My mother read this book to me as a child, and I have read it many times myself as an older child and as an adult. It teaches the true values of life from the mind of a totally innocent child, who has never been exposed to all of the attitudes of the "real" world, but has been thrown into the real world by unfortunate circumstances. The sweetness, beauty and innocence of this child is so refreshing in this world. My mother also read it to my oldest child. They had regular Friday night reading sessions, and JUST DAVID was one of their favorites. This is one of his best memories of his grandma. She died when he was 9. I will have a first grade classroom next year, and plan to read this to my class. Would love to have another copy. My copy is a family treasure, and I hate to take it to school and risk losing it. Hoping for a reprint. Excellent and timeless book.

Just David was a steal for me. I bought it at a Garage Sale along with many other old books. I had it for over a year before I finally read it. It is by far my most favorite book. I love how David always brings out the best in people without actually realizing what he is doing. He is young and the most naive little boy ever. He reminds me a bit of my six year old daughter. She always sees the beauty of something...even bugs. This is the only book I ever recommend. It is a wonderful, delightful, and interesting book. A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE! I am so glad it is still in print. I have seen it in many local libraries as well. I have since read other books by Eleanor Porter, but find Just David to be my favorite to date. Most Libraries will loan out there copies...so if not on your library shelf, see if they can find a copy for you to read. Enjoy! Lori

I read this marvelous book when I was a fifth grader and absolutely loved it. My love for the book did not fade, as when I was in the eighth grade, I wrote a required book review and chose Just David as my book. My love of the book must have come through, as the teacher read it aloud to the class. She had never read anyone's book review aloud before--so the influence of this book is wide. A reprint would be so welcome to both today's young readers and to those of us who loved the book in the past. I hope to own Wendy Lawton's Just David doll someday.

Shulgin and his wife give a very entertaining, educational, and fascinating account of their exploration of psychedelics, with a separate section on their chemistry. The DEA hated this book so much that they harassed the authors and their friends for months after it was published.... but you'd have to be a narrow-minded pinhead to hate this book! Shulgin goes on my short list of "heros".

What's amazing about the Shulgins is their ability to isolate the nuances that make drugs like MDMA and MDE different from one another. The separate entries at different dosage levels are not only insightful, but essential to the potential experimentor. Reading this will make anyone cautious about buying what is considered "ecstasy" by the current youth culture.

The Chemistry is beyond me, but it's still fascinating. Buying this book is worth being put on any government list. Yes, it's that good.

While the story itself is rather interesting, the last section of PIHKAL ('book II') is the true star. It's not a story...it's a list of aprox. 200 psychoactive and potentially psychoactive drugs, each lovingly described as to structure, synthesis, dosage, and effects. Each item is based on the core skeleton of phenyl-ethyl amine, which Shulgin laboriously explored at virtually every point, substitutive alkyl groups, thio groups, halides, etc. (Methoxy ring substituents are especially popular in his work.) The result is an astonishing array of hallucinogens, amphetamines, and some seemingly inert materials. While he is perhaps best known for his work on MDMA, the drug that would later gain infamy as the illegal drug 'ecstasy', it will surprise most readers to discover that MDMA is only one of an entire family of psychoactive drugs, each with their own sometimes subtle, sometimes astonishing differences. A truly extraordinary, landmark work for the pharmacologist, or simply those curious about psychoactive drugs from a more technical, exploratory stance. (That said, if you wouldn't know a carbon atom from a Honda Civic, you'll still like the biographical part, which is anything but dry and technical.)

This is by far the finest computer book I have ever read. I recommend this book to people wanting to install and use Samba because no other book, HOWTO, or online forum explains SAMBA so well. I also recommend this book to people just getting their feet wet with networking because it comprehensively examines both Linux and Windows networking issues in an extremely easy to read, step-by-step way.

This book has screen shots -- a lot of them. This book has examples -- a lot of them. This book has very easily followed writing that tells you how to set up your Linux and Windows machines and how to get Samba going. The book sits down with you, rolls up your sleeves, and shows you how to progress in a way that yeilds desired results -- Samba installs and works on your network! It blends instruction with just the right amount of background explanation without forcing you to read page after page of useless, smothering detail. A lot of authors would be well advised to achieve this kind of balance in computer books and darn few succeed. I had my Windows box talking to my Linux box via Samba in just a day. I spent about 2 weeks going over the book and studying my existing Windows network before making any software changes whatsoever.

