From the previouse review I was expecting a great book filled with words signs and music. All you get is a book of words and reference to a signing dictionary. You would be better off collecting the most popular hynms from your own church and making a signing chart yourself. Diffently a, pass it by!

What a wonderful resource for a deaf ministry! Its focus is on relaying the concepts in the hymns to the deaf, not the exact words of the hymns (it is in ASL not Signed Exact English.) It does not have pictures of how to sign the hymns because its focus is not for people who just want to let the hearing watch an interpreter and see the beauty of the signs. It is to allow the person signing to get the message of the hymns to the deaf person in the congregation without having to spend countless hours thinking of how to put English into ASL. So it is written for those who have a signing vocabulary and a little experience. And the dictionary references are helpful so if there is a word you don't know how to sign...you can look it up. It is easy for even a beginner like me to use. Again, its purpose is to allow the signer to look at the words in this hymnal and sign them as they are written. It definatly cuts down on the amount of time needed to prepare for worship.

Curt Keller and helpers in the Illinois Great Rivers Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church have provided an excellent resource for worship with the Deaf. The hymnal contains, in ASL format, every song in the United Methodist Hymnal. The hymns are conceptually accurte, with references to the "American Sign Language Dictionary" for proper signs of more obscure concepts. Although the Deaf understandably are left out during hymn singing, the interpreter can include them in the worship through use of this reference. The hymns contained in this book include standard, traditional titles and several more contemporary songs, as well as songs from different ethnic backgrounds. This hymnal need not be used only by United Methodists, as the hymns it contains are standard throughout denominations. This is a "must have" resource for interpreters of worship.

I was disappointed in Microsoft Reader's inability to print. I like the concept of near instant availability for e-books, but prefer to read from the printed page instead of staring at a computer screen. Funny, too, how I found out I couldn't print my document until after I had purchased this e-book and installed the Microsoft Reader software (with the additional step of having to "activate" a pc for it). In fact, Microsoft Reader's Help section doesn't make mention of the fact that one can't print its documents. A search in the help topics only produces the result that the word "print" can't be found.

I'll avoid the Microsoft Reader e-book format in the future.

Really Really boring, don't think anyone should waste their time reading this garbage. Horrible!

I have read many versions of Uncle Vanya, but this edition is an up-beat, funny, and, ultimately wonderful version of the excellent story by one of Russias beloved writers. I was looking for the right edition to use in my school for the school play, and this edition the kids could connect to. It dosen't have a lot of that Shakespere mumbo-jumbo that you have to read 50 times. This is accesible and very good. rock on David Mamet.

I thought the reviews for this book were harsh. Then I got the book. They're right on the money. I grew up reading the Superman of the 1970s. These are the stories that shaped my viewpoints of Superman, but this book is wanting. None of the great Superman chronicles I remember are here. "The Double or Nothing Life of Superman" is a series I just purchased on eBay. It should be included in this volume. I also recall an outstanding, well-written series in which, among other things, the Bottled City of Kandor was smashed, as Superman again had issues with his Kryptonian past. And the greatest Superman story of the 1970s, "Superman Vs. Spider-Man," while mentioned, is woefully missing. The Superman of the 1970s brought about characters like Steve Lombard, Morgan Edge, and a few others, who participated in some great tales. You'll find the characters here, but not the good stories. Really, save your money on this book. Go to eBay and try and win some of the actual issues themselves from the 1970s.

This book is a collection of wonderful Superman comics from the 1970s, the Superman that I grew up with. The comics were apparently selected to give a cross-section of Superman's activities in the 70s, and include comics from Superman #276 (6/74), DC Comics Presents #14 (10/79), Superman #248 (2/72), #271 (1/74), #249 (3/72), #286 (4/75), Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #133 (10/70), Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #106 (11/70), Superman #287 (5/75), #233 (1/71), #247 (1/72), #270 (12/73), and Action Comics #484 (6/78).

OK, as you can tell from that list, the comics seem somewhat jumbled or randomized. And, as several of the stories were multi-issue, it is rather sad that you can't keep reading to find out how the Man of Steel overcomes the bad guy. But, in spite of all that, this book is really great! The stories included are all very interesting, and it is great to look back to the Superman of a different era.

