Schizophrenia: the Facts gave minimal information about schizophrenia. Despite the publication date, the material is quite dated. Tsuang is in the mainstream of psychiatrists in supporting a biological origin of the disorder. I was disappointed with the brevity of Tsuang's coverage of important and practical matters. It is a book that I would offer to neither consumers nor families. Skip this book. There are far better books written at the level of this one. You will get more bang for the buck purchasing the books under the heading "Customers who bought this book also bought..." or "Customers who bought titles by...also bought titles by these authors...." I'm surprised that Oxford University Press is associated with this inadequate and disappointing book.

I was initially captivated by the scope of topics represented in the table of contents and the author, Ming T. Tsuang, is eminently qualified to write on this subject. The book does deliver "The Facts" but fails to provide supporting documentation for the inquiring reader. Footnotes and endnotes are absent. The bibliography is sparse with 13 entries and cites two articles by the author. The citations are considerably outdated with the exception of Hirsch and Weinberger's epic "Schizophrenia." E Fuller Torrey is called T E Fuller. The reference to Andreasen's "Broken Mind" should have been supplemented with her later "Schizophrenia: From Mind to Molecule." With a copyright date of 1997, I am surprised by a failure to mention Zyprexa and Seroquel. I recommend that readers pass by this book. There are better written and comprehensive treatments available. E Fuller Torrey's "Surviving Schizophrenia" 3rd ed wears its age well and is more lucidly written. Irving Gottesman's "Schizophrenia Genesis" remains the definitive treatment of the predisposition-stress model. Despite it's expense, I think that Hirsch and Weinberger's "Schizophrenia" is the definitive, scholarly treatment. It is encyclopedic. Mueser and Gingerich's "Coping with Schizophrenia" is packed with practical advice for family caregivers. Sophia Vinogradov's "Treating Schizophrenia" is a readable, first class book by a leading researcher. I highly recommend her enjoyable and informative book. Keefe and Harvey's "Understanding Schizophrenia" is also an outstanding treatment. Kaplan and Sadock's "Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry" can be profitably studied by a motivated reader. Tsuang delivers the barest of facts and leaves the disappointed reader wanting more information. The reader seeking information on schizophrenia is better served by these other books. If pressed by necessity, check the NIMH publications that are online.

Schizophrenia: The Facts is an outstanding book for the lay reader. Unlike many other books on the topic which are complicated by medical and scientific jargon, this book is truly accessible to the non-expert.

The story is rather shallow and not intruiging at all. Although I`m very interested in medieval mystery storys I found this one particularly boring. There is no ambiente in this story, I never felt anything or smelled what it would be like to be in Wales in the 12th century. Much worse are the charakters. They are very poorly made and mere onedimensional. Also, like in an early Western one is to tell good from bad in a second. The good (or noble) people are blonde, tall, muscular, intelligent, blue-eyed and strong willed. The bad ones are dark, small, fat or skinny, dumb and dark-eyed. This, pardon me if it is not so, looks to me (a concerned Austrian)like Nazi- ideology and some kind of Übermensch- fantasy. It reminds me of the ideal Aryan: blonde, blue-eyed, tall and muscular. That is a subliminial message I couldn`t stand. Stay with Paul Harding (P.C.Doherty) or C.L.Grace instead for fun and charakters.

This is a good story which Peters populates with memorable characters, but Cadfael is merely a passenger, albeit an insightful one, in this effort.

It is not the summer of his discontent, washed by the sun of Yorke; however, it is the season for another Cadfael adventure and mystery! And Ellis Peters, in her usual intriguing way, presents us with her 18th Brother Cadfael episode in "The Summer of the Danes."

The year is 1144--the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Maud still rages on--and Brother Cadfael is called upon to be an interpreter to the Welsh village of Saint Asaph. Cadfael is Welsh born and he welcomes the journey to his homeland as a pleasant break from his duties as a brother at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury.

As it turns out--and naturally, as this is an Ellis Peters mystery!--a Danish fleet is sighted along the coast of Wales, a real menace, indeed. Then a young girl goes missing. Then a body is found. And Cadfael is off and running.

So is the reader! Having read all the Brother Cadfael series, I found this to be one of my favorites. Peters wastes no time in developing her story and does not hesitate to flavor her plot with plenty of Welsh history and lore. Will the Danes invade? Will the murderer be brought to justice? Cadfael's expertise, once again, proves to be essential in the resolution of the crimes.

