James P. Johnson (1894 - 1955) is one of the great neglected figures of 20th century American music. He composed the "Charleston", accompanied Bessie Smith and Ethel Waters, was the acknowledged champion of the Harlem stride school of jazz piano, taught piano to Fats Waller, influenced Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Thelonious Monk, and wrote some of the first symphonic music by an African-American that sought to fuse European and American music into a coherent whole.

This book is the only full scale biography of Johnson to be written so far. As such it is a valuable addition to our knowledge. It was originally written as a senior honors project at Yale, and although expanded, still bears signs of its origins. It is strong on the development of the Harlem stride piano style and has a good chapter on Johnson's pianistic approach.

However, it also has some flaws: it is based largely on secondary sources, has little to say about Johnson's "serious" music (most of which was not rediscovered until after 1986), is unbalanced in its emphasis on the 1920s while neglecting Johnson's jazz revival in the 1940s, and offers only limited analysis of his recordings.

Bob Hilbert's discography is a very useful addition, although it is now 15 years out of date and therefore omits both CD releases and some recent discoveries.

For Johnson fans or those interested in the history of stride piano or in the New York jazz scene of the 1920s, this is well worth getting. However, it is not the definitive scholarly biography that Johnson's stature ultimately deserves.

Read in isolation, Scott's journals support the much admired image of the steel jawed Scott of the Antarctic portrayed in the 1948 B&W movie of the same name (starring John Mills & Kenneth Moore). It's "Boy's Own Annual" stuff that gets a bit long winded at times but it is fascinating when you consider the author himself really didn't know how it was going to end until the last chapter.
It is much more interesting however, when read in light of the other accounts that tell us there is much more to Scott's character and this story than you'll find in this journal.
This wasn't Scott's first journey to the Antartic, events on an earlier expedition shaped his views and gave an indication of what was to come when he returned to the South.
I read it after reading Huntford's biography of Shackleton and Shackleton's own book "South". To be frank I really grew to despise Scott for repeating the same mistakes he'd made on an earlier expedition. It's really only in his last few notes when he realised it was the end that Scott gave any indication that he might have "got" what it was all about.
There is also speculation (Huntford) that his journals were edited by his wife and friends to ensure Scott was portrayed in the right light - it wasn't appropriate they acknowledge scurvy or any suggestion of incompetence.

I bought this book as there are not many books that focuses on templates. As such, I was quite disappointed that only the first chapter talked about templates in general. Also, different C++ compilers treat templates differently (e.g. Unix vs. Visual C++). Examples, getting code to compile under both would have been quite helpful/useful.

The template library offered did not link under Visual C++ - some files were just missing from the disk!! There is an executable given that tests the library - but so what!! I assumed the author tested his code!

Experienced C++ programmers will be able to figure out many of the typos and other errors, such as a backward typedef (p.11), a parameter name change (p.12), and == where != was intended (p.219). More disturbing are some surprisingly naive coding techniques, such as assignment operators returning void (p.318), bizarre sequences of do-nothing statements (p.312), integer exponentiation by repeated multiplication (p.329), and strange packaging of unrelated constants (p.305).

Despite its serious flaws, this book contains a number of useful ideas and techniques, and emphasizes numberical techniques that are ignored by many C++ books. I recommend it as supplement to the experienced programmer's library of C++ books.

Before I checked out this book, I didn't understand templates very well. This book lays out its subject material with clear, practical examples. It covers more advanced topics such as red-black binary trees, data compression (Huffmann), genetic methods, and more. It does all of this using C++ templates. NOW I understand templates very well! This is definitely NOT a book for the beginner, but a seasoned professional will gain invaluable information from this book. If you need a better understanding of templates, or if you need a good blueprint for a high-efficiency container class, this book is for you.

There are some books which glorify everything a Native American ever said or did, and blame all history's woes on evil white men. Those are usually called "politically correct," because they basically tell palatable lies to people who, for political reasons, prefer them to the truth.

There are also some books which vehemently deny that a white American could ever have committed an atrocity. These are equally politically correct; their palatable lies just service a different audience.

