I am a newly enrolled graduate student and finding inspirations for my research topic.I am interested in the field of mobile robots but don't know where to start.This book certainly gives me an overview on what I can do.For those who don't have prior knowledge to this field,I suggest you to read the Behavior-based robotics by Ronald Arkin first.Both of them are interesting and easy to follow.My only complaint to this book is the lack of details in the book.But as others suggested,I can look for the bibilography.So though this book is not perfect,I still rated it with 5 stars.

This book should be a standard for anyone interested in robotics. It is a wonderful survey of what works. Some might complain of a lack of detail, but I disagree. There is more than enough detail for you to understand the systems discussed and if you really want to learn more about exactly how a particular system was implemented, use the bibliography. Once you know who did what and where, it's easy to find the original papers on the web.

The book covers the book in the field and does it well. The only thing missing is a little more detail about each system. I don't know how it would fit, but it would have helped. However, the book is everything it claimed to be and more.

All About the USA offers 30 reading selections on topics such as baseball, history of hot dogs and hamburgers, the bald eagle, Uncle Sam, and cranberries. Most of these topics are common knowledge to people who have grown up in the USA, but are new and interesting to immigrants. I have enjoyed seeing students' eyes spark as, while they read, they gain insight into another tidbit of the "culture" in which they now live.

It also provides vocabulary practice, comprehension exercises, grammar points, and follow-up discussion suggestions.

I've taught in public school, college, corporations, and the county jail, and I've used this book with all types of students: adults, children, and teenagers.

For students at a slightly lower level, I recommend Introducing the USA by the same author.

Marilyn R. Cahill - Lynguista@aol.com

A rich and fascinating collection of (mainly) philosophical essays on nature of friendship. The authors meditate on the personal and the political, ethical and social dimensions of friendships. We see friendships through the prisms of biography, cartography, drama, literature, and history. The writing in this stand-out collection is vivid and the themes are memorable. It contains some of the best contemporary essays on friendships.

From GERRY MACKIE St John's College, University of Oxford review of the book:

Does leftist political thought have a future? That is the question addressed in this collection from the editors of the Thesis Eleven. I found the essays refreshing, for the most part, because the authors tend to be beyond the `ill-tempered and puritanical politics' (p. 26) of the actually existing left that I, for one, am tired of being lectured by. They propose to overcome the failings of American liberalism, European socialism, and cultural radicalism with a revived and revised civic republicanism appropriate to current conditions.

Crozier's and Murphy's introductory essay is more thoughtful than a mere summary of the essays to come; it is a politically committed but entertaining review of the present global political situation, and contains some piquant observations. Their unexpected emphasis on the cultural aspects of political theory is welcome... The volume is more unified in theme and tone than many collections. The writing is most lively when it deals with particular places, situations, and thinkers, as one might expect from a civic republican approach to political thought (and what one might recommend to competing approaches as well)...

From Australian Journal of Political Science, 03/01/1997

We are an IT company engaged in the development of electronic commerce/distributed database software that is designed to support both government and commercial supply-chain management business- to-business operations. In this brave new world of network infrastructures, firewalls, security requirements, etc., the need to stay current with technology change is critical. The Electronic Commerce, Third Edition provides a source of knowledge that helps fulfill this need. The authors have produced a book that is easy to read and understand, and yet, provides just the right amount of technical detail to do justice to the subject at hand. The following chapters provide the right level of information to help IT managers and software engineers make sound strategic and tactical decisions regarding business-to-business implementation decisions; (2) Security Technologies, (4) Protocols for the Public Transport of Private Information, (9) Strategies, Techniques, and Tools, and (10) E-Commerce Environments and Future Directions.

A detailed and complete reference on e-commerce. This book covers the whole gamit of electronic commerce. Going from concepts through complete set-up and on to implementation and beyond. Excellent coverage on payment systems and everyone's #1 priority - security. A complete and detailed table of contents and appendix make quick searches a breeze. Complimenting the book itself is an enclosed CD which, along with many resources and helpful links, is chock full of technical setup procedures and protocol. A very complete book on e-commerce. Read it or be left behind!

If, at my last job, we had had access to this book with its compilation of the many technologies that are critical to e-commerce, we would have been spared months of research, technical errors and frustrations, and costly delays in implementing our dotcom. Fortunately, I can now use this information in my current project. Having up-to-date reference material combined in one book is not only a major time-saver; it is also far more readable and understandable than most technical information I had already collected and tried to assimilate on my own into a cohesive and fail-safe plan.

Even for someone who is building a non-commercial site (without requirements for SSL, firewalls, encryption, and the complex security needed for electronic payments), I thoroughly recommend reading Chapter 10 at the very least, with all of its valuable pointers and concrete examples of both good and bad. If more sites complied with these, I would find navigating the web a far more pleasant experience than it has come to be over the past few years.

Technically, Linux is the name for the operating system kernel at the heart of "Linux" distributions such as RedHat and Debian. When most people "use" Linux, they are in fact using the shell, the web server, or any other of the zillions of open source programs that (1) are available for, (2) are distributed with, or (3) can run atop the Linux kernel.

