I was attracted to this book because I read Stephen Mohr's earlier book designing distributed apps a few years ago. This book doesn't disappoint if you're (deep) into XML / network applications and architecture. Although it is stimulating and provides several eye-openers, I could only reward this book 3 stars because it is way too Microsoft / .NET centric. If you don't have a full scale, recent Microsoft box running, you'll need to download all kinds of .Net (framework) stuff. On top of that, the samples do not run with all installations of msxml (I only got them going by installing msxml3sp2). Major headache, wasted quite a bit of time on this because of the cryptic microsoft debugging info - almost made me throw the book out of the window. Next time a python version please!

Unless you are looking for a book on how to add a GUI to a Web Service (that you likely are not providing), then there will probably be little direct relevance in this book to what you are doing.

However, this book is very thought provoking in that it explores:

* Using XML as your code format. (They present JSML or the JavaScript Markup Language.)
* Using XSLT to generate your source code.
* Using State Machines to handle application flow.
* Schema-Based Programming (SBP) aka declarative programming.

There are a few minor complaints:

* The same "Petri-Net" examples are here -- regurgitated from two other books.
* They still get the Model-View-Controller pattern wrong. What they describe is the Mediator pattern.

But, I quibble. I found the book valuable solely for the thought-provoking ideas, not for the methodology they espouse. Viewed from that angle, it is a good book.

I agree with the previous reviewer that it is VERY Microsoft- and .NET-centric. So, if you are looking for a widely applicable resource -- look elsewhere.

In a mailing-list flame war on creationism at MIT (of all places!) about eight years ago, I wrote (something like), "Anyone who knows anything about astronomy and has half a brain can figure out that creationism is false." Now why would I write such a thing? I was refering, of course, to young-universe creationism, the idea that the universe was created about 6000 years ago. Now, here we have an astronomy book which tries to argue that creationism is at least respectible, and *assumes* that the Bible is accurate.

This book does contain quite a bit of information on astronomy. As such, it could be a good introductory book. Unfortunately, the science is contaminated with creationist propaganda and superfluous Bible references. Only someone already knowledgeable in the field would be able to separate these tares from the wheat of science. I strongly recommend some other book on astronomy, preferably secular. "The Physical Universe" by Frank Shu, for example.

This book is better than "Starlight and Time" and "Tornado in a Junkyard," which I've already reviewed on Amazon.com. In "Starlight and Time," Russell Humphreys completely disregards all physical consequences of his white-hole theory. In "Tornado in a Junkyard," James Perloff distorts or disregards pretty much everything known in modern science. Here, Professor DeYoung gives plenty of accurate information, but also some distortions.

DeYoung does tell us about the immense distances involved in the universe. Our galaxy is about 100,000 light years across. The Andromeda galaxy, he says, is about 2.9 million light-years away. The large Magellanic Cloud, where Supernova 1987A occured, is about 180,000 light-years away. There are many many galaxies much farther away. The most distant objects, the quasars, are billions of light-years away.

The speed of light is one light-year per year. Since we can see things billions of light-years away, the universe must be billions of years old. So what's the problem?

The problem is that creationists come up with all sorts of crackpot theories to explain how we can see distant objects even with a young universe. DeYoung presents five such theories on pp. 89-90, including one detailed in "Starlight and Time." Four of them predict enormous physical phenomena that are absent in nature. The fifth theory is that God created the light while in transit when it created the universe 6000 years ago. That theory is a variant on "Last Thursdayism," the idea that we were created last Thursday with our memories completely intact and everything around us matching.

The two problems with the "Last Thursdayism" theory are that it's completely unverifiable and unfalsifiable, and it means that God committed an enormous fraud on us by creating massive evidence of a history that didn't occur. DeYoung tries to answer whether Supernova 1987A actually occured, under "Last Thursdayism." The obvious answer is no, because it would have occured long before the creation of the universe. God would have had to make the explosive light, the matching neutrinos, the light from the prior star that exploded (a blue supergiant), the light from the remains of the supernova, etc. in flight. But DeYoung makes a convoluted attempt to argue that the supernova actually did occur -- something to the effect that it happened in God's imagination, and God is truth, so it happened.

DeYoung tells us that many different estimations of the age of the universe give widely varying results, from thousands of years to billions of years. The problem is that the young-universe estimations have been thoroughly debunked. (See any typical anticreationist book, or www.talkorigins.org.) Those estimations have used absurd assumptions and have disregarded well-established basic science.

DeYoung believes that a "vapor canopy" of water existed above the atmosphere before the flood (p. 88). Genesis 1 states that God created a "firmament" in the sky, separating the waters above from the waters below. However, in the fourth day, when God created the sun, moon, and stars, God set them in the firmament. That means that the "vapor canopy" existed not only above the atmosphere, but beyond all the stars as well.

