Sam Swope's written a perfect book for any kid who's ever been frustrated and felt those feelings explode inside. And the drawings of illustrator Eric Brace do terrific justice to those wild, out of control feelings kids (actually, all of us) get when we realllllly want to do a certain thing but life has other plans for us. I sent a copy to my nine year old niece in Colorado who especially enjoyed the Krazee characters. She loved it so much she read it every day for a week before school (wow!) and then even read it to her hamster "Sunny Boy" (she noticed his nose really twitching at some of the pictures). All in all a very fun book that even a hamster could enjoy

Before my daughter turned two, everyone warned me, "Beware of the terrible twos!!" "Pooh!" I said and no matter what my 2 year old did I refused to ascribe it to the terrible twos - and you know what? She didn't go through the "Terrible Twos." In fact, what is characteristically taken to be "terrible two" behavior is sometimes how I behave and feel and I'm in my 50"s! And that's why I love this book: because even though I'm in my middle age, I get the Krazees too! Bravo to Sam Swope for admitting he gets them too, because I know that he could never have written this book from memory only!

This book is in large part an attack on the orthodox "Stratfordian" academic 'establishment'; not however from the point of view of someone claiming that a person other than William Shakespeare of Stratford Upon Avon wrote the works of Shakespeare (an impression which the cover picture and title might give at first glance). Rather, Eric Sams accepts that Shakespeare was Shakespeare, so to speak, but claims that the account of the writer's early life and literary development promulgated by 'orthodox" 20th Century British Shakespeare scholars is basically eroneous, and distorted by fashionable, unproved theories. His main claim is that Shakespeare started acting on, and writing for, the stage, much earlier than most modern academics allow, that he wrote plays (and perhaps pamphlets) other than the 'canonical' plays (i.e. those plays included in the First Folio of 1623, plus "Pericles"), and that he frequently revised or rewrote his own plays. In the first few chapters of the book Sams speculates on Shakespeare's early background and upbringing in Stratford. Sams sometimes brings in quotes from the plays to support his view of Shakespeare's early life, and this is perhaps a bit problematic, but on the whole his contentions are pretty convincing, and he persuasively argues that the oral traditions about Shakespeare should be taken seriously, and not simply dismissed as gossip or folk-tales. Sams' main bugbear is probably the 'memorial reconstruction' theory, which holds that the so-called "bad quartos" are the botched piratings of Shakespeare's plays by unscrupulous actors. Sams contends that there is absolutely no evidence for this theory, and instead favours the simpler and more convincing proposition that these "bad quartos" are in fact early versions of these plays by Shakespeare himself, which he later revised. There is much more in this book than I have mentioned above, and it is definitely well worth reading.

