When Rachel Stone and her rich family buy a 400-year-old house and horse-breeding farm in the Ireland countryside, her father is overjoyed. He's always wanted a farm in Ireland. The joy quickly turns to fear as mysterious things begin to happen. First Rachel's waterbed is ripped to shreds. Then the house library is torn apart just minutes after she had been there. During the past few months, the barn was set on fire. Why were these "accidents" always directed at Rachel? I liked this book because it had great descriptions of what the characters were feeling. Although this book was a bit confusing when it talked about the legendary clan and their curse, I would still give this book four out of five stars.

Rachel expects nouthing to happen to her when she comes to Ireland. She is shocked to find on the full moon her family will be turned into Wherewolves! This book is very good! Read it!

I've vowed to improve my neglected vocabulary by reading more literature and looking up any words I don't know. I was originally using a hardcover college dictionary, but I found its size and weight to be cumbersome. I bought this dictionary because I didn't like lugging around the heavy hardcover to and from my easy chair and found it to be a suitable replacement. Rarely can I not find a word in the dictionary that would appear in the college dictionary and it serves my purpose well. It's about the size of a large paperback novel (smaller than War and Peace). The only problem is mine doesn't have the pronunciation key "located on inside of back cover."

What a concept. Take all the known words in the English language, put them all in a book then describe what each word is, and then tell how to pronounce them! Who thought of such a concept? Apparently a person named Webster, that's who!

The book starts and ends appropriately enough with the words "a" (described as "the first letter of the English alphabet) and zymurgy (which is the chemistry of fermentation). And between those two words you'll find descriptions of words whose meanings range from "a vague notion" to "to shrink by a special process in manufacture", and so forth.

Between "a" and zymurgy are fabulous descriptions of words that will amaze you every single time! Guaranteed!

You think your spell check made by Mr. Gates is up to this challenge? "-pede" isn't in the word spell check I have!!! How are we supposed to combine the form of foot or feet without it, Mr. Gates? It seems Mr. Gates mind is made of two many "1's" and "0's", and not enough centipedes!

Also included in this wondrous, unique book is a description of the abbreviations used in this dictionary (how else are you going to decipher "Norw" or "m" without it) and other wondrous subjects.

So if you need a word, and Mr. Gates neglected to place it in his word check, this book is highly recommended for you. Frequently used in my house, where we have centipedes aplenty!

*What Americans Know About Politics and Why It Matters* is an important book in that it reveals how informed voters have more stable, consistent opinions and are much more resistant to irrelevant information (such as commentary in the media and campaign rhetoric, sound bites, and photo ops). It also reveals that informed voters hold opinions that more closely match those of the Founders of the United States -- including personal responsibility and limited federal powers -- than do those who are ignorant of the issues.

I thought it showed the ignorance of the American voter, and the dire need for voter education. In my opinion, the average American urgently needs voter education. I believe that voter education will produce a Democratic majority, and this book gave me data to back up my beliefs.

I haven't read Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby' in almost two years. I picked it up again, to-day, though, and realized the truth of the notion that one learns something new each time one returns to a book. 'The Great Gatsby' just is a novel that must be returned to periodically to appreciate it properly.

While the characters in the novel remain ultimately unknowable at their indefinite cores, Fitzgerald does a great job tying his characters to their historical setting. The protagonist of the novel, to my mind, is Nick Carraway, the narrator. The hero of his story, which frames the novel, is the legendary Jay Gatsby - a legend in his own mind. Although Carraway's narration is often heavily biased and unreliable, what emerges are the stories of a set of aimless individuals, thrown together in the summer of 1922. Daisy Buchanan is the pin that holds the novel together - by various means, she ties Nick to Jordan Baker, Tom Buchanan to Jay Gatsby, and Gatsby to the Wilsons.

The novel itself deals with the shallow hypocrisies of fashionable New York society life in the early 1920's. It is almost as though Fitzgerald took the plot of Edith Wharton's 'The Age of Innocence' and updated it - in the process making the characters infinitely more detestable and depriving it of all hope. Extramarital affairs rage on with only the thinnest of veils to disguise them, the nouveau-riche rise on the back of scandal and corruption, and interpersonal relationships rarely signify anything permanent that doesn't reek of conspiracy. The novel's casual allusions to beginnings and histories often cause us to reflect on the novel's historical moment - when the American Dream and Benjamin Franklin's vision of the self-made man seem to coalesce in Jay Gatsby, a Franklinian who read too much Nietzsche.

No matter how you read it, 'The Great Gatsby' is worth re-reading. M.J. Bruccoli's short, but informative preface, and C. Scribner III's afterword are included in this edition, and both set excellent contexts, literary, personal, and historical, for this classic of American literature.

Although published seventy-five years ago, Fitzgerald's masterpiece remains as fresh as the day it appeared. It could have been written yesterday. It is as perfect a novel as one is likely to find in American literature; not a word is wrong or out of place. The choice of a second person narrator gives the reader wider and greater appreciation of the characters and events. At the center of it all, of course, is Jay Gatsby, bootlegger, liar, party-giver, doomed romantic. His love for Daisy Buchanan, his "incorruptible dream", is the only genuine emotion felt by any of the characters (excepting narrator Nick Carroway, whose loyalty to Gatsby is touching), all of whose superficiality is buried beneath the glitter and gaiety of the Jazz Age, the endless parties, the extramarital affairs, the endless-flowing booze, the accumulation of wealth and things.

