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.

I recommend this book for anyone who has only a few minutes of reading time at different intervals. I enjoy reading these short, but very informative pieces, sometimes I only have a few minutes while waiting for an appointment and these seems to fill the void instead of starting another novel i know I will never have time to finish. I also find them good conversation starters and have encouraged others to read these pieces for a good friendly debate. My favorite piece is "Who shot Johnny?". This tragic, yet familiar story of a loss of innocence by a woman author who has overcome multiple odds against her really pulls at a readers heart strings and makes all Americans feel the problems which face inner city youth. The topics are very diverse and I think you will find something you like. I am buying the second volume and hope it will be as great as the first.

These articles are great to use in the classroom, to spark discussions about current issues.

I usually LOVE Frommer's books. Their book on Costa Rica is outstanding and so is their Europe on $50 a day. However, I was a little disappointed with this one. My husband and I are about to travel to the Greek Islands and we wanted to at least see a one page per island description -- even if the description just says "uninhibited, don't travel here.' This one only goes through the main islands. I'm sure it's still a good guide but we wanted to see at least a listing of all the islands. It does give good tips and stuff and I'm sure we'll find them all helpful.

I went traveling in Greece 2 years ago and found other travel books to lack info on the Greek Islands and had to struggle my way through the islands. As I am planning to return this summer, I have found this book to be a good reference to prepare, and one that I will bring with me. When most of us think of Greece, the Greek Isles are the place most of us invision. This book gave me a good reference as to where to go, where to stay and what there was to do. I would reccommend this book to others.

It was a good book about an overview of Maldives but did not focus much on the interior travel within Maldives and getting around its myriad of islands

There are four main tour books for the Maldives, and this one is a good place to start. (Another good one is the Michelin guide.) This book gives a general overview of the islands and many of the resorts. Divers will want the Divers' Guide to the Maldives to fill out the information here.

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders is a skilled portrait photographer, and we've seen his work in magazines as well as museums everywhere. A monograph of his work has been long overdue.

Unfortunately, we are still waiting for a GOOD book of his work.

This book denies us the opportunity to see the pictures presented to their best advantage. "Art World" is jam-packed with hundreds of good portraits, but they are printed very small, six to a page, forcing the viewer fantasize about the precise detail and deliciously long tonal range that surely exists in the originals. The publisher is either clueless or cruel -- I'm not sure which.

Greenfield-Sanders' first book should have been a monumental publishing event -- instead it's just an unimaginative catalog sure to frustrate those of us who admire his work.

A stunning collection of portraits that spans the art world. Greenfield-Sanders is gifted in his photographic technique and in his ability to elicit personal qualities in his subjects. If you've ever wanted to know who populates the art world, then this is a book that is indispensible and literally unrivaled. Enjoy!

A rotten book in and out...shame on me for buying it in the 99 cent rack just to look at his hot ballet body on the cover. By the way...there were MANY copies of this book in the bargain rack...and as I see I am the first one to review this, apparantly I was the only one stupid enough to buy it. But should you find it in a 99 cent rack and like to support the literary dribblings of a self-important egomaniac valiantly trying to make his self-centered life sound interesting; buy all means purchase this tome!!!

I had the opportunity of having the experience of knowing him for short period of time. He is somebody exeptional, He dare to express himself leaving nothing left to hide. truth is raw,and discordant sometimes, but is the truth, If you can't handle the truth? then you shoudn't buy this book. Very Teaching, very meanignful. Dreams aren't always what we dream