In fact, the world-view of Genesis 1 is either geocentric or flat-earth -- most likely flat-earth, because nothing in Genesis 1 portrays anything more than a "heaven above" and an "earth beneath." (Exodus 20:4) The sun and moon are small balls of light, and the stars are tiny points of light, which can fall to earth (Revelation 6:13). I've not seen anything in the Bible that unambiguously identifies a round earth. That includes Job 26:7, which DeYoung cites as indicating a round earth (p. 17). On the other hand, there are a few indications that the earth is flat: Isaiah 40: 22, Matthew 4: 8.

I agree with DeYoung, that the six days of Genesis 1 are literal days, contrary to the claims of Hugh Ross and others that days refer to ages or eons. Genesis 1 has day and night created before the sun, moon, and stars; and vegetation created before the sun. What this means is that the author of Genesis 1 didn't connect daylight with sunlight, and that Genesis 1 is simply wrong.

Contrary to DeYoung's claim on p. 17, "When the Bible touches on scientific subjects, it is entirely accurate," the Bible is frequently wrong. There is NO science in the Bible.

This is one of the better books that come from the "Young Earth" perspective. Deyoung does not come across like a half-crazed nut like many of the others do in the young earth camp. At the same time, though, there is no Biblical or scientific evidence that the earth is young, so it is a perspective one must come to a priori. Still, this is not a book about proving the earth is young (you certainly could *not* do that with astronomy!), although he does try to do this in many parts of the book. Mostly, it is a book about astronomy for those who believe the earth is 10,000 years old or less, and want to more about the cosmos. The author does a good job on some points, but for the most part this book would probably be more harmful then good. I would instead suggest getting a copy of one of Hugh Ross' books. Hugh Ross is a noted astronomer that is well respected by both christians and secular scientists alike.

I write this as a person both trained scientifically (I'm an electrical engineer) and trained theologically (also have M.Div.). This book is but one from a group of so-called creation-scientists. As a minister/scientist, I have to say this book, and others like it, are unhelpful. I believe that science and theology must go together - and have preached that they must, and that they very well do go together in a beautiful and meaningful way. But to do that, one has to have a mature enough faith to realize that the Bible is not a record of scientific fact.

As far as creation-science books go, I give this one two stars becuase the author clearly understands science, and uses some good scientific data and honesty, much more so than others of his ilk. However, whenever he makes a very valid scientific point, he then careens off into a bizarre creationist perspective that makes no sense. As any good scientist knows, one collects data, and then draws conclusions. One does not, as the creation-scientists do, make a hypothersis and then find the data to prove it (in their case, they are always proving that everything in the Bible is literally true, no matter how obviuosly it isn't, and so comletely ignore any discoveries that are in disagreement no matter how often that data has been reproduced, and instead focus on data that was gathered through questionable proceeses, or interpreted in questionable ways, usually having been done a fair distance in the past with imprecise tools). These are scientific shennanigans that any junior high science student would be able to pick up on as just plain wrong. I am saddened that Christians are out there who are so literally married to the idea that the Bible is a scientific textbook. The Bible is TRUTH, but it is not always FACT, and there's a big difference. The author re-arranges and re-numbers scientifically valid data to "prove" his point. There is absolutely nothing theologically wrong with admitting that the stars are billions of years old, billions of years away, and that the universe is even older than that. Please stop trying to force science to fit some misinterpreted Biblical claim (a claim which the Bible doesn't even make, which a close reading of the Bible will show you). There is some truly valid and well-thought scientific theology being done, especially from the Center for Theology and Natural Science at the Pacific School of Religion. If you want theological science, go there - their scientists are able to see and interpret scientific data in a scientific way, and are not clouded by forcing data to fit a Biblical model which doesn't even exist to begin with.

Read this book if you are interested in what the creation-scientists are doing. But don't read it because you are looking for scientific method and process. It ain't that at all. This book serves only to further make Christians look silly in the eyes of their non-Christian peers.

Somewhat entertaining, but practically a bit of a waste of time and money. Poor information for the most part. Some incorrect information I found, which I emailed to the author about. He asked me where I located the bad information, but then he never got back to me to help me or apologize.

Having read the 1988 edition recently and then ordering this 1999 edition, I was pretty disappointed to read the newest version and find practically no substantial differences being reported over an 11 year period.

I disagree with the reviewer's statement that there are no substantial differences being reported over an 11 year period. Because of our interest in visiting and living in Mexico, I own three editions (including the 1988 and the 1999 copies). I've found each edition extremely comprehensive and appreciate the updated material provided in each. Like any guidebook, Choose Mexico provides comprehensive information about living, retiring, and doing business in Mexico. We have used it extensively during our yearly semi-retirement visits to the country. The basic facts in any guidebook do not change from year to year while new regulations and changing economic are dutifully reported. I certainly don't expect the authors of a guidebook to present the same facts in a different form for each new edition. It's a guidebook, not a novel! I would rate Choose Mexico as five stars for their complete and entertaining guidebook on living in Mexico.

I thought this book went extremely slow. If you are into lots of detail, however, you may like it. For instance, Steinbeck takes like 3 pages to tell how a turtle crosses the road. There is not much meat to the story, but it is an American classic, for some reason!

This book is not Grapes of Wrath. The previous reviewer's review is not a review of this book. Hayashi was one of the most important Steinbeck scholars, and this book is a very important collection of fifteen essays in his honor.