This edition of the book features critical commentary and notes from Prof. Matthew Bruccoli, the world's foremost Fitzgerald scholar.

I am one of those "freaks" who makes sure to read this novel at least once a year. It brings me a sort of solace.
This is as close to a Salinger novel as one can get. Moral lessons spoken thru New York City in the early 1900's.
In this case we have the author and his 2nd cousin, a worldly woman who steals hearts and refuses to let go.
Gatsby accomplishes everything he can create in his mind, but he cannot compare to what Daisy demands. She is noy human it seems, and Gatsby cannot keep up, no matter how hard he tries.
This novel was required reading in high school, and thank God for that. Even after my 12th grade english teacher pounding into my head the symbolism of the eye-glasses on the billboard in the city of ashes. And also why Gatsby was a "heroic figure".
Basically, this novel ends the only way it can. Death is necessary and we all will perish. But sometimes we die a bit too soon.
No matter where I am in my life, this book always sets me straight. What will be...will be.
Gatsby could not have lived any other way. It's all good.

I must admit that passages of this book were very hard to read because I found the subject matter to be repellent. However, I think the root of my feelings stems from the fact that Scott describes an uncomfortable situation so beautifully, that you almost feel guilty enjoying the prose that describes such horrible acts.

Brian and Neil are two young men forever linked by their past experiences, but could not have interpreted the experience any more differently. Brian searches for answers in the hull of a spaceship, convinced he was abducted by aliens, while Neil moves from trick to trick, leading a risky lifestyle and coming to some difficult realizations along the way.

I thought this was a wonderful story of two people looking for answers and closure. It is beautifully written and takes us to a place that is uncomfortable to look at, but gives us two different perspectives to view it from. I highly recommend this book.

Scott Heim is one of the best authors I've read in a long time. He is up on a pedestal with the likes of Truman Capote. His debut novel "Mysterious Skin" is about Neil and Brian, two gay boys, who through trials and tribulations, discover who they are, and what they are. There just aren't any adequate words in the human language to describe Scott Heim's beautiful, haunting prose. He is incredibly poetic, and the lives of Brian and Neil are so exqiusitely painful and achingly beautiful that it should drive you to tears, and if it doesn't, then check your chest cavity for a heart. How anyone could possibly give this book a bad review is simply beyond me. Just be forewarned: Do not read this book on a gray rainy day, while feeling dismal, or while using heavy machinery. It is sure to depress, but make angry, and also begs for attention.

~Steven Harvey

When I went to High School in Kansas I soon learned that an author had gone to the same one as me. After a few years, I found Scott Heim's first book "Mysterious Skin". I read it and it was like a punch in the chest. The story takes place in my community and amongst the people I thought I knew. I also share the same sexuality as the main character. I found the book to be a sweet and painful release to the suffering I've gone through in this state of Kansas. The hurt and horror of this book was all to familiar. Heim's words and language, his graphic paintings of reality, and his twists of beauty and perversity pour out onto the pages of this unworldy novel. Don't expect to read it and pass it off. His books will live in your memory for a long time. To take his work to heart is to look at this world with wider eyes. Definately, this book is a must. Even though the book hurts so much to read and you will want to put it away, you can't. And in the end, through the horror, you will see the beauty of his work.

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.

I would doubtlessly recommend Ivanhoe to read. History may be often dull but Sir Walter Scott makes history extremely exciting by romanticizing his novel. It directly deals with hatred between the Normans and the Saxons, the discrimination of the Jews, chivalry, and politics--but it is a unforgettable tale of heroism, honor, and love. I felt that the characters were so fascinating and fun to read about. I was enjoying and cheering on the good characters like Ivanhoe, King Richard, and Robin Hood to beat the hated and evil villains. I liked the idea of love added in the story, like how Rowena and Rebecca were both in love with Ivanhoe. I even felt a little sorry for Brian de Bois-Guilbert who would do anything for Rebecca's love but is constantly rejected. I thought how it was appealing how the author questions Ivanhoe and Rebecca's feelings for each other. Suspenseful and action sequences also added entertainment to the story. This book may be a little too detailed for some readers, but I didn't mind. I felt that the details were brilliantly used to decorate the story in an outstanding fashion. The old English wording made me feel like I was actually in the medieval England. I have to admit that it took a great deal of persistence for me to finish this book and it was a challenge for me to read. However, I found Ivanhoe to be a wonderful pleasure. It is no wonder that Ivanhoe is such a well-loved tale!

I enjoyed this adventure yarn on many levels.

I was glad to learn about the Knights of Templer and that they were crusaders. I always wondered how Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon knew that and it is because of this classic.

I was surprised that it talked so much about Robin of Lockesley. The story of Ivanhoe seemed to be the same only told by Ivanhoe's friends and not Robin's.

