At a medical student level, "Obstetrics and Gynaecology: A Problem-Solving Approach" is a winner. It's concise, it's well set-out and it contains information in easily-understood diagrams, tables and charts. After a general introduction to obstetrics and gynaecology furnishes the reader with requisite information, the book devotes a chapter to one important clinical problem. Both obstetrics and gynaecology are covered to a depth that does not swamp the medical student but does not leave large knowledge deficits. For ease of reference, differential diagnoses and their probabilities are highlighted in red boxes at the beginning of each chapter. Critical information throughout the chapter is likewise summarised with a list of "golden points" at the end of each problem.

This is a book aimed squarely at medical students and it succeeds in providing information in the problem-solving sequential fashion sought by clinical teachers. It's packed with good statistics to trot out, if you remember them, for the "gold standard" answer. An appendix contains tips for passing final examinations (unlike human appendices, which are full of...). I'd recommend the book. It's readable enough to do a couple of chapters a night, and it's portable enough to carry to school with you. It's clear and simplifies what can be an unnecessarily difficult subject. 4 out of 5.

I was really not looking forward to reading these stories, but as when they came out collected I picked them up, but I really didn't have very high hopes. And then I read them. It was quite a pleasant surprise. This is not one story, but rather 4 stories which take place during the events of The Phantom Menace, as well as the little Episode 1 #1/2 which is kind of silly.

The Anakin story was the best of the lot. Taking place (immediately) before the Jedi land on Tatooine, it shows us Anakin's idealism, his dreams, and a glimpse of his life and friends. The art, while not spectacular, also fits his story very nicely.

Next came Queen Amidala's tale. Taking place right before the podrace, it is similar to one of the levels of the TPM game. A component of Anakin's pod is stolen, so Amidala and Jar Jar take off to retrieve it. The art wasn't very interesting, not bad, but not good, and the whole story is pointless and doesn't really fit into the whole. There are a few neat character interactions here, but not much.

Next come Qui-Gon. The art was the best of the lot, done by Robert Teranishi of "Union" fame. It portrays Watto's double crossing of Qui-Gon as he tries to collect on the parts he needs and Anakin's freedom, and it also includes the scene cut out of the movie where Anakin beats up the Rodian kid. Plus, it has interesting dialogue which sounded right.

Last came Obi-Wan, which was the most dissapointing of the bunch. The art was okay, but the story, written by the guy who did the comic adaptation of the film, was essentially Obi-Wan recapping the entire movie to Yoda, and once in a while a little commentary by Yoda on Obi's performance.

And then came the 1/2 issue. It had little segments by each of the four writer/illustrators of the main stories. The Anakin bit isn't real interesting, but the assassination plot ties into the "Emissaries to Malastare" plotline. The Qui-gon basically just is a little epilogue to the existing story, Obi-Wan is found reflecting on Ani's admirable Jedi traits, and the Queen gets to know Jar Jar a little better on the way to Coruscant.

Overall, a quick enjoyable, read. Recommended.

The author is careful to include a brief history of the war monument, he has also done his homeword and places obvious emphasis on monuments of WWI. All in all, I strongly recomend this book to anyone ineterested in Canadian memorials. On a more critical eye, the author does not state the problems that arose in provinces that were felt to be less nationalist (i.e.: Quebec City), another problem is his passing interest to the war experience as women saw it, and the Myth of the War Experience. Complementary reading will remedy this.

In 'Greek and Roman Philosopy After Aristotle', there is and extended excerpt from 'Octavius' by Marcus Minucius Felix. Its summary of pagan Roman views on Christianity was so dead-on accurate, I just had to read the whole thing. Unfortunately, the Christian response isn't as incisive as as the attack. It is primarily a defense of the idea of a single creator god, coupled with the idea that Christians are restrained, ethical and good people. Jesus is not really menitioned at all. Felix's view might be called "Ethical Monotheism". The second work in the book, Justin Martyr's 'First Apology' is very revealing of 2nd century Christian thought, and touches on many practical and philosophical issues, not only regarding Christian practice and paganism, but Jewish uses of Greek philosophy. This book is quite a find. While it is not a new translation, it is a modern, idiomatic, if somewhat oversimplified, rendition of the translations contained in the hoary, 130-something year-old 'Ante-Nicene Library'. Portions of 'Octavius', and Justin Martyr's 'First Apology" are rearranged, to a degree, on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis, and other portions are relegated to appendices, but both works are present in their entirety, and a bit more logical, to modern readers, than the originals. At the price of $..., you'd be silly not to check these accessible, yet ancient works out. See what they were thinking in the 2nd century. They won't bite!