Cadfael is the former crusader now turned monk who, while not solving murder cases, works as the Abbey's herbalist and is known throughout the area for his skills in medicine. The "Sunday Express" writes: "Cadfael...springs to life in her books, which are novels with depth. He is a man of warmth, humanity and engaging nosiness."

Do not be misled by the British TV series of the Cadfael stories. While on the surface they are quite adequate (Derek Jacobi is an ideal Cadfael), the 50-minute recounting of any of Peters' books does not do justice to the novel, which is a pity, for there are great gaps of (mis)understanding that simply cannot be supplied in such short time. Stay with the books! They are well-worth the read. Cadfael is a character worth knowing!

Billyjhobbs@tyler.net

This is a wildly uneven anthology of stories about WWII. The best of the stories are Stephen Coonts'"Sea Witch" and James Cobb's "Eyes of the Cat" oddly, both are about PBY planes, a definitely unique topic. Both deliver excitement and unpredictability and a unique perspective. Stories by Barrett Tillman and Harold Coyle are standard, well told combat tales. Stories by Harold Robbins and David Hagberg belong in a different espionage anthology and there is a truly boring and glaringly out of place story by Dean Ing, who is a much better writer than this. Ralph Peters does well with his tale of a German soldier's problems returning home.
Not up to the caliber of Combat, the earlier modern war anthology, this still offers enough diversion for those interested in WWII fiction if you're willing to accept the uneven nature of the stories.

This book is in the same classification as the Combat book.In
this book you have ten authors write stories about World War II.
Stephen Coonts writes about a Catalina flying boatwho are doing battle with the Japanese in the Pacific.Harold Coyle does a story about the battle on Guadalcanal with the Japanese that earned this area the name of Bloody Ridge.Jim Defelice tells about an American pilot who parachutes into Germany to gather
intelligence and gets decieved.Harold Robbins tells a story about someone whi is sent to kill Hitler.Dean Ing tells a story about an effort to build an interceptor to stop a Nazi super weapon.Barrett Tillman tells of the role of a flamethrower operator in a battle at Tawara against the Japanese.James Cobb
tells of a Catalina searching for Japanese radar in the Pacific.
David Hagberg tells of allied agents trying to stop a Nazi superweapon that can cause havoc in the United States.R.J. Pineiro tells of an American pilot who trains Russian pilots in new Aircobras.Ralph Peters tells of a German soldier going home on foot after the war has ended.All in all this was an interesting book.It ranked as an equal to Combat.

They really aren't around anymore, but from the 1930s through the 1970s, there was a proliferation of what became known in the trade as "adventure" magazines. These ranged in quality from the semi-respectable (Argosy) to the not so respectable (a veritable slew of titles, such as Stag and the right-out front For Men Only). They featured stories of spies, derring do and jungle intrigue, but they primarily contained war stories. Lots and lots of war stories. The covers often told the tale regarding the type of quality you could expect within; this was particularly true of Stag, which featured damsels who were either in distress (especially with respect to the state of their undergarments) or inflicting distress upon U.S. soldiers who were tied to chairs and doing their best to appear panic-stricken. All of these magazines, alas, are long gone, or at least don't seem to have the circulation they used to. I was reminded of them, however, by the publication of a mammoth volume of war fiction titled VICTORY.

VICTORY is a companion volume to COMBAT, both of which are edited by intrigue-meister Stephen Coonts. VICTORY is a doorstop of a volume, weighing in at well over 700 pages and consisting of ten previously unpublished pieces by masters of the war story. The stories in VICTORY range in length from fifty to over one hundred pages; if they had appeared in any of the adventure magazines, they would have been serialized. Most of the stories in VICTORY would or could have found a home in Argosy, though one --- "Blood Bond" by Harold Robbins --- is definitely Stag material. More on that in a minute.

The stories in VICTORY do not glorify war. Far from it. All of the stories are set during World War II, with the exception of "Honor" by Ralph Peters, set immediately thereafter. It is difficult to pick an immediate favorite; the average reader may have several, for different reasons. Coonts's own "The Sea Witch," which opens VICTORY, begins as a fairly predictable tale with an unpredictable ending and that utilizes an unexpected technique to catch the reader flatfooted.

