I confess I peeked at the reviews of this book before settling in to read it and was a bit worried by the rather harsh remarks by a number of readers. Shouldn't have been. This is a novel of real power. Witty (often darkly humorous), intelligent and beautifully written it is completely at a piece with rest of the series. Still puzzled by those reviewers who claim this was ghosted and a bit troubled by one writer who complained Villier's death was a problem because she was such a strong female character. Well yes, but this isn't Oprah nor is this about consciousness raising as we know it at the end of the twentieth century. Rather, this work is a fantistically imagined glimpse into the very early nineteenth century-a time quite different from our own. I had heard of O'Brian first in the mid-1970's but couldn't rally much interest. Napoleonic Wars? Royal Navy? So? Then, for some reason or another, I picked up 'Master and Commander' over the New Year's Holiday. Three months later, I had read each of the nineteen novels in sequence. One of the great reading experiences of my life. 'The Hundred Days' is an altogether tougher work than those which preceed it. Aubrey and Maturin have been at this for a great long while. The war with Napoleon drags on and on. Fortunes are made and lost. Friends and family die. There indeed is very little of the joy to be found in the earlier books. Choices available to a person were far fewer in number in the early 1800's. Societal constraints, class strictures, duty-any number of factors conspired to grind a person down. By the end of 'The Hundred Days' Aubrey seems tired and spiritless. And why not? Good friends killed. Endless political intrigue. He faces huge responsibilities as the 'Lord of the Manor' and member of Parliament as well those in his naval career. The death of his best friend's wife and the death of his long time coxswain Bonden are terribly painful. Remember, Aubrey has been at sea since the age of twelve. It is not a warm and fuzzy place to live. It is a painful and isolated existence. No,'The Hundred Days' gets it really, really right. It has been a wonderful trip for Aubrey and Maturin and all the rest, but the cost has been huge.

A couple of years later and I stroll in and see such a weird collection of remarks! It seems that people either love this installment or absolutely loathe it. By my rating, you can see that I enjoyed it immensely. I think that O'Brian lived up to his reputation as a sophisticated storyteller. Yes, Diana's death is a mere mention - but the author creates such a deeply painful upset that feels very real - we grieve with Stephen from the shock - and if we are open to it, we appreciate the story even more. And yes, Bonden's demise is equally jarring, but that's life at sea (especially during that time). My one critique of O'Brian - there should have been more death among Aubrey's and Maturin's closest friends and followers - that is, if history were followed more closely. So - to the naysayers I say -"you are heard, but you do not speak for everybody." I love this book as I love the entire series.

Those who already read Patrick O'Brian do not need any encouragement to pick up The Hundred Days. The glory of O'Brian's language, the human-ness of characters who grow and change, the variety of exotic locales, the perfect exactness of details from two-hundred years ago -- all this has kept alive the interest of a growing legion of fans through nineteen extraordinary volumes. For these lucky devotees, it's enough to note that this volume will remind them of The Ionian Mission and the other Mediterranean-based episodes. It is livelier than recent installments, more surprising, has more of the smell of gunpowder, and yet delves deeper than ever into the psyches of the two central characters. It is as if O'Brian has recaptured his spark as he nears the end of his epic.

But really, a review should convince new readers to test the waters. So, you should consider buying this book (or the first in the series, Master and Commander, also available from Amazon,) if...

you admire a perfect command of the English language -- O'Brian is literature, not genre;

you ever enjoyed even one historical novel (the New York Times called this series "the best historical novels ever written");

you generally like to learn something as you read, in the way of interesting arcana (in this book, such things as narwhale horns and Hands of Glory);

you think it at least possible for people to behave heroically, and morally;

and, most of all, if you have ever stood on the deck of any kind of ship, anywhere, and pondered, even for a second, the incredible courage of the "iron men" who could brave vast oceans in wooden sailing ships.

O'Brian appeals to a certain kind of person, I find: one who wishes to find courage in oneself, and enjoys reading of it in others. The Aubrey/Maturin novels are, in fact, great literature.

End of review.

So. After twelve years, my B.A. in English Literature finally pays off.

If this book really does cost what it says it does, then the editorial review is less than useless. It's sad. Hey, I understand your stock prices are dropping, but don't start loosing the quality.

IS THIS PRICE RIGHT? IKNOW A FRIEND WHO PURCHAED ONE LESS THAN I EXPECTED. AM I WRONG?

