It is a well crafted, murder mystery with enough information on ancient Rome to keep even serious readers of historical fiction interested.

I first began reading Steven Saylor's short stories in Ellery Queen and was immediately taken with his writing. Saylor brings history to life in an immediate and vivid manner. He does it so well, the reader doesn't notice it after awhile. "Roman Blood" is first and foremost a mystery, and the "detective" is Gordinius the Finder, a Roman citizen who is often hired to find truth. In this story a man is accused of murdering his father, and faces a horrible punishment if Gordinius and Cicero cannot find him innocent. Saylor exposes the corruption of the Roman political system while asking pointed questions about what justice is. This novel is so far my favorite of Saylor's novels because although he delves into the politics of the Roman Forum, the book is foremost a mystery novel. Gordinius is attempting to solve the murder of a Roman citizen, and Saylor maintains the suspensefulness throughout the novel. The book's ending leaves the readers surprised and thoughtful. Saylor also, by the end of the book, has ensured his future royalties because he's made you care about the characters and leaves you wanting to read more about their lives and their challenges.

It is easy to tell that this book was written by 12 different authors. The quality and writing style of each chapter varies widely. I thought the chapters on XPath, XSLT, DOM, SAX2, and SOAP were well written, but I was disappointed by some of the others.

The chapter on XML Schemas was the worst, in my opinion. This is a very important subject, but it is given the same amount of space as much less important topics. As a result, the author of this chapter tries to cover too much in too little space and ends up being quite confusing. Examples are thrown out followed by only partial explanations, and the author forgets to do some basic things like showing a sample XML document to match the sample XML Schemas in the examples. If you need to understand XML Schemas, skip this chapter and go directly to "Professional XML Schemas," which is very well written book on the subject.

This book is also too large and attempts to cover too many obscure topics. For example, it wastes a chapter on "XML Schema Alternatives" when it is clear that XML Schema is the approach that will be used by almost everyone going forward.

Finally, my standard complaint about all WROX books is that the font they use is too small! I feel like I'm reading a telephone book. Give the readers a break by taking out some of the less important chapters and increasing the font size.

I found this book very boring and tedious reading. The style of the book seems to vary as much as the number of authors. The concepts don't smoothly flow together. The book is a hodgepodge of technical information presented in patches by a huge bunch of authors. Obviously this book was an attempt to bring to market a book on XML as quickly as possible. The book doesn't provide enough examples or applications although it does present many examples on syntax. This may be a good reference book, but to really learn how to use XML I'm searching for another book.

The XML declarative language, with its adaptability and expressive power, is continuing to become the language of choice for reporting and classifying information. XML is a formal grammar that captures the syntactic features of a document type definition, and its properties, syntax, and applications are discussed effectively in this book. It covers XML as formalized by the W3C and the authors show how to use XML in Web-based and database applications. Readers who have developed applications in HTML will probably view XML as somewhat more abstract, since the visual representation of the content of a document is not emphasized in XML. Readers are expected to have a background in HTML, JavaScript, Java, and ASP in order to read the book. Although XML can be learned by reading the W3C specifications, these documents are frequently difficult reading, and this book makes the learning of XML much easier than reading these specifications. They include the W3C specifications for XML 1.0 in an appendix to the book for the interested reader. The book is a little dated, since the W3C has been updating XML specs since the time of publication (especially with regard to schemas), but there is a 2nd edition coming out soon.

In Chapter 1, XML is introduced as a mark-up language and its inherent extensibility emphasized. This is followed by a detailed treatment of XML syntax in the next chapter, with emphasis placed on the hierarchical nature of XML. The authors do include a discussion of Processing Instructions (PIs) for users who want to use XML in this fashion.

Document Type Definitions (DTD) are the subject of Chapter 3, where the authors communicate effectively how DTDs formal grammar is used to specify the structure and permissible values of XML documents. The formal DTD structure is discussed, and the principles behind writing DTDs are effectively outlined. They also discuss the problems with using DTDs.

Data modeling with XML is discussed in the next chapter, with information modeling via static and dynamic models treated in detail, and the authors carefully distinguish these two approaches. The actual designing of XML documents is given a nice overview as well as the role of schemas in XML. This is followed in Chapter 6 by a discussion of the (tree-based) Document Object Model, which overviews how XML documents can be accessed by various programs. Some helpful examples are given on how the DOM can be used to create an XML document programmatically. An alternative way of processing an XML document is discussed in the next chapter on the (event-based) SAX interface. The authors outline in detail the benefits of using SAX rather than DOM. In Appendix B the reader will find the Internet Explorer 5.0 XML DOM 1.0 W3C specifications. In addition, in Appendix C, the specification for the SAX 1.0 interface is given.

The shortcomings of DTD are addressed in terms of XML Schemas and namespaces in chapter 7. Since this book was published, XML Schemas have reached W3C recommendation status as of Nov 2000. The authors give a good overview of namespaces and schemas, with helpful examples. This is followed in chapter 8 by a discussion of how to link and query into XML documents using the XML information set, XLink, XPath, XPointer, XML Fragment Interchange, with XLST covered in the next chapter. For database applications, the authors outline the differences between relational databases and XML documents. A very detailed treatment of how XLST transforms the source document is given, and the authors compare XLS and DOM transformations. An Internet Explorer XSL reference is included in one of the appendices of the book.

More details on the relationship between databases and XML is the subject of chapter 10, wherein the authors show how to store XML and how data can be communicated between different servers using XML. The issues involved when moving data from RDBMS to OODBMS or from Oracle to Sybase, are discussed by the authors. This is followed by an interesting discussion on how to use XML as a distributed component model for server-to-server communications via XML-Remote Procedure Call and Simple Object Access Protocol.

