The book expounds upon the regenerative process of the human and animal body. Never before has there been such concise well documented research on human body regenerative protocols available. We based our medical product development on the findings represented in this book. This book saved our company multi-millions of R&D dollars.

This set is at the library at my university. I like it so much, that I wanted to purchase it. Alas, on a student's budget, I cannot afford the price!

Unexpected earnings from the Great Exhibition of 1851 (at the Crystal Palace in London) were used to establish the following year the Victoria and Albert Museum, the world's largest collection of applied art and design. In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry made his famous expedition to Japan, which had been isolated for 250 years, and set up trade agreements. Examples of Western technology (locomotive, telegraph, camera) were given to the Japanese, and Japanese artifacts to Westerners. Of particular impact were Japanese woodcuts of the 17th through 19th centuries, called ukiyo-e or images of "the floating world," tens of thousands of which ended up in museum collections throughout the world. Many (perhaps most) American and European artists and designers were influenced by the then-strange stylistic traits of these prints (crisp black outlines, bold flat areas of color, asymmetrical arrangements, and dramatic cropping), among them such people as Whistler, Manet, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Gauguin, Aubrey Beardsley, and Frank Lloyd Wright. "All my work," wrote Vincent van Gogh to his brother, "is in a way founded on Japanese art." This stunning volume is a full-color treasury of 130 of those woodcuts (introduced and annotated by scholars) from the many now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. (Copyright © by Roy R. Behrens from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol. 14 No. 3, Spring 1999.)

I got this tape because I am now homeschooling my son who just turned ten and I like to use a variety of approaches to getting material across. The tape covers the involvement of Odysseus in the Trojan War, from the time that Menelaus marries Helen to the end of the conflict. It is hysterically funny, but at the same time educational. All of the characters have British accents, and there is plenty of "fictionalizing" to make the story more amusing, but the basic historical facts are still intact. The audio (2 tapes) is also long enough that you get a good picture of many of the major players (Achilles, Hector, Paris, etc.), so I think kids will remember more about them. My younger son (age 8) also loved the tape. We listened to it in the car and the boys couldn't wait to hear more. I highly recommend this tape as an adjunct to other studies of Odysseus and the Trojan War, especially for kids around ages 7-12. For younger kids you may need to point out which details are "made up" as a way to make the story more entertaining.

Seeing Beyond: Movies, Visions, And Values is a compilation of twenty-six essays by William R. Robinson and an assortment of his personal friends on the subject of film theory and offering a wide range of commentary and criticism of American and foreign films. In addition to Robinson the contributors include Annie Dillard, Frank Burke, R.H.W. Dillard, George Garrett, Armando Jose Prats, A. Carl Bredahl Jr., Seve Snyder, Vincent B. Leitch, David Lavery, Elaine Marshall, J.P. Telotte, Walter C. Foreman Jr., and Susan Lynn Drake. Each essay is a small gem. Taken together as a whole they form a persuasive argument that movies are a fundamentally revolutionary moral force in contemporary life. Seeing Beyond: Movies, Visions, And Values is an invaluable contribution to film theory and criticism, and a highly recommended addition to both academic and community film library reference collections.

Georges Bataille's work varies wildly in quantity. His early essays, collected in "Visions of Excess", are interesting but by now rather amusing blood-and-thunder manifestoes, swirling with Nietzschean rhetoric, the kind of thing that makes certain young male academics feel the blood rising in their nads so that they'll write anguished tomes on postmodernism that no-one but their students will ever read. His slightly later "Literature and Evil" is one of the silliest and shallowest books of litcrit ever inflicted on an undeserving public. His novel "Story of the Eye" is insubstantial as literature and uninvolving as pornography. This late work consists of a sober essay on the French nobleman Gilles de Rais and the documents from Gilles' trial in 1440. I think it's the best book Bataille ever wrote.

Gilles de Rais was a genuine nutcase. Born into great wealth, he was raised by his brutal and amoral great-grandfather and was a natural knight - i.e., he was violent, addicted to luxury and spectacle, and appeared not to give a toss about anyone. He distinguished himself in battle alongside Joan of Arc, but when the wars were over, Gilles appears to found life a bit lacking in savour. So, with the help of some of his entourage, he found a new way of spicing things up. He would typically ride to the nearest village, select a handsome young person between the age of 8 and 20 (usually male, but female where no boys were available) and bring the child back to his castle to be tortured, raped and murdered. He particularly liked to cut the body open and gaze on the insides. Then he'd go to sleep and his associates would dispose of the body.

