The book is a little out of date and so does not cover the latest features such as the visual designer. However, if you simply want to know how the language works, it is ideal. The books has plenty of examples and source code is provided on a disk.

Like most of the works of master-marketer John O'Hara, "the Hat on the Bed," a collection of short stories, was a best seller when it was first released in 1962. As the titles of the first few stories in the collection (Agatha, Aunt Anna, Eminent Domain, Exterior: with Figure, The Flatted Saxophone, The Friends of Miss Julia, The Glendale People)suggest, these are stories in O'Hara's usual vein: character sketches and comments on the social fabric of early to mid twentieth century America. Automobiles, cheating spouses, real estate values, and Gibbsville, PA, are all to be found in this volume.

This is a shocking book- and I'm no prude. The NYT Book Review said of it, "O'Hara has the most authentically dirty mind in American fiction." Throughout the heroine, Lovey Child's, Main Line lifetime, people seemed to suffer from the consequences of intense and out of wedlock sexuality. From her mother's affair with a school chum to her own afternoon tryst with a tipsy priest; the punishment seemed greater than the crime.
Though O'Hara doesn't moralize within the narrative, the story itself, the natural consequences of excess and homosexual affairs, (that would be O'Hara's sense of natural,) condemned with a forceful warning. Though the book was published in 1969,
the story takes place in the twenties, and the reader, responds, as the average reader in that era, would be expected to respond. That reaction, for me, included more than a few jolts.
This is a short and for all extents and purposes, not very important work; but it deserves some consideration for its realism and its historical relationship to our own era. We seem to be bombarded with sex from every angle, as though we would be immune to the sorts of goings-on in the life of Lovey and her Philadelphian cronies; and yet, it remains a question as to the authenticity of our liberation, and if such liberation as we imagine as freeing us, is either possible, or desirable. And, again, I'm no prude.

John O'Hara is the master of 20th Century American Fiction. Matthew Bruccoli's work was so fascinating, it inspired my wife and I to make a pilgrimmage to Pottsville, Pa., O'Hara's hometown (and the "Gibbsville" of his short stories). I highly recommend this work to anyone seriously interested in O'Hara's life, and "The Gibbsville Stories," now out of print, to anyone interested in exploring "The Master."

Overall the premise of the book to use examples to teach is good, and the examples themselves were well chosen. However, the devil is in the details. There were numerous unexplained forward references, some incorrect information (its explanation of whether Applescript is reentrant comes to mind) and the example scripts included on the CD were buggy. It took all of one click (chaning the year) to crash the Date Minder script which they claim met their high standards. All in all because of these problems I wouldn't recommend this book, although there really isn't much in the way of competition.

J Schmitz

I found the book to be very useful for most of the book. Howvever, I found that the book did not emphasize enough on what were actual commands and what was data. Somtimes the syntax was a little misleading because of the way the examples were written. You will have to read the examples a couple of times to figure out what is applescript commands and what isn't. I was looking for a book that showed how each command was used and then how to put them all together. Most C and BASIC books are written like this.

This is a great book for any intermediate or advanced AppleScript developer who wants to develop in the the FaceSpan environment. The only weakness I see in this book is its usefulness as a reference. It can be difficult to track down a specific piece of information. THIS IS NOT A BOOK FOR THE CASUAL USER OR FOR THOSE WHO WISH TO LEARN APPLESCRIPT. If you want to learn AppleScript the best place to start is with the information and tutorials available from apple's web site and in the help menu on your Mac. If you already know some AppleScript and want to increase your skills Danny Goodman's AppleScript Handbook is a better place to start before moving on to this book.

