Grand Illusions by Dr Gregory L Little is a reasonably well written book and presents a concise series of logical arguments, all of which appear to be based on good evidence.The book elegantly disposes of conspiracy theories and investigates a number of documented mysteries that later evaporate under detailed examination. It also gives a good historical account of the abduction phenomenon through the ages.

Little deals well with the often slippery topic of Jungian archetypes and delves into the neurochemical basis for many 'fringe' phenomena. Interestingly Little gives the reader detailed instruction on how to construct a psychomanteum, a device for meeting spectral beings (do so at your own risk!).

There is really good chapter on the ancient Egyptians and their beliefs. Little provides an incredible explanation of one of the uses that the Great Pyramid might have been put to.

The book is let down in part by the poor quality and dubious relevance of some of the photographic material and by John Michael McCarthy's unnecessary illustrations. With a little more attention paid to presentation I feel that Grand Illusions would easily been worth 5 stars.

Little's final conclusions seem to fit all the known facts and are startling in their implications, but I'm at a loss to see how anyone could prove that the EM theory is true.

In conclusion this is a must-read book for those who are complete UFO sceptics and for those who believe that extra terrestrial craft are visiting the Earth. It provides evidence for a theory that may not be popular, but is hard to disprove.

I picked up this book while browsing in the library and had to take it home to completely digest it. This book has something for everyone. For those who believe there are a lot of liars and cheats out there telling UFO tales for thier own profit, Little gives compelling evidence that you are quite right. On the other hand, if you would like to believe there is something disturbing going on in our universe that transcends our physical world, then you will likely get more than you bargained for in this book. Little clearly explains his theory of the spiritual world in terms of electormagnetic energy phenomena. He bases much of his thinking on the theories set forth by psychiatrist Carl Jung,MD. The theory becomes quite intriguing in that it ties together the answer to many questions that have plagued me. I think he has hit on the unifying theory of the spirit world. Questions such as; Is there any possibilty of contemporary paranormal phenomena and Biblical visions and prophesies being somehow related? Is the presence of many religions in the world contradictory to the belief that we all recognise the same spiritual world. Why do I suspect there is a true UFO puzzle but find it hard to accept the government conspiracy coverup theories explaining why we don't have any evidence of spaceships or aliens? If there are UFOs, why does it seem that most of the sightings are at night? These have been some of my answered questions after reading this book and I feel more convinced now through reason that the spirital world is force to be reckoned with.

The LISP programming language was invented by John McCarthy in the late 1950s when he was co-director of the MIT artificial intelligence group. Unlike all other programming languages, LISP is also a simple elegant mathematical formalism which could be called a generalized arithmetic. LISP is also unique in that the language and the data are a single unified formalism. To see how far LISP has gone since then, one should read Common LISP: the Language, by Guy Steele. (There are also several excellent tutorial type books.)

I was an undergraduate student at that time, and as member of the group wrote the LISP 1.5 Programmer's Manual which was later published as a book by the MIT Press. Today, it is of interest as a historical document only. (The book lists the members of the group at that time, and states that the manual was written by M. Levin)

This book is not just of historical interest. Much has changed since 1962 but not that much. This book is THE reference for implementing dynamically scoped Lisps.

This book is excellent! I learned many new things about the history baseball before the dead ball era. You will surely be amazed of all of the differences between today's game and yesterday's game. He rates most guy well but he underated Ty Cobb very much. He keeps saying how great Ruth is but he can't feild so he should not be one of the best all time. The best is Ty Cobb and he just did not go in depth with Ty Cobb. He does not mention that Cobb stole home 50 times(the most in baseball history). Overal though it is a great book to own.

Lest's see... stories by Gregory Benford, Paul Di Filippo, Stanley Schmidt, Tanya Huff, and 10 others including Wil McCarthy himself. The skew is mainly but not totally toward hard science fiction. Some of the fairy tales are recognizable (even named the same as the original), and some are not. Are they well disguised, or perhaps original? Fine reads in any case. Much better than you usually find in these concept anthologies.