This book falls into the latter category. Sorry, but Scott plainly ignores a vast body of evidence against Chivington. Were all the thousands of people who reported seeing children's body parts displayed as trophies in on the great conspiracy? How about the dozens of oral histories provided to the descendants of soldiers, which mesh reasonably well with those of the Cheyennes?

There are plenty of historical acts of aggression, against Native Americans or anyone else, which could be reasonably argued to have been at some level justifiable. Scott chooses not to take any of them on. By refusing to accept that ANYTHING a white guy did could possibly be evil--even killing pregnant women and keeping the fetuses as souvenirs--Scott effectively puts himself in the same boat, if the opposite end, as the misty new-age folks who refuse to believe Native Americans knew what evil was before the Europeans got here.

In 1864, when the Sand Creek massacre happened, most of the plain indian nations, including the Cheyenne nation, had already been the victims of enumerous massacres, broken treaties, invasion of remote and ancient tribal hunting grounds, mass deportation, restrictions to hunting and trapping, inhumane treatment and inhuman conditions on reservations. Mr. Scott starts his book with the massacre of a corporal, a driver and seven weakened soldiers sick with scurvy. This massacre became known as the Cottonwood Massacre. He then suggests that the nine men were massacred by Cheyenne Dog Soldiers. It is known now, that most propably southern Lakota (Oglala or Brule) were involved in this raid. These warriors had propably relatives that had also been brutally slaughtered by General Harney's troops in 1855, when he ordered his soldiers to surround and attack a peacefull mixed Oglala and Brule Lakota village by the Blue Water area in Nebraska. When this massacre was over, about one hundred women and children had been killed. This was just one of the unspeakable and enumerous massacres committed for 372 years before Sand Creek by europeans and caucasian americans against native americans, since Colmubus landed in October 21,1492. It is true that the Cheyenne, the Comanche, the Kiowa and many other plain indian nations sometimes killed, scalped and mutilated white people, raped white women, and ocasionally also killed white children, as Spanish, Portuguese, British, French, Russian and later American soldiers indiscriminately and repeatedely massacred, murdered, dismenbered, scalped,raped, deported, robbed and kidnaped more than two hundred million men, women and children native americans between October 1492 and December 1890. In 1864, the Cheyenne nations ancestral hunting grounds were being invaded. The Cheyenne were a nomadic,spiritual and warlike society, clashing with a sedentary agrarian caucasian society wich showed no respect for the natural enviroment around them, for the values and spirituality of the resident indian nations, while most of the time treating native americans as wild beasts. Mr. Scott reveals himself as a able researcher when it comes to present a report of the unfortunated settlers, trappers and soldiers killed by Cheyenne warriors in eastern Colorado, western Kansas and Southern Nebraska, but he did not care to present a list of the thousands of men, women and children Navajo, Apache , Blackfeet, Comanche, Kiowa, Lakota, Dakota, Nakota, Arapaho and Cheyenne killed approximately between 1780 and 1890. Mr. Scott, in this book, did not show to have any knowledge about the indian nation he is talking about. He wrote that chief Bull Bear, one of the four council chiefs of the Dog Soldier cheyenne died in Sand Creek, when any respected american historian such as George Bird Grinnel, Alvin M. Josephy Jr.,John Moore, William Chalfant and others, all know and have written that Chief Bull Bear was still leading Cheyenne Dog Soldier war parties in the early 1870s. He also refers that Roman Nose was a Chief and a Dog Soldier Cheyenne. In fact Roman Nose was a Northern Cheyenne, of the Omeheshes Cheyenne tribe and was only a proeminent warrior. He also suggets twice through obscure reports from soldiers present at the Sand Creek massacre, that probably 450 Cheyenne warriors were killed in Sand Creek. In 1864, the whole population of the Cheyenne nation was about 3600 people, including no more than 1000 able warriors, of wich probably half were in the north with the Omeheshes Cheyenne and the northern Sutaeo Cheyenne. So, it means, that according to Mr. Scott, the whole Southern Cheyenne male population was killed in Sand Creek. How come Mr. Scott at the end of the book refers that seven hundred southern Cheyenne Dog Soldier warriors participated in the battle of Beecher Island? Maybe someday we will have Mr. Scott writing a book entitled "Sand Creek 1864, the great Cheyenne Baby Boom". Then, Mr. Scott will eventually announce that for almost two hundred years the American Government had been hiding from the American Public that the Cheyenne population in 1864 was probably about fifty thousand people, including ten thousand warriors. Afterwards, he will most probably suggest that Genereal Lee was considering giving half of his weaponry to the Cheyenne nation, so they could invade Saint louis, Chigago and Tacoma Washington, because he keeps refering that the Confederates were turning the Cheyenne and other plain indian tribes against the Union in 1864. The whole book reveals that Mr. Scott did not care about doing any serious research about the Cheyenne nation or the Sand Creek massacre. He even suggests that almost no women or children had been killed in Sand Creek, when recognized and respected caucasian american historians like Dee Brown, Alvin Josephy, George Bird Grinnel and others have always given us the straight picture about the horrors that were commited against the Cheyenne Heviksnipahis and the Cheyenne Hisiometaneo at Sand Creek. Is Mr. Scott trying to call us all stupid? Everything in this book has something evil about it, as the massacre itself. Even the photo of chief Black Kettle was deformed to make him look like a demon, when compared with the original photo, that shows us the face of a kind and handsome man. It is a dangerous book for the people that never had the chance to do any research about native americans. Mr. Scott has the ability to start slowly portraying the Cheyenne people as a bunch of bloodthirsty savages, but maybe that is as far as he can get about native americans. This book is a shame, it is an indecent and racist attempt to cover one of the most horrendous act of war commited by the american army against native americans. Mr Scott uses obscure reports from soldiers present at Sand Creek, to finnaly have the demerit of suggesting that almost no Cheyenne children or women were assassinated in Sand Creek. You might expect me to teel you not to read this book, but on the contrary I will advise you to buy it and read it, to offer it to your family and friends and ask them to read it, because we all have in our hearts that angel that alaways let us know what is a lie and what is true, what is wrong and what is right. After all the suffering they endured, the Cheyenne American did not deserve to have to be the witnesses of such an aberrant book.

