Musichound Swing is a good guide for folks who are looking to expand their CD collections. I thought that I'd exhausted all of my possibilities, but it ends up that I'd barely scraped the surface. For the most part, the guide is right on with it's reviews. However, they are rather unkind to the Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra, giving the 1st CD, 'Swing Fever' a 2 out 5 and the 2nd CD 'Calling All Jitterbugs' a 3 out of 5. It does refer to the band as 'Top Notch', but yet gives relatively low ratings. I hope that the book doesn't steer people away from the Bill Elliott Swing Orchestra, as they are a fine band, in the mold of the Dorceys & Benny Goodman. The book is, on the other hand, too kind to Lee Press-On & the Nails, giving it a 4 out of 5. I didn't think the band was particularly strong in it's CD. It's horn section seemed to be struggling with the material at times. The band is great live and has developed quite a bit. Time for a new CD? A nice feature in the book is that each bands' influences, as well as bands that they influenced are listed at the end of each entry. However, the book does point out a few bands that influenced the Big 6 (a great UK swing/rockabilly combo) and yet there is no listing for the band. They have 2 great CDs out and even had a song in the recent movie 'The Truman Show', so surely they deserve an entry!? All in all, this is a really decent book and one that deserves a spot on every Swing fan's bookshelf.

This is an ambitious volume, in that it attempts to cover the "old swing" bands of the thirties and forties and the neo-swing groups of today, as well as those who bridged the gap between them. It succeeds to a remarkable degree. Particularly if you haven't kept up with all of the neo-swing groups to appear in the last few years, this book serves as an excellent introduction. The same goes for those on the other side of the generational divide who want to explore the genesis of this style. Extra credit goes to the editors for remembering some of the often-overlooked swing artists of the past, like Helen Humes, Andy Kirk and Lucky Millinder. There are some questionable inclusions (such as Lawrence Welk, who wouldn't know swing if it clogged up his bubble machine, and Guy Lombardo[!]), as well as some glaring omissions (where is Big Time Operator? and if Will Bradley and Ray McKinley don't deserve separate listings, at least they should have a joint one), but generally the listings are right on, even if they don't initially seem to ring true. (Both Kay Kyser and Ozzie Nelson could swing more than most people recall.) If you can't find a particular artist, there is an index listing where he may appear in other volumes in this series. Which brings up a couple disagreements I have: Natalie Cole is in the R&B and Lounge volumes, but she has certainly shown on some tracks on her "Take a Look" and "Unforgettable" albums that she also deserves a place here. And who knows where Boyd Raeburn should go; I would put him in the jazz volume. But I'm beginning to quibble.

Since the ratings of the individual CDs are so subjective, it would be easy to quibble with any number of them. I agree with the earlier reviewer who took issue with the ratings give the Bill Elliott CDs, and I could point out others. On the average, however, the ratings do not differ too greatly with what most knowledgeable listeners would arrive at. Even those listeners with large collections and hardened pre-conceived ideas (that seems to describe me pretty well) can learn quite a bit. Out of the wealth of material available by Duke Ellington, I don't think I would have zeroed in on the All Star Road Band albums without this book pointing the way. The system of identifying what to buy first and next is a great benefit to the beginner (either to the swing genre or to a particular artist). I also appreciate the recommendations as to what hard-to-find items to seek out, even if they are on vinyl. (No, my full set of the Bluebird Charlie Barnet LP twofers mentioned is not for sale at any price.) However, it is these ratings, while the key to the book, are also its downfall. Inevitably, and sooner rather than later, this volume will be outdated as new groups form, new recordings are issued, and more old material is newly released. Too bad the publishers can't follow the lead of law book publishers and issue pocket parts when needed. Instead, we'll just have to buy the new edition when it comes out.

I should mention the CD included with the book. It contains a good variety of current lesser-known acts and is nice to have in its own right, but of the seven tracks, three of the artists are not listed in the text at all while the track by a fourth is from a CD not listed. All of these flaws are really minor, and more likely to provoke serious discussions than criticisms. One thing this volume does lack is a general definition of "swing". We all know that it don't mean a thing if it ain't got it, but what is it? I guess in the words of Louis Armstrong (who said this about jazz), "Man, if you have to ask, you'll never know."