My interest in O'Hara is recent and not intense and for the most part, satisfactory. I've been pleased by the few novels I've read. Up until this current collection, he's given me what I've been after; i.e. some society scandals and boozy misbehaving from people my parents would have relished as friends. I purchased these short stories because by all reviewers' accounts, this was where his creative genius so majestically flowed. Within the short story form, evidence of his greatness would counter the less brilliant but highly lucrative reputation of the author of those mid century best sellers. He was in later life a notoriously bitter and sour man who believed he'd been cheated of literary honors. Indeed he feasted his eyes on the Nobel Prize and was publically mocked for his vanity. However, the stories in this collection, are far below the achievements of his popular novels. They lack any of that social sinning, country club lecherous/ violent action or any of the snobbery-come-uppance that makes O'Hara fun. Several stories are in the excruciatingly boring style of conversations between two long married people, no longer susceptible to the temptations that make his more typical plots interesting. Nothing could be harder to read than them talking about whether to put your sweater on, or where he put his boots and if they'll have a cocktail- with no pay off at the end. The other style equally as deplorable if slightly less dull,is one of the very ordinary plot with sensationally, brutal ends - just too horrible, like babies burning up and a sudden murder as a resolution to a story that in no way called for such an inprobable gesture. There is practically no resemblence to the dated fun of the chic morality tales of social decadence that still hold up today. That's what's great about O'Hara, it still chills and keeps you interested even if you feel a little sordid to enjoy it. No wonder the guy was confused, if he was led to think that the stories in this book were art- I think he might have been the victim of some ill conceived joke.

In the introduction to this volume, John O'Hara laments "Suddenly-- it seems suddenly to me-- I find myself referred to as the 'grandaddy' and the 'old master' of the short story field." O'Hara does nothing here to diminish his reputation. When one looks at the title of this book, one (at least I) automatically completes the phrase: the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh. Much of O'Hara's writing is like this. He was very much in tune with the thoughts, culture, and characters that shaped mid-twentieth century America (for O'Hara is very much AMERICAN in any and every sense of the word) and manages to tell stories that the reader feels that he himself must have already known, somehow. "The Horse Knows the Way" is as good a collection of late John O'Hara short stories as any.

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The central character of this novel, Robert Millhouser, is introduced to the reader when he is already an old man. To the narrator of his life story, Gerald Higgins, Robert Millhouser was a figure surrounded by mystery. His salutations to Gerald's grandparents were always given and received with courtesy but the young Gerald's curious questions about this dignified but isolated man were never answered. Many years later Gerald visits Robert and begins to write his story. A past era unfolds. The story is set in Pennsylvania and as the story of Robert Millhouser is told, much of the history of this state and its migrants is brought to life. Robert Millhouser's life is revealed, through conversations and letters. His inability to make close friends, his naivety in one particular friendship, his marriage to a girl so much younger than himself all culminate in one event which totally isolates him from all but two loyal servants. The other interesting aspect of the novel is that Gerald's maturing character is also shown. I liked the book but strangely enough as the story progressed I realised that I didn't really like the main characters. They were all interesting in their complexities but there was a coldness which at times was almost repellant. Yet I have read this novel twice, quite recently. Read it if you are interested in personalities and behaviour, and also if you enjoy the history and way of life of a past era.

Oh God, more of this snotty New Yorker kind of humor. Grab some Perrier and chuckle at these Babbitlike witty amusements.

"Bech is Back," is the middle entry in a series of novellas in which John Updike exposes a bit of the personal- and professional-doings of the contemporary writer's life. It's light, and he's only willing to take us so far with what we guess must be re-worked anecdotes and foibles from his own experience. The writing is classic Updike, having the rich word choice, wonderful descriptive detail and unique observation we've come to expect -- along with the usual amount of sexual reference to keep the reader engaged, even when it all gets tedious. Like so many of Updike's other works, it concludes with a mixed bag of outcomes for his characters, and for the reader with thin skin, it comes off simply as a jaded unravelling of fortunes. Updike mixes the hilarious with his usual dose of cynical self-absorption, and the currency, sex and humor make for a good afternoon's entertainment.