This book offers a comprehensive networking fault tree people new to networking will find extremely useful. Follow this fault tree and you will be able to correct general networking problems as well as specific Samba problems. When I had networking problems back when I first got into Linux with Red Hat 6.0, I could have fixed them with this book's fault tree. It would have saved me hours of frustration to have worked through this book's fault tree.

I think everyone wanting to connect Linux boxes to Windows boxes should rush to order this book and then spend 2 weeks reading it cover to cover before messing with ANY network settings. You will be rewarded for your money and patience with results and a feeling of genuine accomplishment.

I've noticed a trend in Linux books where the authors like to waste space and reader's time with useless banner "warnings" and sometimes repetitive moralizing. Some writers print warnings every 2 pages and sound as bad as hoax emails. Well you won't find many warnings in Using Samba. They are worth reading when found.

As far as I can see, there are only 2 bad points about this book and you can't blame the authors for them: unless it is lovingly revised in a new edition, increasing rollouts of Windows 2000 will rapidly obsolete the excellent Samba advice you can get here. As of this writing (August 2000), Windows Millenium Edition will be available to consumers September 14, and depending on sales this may help obsolete the book also. The second bad point is that Samba has not gone into a new version which can deal with Windows 2000 and Millenium Edition yet. It is still stuck at 2.0.7. Hopefully the Samba team will release a new version in the near future covering Windows 2000. And I sure hope The Samba Book, as it is called, is revised to cover the new Windows products!

I've beed using Samba for the last 2 years and this book helped me finally understand how to properly configure it in 1 night. Very well written and easy to understand. Topics like oplocks and network printer configuration are explained in an easy to read manner. If your using or plan to use Samba, you need this book. Well worth the money.

Samba is one of the wonders of the Open source movement. A small bunch of guys in out of the way Canberra, Australia develop a product that emulates a Windows Server Message Block (SMB) server. They do such a good job that within a couple of years they have sponsors assisting programmers around the world in bringing out a product that does a better job than anything Microsoft offers.

I've installed Samba in a number of different environments and used it both as a server and client. I wish I'd had this book. It does a good job of explaining how to set it all up, get it running and maintain it. Nothing else does as good a job. While you can (probably) install and run Samba using just the online manuals you will find it a lot easier if you buy this book. It certainly saves me a lot of time.

It is well written, easy to read, thorough and well paced. It contains a large number of examples and goes through the almost monolithic smb.conf file till it feels like an old friend.

While it does cover some of the underlying network protocols it does not unnecessarily dwell on them, it is a good mix of explanation and getting your hands dirty examples.

The book is well structured, starting with simple configurations and proceeding through to complex ones involving printers, domain controllers and the like. A marvelous way to learn, at the same time it is easy to find particular snippets of information when you require them. I find Appendices C (a configuration option quick reference) and D (a summary of the command line options for the daemons) and the fault tree in Chapter 9 particularly useful.

I would recommend this book to everyone who wishes to integrate Samba into a Windows environment, regardless if it is a small home network or an entire office building. And yes, you can download the entire text for free - the Samba team have now adopted it as part of the official documentation thanks to the authors and O'Reilly, but call me old fashioned, I like having the paper.

Charles Swindoll does an excellent, if not remarkable, job of not only presenting the trials of David in modern day life, but he also vividly illustrates the psalmist's shortcomeings into lessons for today. Without a doubt, this book was written with God's guidance (no slight intended towards Mr. Swindoll), and I recommend this book to be used as a tool for the Christian of today in his/her walk with God. Upon finishing, I not only had renewed insight upon David, but also within myself, and found newborn strength to conquer my own daily struggles. God has annoited this book, of that there is no doubt, and I strongly urge Christians to delve into it.

Chuck Swindoll really challenged me with this book. I learned a lot about my life by learning about the life of David. I face many of the same struggles he did. Swindoll wrote this book as if he were talking to you instead of writing a book. The personal touch helped in gaining a greater understanding of King David.

