If you have programmed in another language before, but not Delphi, this is the book for you. After a quick overview of general programming concepts, Pascal data types, etc., it goes into a thorough description of the Delphi 3 language and features. I did wish that it had more info on database programming--5 chapters wasn't enough for me!

This is one of my favorite Delphi 3 books, as it covers material not easily found elsewhere. This is not a beginner's book by any means. The coverage of DLLs, COM, and threading is outstanding. This is a book for those who want to delve more deeply into the relationships between VCLs and the WinAPI.

I purchased this book with a view to learning more about OLE and COM which is covered very comprehensively. But I found that once I started reading the other chapters I could not put the book down. Some people have commented that this book is a poor teaching aid. This is not what this book sets out to do. QUE's guide puts this book at Accomplished to Expert level. If you are an experienced, professional programmer who needs an excellent reference book, buy this. You will not regret it.

The collected essays in this book are reliable but rather drearily written. The biggest growth area of Shakespeare studies, namely, Shakespeare and film, is here totally unrepresented. This is a shame, as the new Folger Library Shakespeare film electronic archive will only make Shakespeare and film more central.

This is the book i have waited for; it has authoritative essays on the critical conditions of Shakespeare's art. His artistry is recognized but not mystified, and the intellectual and social circumstances in which his works were written and received are here brilliantly made visible. Terrific!!

This companion offers original, fascinating essays from prominent historians and literary critics who situate Shakespeare not in the context of 20th-century America, but in that of 16th- and 17th-century England. No, it does not include studies of Shakespeare in film, but Shakespeare had been dead for close to 300 years before film's invention. Rather, these essays address the material conditions in which Shakespeare actually wrote and performed, a history much more difficult to write, but one that has been achieved with the greatest of success here. I particularly recommend the essays by Lake, Hackel, Platt, Howard, Knutson, Dutton, Long, Bland, and Clegg.

I agree with the reviewers who say this book is less than complete. Very sketchy descriptions. Fromer's guide is MUCH BETTER.

This guide was a present for our 40th anniversary. We found it very useful and highly recommend it to other travelers who wish to learn more about our national parks. We didn't even know about many of the parks that are included.

My wife and I found the Scott's guide to be an excellent reference during our first try at visiting the national parks. Especially worthwhile is the coverage of many small areas that are included. We highly recommend this book and the accompanying guide to the eastern park areas.

In contrast to the above reviewer, I would contend that Kastan's Shakespeare After Theory suffers from comparison with the early work of David Beckham in the field. Of course, the late Beckham (his "Posh" period) is derivative, messianic, and self-indulgent; simply put, he now lacks the clear focus upon the material conditions of Early Modern (oh, that loaded periodization!) textual production that Kastan has rendered de rigeur for the student of English Literature. But Beckham's often forgotten - and now, sadly, out of print - early book on the theatricality of popular sports and pastimes provides the missing link between, say, Greenblatt's performing subjects and Kastan's subjected performers.

This is a smart, sophisticated, and stylish book that rescues Shakespeare from self-regarding criticism and delivers him safely to his readers. Kastan uses theory to move beyond theory, history to move beyond historicism; Shakespeare emerges here as interestingly as he has appeared in criticism for several decades. This is an important book that everyone who cares about Shakespeare should read.

This is a terrific book, agile, witty, canny, worthy of Comparison with Figo and Zidane rather than with that poseur Beckham). run out and buy it, cuz you'll be unable to participate in the pub Buzz without it.

The book is of very limited value for any company outside the US. All explanations are given with regard to US laws and regulations.

This book is an invaluable reference for any business owner or advisor contemplating the use of stock options to improve a company's performance, motivate employees and create an ownership culture. The National Center for Employee Ownership, the impetus behind this book, is a national treasure, as far as I'm concerned. Their mandate is to democratize the workplace to best reflect the demands and dynamics of the 21st Century Global Economy. This book uniquely addresses everything a company needs to consider regarding stock options: the business, financial, accounting, legal, securities and human resources/organizational development aspects. You cannot find a better resource or more accessible book in the stock options arena.