First write a short story (all the time making sure it will be published in The New Yorker or Playboy); if it works, write another one, using the same character or characters; when you have written three or four of these, start thinking about grouping them together in book-form (remember: publish and republish your work as much as possible); then write a couple of cementing 'chapters' and offer it to the public as a novel. This is how John Updike has written (among other things) Bech is Back - his second book about a Jewish-American literary novelist prone to writer's block. The advantages of using the compositional method described above are clear: instead of that heavily programmatic, overdetermined, obsolete thing we call 'plot', one gets instead a sequence of snapshots, or a gallery of pictures. We get a book that has obviously evolved organically over time, pushing out roots into only the most fertile soil. We loose old-fashioned unity of design, but we do not miss it. This is writing like a cubist: the by turns judicious and whimsical assembling of fragments of truth, rather than the facile pursuit of an impossible illusion of coherent 'wholeness'. Not a word is wasted in this short, smart, clever, muscular punch of a book.

This book started off really well. The first part with Hubert Ward conniving the people around him to make ends meet and his growing stardom in the theatre were all electrifying--O'Hara at his very best--but it all goes downhill after that. First of all, O'Hara writes in exposition in the beginning and in the epilogue that Ward was a heel, but I never got that impression throughout the narrative, and Ward even came off as rather honest, blunt, and down-to-earth. Second of all, his marriage to Nina Stephens was absolutely unbelievable; and I think O'Hara may have been reading a little too much Hemingway; some of the dialog between Ward and Nina were starkly reminiscent of several early Hemingway novels. And there were even two suicides, AGAIN recalling Gatsby. Overall, "The Big Laugh" is substandard O'Hara, but a pleasurable quick read utterly without pretension and profundity. As usual, O'Hara wrote brilliantly and never wrought a boring line of prose, and he was a speed reader's dream come true.

John O'Hara wrote in several geographies: Gibbsville, PA; Manhattan, NY; and Hollywood. The Big Laugh is one of his Hollywood novels. In his entire body of work (and it is prodigious), I would put this in the bottom 25%. It begins with a nobody forging a career in hollywood by blackmailing the first person to give him an acting job. A weak premise not usually found in O'Hara's plots. It ends with a twist -- hence the Big Laugh. This is the type of novel that is only enjoyed by someone who is a diehard fan of the author. The plotting is weak; it's missing the dialogue and little details that are a hallmark of O'Hara's outstanding work.

I have been searching for the "holy grail" Palm prgramming book, and let me tell you, this one isn't it! I have 3 titles besides this one with one more on the way and I have yet been able to do want I want to do. This particular item falls short in several areas. 1. The code snippets in the book are worthless out of context of the whole application that they come from. 2. The applications contain above and beyind the basics in some cases, certainly not for dummies. 3. I've programmed in C for 12 years and found the examples cryptic at best. 4. Heavy reliance and Code Warrior (which could be good or bad), at least a copy of Code Warrior Lite was included.

I could go on but enough said. When I find that grail I'm going to send the author something because whomever he/she is will deserve it.

Overall, I was a bit disappointed in this book. The major problem I hit was I had to download POSE from the Palm website in order to run the examples. I think this should have been on the CD.

The next problem was there was some inconsistancies between the text and the actual Codewarrior tool. I think that careful editing would have caught these inconsistancies.

Don't get me wrong, there is some good material in this book; But, you have to read carefully to find it. The examples are OK but the material is not orgranized well to get started quickly (i.e. I had to read much of the book before I could start trying to write my own programs).

It provides a good example for beginners to develop a program. Though not enough, you can easily learn the basic structure of a Palm program and quickly develop your small program.

And the examples can be used in CodeWarrior or gcc. But it does not teach you how to start the gcc application. The only choice is the CodeWarrior lite which have limited functions for use.

It does not explain all syntax of the examples. The ch. 13 may be the most comprehensive and useful example.

But the author does not develop the Conduit in C++ but Java. Nevertheless it didn't explain the Conduit development well. You might end up the development without the HotSync, then the data on the Palm cannot be transferred the data to the database or vice versa.

It is better than the O'Reilly's book which is very difficult and outdated. If compared to the Sams's book which provides good explaination but poor examples (not mentioned Conduit even!), this book is better.

This book might be the best in the market at the time of writing (because the Palm OS Prog. Bible not yet published). You must refer to the Palm official documentation for further/better reference.