Here is a terrific reference resource for anyone who frequently composes letters, e-mails, reports, etc. That is, for just about everyone. Even with various aids provided within software (eg to correct spelling), basic mistakes of grammar go undetected...and "send the wrong message" (both literally and symbolically) to recipients of what you write. Inside the front cover, the authors provide an especially handy detailed index (for questions concerning writing, grammar, effective sentences, diction, punctuation, and mechanics as well as glossaries of usage and terms) which directs their reader to the appropriate page or pages in the Handbook; on the back inside cover of the book, they then provide an equally handy list of checklists (also with page references) followed by a list of revision symbols. There are several such reference resources which will serve you well. In my opinion, this is the most comprehensive...and the easiest to use on a regular basis. I also urge you to check out Strunk & White's The Elements of Style and Stephen King's On Writing.

I'm an undergraduate student in Biology and I was looking for the best book on the subject... after a hard selection of the best ones available, I came up with two great items: Lodish's Cell Molecular Biology and Alberts's Molecular Biology of the Cell.
When I spoke with my older colleagues in college and asked my Cell Biology teachers (they're both career researchers) for their opinion about what should I buy, I always received the same kind of answer: «Well, they're both great references, Lodish's is a very insightful text on the matter, as well as Alberts's. But you know... Alberts's is the real thing, the one to go for: It gives you the most wonderful and comprehensive view of the cellular world!»
So, I decided to buy Alberts's and indeed, it is a terrific book: accurate, up-to-date, really enjoyable to read (for those avid for scientific knowledge), the English is quite accessible, illustrations are excellent, a truly great achievement! From now on, this book will be my «bible»!

Molecular Biology of the Cell is one of the best surveys available on the status of current information about cellular biology. The authors skillfully accomplish the difficult task of combining detail with readability while conveying the excitement of this dynamic field. Clear, concise, and colorful illustrations assist in this task and the book is a fine collection of splendidly dramatic photos of "molecular biology of the cell" in action. They covered an enormous amount of material with a style that is simple enough for a college-level biology student to follow with enough detail and references to be of use to an experienced research scientist. Bravo for a job well-done!

This is latest update for the most revered text in the field of cell and molecular biology. I used this book as an undergraduate even though this was not the required text for the course. I still turn to it often as a graduate student. As someone who has read the book cover to cover I can vouch for its extensive coverage of the most important concepts and the abandance of information on the most frequntly encountered concepts. It is a must have for any serious student of cell, molecular and developmental biology. I recommend that you buy this book in addition to any required texts for your course. The book is so comprehensive that even topics that gained prominance in 2002 such as RNA interference are wonderfully presented. Even if you are new to this subject area this book if properly used can increase you understanding immensely of even the most difficult of concepts. You would never regret buying this.

I read this book during the summer prior to me senior year in high school, and literally could not put it down. I read the whole work cover-to-cover in a week.

Going in, my background in biology was an introductory cell biology course and my background in chemistry was an introductory chemistry class. That I had little formal training in the sciences was irrelevant when reading this; it explains all the concepts so clearly that I think even a person with no background in science at all could understand it. The diagrams and photos are well-done and highly pertinent.

This is not to say that this book is only for non-scientists. Indeed, I even used knowledge gleaned from this fantastic book to teach my teachers a thing or two. Perhaps the section on muscle contraction is the best written of all - no other book I have ever seen comes close to this in clarity, and this section was one that I recommended to my Anatomy and Physiology teacher for clarification about a few concepts.

I am soon to be a sophomore in college, and this book continues to inspire me on my path to be a professor (I study chemistry with an emphasis on chemical biology). This book was invaluable even in a rigorous microbiology course, not to mention other introductory courses.

In summary, I rarely leave home for extended periods without this text (literally). If there is ONE BOOK that you should buy for studying cellular and molecular biology, let it be this one (or, if you are so inclined, its larger brother, Molecular Biology of the Cell).

I used this book as a studying supplement during the cell biology module of my first-year biology course. It explains key cell biology concepts clearly, thoroughly and concisely. The text is very well written and has wonderful photographs and diagrams throughout. Updated and recent biological and biomedical findings are used to further tie in the concepts of cell biology. Those that prefer a more detailed source of information should look to Molecular Biology of the Cell, but for beginners, Essential Cell Biology is an excellent place to start.

A gem of a book. It puts at the hands of lay people the wonders of molecular biology. The best way of spending $65 I can think of.

The text is a most refined product distilled by an all-star team of leading scientists. Oriented towards the lay person or the would be specialist, it is simple, unpretentious, sometimes even funny, but always powerfully explanatory. The diagrams are exceptionally clear (a must for explaining such complex subjects) and the photographs are astounding. Love for their subject and passion for teaching are present all along. And mysticism is always around the corner...

