Although not as scholarly and thorough as Steven Foster's book on Echinacea, this book is a good introduction to Echinacea.

This is better than your average gay murder mystery. Parts are funny, and nothing sticks out as being particularly bad. Not the best Zubro, but one to read after you've finished all the others. Good beach reading material.

This recent entry from the Scientific American Library is a fair introduction to its topic. Its format meets the high standards of the series with well organized layouts and eye-catching pictures, illustrative drawings, reprints of paintings and computer graphics. The text is written for people with no computing or mathematical background; there is not one line of code or equation to be found. A history of visualization - the visual arts prior to computers - is provided as it relates to the means used by computer scientists to mimic perceived reality. Techniques are discussed in general terms, demonstrated with graphic results. The differences in conscious, serial processing and preconscious, parallel (i.e., visual) processing that most people engage in are outlined. In many ways it seems to be a well rounded volume.

Yet there are signs that much more could have been included. From a layout standpoint, when compared with other volumes in the Scientific American Library, this book is very "lite". The space between the lines of text is large. For a book with only 132 pages of single column text (including illustrations, some of which take two full pages; other volumes have 200 or more pages, some volumes compacting two columns per page) the authors must not have had much to say about their topic. Unlike the majority of other volumes in the series, there is no list of books to suggest for further reading in the topic following the end of the text - a surprising omission.

From a content standpoint there are three issues. First, there are issues touched on in this book which are dealt with in greater detail in other volumes in the Scientific American Library. The issues of human perception and conscious and preconscious processing are well described in "Perception" by Irvin Rock. The issues of color perception and how it is accomplished are reviewed in depth in "Eye, Brain, and Vision" by David H. Hubel. The illustration on page 122 is similar to one on page 14 in "Supercomputing and the Transformation of Science" by William J. Kaufmann III and Larry L. Smarr, where they take time to describe how this visualization helps atmospheric scientists understand the phenomena of thunderstorms and how to model them. "Visual Computing" does not analyze how recent achievements in visuals and computing aid science and the arts.

Second, for a book that includes the word 'computing' in its title, there is no discussion of the science of computing. Though the word 'algorithm' is used, it is not sufficiently described. The algorithms and techniques mentioned in the text are not denoted in computing terms. True, there are plenty of books which cover this, especially with page after page of mind-numbing math equations and arcane code examples. But there is a need for a general, non-specialist text for describing what computing is, especially in relation to making visuals via a computer. This book does not meet this need.

Third, it would be instructive to have a history of computer-generated visuals over the past 40 years. Examples from computer games (from Pong to Final Fantasy maybe) or movies (from "Tron" to "Final Fantasy" and "Gladiator", uses of digitalization and digital editing) or other easily recognizable mass media could be used, to demonstrate the science of visual computation behind them. The complexity of computation, greater capabilities of computing hardware, better algorithms with explanations of why they are better now than earlier, centralized versus networked visual computing, digitalization: these and other aspects would make a facinating history for showing the progress that has been made. "Visual Computing" does not provide this.

The book's description on the back cover doesn't even match the content nor does the CD-ROM. It looks and reads like a thrown together blob of stuff ... can someone tell me where to find the durn spreadsheet widget .. its mentioned on the back cover but not in the index, the table of contents nor on the CD-ROM....

I don't recommend purchase lightly. I've been wearing out its pages for two weeks now, with occasional bouts of furrowed brows and impatient snorting. I've come, though, to a conclusion in which I'm confident: if you're a Tcl user, you should invest in *Tcl/Tk Tools*.

Why? Because you'll use it, and use it well. Almost everyone involved in Tcl has questions (so how do I really compile a Tcl script? How much does it take to do drag-and-drop and tool tips? Are the RDBMS extensions current with vendor features? ...) answered here. Simplify your life by putting these 650+ pages on your shelf.

What is *Tcl/Tk Tools*? It's a collection of descriptions of different popular extensions to Tcl and Tk. While lead author Harrison gives the impression they're written by "the extension authors themselves", there are a few exceptions to this pattern. The book is not written as a tutorial or introduction to Tcl, sagely pointing to John Ousterhout and Brent Welch's books for that role (although I've been thinking of experimenting with putting *Tcl/Tk Tools* in the hands of novices, to see what would happen. I suspect they'd survive in good shape).

