eWorld was once a great online service. Too bad we can't use it any more. This book really makes it feel like old times again.

eWorld was a great online service provider. I read this book... And, I love it. I still keep a copy of eWorld on my PowerMac 6500 and my PowerBook 1400... I think that Apple should bring eWorld back... Until they do, this book can help you see the "eWorld Light".

eWorld was great and whoever had the privilige on having the online service should consider grabbing a copy.

Just returned from the Czech & Slovak Republics and found this book invaluable. Excellent, correct descriptions of localities. Useful to those of us who drove the country and trained too. The mini phrase section is all you need, so don't buy a separate phrasebook. Those going to Prague should also buy the DK travel guide for that city which is excellent and colorful.

Sadly, I ran out of time to explore the Slovak Republic, something I hope to do the next time I go into Eastern Europe. So I can only attest to the Czech republic portion of this book. I found it extremely useful, especially in planning my trips outside of Prague, though it does contain a good portion about Prague. One of the best suggestions was to include a visit to Litomerice after the somber tour of Terezin. I didn't take the advice on booking ahead on my trip to Cesky Krumlov and spent about an hour finding a place to stay and I went late May. Not speaking any Czech beyond hello and thank you, I had a lot of trouble with the Czech train system, especially outside of Prague. I found the bus system to be better than the Czech train system since you could buy a ticket on the bus as you boarded and the bus drivers were friendlier to me than the ladies at the ticket windows at the Main Train station in Prague and in Cesky Budjovice (where my train to Cesky Krumlov was early and I didn't understand when it showed up, so I took a bus instead) Either way, it is extremely inexpensive to travel around the country, so at the very least take a few day trips outside of Prague, if not longer trips. I was lucky this new edition came out months before my trip. Another great guidebook by Lonely Planet. As for an earlier review, Prague Castle counts as a museum, so its closed on Mondays.

I bought this book because I couldn't find the Prague book in time (I live in France). Plus I like more of a country history instead of just city history. As an experienced traveler, I can say that overall this book is good. It's hotel suggestions must have been good because they were all full. The maps were very nice. The restaurant suggestions were great. Only a few complaints: It didn't tell us that the castles are closed on Mondays (we found out when we saw the big CLOSED sign on the castle). Also there is not much info on tipping. The book said 5-10% yet EVERY restaurant added at least 20%. I got the impression the book hadn't been really updated since the previous version.

This is really a good book for Java Developers who wish to develop XML based applications. Couple of chapters have good examples and explains concepts in a very clear format. Also the book is upto date with all the latest concepts in XML world.

I have been working with XML for a while now, and this book offered a great coverage of most aspects of what XML application developers need to know. I am not able to keep up with everything happening in this very broad part of the industry - and this book provided enough coverage of the areas I'm not able to focus on on a regular basis to help me stay current. I'd recommend it for anyone who's working with specific areas within XML and want to stay current with the broader scope of what is going on. I'd also recommend it for anyone who is new to XML and wants to know the various Java APIs out there.

This is surely one of the Best Books availale in Market for Java Developers. I have been waiting to read a Book which covers all the latest XML API and how use them using latest Java Tools. Thanks to Wrox Publications for bringing this book to us. It covers how to do XML programming using all the latest Java API line I/O Sockets, Developing Presentation Logic, Developing Configuration and Deployment logic, Using XML in B2B applications. In short no other book in Market provides such a clear understanding of how to develop Java Based XML Applications.

Also it clearly explains how to use the latest Java Based XML Parsers like Xerces, Xalan and more. Friends if you need to get upto date with all the latest Java Based Parsers and different XML API, then this Book is really the Best one.

GURPS: Who's Who I - the first volume of a (currently) two volume set of some of history's greatest and worst characters, make 52 people from history come to life for your GURPS and gaming campaigns.

Although another reviewer has listed all the characters that are covered by this book, it should be noted that they are not in alphabetical order in the book. Rather, they are in time period order, making it slightly harder to find a specific character unless you already have a good idea of when that character lived. Admittedly, there is a good Table of Contents and a good Index should you wish to find specific people who were written up using the GURPS RPG system for this book.

The book covers people who lived in the Ancient World and Dark Ages, The Middle Ages, The Renaissance, and the modern era. There are two small appendixes in the back that cover a few other characters and how the GURPS game mechanics were used to recreate these famous and infamous people.