If you have ever wondered things like "What are exactly chromosomes?", "How do exactly enzymes work in the cell?", or "How the hell does all this machinery work at a purely chemical level ?" and you are not quite satisfied with popular science books, this one is for you. It will answer these questions and much, much more.

An enjoyable, deeply satisfying tour the force through the molecular level of all living organisms.

Don't miss it!

Overall, this book does a good job of telling the story of the re-discovery of the carrier Yorktown, which was lost in the Battle of Midway in June, 1942. The book also gives a pretty good, albeit slimmed down, account of the battle, as well as talking to veterans of the battle who are still alive today. The only problem I have with this book is that very little of the book is actually devoted to illustrating the Yorktown (either in words or pictures) as she appears today, resting on the floor of the ocean. Out of 200 pages in the book, maybe 25 are actually used to show the results of the discovery, and I would really have enjoyed more of this material. Regardless, this is a good book, and should be a welcome addition to the collection of any World War II or nautical enthusiast.

In June 1942, off the coast of midway island, a badly outnumbered american carrier force utterly destroyed a larger japanese force. The cost was Japan: Four carriers and a crusier. The american loss was the carrier yorktown and a destroyer. The japaneses never launched an offensive again. In May 1998, Dr. Robert Ballard, the man who has explored the wrecks of the Titanic, Bismarck, Lusitania, Britannic and ships lost in Iron Bottom Sound off Guadalcanal, discovered the U.S.S Yorktown after a long, grueling expedition. Filled with photos and illustrations from both the battle and the expedition, Bob Ballard has done it again.

Bob Ballard again uses his expertise and access to cutting-edge technology to explore an underwater historical treasure. There are few moments in the 20th Century as critical as the Battle of Midway, yet prior to this expedition little or no attention has been paid to the lasting physical artifacts of that battle scattered on the sea floor. As always seems to be the case with Ballard's expeditions, the only regret is that he was not able to search the area longer and find more of the carriers ... but hopefully there's another expedition in the works!

This is the Revised Brief Thirteenth edition, not the full edition. The paperback version comes with a plastic ring binder that is not suitable for heavy use. In short, this is not the version that a professional editor would want, although it might be fine for students.

I found this book to be a wonderful reference when writing anything from a short paper to a forty page research paper. Neither would have been possible without this text. A great buy!

The only reference you will need for everyday professional and proper usage of the English language. Very well organized and extremely easy to use. I highly recommend this book.

This text covers every important aspect in the field, from experimental techniques and basic concepts to reviews of immunology, cancer, and developmental biology. I used it as a reference in four different undergraduate classes, and have prepared for several job interviews by reviewing the relevant information in this book. The illustrations are all relevant, the organization is excellent, and the prose is so well written that I take the book off the shelf and read it for fun. A new edition would be useful - some of the more speculative information is outdated - but this is still the best textbook I own.

Well, considering that this book got me through a full year of molecular and cell biology as an undergraduate, I'm pretty fond of the book. Especially considering that the second half of the year was taught by two people who had never taught a class in their lives before. Reason for the five stars is that this is an INTRODUCTORY level textbook written about 7 years ago. Even considering that, it's thorough enough and comprehensive enough for an entire year. I wasn't expecting work done last year to be included and I wasn't expecting that it would delve into the intricate details of photosynthetic reaction centers or the latest in optical methods in single molecule dynamics. If you want that kind of detail, go to the journals or specialized texts. However, for those undergraduates undertaking a full year of MCB, I can't recommend this text highly enough. And if you're looking for prokaryotic information, I'd go pick up a copy of Prescott, Harley, and Klein's "Microbiology."

Most people, when commenting about this book, tend to compare it to Lodish's Molecular Cell Biology. I own both, and I must say that they are quite similar in their content but different in the way of explaining concepts. Although Lodish's book is a little more up-to-date, it's just a matter of time until a new edition of MBoC is published. In fact, a great number of concepts are clearer in Molecular Biology of the Cell... and vice-versa. About the book, it is the authoritative text of molecular biology for beginners and a reference guide to all fields of cell biology. The chapters concerning the structure of the cell and of the organelles are amazing and include in-depth explanations. It also comprehends the best revision chapters on macromolecules compared to Lodish's. The team of authors was accurate to compose one of the best books in molecular biology for students of all biological and biomedical sciences.