*Tcl/Tk Tools* isn't exhaustive. It doesn't include several of my favorite extensions, including Scotty, NeoWebScript, stooop, tclMsql, the PlusPatches, ... It doesn't matter. If you care about only *one* of the extensions described here, you'll do well to have your own copy.

Harrison and his co-authors do a good job of hitting the target of telling "Here's the philosophy behind this package, and here are some examples of how to use it effectively" that he lays out in the Preface. While it's easy to move from one chapter to another, it's not at the expense of the authors and their personalities. D. Richard Hipp's thoughtful precision and De Clarke's care in engineering effective solutions come through, as do the assurance and lucidity those in the Tcl community expect of Don Libes. Less successful is the forward look that Harrison intended, toward "the plans the extension authors had for future enhancements and extensions." I assume this was in part a casualty of the realities of the publishing cycle; certainly many of the chapters appear to have been finished before the appearance a year ago of 7.6's betas.

Two unglamorous aspects of the book multiply its value: the index is sound (that's saying a lot for me; I have high standards in indexing), and Harrison's Chapter 17 on what he calls "Configuration Management" lays out much valuable wisdom that newcomers need to learn. Reading the latter is painful: it has all the important, tedious subjects ("Combining Extensions ...", command-line munging, ...) one wants--but without mention of Win* or loadable libraries! These frailties are inevitable when broadcasting on dead trees, of course. What's disappointing is that *Tcl/Tk Tools* doesn't go farther in joining the Internet Age: although a two-page Appendix lauds news:comp.lang.tcl and lists the FAQs and nine URLs (some of which have already moved, of course), and individual authors take it on themselves to provide appropriate references,
* it's not apparent that there is any page where Harrison and/or O'Reilly maintain errata, updates, new examples, funny animal GIFs, or any of the other resources readers might be expected to exploit--I couldn't find one at the URL the Preface gave, nor elsewhere at www.ora.com;
* some authors supply no e-mail addresses;
* some authors give references ("look in the archives") that will be inscrutable for those not already in the know; and
* there is wide variation in the quality of information authors give about extension prospects, bug lists (a particular sore point with me), mailing lists, and so on.
Understand, please, that I'm not labeling these moral faults; as on every project, the good engineering comes in deciding where to make the cuts, and what definite values to deliver. I personally look forward to seeing books that build a more dynamic relationship with online sources, and am simply noting that *Tcl/Tk Tools* doesn't achieve that standard.

The quality of production is high, higher even than the elevated expectations I have of O'Reilly. Typos, mistakes in word choice, and code errors seem to sum to around zero to five per chapter. Screen shots are judicious and illuminating, rather than gratuitously space-filling. The CD-ROM (with binaries for indeterminate but predictable releases of Solaris and Linux) does the little I asked of it.

Summary: whether you're a full-time Tcl-er or a greenhorn, you'll profit from having *Tcl/Tk Tools* at hand. Whenever you're in a pinch, there's a fair chance the Index and/or Table of Contents will quickly lead you to a useful datum. During more contemplative moments, you'll want to read the chapters in a connected fashion, and the accuracy and insight of the authors will make you glad that you do.

This was the first book I read on Tcl/TK (a mistake), but it was nonetheless helpful. I do refer it often. I particularly found the introduction to Expect useful.

I am the same Tom Cai who reviewed this book about 1 year ago, and feel it is necessary to review it again. I admit Dr. Freeman has written many successful detective stories, but they can not be credited to this particular one. This book holds a place in the history of detective stories, because it created Thorndyke, but as a detective story, it is definitely not a very good one. It borrows various parts of Holmes and then pieces them together with a slightly different character and slightly different narration, then the job is done.

Many people disagree with me, because the thumb mark is made in a way different from the Norwood builder's. But this is really a minor issue. Once the author decides the thumb mark is fake and actually conveys this idea to the readers, it is no good to spend much pain on how it is made. A detective story is not supposed to be a science story. The former emphasizes on DEDUCTION rather than profound science knowledge, because not every reader is a PhD or MD as Freeman. Even if someone is, he might well be in a different discipline. Doyle is in no way less educated than Freeman, but he always applies the most practical method with the least scientific knowledge in the conducting of a crime. This makes Doyle's story not only full of surprises (Watsons would say: ah, it's that simple), but also more read-able than Freeman's lecture. Even in the view of science story, people would question whether Polton's (Thorndyke's assistant) various patents are realistic.

