This book is for developers with programming knowledge that want to quick learn all the main concepts in Java. The book is made up of three main parts;
an introduction to java, description of the Java syntax and finally solutions to common Java related problems.

Most of the book is reference material, devoted to describing the Java syntax and class libraries, just what a new Java developer needs.

Flicking through the book, the reader will notice that nearly every page has either a diagram (UML class diagram), a source code snippet or a table. This helps to break up the text and make the book very readable.

The following topics are briefly presented in the book:
* creating and using objects
* methods (call by value, call by reference)
* main packages and classes in the Java 2 library (System, Files, JDBC,AWT, Swing, Collections).

We would recommend this book to new developers but also others needing a quick reference book on Java. It does not cover everything in detail but it will help developers that keep forgeting the syntax.

If you want to make a reasonable selection of pastas, this book will give you recipes to do it. Spinach, tomato, and other flavored pastas, as well as pastas made from a variety of grains. It also contains a reasonable selection of sauces that are generally easy to make, though if you have any experience making pasta sauces (or another cookbook that covers the topic), I doubt you'll find anything terribly interesting or innovative to try as far as sauces go.

However, I guess that wasn't enough to fill up a book, because the book also has a bunch of recipes that look questionable at best. It looks kind of like the author sat down and tried to brainstorm everything she could possibly think of to make pasta out of -- kind of an illustration of the old adage that if all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. For example, there are some recipes for curry pastas here, which seems like a reasonable enough idea if you can think of something to make that wuld go well with it. However, the author's only serving suggestion is to then make a curry and serve it over the curry pasta, which makes a lot less sense to me than making a pasta with a flavor that would complement whatever curry you are making. There are a number of recipes like this, where the author suggests using a set of ingredients from a dish in a pasta to go with the dish.

Beyond that there's no discussion of making tortellini and only a brief discussion of making ravioli, with only a few ideas for fillings. This seems like an area where the author's creativity could have been put to far better use, as there are a vast number of possible fillings that might go really well tossed lightly with oil or with a simple cream sauce.

This is a very inexpensive book and it contains a wide variety of of useful recipes for various pastas, so this book does the job it sets out to do. However, I can't help but think it could have been a much better book if a little more thought and discretion could have been put into it.

Neat little book, bought as a gift to go with the pasta machine. Receipient loved it.

FFA in Houston, MO does sound like a future with FFAers and Wheat futures there. A county call TEXAS in MO What a deal. sell them more pasta machine and book pleases. i am 12ing to 62years old.:)(

If your skill level is beyond boiling pasta noodles and making a tossed salad, then this is not the cookbook for you. While it is not a complete waste, it was disappointing. If you're looking for a great cookbook for single people and couples, I highly recommend Jane Doerfer's, Going Solo In The Kitchen. It is an excellent mix of very simple and more challenging recipes, and it presents a lot of variety.

This book introduces some pretty basic recipes with common ingredients. Since I'm a college student living on my own, these simple recipes are a welcome respite from the usual "open the can and pop it in the microwave" mentality. Also it is much easier to find a tasty dish since this book is shorter than, say, Joy of Cooking. Still there are many larger and more comprehsive books out there that one can turn into a cooking-for-one book through simple division.

Okay, it's not gourmet cooking. It is an everyday lifesaver for those of us who run out of ideas when cooking for oneself. A pleasant meal every day without strain. I've given two as gifts, one to an older person newly alone, and one to a late-teener just going out on his own.

The strongest part of Edible Pockets is the various dough recipes. I've tried only a couple, but they worked. I did have to adapt the process to working dough with a stand-alone mixer. I didn't mind, but in a book that seems aimed at the complete novice, it's surprising that German doesn't address this popular alternative to bread machine and totally manual approaches.

