When I first opened this book I was excited by the way it was set up, with real-world tutorials. Half the book is tutorials. However, the publisher decided to cheap out and not include a CD ROM with the files that the tutorials refer to. As a designer on a tight schedule I don't have the time to waste looking for (or making) files to use with the tutorials.

This made half the book useless. It was very disappointing. Don't make a $31 mistake, look for something better.

I am a design instructor from Boston interested in teaching Adobe's new In Design software. I was very pleased with my purchase of the Adobe InDesign Guide. I found it different from typical software guides because of its visual approach to learning. Plus, it's filled with practical information, tips, "crash courses," and more. I especially liked the "In a Hurry" section for quick references and getting started right away. This guide will be required reading for my future students, and I highly recommend it to other In Design users, from beginner to advanced.

WITKOWSKI AND BOYLE WORKED AS A GREAT TEAM AS THEY WROTE THIS SECOND BRILLIANT PUBLICATION FOR ADOBE.

I WOULD SHOUT ITS PRAISES TO EVERYONE FROM THE TOP OF THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING. THE ADOBE INDESIGN GUIDE WAS BETTER THAN THE HELICOPTER SCENE IN MISS SAIGON.

I bought this book hoping that is would be a well researched and supported overview of the development of the diagnosis for Munchausen By Proxy Syndrome. Unfortunately, it did not deliver. I wanted backround and research to support it, but none was forthcoming. The authors write mainly from the philsophical point of view and do not bother to examine whether MBPS is a valid diagnosis based on case study or clinical research. Many MBPS mothers endorse this book because they believe that it vidicates them, however, the mere overdiagnosis of a disorder does not prove it's nonexistance. A reader interested in this subject would do better to read Marc Feldman's book "Patient or Pretender" and/or review the joural articles on Medline. Buy a book about Factitious Disorders that has a more substantial foundation than this book does that is founded on research not supposition. This book is a waste for serious MSBP researchers. Pass.

I approach Munchausen by Proxy from a somewhat novel perspective: I have been trained as a developmental and philosophical psychologist, and I currently am the CEO of a child welfare agency. This cross-breeding makes me both sympathetic to the authors' aims and argument (the book reminds me of Ian Hacking's book on multiple personality disorder), *and* sympathetic with those practitioners who have diagnosed MBPS in their work.

One of the premises of this book is that MBPS is rampantly over-identified, and is in fact used as a tool for the continued subjugation of women. I am surprised at this claim, since in my experience social workers, physicians, psychologists, child protection workers, judges, and other professionals display either complete ignorance of the disorder or, if they know what it is, a high degree of denial and reluctance to acknowledge it. This is far from the picture painted by the authors of a Salem-witch-trial frenzy.

The simple fact is that there are people out there who, for various reasons, either invent or exaggerate their children's symptoms OR induce those symptoms. The question is WHY this happens. Sometimes it happens because the parent is seeking material gain. And sometimes it happens because of more complex motives, because in some way the parent is seeking the less tangible rewards of the sick role -- BY PROXY. This latter type of motive is what is involved in MBPS. Notice that there is a wealth of philosophical and sociological questions one could pose here that would also accord with the authors' basic assumptions: What features of modern society might be exerting pressure on mothers to fabricate illness in their children? What does this say about the availability of social supports for women in societies like the US? What pathologies of relationships might be involved here?

I greatly value the kind of analysis presented in this book. There is no question that, especially in the area of psychological disorder, societal forces play a huge role in the construction and identification of pathology. (I highly recommend, in this connection, Arthur Kleinman's book _Social Origins of Distress and Disease_. Nevertheless, I think that it is important to remember that when MBPS is alleged, it is USUALLY alleged by mental health or child welfare professionals who are highly well-intentioned and, above all, careful in their assessments. It is not a matter of judgmental social workers going of half-cocked blaming mothers for their childrens' illnesses. MBPS is a diagnosis that is made only after a lot of hand-wringing and searching for other possibilities.

In my opinion, there is at least as much philosophical interest in the question of what makes so many women fabricate illness in their children as there is in the question of society's interest in creating such a disorder. But this book is a valuable entry in what I hope will be a continuing conversation among philosophers, sociologists, social workers, physicians, and other thinkers.

I would very much like to sign my name to this review, but because of the work that I do and where I do it, I can't. But I'll keep watching these reviews to see if anyone has a comment on what I've said!