New for 1999, MusicHound's Swing! contains all the information that any swing fan, new or old, will need. Pages upon pages of what records to buy. Reviews of classic Big Bands, 21st Century Swing, and jump-blues artists. Each review contains a history of the artist, which records to pick up and which ones to avoid. You will save money by owning this bok. In addition MusicHound's Swing lists swing related books and websites. This is truly the last swing book that you will need to buy.

This book covers the fundamentals of JMX but where I was disappointed was that it uses a pretty basic queue example and doesn't really get into J2EE applications and praticle uses. I was left wondering when to use it. If I had it to do over I'd choose another book with more praticle applications for JMX.

Java Management Extensions by Java expert J. Steven Perry is a superbly organized and written reference and instructional resource to managing Java applications with JMX. Individual chapters address standard, dynamic, model, and open MBeans, dynamic loading, the monitoring class and timer service, and much more. A practical study of JMX architecture as well as a thoroughly "user friendly" how-to guide for technical managers, Java Management Extensions is an exceptionally useful and straightforward manual.

Java Management Extensions (JMX) enable configuration, management and monitoring of Java applications at runtime in a standardized manner. Furthermore JMX offers an exciting new approach for building component based applications. JMX makes it possible to exchange these components with new implementations or add new components without ever stopping your server. A lot of application servers, like JBoss, Apache Tomcat or BEA WebLogic, are based on this approach nowadays.

The O'Reilly book "Java Management Extensions" offers a sound primer to the JMX APIs. It starts off with a high level view of the JMX concepts. The author then introduces a sample application which is used throughout the book to explain the different parts of the JMX API.
For every type of MBean( standard, dynamic, model and even the brand new Open MBeans) the author devoted a whole chapter, covering the complete API of the Mbean type. Therefore, and because all the chapters are so very well structured, the book is perfectly suited for serving as a reference book.
Further topics covered are the MBean server, JMX Notifications, dynamic loading with MLets and the JMX Services (monitoring service, timer service, relation service). Again there is a whole chapter for every single topic.

All in all I like the book very much, especially because it is so clearly structured and because of the author's straightforward way of writing.
Be aware though that, while the book covers the complete standardized JMX APIs, it does not talk a lot about the not yet standardized parts, like connectors and adaptors, except for the obligatory HttpAdaptor. But that is a reasonable decision as these parts a different for every implementation of JMX, and the best place to cover them is probably the vendors documentation.
Highly recommendable.

This book enchanted me when I was a kid. It was more involved and historically related than normal Choose Your Own Adventures. After reading it, I always felt a special kinship to Harriet Tubman whenever we studied her in school. I also recommend the one about midieval times (can't remember the name) and anything by Edward Packard

When you read this Choose Your Own Adventure-type book, you'll get more than an adventure. More than 10 years later, I still remember most of the storyline. But most importantly, this book introduces you to one of the many unsung Civil War heroes: Harriet Tubman. She was perhaps the best known member of the Underground Railroad and the fiction-based-on-fact adventures that you go through with her are really amazing. Every time I hear her name in history class my ear perk up because I know who they're talking about. Very educational, very fun to read. Wish it was still in print. If you find a copy, buy it and like the scorpion--don't-let-go!

Steve Perry writes books that are fairly open about sex. The details - such as they are - hardly titillate, but there are certainly details. A lot of that depends on your point of view I guess. If I was younger, I'd find the material to be somewhat racy. Of course, the world the younger me lived in was different, but I digress.

There is also a strong martial component to his books. I actually prefer the Matador trilogy, because shooting people doesn't make for interesting reading to me.

The Trinity vector seems to be more of a story in search of a plot to make it work than anything else.

The story is about two people who have loved and lost, and find love again. It's not that bad a story, all things considered.

The book doesn't really fit conveniently into any category. The hero is much to sensitive for a good action novel, but some of the characters are much to... Policitally Incorrect for a novel with a sensitive hero. Actually, they are portrayed with more depth than the equivalent character would be in a true New Age novel, and aren't really made out to be the monsters that a shallower treatment would make them out to be.

Sure, the ending disappoints, except, it's not about the silver box. Once I understood that, it made a lot more sense.

