In her follow-up to the wonderful "Lion of Ireland," Morgan Llywelyn picks up where she left off, spinning the tale of Donough, Brian Boru's eldest surviving son. Her vivid style and talent with words continues the legend she brought back to life with her previous novel. The battle in which Donough, his troops battle-ravaged and starving, face their enemies as hundreds of CuChullains will bring chills to your spine as you read. However, although the novel starts off with the potential to live up to her previous triumph, the book comes to an all to quick and unsatisfying ending.

From the towering heights of Brian Boru to his Son Donough is enough to give your stomach a flip or two. This book is sad in that it expresses so clearly a boy and his destiny. Especially following his famous father. As hard as he tries to do what he can he is predestined to never again repeat the victories of his father, but in addition when he does find his own peronality he then adds critical elements that make this story one that leaves you feeling sad, for his attempts at recreating the past, and not succeeding.

Another incredible hit from Llywelyn. Once again she has done her research before writing this historically accurate novel.

Reading this book makes me proud to be Irish! It tells of the family of Brian Boru, the high King of Ireland.

This is an absolutely brilliant look into the daily lives of the ancient Irish and kept me reading from start to finish!

Kingdoms of Kalamar is a campaign setting from Kenzer & Co, the makers of the Knights of the Dinner Table. This book however, although aimed for the KoK player, is most useful for a regular D&D player. Why?
- a lot (I mean a lot) of new feats anybody can use
- several variant core classes like the Gladiator or the Infiltrator that can easily be used in other campaigns
- new prestige classes (like the Golem Master)
- canons (holy books) for Kalamarian faiths. They are written up very generically, so they can easily be used in FR/GH or wherever
- new equipment: poisons, alchemical items etc
- a lot of spells
- how to make rulers more powerful
- gaming rules for clerical hierarchy

The book suffers from some errors, mostly editing and playtesting. The art is sometimes irritating and some 'crunchy' bits have already appeared in other books. I, however have found this book to be of excellent value.

Another in the line of excellent books from Kenzer, this book has a lot to offer. It gives you more background on playing characters in Kalamar, including some more information on playing various demi-humans. For those who want still more rules, they have some new classes (we have a very effective Brigand in a current campaign) as well as some new spells, a comprehensive list of clerical domains and a whole lot more. I highly recommend this book.

This is a great book with tons of information that you can put into any D&D setting. It is geared toward Kalamar, but is written so generically that you can insert the information contained in this tome into any D&D campaign.

Classes: This book takes the Dungeon Master's Guide's advice and takes the initiative to create variant classes. These range from more specific versions of a class with cool abilities (like the Gladiator and Shaman) to classes that combine existing ones into exciting new classes that are much different than the old ones (like the infiltraitor). These classes are as flexible as the old ones and are fairly well balanced. Also are new prestige classes that cover specific jobs (Mariner, Muse) and a few of the many orginizations on Tellene (Sentinels of Providence, Alliance Merchant).

Feats: Absolutely tons of new feats in this monster. New types of feats like the Enhanced Familiar feats (which give your familiar better abilities like a higher intellegence or the ability to speak) and regional or race-based feats which you can only take at first level help shape your character to exactly what you want and brings the game back to roleplaying.

Religion: This book details the canons of each church. Although these are specifically related to Kalamar gods, they can be adapted to fit any setting. In addition, this book gives ideas on how clerics can advance through the church and very basic game rules like time spent and how to advance to the next level and what you get at each level.

Other rule stuff: The equipment section isn't too terribly exciting but it does give a shot at pushing the edge. Included are (some) new weapons and rules for slaves. The most exciting part is the new alchemical mixtures that will get you thinking of your own and are all interesting in their own way. Their is repeat in the domain section, but not a large amount. The new spells are kinda cool, but what is really nice is the scalable spells. These are kind of like Wheel of Time spells where you choose the level it is cast at.

At the end: The white pages. If you are thinking telephone book when I say that you are on the right tracks. In these are a comprehensive list of all feats and spells (divided up by class) in all official D&D products and where they can be found. These can then be copied to use as a spell sheets. Also back here is a gigantic Place of Origin table. Only useful if you are playing Kalamar but it is non-obtrusive and only takes 7 pages.

To close, this is a great book for all D&D players and DMs alike. If you don't have it yet, I recommend you pick one up.

Its a nice book but if you are seriously looking for quotes to use in daily life or speeches (with references ect.) buy the Oxford dictionary of quotations. It's a much better investment.

