The book answered all my questions on the new 1998 tax laws. It was also a good guideline for those of us who don't understand taxes very well and are more familiar with the EZ-forms. This was my second year doing the long form with all the attached schedules and the book helped me develop an understanding of what the majority of the terms and references mean. However, since the level of information was BASIC, some of my questions were not addressed and I did not like how the book stated, "...see your tax advisor...". The whole reason I bought the book was so that I wouldn't have to have someone else do my taxes. Although there are only a few unanswered questions for my case, this still prevented me from completing them on my own. Some topics that should be addressed more thoroughly are Capital Gains, Corporate Relocations, and Itemized Deductions. At a minimum, this book should provide a complete listing of topics not covered thoroughly enough to complete the tax forms, and refer you to another book (For Dummies)instead of a legal IRS publication (or tax advisor).

Taxes for Dummies made me so much more knowledgeable about the basics about taxes. It explains the basic items in simple terms, and even expands on items if you dare to want to know more. The tips were a great help as well. I now know the difference among the 1040EZ, 1040A, and 1040. I know when I can itemize and when I shouldn't. It also gave great tips on what I can deduct. If I had not read this book, I would not have known to deduct the interest paid on my student loan (and I didn't even have to use Form 1040!) It is also worth mentioning that I finished the book in one day! I highly recommend this book to people with beginner and intermediate knowledge of taxes.

This book tries it's hardest to explain taxes in an easy to understand fashion for us normal people who don't have time to look through those extremely complex IRS instructions and other gibberish they give us taxpayers. The book does a pretty decent job of it too (however to accomplish that flawlessly, in my humble opinion, is impossible). Overall, any individual or small business that needs a few clues on how to do your taxes can benefit from this book. I can't wait for the 2001 edition to come out!

It is only a historical book.There is no useful information for pagans.

Prof. Shafer of Fordham University put this book together in order to fill the need for an English-language survey of ancient Egyptian religion. The result is a relatively short introduction to the subject from three points of view, each addressed by a different author. John Baines writes about the gods, Leonard Lesko about myths, and David Sliverman about religious practice. The idea and organization of the book is commendable; however, I felt that stronger editing could have made the three portions of the book more cohesive and compatible in quality.

There was too much overlap between Baines' and Lesko's sections, and Lesko's chapter seemed to be aimed at a more specialized audience than were the other chapters. I felt that Baines dwelled too much on political history and took the focus off the topic at hand. His article would have benefitted from further subdivision; as it was, the overly long sections lacked clear direction. Baines handles concepts of divinity quite well, but I think he could have provided a better overview of the Egyptian pantheon. On the whole I would give his article a tentative 4 stars.

Lesko's rather short chapter also placed too much focus on political history, and this was doubly frustrating since he didn't say anything different from Baines. His discussion of myths seemed to lack organization and was befuddling for the newcomer to the field. The chapter mostly consists of lengthy and inadequately explained or connected quotations from Egyptian texts. These texts are interesting sounding but cryptic, and Lesko does not provide enough of an overview for one to understand either what they are saying or why he is quoting them. His article has two chief sections: one on cosmogonies, which is very long and opaque, and a much shorter and somewhat clearer section on cosmology. Overall, this article deserves a tentative 3 stars from a newcomer; someone with more specialized knowledge might find it more useful, but I am not sure.

Silverman's chapter was by far the most accessible and informative. Frequent divisions in the text underscored its points while providing strong organization and direction. Silverman's explanations started from basic concepts and worked up to address difficulties in modern methods of study in his field. His chapter came across as an interesting and informative social history of Egypt with particular emphasis on the origins of its structure and morality, both of which derive from religion. This article was engaging and clear, and earns an enthusiastic 5 stars from me.

On the whole, then, some parts of this book were more readable and useful than others. However, it seems to be the most scholarly and trustworthy introduction to the topic. I would not recommend it as pleasure reading, but if you need to know something about the subject it is a good resource.

This book is extremely useful for understanding the complex, multifaceted world of the ancient Egyptian Gods. One cannot simply list gods and myths and have them make sense; this book provides three Egyptologists' views on how the Egyptians saw the gods and the universe, how that view evolved in 3000 years, and how they were worshipped throughout that time. There are numerous illustrations, photos, and footnotes. The authors discuss theories about the Armarna period and the divine status of the Pharoah that cannot be found in other books on Ancient Egypt. This is a great book to read if you want to understand the religion as a whole and get the essence of what it was like.

This book offers a good introduction to some of the practicalites of qualitative research for a research degree. Thus much of the book is about research managment and structuring a thesis, issues which are relatively uncommon in books on qualitative research. What it does, it does very well. It does not offer an introduction to qualitative research and the comments on this field are very much from the perspective of Silverman's own research area, conversation analysis. Nonetheless I have found it a very helpful complement to more theoretical qualitative research texts.

If you are looking for an easy way into the work of Harvey Sacks, this is a decent book with which to start. But is isn't a book with which to stay if you seek to understand the breadth and depth of the remarkable work of this enormously talented analyst of everyday language-use, interactional sociolinguistics and ethnomethodological sociology. On the other hand, it IS at best a decent introductory text in a market noticeably absent of such.

This book provides an excellent quick reference for any busy CT office.The broad spectrum of reference studies and protocols are an excellent platform to create and build a well rounded protocol base. This book also provides the basics to the first time spiral users and provides a quick information base for the experienced tech.