My biggest complaint, though, is the filling recipes. Have you ever made tuna salad as usual for sandwiches and wondered how it would work if heated? Probably not, but German recommends this in the "tuna and cheese" filling and I was sucker enough to try it. For the record, celery just enough off crisp to be soggy is not a wonderful texture. And the cooking directions for fillings are misleading, as another reviewer has pointed out. An example is the "Cornish Pasty Filling," which was already well on its way to mush at half the hour's cooking time prescribed. In general, most fillings lack moisture and make for a mighty dry pocket.

German's directions for assembling the pockets are also at fault.
It's nice to know one can roll out the pastry to 1/8", but there are plenty of fillings that work best with a thicker-sided pocket. German does mention the possibility of letting the yeast-dough pockets rise before baking but fails to point out that the fillings must be at room temperature if this is going to happen. I also wonder why she is so keen on using pressing molds for calzones and other standard pockets. Unless you are cooking for an army, crimping with fingers seals the pockets just dandy.

When German says "If you have leftovers ... try using them as pocket fillings," she hits the nail on the head. If you have access to a toaster oven at work, her book helps provide a tasty lunch solution. Throw away the second half of the book, though, and dream up your own fillings.

My copy of this unpretentious little book is rapidly getting dog-eared. If the recipes weren't so very good, my family would surely be dog-tired of pies and turnovers by now, because I can't seem to stop making them! I literally had to start decorating my productions so that we could distinguish the three or four kinds we usually have on hand.

The book has two parts, one on wrappers, and one on fillings. Wrappers are further subdivided into yeasted, pastry, and ready-made wrappers. Fillings are split into Savoury, Vegetarian Savoury, and Sweet. I have no sweet tooth whatsoever, so I can't comment on the sweet fillings, but of the fifteen or twenty savoury fillings I've made so far, there has only been one dud.

So why only four stars?

1) The section on pastry wrappers could be a little longer, with more instruction on the often-devilish details of pastry-making.

2) I like my fillings to have interesting textures. Ms. German seems to prefer puréeing everything.

3) She has a tendency to overcook fillings (astonishing comment, coming from a Brit!)

4) She has a fondness for frozen vegetables.

The last three quibbles are obviously easily rectified by adjusting the recipes to your taste.

Highlights: Spicy Asian Chicken, Chinese Orange Beef, Piroshki, and both of the empanada recipes.

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your bread machines!

My copy of this unpretentious little book is rapidly getting dog-eared. If the recipes weren't so very good, my family would surely be dog-tired of pies and turnovers by now, because I can't seem to stop making them! I literally had to start decorating my productions with alphabetical pastry cutouts (made with the help of a Play-Doh lettering kit), so that we can distinguish between the three or four kinds we usually have on hand.

The book has two parts, one on wrappers, and one on fillings. Wrappers are further subdivided into yeasted, pastry, and ready-made wrappers. Fillings are split into Savoury, Vegetarian Savoury, and Sweet. I have no sweet tooth whatsoever, so I can't comment on the sweet fillings, but of the fifteen or twenty savoury fillings I've made so far, there has only been one dud.

So why only four stars?

1) The section on pastry wrappers could be a little longer, with more instruction on the often-devilish details of pastry-making.

2) I like my fillings to have interesting textures. Ms. German seems to prefer puréeing everything.

3) She has a tendency to overcook fillings (astonishing comment, coming from a Brit!)

4) She has a fondness for frozen vegetables.

The last three quibbles are obviously easily rectified by adjusting the recipes to your taste.

Highlights: Spicy Asian Chicken, Chinese Orange Beef, Piroshki, and both of the empanada recipes.

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your bread machines!

From Your Ice Cream Maker by Coleen & Bob Simmons. > >The first recipe I used from this book was Raspberry Sherbert on page 70. >It not only says it makes 3 cups when, in fact it makes much more but it >omits any sugar. My husband made a double batch of this for guests at our >home, ruined 4 packages of frozen raspberries and it was not edible. My >first clue was when a four year old spit out his first bite. I am afraid to >try any more recipes in this book because it was obviously not proof-read. >I will not take any more chances. I will also tell my friends not to >purchase this book.