Every time a pick up a book from Swindoll's "Great Lives from God's Word" series I think that nothing can be better than the last one. Starting with Joseph and then reading Moses gave me the impression that these were his best. Now I've returned back and read David and continue to find that brother Chuck has been blessed with a deep understanding about God's word, God's people and God's ways. As with the other books, Chuck doesn't leave any stone unturned in David's life and digs deep into the things that we can all relate to. I recommend this reading especially to those who are facing the giants in life whether they are physical or spiritual. King David is a great study for all of us seeking to be a "man after God's own heart."

Chez Panisse's Alice Waters on the west coast is generally credited with having educated people's palates to the wonders of food that was fresh, fresh, fresh and simply prepared; Dean & DeLuca helped to do the same on the East Coast, but instead of preparing them to enjoy such food only in restaurant settings, the store enabled them to try new culinary tricks at home. Dean & DeLuca's vast stock of formerly unavailable (and frequently pretty esoteric) food goodies emboldened even the most timid of home chefs, and sharpened the sophistication of the New York appetite.

Written by television cooking show host and former GOURMET restaurant reviewer David Rosengarten, with considerable input from Dean and DeLuca themselves, "The Dean & DeLuca Cookbook" is a compendium of nearly 600 recipes. The recipes are divided into component-based sections, rather than seasonal chapters. The dishes are unfailingly imaginative (sometimes perhaps too much so, substituting flash over substance), and Rosengarten has a highly developed flair for educating the reader in manageable bits and pieces with his ingredient and technique tips.

My only complaint is that there is nary an illustration in the entire book. Because the act of eating employs all the senses, I expect any cookbook to reasonably approximate this experience, if only as a way of tempting me to try the recipes. "The Dean & DeLuca Cookbook" is filled with delicious-sounding stuff, but as an invitation to cook, it is a little too text-bookish and nose-to-the-grindstone.

Since the day I got this cookbook as a gift, I use it for inspiration and often everyday cooking. I live in Tel Aviv, so the mediterranean flavor suits my accessiblility to ingredients and adds new twists to the way I think about using them. Although many of the recipes are for party fare only, I always manage to find some great recipe for even a casual gathering. The book is extremely fun to read, easy to follow and makes me feel like a pro just by making a simple dip for crudites.

For those of us who tend to rely on just a few cookbooks, I recommend it highly. It can never replace my desert island favorite choice, Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking, but it's right up there with the Silver Palatte.

My husband and I have been using this cookbook for a few weeks now and we just love it. We've always enjoyed cooking, but this book has all of our favorite recipes for dishes we frequently order in restaurants - with normal ingredients and relatively easy instructions. It's like a dream come true! We just dove in and started using it, but after finishing up a delicious meal from the cookbook last night, I sat down to read the introduction, and I agreed with every word. If you like cooking and trying new/different combinations of ingredients, buy this cookbook NOW. You don't have to buy fancy items from the store (I find everything I need from my local supermarket), and - at least the recipes I've tried so far - have been relatively simple and DEAD ON delicious on the first try. Suggestion: cook the dish to recipe the first time, then improvise on your own (ex. some recipes call for a medium to heavy amount of butter and oils, when you can usually get away with halving the fats and using extra wine or stock if your palate is not too refined). Our favorite so far is the mushroom risotto. Yummmmmmm.

I am a senior engineer for network security operations. My dad is an amateur radio operator, and my grandfather was as well. I read the 4th edition of "Now You're Talking!" to learn the basics of ham radio and prepare for the Technician license.

Over several weeks I carefully studied chapters 1-10, stopping to answer the questions in chapter 12 when directed. I used the book as a source to make a few notecards on operating frequencies and general electrical engineering principles. The day of the exam, I reviewed the questions in chapter 12 as a whole, and ensured I could answer each correctly.

Without a doubt, this book will prepare you for the Technician exam. If you analyze the questions asked on the exam, they are all fully covered in the text of chapters 1-10. Furthermore, the authors are master educators who present clear explanations for every concept. I found myself with a better understanding of many aspects of radio theory after reading this book, which is more important than simply passing a test!