Ok, the photos are adorable. This is a wonderful coffee table book, but if you're looking for a guide to owning pugs, do not buy this book. Basically, the book is an in-depth study of the origin of the pug. It reads like a college term paper, which is not necessarily a bad thing, if that's what you're looking for. The introduction sounds like the author chose every other word from a thesaurus--wordy to the point of annoyance! The photos have nothing to do with the text. I bought this book thinking it was more of an owner's guide to pugs, which is why I'm disappointed. If you are studying the history of the pug, this might be a helpful reference tool.

The photos in this book are fantastic, but the writing is truly HORRIFIC. It's clear the author has never met a 12-letter word (where a five-letter word would have done perfectly) that he didn't like. OUCH!

I love this book ... It has really answered some questions. Great pictures..I recommend this book.

This is an excellent book. It is by far the best Twain I have read yet, and I give it four stars. In this novel, Mark Twain holds the glory and romance associated with Arthurian Legend up to the standards of 19th century society, and reveals defects in both the romantic ideal of King Arthur and the faith that Twain's generation holds in scientific and social "progress." Both funny and thought-provoking, this book provides the reader with a new set of eyes with which to view the barbarism and injustice that Arthur and his knights so valiantly fought to preserve. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is the tale of Hank Morgan, a typical 19th century man who is transported back in time to the days of Merlin, Guinevere, and King Arthur. After becoming aware of his surroundings, and deciding to ignore his uncertainty about whether King Arthur actually existed, this man uses the common knowledge of his time period, his practicality, and some perfectly timed arrogance to acquire a position of great power in this land that he finds repulsive and in need of an enlightened leader. The ensuing story is the tale of what happens when the two utopias collide and this man abuses his power in an attempt to bring the "great and beneficent" miracles of the 19th century to the Age of Chivalry. I would recommend this book to any reader in 8th grade or above, but I would discourage people with passionate faith in the purity and glory of King Arthur from reading this book if they do not want to be forcefully presented with demonstrations of chivalry's inhumanities. A fairly well developed sense of humor will help the reader to enjoy Mark Twain's subtle ironies and satirical situations, and some basic knowledge of science helps in understanding some of the scenes, however this isn't vital to the book. The vocabulary is moderately advanced, the subject matter is somewhat mature at times, and the philosophical reasoning is probably beyond the reach of most Junior High students, yet I would encourage anyone who is interested to give this book a try. This novel is also great for the general public because A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court provides the reader with a main character with whom they may identify. The main character, Hank Morgan is presented with situations in which he must deal with being a stranger in a new atmosphere, being a social outcast due to his uncommon beliefs, he must avoid physical confrontation, and he is forced to use his intellectual abilities rather than brute strength to solve difficult situations. Many readers will have faced similar difficulties in their lives, and this ability to identify with the characters will definitely add to the overall enjoyment of the story. With this piece of work, Mark Twain displays his true talent for excellent writing and story telling. He incorporates enough adventurous and action filled scenarios to make the reader want to continue reading vigorously, yet he also manages to discuss very philosophical and thought-provoking topics during the lulls in the action. This book reads very quickly near the beginning and end. The action tapers off during the middle of the story, but not for long, and once it starts to pick up again, Twain demonstrates his true potential for greatly entertaining writing in the very climactic and cleverly ironic ending that brings this all-around great book to an even better close. This is definitely a book worth reading.