WAP is so similar to HTML that I found that this book, PLUS my knowledge of HTML coding, helped launch my abilities to develop in this language quickly and easily. I liked that the syntax is clearly explained and presented and there's LOTS of example code - which is the main thing I look for when getting a book like this. There's a great section for advanced web programmers which shows you how to integrate WML with ASP/JSP/ColdFusion. It's probably a good idea to learn some HTML before you dive into WAP, but this book did have some good asides to explain things for pure beginners, as well.

This book from Ben Forta is a real guide for beginners as well as a reference book for advanced users. I bought this book and Professional WAP from wrox both of them helped me to come out in flying colours in my bachelor degree thesis.

I am not a big fan of programming books in general, as I prefer to learn by doing. But I really liked this book because it gave me the foundation to go off and experiment with stuff on my own. Now I really understand what WAP is and what it can do, and think that this book "speeded up" my learning curve. Rather than spending a few days figuring out the basics, it only took a few hours for me a couple of hours playing before I had created a WAP interface to my personal web site. It's great for beginners, but also had some very useful advanced sections on Security, Push Notifications, and appendices on writing WML in CF, ASP, JSP, Perl, & PHP.

Both Volumes 1 and 2 of Penguins Le Morte D'Arthur were filled with an endless fountain of legends and reading these books one knows why it provided inspiration for writers throughout the centuries. The sub plots alone (ex: King Mark and Sir Tristam's love for Isoud and Sir Palomides internal and external battles) provide the aspiring writer with a wealth of plots and ideas. But for the love of God Penguin could have included some clear annotation throughout the book. The footnotes are in dire need of a major overhaul. All Penguin gives us is a few pages of translation for the more obscure words, but the reader has to go back and forth between the story and the dictionary. To put it simply it's an enourmous pain to do this. A system of annotation similar to Signet's publishing of Paradise Lost & Regained (which is also an excellent copy of this classic which I highly recommend) would have put this set of books up to five stars. Once you get past the obscure English the book becomes surprisingly easy to read, far easier than Shakespeare or Chaucer. Malory, obviously, was not a writer like Chaucer but he did do us a favor and put the bulk of the French legends into a handy volume so we wouldn't have to search through obscure Old French romances. So think of this more as an anthology rather than a novel. For those of you struggling through the text, as I did, you can skip to almost any part of the book (except the very first and very last part) and the story you will read will make sense (this is of course assuming you understand the obscure English).

I don't read a lot. In fact, the only time I do read is when I am required to do so by a class. Such is the case with The Tales of King Arthur. But although I would never have read the book were it not for my fascinating English teacher, I must say that I have never read anything as intriguing as the Tales of King Arthur.

Getting used to the language isn't as difficult as some other reviewers are saying... At least it wasn't for me (and I'm an eighteen year-old high school student). You'll struggle through the first few pages but once you've got an ear for it the language comes natural (somewhat like reading Shakespeare - it takes time to adjust). I found nothing tedious about the book other than the somewhat unfocussed book of the Sangrail.

The characters are awesome, the language is awesome, the plots and emotions are awesome. If you read this from beginning to end you'll walk away with a sincere compassion for the characters and the inevitable death of the times.

I can't imagine bothering with a modernized version - the classic text is just so sweet.

Most everyone has some knowledge of the King Arthur legend. Either they've read it, been exposed to it by Disney or Robert Goulet, or have just heard of it from someone else that knows. So, I'm not recommending this book so much for the text.

The reason why this edition of Le Morte D'Arthur is an absolutely necessary part of any collection is for its stunning illustrations. Anna-Marie Ferguson must have dreamed of Camelot when she was a child for there is simply no other way to explain the attention to detail, the romantic cast to all that we see. As real as Arthur and Lancelot may have seemed to us before, they become infinitely more human in the hands of Ferguson. I never tire of walking to my shelves and pulling out this book to just flip through it. To track my fingertips down the smooth sweep of colors and the beautiful images that really bring Camelot to life.

I have never thought that a book written especially for youngsters could bring tears to my eyes ' This book actually has done this and not only once 'Maybe, it is because I found myself in a bit of an unstable period while reading this story, but I was really surprised that the choice of words by Robert Westall made me a little emotional at times. On the other hand, main character Harry Baguley's strong will to survive and his sense of humour never left him, so there was enough that made me smile. I loved the frequently used nice expressions and metaphors in the story and I was really touched by the beautiful description of Harry's journey back to his hometown, by car in less than an hour. The whole story passes in review, but backwards.
What I DID NOT LIKE nor understood was the way the story ended. The book left me with a very unsatisfied and indignant feeling. I had to peruse the first chapters again to see what I had missed ' but even then, I could not find any indications.

After all, I am very curious if the story has the same effect on young people as it has had on me '

Criticism of "A kingdom by the Sea."