And that is the strength of this book. These people were real people from history. It is very enlightening to see how real people are seen when measuring up to GURPS standards. Most people, when making themselves as a player character, or when creating historical NPC's for campaigns, tend to overestimate the amount of points that would be necessary to create that character.

There are also adventure seeds for each character, as well as a small group of people who never were that changed the history of their worlds. These "alternate earths" make a wonderful addition to this book, showing how history could be changed in strange ways by only one person.

I'd highly recommend this book to GURPS GM's that have historically based campaigns, and recommend this book to any student of history that might want to try to recreate a historical figure for another campaign. Non-GURPS GM's wil find the character stats fairly easy to convert to their favorite systems.

Note that these are 'most intriguing', not necessarily 'most influential', although many of them were pivotal historical figures. This book is interested in characters who would be fun and interesting in games - not just 'remove this person and the world would change forever'.

The book lists them in chronological order. In alphabetical order, they are: Akhenaten, Alexander the Great, Alexius I, Aristotle, Boudica, Tycho Brahe, Aaron Burr, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Byron, Julius Caesar, Chaucer, Ch'in Shih Huang Ti, Clive of India, "Two-Gun" Cohen, Constantine the Great, Cortes, Cromwell, Cyrus the Great, Darwin, David ben-Jesse, da Vinci, John Dee, Catherine di Medici, Alberto Santos Dumont, Einstein, Elizabeth I, Harald Hardradi, Ibn Battuta, Joan of Arc, Justinian I, Kipling, Leif Eriksson, Lovecraft, William Marshal, Mata Hari, Lola Montez, Mozart, Emperor Norton, Paracelsus, Peter the Great, Richelieu, Bartholomew Roberts, Shakespeare, Sei Shonagon, Tesla, Theodora, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Harriet Tubman, Vlad the Impaler, Xenophon, Shaka Zulu.

On the front cover of this edition are shown (clockwise from upper left, starting below the title): "Two-Gun" Cohen, Ahkenaten, Lovecraft, John Dee, Bartholomew Roberts, Mata Hari, ?, ?, Kipling, and Justinian.

Each character is profiled at a specific point in his or her life, with character generation information as well as a brief (usually 2-page) biography. The authors are careful to note which statistics need to be modified if the character is to be younger or older, or if you choose to use a different spin than GURPS did. A sidebar is generally included as well, speculating on how tampering with this character would change history.

For instance, the basic profile of Akhenaten just states that he's ugly. (The picture on the cover is incredibly flattering, compared with some statues.) Some of the alternate possibilities then listed are: Marfan's syndrome (add Bad Sight), Froelich's syndrome (add Sterile and figure out who fathered his children), a woman (add Secret, account for the kids), eunuch (possible Secret, again account for the kids). If you've never heard of him, he is the legendary heretic pharaoh, husband of Nefertiti; Tut succeeded him. If he had never lived, or had died young, Egypt might have continued as a strong empire for a much longer time, but the history of the world's religions might be quite different.

The GURPS basic profiles here are fairly neutral and objective (for instance, while they'll tell you how to put an Illuminated conspiracy-theory spin on a character, the base profile statistics don't make that kind of assumption).

Other books that might interest you:

- For examples of a *really* Illuminated Burton and Ch'in Shi Huang Ti, try Robert Doherty's _Area 51_ novels.

- For Emperor Norton (the first and only Emperor of the United States), see Neil Gaiman's _Brief Lives_ and (for a cameo, not mentioned in Who's Who) Barbara Hambly's _Ishmael_.

- Terry Pratchett's Leonard da Quirm is an even closer parody of da Vinci than he seems, once you've read about da Vinci's eccentricities. (See especially Pratchett's _Jingo_.)

- For a time-travelling spin on Caesar, try _The Cleopatra Crisis_ by Simon Hawke.

- For women in the Montez mold, try Rex Stout's _Under the Andes_.

This is another great resource book for GURPS. You know, if you are a medium-time GURPS player, it is often intriguing to figure out a normal person or even a historical one in atributes, advantages and disadvantages, skills, etc. This book just hands you out lots of information on those historical figures so you can know how much you should fear them (or not!). Well, anyway, i just loved this book, and i sure would advise you to seize the opportunity!

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.

Let's just say if you have lot of time, you can try using method described in the book. But for lot of people in business of delivering the products in time, this may not be a good book to get influence from. There are some interesting examples in there that may be useful, but using as a reference....hmmmm.....think twice. There was an article published in ACM Interactions magazine while ago where they reviewed using OVID method, and they also came into same conclusion: high learning curve and implementation time was too long.