The only aspect of the book which confused me was the discussion of Technician privileges on page 1-11. The text states "As a Technician, you can use a wide range of frequency bands -- all amateur bands above 30 MHz, in fact." On the same page, Table 1-1 shows Technician licenses provide "All amateur privileges above 50.0 MHz." Table 1-2 on the next page states "Operators with Technician class licenses and above may operate on all bands above 50 MHz." Which is correct, 30 MHz or 50 MHz?

Regardless, I give the 4th edition of "Now You're Talking!" my highest recommendation. At $19 it's a bargain, and it was my sole reference. I earned a perfect score this morning after studying this book, and I look forward to joining the amateur radio community on the air.

I approached getting a Ham Technician license with trepidation. Surely they would be asking me all kinds of overly technical, jargon filled questions. Reading this book put my mind at ease and guided me through everything I needed to know. Within a few weeks, I was scoring high on practice tests and a week later I got my license. No sweat, no worries.

Unlike some of the other books to help you pass a test, this book actually teaches you the subject. It is well layed out and easy to understand. I'll be ordering the rest of this series for General and Extra soon!

(no, I'm not actually 1 year old - I just refuse to generate a login to leave a review)

This book is exactly right for someone who wants to become a ham radio operator. This book does two things. It is a self study course that will allow you to pass the Technician level FCC test. It is also a general introduction to all of ham radio, covering the highlights of all that can be done in amateur radio. It has just the right level of sophistication to give a good understanding of all facets of amateur radio but does not get into such extreme detail that it is overwhelming. The technical level is just right as well.

I used an earlier version of this text to study for my amateur radio license (KD4TTC). Even though I studied for the Technician license I was able to pass the written portion of the test for the General license class. However, to get to know Morse code, needed for working the frequencies that will get around the whole globe, you will need to find a way to practice receiving Morse code. While this book won't teach you Morse, you will learn from the book how to go about learning it if you want to. (As an aside, I was not interested in international communications back then, so I skipped that aspect of the hobby. I will be learning Morse this year and will upgrade. There is plenty to do with amateur radio without Morse code, so don't let any disinterest or fear of Morse stop you from becomming a Ham. The book explains all this).

I have not yet come across any aspect of ham radio that was not described at least in overview in this book. I may not know details of lots of aspects of all that is ham radio, but I have not come across anything in Ham radio that I was not introduced to in this book.

You can expect that after reading this book you will be able to pass the Technician license exam, you might even be able to pass the General license written portion, you will have learned how to learn Morse, you will be able to decide what equipment you will need and where to find it, you will be able to set up your station and safely operate it, you will know correct and responsible operating procedures, and you will learn about all the different types of communications you can do so you will pick the most enjoyable aspects of the hobby for yourself.

I have given this book to friends so they can become hams. It works well for that purpose. I came here to buy a copy for yet another potential ham and found myself writing this long review. I am not really that avid of an amateur operator, but I am really enthusiastic about this book because it was such a fun and painless way to learn what I needed to know to get into ham radio.

Buy the book.

I lead a CorelDraw User Group. When our first copies of this book were placed on our booktable, it sold out before our meeting even began!

As a Corel certified instructor for Draw, I can recommend this book without hesitation. It is rare to find an author that possesses technical mastery of a program, fine artistic skills, *and* can make the technical aspects comprehensible. Finding two featured in one book is a bonus. Plus, they are funny... sometimes even intentionally.

My only complaint, is that for the price, a companion CD would have been nice.

This book is so beautiful it borders on being an art book as well as an instructional book. Gary Preister and David Huss have done an excellent job on all the different effects you can do with Corel and Corel Photopaint. Very inspiring!

Enough of converting Photoshop techniques over to PhotoPaint. Finally, the Prince & Duke have given the Corel community what the Photopaint users have had for years: A book full of easy recipes for awesome effects. This book belongs on every Corel user's bookshelf -- though it will probably spend most of its time propped open on your desk.

I can't put it more clearly: If you use CorelDraw or Corel PhotoPaint, eat canned beans for a week if you have to, but GET THIS BOOK!

David Chadwick was able to interview a lot of the original students of Suzuki, letting each of them speak in their own voice. The book is not a sweet and reverential tale of the life of prominent Zen teacher, but the honest exposition of successes and failures of the man Suzuki-roshi was. Particularly interesting to me were accounts of Suzuki's complex position on the issues of Japanese militarism during the WWII; and account of his first year in America, and how the Zen center just naturally happened. Chadwick's style is clear, concise and compact; occasional quotations from Suzuki are well positioned and illustrated by real-life examples. Well Done!!!

