Charles Ross presents an unforgettable tale of the most confusing, uneven and adventurous reign of any king in the English history. Edward IV remains the only king who was able to loose a kingdom and them successfully reclaim the crown. Possessing remarkable talents in administration and warfare, he however managed to bring the treasury to almost complete ruin by the end of his term, and botch the most impressive show of force in France any English king (including Edward III and Henry V) can ever master to assemble. Edward IV lived in the extraordinary age, full with great personalities like Richard Warwick the "Kingmaker", Margaret, the queen of Henry VI, and his own kid brother Richard, future most vilified by Shakespeare king Richard the III.

It is very easy to fell victim to novelized history when relating the events as extraordinary as the events of Edward's reign. Not Charles Ross. He is extremely well researched and versed in the records of the period, and presents the somewhat dry details of the records of the Household and Exchequer, in an interesting way and extremely well cross-referenced. Internal English sources are corroborated by continental and papal records. I would recommend this book to a serious student of history.

Also see Charles Ross's "Richard III" for a mysterious, bloody, and tragically brief concluding reign of Plantagenet dynasty. This one is also highly recommended.

Edward IV is one of the great enigmas of history. Even how he was able to become King is not self-evident. His seizing the throne was then followed by government marked by occasional brilliance and great folly. For someone who at times was keenly aware of dynastic considerations, his own marriage was the height of folly compounded by giving far too much influence to the Queen's relatives. He gave far too much trust, power and wealth to a few individuals, especially the Earl of Warrick and his traitorous brother Clarence alienating in the process much of the established nobility and wrecking in his early years the King's finances. Overthrown in the course of his reign, he nevertheless succeeded in recapturing the throne in short order and then repairing his fortunes spectacularly. Even so, this was accompanied by the strangest series of preparations for invasion of France, ending in an almost farcical procession in Northern France and a pusillanimous retreat. Lazy, debauched, perceptive and effective-many such adjectives can be applied to him - and all miss the puzzling essence of the man and his reign. What a set of stories could be woven out of this material without clearly capturing the essence of the situation! One cannot help wondering why of the adult kings between Richard II and Henry VII, Edward IV alone did not attract Shakespeare's pen.

Charles Ross wrote a fascinating book on this puzzling ruler, making as clear as the scanty and somewhat unreliable records allow the course of Edward's life and reign, and the various episodes that both fascinate and puzzle. The book (with a short introduction by R.A. Grifffiths rather than a revision by him) proceeds first by laying out the story, and then returning to give separate investigation of various aspects of Edward's rule, such as governance, his relations with the community and his finances. This latter subject is particularly well handled, as is the penultimate chapter on law and order. The story is well told, without excessive pedantry and without any attempt to hide when the record is unclear or the author has had to make large interpretations. One may not really know or understand Edward by the end of the book, but one's feeling is that it is the man himself who escapes capture by the biographer's art, not any weakness of the biographer himself. For those interested in such matters - and this is not light reading - Griffith's biography should prove highly satisfying.

The late Charles D. Ross presents here one of the most readable and interesting presentations of of English monarch ever written. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the king or his era-I used it extensively in my senior thesis!

This was a very fun book to read. It was very interesting finding out what the celebrities favorite receipes were. Some were quite tasty too!If you like to find out about celebs then this is the book for you. There was quite a unique range of them.The pictures were very nice too. All in all very enjoyable reading!

I have this audio tape and have almost wore it out I hope that soon it will be published again

It cost me four days to read through it.But it may cost me a lifetime to ruminate .It is really fabulous.

Even without SQUADRON SUPREME, his excellent runs on CAPTAIN AMERICA and QUASAR speak for themselves. But this is one of his finest hours.

This limited series is not the first appearance of the Squadron Supreme; they had shown up in several issues of THE AVENGERS, parodying DC's trademark heroes and "proving" that the Avengers would beat them.

But it was the late, great Mr. Gruenwald who took them and placed them in a superb mini-series that combined comedy, drama, and action with moral arguments.

Even to this day, the questions remain. Who was right--Hyperion or Nighthawk? Where EITHER of them right? And so forth.

Rest in peace, Mr. Gruenwald. After writing this, you've earned it.