Excellent book. Though the title doesn't sound as hot as "Ectrepreneu's guide to equity", it covers much more and in depth with the same price. It covers all the pros and cons and tax issues for stock option and empolyee stock ownership plan and other incentive plans. The bottom line, after reading the book, you won't be any more confused about each plan. To an employee, it is very helpful in deciding if you want to stay with present employer or change to another one with a better incentive plan. To an entreprenur, this is the Bible. It will benefit your business and your staff enoumously. I wish I had bought this book first. It could have saved me time and money in shipping $ handling fees and returing back to Amazon the "Entrepreneu's Guide to Equity"

This is an important volume, if for no other reason than that it will--for better or worse--undoubtedly become the standard history of early English drama. However, the volume's slavish devotion to postmodernist sensibilities underlie the majority of material and make for a few terribly skewed pieces. Did you know, for example, that early modern playwrights very seldom actually wrote their plays? This volume assures us that the plays instead usually emerged through the semi-mystical process of "collaboration" that has become a buzz-word for postmodernist critics. Most of those apparently thematically unified and rhetorically tight Renaissance plays were actually the result of various pens and voices chiming in with whatever they felt was appropriate. Terribly impressive.

If you are a student or devotee of early English drama, you need to have this book on your shelf if for no other reason than that you will be referred to its articles time and again in subsequent scholarship. You are almost obligated to read them. Fortunately, you are not obligated to be convinced by them.

This is the best companion to Renaissance Drama we have. It is nothing less than a revolutionary account of the conditions of writing, producing, and experiencing the plays of Shakespeare's age. The individual essays are clearly written, learned, often ground-breaking in their impact--but it is the totality of this book that is most impressive, allowing us to see the great achievement of the English Renaissance through the defining contexts of its production and performance. Wow!

Could be titled "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know." This is unquestionably the best book about Renaissance Drama ever put together: authoritative essays, brilliantly organized, in a book that changes the shape of the field--hopefully forever.

Some nice pictures and does provide the Zen philosophy, but cannot be used to provide ideas nor gives a "how-to" to implement the Zen design into your home environment.

When I realized I had borrowed this book 6 times from the local library I decided it was time to buy it. Not encyclopedic, but captures the spirit and the tone with lots of nice ideas to fit into whatever you are doing at the moment. Graceful and thought provoking with beautiful pictures. This is not step-by-step how-to-look-Zen. This is how Zen feels when it touches the things around you.

As a beginner decorator in Zen design, this booked helped me understand the concept behind why Zen is Zen, and how I can incorporate this into my home decorating. If you want a more indepth look at the meaning behind Zen decorating, while giving you ideas along the way, this is the book for you.

Scott Cunningham was a devotee of the neo-pagan religion called Wicca. He wrote many pulp fiction pieces, and loved his mother and father. He never caused any trouble in school. He was loved by everybody except those darn fundamentalist christians. Instead of phallic worship, he chosed the path of vagina worship. He died in worse shape than Aleister Crowley.

Is that it? Did I get it all right?

This book is not a gritty biography of a man. It's a typical gloss-over martyring of a man, who indeed added on to the wiccan religion. I admire Scott Cunningham for the simple fact that he was practical in the approach of the modern-day wicca path. His wicca wasn't the psuedo-historic, dungeons and dragons gothic fare that most wiccans cling to for validity. He was honest and straight-forward about "the craft."

However, for a survey on the mans life, Harrington and Regula could've done much better in bringing out some warts. I bought the book at a time when I was exploring wicca as a definitive religious home for me. Scott Cunningham appealed because he was so... nice, I guess. Now, it's a little too fruity for me. Take for example the picture of the black cat and the Flying Witch boardgame. If this doesn't make you laugh for hours, ya don't have the stones to call yourself a man. This is precisely why I eventually drifted away from the wicca. Too much camp, too many knick-knack collectors, and frankly, why celebrate an ancient earth deity (which one? oh! I get to pick one!) with rip-off Golden Dawn/masonic rituals???

Otherwise, it's a nice, loving biography of a religious man who believed fervently in his chosen deity.