4 points concerning this book:1st.,his recollections of life in the "Company"are unparalled.I was at ABT but my association and performing career ended, forever,a few years before Robby joined.Still,I met him in the early 80s through my pal the late (great)Clark Tippet.Robby was then and I presume is now,kind, gentle,giving, and genuine.Truly a sweet soul,and if you read the book, you can find out how he got that way.2nd.,any one interested in dance as it is practiced in the "big leagues"should read this book.If you are expecting some men-in-tights"tell-all dont bother.if you are interested in how this all too fragile art is presented and as necessary, preserved,Robby can tell you.3rd.,if you wish to see choreography discussed in pure form,or simply wish to find some evidence of virtue in an otherwise unvirtouous world, read the book.Robby will make you realize,if you have not before,that dance is the only art-form in which the artist,the performer,is the art.Because the choreographer cannot "direct the performance" to the same degree as a composer, author, conductor,or director,or perhaps to any degree,it is the dancers who are the ballet and thus ,the art.Robby explains this by example and it is both a revelation and a testament to the dancers who create and are that art every night of the season.Finally. if you have ever danced or been privileged"merely"to see one of the performances Robby describes,the book will take you back to that happy time.My own short years of performing sometimes feel almost in my grasp yet forever remain out of reach.Somehow, Robby was able to take me back,to feel the joy of performance he still feels.And,he has taught me to value the dance I have seen,which however "recorded,"is nonetheless gone ,forever.He made me remember Nureyev,and McBride,and Clark,and Robby himself as he died in the arms of his Juliet.Read the book and go back with him.

Not everybody rates this book very highly (and so do I with 3 starts) I might as well take a different road. Granted the book is not a great one but I strongly recommend your buying if you want to have a quick understanding on what is all about J2EE architect exam.

Well this book is not written for a new programmer, or someone with little knowledge of JSP and Servlets. It requires a solid experience on J2EE to understand the book content and samples. You will not guaranteed to pass the exam only by reading this book,

This is the first published book for the SCJEA certification.
Although it's very light (less than 200 pages), it does cover
EJB, UML, Design Patterns, Security, Internationlization, and Protocols. It provides useful information on how to apply your
knowledges on these topics, but you should learn the knowledges
from practice or from other books. It contains some very interesting mock questions, on UML, Security, Internationalization, Protocols, which help you a lot to understand the concept in an architect's way. It provides a case study for part II and part III, although it is a good example, you need to know enterprise java architecting before reading this chapter.

I finally decide to give it 4 stars instead of 5 because of two reasons:
1. There is nothing about messaging. legacy connectivity.
2. They copied the nine sample questions from Sun's site, but gave no more explanation. What's more, in the book, the answer of question 5 is incomplete (it should be A, E, but in the book, the answer is E), and the answer of question 9 does not appear in the book (which is D).

Since it's the only one available, I suggest you buy (or borrow) this book...

I disagree with what some readers feel about the book. This book is just what a study guide should be. Concise and focused on the objectives of the exam. I read the book, took the exam and passed. I had very little time to study and this book, being so concise, definitely helped.

If it had taken 1000 pages to help me prepare for a 48 questions exam, then I would think that the author merely just did a 'cut and paste' from EJB specs and a few other books. Instead, this author bothered to extract the essence of the information required for SCEA and presented it to the reader.

Most of the sections - Security, I18n, Protocols, EJB, and Design Pattern are well written in an easy to understand and concise manner.

Having said all that, I wonder why some objectives are missing. Common Architecture, Legacy Connectivity and Messaging are left out completely. Also, the UML section could have covered a few more notations.

Still a good book for SCEA candidates but take note, it says "Study Guide" not "Idiot's Guide". So don't expect the book to teach you how to write the "Hello World" Bean.

The monographs lack any sort of scientific references. A true reference manual should list references so the reader can verify the conclusions made.

I had hoped this book could be my benchmark for herbal information. What I found was a book that was hard to use with little useful information. ... Otherwise, Facts and Comparisions' Review of Natural Products is a better choice.