Other reviews have mostly summed it up. This story is superb. Mr. Gruenwald is underappreciated genuis. It's unfortunate he, and the Squadron, haven't been appreciated sooner. And, that Mr. Gruenwald didn't get to see his most cherished creation enjoy the recognition and popularity it deserves. The exciting and innovative concepts and ground-breaking devices aside, I enjoyed the heck out of the Hyperion character. With Superman being one of the premier characters of the superhero genre, and practically a pop-culture institution today, it seems odd that unlike other hit characters, he has never seriously been emulated. But it is that very popularity that prevented it. He is so recognizable, writers were just too afraid of being "copycats". Leave it to Gruenwald to have the courage to create his own version of a classic(as well as the rest of JLA), and instill it with it's own identity, and his own unique vision. Not unlike an "ElseWorlds" story, there is much familiar, and much strikingly different. Powers and origin parallel. But Hyperion, like the other Squadron characters, has his own unique quirks, hang-ups, dreams, and ambitions. The story takes the "What-If?" concept to extremes, as Hyperion and the Squadron say and do the things their "original" counterparts wouldn't even think. Fans of Superman and/or JLA should love this, as will any fans of good comic story telling. Don't pass on this one, if you miss it the second time, you may regret it.

I recently bought and read the collection after having read the original limited series back in the 1980s. The late Mr. Gruenwald's storytelling skills and love for the old JLA series continue to shine. I loved some of MG's takes on the classic heroes. How would Superman change his outlook if he abandoned his Clark Kent persona? How would the Golden Age Wonder Woman act if she outlived Steve Trevor and lost her Amazon homeland? Would Batman be more effective on the streets or the White House? We see all kinds of fantastic technology in comics, but what would happen if it was unleashed on the real world? Before Kingdom Come, he had the courage to present the ramifications of great power taking on greater responsibility at the expense of free will. Unlike KC, SS does not get bogged down in dark tones and endless fights, while it still allows the reader to empathize, as well as root for, the Squadron even though they have gone beyond their lawful duty. One wonders what comics would have looked like today if Squadron Supreme had been the big influence instead of Watchmen.

Ralph Kimball has authored a book that deals with providing an end-to-end reference for a Data Warehouse project. Lived up to my expectations based on the word "Lifecycle" in the title of the book. I am not sure if there's another book that's even close to this.

All aspects of project management (Planning, implementation and deployment) are addressed in great detail.

In one of our projects couple of years back, we used sample questions to formulate a 150 question list to be used for live Requirements Gathering. This book as a reference was very useful in that regard.

This book does not talk about data modeling. There is another book on that.

I would recommend this book for any data warehouse project management.

This book is the second in a series from the author and more concisely describes not only data warehouse methods, but also the pitfalls. Most people unfamiliar with data warehousing methods think it is simply "cloning" data. As the president of a company who implements data warehouses, we concur with Mr. Kimball and the fact that data warehousing is a "process" and the users of the data warehouse are the single most important criteria to building it. Mr. Kimball takes you through the difficult task of determining your "readiness" for a data warehouse and walks you through the entire process. This book is not for novices, but rather for the experienced individual(s) interested in exploring methods for implementing a solution that historically has at least a 50% chance of failure before it even begins. This book is an architects blueprint, crystalizing the reasons for such a high failure rate and how to avoid the common pitfalls. It won't build the data warehouse for you, but it should be mandatory reading for anybody involved in a data warehouse project.

After 21 years in software development, which includes managing three data warehouse projects, I had decided to write a book trying to capture whatever wisdom I had accumulated. After reading this book I no longer feel the need to.

This book not only provides detailed techniques for building a data warehouse and managing the process, it also deals with the realities faced in these projects. If you've ever been frustrated with those abstract tomes written by strict methodologists while you were burdened with a tight budget, a dysfunctional company (is that redundant?), immature technology, underskilled technologists and waffling user support -- then this is the book for you. It is filled with recommendations for conducting every phase of the project, yet is always careful to acknowledge that no two projects are alike and there is no one guaranteed blueprint for managing the project.

My only regret is that this book wasn't available before my first data warehouse projects. Although our teams ended up at many of the same conclusions, it was only after a lot of hard thought, insecurity, and trial and error.

If you are going to develop a data warehouse or a data mart, read this book first.

I was undecided if I should buy this book after having read the first edition, but I'm happy I did.
The second edition updates many of the concepts contained in the first and includes some new chapters on hot topics like CRM and Telecommunications (which is the most important sector for dw at least here in Italy where I live).
I think that Kimball books are everything that's needed to design good, robust and flexible data warehouses, and this book maintains his high quality standards.

Data Warehousing is more of an art than a science - but then again what isn't?

There isn't a standard blueprint that can come close to solving most data issues. Data Warehousing (DW) involves constant tweaking and the goal of good DW project management is minimizing the associated operational cost.

I have been a fan of Ralph Kimball as he writes as a person who has been through many implementations. With Mr. Kimball there isn't a miracle cure being touted - stay away from publications that claim such a cure.

Mr. Kimball approached the subject with good advices and encourages the readers to watch out for the pitfalls and follow best-practices in design implementation. It is similar to working with a well experienced supervisor.

The core to successful DW implementations is - LISTENING. Listening to the users on their needs and gauging the software resources available at your disposal.