McCarthy's introduction is illuminating: "Fairy tales are among our most formative influences, adding a visceral heft and sting to the purely verbal warnings of authority. But fairy tales, without exception, hinge on a supernatural occurrence. And in a way, this seemed to undermine their authority, to relegate them to some other universe where things like that could really happen."

Though not quite up to the level of Starlight, this is an excellent collection by some of the best writers in the field.

Had John Singleton Mosby fought on the winning side in the American Civil War then I'm sure his exploits would now be the stuff of legend, committed a long time ago to celluloid. As it is he fought on the wrong side and was branded a "bandit" for his disruptive activities in Northern Virginia.

This book is a marvellous account of the life of a great man. Small in physical stature, he was nevertheless a giant of a man in all other respects and was both feared and respected by those who fought against him in the war between the States. Kevin Siepel's book tells the story of the man behind the myths; his childhood, wartime exploits and controversial post-war views which saw him shunned by the same 'South' who had worshipped during the conflict.

I enjoyed every last page and was almost sad to get to the end. There was so much to Mosby that I feel the book could have been double the size it actually is - and that's where I draw my only criticism. I felt there should have been more details of his war time exploits. There's plenty there but I feel there could and should have been more.

Overall though I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was always inclined to like it because Mosby is a hero of mine, but it does do justice to the telling of the story of his incredible life. Kevin Siepel is to be congratulated for his magnificent efforts and I would heartily recommend this book not only to any American Civil War enthusiasts but to anybody who would like to read about an extraordinary man and his equally extraordinary life.

This material assumes a lot of previous knowledge in the field. It is really difficult to grasp reading cover to cover. However, once you get the hang of it, McCarthy does a great job of demonstrating the theory at work.

John Ketwig writes "...and a hard rain fell" like no other book I've read. He dosen't use any cliches, metaphors, or any other jibber jabber. He gives you a first hand account of what it was really like.
I am in middle school, and i bought this book because i wanted to be more educated on the war in Vietnam. I am so happy that I bought this book. It has shown me the dark sides of the Vietnam war, and almost made want to stop reading...thats how powerful it is.
The only thing i can relate this book to would be the movies, "Hamburger Hill", and "Full Metal Jacket." This book is a must have for anybody that wants a REAL education of the war in Vietnam.

One of the best books about Vietnam I've ever read. I wouldn't say it's a typical "war book", but you definately get the idea of what it was like to be in Vietnam during the war.

Get this if you're interested in the mentality of the common soldier sent to Vietnam.

Mr. Ketwig wasn't a "snake eater" out on night patrols every night, nor was he an office clerk in Saigon. He was caught somewhere in between. Doing what he was sent to Vietnam to do. Just a typical guy stuck in surreal circumstances, just trying to get by and hope that he could return to some resemblance of a normal life once the war was over.

I hope Mr. Ketwig accomplished everything he set out to do emotionally and psychologically by writting this book.

I first read a few pages from this book in an anthology by Paul Fussel (The bloody game). Fussel set out to disprove the aphorism "Every man thinks meanly of himself for not having been a soldier" (Dr. Johnsson) and "And a hard rain fell" really supports Fussels thesis. John Ketwigs story describes how a young man, initially intent on refusing service in Vietnam, gradually becomes sucked into something far greater than he ever imagined, the war. This is a heartbreaking and yet hope-inspiring novel, Ketwig vividly describes that most crushing insight, the fact that in war, you are considered expendable. The accounts of how he and his comrades tried to maintain sanity and a belief in that the outside world really existed had me close to tears at times. Ketwig also describes the long and difficult way back to a normal civilian life after leaving the army.

This book is required reading for anyone trying to understand a painful part of the history of the latter half of this century!

This book is a brief description of the impact of the Internet on Businesses of all kind. It starts with b2b e-business success stories like Cisco, FedEx and Ingram Micro whose business volumes on the web is several hundred fold greater than more popular b2c companies like Amazon.Com and Yahoo !. The most important factor to succeed in e-business starts with the right vision of the top management and the book provides a simple and effective framework that integrates business and technology drivers with the e-business strategy.