I have worked with herbs for many decades and have shelves and shelves full of works on Herbs and Healing. The German Commission E Monographs is still an often used Reference that in my oppinion belongs on everyone's shelf who works with Herbs. True, it does not cover all that the herbs are capable of and due to lack of proof, many wonderful herbs are not approved, BUT, and this is most important, whatever you find in this book is scientifically proven and you can believe it. I VERY strongly recomend this book, and the CD as well. Whenever you explore a new herb, or need to know facts, check it out in the Commission E Monographs. Then you have a very good outline from where you can start to work with, and together with other herbals get to know and experiment to arrive at your own conclusion. And that is not to mention the inclusion of interaction with other drugs, side effects, mode of administration, active composition for each monograph and different chapters that cover all that is important. A MUST for every practitioner and professional. A MUST for Everyone involved in healing, period. If you can only buy one book on herbs, I would recomend this one. Herbs are gentle and effective healers as a rule. That does not mean that when handeled and prescribed wrong they can't be fatal and dangerous as well. Due to a long time of suppression, there's much information that is doubtful at best, plain wrong and harmful at worst. So even if it's not always approving old favorites, and not mentioning all properties of all herbs, it is an amazing work. Non Nonsense and you can count on everything it says to be true. Five Stars? No way, but that's the maximum available. I would give it many more if I could. But YOU be the judge. Check it out for yourself in a store if in doubt. But don't let this work pass you without giving it a chance. It is truly a treassure.

I bought this book expecting a real debate between the three views mentioned, namely, Young Earth Creation, Old Earth Creation, and Theistic Evolution. The reason I found it disappointing is for two main reasons. None of the contributors really talk about the evidences for their position, but instead ramble on about their philosophy of science. Van Till spends most of his time trying to convince people to call his perspective the "fully-gifted creation perspective" instead of theistic evolution. To me, it really was just playing with words in order to avoid the negative Christian response to evolution. Does Van Till believe in Darwinian evolution or not? He says he does, so why not Theistic evolution? His view, as he expresses it, is really Deism, although he protests that it isn't. Read what he says and decide for yourself. My other major complaint with the book was that instead of the proponent of each view responding to the other two views, the responses were made by a third party "panel". I found this to be extremely unsatisfying.
The book wasn't totally without merit, and all three perspectives had some good things to say - but it got lost in a lot of wordiness about "words" which really took away from the book as a whole.

This book consists of essays by proponents of each of the three views (Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism, and Theistic Evolution) and commentaries by practitioners of four disciplines: Biblical studies, theology, philosophy, and science. The entire discussion is concluded by summaries by Philip Johnson, an advocate of intelligent design, and Richard Bube, an advocate of theistic evolution.

The result is only partially successful. I am particularly impressed with the essays by Paul Nelson and John Mark Reynolds (Young Earth Creationism) and Howard J. Van Till (Theistic Evolution). Both give lucid and reasoned presentations of their views. I was pleasantly surprised to see Nelson and Reynolds, neither of whom I have read before, forego some of the more common but already discredited scientific arguments for a young Earth. Van Till presents a well thought-out and challenging integration of science and theology.

I am very disappointed by the commentaries, however. My first complaint is that the commentators sometimes seem unwilling to critique the essays primarily within their own expertises. For instance, John Jefferson Davis spends much of his space discussing the fossil record. On the one hand, none of the other commentators talk about this important piece of evidence. On the other hand, I wish the editors could have found someone other than a theologian to do this.

My second, more serious complaint is that each of the four commentators speaks entirely from an Old Earth Creationist perspective. In fact, Walter Bradley (who is supposed to provide criticism from a scientific perspective) uses the space allotted for commentary on the Old Earth Creationist perspective to attack the positions later presented in the Theistic Evolution essay. The reader is deprived of any scientific critique of the Old Earth Creationist view and instead finds a philosophical objection to a view not even presented yet. I find that entirely inappropriate.