An added little bonus to this book is the introduction, which was written by Christopher Reeve, Hollywood's Superman, and a bit of a hero in his own right. This is a really good book, and I highly recommend it.

As I've mentioned in my review for "Batman in the 70s", the problem faced by all such compilations is that everyone will have an opinion of what other stories should be included and what should have been left out. I feel that this is a decent collection of Superman stories in the 70s, as all the key artists and characters are represented here. The TPB contains classics like "Superman Breaks Free" which is Dennis O'Neil's attempt at revamping the Superman; Elloit S! Maggin's classic "Must there be a Superman?", somewhat overhyped but still an interesting story; a Jimmy Olsen story by Jack 'King' Kirby; a story about Krypto; and other stories featuring Lex Luthor, Brainiac etc. Of course, it would have been even better if the TPB collects more stories about the Fortress of Solitude, bottled city of Kandor etc.

Some shortcomings of this collection: It would probably have been more fun to read some of the stories in the entire run (like Marvel Essentials) than on a single-issue basis as they are presented in this TPB. E.g. "Superman breaks free" is actually the first book of O'Neil's Sandman saga; the Jimmy Olsen story is the first of around 20 (?) issues which Kirby wrote. It is a shame that DC has decided not to reprint these classic runs anywhere, since it will cost a bomb for anyone to try to collect the original copies of these comics. Another omission that everyone complains is the story arc in Superman #296-299 "Who took the Super out of Superman?"

In spite of all the shortcomings, I feel that this collection will give the reader a good sampling of pre-crisis superman stories. There are many classic moments in this TPB: Superman eating Kryptonite (!); Superman playing billards with planets; plus time-travel, aliens, inter-galactic travel all thrown in for good measure. In my opinoin, the biggest attraction of this TPB is the great artwork by Curt Swan, viewed by many fans as the greatest Superman artist of all time. Conclusion: Even though this TPB is not really the most ideal 70s collection possible, it will be a welcome addition to your collection, unless you are fortunate enough to own many original Superman comics from the 70s. Enjoy!!

I didn't like this book at all. It's very small, very broad, and about as informative as asking a co-worker about their experiences buying a cell phone. This book had about the same "take away" as a compilation of Lifestyle articles from your Sunday newspaper combined with the glossy promo pieces that cell phone dealers give away. This book is barely more satisfying than eating a bag of microwave popcorn for dinner.   You'll not learn much about CDMA, TDMA, GSM, etc. In my opinion, you don't need to buy a book that tells you to be careful when you sign a cell phone contract, or that contract terms can vary, or that calling plans can come with lots of minutes or not so many minutes, or that you may run into something called "roaming". Yeesh. I know that some people need this information (I did, too, at one time), but a much better source would be a book that gave you those one or two paragraph tidbits PLUS some real meat on the bone (i.e., other information about the technology). In my opinion, a better book (which I now own) is "The Cell Phone Handbook : Everything You Wanted to Know About Wireless Telephony (But Didn't Know Who or What to Ask)" by Penelope Stetz. (And, no, there are no conflicts of interest in my recommending Stetz's book over Lenart's.)

This book is quite a bit different than most of the telecom books I have read. You should probably rely more on this review than you do its three star rating, since I really had a difficult time determining just how many stars to give it. It could have been given five stars, it could have been given just one. It really is a matter of perspective. I'll explain later.

How to Shop for a Cell Phone is a very short (40 pages) home-spun look at buying cell phone service. Despite the book's title, it is really more about buying cell phone service, than about buying an actual cell phone.

The reason why this book is so difficult to rate is because it is aimed at a completely different audience than the average telecom book is. It is aimed at complete telecom novices. It's really more of a consumer education booklet than a book about cell phones, so please don't get the impression that you will learn anything new about wireless service here. You won't, unless you know next to nothing about shopping for cell phone service.

For what the book tries to be, it does a good job. It is aimed at educating consumers that have never bought a cellphone before. It uses very short chapters (chapters are often less than a page in length) in order to explain general industry terms and answer questions that most first time wireless buyers have.

The book certainly isn't thorough in its explanations of technology. My biggest criticism of the book is that it seems to (accidentally, I'm sure) "talk down" to consumers. The book really looks like it is aimed more at children than adults, although few kids buy their own wireless plans. The entire volume is filled with cartoons of "Herbie the Cell Phone," a cutesy little character that introduces each chapter. It makes the whole book rather lighthearted, which just strikes me as sort of odd for a telecom book, for some reason. Maybe I am just in a grumpy mood today though.