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an intriguing novel written by Mark Twain. This is a fantastic book for the high school level reader, but would be entertaining to adults as well. I am a freshman in high school, and I enjoyed many attributes of the plot and writing style. In this novel the main character, Hank Morgan, is mysteriously transported from the nineteenth century in Connecticut back to the fifth century in England. During his time in medieval Britain, he keeps a journal which is what most of this book is. The preface and afterwards are both the narration of Mark Twain who writes as if he has found Hank's journal, and is merely writing it down in a book. As the journal starts out, Hank is introduced to King Arthur and after narrowly escaping death and becomes the country's most powerful advisor. Hank introduces many modern wonders to this feudal society. He is hailed a magician, being able to perform wonderful "miracles" and "magic", when it really is only modern science. It is very entertaining to read about how the feeble-minded people of that time react to these feats. In the end, there is a tremendous battle with many exciting episodes leading up to it. If a reader is partial to battle scenes of high caliber, this is a book for him! Of course, Hank has many other battles as well. Once of his biggest enemies is the Church of England. The big question the reader asks themselves during this book is "Will Hank return to his time and if so, how?". It was exciting for me to ponder this question throughout the novel. During Hank's travels through medieval Britain, he meets many people. The people he meets who think a government ruled by the people in Britain (his ultimate goal) would be a good idea, he sends to Camelot where he has schools set up which teach people about modern governmental ideas. Schools were also set up to teach people how to produce his wonders of modern science. These few enlightened people remain loyal to Hank until the very end. I thought it an entertaining notion that people who were trained from birth to believe in one thing, could realize it's faults and begin to believe another things. I really enjoy this book because it brings a lot about human nature into question. It discusses the vast differences of beliefs, manners, and life styles between one hundred years ago and fourteen hundred years ago. I also thought the differences between classic Arthurian legend and Mark Twain's perspective of the time were very interesting. Hanks training of these idealistic people he runs across plays into the large political aspect of this book. Since Hank's ultimate goal is to transform Britain into a country ruled by the people, he starts factories producing modern goods which greatly changes the lives of the Britons. I enjoyed the descriptions of the people's reaction to these modern products of science thirteen centuries before they would be invented. Throughout the entire book commentary and philosophizing concerning the comparison of the fifth century feudal system of Britain and the nineteenth century democracy of the U.S. by Hank Morgan is common. This political aspect is typical of Twain's works. It gave me great pleasure to read this aspect of the book and to comprehend it's meaning. Through Hank Morgan, Mark Twain is able to depict vivid images in the readers mind. Whether it be a person, scene, or sensation felt by Hank Twain describes it in a way which puts a solid picture in the imagination of the reader. I have not seen the movie of this novel, but I have heard it isn't very well done and it is nothing compared to the book. I believe this is because Mark Twain paints such a realistic picture in the mind of the reader, it is nothing compared to what some director can film. From Mark Twain's great descriptions and writing style to the unique ideas presented, the novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is a fantastic novel. There are so many aspects of it to enjoy, and it is just an all around entertaining book. I give this book four out of five stars and I recommend it to any one interested in fantasy, especially if they want a different perspective on King Arthur.

Well, the perfect companion to La Morte d'Arthur...

Twain completely dissects the "good ol' days" of Arthurian Britain by exposing the vicious social practices of the time: white slavery, le droit de seigneur, confiscation of property in event of suicide, the complete lack of impartial justice, the degrading influence of the Church on the mass, etcetera etcetera etcetera...

The Arthurian legends are wonderful tales, but they are a mythic literary production; Twain deals with the brutal reality of daily living in the Dark Ages, and points out that the good ol' days were not so good, anyway.

As for its applicability to modern America, I am not fit to judge. Perhaps it's there. But "The Connecticut Yankee" is a wonderful tonic for those prone to romanticizing the past. Twain seems to agree with Tom Paine that the English nobility were "no-ability", and simply the latest in a series of robbers.

And, of course, the book is stuffed with wonderful Twainisms... My favorite is his observation that a conscience is a very inconvenient thing, and the significant difference between a conscience and an anvil is that, if you had an anvil inside you, it would be alot less uncomfortable than having a conscience.

Twain also mentions the beautiful mispronunciations of childhood, and how the bereaved parental ear listens in vain for them once children have grown.

You'll never look at castles the same again...

Part 1 (6 chapters) - Absolutely a waste of time, not worth a read. And the code examples are not related to JWSDP.

Part 2 (6 chapters) - Discusses on SOAP, UDDI and WSDL. The code discusses using a Older version of Apache SOAP and Apache Axis. The code needs a complete rewrite.

Part 3 - Discusses on JAXP, JAXB, JAXR, JAXM and JAXRPC. Good introductions but the JAXB chapter is based on DTD (which is obsoleted in the latest specs). JAXM and JAXRPC chapters just reproduces the Sun JWSDP tutorial...not much value addition.

Part 4 - Security, WSFL, WSIF (based on IBM Specs) currently these specs are obsolete no further releases.

It might've been a good book during 2002. The code and content needs an update to the latest specs and SOAP implementations.

Just as I stated in the title, it's a great book to start you with. It's written in a clear and precise manner where you could learn the basics of Java Web Services and not be intimidated by it.