So, what then is this book exactly? Well, for me, it was enjoyable to read. The characters were complex enough tp be interesting, without causing a lot of deep thought about what it all meant. The story read well enough to draw you in, without tripping over itself trying to please. It's just a good, solid, well-crafted story. Nothing ground breaking or earth shattering.

A good afternoon's entertainment, any time (my afternoon was a gloomy one in October, yours can be different).

I really enjoyed this book, spending a lot more time than I should have in each reading session. I picked up this book after reading the also excellent The Man Who Never Missed.

It follows the adventures of an ex-navy commando who's now a courier, expecting and receiving lethal attention from others trying to intercept the package he carries.

I didn't expect such detailed descriptions in the sex scenes though. It's definitely not something I'll lend my teenage nephew.

The only real problem I have with this story is that parts of the last few pages appear to have gone missing. The plot thunders wonderfully toward the endpoint, then all of a sudden there's the epilogue and I feel I've missed out on the final scene. What happened in that missing scene that explains the epilogue?

If I'd stopped at the penultimate page, I would have given it five stars. It is a great read until then.

I thought this book was a blast. I couldn't put it down. It starts out explosively and just keeps getting better until the action charged final gun fight. I don't know what a certain other reviewer means when he says the ending fizzles off. It is a great book through and through, with an excellent plot and furiously paced action. And as a fifteen year old I thought it was perfectly fine for a fairly mature reader.

Female War had so much potential that it's a real shame to give it such a low rating. Unfortunately, it's one badly enough that it merits it. Wilks and Billie continue to have a lot of "development" scenes, the only problem being that the authors are basically restating their problems over and over. More than half the book is spent just introducing new characters, condensing the interesting stuff into about a hundred pages at the end. The climax seems rushed harried, and unfinished. The fight scenes are fairly well done, but again short and rushed. Stephani Perry's influence is seen in the writing style -- for the first time in this series, a semi-colon has been properly used, and there's not quite as much language or sex. Ripley is semi-interesting, but not developed enough in any way that counts. This book also shares a flaw with the first two in the trilogy -- namely, not enough of the title creatures.

This trilogy has been enjoyable but dissapointing. If you really like Aliens, read them, if not, you're not really missing anything.

This book has the best story out of the first three of the series. In this one, the two main characters join up with Ripley (from the movies) and return to the home planet of the aliens and capture their queen mother (queen of the queens) to release her on Earth so all the aliens flock to her, creating a perfect target for a nuclear weapon... you get the idea. The one thing you have to keep in mind while reading this book is that is was written before "Alien3" was filmed, and you'll know why I told you this while reading. This one as well deserves 5 stars.

While Nightmare Asylum cast a madman in the role of the villain, Female War returns it to the banana headed bugs we've come to know. And it's focused on the biggest one of them all, the queen mother.

While it's a very nice book, I have a few criticisms about it.

The characters, other than Wilks, Billie, and Ripley, aren't very well deveoped. So there's isn't any real sense of loss when one of them gets killed.

The ending offers some closure but also opens up new questions. I think that almost everyone who read this book wonders what happened to the crew? Based on some stuff in Genocide, we know the mission was a success but how does the crew explain hijacking a ship, taking it for a ride to a far away planet, getting some of the marines on board killed during the mission, and setting off some nukes in the Pacific Northwest?

There are also a few criticisms in the aliens in the book. First of all, the queens have 6 arms, not 4. Second, what would be the point of having a queen mother? If the aliens don't have the ability to travel into space and to other planets at whim, wouldn't having an alien that only produced queens quickly put hives in competition with each other over limited territory? Of course, it might make sense if the theory that the aliens are another alien's engineered living weapons . . . But at heart (or whatever vitals they have), these are still the black-shelled monsters we've know and love(?)

But despite these flaws, the book is really good. We didn't exactly spend lots of quality time with the marines in Aliens either and the queen mother is just one really nasty creature instead of an out-of-place being when you actually read the book. Having Riply and Billie right next to the perversion of motherhood of the queen mother was a nice touch. And finding out why Ripley is here when the book is set after Alien 3 is just as interesting as when the crew goes to the ground with the bugs.