Of course, it can be said that consumers don't have much of an attention span, and don't WANT to read any complicated, technical details. Since this book is actually aimed at consumers, only those involved in telecom will likely have the same (above) criticisms of the book that I do. Consumers may love the book for its simplicity. It seems to have garnered quite a few positive reviews from consumers, so I'm guessing that it does a good job at reaching its target audience.

So, why should you buy this book? If you are involved with the telecom industry already, you will not learn anything new here. It may make a very good book to have in your office, lobby, etc. for consumers to read while they are at your place of business, especially if you are in the wireless business. If you are a wireless agent or carrier, this may make a great book to distribute to potential residential clients. Donating this book to your local public library, schools, etc. would probably also win you some customers. It is very consumer friendly, and largely unbiased.

If you are a wireless dealer, it is worth picking up a copy to have around your office. You may even think of ordering copies for each of your sales locations. At [price], it really is not much of a bargain (for 40 pages), but it has few competitors.

Bottom line? If you know absolutely NOTHING about wireless service and plans, this book may be worth [price], as you will find good information and largely unbiased advice. Wireless dealers may find it a good consumer education tool. It seems to be slightly slanted towards supporting wireless agents, rather than superstores and carrier offices, so you may find this a good PR piece. Telecom people will learn nothing new from it, so they should pass on the title. The book accomplishes its primary goal though; consumer education.

Unlike other books which bore you with long winded discussions, this book gets right to the point with plain and simple language and illustrations. Herbie the Cell Phone (the main character in the book) points out pitfalls and things to look for with cellular contracts, phones, and accessories. Both new and experienced users can profit from this book. A MUST READ !

Mysteries live and die by their ending. The end of this novel is quite poorly devised, and ruins what is otherwise a decent story. Without ruining the mystery, I will just say that in my opinion the end of this book doesn't make any sense, and leave it at that. But, judge for yourself.

I'll be honest, I read alot of mysteries and started this book with low expectations. The author is a "pretty-boy" TV newscaster in the city where I live. He's a popular broadcaster in Richmond, Va. but you don't expect these "blow-dryed newsies" to be all that deep. I WAS WRONG.

Once you pick up THE REUNION, be prepared to read well into the night.Curt Autry's rich and atmospheric debut is a not-to-be-put-down book. The action is intense, and the protagonists are people you care about. Autry's way of dealing with a story where sins of the past collide with sins of the present is unusual, and should appeal to readers who likes a real page turner as well as a puzzle to solve. There's a warm little love story as a sub-plot as well. SO MUCH FOR FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

I'm the sure that the main draw to this book concerns the seedy, gangster underworld of Chicago. I don't know if I have enough patience to get there; the narrative so far relates sound-bite stories of the founders, urban planners, and architects who first erected this city. It's extremely interesting material, but Johnson's flits over it all in barely readable, fragmented prose. Furthermore, as one unfamiliar with the city (especially as it was in the 1800s), his descriptions of the landscape (and the design of the buildings) leaves me still with a black box imagination of what the city looks like. Pictures or illustrations would well suit the understanding of this book, which would lead to the (hopeful point of the story) understanding of the city.

I have read a number of books on Chicago during the time of Al Capone including three of his biographies, but this book is an overlooked gem. I accidentally came across it here at Amazon and decided to give it a try. All the colorful characters are here including those Lords of the Levee (Bathhouse John and Hinky Dink) and a number of gangsters during that time period you may have heard of and others that will likely be new to you. Yes, there are chapters of the McCormicks of Chicago, Jack Dempsey, the boxing champion of the time period, Louis Armstrong, and buffoon mayor, Big Bill Thompson. Some readers may feel they are being told more than they care to know about Chicago prior to and during the Capone era. I did not feel this way. I have often wondered what happened to a number of the lesser lights who were not as well known. The author provides us with this information. Also pointed out is that just saying a gangster was shot a number of times and killed doesn't do justice to the horror of what takes place. In addition to the tears of loved ones there is "no romance in mob warfare, only life's red blood, torn flesh, and death." Many of these mobsters died in their twenties or thirties. Sooner or later, usually sooner, most of them found their way to Mt. Carmel Cemetery. This book rates a solid five stars. I wish it was in hard cover. If you are interested in this time period I would suggest you get a copy and read it. You will not be disappointed.