It is a good introductory book to web services standards like SOAP, WSDL and UDDI but also goes further and talks about topics like WSFL, WSIF which are not covered by all books on web services but are essential to any real business processes exposed as web services where flow control and service unit(s) choreagraphy is as important as the single unit service request/response. Java specifications relating to web services are also covered like JAXM and JAX-RPC. I wish more examples and code was given, perhaps even a chapter or two, for ebXML which may not be a part of web services standards but still uses SOAP and defines industry standards for business to business collaborations especially dealing with supply chain commerce issues.
I agree with a previous reviewer (John Sfikas) that this book alone isn't exactly an eye opener for experianced professionals who have been dabbling with all the tools mentioned in this book like Apache SOAP, Axis, WSTK, Tomcat, Jetty etc. and know the challenges facing B2B collaborations on the internet quite intimately, but this book combined with "Building Web Services with Java: Making Sense of XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI" will give a much needed practical grounding to start making sophisticated web services in the real world. I highly recommend getting both these books but be prepared to use your brain and further what is presented in these books to deploy web services satisfying your needs. They will certainly not amount to spoon feeding you a near solution to your collaboration problems.

The authors seem unaware of the fact that theory guides our understanding. There are no "objective" facts, yet the authors present all their findings as such with almost no reasoning attached. This is both arrogant and ignorant. The authors display no grasp of theoretical advances in Accounting and I recommend getting a book that has a better exposition of principles as more than practice

I was going to get a book with a ISN number of 0072316373...But today, I got one with 0070412901...
So I need you send my money beac to my account, and give me a well reason why you let the seller mail me a totally different book again, It is the second time I get an item with wrong number

When I first took Financial Accounting, I was using Prentice Hall's Accounting textbook by Hongren. My prof was real anal-retentive and required us to read every chapter. To ensure this, he would quiz us on the contents of each chapter before we covered it in class. I spent so much time trying to wade through the excessive verbage in that book that I ended up not having any time left to do actual problems or sharpen up my practical skills. As a result, I ended up with a D in the class although I understood most of the concepts very well. When I took the course again over the summer, I had a different professor and he used this book. What a breath of fresh air! Meigs and company explain the accounting concepts just as thoroughly as Hongren but with about half the verbage. I breezed through my summer course and got the highest grade in the class. This book is an excellent teaching tool for beginners and would also make a great reference guide for more advanced students.

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.

Of all the technical books I've read this one qualifies as the worst. It's out of date, but even when it was new it would justify my opinion.

It attempts to cover too wide an area of subjects, and manages to either state the obvious (as in the first chapters that make a sophmoric attempt to define e-commenrce), to display questionable knowledge on the part of contributing authors, as in the section that lamely attempts to discuss architecture. The section on architecture should have been written by someone who could write and who understood architecture. Unfortunately I got the impression that the authors had neither qualifications.

The case studies were interesting, but were not sufficiently insightful to warrant buying this book that those alone.

There are positives to this book though. It weighs nearly 6 pounds, making it suitable as a doorstop. Having photos of all of the authors who contributed on the front cover is helpful if you conduct interviews since it helps in the screen process in case one of them shows up for an interview or tries to come in as a consultant.

My advice is to avoid this book. There are much better ones that cover the subjects in it.

There are a few good sections in this book (mainly the chapters that deal with WebLogic and the appendices of primers and reference material that comprise Section 6). However, considering that this book weighs in at over 1000 pages, its mainly fluff or glib (but not helpful), with too much material that states the obvious.

Much of the fluff is found in Section 1 (The E-Commerce Landscape), and Section 2 (Architecting Java-Based E-Commerce Systems) was, in my opinion, a glossed over, high-level overview that was used as filler.

Sections 3 (B2C E-Commerce Solutions) and 4 (B2B E-Commerce Solutions) have a few interesting chapters in each. My main complaint here is that Section 3 is a mix of solutions and techniques, while Section 4 is purely solution-focused. Section 5 (M-Commerce) is too light to be useful, and most of the material is already woefully out of date.

My recommendation is to pass this book up and, instead, seek out single-topic books that address the subjects in which you're interested.

This is the only book that covers such a wide range of issues relating to the application of Java to e-commerce. Although there are subjects that experienced users would certainly prefered to see treated in more depth this is an invaluable resource to those that need to get the big picture to a level that is practical and useful for understanding application and designing solutions. Well done.