The idea is good. But the writing is bad. If Perry is indeed a writer of children's books he should work a little on his style and choice of words. I do not speak of the dialogs, but I think the colloquialisms and wrong grammar of the descriptive parts are no good, not even in a low quality paperback written to entertain and nothing else. Surprising events and twists in the story make the novel a good read, though. Some of the events do not have a motivation (why would the battleships destroy the earth?) and it is not really explained psychologically why Jay actually joins the MiB. But, nevertheless, a good book for a not too long journey on a plane.

If you like humans vs. alien creature stories, then you will enjoy reading this book. The book Men in Black is a novel based on the popular major motion picture of the same name, from Columbia Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. Written by Steve Perry, the book Men in Black is a science fiction adventure based on the screen story and screenplay by Ed Solomon. The author, Steve Perry, is known for writing children's fiction, fantasy fiction, and science fiction stories about aliens and their quest to conquer other life forms. Having seen the movie version several times, I found this book to be exactly the same as the movie. Steve Perry did not seem to change, enhance, or add to the screenplay at all. The story is about two men, named James Edwards and Agent Kay, who work for a top secret organization known as ...Men In Black. While most of the world watches the skies for signs of aliens, these two men know the truth that alien beings are here on earth disguised as humans. James Edwards, a streetwise NYPD cop, is recruited by Agent Kay of the MIB. Agent Kay is a calm middle aged man who is the brains of the outfit. Edwards is a younger man who has a smart mouth and never shuts up. Together, they fight aliens. They have dedicated their lives to tracking and policing the movements of these aliens. Their job is to protect the earth from the alien scum of the universe who threaten to make Earth the battleground for two warring alien races. One of the most appealing things about this story is the unpredictable series of events that leads to a surprising ending. Jay and Kay have good luck one moment and then bad luck the next. Like a good suspense novel, most of the unpredictable events happen in the ending. If you haven't seen the movie, you wouldn't have had any idea what was going to happen next. This book will appeal to young readers and adults.

If you saw and enjoyed this movie, you should certainly read the book. There are a lot of fun background items. The writing isn't good though. In the movie, there are a few lines that were awkward. I noticed that all of those lines were in this book. Most of the other lines were altered, and were significantly better in the movie. Much of the dialog here is just, well, banal is all I can think of. But, that doesn't stop the story from being hilarious. Especially since you can picture the awesome Smith/Jones team in all the scenes. I'm certainly glad they improved or ad-libbed for the movie. Some of the scenes would have been downright embarassing with more dialog from this book.

Venture Silk is now on New Earth being supported by his lover, spy/ intelligence agent, Zia Relanj who has just been awarded a secret "Immortality" medical treatment for her services in New Earth Security. While Venture is trying to restore his apparent loss of self esteem, created by being a man without work, Zia discovers that there is a unknown side effect to the Forever Drug... She can now read minds. Slowly she begins to realize the dangers inherent if any government discovers that a person that can live hundreds of years, can also read minds. But she also has plenty of excuses for the delay. Starting with, Venture's moving out of her home, the instinct that someone is following her and the awareness that whoever it is, is very, very good. And probably very, very dangerous.

For over a year I've been passing up "SPINDOC" by Perry. The back cover write up just didn't interest me. This book is Part 2 of "SPINDOC". Although "THE FOREVER DRUG' is a neat stand-alone story, enough hints of what happened previously mean that now I have to get a copy of "SPINDOC", and it's no longer on the shelf at my local bookstore. I should have known better than to pass up a book by Perry.

It's been some years since I read this one, but it seems a shame to leave a good book with no reviews, so please forgive any errors of memory:

The Omega Cage is the story of the prison escape alluded to in Perry's more recent novel, Brother Death. It follows a prisoner in the Confed's most secure prison (called, not surprisingly, the Omega Cage). With the help of the warden's albino sex slave, he escapes the prison and makes his way off planet using some interesting alien technology.

The pace of the novel is reasonably fast, but because of the prison setting, much of the action is not as brisk as most of Perry's novels.

This book with it's fun approach, has given me both the technical background information AND most importantly an easy way to maintain a 30-40-30 plan for eating- I love the palm, fist, thumb approach!

This is the first Star Wars book I've completed. It's good and falls right in place with the rest of the Star Wars trilogy.