I thought that the DeBracyn and the Knight of Templer Brian de Bois Guilbert were pretty evil guys which made the story interesting. They were weasels when they had their backs to the wall but did preform with honor when required like when Richard gets DeBracy.

I guess I did not understand the prejudice of the time because they treated the Jews like dirt and they were so sterotypical. I really thought that the Jewish girl Rebecca was going to end up with Ivanhoe instead of that Saxon Lady Roweana. I guess you have to appreciate the times that they lived in.

It was a different look the Richard/Prince John history.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this book, by Sir Walter Scott, was the progenitor of what was to become a venerable tradition in English letters (and in other European literatures as well): the historical romance. There have been many after IVANHOE, and frequently with a finer eye to the period in which the tale is set (for IVANHOE contains quite a number of anachronisms -- even Scott acknowledged it), but few have done it quite as well as Scott. He uses an archaic English to give voice to his characters, but one which is readily absorbed because of the speed & quality of the tale. So, though these people certainly wouldn't really have spoken as he has them speaking, they yet sound as though they should have. Peopled by many 'stock' characters and situations, this tale was fresh in its time & still reads well today -- a testament to Scott's skills as a teller of tales and a sketcher of marvelously wrought characters. In this tale of the 'disinherited knight' returning home to find the world he left turned upside down, young Ivanhoe, after a stint with King Richard in the Holy Land, must fight the enemies of his king and kinsmen anew. Yet the hero is oddly sidelined for much of the tale as events swirl around him and the brilliantly evoked villain, Sir Brian de Bois Gilbert, in the pay of Prince John, struggles to win treasure and the beautiful Rebeccah, who yet has eyes only for Ivanhoe, a knight she can never hope to win herself. There's lots of action and coincidences galore here and Robin Hood makes more than a cameo appearance, as does the noble Richard. In sum, this one's great fun, a great tale, and the progenitor of a whole genre. All those which came after owe their form to it. Worth the price and the read.

This was a good book and it does have some good real ghost stories. This didn't scare me as much as "Historic Haunted America", but this is still worth reading. Just beware of the dark....

This is a good thick book if youre looking for something to creep you out. What I really like about this book is that these stories supposedly "true" which, for me has a tendency to have a little more harder time going to sleep. Its a collection of accounts of paranormal activity across America, usually just one or two per state. If you like this book I recommend their other called Haunted Heartland, although this focuses mainly on the mid-west.

"Haunted America" is a brilliant collection spine-tingling supposedly true ghost stories from all the corners of America. The best are the music room in Illinois and the mansion straight from the depths of hell in New Orleans. If you want a good scare read this book!

I used this book for a lavish party at my home and the results were terrible. Save your money!

As a neighbor of Martha Stewart's in the charming town of Westport, Connecticut, I have had the pleasure of being invited into her home several times. Granted, that ended around the time she became so well-known, but Martha is a truly wonderful woman who is an encyclopedia of entertainment know-how. Fortunately for the rest of the world, this book is *the* next best thing to having Martha in the kitchen and at the party with you. Creative recipies, table settings, and other ideas which help to enhance the environment of any party- large or small.

I feel that this book should be a part anyone's home library who can appreciate the fine art of entertaining and wishes to take their gatherings and functions to the next level.

This book is a staple in my kitchen. Do I cook all the upscale, gourmet recipes? I'd love to say yes, but in all honesty I haven't the time! I *have* tried the sugar cookies, and they went over well with my three little boys! The reason I love this book is that I can read a bit, look at the lovely pictures, and gain fresh inspiration to make my little home a lovelier place. Also, for any Martha-phile, this book is a good place to peek inside Martha's life and hear her thoughts for more than just a five minute segment on her show.

This book offers a good overall insight into DNS, BIND and Windows NT own implementation of DNS.

The ordering of sections could have been done slightly differently, with the DNS overview/introduction sections first then Windows NT overview sections and lastly Windows NT DNS sections.

If you need to implement DNS in an NT environment or even in a heterogeneous one, this book will help you understand the basics and how to create your DNS structure thereafter.

With the imminent arrival of Windows 2000 and Dynamic DNS, Microsoft Active Directory etc, this book needs to be updated by the end of 1999 to stay current and relevant.

I READ THIS BOOK AND IT IS MY BIBLE TO EVERYTHING IN TCPIP FOR WINDOWS NT. IT EXPLAINS IN GREAT DETAILS DNS AND OTHER NT TCPIP ISSUES LIKE WINS, DHCP AND SECURITY. I RECOMMEND IT TO EVERY NT ADMIN AND CONSULTANT. IT HELPS GREATLY IF YOU ARE DESIGNING AN ENTERPRISE WIDE DNS ENVIRONMENT. IT IS FOR MID TO ADVANCED LEVEL NT ADMINS AND CONSULTANTS.

Wins really is important in a NT domain enviroment, and this book is the best WINS technical reference I have ever read. Michael is an excellent writer as well as a great speaker!

Jose Medeiros, Instructor - San Jose City College, MCP+I, MCSE, MCT, Vice President- NT Engineering Association, ...