Trade-offs in design versus cost/performance are a must. You will never have all the resources you need to implement the DW of your dreams. And if you did, chances are very high that once the DW is ready for use the business cases have changed making the design redundant.

Mr. Kimball will help in passing these information and much more. It also goes in good technical detail for suggested modeling of data.

I hope this review is helpful, please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

If you want to understand data warehouse design either as user, architect or developer, you need to read this book cover to cover.

Things I like about this book:

* Coverage of all core principles in dimensional data modeling using examples. Ralph does not just lecture to you -- he shows you how to put it into practice

* Coverage of a vast variety of domains. This alone makes the book a must-read

* Recap of major principles at the end of the book to bring it all together

* Excellent writing -- Ralph does not treat you like a dummy; neither does he assume that you have an IQ north of 200

* When you purchase this book, you are in effect purchasing a sliver of the combined knowledge of both authors in the data warehousing field. Highly recommended

I implemented a data warehouse using some of these principles back in 1999. The project was a resounding success and is the most popular application in the financial services firm that I implemented it in. (Infact when I lost my job at an Internet company, they immediately offered me a job based on this implementation). The only sad part to the whole story is that we made a few mistakes in implementation that are now very difficult to correct because the data warehouse has become core to the business -- we have too many end-user applications riding on it!

I bought this book expecting a breezy account about the making of Batman, but it was a bit diffent to what I expected. The "behind the scenes" parts relating to "Batman" itself were enjoyable. However, I would have preferred a bit more detail, and more about the various guest stars who appeared with Ward and Adam West. Most of the detail related to Ward's injuries, and the Quest to Control His Huge Crotch Bulge! Ward's treatment of West was not particularly kind. He is portrayed as scene-stealer, voyeur, sex-a-holic, and skinflint, among other things (I wonder if they're still speaking?). Much of the middle of the book relates the many sexual escapades of the self-confessed, "reformed" sex addict, Burt Ward. Ward lays the blame for his obsession squarely on Adam West, whom he claims corrupted him. Of his many conquests, Ward goes into some detail regarding his various techniques, which sometimes caused me to feel as though I were eavesdropping in a locker room. He must have slept with the State of California. Even the pest control man lusted after him! The background information about Burt Ward the citizen was OK. Ward appears to have grown up with a "silver spoon in his mouth", which he has now traded for platinum. He provides much information about his life today, which includes photos of his wife dressed up as Wonder Woman, and as a belly dancer. He seems to love her and his daughters very much, and feels that we should, too. His wife, by the way, is Tracey Posner, daughter of Victor Posner the millionaire (or is it billionaire?). We are treated to photos of his father-in-law's corporate bedroom and living room, and bodyguards. Truly faaaaaaascinating. Overall, the impression I had from this book was that I didn't know what my impression of it was. I had the idea that Ward was trying to settle an old score with West in the meanest possible way, while smiling outwardly. Throughout the book, an avalanche of mud was slung upon Adam West. Ward believes he redeems himself by stating much later in the piece, "To be fair, Adam has been married for many years now to a wonderful woman" or words to that effect. It seems to me, however, that Burt Ward's character assasination of Adam West tells me more about Ward himself. -Sheryl Taylor

When I first ran across snippets about Burt Ward's sexual exploits, I took them with a grain of salt (okay, a POUND of salt). After reading the book, I don't doubt any of the stories because of the honesty one can see throughout the tome. Ward tells a convincing story of what it was like to work on a hit 1960's TV show with all of the highs and pitfalls. This book goes a long way in explaining why Adam West still doesn't want to relinquish the bathood. (Anyone who had that many groupies wouldn't likely give up the hood willingly either.)

Anyway, it's a funny book, but only for those who can stand the detailed descriptions of Ward's nocturnal escapades. You'll never see "Batman" in the same light again.

I must disagree with Miss Taylors review. I think she missed the whole point of the book. This was an entertaining book about a young Hollywood TV star who was one of the main draws for the classic Batman and Robin series. I found the book to be very honest and pretty well written as tell alls go. Lets face it: Adam West could have lost a few pounds. He seemed to be seriously testing his Bat Belt. On the other hand, Burt Ward was the young, virile hunk who no doubt caught the eye of many a teenager.If there were "sex-capades" behind the scenes, why not write about them? He would have been dishonest NOT to include such details. Also, if he had problems with West or West's acting, he would have been wrong to leave that out, as well. The fact is: Burt Ward was a star, if not thee star of a cute, entertaining children's show. He was younger and I believe more young people connected with him. He wrote a pretty decent, honest portrayal of his Batman days and he should be applauded for not white washing anything. Any classic Batman and Robin fan should read this book. I think most will enjoy the book and laugh out loud as often as I did