1.Eric Sams' The Real Shakespeare constitutes a determined attempt to reconstruct the early part of the playwright's life. It shows Shakespeare not as a late developer but as an early starter who assiduously revised his work and who, in fact, was responsible for early dramas, including apparent source texts, not usually accepted as part of the conventional canon. Clearly the result of much work and contemplation of extant records and other details, The Real Shakespeare looks initially at biographical issues: a Roman Catholic Shakespeare leaves school, probably at the age of thirteen, to help with family farm chores, becomes involved (as a clerk) with the legal profession (hence the character of his hand-writing), marries Anne Hathaway (already pregnant), and departs soon after for London to escape the consequences (whipping, at the least) of poaching deer owned by the influential, anti-catholic Sir Thomas Lacy. In London, Sams asserts, Shakespeare makes his connection with the Shoreditch Theatre, working his way up the proverbial ladder as ostler, call-boy, prompter and soon becomes a Queen's Man far earlier than Schoenbaum et al. are inclined to allow (58). 2.Biographical issues, however, cannot be detached from literary matters (which particularly dominate the second part of the book), and Sams, in looking at the Bard's young life, also takes into account the work and comments of contemporaries (e.g., Marlowe, Greene, Nashe, Spenser, et al.), the Parnassus plays, and Willobie his Avisa (1594) before turning to the Sonnets, the association with the 3rd Earl of Southampton, and the problem of the dedication in the first edition. He then moves to a consideration of the "early style" and ascription of both the 1589 and 1603 (Q1) Hamlet to Shakespeare, as well as A Shrew (c.1588), The Troublesome Reign of King John (c.1588), the first part of the Contention...(1594), and The True Tragedies of Richard... (1595); also offered as possible candidates for canonical authority are Faire Em and Locrine (of which there is, indeed, pace Sams, p.166, a modern edition). Attention is also given to bad quartos and the matter of memorial reconstruction, source-plays, derivative plays, dating, "collaboration," so-called "stylometry," and handwriting (a script, Sams suggests, of a law clerk suggesting links to the hand of Edmund Ironside [c.1588]). Curiously, for this strongly argued book, which contends in a detailed way with the conclusions of much twentieth-century scholarship (references to contrary opinion are carefully included), there is no concluding chapter, and the reader is left to pull the threads together. However, by way of addendum, Sams provides a section headed "The Documents 1500-1594," 205 biographical details and citations in chronological order, which under-pin especially the reconstruction of the early (Schoenbaum's "lost") years; and a bibliography (with + and * marks denoting items which support or counter Sam's arguments). An index concludes the volume. 3.It is always important to review evidence for conventional knowledge, to challenge the validity of accepted views, and to suggest plausible solutions to bothersome problems. Yet, at times, the greater wisdom, unfortunately, lies in uncertainty, in being sure of what one can and cannot know, and in Shakespearean scholarship, the fields of speculation are rather broad. Given the available documentation, many readers will find some of Sams' arguments, while intriguing, still unconvincing and will prefer to rest with the more cautious approach of Schoenbaun, Vickers, Wells, and others. The academic community has not blindly or wilfully rejected solid evidence, and should not be reproached for what might appear, to some critics, to be tradition-bound precepts or unduly conservative empiricism. 4.Could Shakespeare have known about ostlers and law-clerks without being an ostler or a law-clerk? Probably? Did he write Locrine? Almost certainly not -- given the style, and if he did, why did he not revise it? If Shakespeare was the dedicated reviser Sams claims that he was, why did he not rework the questionable scenes in Titus and Pericles? Were all the source plays (e.g., King Lear and Famous Victories) really by Shakespeare? Doubt could enter here. Does revision necessarily or "normally" mean that the resulting work will manifest two separate styles? No, it does not; though the reference to the Brahms' piano trio (Op.8) on p.187 is interesting, it does not, I think sufficiently support the general point. And what is the difference between an "ordinary" reader of Shakespeare and other kinds of readers (105)? Is one to infer that academic readers and textual editors lose some sensitivity? 5.Certainly, Sams' The Real Shakespeare will shake the scholarly stage a little, which is not a bad thing. But I should guess that, when the tremors have subsided, many -- perhaps most -- of the props will be more or less where they were before and others, which would be nice to have -- some certainty about the early years, for instance -- will still be absent.

Sams' argument has not been accepted by the 'academic establishment', but in my opinion the case which he makes in this book that "Edmund Ironside" is an early Shakespeare play, is very strong.

The idea that the author of the Shakespeare-folio suddenly started writing masterworks is at last proven to be nonsense. Eric Sams makes the case for Edmund Ironside being an early Shakespeare-play so masterly, that only the very stubborn (& the very stupid) can harbour any doubt after reading "Shakespeare's Lost Play". All the same, "Edmund Ironside" stinks, and should (I hope) never be performed on stage. But this monstrosity is fascinating reading-matter, written by a very young and unexperienced bard, who started, just like any other normal being, his professional career not simply by being the best, but at the bottom, by trying - and failing many times. It makes the author of Shakespeares works almost human! This book shouldn't be missed by any serious Shakespeare-student; Eric Sams shows how authorship can and should be proven - and how opponents should be silenced. That Sams apparently completed this study without the benefit of a computer opens new horizons for humanity!

A great insight into one of the world's most capable, and deadly fighting force. The book takes you from Israel's Special forces infancy, to today's complex, and secretive world of Isarel's most elite units. It's a must read for anyone interested in the military, Israel, terrorism, espionage, or real-life action.

This book is proposed for the experienced programmers who are not necessarily familiar with .NET. The book introduces the fundamentals of Web technology in a straightforward and crisp way. This book is also perfect for programmers who have basic knowledge in programming languages such as Visual Basic, C/C++, Jscript and Java, who may or may not have Web programming experience.this book is clearly defined, in-depth, example-rich, provides a hands on guide to Fundamentals of Web Applications Using .NET and XML. Using real-world examples and a detailed case study, this book helps you master the Web Programming using .NET.