Nobody is quite sure how many children he killed this way, but the estimates run into hundreds. The locals were scared because Gilles was a rich and powerful nobleman, Marshal of France, and the nobility tolerated the rumours for exactly the same reason. The Bluebeard legend became attached to his name (in spite of the fact that it was much older than him) and he certainly lived up to it.

Bataille's analysis of Gilles' character is hard to argue with. The Marshal of France was a vain, reckless, gullible, almost incredibly stupid young man - and yet the delirious extravagance of his crimes lends him a horrible grandeur. Gilles very quickly got completely out of control. The stories of his giggling at the dying bodies of his victims make him almost pathetic, as well as disgusting. He was finally arrested when he gratuitously insulted the men of the last person willing to protect him. He was tried for the murder of several children, found guilty and hanged. His body was to be burned, but it was pulled out of the flames and buried not without honour. He seems to have inspired a weird pity in people.

On the evidence of the trial documents, it's hard to doubt that Gilles was either mad or evil. Yet he lacked the true psychopaths' instinct for self-preservation, and his repentance seems to have been as tearfully sincere as his crimes were remorseless. Maybe he just had absolutely no imagination. Either way, this is a rigorously truthful and forensic book about one of the most frightening people who ever lived, far above the level of the average true crime potboiler. My only objection is Tom Dolan's cover design (at least in the Amok Books edition) - apparently a close-up photo of a bare torso with a nasty case of chickenpox, pointless and icky compared to the Grand Guignol within. Richard Robinson's translation is admirable in style; not having read the original French, I can't vouch for its accuracy, but I see no reason to doubt it.

I'll admit that I'm a beginner in the study of Gnosis, and over estimated myself when I ordered this book. After reading snippets of it, like I would the bible, I realized that I was nearly in over my head. This book is confusing. Many others who I've spoken to have advised that one reads many books about the Nag Hammadi findings before they read the actual findings. They couldn't be closer to the truth. Besides the fact that it's confusing, it's a common Gnostic belief that you must learn from a teacher before learning on your own.

On that note, despite how useful this book is. I'd advise anyone, at all interested in the subject matter, to first look for books by Elaine Pagels and Stephan Hoeller, first to get an idea of what you can expect to actually be reading.

The introduction points out that unlike in the bible or other texts where multiple copies existed to compare and then put down a good translation, this one damaged group of codecies and scrolls were the only thing available, and so there are alot of gaps in the translations. When Elaine Pagels (one of the translators) wrote her book "The Gnostic Gospels," she quotes from this Nag Hammadi library, but her quotes are more fluent. There are so many (...'s) in this that it is difficult to extract any meaning from lots of the texts. In some ways, this is understandable, because it is important for editors and translators not to try to add to the scripture, but some more notation and some possibilities for words would have been nice.
The gospel of philip, the gospel of thomas, the steles of seth, the gospel of wisdom, among others, are good to read. Sometimes, after reading this, you see how different John was from the other three gospels in the new testament, it was almost gnostic. I also, after reading some of St. John of the Cross recently, wonder whether gnosticism survived for longer than many people think among different Christian and Catholic communities in Europe and Africa.

This collection of texts gives a fascinating view of early Christian texts and views, particularly in light of the fact that these were not the writings that made it into the mainstream of church and biblical canonical development, but rather were influential in an underground, almost subversive way, in much of ancient and oriental Christianity -- were it not for the existence of texts such as these, indeed, we would not have the canon of the Bible which we have today (the political motivations behind deciding which books belonged in the Bible and which books didn't owe largely to texts such as those in the Nag Hammadi Library).

'This volume...marks the end of one stage of Nag Hammadi scholarship and the beginning of another. The first stage was concerned with making this library of texts available; the second stage has been characterised by the discussion and interpretation of the texts.'