"Blood Bond" is typical Robbins. It is a spy story, dealing with a plot to kill Hitler, and stands apart from the other tales due to its unrelenting scatological narrative. Robbins writes the way James Bond really thinks. Though Robbins, gone for several years now, had his share of detractors, he never inflicted boredom on his audience, and this previously unpublished work continues his streak, even in his absence.

David Hagberg's "V5" concerns the German rocket that could have turned the tide of World War II and the Allied military and espionage components that feverishly work together, though at some distance, to ensure that the project never makes it off the ground.

Peters's "Honor" deals not with Americans in the war but with a German officer in the war's aftermath, trudging through the nightmarish ruin that is postwar Germany as he tries to return home to his wife. The conclusion of "Honor" is predictable, almost from the first paragraph; it is the journey, not the close-to-foregone destination, that is important here.

The biggest surprise in VICTORY may be "The Eagle and the Cross" by R.J. Pineiro, a tale of an American pilot who is sent to the Eastern front to train Russian aviators during the final months of the Battle of Stalingrad. The bittersweet ending is perhaps the most haunting of any tale in the book.

With VICTORY Coonts again demonstrates that his talent as a writer is matched by his editorial abilities. While this volume is aimed at a more narrowly defined audience, the quality of the stories involved should, for the most part, satisfy the more discerning reader of any genre. Recommended.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

This book does a good job of explaining how to use the most common features of Office-2000. The author develops the each section in a systematic way. This book is helpful if you are new to the Office environment.

If you have been using Office-2000 or an earlier version, unfortunately this book does not add much to what you already know.

Users who are looking for more advanced applications of Access, Excel, or Outlook Express, this book is not for you.

I would have also liked if the author had talked a bit about FrontPage.

Book is a collection of picture postcards with brief captions for each one. The book follows along northern New England's railroads with pictures of stations, trains, and sometimes industries. Pictures are well reproduced, but are in black and white only. Captions are often too short but the format doesn't allow much room for elaboration. I liked it and hope the author will write one like this on soouthern New England.

I've been waiting to read The Ancestor Cell for a long time. It has never shown up at the usual place I buy Doctor Who books, so I finally broke down and bought it when I was in the States.

Given everything I had heard about the book, I had really low expectations going in. Given those expectations, I actually enjoyed it quite a lot. It's nowhere near classic Who, and there are a lot of problems with it, but I did end up finding it worth my time.

The thing that did it for me was the characterization of Fitz. I've had the benefit of reading a lot of Post-Earth-Arc books with Fitz in them, so perhaps that coloured my view a little. Anyway, Fitz is extremely well done in this one. For awhile, I really found the constant "womanizing" of Fitz extremely annoying. Every time he looked at Tarra, Romana or any of the other women characters, he was constantly thinking of how they looked, how he would follow those legs anywhere, etc. It got on my nerves.

However, as the book wore on, I started to realize something. This was Fitz's coping mechanism because he's scared spitless throughout the book. The events are too much for one human to handle, and he's taking refuge in what he's always done: going after the ladies. It also sets him up for a horrific revelation later on in the book involving one of those women, which might not have been as powerful if it hadn't been set up by Fitz ogling her earlier in the book.

The other really good character is somebody who's "related" to Fitz. I really ended up caring what happened to him, and his sense of betrayal. I thought he was going to be a stock character, but he turned out not to be. Unfortunately, I can't go into any more detail without spoilers. You'll know who I'm talking about when you read it, though.

The Doctor is also well-characterized, but he's not really anything special. He does Doctorly things, he has to make a momentous decision that can have drastic consequences. He's able to make that decision because of the direction the Eighth Doctor books was going to be changing, so at least it's not a reset-button issue.

The Faction Paradox come across as run of the mill villains in this book, which is a shame after the set-up Lawrence Miles gave them. In this book, they're more of a "Nothing can stop me now!!!!" sort of villain. I swear I could almost see one of them twirling a moustache at times. It really let the book down, I think.

It's too bad Miles couldn't finish the story that he started. I'm not a big fan of his, and it may have been just as bland, but it would have been nice to see what Miles would have done with his creations. Instead, we get a stock story that really doesn't go anywhere and the only reason it goes as far as it does is due to editorial fiat.

Too bad, but it's still an enjoyable read. Just don't go in expecting a masterpiece.

I did not like "Interference" and I did not think it was brilliant. Everybody praises Lawrence Miles for being a ground breaking and innovative writer. For someone who is so innovative, he spends a lot of time mucking about in the past. And to the man who makes a past time of slagging off his fellow Doctor Who writers, he got his just desserts with this books and must face the facts that he is not and never will be as brilliant as either Robert Holmes or Douglas Adams!!