... but most of all, it made me understand one of the most beloved Pagan authors of our time. Written with many personal stories of Scott's and his friends', it details Mr. Cunningham's life from birth to how his death affected the Pagan community. I found this book very complete and informative about a man I admire deeply and whose work helped lead me to the path I follow today. Most of all, it showed how Scott was human like the rest of us. He was humble, loved the Goddess deeply, and wanted his work to be the best it could possibly be. The recounting of his death is particularly touching and handled well. A section of photographs show Scott at various times in his life including photos of Hawaii, a board game he created, and his books. The book ends with the complete text of his booklet "A Formula Book of Magical Incenses and Oils", a complete list of his writings, Cunningham's astrological chart, and notes from one of his workshops. If you are a fan of Cunningham's work, do yourself a favor and pick this book up to learn more about this great man and his life. Bright blessings.

This book goes into the life of Scott Cunningham, explaining where his beliefs came from, and why he was the man he was. It is a touching look at a brilliant man. Scott has influenced many new Wiccans on a solitary path, letting them know that you don't need a Coven to be a Wiccan.

Historian David Yelverton takes a long overdue look at Scott's Discovery expedition, the first significant attempt to probe the interior of that great southern continent. He pays great attention to Scott's difficulties in securing funds, crew, supplies and so forth. And, of course, Yelverton writes at length on the Discovery herself, an leaky craft that would have never made it south were it not for the constant struggle at the pumps. There is also a good deal on the cooperative effort with the Germans (!) on making often difficult magnetic observations, one of the principal reasons for the expedition in the first place.

This book is an absolute must for anyone interested in the history of the Antartic continent, Scott and, to a lesser degree, Shackleton. It is, without question, the most complete review of the Discovery expedition.

Although Scott's disaster in 1912 overshadows the Discovery effort, it could be said (and this is the point of "Unveiled") that there was much more meaningful work accomplished during this 1901-03 expedition.

Most readers will find "Unveiled" ponderous a times, although that is to be expected in a work of this depth and precision. I was disappointed with the occasional childish snipes at Roland Huntford's monumental "Last Place on Earth," a book that is a sore point with Scott's many fans. It's too bad that writers on Antarctic exploration feel as if they have to be one side of the fence or the other. Scott accomplished more than most other polar explorers -- but he also made many, many blunders.

But, in the main, "Antartic Unveiled" is worth looking into.

Recent writings on Antarctic exploration have not been kind to Scott's leadership. If you're interested in a different look at the man (to some degree) and the first (Discovery) expedition try this book. The author gives one a sense of life on the expedition and takes one along through daily life on the ship, over the winter and on the sledging journies. Heavy on detail and a bit too focused on 'righting the wrongs' of Huntford, etc., the result seems an extremely well-researched view of the scientific goals and results of the expedition. (And, perhaps the author can be forgiven for the emphasis on righting wrongs--previous works have certainly emphasized contrary views.) I've long felt that viewing the turn-of-the-century expeditions through today's 'lens' is problematic. Scott and the others were English men of their time and subject to those values, just as we are products of our time. I recommend the work to those interested in a detailed view of that first expedition, how its course affected the Terra Nova expedition, and a different view of the explorers and the expedition--placed in their time.

I thought this would be useful in planning my trip through Nevada and northern California, and I read the book thinking, "Wow, this is a really in-depth guide!"; but when I actually got to my destinations, I found it to be essentially worthless. It tells you what cities are in California and Nevada (may as well just buy a map), and the names of some restaurants and accomodations (which you find out anyway, once you're there.) And since the book gives you no idea about how good or bad the accomodations are, what's really the point? I could find the same information (or better) online, for free. One thing I do like about the guide: the boxed asides often give entertaining and interesting information about a certain place or activity. But for the most part, I don't find Lonely Planet guides to be useful for the way I travel.

A side note about accomodations: for Caliente, NV, they name "Caliente Hot Springs Motel" as being one of the few places to stay. What they don't mention is that it's totally disgusting. Trust me, I once worked there. What kind of useful guide book is this if they don't tell you what motels have cigarette burns in the sheets and 20-year-old grunge on the walls?

A few wrong turns here and there but generally essential Lonely Planet quality throughout. A good overview. Well written.

Lonely Planet shows the little Calirfornia towns in detail. Towns like Arcata, Chico, Merced to name a few. Others like Fodors dont do this. Great and in depth.