The idea behind this book is a good one: Moynihan attempts to bring light to the ethnic troubles that plagued the world at the time of publication in the early 1990s (which seem to have become even more acute now) by delving into some of the origins of this problem. He essentially focuses on two themes: ethnicity, ethnic identity and the persistence and predominance of ethnic loyalties (as opposed to class loyalties); and national self-determination, particularly how to define this term and the international legal conundrums this concept has caused since it first became a part of mainstream political parlance about a century ago. In its initial sections, the book does succeed in shedding some light on the role of ethnicity and self-determination in the political history of the last hundred or so years, and how essential they have been to international relations, even if often ingored by mainstream scholarship-especially during the cold war-which tended to focus almost exclusively on ideology and political "realism" a la Henry Kissenger (which, as Moynihan points out, was far from realistic). Perhaps the best thing about this book is that is offers a good introduction to the problems of ethnicity in international politics, and provides an excellent reference list of sources for further reading on the subject. As an introduction, however, it suffers from being superficial at times. At times it seems as though Moynihan implicitly accepts the "primordial" thesis on ethnicity and nationalism, for he cites without critical commentary the all-too-common lament of many journalists and other armchair experts who bewail the "ancient ethnic hatreds" burning in some remote corners of the world. He doesn't really look into the fact that ethnicity politics and the ensuing nationalism tend to be the product of contemporary political agitation which often have little to do with historical fact. Although he mentions the general multiethnic harmony of certain pre-nationalist communities, e.g. in Central Europe, he doesn't really go anywhere with this. This the general fault of this book: its disjointed approach. At times Moynihan goes into excessive detail on certain examples while skimming over other cases. In addition, the text is riddled with extensive quotations (some as long as two to three pages) of other works or his own previous works on this subject. Since the book was based on a lecture delivered at Oxford in 1991, I can only assume that he rather hurriedly adapted the text for publication. This is unfortunate, for this could have been a really top-notch work on a very important subject.

The book as a preparation for the CID is sparse in the depth of content and I found it difficult to navigate through. The book functions well as the last resource to jog one's memory of the most basic of concepts. However, as with any resource, there's a time investment involved and I found this one more time consuming to work through that outweighed the benefit I received from it. The CID test covers a very wide array of topics and requires much more indepth understanding of the core concepts and terminology than the scope of the 'trigger' concepts covered in this exam notes publication. I would consider the book a Test Objective and Concepts/Glossary review on modified steriods. Where I found the most value out of the book was after I took the exam and reviewed for those areas that I scored lower in.

The official Cisco Press CID book was by far the best resource in terms of money and time invested in studying for the exam. You need to integrate the many different desktop, LAN, WAN, remote protocols and configurational aspects, and apply these concepts as concrete design elements in order to move beyond the CID functioning as a review for these areas. Therefore, integrating the 'nitty gritty' details becomes an important strategy in preparing for this test.

The other book I would recommend is the Cisco Press CID Exam Guide. As with all exams, a good test preparation technique is to pay special attention to the sections pertaining to notes, diagrams, tables, graphics, and foundational key concepts. The 'official' Cisco exam guidebook was better in presenting these areas along with the questions included in the book. I'm not tryping to push Cisco Press but as with any vendor-centric test, this is a Cisco test and does require Cisco specific answers and design solutions. "When in Rome, do as the Romans do". The two Cisco books seemed to do a better job at helping me prepare for and passing the test. Good Luck!

I have been using the Sybex books to study for Cisco exams for a couple of years. The original CCNA book by Lammle was excellent, but subsequent books (while still including Lammle's name) have not lived up to the earlier standard. The CID 3.0 is a fairly tough test due to the vast amount of material covered. This book can be used as an outline, but I certainly recommend using additional sources to study. The Cisco Press CID book (Birkner), along with this book, should suffice as long as you read and fully understand the material. Good Luck!

This book does not tell you anything about what the title of the book suggests. It basically was meant for people who never stepped into a casino. For those of you who expects to get pointers on what to do in order to get more comps, don't bother buying this book. It doesn't even give the most basic strategy about how to improve your comp. By this, I mean that it doesn't even tell you that when you are playing at a table game, to tell the dealer to hold your spot while you go to the restroom. For those of you who don't know this, the reason is simple. While you are gone, your play is still being recorded for a good amount of time until they stop holding your spot. I am going to be returning this book today. So don't bother wasting your money on it

This book provides a good view of the gambling indurstry from a person who lives it every day. The author is the President and CEO of the Claridge Casino Hotel, my favorite establishment in Atlantic City. The book explains in overview fashion the process by which casinos decide who to give free gifts to (such as a free room or a free meal). It explains what the casino looks for, how it makes its evaluations, and how to take advantage of that process. There is also a section about newer table games, such as Carribean Stud.

As a collector of the entire series, no one awaited this book more than I. I feel let down. Of the 13 stories, (and it's only 318 pages, not 352), seven are fiction. These were not well chosen: selections from Treasure Island and Moby Dick are not even set at sea, but are the land-based openings of the books. The non-fiction does not live up to the billing of the editorial reviews that preceded it on this page. There is not much shipwreck or survivial: several are more like philosophical essays as opposed to stories with an edge. The story on diving the Andrea Doria is perhaps the best in the book, but many of us will have seen it elsewhere, as it is recent. Why a fictional account of the Titanic and not a true one? For a book on treasure, why nothing of Mel Fisher and the Atocha? If you want sea adventure, the earlier book in the series, Rough Water, delivers a bigger punch. This volume, regratably, is one that you can put down between stories.

As a passive individual, I live through the words and experiences of first hand authors for my adventure. This narrative simply scratches the surface of those before it. "Ship of Gold", "The Fatal North" and "Abandon Ship!" come to mind immediately as adrenaline rush examples. Any of the several publications on "The Endurance" far exceed the expectations of "Deep Blue". The human spirit has greater tales to tell.

What happened was perfectly natural, but who would of ever believed that the justice system would be so cruel. What has happned to America? It was just all in all to sad for anyone to want to finish this novel.

This book approaches the theory of Kalman Filtering mostly through the frequency domain approach and fails to appreciate the power of the state space dynamic representation and recursion which are the key concepts. A lot of equations but no 'real' explanations!