Almost everything is set right in this book. I thought the writers found a great way of tying up all the loose ends rather nicely in this book while causing a few more problems. Although I am very fond of Gallifrey and I happen to be a fan of most of the stories set on the Doctor's home planet, I'm not bothered by it's destruction.

The Ancestor Cell gives us a wrap up of the events that began in the 2-part Interference (actually, the events really began in Alien Bodies). It's another really strange story, in the tradition of the books by Marc Platt and Paul Cornell. A lot of really interesting things happen, and the story centers on Gallifrey, which has changed a bit since we've last seen it, in preparation for the coming war with the Enemy. A newly regenerated Romana is the President, and a huge structure made of bone, known as The Edifice, is hovering in its sky, and it's growing. The events on Gallifrey include the truly nasty practices of some young and naive Faction Paradox initiates. The whole involvement of Faction Paradox in this story makes it very unpleasant to read at times, but anyone who has had some interest in the Interference arc will want to read this book to see how it all comes out. The end result is ultimately unsatisfying, but at least we have closure, and a fairly interesting read along the way.

"Magnificent Corpses", by Anneli Rufus, sub-titled, " Searching Through Europe For St. Peter's Head, St. Chiara's Heart, St. Stephen's Hand And Other Saints' Relics". Marlowe & Company, New York, 1999.

According to her "Introduction", Anneli Rufus was a Jewish child who was always intrigued by the practice of the collection and veneration of relics in the Christian church. As a child, she liked to read the Lives of the Saints. Her book is not just an unbeliever's examination of the idiosyncrasies of the Faithful in the belief in the efficacy of relics. Her writing is so unbecoming that it borders, in my opinion, on being nasty. In her first chapter, "So Many Maidens", on St. Ursula and the 11,000 Virgins, she writes about the maidens: "...so much long silky hair and so many quarts of menstrual blood". (Page 12). Unbecoming! In writers' conferences, I have been taught that every written word should advance your central theme. What do "...quarts of menstrual blood" have to do with incorruptible corpses scattered as relics a round Europe? Where was the author's editor? Nasty.

This tone of writing continues throughout. Later in the book the author describes being assailed by bad breath in one church. Personally, I have encountered bad breath on the subways of NYC and in the underground of London, but I do not think that descriptions of these encounters would advance a written travelogue on these two tourist cities. In describing the clothes tourists wear, the author makes a case for some formal tourist dress code, particularly, perhaps, for American tourists, but, then again, does this advance the central theme of the book? What does the dress of the visitors has to do with the practice of dismembering the bodies of Saints so that each little village can have their own relic? Where was the editor?

Henry VIII beheaded St. Thomas More (1478-1531). More's body is buried under the chapel at the Tower of London. His head was stuck on a pike for all to see, but his daughter lovingly took the head away in the dark of night. Anneli Rufus might have written a better book if she had spent her time documenting where the head of this English Saint is rather than writing about menstrual blood, bad breath and graffiti. For the reader truly interested in the strange phenomenon of bodies that do not decay, along with practice of venerating such saintly relics, I would recommend the book, "The Incorruptibles", by Joan C. Cruz, Tan Books, 1991.

I began reading this book with real relish-- like the author claims to be, I've always been fascinated with the cult of the saints, though it lies outside my own religious tradition (Jewish). More than once I've stepped inside a gloomy church in Europe or Canada and been surprised to find the remains of a saint, displayed in a golden reliquary or laid on silken pillows, gently lighted. What do these richly dressed bones mean to the people who reverently placed them there, and those who still come to pray before them, and place their trust in them? I've even been led to ask--why do I often feel peace beside these dessicated remains, instead of revulsion, or pity, or fear?
Regrettably, I found answers to none of my questions here. These questions, or similar ones, seem never to have occurred to Rufus. Instead, she casts a cold, unquestioning eye on every shrine she enters and writes about what she sees with a predictable and trite condescension. Because there are only so many ways to lament the "superstition" of displaying human remains for veneration, Rufus dips into the lives of the saints to fill out her little book. Here, also, she is remarkably culturally tone-deaf. Yes, the lives of the saints have been re-constructed into hagiography by the Catholic church to teach lessons of purity, or forbearance, or obedience--but the faithful who come to these shrines and who feel an intimate connection with these saints cannot do so because they are examplars of virtue (what teenager goes on holiday to a church to celebrate chastity?) There is something else at work here, something very powerful and mysterious and, I think, worth knowing about. But you won't find out about it in this book. I could say that Rufus never met a saint she liked, but I don't know if she has ever met a person she liked. She didn't encounter a single person during her travels who she feels is worthy of being portrayed with empathy or understanding. In the end this book reminded me of certain 19th century accounts by Englishmen making their grand tour through Italy; like Rufus they intended to tell us what they found but because they were careful to carry their prejudices with them, and to unpack them first and to drape them over everything they saw, they ended up revealing very little about the places they visited, and far too much about themselves.