As I grew up watching Dick Enberg on television, I always wondered how he could write, or reflect, on what was happening before his eyes so well? Clearly, this book helped me answer that question. Mr. Enberg has written a book of quotes unlike any other. He has included in his book, not only those famous quotes with which we are all so familiar, but also quotes that he heard in his every day life. It is this aspect of the book that I found so rewarding, and it is this aspect that helps separate it from similar themed texts. It showed me that one doesn't always have to look for the comedian, world leader, or athlete for guidance. Instead, one can simply listen to the common man (or woman) for answers, advice, and humor. Mr. Enberg realizes that fame doesn't guarantee these attributes, but more importantly, that a lack of fame doesn't prevent one from obtaining any or all of them. This is a fantastic book, put together by a man who can see great qualities in people from all walks of life.

This book is sooooo funny. I keep it in the bathroom next to my Bible. I read a quote a day to put a smile on my face. I am fund raising to the San Diego Blood Bank and The San Diego Zoo.It really helps to be happy, when you asking someone for Money.One of my favorite Quotes is " A word of Advice, Don't give it" It makes me laugh.

Yes,this is a book to be cherished:to be used as a guideline for life itself. The writer make the sport of golf into more of a lifestlye choice and allows us as readers to share in his true belief that golfness is next to Godliness. A beautiful addition to your library.

I bought this set of books to refresh my memory, compare it against my experience and to see in which area I have to study to be able to pass the tests for CCNP. Overall I would normaly rate them higher, but all 4 books need extensive editing. I found many errors, even in areas I didn't have that much experience. More then once I would read something on one page and then on the next page it would opposite of what was just said. Very often the examples are wrong too. In the Routing book for example it talks about static routes and using passive-interface on a BRI interface, yet the example shows in the top BRI as physical interface, but the bottom of the example and the text after the example talks about Serial 0.

The same goes for the included test software with study mode and test exam. There are many questions for which you should select more then one answer, but they set the answers to only one selectable. Or in one case at least the question had two possible answer choices, but none was marked as the right answer.

I sent several times feedback to Cisco Press and checked their website if they have maybe an update for the books or software, but nothing so far. Nor has any of my feedbacks being answered.

All in all the books did help me to prepare myself for the tests and pass all successfull on the first try, but I credit much to my general knowledge about networking and parallel reading other documentation...

I purchased this set last year and so far I have taken only Routing and Remote Access Exams, I'll be taking the Switching exam this coming Wednesday. These books are the only ones you need if you want to pass the difficult exams. Though you cannot expect that everything in the exam will be discussed here, you need a bit of common sense and work experience to get past through all of them. I passed the two exams in one try using these books as my sole study guide. These books cover more details of the exam topics than the Sybex one I think. I agree with the description above saying that Routing is the weakest among the books. Though Gough tried really hard to present the topics, something was still missing. I suggest you read the books cover to cover, answer all the test questions in the book and in the CDROM and if you could, get a BOSON software as well. That will surely help. Good luck!~

I'm about to start studying and plan on purchasing this set of books as well as the CCNP preperation library. Cisco changed some of the format on one of the tests around and gave it a slightly different title. An additional chapter for each of the two relevant books can be downloaded from Cisco Press for free. Here's what Cisco Press says on their web page.

September 2002: Cisco changes CCNP Routing Exam
On September 13, Cisco Systems introduced a new version to its professional level Routing exam, known as Building Scalable Cisco Internetworks (BSCI). BSCI has an additional section on the IS-IS protocol not previously covered in the BSCN course or exam. This exam, already in existence as part of the CCIP certification program, replaces Building Scalable Cisco Networks (BSCN), one of the four exams required for both the CCNP and CCDP certifications.

Free Chapters from Cisco Press!
Cisco Press published two titles originally created for BSCN preparation, Building Scalable Cisco Networks and CCNP Routing Exam Certification Guide. These titles are still excellent self-study tools in your overall preparation strategy for pursuit of CCNP or CCDP certifications. To assist candidates, Cisco Press is providing supplemental chapters on IS-IS. The BSCN and Routing Exam Certification Guide supplemental material can be downloaded by clicking the links below.

I took the Cisco official BSCN class, and without that and the supplied materials, would have failed the exam. There are very few options for self-study for this exam - even Cisco's book is not due out until next month. So, it's understandable that this Exam Cram misses the mark. The BSCN test hits heavily on BGP and EIGRP, which are weakly covered in the book. In general, the book seems to be guessing directions, given the fact that many components were pulled from ACRC and replaced with new material. I cannot recommend it at this point. Currently, the only place to get the info is Cisco's classes (expensive) and of course Boson's practice exams, which were invaluable.

This book is for the most part very well written, and provides some last extra assistance in passing the CCNP routing exam, which I did on the first try. It's one major draw back is that it is weak in it's explaination of BGP, which is a big part of the routing exam. This was not the first book I read to study for the exam, but was the last one.

