List price: $12.99 (that's 20% off!)
Used price: $0.40
Collectible price: $5.55
Buy one from zShops for: $4.98
List price: $12.99 (that's 20% off!)
Used price: $4.60
Collectible price: $17.95
Buy one from zShops for: $6.99
Used price: $11.50
Talks about a variety of topics like power of positive thinking, reducing stress, improve concentratiion, how to relax your eyes & improve peripheral vision.
The section on speed reading is utterly amazing, well worth the price of the book - I've been able to more than double my reading speed, and am trying to learn "grokking" to grasp at the essence of an entire technical book in an hour!
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $3.18
Buy one from zShops for: $1.98
Used price: $4.98
Collectible price: $7.41
Buy one from zShops for: $7.99
Indeed, the author not only asks a number of interesting rhetorical questions regarding the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor itself, but also delves into the shocking related attack on the American forces in the Philippines later the same day. Why, he asks, given his being warned so far in advance, did General Douglas MacArthur allow the Japanese forces to destroy the greatest single concentration of American air power in the Pacific region some nine hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor? And, in answering the question by way of detailing the complex series of miscommunications and fumbles surrounding MacArthur's mishandling of the circumstances, the author also raises the issue of MacArthur's unlikely escape from the blame game following in the aftermath of the attacks. Seems that those in power in Washington were so intimidated by MacArthur's positive image and reputation among the press that they dare not attack him openly by court marshalling or reprimanding him. In essence, his political connections saved him. Instead, after ordering MacArthur off the island, ostensibly to take command of all the Pacific forces regrouping in Australia, Roosevelt rewarded the general with the Congressional Medal Of Honor.
Also discussed here is the half million dollar payoff that the Philippine Government gave to MacArthur as he departed the islands, as is the desire of the Philippine government to try to maintain their neutrality, an exercise in futility that may have played fatefully into the hands of the Japanese, and which the author suggests may have influenced MacArthur in his decision not to attack or save the pacific-based American planes under his command. Yet the book spends much more energy and time covering the ways in which the diplomatic and military miscalculations on the part of both Roosevelt and Churchill played almost perfectly into the hands of the Japanese. Yet it was, according to Costello, more the loss of the Pacific air power rather than the losses at Pearl Harbor that so severely limited and hampered American efforts to stem the rising tide of Japanese hegemony over the Far East in 1942.
The author writes with considerable skill in arguing that it was the combined blunders, bungling, and malfeasance on the part of Roosevelt, Churchill and MacArthur that left the western world in such mortal danger at the end of 1941. For one thing, Roosevelt had committed the United States to a secret agreement with the British to aid in the defense of the British empire's Far Eastern reaches, a pact that was likely both illegal and unconstitutional. For another, the decision to move the bulk of MacArthur's army forces 5,000 miles west of Hawaii to the Philippines left Hawaii weak and overexposed to a potential Japanese attack. Finally, the combined neglect of countless encrypted messages concerning the details of the attack as well as MacArthur's failure to mount a preemptive air attack despite being directly ordered to do so doomed the American hopes for any quick resolution to the conflict once it had started. In sum, it was the colossal lack of good leadership that led us into the disaster of December 7, 1941, and in spite of the fact that all three men are held in high regard and remembered warmly, they were largely responsible for the American failure to prevent the disaster at Pearl Harbor in a day of infamy. This is an interesting book and a worthwhile read. Enjoy!
As a popular historical book, Days of Infamy is well-written and engages the reader very well. Since John Costello is a journalist and a TV producer, rather than a university professor, he lays this book out as a story, not as a dry research paper. He vividly describes the events of the spring, summer, fall and winter of 1941, the personalities involved, their conflicts, egos, fears, and desires. He also vividly describes the strategic and tactical plans of all sides, and where they went wrong.
Overall, I believe this book is excellent. Unlike many previous efforts, it goes beyond just Pearl Harbor to explore the full scope of American and British efforts in the Pacific in 1941. This shows that today we, as a society, are getting very close to understanding what actually happened during those days in 1941. And the more we understand the more ugly it looks. It's 60 years late, but at least we can try to learn from this experience.
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $1.86
Buy one from zShops for: $10.98
Used price: $43.80
Buy one from zShops for: $45.00
With so much to cover the book has to keep up a decent pace, which means that the authors assume that you've got experience of working with Visual Basic 6. If you're new to programming then you'll want to look elsewhere.
For VB6 programmers this book is great value.
The book begins with an introduction to the .NET Framework and common language RunTime(CLR). The CLR is responsible for managing the execution of code compiled for the .NET platform. The next few chapters focus on object oriented programming and how to derive classes from base classes using inheritance. Chapter 9 gives a detailed discussion on how error handling works in VB.NET by discussing the CLR exception handler in detail and the new Try...Catch...Finally structure. An entire chapter is devoted to multi-threading. You will learn how threads can be created, and the differences between multitasking and multi-threading. Chapter 16 discusses COM and .NET component interoperability, and the tools provided to help link the two technologies together. Chapter 18 gives detailed coverage of the ADO.NET data access technology. You will learn how to build flexible, fast, and scalable data access objects and applications.
The final chapters discuss building web applications with web forms, creating custom controls for Windows Forms and Web Forms, and finally, creating and consuming Web Services.
If you're an experienced VB developer and would like to make the transition to VB.NET, then this book is a must.
The first third of the book serves as a reference to the VB.NET language - syntax, error handling, objects, inheritance, interfaces, and the differences between variables and types. While this means that you don't get to create many exciting applications early on it does mean that you have a thorough grounding in the essentials of the language.
Then the rest of the book takes a look at the most important features of .NET in turn: ADO.NET, XML, Windows Forms, Web Services, Data Binding, Remoting, Networking, Threading, Security, Web Forms, etc. You won't be an expert in any of these areas after you've read the book but you will have a much better idea of what VB.NET is capable of and how to get started using the advanced features of the .NET Framework Class Library.
Although there are a lot of authors that wrote on this book, which can spell trouble in my experience, the editors have managed to maintain a consistent voice throughout and there's surprisingly little overlap between chapters. Well worth the money.
Used price: $139.76
Buy one from zShops for: $139.76
Also, I have used this as a guideline when I consulted a small group that needed help with internal controls.
List price: $14.95 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $3.00
Collectible price: $4.95
Buy one from zShops for: $7.88
I found it was a refreshing change to see the different view points of the authors - set out section by section rather then the thoughts of the two mingled together. However - Mr Keenan was annoying the heck out of me by the end of the book. He obviously didn't want to be on this trip. He made miserable reading and I felt sorry for Mr McCarthy and his more upbeat endeavours. Someone should explain to Mr Keenan that Pablo Neruda's poety is worth reading - there is no doubt - but there is so much more to Chile this one man. In addition - he is not the only chilean poet to have achieved international recognition. Gabriel Mistral ring any bells?
This country is incredible - from the driest dessert in the world to the icy ridden south. It is breathtakingly beautiful - it's people so different in each region - the scenery so distinct from north to south. I felt that none of that came across. You should only read this books if you are interested in the friendship of these two men. If you want to know about Chile - there are better books out there - books which convey something of the country and all its people.
Used price: $4.70
Collectible price: $9.48