It is a real shame that Amazon.com has not really rallied behind this book, or at least has not offered a better discount. Munchausen-By-Proxy-Syndrome is yet another of those awful tools that prosecuters have to indict and convict people (women, in this case) without any real justification or evidence. The 'science' behind this "syndrome" is -- not unlike false memory syndrome, et al. -- a throwback to the days of witch hunts and the like. This text is the only one out there to counter the rampant conviction factory of shameless prosecutors and the FBI.

This books is not designed for developers. Information is presented as a high-level overview of Notes' and Domino's capabilities. The book is over 1100 pages long, but the first 400 should be scrapped. I'm looking for a reference that contains clear, detailed examples of code and development processes. I also want to know why (if) Domino is superior to standard web servers by Netscape, Apache, and Microsoft.

A comprehensive guide to the new version of Lotus Notes (4.5). Full of lots of information, but I would have liked a little more guidance on steps to setup up the initial server. Definitely worth owning - especially seeing there is a CD ROM with the whole book in HTML format. The ultimate reference!

The previous reviewer is correct that the previous published work did cover a lot of the Notes basics. However after you look at what is on the CD and the text you will see the value of this book. This book definitely has assisted me in developing many of the applications that I have written for my clients. The text is written so that you don't have to read a whole chapter in the book. You can read the sections that need. This is really a great reference book for building quality Notes applications

The new edition of this book fails to deliver in every aspect. I've used Lonely Planet books in the past, and they've proved to be reliable and useful, but not this one. I live in Banff, and so the observations are from this region.

Firstly, the "new" edition is terribly out of date. I purchased it after seeing the publication date was October 2002. It's accepted and understandable that things change, but there is information that was wrong well over a year before the publication date. A hostel that burnt down in 2000 (Hilda Creek, page 701), and reference to Banff and Jasper as "townsites" (Banff was incorporated in 1991, Jasper in 2001) are examples.

The description of Banff is laughable. There is no possible way anyone could describe the town as a "small, alpine-style village that consists of essentially one main street" (page 686), as this book does. The following history section doesn't get better: "The Bow River forms a class-distinctive boundary that is still evident today." In the first instance, the side of the river that LP tells us "caters to the wealthy crowd" comprises mainly of subsidized housing. And "Many people complain that the townsite is too crowded and argue that more hotels and streets should be built." Aside from the fact a 12 year old could have written the sentence, it's just simply not correct. In an effort to include an environmental slant, the authors have touched on current issues. Readers are informed that a convention center at Lake Louise is controversial because it's "in grizzly bear habitat-good goin' guys" (page 696). Bad goin' I say-it's controversial due to water issues, not bears.

The book is riddled with inaccuacies. Not information that is out of date, but straightforward mistakes. Page 688 talks of canoe rentals at Banff's Central Park. There has never been a canoe rental place here. How could a trained writer even imagine there was? Golden is "just outside the park" (page 692) No, it's over an hour's drive away along a treacherous road. There are literally dozens of similar mistakes in just the few pages on Banff. This is also reflected in the maps: Banff has no "Mamoth St." (page 687). As all Banff streets are named for animals, I guess they meant "mammoth" street, but there is no street of this name either. The mapmakers can't even correctly spell an incorrect name, or something along those lines anyway.

Most surprising for me, the good, solid travel information these books were once renowned for has been replaced by useless, fluffy text that serves no purpose at all. For example, the restaurants listed are not recommendations as such, but simply listings. And where there is a description it does little to inform. Four lines are used to explain the source of the name of an Irish pub (page 694) that has absolutely no relevance to Banff or the mountains, including that the original Guinness Brewery is still open and that it was "founded by 34 year old Arthur Guinness in 1759." The next listing is for Bruno's, named for one of Banff's most famous and respected mountain men. This name isn't explained, just that the restaurant has a "wide-ranging menu." There is an excellent reason why renting a vehicle in Banff, as opposed to Calgary or Canmore, is a bad choice (no unlimited mileage is offered, even by the majors), yet, this important and useful information isn't included (page 696).

My original purpose of buying this book was for travel around my own country, not so much to rely on every word in print but to get a feeling as how Canada is portrayed by these books. The litany of inaccuracies and uselessness seems to continue beyond the Rockies section. On page 34 readers are told brown bears are "actually a black bear but brown in color." I just wish I could ask the author how he came up with this unique theory.

I imagine picking a Lonely Planet book as the guide of choice is habit more than anything for many travelers. It's reflected in the attitude of those I meet on the road and the reviews I see here at Amazon. It seems somehow ironic that Lonely Planet has evolved from the likes of an Africa book I relied on for every word in the 80s, written by a guy whose biography had him living in a hut brewing mango wine somewhere I can't recall, to this worthless tome that relies on name rather than content to generate sales.