Ms. Sams and Mr. Berman have written an impressive survey of peacekeeping efforts in Africa. Their book looks insightfully at the efforts of the UN, African regional organizations and ad hoc groups and offers a fresh perspective on the successes and failures of these past inititatives. I especially enjoyed their recommendations...and judging by recent comments by many policy makers, I wasn't the only one! This is a must-read for anyone interested in this area, whether they are policy makers or just interested in the topic.

Schlesinger and Musich teamed up to write e-Job Hunting to help members of the online community to successfully find employment through the use of Internet technology. They offer in-depth resume style and writing instruction, career planning, self-evaluation, online interviewing instruction, and a number of highly effective job search strategies.

Readers will find helpful instruction on how to write and otherwise prepare resumes for posting online. Effective word selection, grammar, formatting, layout, type faces, content, length, scannability, and the methods of posting resumes are important considerations covered in good detail in this book.

The authors of e-Job Hunting do a commendable job of identifying and evaluating the major and most helpful job board sites such as monster.com, careerpath.com, careerbuilder.com, careermosaic.com, and so on. Additional sites, publications, and topics discussed in the book offer a wealth of further job seeking guidance.

This handy guide is a good place to start in the job searching process. It covers all the bases. Readers will learn a lot about themselves and the kind of employment that is best suited for them. This is essential reading for anyone serious about finding a good job and perhaps a new career doing something they want to do!

I agree with many of the reviewers below that this book was helpful and often interesting. It gives a readable orientation to one of the most important movements in the software industry today, and the editors have been fortunate to gather together so many contributors who obviously know whereof they speak. In particular, the editors' Introduction, Eric Raymond's "Brief History of Hackerdom," Richard Stallman's account of GNU and FSF, Bruce Perens's discussion of Open Source, and Tim O'Reilly's essay on "Infoware" were informative and thought-provoking.

That said, it should be noted that the Amazon reviewer above gets it wrong when she writes that the book gives a "fascinating look at the raging debate." In fact, *nothing* about Open Source is debated in this book, which is a major disappointment. As the reviewer from Princeton below notes, the goodness of everything Open Source and the badness of everything Microsoft seems to be a given for many of the writers. At the risk of criticizing the book for not being something its creators didn't intend, I think it would be greatly improved with the addition of a wider range of viewpoints and even a dissenting voice or two. (There are a number of essays that could give place to some alternate content: Eric Raymond's second essay, "The Revenge of the Hackers," leans heavily toward the self-congratulatory, as does the Netscape cheerleaders' "Story of Mozilla." And Larry Wall's "Diligence, Patience, and Humility" seems to have been included not on its own merits but on the author's reputation as the Perl Deity.)

A final wish is for the book to address a broader range of readers. As a longtime computer user but a relatively new programmer, with no formal business training, I found many of the essays to rely heavily on the jargon of hackers and MBAs. More editorial control here, in addition to a broader range of content, would make this book seem less like preaching to the choir and more effective at spreading the Open Source gospel.

This is a good idea on O'Reilly's part to try to document the history and goals of the Open Source movement, which had roots in several college campuses and research labs in the '70s and '80s, and became news in the late '90s with the popularity of Linux, Apache, and the decision of Netscape to open its browser source. The best introductory piece, however, is probably Eric Raymond's "Cathedral and the Bazaar" which is not in this book(O'Reilly publishes it separately, but it's available free on the Web and short enough to be read in one sitting). As for this collection, I liked Robert Young's business case for distributing open source - his story of how Red Hat was launched reminds me of the Compaq tale of "three guys in a restaurant". The Apache article is also quite good, and Linus Torvalds offers a brief but interesting (and characteristically opinionated) article about how Linux evolved technically. There's also a good article discussing the various open source licenses (BSD, GPL, Netscape, etc) and what they do and don't restrict.

Others I was less impressed with. Stallman's article is predictable and self-serving. He explains how he evolved his software-as-gift philosophy but doesn't come close to terms with how the software industry can support substantial employment if all source is given away. There's yet another history of the different branches of BSD Unix. There's a breathtaking inside account of the launch of Mozilla which ends with the fancy Silicon Valley party when development has finally gotten underway. The low point is Larry Wall's "essay", which is a frankly ridiculous waste of time and print.

Although this is a mixed bag, there's enough reference material and interesting points of view to keep the book around.