Book itself was simple to read, well at least for me. There are lot of examples, but I found them inconsistent. You may want to try IBM's website to get more information on OVID if you don't want to buy the book.

The following quotes are from the cover of the book:

"This book is of critical importance in our endeavors to leverage different world views in order to successfully develop software in combination with users, user interface designers, and programmers. I plan to incorporate this approach in my own work and hope you will see the worth of this in your work also."

Dr. Brad Cox, Author of Object-Oriented Programming: an Evolutionary Approach, George Mason University

"The effective translation of an understanding of the user into highly usable product design is one of the most significant challenges in the information technology industry. OVID directly addresses this challenge by defining a new, comprehensive approach that is based on solid, object-oriented methods."

Karel Vredenburg, Corporate Team Lead for User-Centered Design, IBM

"This is a very good book for introducing programmers to object-oriented GUI style, especially for applying programmers' object notations to OO GUI style. This is one of the rare sources on the critical topic of how to represent object "views" in those notations."

Tom Dayton, Senior Usability Engineer, Sun Microsystems Usability Labs & Services

"There has long been a need for a method which integrates Object Oriented Design of applications and their GUIs. This is it."

Paul Brebner, Software Research Engineer, CSIRO Land and Water, Australia

"Object-oriented interface design is an excellent way to bridge the gap between task data and fully realized systems. Object, view and interaction design (OVID) methodology provides indispensable guidance on bridging that gap successfully."

Christopher R. Hale, Senior Human Factors Engineer, Intel Corporation

User interface design has long been a mysterious area for many software developers. OVID blends the art and science of user-centered interface design and usability with the familiar and structured methodologies of Object-Oriented Design. I will use this book in my consulting work, seminars, and courses--and know its practical approach will be very well-received.

Theo Mandel, Ph.D., Interface Design/Usability Consultant, Interface Design and Development, Author of "The Elements of User Interface Design" and "The GUI-OOUI War"

"At the beginning of this decade, Don Norman characterized usability as 'the next competitive frontier.' Here at the end of the decade, OVID arms user interface designers for that competition, offering a series of proven design methods presented in a cogent framework, with the user kept at the center."

Randolph G. Bias, Manager, Usability Engineering, BMC Software, Inc., co-editor of "Cost-Justifying Usability".

John Scott gives us the reader an interesting point of view of Stalin's Soviet Union. His epic journey is not one to bew taken lkightly. He was in an era when disillusionment was high -- the Great Depression and he believed in the fream of work, even in the figid vastlands of the Urals. Scott gives a good account of what wlife was like, but the book goes by either very quickly or very slowly and does not capture a medium of speed that is accpetable to some readers. However, it is a brittlant account of first hand experence if you are looking for suh an account, Scott is your man.

This is a great first hand accont of Stalinism at work. John Scott five year experience in Russia gives us a fairly good overview of some of the accomplishments (such as increase production of pig iron three fold in a decade) and also the problems usually involving poor planning or lack of materials. Scott as an American working in Russia gives us an unusual perspective that is quite refreshing. His writing is easy to read and includes many entertaining and revealing anecdotes. Also his writing is not bogged down by the didactic language and relentless facts that plague most works of history. True there is a history of Magnitogorsk that drags a bit but it is over soon enough. Generally, this is considered the definative work on everyday Stalinism

This book is a first-person account of work life in the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Disenchanted with opportunities in Depression America in 1931, Scott takes off for the Workers' Paradise. He finds a job as a welder building the massive steelworks in the new Soviet city of Magnitogorsk in the Ural Mountains. Altogether, he spent six years living and working in Magnitogorsk until he lost his job due to Stalin's purges.

The conditions that Scott found himself working in are simply incredible. He rose well before dawn and went to work outdoors in -30 degree temperatures with no breakfast. Lunch, the major meal of the day, was a hunk of bread and some watery soup with perhaps a slice of tough meat. Work place injuries were extremely common, due to the cold, lack of food and lack of training or safety equipment. For example, Scott describes an incident where he was working high above the ground and saw something, or rather, somebody, go sailing past only to the pipes below. As a foreigner, Scott knew some first aid, so he was always called on to care for such injuries when they occurred at the work site. In addition to describing work life and living conditions, Scott also discusses the educational and training systems that were in place and spare time activities such as vacations. He also includes some anecdotes about ex-pat workers who he met in Magnitogorsk.