Lightbody, Huhti and Ver Berkmoes have produced the definitive travel guide on Canada. Up-front, this review is based on my trips to B.C. and Nova Scotia. To say that Canada is vast is an understatement, but, if these, to polarized Canadian provinces, are typical of the rest of the guide, this is a "must have" purchase.

Lightbody, Huhti and Ver Berkmoes' writing is both engaging and descriptive. "Lonely Planet Canada" has a solid introduction section that covers Norway's history, government, economy, ecology, climate etc. An informative practical travel section and, most important, a reliable and up-to-date listing of recommendations that each of the contributors has checked out (lodging, restaurants, entertainment, places to see and things to do). At the start of each section is a regional map, more maps, and a list of highlights or "must see" for that region. Great!

In my "must have" list to qualify a guide as "excellent", are easy to read maps. This book has the best maps found in a Canada travel guide. High marks go to the city maps that help the reader by numerically locating the recommended restaurants and accommodations on the maps.

The superb information and recommendations are reliable and though the publication date is 1999 (thus the information is pre '99), I did find some restaurants and inns closed or sold. As a whole, accommodations prices have increased an average of 15% to 20%.

A weak area, which I am sure will be corrected in the next edition, is the sparse use of email/web site addresses (Halifax, N.S. had no addresses out of the 20 accommodations listings). As computer users know, website and email addresses are very helpful, especially for hotel quotes and reservations.

Lonely Planet Canada is comprehensive enough to have even if you are just visiting one province and, with its excellent introduction and reliable accommodations and restaurants recommendations, you find that this may be the best buy in Canada Guides. Strongly recommended.

I used this guide while travelling on the east and west coast of Canada. It's most complete and accurate and also fun to read. The recommendations are all very reliable and good. If you don't want to carry around a handful of guide books, this book helps a lot. Even if it might not go as much into detail as a guide that zooms in on a particular city or region. But you'll find everything a backpacker's (and budget traveler's) eye is looking for. Highly recommended.

This book is okay, but it could definitely be better. For a basic statistics class, this book contains WAY too much information to digest in a semester of college. No professor I know of has ever gotten past chapter 8. Further, the problems are quite wimpy as far as the amount of thought required for them. Quite wimpy. Could be better. The only good thing is that for doing it on a spreadsheet, the data comes on a CD, so that you don't have to re-type it, thankfully.

This book is used in the course of Business Statistics at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. This is a useful and understandable book. The questions are well-prepared.Also,the statistics program PhSTAT is given with this book. I advise you to buy.

Marcus Hearn's exhaustive research in the early 1990's provides the basis of most of the information in this comprehensive guide to the formative years of Doctor Who, yet nowhere in the book does he recieve even pssing credit. Rather than being presented as a dry 'info-dump',the book's accessibility could have been vastly improved by more user-friendly approach to conveying its wealth of material, some of which is interesting, some mindlessly dull. Unforgiveable, too, is the insulting 'What others said about William Hartnell' section, which is not used in any other handbook in the series, woefully implying some kind of inadequacy, or unreliabilty in Hartnell's own words. Equally annoying are the reviews offered by David Howe for each individual story, which are vapid and predictable in the extreme. He awards 'Marco Polo' and 'The Crusade' 10/10, despite both being broadcast some 35 years ago, claiming 'he really can't find anything wrong' with either story. Is this really the point of being a Dr. Who fan, as Howe claims to be? Strangely enough, the stories that remain intact in the archives (and thus accessible for review) such as 'An Unearthly Child', the classic first ever story, favour less well, suggesting, as John Nathan-Turner once infamously stated, 'The memory cheats'. Although, as usual, it's sheer wealth of information is indispensible, this is by far one of the weaker handbooks in the series.

This book is a must for any Doctor Who fan. From the inception of the show in April 1962 to the end of October 1966, this book looks at the William Hartnell era of Doctor Who. These handbooks are really good. I've only seen these stories recently, but the book brings back the memories of them. It even thoroughly helps out on the missing episodes that can't be seen, by summarising these stories. So you get a sense of how it might've been like to have seen them. The attention to production details is excellent. You learn about interesting facts about the episodes: budgets, originally intended actors, location and studio recordings, original titles, original direction of some stories, etc. The book is divided into 8 chapters: William Hartnell stuff, the Doctor, the stories, establishing the myth, production diary, a focus on the making of the classic story "The Ark", and selling the doctor. The First Doctor Handbook is a great reference source of information on Doctor Who's early years. These handbooks are all great (there are 7 volumes in the Doctor Who handbook series), but the fact is that the first doctor handbook was actually the third one made in the series, published in 1994.