Magnificent Corpses : Searching Through Europe for St. Peter's Head, St. Claire's Heart, St. Stephen's Hand, and Other Saintly Relics is not a bad book. However, it isn't entirely great, either. As a travel book, extraneous details were elaborated upon. In the midst of describing the life of a saint, Anneli S. Rufus may suddenly wax philosophical about a scantily-dressed teenager in satin hotpants. Althought the dichotomy of prim and proper saint and hot-blooded teenaged vixens does have some merit, I think the author overdoes it.

She seems to use these modern interruptions as a kind of comic relief. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it seems to crush the story-telling flat. Some of the writing is very strong, very visceral.

I can easily understand how fundamentalist Catholics get upset with this book. Anneli S. Rufus doesn't look at the saints as being holy, but as being people with unique problems and perspectives. As a result, her portrayals are rather sacrilegious. She suggests many ascetics may have been masochists, suffered from eating disorders, or were sexually frustrated. Her theories may be blasphemous, but they make a lot of sense.

The masochism and anorexia so prevalent among so many saints is described wonderfully. These are the descriptions which tie in neatly with modern-day interruptions.

The book reads more like a collection of diary excerpts than a book. You can pick this book up and read it in any order. Since there is no flow from chapter to chapter, you won't be missing any sense of progression. The ending of the book was jarring. It seemed like it should continue, but had been arbitrarily cut off. I'd like to see this book reworked and expanded upon. Still, it was a nice introduction to the lives of saints I had never heard of before.

Have bouhgt many WROX books and found this to be by far the hardest read, made simple things difficult and ponderous (suffering from verbal diarrhoea), referring too much to later content. Go read something else even from the web it'll save you money and time.

I liked the book and it's approach in introducing to XML Application Development. Unfortunately, Microsoft has withdrawn msxml.exe on which most of the content of the book is based. I am not sure if there is any plan, by the authors, to help the developers to get around this and yet, refer to the book for it's excellent approach to mastering XML Technology. I, particularly, liked the chapters on XSL, and practical applications (case studies), including CDF application. I, however, did not like the XML-Data chapter so much. This is mainly because it really does not provide the learning steps as much in detail as other chapters. I wish the author had followed the method used in authoring of CDF-chapter. The book does not provide step-by-step procedure (including that of tools required, setting of tools, personal web server etc.) for testing the source codes provided in the book. It is left to the imagination and the exhaustive work, expenses of time and communications for advice etc. of the learner of this new technology. It took me several hours before I could successfully test the case study source codes. Also, the author/publisher should provide after-sales support due to lack of the basic tool (msxml.exe) on which the entire book is based. Publisher should withdraw this book from the distribution/sale. It seems the author is planning to publish another book in lieu of this, later in Year 2000. Hope the publisher will be kind enough to give some discounts to the buyers of the current book.

This is a typical wrox book: covers mostly microsoft material, good code examples. You can read about XML from resources on the web, but this book gives you an idea on how actual applications may be implemented, at a time where there is little published browser support. 4 stars for the material, 1 for the timing.

a picture book of the cutting edge architect's critical works & projects thru his well recognized career. just as the strength of eisenman lies in his ability to produce architecture of genuinely varying qualities by all fundamental measures, both in theoretical & aesthetic terms, throughout this one man's professional career; this book has satisfactorily catalogued the progress of eisenman's ever transforming career as an architect of contemporary science and theory into stages of his theoretical quests. for precisely the same reason, this is probably not a book which the man himself would favour. besides a descriptive introduction by kwinter on the man's theoretical focus thru the years, the entire catalogue is devoid of substance to satisfy close observers of his contribution to contemporary architecture. it's a consumer's product.