As a brief introduction to the thinking in the three perspectives on creation and evolution, the primary essays in this book are very good. They each present some of the strengths and weaknesses of their own positions. These are not explored fully, but each essay is well referenced for further reading. The commentaries could have benefited by a better selection of commentators, however.

i've read in the field of creation-evolution for nearly 30 years now, from the _genesis flood_ to _darwin's dangerous idea_. that certainly doesn't make me an expert, only a concerned layman. this book is addressed by christian's to christian's, not that anyone outside of that community won't get a great deal out of the discussion only that the emotional desire/impetus to seek answers pushes christian's with a high view of scripture to try to reconcile the two biggies in their lives: science looking at general revelation and theology looking at scriptures. if you're not part of this community it is much easier just to ask "so what?" and not to understand why this is such a personal topic.

this is a first book, that is suitable for educated people to delve into a topic where many of the other books in this field/topic presume a background in either science or theology, or where the books are so stridently biased as to be "preaching to the choir" and put off 'newbies' with their presentation.

the issues are presented well enough that i think if someone finishes the book they will have a reasonable idea of what the problems are and where the different parts are most concerned in the discussion. it is not a scientific or theologically based book but rather philosophic. it presents concerns from each viewpoint, thus showing relative priorities in what each person discusses first and critisies as lacking emphasis in the other viewpoints. this is one value in a debate type of format, it can leave you with a prioritized idea of what people find important in the issues.

one problem however with this debate framework is that each person reading the book who already have committments to issues or positions tend to cheer for their side and boo down the opposing sides. this is evident from the reviews posted here, the young earth creation team is not the big names in the field, so it looks like in suffers from lack of heroes. nay, the two philosophers defend the position well given the page constraints they faced.

there is one issue running through the book i wished everyone had addressed in a more explicit matter, that is the difference in accepting the functional materialism of science versus the uncritical acceptance of a materialist world and life view of scientism. there is much confusion between the two, you can see it in much YEC criticism, in this book as well, of both progressive creationism and theistic evolution. naturalism is the idea that what we see is what we get, no god's behind the curtain, no skyhooks to come down and rescue us. there must be a distinction between how science uses this idea as a working hypothesis, as a functional means to an end, versus how a philosophy uses it as an axiom. of the 3 viewpoints, only vantil talks to the separation of the two. the YEC's fault the other two positions as if they accepted the materialism/naturalism as a deep committment in their systems. which as christian's is simply unacceptable from the beginning.

i liked the book. i think if you need a place to start it supplies one. however if you are already committed to a position you would be better off served by jumping straight to one of the major works in each viewpoint. and interact with that author without the polemics that form the debate structure of the book.

I have been designing Web sites for years, and was a Network Engineer for years before that. This book is well written and talks about great examples, but it doesn't work. I know Flash. I know a bit about Flash Action Scripting, but I have not been able to get one single script to work correctly. You shouldn't have to read a second book just to get the one you bought to work right. Like someone else said, even the finished examples don't work right, so you can't look at that code to see what's wrong.
I expect much more than that from any book, and I would return this book if I still could. I spent too much time thinking I was doing something wrong to be able to return it now, though.
In summary, buy another book. You will probably be happier.

like so many books of this ilk, Flash MX Magic prommises to show you how to create dazzling Flash effects.

It does, but a lot of them are style over substance - if you're looking for inspiration then maybe this book is what you need, but don't expect it to teach you useful techniques.

If you've mastered the basics of Flash MX and are looking for more, then Flash MX Magic really delivers. Rather than providing tiny chunks of Flash functionality, the book gives you 15 full Flash projects to demonstrate the features of Flash MX. Yep...actual projects you can tinker with, break apart, break entirely, fix again, and eventually create something brand new!

The book comes with a CD containing all the FLAs and files you need for each chapter project and the chapters themselves are very easy to read with plenty of illustrations. It's always great to see how other Flash developers handle code, and the authors of this book are really among the best in the business.

You'll certainly want a good foundation in Flash ActionScript before diving into this book, but it's definitely one to put on your list. Also, the illustrations make it much more accessible for users who tend to shy away from books that only have lines and lines of code. And let's face it, you can never have too many books on Flash or samples of ActionScript code!