An evil criminal organization is blackmailing New York City's mass transit organizations, and only THE SPIDER can stop them. OK, granted, this is a pretty lame premise, but the action picks up right at the start and never flags. Lots of runaway buses and crashing subways in the fight to the finish.

Valor and Lace, edited by Mauriel Phillips Joslyn, is an anthology of eleven short histories of women that lived during the War Between the States and contributed to the side of the South during that conflict. Each of the anthologies is readable and most are well researched. As with any book containing material from several authors, there are some chapters that are better researched and written than others. However, in general the book is concise and presents various aspects of the Southern woman's life during the War. The title and subtitle (The Roles of Confederate Women 1861-1865) are somewhat misleading. The book does not present a comprehensive history of women in general during the war but rather presents the reader with eleven specific cases of extraordinary women who felt the need to commit themselves to the cause for which they believed, be it the Southern cause for independence or the moral cause to care for the wounded, regardless of their political affiliation. While it would be erroneous for the reader to assume this is a true picture of every Southern woman, it is an appropriate portrayal of certain aspects of life both at home and on or near the battlefield and the role that some women played during the Civil War. This reveiwer recommends the book to any student of the War as well as to those readers interested in the social roles of women during that period of American history.

As a long time fan of John Lee I really looked forward to reading this book. Unfortunately the writer spent more time editoralizing about the sins of America in general and the south in particular and very little time on the actual subject of the book. The writers bias against the U.S. came across very clearly.

There are sections in the book that go on for pages without even discussing John Lee or his music. If the author had stayed off his soapbox he could have covered the same material in 100 pages instead of the 480+ pages he required. All in all I found the book very boring and a chore to read. I was glad when it was over. I love John Lee but hated the book.

With the exception of B.B. King, this was one of our last links to the true Blues greats. This book really misses out on the opportunity to expound on all the pathes crossed and the people he met along the way. This book is written very eloquently and there is no sparing of words. John Lee Hooker was a grass roots person, and this book should have been written that way. I looked forward to reading this book, but I have to admit that it was a very boring read. Hard to believe a book about John Lee Hooker being boring. I hope someone else picks up the pieces and put's another book on the streets.

Murray did a lot of research, which is commendable-he tackeled a lot-but the truth was that John was not happy with it...he said that he did not authorize it-his manager did- and that there were a bunch a lies in it-to sell the book...

This book is a good introduction to and overview of Windows CE and its history. The book won't teach you to program on CE or adapt it to new hardware, but it will introduce you to the larger picture. CE will be very important in the next few years and is already being incorporated in an amazing number of devices.

The title is misleading -- the book is more at the level of the Microsoft Press "Understanding" series rather than at that of "Inside COM" or "Inside Windows NT". While it does discuss the architecture of CE, it is not nearly as in depth as "Inside Windows NT" (even the somewhat fuzzy first edition) and suffers by comparison. Perhaps one day Microsoft will give us the CE equivalent; meantime, you will have to be satisfied and move on to "Programming Windows CE" or the corresponding "Dummies" book (which is actually quite good).

"Inside Windows CE" is very readable and won't take you long to finish. It provides an interesting insight into the history of CE and Microsoft's earlier efforts in the area. It may not inspire total confidence in CE for some, on the other hand, given it suggests the kernel was originally hacked up in a few weeks by a couple of developers working in secret because of the lack of support they were getting from the group creating the official embedded OS. The story of how Microsoft really operates internally -- often through several competing efforts and always doggedly persisting until something finally works -- is very enlightening.

Anyone planning to program for CE should read this book, but you will be left wanting to know more details of its architecture and also needing another book about programming Win32 on CE.

I have a hard time agreeing with the negative reviewers of this book. I think that Murray addresses the important issues in CE; namely the key architectural differences between CE and the other Win32 platforms. As for a programming reference for CE, well CE uses Win32. There are plenty of great Win32 programming references on the shelves right now that can be used. Adding yet another targeted to CE would be a waste of Murray's time. Furthermore, at the end of every chapter are references to where the user can find the programming references that they were looking for.

This book is especially well suited for newcomers to CE. It guides you through everything about the OS with the right level of detail and at a pace that doesn't bore you. This book, contray to some of the other opinions expressed here, is very, very good. It may not be the book that you want in terms of your programming needs, however, I strongly recommend that EVERYONE getting involved with Windows CE first read this book. It lays out a foundation that allows you to become a better developer. There isn't a bunch of code samples, API reference pages and other pure programmer "stuff", so if that is what you're looking for, think of Doug Boling's Programming Windows CE book...but do not miss this one just because it doesn't have a ton of code. It is truly refreshing to read a book that TALKS about the OS and explains the DECISIONS behind its evolution *before* jumping into code. Please take the time to understand the embedded world and just how fantastic Windows CE is before you start stamping out apps. This book isn't for the OEM who wants to know every step needed to build their version of the OS, but it is for everyone who wants to know more about the world of Windows CE. It is perhaps the best book I've read since "Exploring Java" in 1996. CE is exciting in the way that Java was exciting. "Exploring" conveyed that excitement and so does "Inside CE". I have no connection with the publisher or author. I just like to let people know that they are missing an excellent book if they belive that one star does this book justice. There are millions of books, not all are what you want exactly. Do not prejudge this one. Read the author's comments about what this book IS before deciding what it IS NOT. If you like the theorectical world, if analysis and problem solving are your thing, you'll love this one even more. It is a very quick read and fun. Do it because you love the subject content, not because you want to stock your shelf with another HOWTO.