"Digital Transformation" as defined by KPMG is not just the conversion of text, images, voice and video into digital form but also involves the changes in the business processes associated with them. Once the vision and strategy are in place it is important to move fast and get the "first mover advantage" since in the new economy it is the first movers who walk away with all the marbles.

One chapter each is devoted to b2b and b2c challenges and in each case the business model is brought out well.

The authors then borrow the concept of " disruptive technology" - the term coined by Prof Clayton Christensen in his book " The innovators dilemma". The web as a disruptive technology and what this means to diverse industries - Travel, Broking, Automobiles is quite interesting. In fact I have started reading " Innovator's Dilemma" once again.

The final chapter is devoted to future trends ( and threats !).

An excellent summary of what it means to be transformed- Digitally, in just about 120 pages.

Patel & McCarthy have written a compelling book that is short yet filled with valuable information. As the race to ecommerce gets white hot, the subjects of this book are being discussed and debated in board rooms, via e-mail, during kids sporting events and even during dinner. My favorite chapter was "Do It In-House or Spin It Off?" valuable for those trying to catch up. A one sitting read that you will go back to again and again.

Ever notice how the really good teachers (the ones with the deepest subject knowledge) are also those who impart their wisdom the most succinctly and simply?

This is what Patel and McCarthy have done with Digital Transformation, a thoughtful, pragmatic discussion of what being an eBusiness really means.

The book is short enough that most folks could polish it off on a five hour flight - a welcome departure from the blathery eBiz treatises that occupy most bookstore shelf space (whose main aim seems to be the self-aggrandisement of the author).

In Digital Transformation, Patel and McCarthy underscore that eBusiness is less about the ubiquitous dot com appendage and its accessories than it is about using technology to redefine a company's business strategy and means of delivering on it.

The discourse is peppered with interesting commentary from such eBusiness mavericks as John Chambers (Cisco), Vint Cerf, Priceline CEO Dan Schulman and Dave Wetherell of CMGI fame.

Now, if only other business books could be as simple and relevant, there'd be more shady trees under which to read them.

This book is not based on Visual Studio.Net Final Release!

I have read the book front to back including introduction page. I just realized that the book was based on beta 2 of Visual Studio.Net, too late for a refund. Anyway, I went on to read it and found out that the book was not very much organised as tons of '...we'll discuss this on chapter xx ... ' appear no less than 5 times in a single chapter (on some chapters). Mispelled words also are catching enough to say that this book was in a hurry to be printed.

If you're looking for a book that covers thorough details on window forms and web form control howtos, this wouldn't give you enough detail on those topics. Web Services is equally a mere introduction, with about two pages of discussion on UDDI as well as WSDL. Not much on ADO.Net and XML.

I should have borrowed this book instead and skim through it or should have bought it for 20 bucks less. Besides, it's already outdated. I hope the same authors would come up with a second edition that has richer detail...and send me a free copy.

I was planning on buying this book and noticed the out of print note on the Wrox site. Not exactly sure what out of print means.
Looks like other books based on the betas say out of print on the Wrox site.
If this book was released in August 2001 then it should have been based on the beta. They might plan on releasing an updated version.

I'd say this is the best Professional VB.NET book so far. I like the the ADO.NET part and VB control part of this book. Better than O'really ASP and VB book.

Frommer (may he rest in peace) was the pioneer of budget travel books. He has now been overtaken by other writers for the impecunious and his epigones do not have his wit and originality - they write in humorlesss cliches. It's worth buying all the books you can because even budget travel to Europe is a major expense. I think he devotes to much space to restaurant reviews in places where there are rows of restaurants with their prices and menus on display. Hotel reviews are more useful. Budget travel books have to be bang up-to-date and this one has a 1998 publication date. A 2001 edition for the Islands is promised. No illustrations except maps.