E-commerce applications are discussed in the next chapter, with EDI and its improvement via XML. The business markup language cXML , which allows business to business electronic commerce transactions across the Internet, is also treated in detail.

The authors then finally discuss how to render XML documents more readable and pleasing for the viewer in the next chapter using the style languages CSS and XSL. The discussion is really interesting, for the authors dig a little deeper into the foundations of style languages. The discussion of style languages as rule-based languages is particularly illuminating.

The next chapter is very interesting and its inclusion is actually very surprising, namely a discussion of the Wireless Application Protocol. The authors give an introduction to the Wireless Markup Language and WMLScript. The book ends with four useful chapters on case studies for data duality, distributed applications, a book catalog information service, and SOAP.

There are many applications of XML in many different areas, such as CellML (proprietary) used in cell biology, CML (Chemical Markup Language) for molecular chemistry, IML (Instrument Markup Language) for control of laboratory equipment, BSML (Bioinformatic Sequence Markup Language) for gene sequencing, and MathML for formatting of mathematical equations. I find XML an extremely powerful approach to information reporting and I am currently developing a package called NMML (Network Modeling Markup Language) for use in reporting results in simulation and mathematical modeling of networks, and FMML (Financial Modeling Markup Language) for use in reporting results in the modeling of financial instruments. This book, along with the W3C specifications, has been a tremendous help in the development of these applications.

First they claim to have all of Raymond Chandler's stories in one volume. They don't, four are missing, and just happen to be the ones most sought after by true fans. Not to mention the eight they admit to omitting. They're excuse? Considerations for length and theme, it's true that three of the missing four are not mysteries, and that is what makes them unique. But why did they leave out "The Pencil"? The length problem could have been solved by omitting the section of Chandler's letters, there are whole volumes dedicated to those. And they could have cut some of the essays that are also included in other volumes, and replaced them with other essays that are rotting away in issues of the Atlantic Monthly. And they could have omitted the "Double Indemnity script and repalced it with "The Blue Dahlia" which is out of print.
That is how they messed up their "definative"' collection of Chandler and they seem to have made worse editing choices with their collection of Hammmett's stories. The way it stands now, if you want every story Hammett wrote you must buy this book. It includes five stories that appear to be collected here for the first time. But, then you'll have to buy "Nightmare Town" and the "Big Knockover". Why did LOA do it this way? Why not omit the four stories already available in "Nightmare Town" amd replace them with the three that are missing from "The Big Knockover"? That way if you bought "Nightmare Town" you'd have the twelve remaining stories and you're collection is complete. If they were strapped for space they could omit the 58 page typescript for "'The Thin Man".

I debated whether this should be 3 stars or 4, and decided on 4 because of the creative plots and characters. Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961) dropped out of school at the age of 15, working at a variety of jobs before joining the Pinkerton Dectective Agency at the age of 21, working there before and after his service in the US Army during World War I. He came down with TB in the Army, and continuing illnesses made it difficult for him to work, so he became a writer. He is best known for the "Maltese Falcon" and other novels. He died penniless, largely due to judgements by the IRS for unpaid income taxes.

It is apparent from some of the other reviews that reviewers are unfamiliar with the process of publishing a collection. There are copyrights involved, and it is necessary to obtain permission from the copyright holders, often a different publisher (which may or may not be forthcoming). There are also fees payable to copyright holders, and demands sometimes make it impractical to include material (I am speaking from personal experience).

This collection contains 24 shorter stories originally published between 1923 and 1934, mainly in "Black Mask," with one each from "Argosy," "Mystery Stories," "Liberty," and "Colliers." The 20 stories from "Black Mask" feature the Continental Op, a detective from the Continental Detective Agency who is described as fat but never identified by name - call him "the Fat Man" for purposes of reference. The stories are in narrative form, as told by the main character. There is also an early typescript of "The Thin Man," various notes by the author, and biographical material on his life.

Rather than being literary masterpieces, these stories were written as entertainment for the masses. They are written in the somewhat macho style of that time period, with dead bodies left about the landscape. The Fat Man is not quite Fearless Fosdick, but he survives more than a normal amount of blows, knife wounds, and near misses from bullets. The stories will appeal to those readers who like live action. They may have less appeal to readers looking for high tech (computers, cell phones, etc.). There are interesting references to the time period with people driving Locomobiles, etc., and directing someone to "keep the steam up." A lot of the action is in San Francisco in the 1920's. This was an era before Miranda Rights, etc., when police were more inclined to kick in a door and sometimes slap people aside the head.

There are interesting characters sprinkled through the stories. One man has the ultimate con game, hiring himself out as a hit man and collecting the advance with no intention of performing the hit. What can his clients do, complain to the police? His idea of a money tree is someone with lots of enemies.

Like most collections, there is some variation in quality. The volume is good value for the money with 900 pages of stories. While well bound, the volume is printed on somewhat thin paper which could be easily damaged.

Dashiell Hammett was the celebrated author and experienced detective who has been acclaimed as the father of the American hardboiled crime novel. This anthology of his work proves him to be a master of short stories as well. His tales, originally written for pulp magazines such as Black Mask in the 1920's and 1930's, drew upon the realities of American streets and American speech to create adventures felt and sounded truly real. This comprehensive collection from the original texts as they appeared in the pulps is free of the cuts and revisions imposed by later editors. In addition to 24 stories, Dashiell Hammett: Crime Stories And Other Writings also contains essays and an early version of Hammett's novel "The Thin Man." Dashiell Hammett: Crime Stories And Other Writings is an undeniable "must" for any mystery buff!