Shunryu Suzuki in not a saint in this book, or at least he does not become one until late in his life after a lot of effort. He was, by his own admission, a so-so father and husband. He had a terrible temper and it is astonishing that someone could combine such mindfulness with such absentmindedness. The latter trait caused Suzuki's wife such a "dark night of the soul" that it brought her to enlightenment. (And no, he wasn't planning it that way--he just forgot a funeral.)

This book is a labor of love by David Chadwick, but love never gets in the way of truth.

One will also learn much of Suzuki's zen from Suzuki's own comments on things as they happen around him. Anyone interested in zen, Japanese culture, or fine biography should appreciate this book.

I just read this book this week and can't say enough great things about it. It blends the story of a person and a spiritual path so deftly that you will be draw in on sheer readability and enlightened about this wonderful teacher's sometimes hilarious life story (and many times lightheartedly profound) without even noticing.

I hated the author's former book and couldn't stand to read it after the first 20 pages, so it took an act of courage to pick this one up. But I am happy to say either he has learned a lot or he's had a great editor or both, because with this book, he seems like he was born to write it.

There is a wonderful sense of humor that comes from Suzuki-Roshi's life and attitude - that belies the seriousness of the topic and book. So few Zen books are really approachable for mere humans (which is not the way it should be). This book demystifies all that needs demystifying about Zen - and you will have a LOT of FUN reading it, too.

When catasthrophe hit the grain harvest of the Soviet Union, the Politburo must decide whether to negotiate with the West for grains, or go to war, or suffer mass uprising. No one in the Kremlin wants the last possibility to happen, so two factions emerged, with the bare majority, including the Secretary-General, advocating negotiation. Through a Kremlin informant for British agent Adam Munro, the British PM and the US President learned just how desperate the situation in the USSR was.

Meanwhile, the survivor of a shipwreck in the Mediterranean aroused the interest of a British Andrew Drake. Drake descended from a Ukrainian nationlist, whose mission in life was to strike a humiliating blow against the USSR, and the shipwreck survivor provided him with an opportunity to do just that.

Somehow, the different threads spun by the author in the book came together, climaxing with the world being held hostage to an all-out war between the Eastern Bloc and the Western Bloc, or the greatest environmental catasthrophy yet.

The author did not stint on fleshing out his characters, providing them with ample description, motivations and attributes that the reader can just imagine the kind of actors and actresses that would be cast if this was a movie.

Plot development were fast and furious sometimes, yet deliberately slow and detailed at others, paced out well like the different variations of a symphony, but never a dull moment.

In the end, it will be up to our hero Adam Munro to save the world from the various catasthrophies, and the numerous twists in the end came round a blind corner, hitting the readers where they least expect (unless of course, they've been reading way too much thrillers like me who managed to guess a couple of them).

The Devil's Alternative is one of the finest thrillers ever written. In my opinion it ranks with The Negotiator as the best novels by Forsyth. What makes this book great is the realism. Forsyth knows his stuff, and has done a perfect job of researching the Halls of Power on both sides of the ocean. His depiction of the Soviet Politburo in action is one of the best representations in all of fiction. His use of technology (the tanker, etc.) is well done, with no inaccuracies. [Although it should be noted that the largest oil tanker in the world is the Jahre Viking, which is half the size of the Freya in the book] The characters, unlike most other thrillers, are not your everyday stock characters. Forsyth gives them a personality. The ending of this multi-layered thriller is also a gem, and no other author could have written such a perfect book.

It's the early eighties and group of radical Ukranian nationalists have a debt to settle as The Soviet Union is facing a possible famine. After a Ukranian nationalist is found barely alive floating in the black sea, the stage is set for a plot which involves numerous european countries as well as the US and Israel.

The character development in this novel is excellent. Frederick Forsyth has a way of bringing out the personalities of the main characters very well. His knowledge of geography really shows that he does his research before he writes. I like the way the book goes from one country to another carefully discribing what is going on but not always telling the reader how it's related to the plot until later. There are quite a few surprising moments which keep your attention. There are points were you may think the story is going nowhere and then there is an abrupt change of pace with no warning.