The Life and Times Of John Wayne by David Hanna is a pretty good book. I liked this book because it listed all of the movies and shows John Wayne has ever appeared in. I also liked this book because it did a time line of his life and showed all of the obstacles he had to overcome.
I would recommend this book to people who enjoy western shows and movies. I also think farmers,ranchers and cow tenders would enjoy this book.
The book has a section listing quotes,and one of my favorites is,"I'm 53 years old and 6'4,I've had three wives,five children and three grandchildren.I love good whisky.I still don't understand women, and i don't think there is any man who does."

Mr. Burdick has done a fine job with this introductory level commentary. He makes good cases for the arguments concerning the Gnostic heresy, and his comments on love in the church are well said.

This is not the book I thought I was getting when I ordered it, as there is another much more extensive commentary by Burdick on these epistles, and I would recomend that one for more in-depth study.

My only other issue is his stance on perpetual forgiveness of past-present-future sins, he doesn't even bother to back up why he believes in future forgivness on a past repentance, he just states it and expects you to accept it. Which sort of contradicts his interpretation on needing to be continually forgiven. So does he believe in Once Saved Always Saved or not?

Other than that, this commentary is pretty good, especially if you like William Barclay's style and approach to commentaries.

This is a book written for mostly the realtor. It has some good references to trade publications, but falls far short of its great title. I was expecting to see some talk about future trends in the real estate industry. If you want a great book read, Real Estate Rainmaker or Walk Like a Giant Sell Like a Madman, two of my personal favorites.

It is a book about building Beowulf. But many chapters are spent on introducing linux and mpi. You can find more useful information from internet instead of this book.

Being one of the first books to deal with Beowulf systems, I was very eager to see what approach the authors would take in dealing with the subject. As they state in their introduction, a Beowulf system encompasses everything from the hardware that you use to the applications run on it, with many layers in between. They do a good job of outlining each of the different steps needed to get a Beowulf systems up and running, however, they don't do it in a consistent manner.

The book jumps from nitty details concerning voltages of power supplies to highly abstract concepts concerning overall system security architecture and parallel algorithm development. It also constantly switches focus from a handbook for someone who has never seen a computer, to addressing seasoned system administrators. The switching between these different styles made it very difficult to identify material applicable to ones experience level.

Overall, the book identifies some key issues and provides a rough framework for possible solutions. I personally would have liked to have seen more "from the field" information, as this is still a rapidly evolving system architecture, being able to understand the growing pains would be very useful. Lastly the book does provide adequate references to online sites with more in depth information on some of the topics they cover.

I must take issue with some of the other reviewers of this text. I found this book to be a very good overview (and snapshot) of the current status of a rapidly evolving system architecture. It is written at a fairly high level (although it does dip periodically into details) - so the reader gets a good overview of what a Beowulf is, its' components, and many of the issues involved in designing and implementing one. In my view it balances detail and theory quite well.

IT IS NOT (nor do I believe it was intended as) a detailed roadmap of EXACTLY how to build one. The Beowulf architecture isn't so much a single type of implementation, but rather an approach to applying COTS technology to solving computational problems. The details of any single Beowulf implementation depend greatly on the specific computational problem being attacked. (Something that is pointed-out within the book.) The authors therefore took a different approach.

Some of the topics covered in the book WILL, eventually, be outdated: specifically, the section on the PCI bus, some of the material on network technology, and the section on available processors. As COTS technology advances, and as Beowulf architectures change to take advantage of those advances, some sections will become outdated. However, this is unavoidable for any text reviewing the current state-of-the-art. There is also a lot more here that is NOT likely to be outdated within the next several years..

There may also be sections in the text that the reader will already be familiar with, and can therefore skip. This is also inevitable considering the nature of the text and will obviously vary depending on the reader.

I can recomend this text highly as a starting point in learning what a Beowulf is, some of the ways they are put together, and for exploring many important design and implementation decisions. In my own case, it helped me resolve a number of design issues I was wrestling with about my own system. It does not, however, stand alone. After starting with this text, most readers will then certainly need to refer to online sources for further information.

scymanski has an ok story here. price has a good one about the gorgon. that one was very enjoyable, and had some lovely details. otherwise, this was dreary read. so many of these stories were not only badly invented, but seemed so uninspired to. i almost felt sorry for the writers, for making so bad stories. i think this is chaosium's worst.

I bought this book with the hope of reading how top contemporary Protestant scholars address the issue of ecclesiology espoused by Rome and the Orthodox. It left me sadly disappointed. The chapter that addresses the four marks of the church defined in the nicene creed did not attempt to reconcile Protestant perceptions of those terms with the historical understanding of the council fathers. None dealt substantially with Eph 5:32. I was further saddened that one author criticized the piety of Catholics on the basis of his understanding rather than taking the time to just ask some of them why they were doing it. All guns trained against Catholicism while the Eastern Orthodox hold nearly identical views on ecclesiology. Perhaps someday a book with less rhetoric and polemic will attempt to address issues that build understanding rather than polarizing divisiveness.