This book represents an advance in both translation and analysis; this is part of the canon of the Gnostic sect, which saw more orthodox Christianity (from which Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant bodies derive) as the ones who were heretical.

'The Nag Hammadi library also documents the fact that the rejection was mutual, in that Christians described there as 'heretical' seem to be more like what is usually thought of as 'orthodox'.'

Gnosticism was ultimately eliminated from mainstream Christianity, save the occasional resurgence of underground and spiritual movements. Of course, Gnosticism was not an exclusively Christian-oriented phenomenon: many of the texts refer to Hebrew Scriptures only, and the question of Jewish Gnosticism is discussed by Robinson.

The Dead Sea Scrolls (of which these texts are NOT a part, despite the fact that they often get cited and analysed as part of that body of documents) shed light on the pluralistic nature of first century Judaism; the idea that there was a sect primarily of Jewish gnostics which had little or no knowledge or regard of Christianity (still at this point one sect of many, particularly in cosmopolitan centres such as Alexandria) is not a strange one.

The Nag Hammadi library consists of twelve books, plus eight leaves of a thirteenth book. There are a total of fifty-two tracts. These are now kept in the Coptic Museum in Cairo, and, as the name suggests, are written in Coptic, although it is clear that the texts are Coptic translations of earlier Greek works. Coptic is the Egyptian language written with the Greek alphabet; there are different dialects of Coptic, and the Nag Hammadi library shows at least two. The were found in codex form (book form rather than scroll form). They were discovered in the mid 1940s, just a few years prior to the discovery of the first Dead Sea Scrolls (another reason for the combination of the texts in the public imagination).

Included in these texts are The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Philip, The Gospel of Truth, The Gospel of Mary and other gospel contenders (alas, in fragmentary form--the translation in this volume however is the complete Nag Hammadi text). The Gospel of Thomas has perhaps been the highest profile text from Nag Hammadi; it has been translated and commented upon extensively, particularly in modern scholarship which discusses gospel development.

'Whoever find the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.'

This gospel does not correspond to the narrative form with which modern readers are familiar; it is a collection of sayings (one modern scholar argues that the victory of the four canonical gospels was a victory of style, rather than substance).

This gospel also helps illuminate some of the early struggles in church formation (why exactly did it go from a house-based, relatively gender-neutral organisation to a male-exclusive-hierarchical model?).

Simon Peter said to them, 'Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of life.' Jesus said, 'I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven.'

Other writings include various Acts of apostles, pieces of wisdom literature, parables and stories, most of which have some basis in Hebrew scripture or Christian scripture traditions.

The afterword, by Richard Smith, traces the idea of gnosticism through medieval and renaissance writers, through the enlightenment up to the modern day, in philosophy, theology, culture and the arts. From Blake to Gibbons to Melville to modern motion pictures, Gnostic ideas permeate many works, even before the Nag Hammadi library was available for study and contemplation.

'A quite self-conscious incorporation of Nag Hammadi texts into a science fiction novel appeared in Harold Bloom's 1979 novel The Flight to Lucifer: A Gnostic Fantasy. In it the reincarnated Valentinus and his companions fly to a planet called Lucifer. Quoting our gnostic texts, the heroes wage a violent battle against Saklas, the Demiurge who is worshipped in his 'Saklaseum'. Bloom, more successful as an interpreter of literature, later confessed that The Flight to Lucifer reads as though Walter Pater were writing Star Wars. But, then, so does much ancient gnostic writing.'

This is a wonderful collection, a truly fascinating view of texts that shared the religious stage with the proto-canonical Biblical texts. It gives insight into the varieties of early Christianity and Judaism. And it makes for interesting reading.

Though I have heard much praise of Jane Austen, this is the first time I've actually sat down and read one of her books. I was impressed. Though the plot would seem shallow now (it centers around marriages); then that was central to most women's hopes and desires. Besides the plot, the characters are amusing and Elizabeth is finely drawn. She is very self-confidant and will not allow others to look down on her for her ill upbringing. I don't believe men would enjoy this book, because the male figure is not drawn very realistically. I seriously doubt that all men thought or talked about were marriage and love. Walter Raleigh phrased it correctly by saying that "Austen's men wouldn't be allowed in any club in England!". I didn't find it to be at all boring, rather, a page-turner to see how everything was going to turn out (though in the end it became predictable). The formal language is confusing at times, but provides a bit more color with it's detail. Though many parts of the book are obviously contrived, and I feel as if Austen is trying a little too hard to invoke emotion within me, in many ways the book is ahead of it's time, and for that, it is commendable to be certain.