Open Sources is a collection of essays by people who have been involved in a prominent way in what is being called "the open source revolution." The authors are all very bright people with good intentions and diverse viewpoints; this makes for interesting reading. However, I had a problem with the introduction. In fact, I hated it. It attempts to couch the issue of free vs. non-free software in religious terms: in the bad old days, free software only came from universities or other government-funded research. Then, a few companies saw the light and began to open-source their software; currently the industry is divided between these companies (the saved) and the rest of the companies (the damned) who will spiral into oblivion due to their proprietary selfishness. I thought the presence of this sort of rhetoric in the introduction, which sets the tone for the rest of the book, was particularly unfortunate.

The essays in Open Sources are a mixed bag. Kirk McKusick's history of Berkeley UNIX is great, as is Michael Tiemann's history of Cygnus Solutions, RMS's article about the GNU project, and Bruce Perens' article about licensing issues. Also, I really enjoyed the transcript of the infamous 1992 flame war between Linus and Andy Tanenbaum about the merits of Linux vs. Minix. On the other hand, Paul Vixie's article about software engineering is pretty random, Larry Wall's article does not seem to have a point at all, and Eric Raymond's

second article and Tom Paquin's account of the open-sourcing of Netscape are too self-serving to be useful.

Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. However, the year that has passed since its publication has exposed some of the more outlandish predictions made by its contributors (Eric Raymond said that Windows 2000 would either be canceled or be a complete disaster). My guess is that Open Sources is not destined to become a classic. Rather, in a few years it will be viewed as an interesting but somewhat naive period piece.

This may be a good book if you need a complete introduction to IPv6 (the first half of the book) and some Cisco specific configuration details (the second half).

I agree that it's easy to read and seems to be well organised, but it is certainly not well written.

There are numerous errors throughout the book ranging from the trivial to the totally misleading, and many IPv6 concepts are repeated as nauseum in the first half suggesting that they were written by different authors without consulting one another before the book was published. Worse, it seems to have been rushed out without any overall proof reading.

No specific target audience seems to have been kept in mind - if you need an explanation of how to convert decimal to hex (pages 122 - 124) then perhaps this book isn't your first priority.

If you want to know more about IPv6 in Cisco IOS I recommend you look elsewhere - especially to the authoritative guide from Cisco Press by Regis Desmeules.

I give this book three stars for the Cisco IOS specific material, but only two for the general IPv6 material.

Configuring IPv6 with Cisco IOS

I found this book to be excellent reading. It covers enough to help you understand IPv4 and carry that over to IPv6 very adaquately. I have to say I have a technical library of over 300 books and manuals, and this is a welcome addition. It is definitley the best book I've read on IPv6, and know that I will have it around for reference for some time. It is very well written adn organized.

I am a proffesional Internet Security Expert, and find this book Configuring IPv6 with Cisco IOS to be very helpful in understanding what to expect in the new version of IP.

I recommend the book to anyone who is serious about IT, and wants to be on top of the game.

If you're a devotee of the solo Gesänge und Lieder of Johannes Brahms, you will find this book very valuable indeed.

The author analyzes 212 of Brahms's songs - all 196 that Brahms published in opus-numbered sets, the eight resettings of Op. 103 Zieguenerlieder quartets for solo voice, and eight works without opus numbers. Not included are any of the many Deutsche Volkslieder set by Brahms.

For each song, the author provides the German text and a prose English translation. The translations are especially well done; by doing them in prose, the author is able to more faithfully render the meaning of the German than would be the case were the translation to be restricted by the requirements of English rhyme and meter.

Each translation is followed by a non-technical discussion of the song, generally in one or two paragraphs but occasionally longer. These describe the musical structure of the song and the methods that Brahms used to convey his meaning; occasionally there is also a brief bit of background on the circumstances of the song's composition.

For each song, there then follow a more technical notes section, in which the author identifies the source of the text, identifies recurring motifs that Brahms used in his songs (an introductory chapter describes these motifs), references other settings of the same text by other composers, and sometimes describes early reactions to the song by Brahms's friends or fellow musicians.

The analyses illustrate the author's deep understanding of this marvelous literature and have greatly enhanced both my knowledge and appreciation of this superb body of work. The principal omission, and the reason I rate the book only four stars, is the complete absence of musical quotations - except for a few in the introductory "Motifs" chapter - in spite of the fact that in his analyses, the author often refers to specific measures by number. To fully appreciate the author's insights, therefore, you will need access to scores. (Fortunately, Dover publishes a very affordable four-volume set of the complete Brahms songs, available from Amazon.)