Blood at Sand Creek by Bob Scott tells the story of the Sand Creek Massacre (and the events leading up to and following it)through a non-politically correct viewpoint. The author doesn't try to portray the Plains Indians (Cheyennes in particular)as savages or "noble red men." He also doesn't absolve whites of guilt in the Indian Wars. In fact, neither side comes off very positively. Instead, Mr.Scott gives a balanced view through both Indian and white accounts, which are frequently quite different. His goal is to perhaps clear John Chivington of some of the enormous blame that has been laid on his shoulders. Scott acknowledges that the Cheyennes, Arapahos, Kiowas, and other Plains Indians were indeed hostile and committed numerous and terrible acts of torture, murder, rape, and theft and the fact that the U.S. Army could be quite brutal when dealing with the Indians. He supports his view that Black Kettle and his Cheyenne were indeed at least somewhat hostile and that Chivington was not the psychotic murderer that he is believed to be with considerable evidence, using numerous accounts from both sides. Much of the incriminating evidence against Chivington is indeed questionable. (i.e. Jim Beckwourth was actually a murderer, horse thief, and prolific liar-not the hero he is made out to be.)All in all, Scott's thesis is convincing and tears away the politically-correct nonsense about helpless women and children being slaughtered at Sand Creek. I recommend this book to all students of the Indian Wars as an excellent account of Sand Creek.

Been a Wrox fan for some time. This is the worst book their team has produced. The material is cursory at best and totally theoretical. Very few practical examples. Never thought I would point to an MSPress Step-by-Step book, however it is far superior to this junk.

I found this book to be helpful in understanding how to utilize multidimensional database design. It was nice to see that Microsoft has some affordable alternatives one can turn to in the data mining and data warehousing market. Once again WROX has produced a helpful product for professionals in the computer industry.