It used to be that there were only a few things you could do with a Linux box (namely run a Unix box as a web server) but the open source community has come a long way in providing (1) applications and (2) hardware support, so that you can now do a lot of things w/ your Linux box that used to only be doable on a Windoze box.

Schwarz et al have put together a smorgasbord of things you can do with your Linux box. These projects range from things you would tend to do on a Unix box (eg IP Masquerade, SSH, system security, even a chapter on writing Apache modules!) to stuff you would expect to need to do on a Windoze box (eg burning CDRs, syncing with Palm devices, and audio/MIDI/image/video processing).

The level of detail in the chapters (as well as the required level of Linux familiarity on the part of the reader) varies considerably -- a hazard of multiple authors and the breadth of the topics covered -- but each chapter starts off with a "Difficult-o-Meter" which more or less accurately states the level of Linux proficiency required.

That said, there are some real gems to be found in this book. There are some pretty hefty howto-like treatments in this book of topics such as system security, "undernets" (collaborative web sites), and setting up a web/IMAP/mail server.

There's a chapter on "Tools You Should Know", which lists the tools a typical Unix hacker should know: regular expressions, vi, dd, sed, diff, etc. Like some other parts of the book, this chapter doesn't give you a lot of information on these individual tools, but it brings them to your attention, so you at least know what to look for.

This book by itself won't turn a newbie into a Linux ninja after one reading, but it is a good overview of many different things that can be done with open source tools on a Linux box. I would highly encourage the prospective reader to take a look at the Table of Contents of this book. If you see a topic you're interested in, then this is a worthwhile book to buy. (I suspect that most folks running Linux at home at a beginner to intermediate level will find several bits of interest in this book.)

I've been curious about Linux for some time now. But, the only books that I could find, are all on installing, administering, configuring. Every one rehashing what the other said. None of them sold me on diving in.

When I discovered this book, I was apprehensive, but I went for it and purchased it. All I have to say is WOW! I never realised how flexible Linux is, or how much you could do.

I was thouroughly impressed on the variety of this book. I've finally been inspired to dive right in to Linux.

Are you a new Linux user, and want to learn more?

Are you an experienced Linux user, but are wondering what other interesting things you can do?

This book will teach you fun things. This book will teach you useful things. This book takes you on a tour you can't help but enjoy. At the end of the day, you'll find yourself not only entertained, but more knowledgeable about what you can do with Linux. It's probably more than you think!

This book helped me discover new interests and new possibilities, all in easy to read and entertaining prose. With that in mind, I'm giving this book the highest rating possible.

I have purchased a number of Chuck Murphy's books for our child over the last 12 months. My son is usually amazed with all of the shapes and colors that are used in Chuck's books. This is an exception to those books which are always educational and entertaining. I would recommend you to examine and purchase some of the other books this author has published as the "Big Trucks" book is not of his usual standards.

This is one of my son's favorites for months now, since he got it for his birthday. We don't usually read the text, but the wonderful illustrations and sturdy pop-ups lead us to lots of discussion about all the trucks and what they do. He's learned about tractor-trailers, fuel trucks, flatbed trucks, fire trucks, garbage trucks, tow trucks, and moving trucks. My only caveat is that I've had to read the book with him so often. :-)

The pop-ups are well-chosen to illustrate the trucks - you make the fireman go up and down in the bucket lift, you lift up the garbage bin and dump into the grabage truck, and you look inside the cab of the moving truck to see what's inside.

We bought a copy of this book 10 YEARS ago for our now 13-y-o son. It was an instant hit and his father or I read it with him at hundreds and hundreds of bedtimes. Alex loved making truck noises and manipulating the pieces. I found it quite durable (he was not a gentle kid), and the first tears didn't come until just around the time he outgrew it, maybe age 5 or so. It got A LOT of use.

My husband and I remember this book fondly, and can recite the first two pages of text from memory. :) Alex remembers this book just as happily and last night dug out his copy for his three-year-old sister. She was just as intrigued, but now I'm buying her a new copy because quite a few of the pieces are torn. I was so glad to see that it's still available. She still enjoyed her first reading of it, despite not being able to work the fire engine and trash truck.

I think this book will be one for the grandkids too! :)

In 1995 I wrote my final thesis about travelling and the culture encounters travelling involves. Murphy's work was a great inspiration. At an early stage, he had a clear understanding for the necessity of taking into account the implications of tourism on the community. Now, I find myself in the centre of decision-making - how to plan regional tourism development in the future and I recall Murphy's work. And want to know- has he done more work of a similar kind on social and cultural impacts of tourism. This, I think, is the best recommendation a book can get.

Murphy's Peter is not the perfect first pope of legend, but a man driven by the shame of denying Christ. He is afflicted by jealosy of John and an all too active sex drive. Still, he perserveres to lead the early church as he hopes Christ would want. Many Biblical and historic figures play a part in this painstakingly detailed piece of historical fiction. A darn good read!

This book is horrible, it is all about the dreaded rebel alliance. If you want to get a good book, get the Empire version.

I found it very useful, specifically all the info on Intelligence and Special Forces.

The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook gave me a whole lot of information on the Rebel Alliance, which has proven very useful in my gaming experience.