This is nothing more than a owners manual. If you bought a new computer it came with one, read it .... It didnt answer 1 thing I wanted to know. Most of the things in this book I have done and I didnt even read my owners manual. If you were given "just" a computer with XP on it and you knew "nothing" about a computer, this would be an OK book.

This book is great - not only did it help solve some XP "headaches" of my own, but I learned a bunch of other stuff as well. The book contains headache after headache, tells you why the headache happens, then gives you steps to fix the problem. There are hundreds of headaches and solutions in this book! If you have Windows XP, you should have this book too.

I had this book for Modern Physics and after two semesters with it, I can tell you this book makes the class much harder than necessary. I was beginning to think I was an idiot, but I scraped up enough money to buy the Eisberg book from Amazon and as soon as I got it, it was readily apparent that the Serway book was incomplete, leaving out necessary concepts and leaving it to the student to fill in some big holes.
The Eisberg book and the Serway book are complete opposites; Eisberg giving you more information than you need and the Serway book glossing over what you need to know. With these two choices, I'll take (and did take) too much information any day. If your professor uses this book, do yourself a favor and look for help elsewhere, unless you're one of those people who can read Cliff Notes and wing it, because with the Serway book, that's exactly what you'll be doing.

This Modern Physics textbook has a bit of an identity crisis. One the one hand, you have a complete textbook, covering the basics of modern physics ideas such as: Special Relativity and Introductory Quantum Theory, plus chapters on the various specializations in physics, such as nuclear physics, particle physics, Statistical Mechanics, Condensed Matter, etc.

On the other hand, this textbook is terribly boring! It is a wonder to me how authors can make some of the most exciting subject matter in the scientific world seem so drab and benign. Part of the problem is the lack of depth in some of the chapters, another is just a very dry writing style.

The exercises are okay, though can be a bit on the easy side. As a reference, it is fairly complete and useful for looking up important facts and equations. It can be integrated well within a modern physics course sequence. The examples are clear and decent as well... however, its bundled "Physics visualization software" does not even work in windows, and is completely useless anyway... (To imagine... it only works on old DOS based machines!)

Although not a terrible book by any means, it is pretty unspectacular. I would reccomend Tipler's Modern Physics book, although a bit more difficult, it definitely the better book.

This book assumes you've had more physics in the past then perhaps you have. The examples in the book skip major steps and assume that you can follow. It focuses way too much on the people who came up with the theories than on the theories and mathematics themselves.

...but most of all a little boring. actually, a lot boring. I get enough of Dan Rather and Dave Barry to care what they think about baseball. If the author posed specific questions, then it might have been interesting. This book does not at all go to the Heart of the game.Very disappointed.

The best advice I can give you for reading "What Baseball Means to Me: A Celebration of Our National Pastime" from cover to cover is based on the same principle by which you should never leave a baseball game earlier. You might see something worth remembering. This is certainly the case with this book, which is edited by Curt Smith because the idea that this is a collection of "essays" is a definite misnomer. What happened was that 150 people, from former and current baseball plays like Phil Rizutto and Pedro Martinez, along with writers, politicians, presidents, and other types of celebrities were asked to provide responses to the statement "what baseball means to me." In the case of coach Mike Ditka and writer Elmore Leonard that means a slight paragraph, while David E. Birney and Dan LeBatard provide poems, and Doris Kearns Goodwin compares and contrasts her early love affair with the Brooklyn Dodgers and her current affection for the Boston Red Sox for several pages. These responses are accompanied by more than 200 photographs from the National Baseball Hall of Fame (whose seal of approval appears on the cover).

Ultimately it is supposed to be the stories told about the love of baseball that matters and not the identity of the person writing the response, but the book works against that goal. I get the sense that "What Baseball Means to Me" was compiled rather than edited. The responses are arranged alphabetically rather than thematically, so George Bush is followed by George W. Bush. This is not a coffee table book that you sit down and read cover to cover; a series of symbolic rain delays are probably helpful in getting through all the responses. I would have liked the book a lot more if there had been a more logical pattern of organization beyond the alphabet. Instead of being engrossed in this volume I was constantly distracted by entries that were not worthy of inclusion. When I got to Bob Costas and found a brief series of sentences separated by ellipses, I knew this book was in trouble. However, at the end of the alphabetical rainbow are Bob Uecker and Ted Williams, so hang in there.