As it says in the book, it may not be the only book you want to read, but most likely the last book you want to read before the exam. If you have no knowledge on the topic, most likely it's not going to help you pass. However if you understand the concepts discussed beforehand, this book will help you figure out which parts of those concepts you need to know for the exam. It also comes with a quick cram sheet you can review right before the exam. I recommend reading Routing TCP/IP by Jeff Doyle first, then read this book before you take the exam. This combination helped me achieve an exam score of over 90%. You may also want to find some reading on the basics of BGP (Jeff Doyle doesn't cover it).

While this book contains some good information on the roles of the different vitamins and minerals in our bodies and their history of discovery it fails by recommending the traditional thinking of that time regarding therapeutic use.
The cover states " A complete Guide to a Lifetime of Safe and Effective Use"
The RDA is a safe use but Effective use is missing in this book.
For instance the author states in the Vitamin C chapter quote "If daily intakes exceed 250 to 300 milligrams, the body will become saturated, not absorb the extra amount and excrete them."
He also states that "at excessively high levels toxic symptoms can develop." And then calls "megadoses" ten times the amount recommended which would be 60mg x 10 ie 600mg.
The author then goes on to state "that the scientific evidence is virtually negative.
Obviously the author never read any of the hundreds of papers by the likes Dr Fred Klenner, Linus Pauling etc.
Vitamin C would have to be the least toxic substance around.
Dr Klenner successfully treated thousands of patients with all types of diseases with levels as high as 100,000 mg/day without any toxic effects.Vitamin C should be taken to bowel tolerance which is somewhere between 2000mg and 6ooomg for a normal middle aged person.
The chapter on Vitamin E was equally lacking in depth ignoring the years of published work done by the Shute brothers.
Overall this book is outdated and I would recommend other titles.
IE. Natural Prescriptions by Robert M. Giller
Nutrition Almanac by Kirschmann
...

I am finding I am starting to really enjoy reviewing the health books that I have been reading of late. Not only am I learning many things to help myself, but also to pass on to others.

Good Health with Vitamins and Minerals is packed chock full of valuable information about every imaginable vitamin and mineral you could think of. Not only does the author tell you what food source these vitamins/minerals can be found in, but he also gives you information on food preparation so you do not 'cook out' the nutrient. Great advice.

I liked this book, felt it was easy to read and understand and I could use the information in it. I recommend it to those seeking more
knowledge on their vitamins and minerals.

To your health!

After using one of the Study Guides (such as Sybex, Cisco, or Syngress), I have found it helpful to use a testing method such as Transcender. I bought the Exam Cram version this time and found it to be useful for studying but NOT for testing. The study aspect is interactive and VERY flexible. You can take the preassesment before covering the material and then the Exam Cram software will only cover the areas that it found you to be weak in. This way you don't waste time going over topics that you have already mastered. You can also customize the cram notes to cover areas that you are weak in, and add your own notes as well. Now for the bad news. After weeks of contacting their customer support service multiple times and getting no help, I am still unable to use their testing program. The download of the questions from their site does NOT work (why weren't the questions on the CD?). In addition, don't expect to use the Index in the back of the book to help you find anything. Over half the items I tried to look up had incorrect page numbers listed in the index. With a little more refinement from Coriolis, this could be a top notch product, but until then, buy Transcender for realistic practice testing.

Good book to review for ACRC exam -- I used this book the weekend prior to taking the exam and passed with flying colors. This book is intended for review, and you won't get a full course out of it, but if you already have some hands on and need some concentrated study, this is a great resource!

I thought this book was well done and excellant in the way it was put together. I found only one error, and that was no big deal. Excellent for people coming out of ICRC and ramping to ACRC. Would recommend it for people who are chasing Cisco Certifications.

Some of the people who have posted here think this is a study guide..It isn't!! It is a review book used to supplement either instructor led training or a fully-fledged Study Guide. The Cisco Press ACRC book is the courseware pretty much and using this as a supplement is great.

The new BSCN requires the Routing Exam Cram..so this book has lived past its use-by-date. But still, it was a great book.

These 'paper' network engineers who want a fast way to get Cisco certified are really missing the point.

If you are looking for a quick-access guide to the nutrients in foods, this is not it. However, if you like reading prose, and percentages, this may be the book for you. The nutrient listings are inconsistent and random including some nutrients with one food and others with another. Some nutrients are listed as grams but most are listed as percentages which means you would have to use this book with a calculator to make it useful. Why didn't they do this work for me? Even the serving sizes are vague such as, "Cookies, Chocolate Chip, one small."