I bought Sakhrs version of this book for SQL Server 7. This is not just an upgrade but a look at the new functionlity found within SQL Server 2000.

This book is a dream if you are involved within Analysis and even looking at the new DTS Analysis functions has helped me.

Comparing this with other books, by far this is the one that is well written and doesnt just come out with the obvious.

I found this book to be a disappointment. It was hard to follow and lacked explainations in some areas. Too much space was spent on random number theory. Don't let the title mislead you; the source code requires C++ with a visual framework (OWL or MFC). I've seen better; skip this one.

The introduction to the basic concepts of GA's was hard to follow, compared to others I've read. In addition, there were several typos and a paragraph that ended in the middle of a key sentence. Also, I would have preferred code for a console app. IMO, the visual stuff just gets in the way of understanding what's going on.

scymanski has an ok story here. price has a good one about the gorgon. that one was very enjoyable, and had some lovely details. otherwise, this was dreary read. so many of these stories were not only badly invented, but seemed so uninspired to. i almost felt sorry for the writers, for making so bad stories. i think this is chaosium's worst.

I like MSPress books, usually. I did not like this book. The book is thin and seemed padded (lots of empty separator pages, long boring, obscure code samples) - not much content. The book is seemed like a book about Java with some coverage of VJ++, rather than vice-versa.

How many more books have to go over the same old java vs. C++ stuff, OOD, and the Internet (hello, this book is for "intermediate programmers who know the basics of Java" - they already know about the INternet). Perhaps these sections should be replaced with real content. THis is not a Java Primer - it lacks the content required for that, yet it covers ground that would be covered in any Java Primer (which would be a prerequisite to this book). No coverage of database access, e.g. ADO...yet surely Active suggests dynamic websites, which are often/primarily used to provide database access.

The examples were...poorly chosen IMHO. ..and the paper seemed cheap and yellowed! (How about a webpage accessing a database as a more relevant example?)

Microsoft's blatant ripoff of Java should never have left Redmond. Its a shame because they can't really think up original ideas just rip good ones off. Don't buy this book!!!

Even though Java used to figure prominently in Microsoft's favorite technologies, its Visual J++ product is one of the most widely used Java development tools on the market. Scott Robert Ladd's Active Visual J++ is an excellent introduction to Java programming with VJ++ and Microsoft's Internet strategy. The book claims to be intermediate level, but you'd better already know the basics of Java programming before tackling it, or at least have a solid background in C++. The book spends its time explaining how to develop applets and applications, with very little on Java syntax.
Part 1, Object-Oriented Programming, provides an overview of Java and its role for Internet-based and full-blown applications. I liked the overview of Java class design and the comparison between Java and C++. Part 2, Component-Oriented Java, using Java for components, both for Web applications and standalone apps. The author spends a fair bit of time talking about ActiveX and COM (this is a Microsoft Press book, after all), but includes a chapter about JavaBeans and how you can mix and match them with ActiveX components. The last part, Application Java, focuses on creating standalone applications with Java, with discussions of the Abstract Window Toolkit, user-interface design, building and using components, and security issues. Over the course of several chapters, the author develops some simple but complete Java programs with VJ++.
I found the book to be generally well-written with light humor but with an inconsistency that was sometimes distracting. The author excels when describing general concepts but sometimes gets bogged down in detail. The chapter on the AWT, for example, consists mostly of the various classes listing their methods and properties (using Microsoft's terms, not Java's) with a couple of sentences explanation. I think this chapter would be more useful with a broader overview of the AWT serving as an introduction to the following chapters. Several of the diagrams look to have been hastily drawn with a marker then poorly reproduced.
Normally I don't like code listings in books that go on for several pages, but here it works. The examples are short enough to let you grasp how it works but without going on forever. The CD, of course, includes all the code.
But these are minor niggles. If you know either Java or C++ and want to use VJ++ to write anything from simple applets to full applications, this is a very good place to start.

The book is outdated, with examples poorly written. Save yourself some time: don't read this book