It is books like this that can turn one into an avid reader of espionage novels.

The saying, "All I asked for was the time, and he built me a clock," probably best describes the scope of this book. This isn't simply a comprehensive manual covering the how-to of using iMovie and troubleshooting; it includes mini-courses on selecting a digital camcorder, home video filming, special-events filming, professional editing techniques, using QuickTime, making movie CDs, putting your movies on the web, and detailed instructions on how to create your own graphics using popular programs such as PhotoShop, AppleWorks, PhotoDeluxe or GraphicConverter. It even includes a chapter on Final Cut Pro, Premiere and EditDV for anyone thinking about eventually going in that direction. Almost all of the questions raised in the iMovie forums at the Apple, MacWorld, MacAddict and other web sites are answered in this book. I glanced through a couple other iMovie books at the bookstore, and, altho they cost about the same, they fall far short of "The Missing Manual" in terms of scope, tips, workaround hints, and an enjoyable writing style. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone thinking about getting into digital video editing, as well as for anyone who already has all the hardware and uses iMovie. I would place myself in the "prosumer" category, have been using iMovie2 for five months, and thought I knew it all. Well, I didn't. But, after reading The Missing Manual, NOW I know it all. Buy it!

This is book is, in a word, phenomenal. David Pogue covers not just iMovie, but basic filming and editing technique. He also discusses technical items like choosing a camcorder and the necessary accessories for different types of video productions.

The chapters about the different effects, titles, and transitions are great, as the author not only describes what each one each and how it functions, but also what situations might merit using the different elements. Even better, he has lots of little tips and tricks that can make your movies much more interesting. One of the best that I found (and have since used) is that you can actualy apply one title "on top" of another one. This is great for having one title overlap into another, or having mutliple titles appear at once in different locations on the screen.

There are also a number of great usage tips from real-world users who contributed their stories to the book. These give great real-world examples of things you can do with iMovie that you might never have considered (for example, creating "time lapse" movies).

The chapters on filming and editing technique, while short, are absolutely great for improving your movies from both the pre- and post-production sides. I used many of his filming tips when on a vacation last summer, and I think it made a tremendous improvement in the quality of the video I took. I'm still no Spielberg, but at least my home movies now look a fair bit more polished and "professional".

If you use iMovie at all, do yourself a huge favor and get this book. With everything it offers, it's worth its price many times over.

First I have to give props to David Pogue and his Missing Manual series. As a bookseller and computer geek I've long favored the Dummies books as the best entry-level source for third-party information on software. However, O'Reilly made a smart move when they turned their attention on that market and grabbed Dummies standby Pogue to headline the new series. The Missing Manuals (and their mutant-dogcow mascot) are a credit to O'Reilly and a must-have... assuming, that is, that they cover the program you need. The series is still too small, but I'm sure it won't stay that way.

Now, to the book itself. If you need to do something with iMovie, it's in there. That pretty much covers what I need to say in this review, but it doesn't cover everything the book has to offer. Remember back in the 80s when the Mac made desktop publishing a reality, only to unleash a torrent of wretchedly amateurish graphic design? Well, Pogue spends much of the first couple of chapters attempting to prevent that from happening. This book starts off with a very basic primer on video production and how to use your equipment -- assumed to be a typical consumer-grade MiniDV camcorder, but it covers other options as well, particularly video bridges and the like.

The meat of the book discusses iMovie 2's capabilities, including discussions of its weaknesses and how to work around them. Effects, titles, and transitions are discussed in detail, including some useful information on crossfades (never fade straight to black -- instead, you want a black stillframe). Conversion to other formats is also an issue, and a significant part of the book discusses postproduction using QuickTime Pro. Directions are given for converting your work for DVD or VCD as well.

The issue I have with the book is largely its focus on iMovie in MacOS Classic, and the bugs that are present in that version that might not be in the OS X version. Screenshots all come from 9.x, with the only Aqua material being the interface of iMovie itself. I don't mark down for this since the program operates more or less the same, but an inexperienced user may have trouble. (I might note as well that the book works just as well for iMovie 3, which has a superficially different interface but handles more or less identically.)

So, yeah. If you're doing video production on iMovie, this is the book to get, hands down.