This book is written specifically to help you pass the exam. It's probably possible to pass the exam using only this book.

The book is user-friendly, and full of practice tests, as well as a complete closed-book simulated exam. But the book is not organized real well, and it repeats some questions. You should know the answers to those questions well enough. Just hope they are repeated again on the real exam!

Overall a good basic guide to passing the test. Not a manual for refrigeration repair.

In Los Angeles Celeste Munro, who makes her living as a high priced sexual partner and part time thief, decides it was time to leave California and maintain a low profile. And in Wichita, Kansas, a police detective on temporary leave is asked to see if he can track her down. Out of this material James Girard builds a complex and chilling suspense story. One full of haunting characters whose interactions reflect the confused and often heartless state of the human mind.

Floyd Lassiter is a police detective who is becoming increasingly subject to temporal lobe seizures. Because of a recent episode involving an assistant district attorney, he has been temporarily relieved of duty. While he has kept his problem a secret, Floyd knows that it is only a matter of time before he will no longer be able to operate as a police officer, no longer be able to do what he loves. Thus, he is relieved when Loomis, his chief, calls him in to talk about Celeste. She is believed to have returned to the Wichita area and the police have been asked to help with the case. With no on duty investigator available, Lassiter is recruited for the task.

Lassiter's investigation uncovers layer after layer of subterfuge. Thin clues lead him back though records and memories to a young prostitute, one who changes identities as needed. But Celeste and Lassiter are not the only actors in this drama. Jes Wellington, a professional writer, Zach Vincent, a computer consultant, and Jerry Majors, Floyd's partner all play major parts in this tale along with many others. Even as bits of the truth are gradually surface, other mysteries are uncovered. Gradually the book evolves from pure detection to thriller.

This is a noir tale, where all of the characters are exposed to events that will either change or destroy them. Lassiter's worst enemy is his own mind. His mental state unravels and fragments as the story progresses. Girard reflects this not just in his portrayal of the detective, but in the very style of the novel itself. The book is a continuous flow of points of view, as narration switches from one character to another, almost at random. The author is capable of gemlike moments of narrative and characterization, but never allows a sense of continuity to develop. As such, the reader often feels imprisoned in Lassiter's mental state - suffering from the same syndrome.

To be honest, I found this wearing. As the book moves along, it becomes clear that there is no central character. This device kept me from becoming as involved as I would like to have been, and left me trying to juggle too many facts and subplots. If one does not have the time and energy to remain focused on the story it is very easy to lose the thread from reading to reading. This is a matter of personal taste and won't bother everyone equally. Girard deserves credit for writing a story in exactly the style I like least and still managing to keep my attention as well as he did. While I found it slow going, others will enjoy the many polished facets of the telling.<

Preston lacks the influence to be objective when it comes to Chandi Temple. His use of the theories of darshan and ahtman-brahman lack the theoretical context the subject deserves. More emphasise on the symbolice ritual is desired. He does not go into the theories of how the group. expresses itself i.e. vocal/intellectual, symbolic expression/rituual, and social structural/praxise

This book offers an interesting overview of the goddess cult in the Hindu religion and would serve as a fine reference for anyone, especially a student writing a term paper on the subject.

This book was chosen as the textbook for the AP Computer Science C++ class at my school. Having programmed in C++ for quite a while, I must say I was disappointed. Most all of the basics are covered, and I believe a beginner would, after reading this book, "know" C++. However, the style of teaching isn't that great, and the order in which things are taught isn't the best either. Also, much of the code appears untested, and contains errors. The code also does not conform to the ANSI/ISO standard. I've read much worse, but I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who asked me about C++, and I definately would not use it to teach a CS class.

-Alan Johnson

This book is intended to be a textbook for an introductory programming course for students who have never programmed before. You may agree or disagree with the premise (I disagree), but you have to admire the authors for trying.

What's in the book is pretty decent. The writing is clear. The examples are simple and clear enough to read without straining your brain. The authors do cover some fairly advanced topics, such as multiple inheritance and templates, but they concentrate on explaining the basics and make little attempt to cover the weird stuff and pitfalls of the language. You need a more advanced book for that.

Because the organization, writing, and index are better than average, I find that I am continuing to use this book. (I don't usually keep tutorial-type books after the first reading.)

I would recommend this book to undergrad students and beginning programmers who want to learn C++ or to anyone who wants an easy-to-read overview of the language. For advanced programmers who know C, Bruce Eckel's book "Thinking in C++" is a better choice.