Still, everybody who loves the game should find a couple of choice gems within these pages if they take the time to mine them out from the rest. My choice memory from the past was called forth by a photograph of Mel Stottlemyre sliding home to complete an insider-the-park grand slam home run at Yankee Stadium on July 21, 1965. That was the year I started watching baseball and had decided I was a Yankee fan (I liked New York as a state and the Yankees in the Civil War), and I remember watching that game on television and them showing the play over and over because the announcers could not get over the fact that this had just been done by a pitcher (Mel hit that big gap in deep left center, way beyond the monuments). So there are things here to touch upon your love of the game, but we still cannot help but feel disappointed that this book is not as great as it should have been.

Curt Smith is right on the money with this wonderful book. It made me cry in parts because the passion that so many of the writers have for the game of baseball is that same passion that is in all of us for something we truly love. The choice of people was very timely. There were people I knew, and others I didn't know, but I enjoyed reading every one of their essays. This book would be a great Father's Day gift. It's one of those books that you see and think is beautifully done, but once you start reading, you can't put it down. A real treasure. I'll keep it on my coffee table for a long time.

It's not so much that this is a bad or poorly written book (it isn't!), but it is seriously flawed:

- The vast majority of the book is about installing and configuring ISA, with relatively little coverage of ongoing using or troubleshooting.

- There is a lot of very basic stuff, as well as a lot of stuff that you'd normally find in a Microsoft reviewer's guide for ISA. For example, an entire chapter on how ISA fits into IP (and an intro to TCP/IP), an entire chapter on system requirements.

- Too much FLUFF! In addition to the 9 blank, lined pages of "NOTES", the 25 pages listing (doublespaced) TCP known-ports, and the extra large font that pumps the index up to 24 pages, there are too many step-by-step, illustrated, descriptions of how to do basic tasks. Subtract the fluffiness noted above along with a few other egregious instances, and you're looking at a 250 or 300 page book, not a 408 page book.

The only reason I read this book was because I was paid to do so. I don't use Microsoft software anymore, but I've used (and reviewed for publication) enough of it for a lifetime. Which is another reason not to buy this book--but an entirely different issue altogether.

If you must use ISA, or if you must consider using ISA, this book will actually be worth it--it comes with a 120-day trial version of the software (another odious practice, but that yet another issue as well).

Before I ever even thought of installing ISA, I read the book from cover to cover. Once completed, I installed ISA and referred back to the book for additional guidance. I'm still looking for the additional guidance.

This title does a great job of introducing ISA to the reader. It spends chapters of time covering the ISA concept, architecture and Microsoft Minimum Requirements. From there, however, the book gets a little more glossy and sales brochure like. Deployment scenarios, installation and (very) basic configuration are covered, but the author has chosen to really only cover the installation of ISA in an enterprise / array configuration, leaving the stand-alone server installation out in the cold. Past the installation, the author tour guides you through the basic setup of the server (which actually was very handy and without this it would have taken me quite a while to figure it out) and then moves on to briefly cover some of the major selling points.

What is really missing from this book is any specifics, or even an in-depth, point by point reference covering of the interface and components. For example, the author covers setting alerts for Intrusion Detection, but instead of explaining the configuration choices for each of the five actions, the author tells you that "Depending on your selection, a different window will appear that enables you to configure the option you selected."

The title is helpful, and I am glad I read it. But I find myself looking for a more in-depth reference that I can really learn ISA from.

I have read several of Curt Simmons' Windows 2000 books, so I was happy to pre-order this one. I'm not quite finished with it yet, but Simmons' typical style of concise and focused writing is the same here. The book is very clear, easy to read, and is full of step by steps and explanations. It makes sense of all the policy issues and policy elements and more difficult firewall configuration tactics. You won't have to skim through pages and pages of blubbering text - everything here is important. The book includes a trial version of ISA Server Enterprise edition on CD-ROM. Overall, I'm very pleased.