Scott remains objective throughout the book, making the message of the book extremely powerful, much more so than if he had pressed political arguments or personal viewpoints. A particularly interesting facet of the book is its discussion of the purges of the 1930s and speculation on their cause. Few other outsiders were living inside Soviet society at the time, so Scott's views can be uniquely enlightening about how Soviets perceived what was happening to their society and why. Scott identifies several possible causes for the purges, but seems to place great emphasis on the fear of foreign saboteurs and does not mention Stalin's personality at all as a possible cause. Area specialists and historians will find much of interest in this book, as will casual readers.

This is the first Scott Hahn lecture series I have listened to and I was very impressed with his detailed knowledge of the Gospel of John and his ability to demonstrate recurring themes in the text. However, his approach is not unbiased. Unlike other lectures I have listened to (like those of Luke Timothy Johnson), Hahn can come accross very "preachy" and he strays from what I would describe as a purely intellectual approach to study of the texts. Rather than tackle some of the core conflicts in the gospel, Hahn repeatedly defends his interpretation based on a "supernatural faith" that is required by the readers for his interpretation to make sense. If you have it already, I imagine you are ready for these tapes. But if you are trying to find a resource for gaining knowledge of the gospels through an even, unbiased approach, I'd find some lectures by Johnson. I admire Hahn's faith and knowledge but its too much if you aren't ready for it. Also, the tapes are a little cheap, flipping over in mid-sentence, creating gaps in the lecture.

Don't get me wrong. I love Scott Hahn's bible studies. And for those who haven't been exposed to Hahn before, this study will probably blow your mind and make you, as Hahn coined it, a "Scripture junkie."

The only reason I say this one might be a lemon is that this is the 4th Hahn bible study I've been exposed to. I did Matthew, Revelation, and Galatians before this one, and frankly, I was disappointed with this one.

Why?

Hahn's remarks are great, where he makes them. My complaint is that he didn't make enough of them. This is a 16-tape set, but what you don't know is that the tapes are only 45 minutes long - so about 20 minutes per side. In other words, Hahn doesn't have enough time to really delve into the texts with any detail. In fact, he begins the first tape by saying, "Let's do a quick review, get a bird's eye view before we dig in and get a worm's eye view."

So we begin to "review" from a "bird's eye," the whole while, my mouth is watering for the "worm's eye view," and I can't wait to get to that part... and then I realize, this tape series only covers his "bird's eye view." Whatever "worm's eye" view he led his class through didn't make it onto these tapes, and that was a bit disappointing.

So, that being said... Hahn does a great job, and 16 45-minute tapes is better than no tapes, but just be forewarned...

There is "exegesis" (reading something OUT of a text) and there is "eisegesis" (reading something INTO a text). For one to understand Scripture, one must apply exegesis. For one to manipulate Scripture to one's own end, one must apply eisegesis.
This tape set is an example of exegesis.
Scott Hahn does a magnificent job of teaching the Gospel of John, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, over these 15 tapes. In what is developing into his pattern, he explains the texts by referring to the relevant Old Testament prophecies and images. The Bread of Life discourse, the cleansing of the temple, the wedding feast, Christ's exchange with Nicodemus, and all of the other lessons and stories are made understandable and reasonable.
The most impressive tape in the set is tape #14 "It Is Finished." Scott does a superb job of explaining why the "It" uttered by Christ can not refer to His saving work here on Earth. Wasn't it St. Paul who insisted that Christ's resurrection was also necessary for our salvation? (Acts 17:3, Acts 26:23) It couldn't be finished if Christ had to rise from the dead now, could it? So what is the "It" Christ was talking about? Anyone familiar with Scott Hahn's article on "The Fourth Cup" will know.
This tape set is an excellent Bible study. I am looking forward to hearing some more of Scott Hahn's lectures. meanwhile, I strongly recommend this one!! Five stars easy!!

First, I am a 2nd degree black belt and instructor in Tae Kwon Do, and I approached this book from that perspective. I guess that this book could be good for the beginner as an introduction to Tae Kwon Do, but you could probably do better just by going to your dojang. I certainly didn't buy it.

This book presents Taekwondo in a unique manner. It take ideas and techniques from various Taekwondo Masters and puts them all in one book. Whereas most books on Martial Arts only share the ideas and opnions of one individual or one organization, this book combines the thoughts of many. Thereby, making it a unique, all encompassing, way to learn about Taekwondo.