Take Care.

Rob!

I am not sure who this book the 'committee' wrote this for, but I can think of no one. More like a hodge-podge collection of Internet clippings somewhat related to Java & Macs, interspersed with useless code. It is sad because the Mac market needs a Java book covering getting started and the many options and tools Apple has provided the Java student & developer.

I am sorry I wasted my money & was responsible for the deaths of the trees that made it!

This is probably the worst technical book that I have read. Its more a collection of papers than anything else, and much of the content is trivial. Beginning progrmmers would find nothing in here. Advanced programmers will probably find a few nuggets of information that are useful, but they are few and far between.

If you are looking for an excellent book on Java on the new Macintosh operating system OS X, this is one to get. The writing style is well done and the book, in terms of content, is well thought out. I am enjoying the authors coverage of pure Java vs Mac OS X specific issues in particular. Keep up the good job.

The description of The Colorado Plateau was appealing as I enjoy visiting our nations National Parks. This book met the minimum criteria described on the cover of the book. It was a fairly complete guide to the National Parks. I was hoping to gain and develop my own impressions from the impressions and experience of the author and thus develop a sense of those places I'd like to visit most. The book also provides historical information for many of the areas, which is interesting. The author is also very opinionated concerning land use which to me are political issues. I found this very distracting, having to skip paragraphs to get back to the information this book advertised it was all about. Also, the book could have done a better job of providing maps that showed the locations and routes into the Parks it was discussing. I found myself having to keep a map close by of each of the States that were discussed, something that could have easily been presented better in each section of the book. Otherwise, the organization of the content of the book was very good.

Mr Murray's text is often quoted by others, which may serve as a recommendation in itself, but it is particularly intense and so other writers often take the opportunity of explaining it to mere mortals such as you and I. He takes the view that Deuteronomy 24 describes divorce rather than instituting it, and goes on to give the standard line that Jesus allowed divorce and remarriage for cases of sexual immorality. In other instances he regards the divorce as ineffective, and so remarriage is adultery. On the one hand he says that Jesus did not abrogate the Old Testament law, but on the other hand he says that Christ changed the penalty for adultery from death to divorce. This latter position is not consistent with the former and the idea that the law skirts around divorce without properly legislating on it is a strange view to entertain.

In some ways one could use the word "transmission" instead of "imputation" for those who can't get their heads around the legal terminology common in Reformed theologians. This book attempts to examine how Adam's sin is credited to the entire human race, thus imputation. The book is dry and a lot of work to read. The theological concepts themselves are not so difficult to grasp as Murray's wooden prose. Unless you're willing to navigate hard-core Reformed theological writings in a stuffy mid-20th century academic style I'd recommend Henri Blocher's scholarly but far more readable Original Sin as a primer for Murray's ideas and for a thoughtful critique of some of their limitations.

The Roman World is an overview of Roman art and history (alot to cover in one book). Without a solid background in Roman history it is very hard to keep up with this book. Lots of gaps that a scholar might be able to fill in but I had a very difficult time piecing everything together. Not for the casual reader.

This book is a poor piece of prose. I have my bias in favor of Rothbard. Bryant's supposedly "devastating" critique of libertarian "sell-outs" is wholly inconsistent and poorly written. He obviously has some axe to grind with them.

Rothbard's essay "Life in the Old Right" appearing in The Paleoconservatives offers an accurate picture of his views, which were consistently libertarian. There is nothing new or particularly devastating about the older libertarian scholars and economists identifying as Paleo- libertarian or conservative or even as Old Whigs. Keep in mind that they were weary of association with the hard left liberals and those wacky socialists who latched on to the libertarian word.

This booklet is nothing more than the rantings of a self-absorbed egomaniac. More than one half of the booklet is an interview with the author. When he finally does begin his critique of the libertarian movement he never dicusses any major works by Murray Rothbard; instead Bryant blathers about 3 monographs and 1 article of Rothbard`s. His vendetta against Robert Poole is a vindictive animosity over an alleged snub from the Reason Foundation. All in all this screed is totally lacking in content which most likely explains why it was self-published, as no reasonable publisher would ever want to have anything to do with something like this.

So don`t even bother reading this nonsense!

The bulk of Bryant's "book" is a personal attack on Murray Rothbard. Bryant sees Rothbard as a libertarian icon who sold out to the paleoconservative movement But Rothbard was always consistent philosophically. He didn't leave the libertarian movement; the libertarian movement left him. He merely remained true to his principles as one of the great thinkers of the late 20th century.

Mr. Bryant's little diatribe does nothing to dispel that. It is a surreal, egocentric collection of blatherings and much more incomprehensible and unreadable than anything by Rothbard he criticizes.

Avoid.