Being a Masters student of History in Denver, Rose's work is recommended reading. Unless the processes and politics of technology and industrialization turn you on, the first two and final two chapters will be slow going. But in the middle three chapters Rose hits his stride describing how the utility companies placed appliances and power tools into turn-of-the-century "home ec" and "shop" classes to get an entire generation hooked for later consumption. He also details how the marketers focused pressure on husbands to buy these "labor-saving" devices for their overworked wives. Even if you are not into the techno-politico history, those middle three chapters are worth the price.

Although I found "Over the Top: The True Story of Guns N Roses" the most complete history, and probably most insightful that I have ever read, I had some problems with the book that left a sour taste in my mouth by the end. First off, somewhere in the middle of the book, Putterford is discussing the declining "style" of the concerts during the Illusions tour, he refers to W. Axl Rose as pulling a Donny & Marie by singing a duet with "female singer, Shannon Hoon" on Don't Cry. His complete disregard for who Hoon really is astounded me and made me be suspicious of his credibility. Also, I cannot stand it when music journalists criticize the Illusion albums. Most fans know that Appetite was the defining album for GN'R, no one disputes that, but journalists rarely give credit where credit is due. The Illusion albums showed a band that no longer lived off of Sunset Strip, I don't think anyone expected them to sing about drugs and alcohol forever, they're in the thirties. In my opinion, the Illusion albums were musically better than Appetite could ever be. Also Putterford's book seems to give a lot of new information, but all it really does is take all the rumors and press releases over the last decade and link them together. He criticizes the band for being in it for the money, but then you have to wonder....what's his purpose in writing this book?

Excellent book, very nice pictures too, fun to read. One of the best about Guns n' Roses. If you're a fan, don't hesitate!

this book is good for fans who don't know much about the band trying to pick up information on them. Since i didn't tune into the band until 5 years or so after their last tour i found it very helpful. it is pretty good and interesting reading if you are really that interested in the band.

The book does contain a lot of information about both coins and stamps. It gets 3 stars.

However ...

The package that comes with this book includes a CD-ROM and a floppy disk. According to the Errata, the disk is supposed to be a version of the software that has not expired. For me, neither worked! I had to go to their web site to download a Windows 98 version that worked. That sure was a nuisance. This part gets only 1 star!

Also, note - the software that accompanies this book is SHAREWARE. It does cost $ to get the registered version.

This book was an ambitious attempt to describe both a vision of what personal computing could be and to provide a much needed technical overview of Squeak. Although largely successful, the buyer should be warned that some chapters in this book refer to online software that has yet to be written or is not currently available online. In particular, Alan Kay provides an unintended joke with his forward to the book. He states that Squeak is a "dynamic medium for creative thought" and that the foreward to the book should be an online active essay in Squeak. Unfortunately, the essay, "It Should Be Active, But Where (and When) Will It Be?" does not yet exist!

As Squeak continues to evolve rapidly, this book may become obsolete in a few years, but it currently provides some of the best technical overviews of Squeak's Morphic UI, networking, 3D animation, and other fun topics.