This is a very interesting book. It is made up of articles which first appeared in Inside Taekwondo magazine between 1993 and 1995. This magazine was edited by John Corcoran, who has made some notable contributons to the martial arts with his editing, writing, and his martial art encyclopedias. So, you can be sure the articles are pertinent and well written.

What this book provides the reader with is a excellent overview of Taekwondo from some of the great modern Masters, including: Hee Il Cho, Scott Shaw, and Keith D. Yates. Moreover, this book is not simply filled with pages of photo techniques. It details the history of Taekwondo, Trainning Methods, and Taekwondo Combat Techniques. This book is a great addition to the library of any discriminating reader.

This book is probably the worst of the Rogue Squadron series. It does have some of the things that we all love in the Rogue books like space battles and good characterization. However, it is not all woven together as convincingly as books like "Mandatory Retirement", or "In The Empire's Service." Plourr being a princess, (in case you didn't guess from the cover, don't worry, it isn't a spoiler, you find that out in the first 3-4 pages)is very implausible, and goes against everything Stackpole had before hand estabilished. Also, the story lacks the general importance in the SW world. In "In The Empire's Service", you felt the conflict to be a galactic concern, here it is nothing more than a small government squabble. Overall, this story just lacks the appeal of the rest of the series. I do have to give it points for good art, and a good flashback of Plourr's brother (you'll see), but overall, "In The Empire's Service", "Mandatory Retirement", or "Battleground:Tatooine" are miles above this story.Buy those instead.

I feel very strongly that The Warrior Princess is the worst of the Rogue Squadron line to see print in a collected edition. This is the fourth story arc in the series, and it's just not that good. The art's not bad, and there's some good character development, but I just couldn't care less for the story or for the bad guys.

The premise -- This is really a retelling of the Anastasia story and the Russian revolution with a few modifications. Years ago there was a people's revolution against the King of Eiattu, and he and his whole family were brutally killed -- except, possibly, for the two youngest kids. Now, it's years later, and the world is divided into several factions -- the Priams, or nobles, who want things the way they were, the common people, who simply want some equality, and then there's the Empire who just wants to take control. The twist is that many of the people have been organized into a People's Liberation Battalion by the long thought dead son of the murdered King, but he wants to lead the people against the nobles. And as it turns out -- one of Rogue Squadron's pilots, Plourr, is the long lost princess. The nobles want to bring he back and put her in power to take away her brother's validity. But of course she won't be their pawn.

I found this story, like my explanation thereof, drawn out and boring. Moff Leonia Tavira was a stupid character, the background was obviously somewhat unoriginal. This did have its points though -- there were some interesting new characters, some great character development and interaction, a few surprises, and we get to see Plourr kick a lot of butt.

Overall, though, I can't really give this book a recommendation. It's not bad, but it's just not that good.

'The Warrior Princess' is probably my favorite first-half XWRS story arcs. Stackpole uses politics in an expanded role, and it won't be the last time. Plourr Illo is the main character here, for better of for worse. Her history and that of her planet are rather interesting and parts of them parallel of the Russian Revolution, which is good in the opinion of the speaking history buff, at least.

The art is by John Nadeau again, and he does it well. The architecture and landscape of Eiattu is well done, from the wide-open fields to the majestic royal hall. David Nestelle returns as colorist and does a superb job once again. Overall, 'The Warrior Princess' is one of the most visually well-done XWRS comics.

Perhaps most important is the script by Scott Tolson. 'The Warrior Princess' introduces four new Rogues: Nrin Vakil the Quarren, Ibtisam the Mon Cal, Herrian the Bith, and Feylis Ardele, ex-TIE pilot. Tolson writes good 'banter' dialogue and sets up the four new additions well. He does a particularly good job setting up the relationship between Nrin and Ibtisam, and it is one that will continue to evolve for the rest of the series. It is also interesting to note that the lettering size is shrunk by about a third compared to the other arcs. Tolson likes to write a lot of dialogue, and he does it well.

Overall, it is a good read. Those who dislike Plourr may not be too fond of it, as she is the main character, but at the same time we also get a chance to see another side of the usually brash and loudmouthed pilot. The introduction of four new Rogues makes it worthwhile, though. And, like in 'Battleground: Tatooine', it introduces a host of new characters that will appear later on, including Rial Pernon, Count Labaan, and Leonia Tavira of the 'I, Jedi' fame.