I have always loved the style and social politics of the Regency period (the time of Jane Austen.) But when I read "Sense and Sensibility" in 7th grade I found the first few chapters lifeless, dull and hard to read. Two years later I was encouraged by a friend to give "Pride and Prejudice" a try. I did and have since become a complete Janeite. I am now able to peruse joyfully through "Sense and Sensibility" with a new understanding and appreciation of Jane Austen. The reason? "Pride and Prejudice" is fresh, witty and is a great introduction to Jane Austen's writing style without the formality of some of her other novels (unlike S&S and Persuasion Austen does not give us a 10 page history of each family and their fortune.) If you have never read Jane Austen or have read her other novels and found them boring, read Pride and Prejudice. The characters, and the situations Austen presents to them, are hysterical and reveal a lot about Regency society and morality. This book perfectly compliments a great writer like Jane Austen and is essential to every reader's library. The Penguin Edition of the book is stellar and I personally recommend it not only for the in-depth and indispensable footnotes, but also for the cover that is non-suggestive of any of the characters' appearances. In summary "Pride and Prejudice" is a great book for beginner Austen readers and seasoned fans, and Penguin Classics is a great edition for fully enjoying and understanding the book.

I always have trouble reviewing my very favorite books on Amazon. It always seems as if nothing I can write does the book justice. Pride and Prejudice is one of those novels. I don't remember a time when I've enjoyed a read so much (and I read a lot).

It's a well known story. Of course, it's that Jane Austen world (which Austen pokes endlessly at) with the social artifaces, the endless gossiping, and clever schemes on how to get married, particularly to someone rich. Here, it is the Bennet sisters trying to get themselves hitched, and the central character is the spirited Elizabeth who clashes with (sometimes) arrogant, stuffy Darcy.

Pride and Prejudice is so entertaining on different levels. It is so funny! The characters (especially Mr. and Mrs. Bennet) are so eccentrically funny, and some of the situations Elizabeth gets into are hilarious. Austen's little asides about the local society are subtly cutting, too. Then, there are all of the brilliant characterizations and their changing relationships. Also, I'm always drawn to Austen's little theme of love's ability to break through the mess of a shallow society. I truly love everything about this little novel. It'll certainly alway keep a special place on my bookshelf (or by my bed).

I'll agree with the many other reviews that rate this book as an extremely knowledgeable reference on ASP, perhaps the definitive reference.

However, there are several points that make this book somewhat unappealing from a practical perspective.

First, note that it was written by 15 different authors. This incorporates many different writing styles, making it unwieldy. The previous edition was written by 8 people. Do not attempt to use either book as a cover-to-cover tutorial.

Second, the code examples are written almost exclusively in VBScript, although the book acknowledges that Javascript (also known as JScript) would work just as effectively. From a real-world perspective, I have found that many ASP programmers prefer to use Javascript for both server-side and client-side development.

The use of 2 scripting languages in one application is simply impractical. VBScript persists mainly because it is a Microsoft invention, as is ASP itself. However, Javascript (or ECMA Script) has become the industry-standard scripting language for web-based applications.

Another issue with the code examples is that they are not line-numbered. For short examples, this is not an issue. But for larger code modules (as one would encounter in the real world), line-numbering is considered part of best practices in explaining and debugging code before it is deployed.

For readers with any ASP background, this book would be a useful desktop reference. Carrying it around in your briefcase may cause lower back strain.

Professional Active Server Pages 3.0, by Alex Homer, is
a book on developing web applications using Active
Server Pages 3.0. This book goes in depth into
developing web applications with discussions and
examples on advanced topics such as, CDO/Microsoft
Exchange Server, ADO/Microsoft SQL Server, and
ADSI/Active Directory. Homer presents the reader with a
wealth of information on advanced enterprise level
topics based on Microsoft technologies. This book is
excellent for intermediate/advanced users who wish to
learn about Active Server Pages using Microsoft
technologies, however due to the fact Homer does not
goes in depth with fundamentals of programming Visual
Basic Script, this book should not be recommended to
novice developers.