Nevertheless, I can't deny it is helpful for Freeman's future career, which makes Thorndyke a distinct character rather than a mimic of Holmes. The only difference between Doyle and Freeman is that the former is a genius while the latter is just talented.

Edwardian London: a city of squalor, pea-soup fogs, and primitive detective work. Into this city, is introduced Dr John Thorndyke, a pathologist, who appears as an expert witness in court cases for both the defence and prosecution. He is also a detective who seeks to solve cases.

In this first Thorndyke story by R Austin Freeman (the first of many in the series), Thorndyke takes on a new assistant Dr. Jervis. Dr Jervis is the foil to Thorndyke, just as Dr Watson is to Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Thorndyke also explores more than just the case, by having Jervis fall in love. Dr Jervis' love affair is an interesting diversion in how it reveals middle-class values at the turn of the century.

The basis of this story is interesting: can forensic science be wrong; can you fake fingerprints on evidence ? The book is not a 'who dun it' in the conventional sense. Most readers will identify the obvious villain early on. The challenge is to work out how the crime was done and then to prove that it was done that way. Of course, Thorndyke frees the innocent man in the end.

Thorndyke is a more scientific detective than Holmes and achieves surprising results, even within the primitive knowledge and techniques of his day.

The Red Thumb Mark is the novel that introduces to the world one of the greatest "scientific" detectives in all literature: Dr. John Thorndyke. It is rightly regarded as one of the all-time classics in mystery fiction. Raymond Chandler, for example, who typically hated British detective fiction for its consistent implausibilities, found Austin Freeman's work and The Red Thumb Mark highly entertaining and readable.

The novel concerns Thorndyke's attempts to clear the name of a young man accused of stealing diamonds from a safe. A thumb mark (finger print) near the scene of the crime is the only evidence against the young man, but it is decidedly damning. Add a little romance, a sinister villian lurking in the background, and you have the ingredients that make up this story.

I found the work to be wonderfully exciting. Watching Thorndyke break down the evidence against the young man is a fascinating expereince. Though a person could argue that too much detail is given to the "science" aspect, you have to understand that these scenes are the backbone of this type of detective story.

In a day and age of corporate villiany, brutal crime bosses and hideous serial killers, The Red Thumb Mark might seem to some readers as painfully old-fashioned. Freeman's writing is similar (and often compared with) Conan Doyle, and there's little doubt that Freeman found inspiration from the Holmes canon. However, the novel's old-fashioned flavor is the very reason to recommend it. It's fun to walk the streets of Edwardian England, to see the sights, to hear the gentlemanly discussions, to share the thought processes of one of the great detective minds. This is the real magic of the novel.

Sadly, most of Freeman's work has long, long been out of print. I would recommend hunting among the used book stores for his other great mysteries, especially The Silent Partner, The Eye of Osiris, and my all-time favorite Mr. Pottermack's Oversight. These great novels are as highly recommended as The Red Thumb Mark. Someday, I hope the world rediscovers this highly talented writer and that he is placed along side with the other great names where he belongs.

The book was full of typos, just do a few problems and check the answers in the back if you don't believe me. I have never seen a seventh edition with so many mistakes. At times it was readable but more often it was not. I thought the last few chapters were very good, however. The flow of material seemed quite logical, but I thought some important things were not stressed enough. I just cannot justify giving this book less than two stars, or more than three.

Unless you're a physicist who has never seen thermodynamics before, don't use this book! The author's statement of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics is flawed at best. They drop Gibb's Theorem into proofs without any discussion of the theorem itself. The authors call the concepts of 'fugacity' and 'activity' "topics beyond the scope of this book", and they spend A PAGE deriving mole fractions (didn't we all figure out this concept in high school). In conclusion, the 6th edition was far superior to the 7th edition. Perhaps if Zemansky was still alive...

The book is a decent first course on thermodynamics. My main issue with it was that most of the 'problems' were trivial exercises in algebra, although a few were worthwhile. Parts of the book were dull, but some sections were quite interesting. I found there to be fewer errors than some of the other reviews might lead you to believe.