The co-authors trio of David J. Howe, Mark Stammers, and Stephen James Walker have proven themselves to be the definitive historians on the Doctor Who TV series. Besides the handbooks, they have also written three volumes focusing on the three decades of Doctor Who's television run: The Sixties, The Seventies, and The Eighties. I highly recommend all of these books to any fan of the world's longest running science fiction TV series!

I have been a faithful consumer of Lonely Planet products for the last five years. However, this collection does little more than offer superficial information on every country in Central Europe. If you want to go anywhere besides the capitals and most well-known tourist "traps", forget it. I was particularly dissapointed with the book's treatment of Germany and Switzerland. Very vague, very minimal. If you want to visit any of the countries in Central Europe, buy the Lonely Planet Guide to that country or look for a different publisher. Sorry guys, this one doesn't go in my travel bag.

This book is fantastic. I was amazed at how thorough a book could be. These authors also have a great sense of humor. Lonely is an oxymoron. This book is very comforting. I highly recommend this book.

You will not learn anything new in this book that you don't already know. The book consists of 4 or 5 different essays written by 4 or 5 different authors. It isn't a clear book describing the civil war. I was looking for a book that described each of the reasons for the start of the civil war. This book didn't do that. Each essay tried to make a different point - but it was not clear. The book was too scattered for me. So if you want a more in depth, and more straight forward book about the start of the civil war - try another author.

In the face of recent debates over the Confederate flag flying over South Carolina's capital, a lot has been said regarding the author's subject. Some contend that the war was over state's rights and others contend it was over the issue of slavery. It has even been suggested by many sources that Lincoln came to oppose slavery late. I bought this book hoping to read an author who both knew history and could examine the facts impartially. I clearly found both.

The editor explores pre-Civil War history through the voices of the main figures and groups. In the process I discovered that both states rights and anti-slavery contentions are correct. However, these two are so closely tied that it hardly matters, as you will discover through the eyes of the players. Please read this book. This book should be required reading in every high school history class in America.

I found the book to be the best slice of easy reading history I've ever read, and highly applicable to related debates of the 21st century.

Incidentally, if you are interested in the unique origins of the Republican party, the formation of our two parties, the demise of early parties, the early black leaders, the early womens' movements or even early trends in women's literature, this is an amazing read regarding those topics alone. Can't put it down, highligher in hand stuff.

It bothers me to no end to read the negative reviews of this book. Maybe it's because the book is labeled from "casual" to "expert" user. I knew absolutely nothing about web publishing and HTML coding and found this extremely easy to read and follow. Unfortunately there were probably a few people in the "advanced" bracket who needed to slam this book because it did not cover what they expected. It gave me a solid basis for HTML and Dynamic HTML coding and was a great introduction to Java and CGI. When an author has to cover so many subjects related to HTML he's bound to skim over the more advanced applications. Being almost 1000 pages, it does a sterling job. By the way, the CD has a great HTML editor on it!

As a beginner I found the book a tremendous resource into HTML and Web page authoring. I do not believe the book is intended to be an exhaustive reference on every topic but wants to focus on normal day to day concerns. After reading the book I now feel extremely comfortable on all Web issues and recommend the text highly.

Easy and fun to read and learn basics of HTML and well beyond. Logically organized so it works well both for self-instruction and as a reference.

i am actually doing a report on rap and selected this book expecting some insight...i was surprised. it seems like some of this was even just put here to take up space; i was dissapointed, expecting something better from costello. a point of view not needed in most situations. of course, ten years ago it might have been close to adequate--now it seems totally inadequate to use in my report.

David Foster Wallace and Mark Costello are too cute by half in this book, and it is horribly out of date. (Just to give an idea, A Tribe Called Quest, who were considered an elder statesman group when they broke up two years ago, had not yet released an album when this book was published.) But most of the analysis of rap's place within popular culture remains somehow applicable to the current scene if you are willing to do a bunch of critical work along the same lines and ignore the dumber flights of fancy. Still a fun book to read and a fun book to debate. Not to be missed if you remember when LL Cool J was good and you have read anything by a master of postmodern philosophy.

costello and wallace examine rap culture and rappers as they influence our society. although at times it seems like they are being narrow minded, this book examines what shapes society and how society can react to these things. the book goes well beyond merely rap music and examines how society is influenced and how it influences. anyone who reads this and sees it as simply a look at rap music is missing the entire point of the book.