The book A Kingdom by the Sea reaches out to the reader. I the book a boy's family gets bombed in the 1940's along Britain and he's the only one who survives. Throughout the novel the young boy, Harry Baguley, is on a quest to survive with his new dog. One good "plus" about the novel is the author every once in a while throws out some good action scenes which really allures the readers. Another plus is that in the novel, every conflict leads to another. For example, when the annoying Corporal Merman finds Harry's pillbox, Artie fights with him and teaches him a lesson. A minus is that the author all of a sudden throws out different information, at first it's good, but then it gets annoying. Another minus is that in the first 20 pages, the author makes it difficult for the reader to understand what he is trying to emphasized.
Some advice for the author is to make the ending a little more interesting and a little less boring. The plot is an alright one, but along the middle there could be more action such as conflict or maybe even fights. Otherwise the novel exhorted a good sense of conflict and action

For my independent reading book this month, I decided to read:

The Kingdom by the Sea By Robert Westall

I chose this book for two reasons:

First of all, when I read the summary on the back cover, I realised that the story was a fight for survival.

At the moment, we are studying all about survival stories and survival methods in English Literature.

Secondly, the story takes place in England, during World War 2.

I am very interested in books and films about World War 2 because my grandfather was a young German soldier in this war.

When I was younger, he always used to tell me stories about how he survived the war. He was only a young man of 17 when he was sent to the front lines of Russia to fight for his country. I used to listen to his tales eagerly, trying to imagine how he could possibly survive all the danger he lived through.

The Kingdom by the Sea looks at World War 2 from another angle. This time, through the eyes of a 12 year old English boy, the same age that I am now.

Harry Baguely lived in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England during the war. His town was bombed regulary by the German Luftwaffe. One night, he had just made it safely to a bomb shelter, when a bomb drops on his home and wipes out his family and house. Left alone and unsure what the future will bring, he runs away. The story follows his fight for survival, along with a stray dog, who joins him on the way.

The story helped me to understand what life was like during World War 2 and how you can't trust everybody you meet. Each chapter makes you want to read on to see what happens to Harry. There's also an amazing twist to the story at the end. I could read this book again!

I am currently finishing up Virtual Unrealities and this is the first time I've read Bester's work. I am astonished about his current readability, it's like it was written tomorrow. His preoccupation with nuclear holocaust aside, the works are fresh, not to politically correct so as to be consciously annoying. I love short fiction but sadly most of the new stuff out there leaves me bored, disappointed or I just don't finish it. Honestly NOT his best but still way ahead of a lot of other people out there. SF readers forget that there is a strong heritage for this genre.It's a shame it's goes to waste. Like an author? Find out who influenced them and you will be in for a treat. That's how I found out about Bester, through J Micahel Strazynski (sp?)honoring him on B5 with a character name. I'm eternally glad he did. Maybe in 30-50 years someone will refer to the current author your reading like that and they will be enlightened.

This is a collection of some of the most unorthodox short stories even by the standards of science fiction. One can never tell where these will take us, and even then we are surprised at the results. Reading this will change everything, because afterwards very few things will seem weird. Many of these are tour de force of writting to show of the fact that the author could get away with something, that would be considered bad in writting of lesser carliber, but Bester's power-writting simply cuts through the rules, and gives us some truly out-of-this-world stories, which overpower the reader. In some it is the idea that is the main thing, and elsewhere it is the presentation, which is allpowerful, but each and every time we are left surprised, amazed by the end result. Some of these could be called parodies of classical sciece fiction cliches. (Besides Bester invented some things, that has become cliches since, and yet in his prose they are still powerful, and not cliched at all.) Some are funny, and some are sad, and most are weird, but they are all memorable.

I've read a lot of short stories...from Vonnegut to Kafka, H.G. Wells to Neil Gaiman. But none of those remotely compare to what you'll find in Bester's short stories. His stories are all fast-paced, and he gets his meaning across. He doesn't have to put in a lot of nonsense just to take up space. If his story is three pages long, so be it! He doesn't add another 15 pages just for the sake of having a long story. If he gets his message across, he ends his story. I think a lot of authors nowadays should take note!

But just in terms of science-fiction, it's easy to see why Bester has had so much influence on the sci-fi community. His ideas are so awesome. He was like so many other science-fiction authors: ahead of his time! What I like most about his short stories is how we get a glimpse of characters that appear in Bester's larger works. For instance, some of the characters from "The Stars My Destination" appear in some of these short stories. I just think it adds to the fun.

I can't even say a coherent statement about this book, and I apologize. I'm just still in shock. I think that if you like science-fiction, Alfred Bester in particular, or just like to read, you NEED to read at least one of Bester's short stories. After that, you'll be hooked.