I bought this to help me with a graduate electrical engineering class that has a programming assignment to be written in Visual C++ .NET. Through other coursework, I am very familiar with the C++ language and have coded many C++ programs on Unix machines using the g++ compiler. However, I had very little experience with windows programming other than ASP.NET and XML Web Services programming using Visual Basic .Net. I also do not have any substantial experience with traditional Visual C++ with MFC, which the author recommends, but I felt I should still be able to work through the book. I did not finish the book. I worked through the first 2 or 3 chapters and felt that the explanations were too brief and code was not explained. Also, the sample code did not compile on my machine -- that could have been my own errors -- I don't know. But I decided the book was just too skimpy in explanations and returned it. I got Special Edition, Using Visual C++ .NET by Kate Gregory and am starting to work through that. So far, the experience is much better although the book is much thicker. At least I have a sense I know what I am doing instead of just blindly following terse instructions.

The book is not designed for beginners despite being published in a series called "Teach Yourself". The authors specify the target audience as "Those who have some exposure to C++". It is misleading not to have this reflected in the book's title. Perhaps the previous reviewer gave it 5* because he had the prerequisite experience.

As a beginner I found the book to be of little use. It has been published in a series that I would assume is for the beginner and so I have given it 1*. If you have some experience in VC++ and want to transfer your skills to the .NET environment you might find this book useful?

As an MCSD, I have struggled to get my hands around all of the concepts involved in C++. After multiple classes and hours in training, I was refereshed to read this book which integrates intuitive knowledge, simple instructions and SUCCESSFUL C++ programming. Well Done to Mr. Simon and Mr. Schmidt!

When I read the first five pages I knew I was in trouble. The writing throughout the book was very flat. Keeping track of all the characters was a monumental feat that left you wondering WHY they were actually written into this novel. About the only completely "fleshed" out character was Scott - The main character's lover who happened to be a Baseball athlete. Sprinkled adorations of this character created many stalls to the story line that I began to NOT care for Tom or Scott. I also found myself cringing at all the location descriptions given to the reader about Chicago. Again, this intricate location detail created a stall to my reading. Hasn't this writer figured out that less is more? Yet, I continued through the 182 pages HOPING to get some real writing style that would drive me to the entertainment value I get when reading a Joseph Hansen novel. How sad I was to see this book finish flat. Time to cleanse my brain with a Dave Brandstetter detective read. Oy....

This has to be one of the dullest mysteries I have read. I felt like the whole book was a mere excuse for the author to express his venom against the Catholic Church. Characters have less personality than dry bread, they are nothing but extreme stereotypes with name labels. The events are almost non-events; things seem to happen but no real progress is made. When the murderer is finally revealed, a reader couldn't care less because it is difficult to remember who is who! And the writing style - after a while, I began to wonder if it was that flat and mundane on purpose!

I liked one thing about this book, though. My copy was only 182 pages long.

I knew this book had to be good when I read the two reviews prior to mine on amazon.com. As a member of the gay community and a recovering Roman Catholic (who thoroughly enjoys the spiritually fulfilling practice of Catholicism I find in the Episcopal Church), not only was I not offended by anything in this book, I actually enjoyed it.

Like the movie "Priest," there are a number of Roman zealots of the "one true church" ilk who are out to write negative reviews of anything that tells it like it is where the Roman Church is concerned whether they've read it or not.

Mr. Zubro is to be congratulated for an engrossing mystery that will surprise its gay and lesbian readers in a positive way, a respectable entry in his "Tom and Scott" series of whodunits.

More power to him!

If you already own, or are planning to buy the textbook for the destinos series then this handbook is unnecessary as it only contains sections lifted directly from the textbook.

In general, I have enjoyed using this handbook along with the Destinos program. The handbook contains exercises to use before, during and after viewing the episodes. Although I do not find the preview material particularly interesting, the sections that check for understanding of the episode are useful. In addition, the handbook gives the reader extra information about the characters. These sections make the video story more enjoyable and provide a chance to practice reading in Spanish. Another feature of the handbook that I particularly like is the "notas culturas" which expand on the culture of the Spanish countries which provide the setting for Destinos.