I like the book. is it very useful to me

I have had this book for about 5 years and I have used it and looked at it so much that it is falling apart. I love that it has all of the recipes divided in sections by their fat content. I have to admit, I haven't tried them all, but the ones I have tried were all delicious. Buy this book, you won't be disapointed.

well, first of all, the title said "no fat" and well, almost all of the recipes here have fat in them, and the desserts have almost the same amount of fat as regular desserts! also, the recipes have no pictures, so it's a bit hard to follow. for some reason, and this may be the fault of my own, i expected more vegetarian recipes, and there really weren't that many (there was also a TON of dairy involved) but i guess other people ought to know that before they consider buying this. all in all i have to admit, i wouldn't recommend this book to my friends.

The size of this book should have clued me in. It's only about 9.25 x 6.25" and 171 pages of large type. Recipes are often quite separated from the norm, in my opinion, such as Athenian Market Stew. There are lots of recipes that require mint, of all things! There are no photos aside from the one one the cover. The index is its top feature, in that one can find a recipe a number of ways: by main ingredient, by type(like "Sauces"), etc.

To their credit, the authors do provide recommendations on how to stock a healthy pantry, read food labels, and even three ways to make a vegetable stock. However, these pages take space away from recipes, which is what folks buy cookbooks for. This book is a tiny one that can ill-afford the loss of recipe room!

Also, many of the recipes are quick and easy to prepare. The Braised Chicken with Sun-Dried Tomatoes is extremely good, and it's simple to fix.

For the money, I recommend you choose a more extensive cookbook. This is a handy little tome if you have ample room for storage, but if like me your space is limited, try to stretch it further with a larger, more worthwhile volume.

Silverman and Williams deliver again with this excellent cookbook that is devoid of recipes containing sugar, salt and fat. I don't much like the food I make from it, admittedly, but the recipes really are sound - especially the cheeseburger.

I just got a sparkling new Excalibur dehydrator and purchased this book for innovative ideas on how to use it. The book contained little more than the instruction book that came with the machine. There are no illustrations, which would have been useful. Most of the recipes are not ones I would use. For example, the recipe given to use tomatoes is "Lamb Stew."

I wish I had purchased a book with more text, more ideas, and some pictures, since I am totally new to dehydrating. Disappointing.

Like many Americans, I received an electric food dehydrator as a Christmas gift last year and had great expectations. After 2 disasterous attempts to dry tomatoes and oranges, my machine went back in the box on a shelf in the garage, until I read this book.

This book is cleverly written, easy to follow and has some really good guidelines for using your dehydrator. Not only does the author tell you how to properly dry and candy foods, but she includes recipes for using those foods. There is a section on storing the dried foods and even suggestions on drying non-food items like flowers.

My food dehydrator is now back in the kitchen and getting regular use, thanks to this little book!

If I purchased this book in 1995 when Delphi came up I would be really satisfied. But when you have around "Developers guide" and "Mastering" books along with the list of other usefull ones, I consider that buying this book is just waste of your money.

If you're just starting in Delphi and want something to supplement your classes, or you're a seasoned professional who doesn't know how to do some things in Delphi (I found the section on programming DLLs very useful as I hadn't tried programming them in the past) this book will be an excellent choice.

This book gives you many drills to improve your basic skills but most of the drills take more than one person and they didn't really work for me.

I was hoping for a more imaginative book....more helpful in getting my picky vegetartian child to eat more and different foods. Many of the recipes my own 3 yr. old could have come up with herself!
Oh well.....another to add to the collection!

This is a handy sized cookbook with tons of recipes. Definately more than what you would expect for its size. Recipes are of the heathly variety with yogurt, fruits, and granolas as main staples of the recipes. The recipes are easy to follow, and come out well. They also give great ideas on presentation to help with the pickey eaters. If you are into health foods, and making sure your young one gets plenty of the natural foods this is the book you want to pick up.