Throughout the book, Homer discusses the importance of
COM/COM+ and what that technology can do for your web
application. He writes examples of a COM+ component in
Visual Basic and shows the user how to register/load
the component into memory along with utilizing the
functionality of them in an Active Server Page. Homer
further explores the features of Windows 2000 by
introducing the features of Active Directory and
explaining/demonstrating how ADSI can connect an Active
Server Page to the Active Directory. The book goes into
further detail on enterprise level topics by discussing
how CDO interfaces with Microsoft Exchange Server.
Using CDO, a developer can access all of users Exchange
account information including mail, contacts, calendar,
etc. The book ends with performance and security issues
for web applications running on a Windows 2000 Server
and how an administrator should configure a Windows
2000 Server for maximum performance and security.

The software/technologies the book uses are based on
products/technologies developed by Microsoft. Since
Active Server Pages is a Microsoft technology, it would
be reasonable to use only Microsoft
products/technologies. However, in the real world, many
businesses have heterogeneous environments with Oracle
database servers and JavaScript web developers. The
fact that this book only exposes the reader to vendor-
specific technologies could be a down fall, however
creates a centralized focus for the reader.

This book covers a wide spectrum of advanced knowledge
with Active Server Pages, however is completely based
around Microsoft technologies. Several other authors
composed this book, which helps the reader get a
dynamic flavor of knowledge from chapter to chapter as
one can see. Any intermediate/advanced web developer,
interested in enterprise web application development,
should purchase a copy of this book for reference
purposes.

Being an enterprise web developer, I found this book to be the absolute best in its field. It covers a very wide spectrum of fields any web developer working with Microsoft web technology should know, including ADO, ADSI, ASP, CDO, COM+, error handling, MSMQ, Windows DNA, XML, and a whole lot more (note that this book is primarily oriented at web developers who's target platform is Windows 2000 and IIS 5.0, but I also found it to be extremely useful for use on Windows NT 4.0 and IIS 4.0, since the authors clearly indicate features that are new to Windows 2000 and IIS 5.0). The writing style is absolutely excellent and gives clear tips on code optimization and performance. I have read literally dozens of different books on these subjects, and none has come close to this one. Although this book is not for beginners, it is, in my opinion, good for anyone who wants to advance their career on the web or become an web developer. This is definitely a book you will want to read from cover to cover, and use as a reference. At just about any price, it's a steal.

This is no book for people who want to learn ASP. They should first read some other book, but after that, they need this book. This is the most complete ASP reference I have seen, loads of components are documented in a way people can understand and there is lots of functional sample code. All code is done in both VBscript and Jscript. Pittfalls, do's and don't are very clearly noted in the text and pages about win-nt configuration have screenshots. Yes, this book has made my life a lot easier. The only reason I am not giving it 5 stars is the fact there's no 2 small chapters on VBscript and Jscript, so I still need to pick up the beginnersbook. Like all wrox-books no paper is wasted, and every page (1200+) is filled with small fonts and margins as small as the printer would allow, which makes the pagecount even more impressive.

As an intermediate ASP programmer many times you need to find reference for how to do something in a hurry. Well this book is the answer. Concise clear well organized. Good reference coverage of XML to the end. I've had it for a couple months and it has proven invaluable to me and my team for reference. This book is not designed to teach you to code elegantly and efficiently, but even if you are a seasoned ASP programmer.. don't pass this one up. Definitely a good buy for your reference shelf.

Generally, I buy Wrox books to get an overview of the terrain, then buy an O'Reilly nutshell book for reference purposes. ASP 3.0 Programmer's Reference is the exception that proves the rule. It's excellently put together, easy to navigate, and unusually broad in scope. You get a lot for your money.

One more thing: since ASP programmers tend to be less steeped in technology than, say, C++ programmers, it's especially important to have a reference that's easy to use and clear on every point. That's the best part about ASP 3.0 Programmer's Reference -- you never feel like you're lost (unless you're totally unfamiliar with the language, like the gentleman below.)