A beautifully illustrated book with plenty of information on the history of soaps, this book may be as interesting to sociologists as it is to soap fans. Most noteworthy, is the way it differentiates the soaps from one another in terms of issues that each tackles and why. It is interesting to trace how soaps such as "Painted Dreams" began on radio and what appealed (and didn't) to various audiences throughout the decades. Eg: Isn't it hard to believe that "Guiding Light" (On Cable In Sydney) was orginally a 15 minute radio serial about four ministers? Many soaps mentioned in the book will probably be unknown to younger Sydney audiences such as "Search For Tommorrow" and "As The World Turns" which haven't been on the air for years (decades?) but there is good coverage on todays lineup as well. If you like this book you may want to check out A book by Jean Rouverol called"Writing For The Soaps" (1984) and "Soapbox" (1990) Hopefully a television special of a similar nature to this book could be done because the archive material itself would be priceless viewing.

If you have read The Essential Drucker, Balanced scorecard etc. , the book essentially has the same information repeated under a different title. Recommend Essential Drucker, Balanced Score card which is more comprehensive than this title.

This collection of eight articles from the HBR is a must IF AND ONLY IF you want the only highlights of some of the new management tools and theories out there. If you've ever wondered what Activity-Based Costing (ABC) is or what Kaplan's "Balanced Scorecard" is all about, this may be just the introductory text for you. I mention these two tools first since 2 out of 8 articles deal with ABC, either in whole or in part, while another 3 deal specifically with the balanced scorecard. So, if you've got ABC and the balanced scorecard already firmly laid out in your head, this may be a bit redundant.

The remaining three articles are still worth a quick read though. I found in one article, "How the Right Measures Help Teams Excel," ideas that I hadn't seen anywhere else (for example, the team "dashboard"). And, the "How High is Your Return on Management?" article might give managers a moment of reflection on whether or not they have a good ROM and what they can do to improve it.

As I stated before, much of this is merely highlights though. Do not expect to be able to use this book as a primary source to implement any of the measures. It's a tease that gets you excited (at least it did me), but doesn't provide much of a game plan for bringing it all about.

Still, if what you want is a quick overview and a few case studies where these principles and tools have been applied, by all means, read this. It's worth at least that much.

Looking for some informative, original and clear thinking about measuring performance? This book is a great choice! This is a collection of eight outstanding articles selected from past editions of the HBR. The articles cover such subjects as activity-based costing, the use of nonfinancial criteria, and tools executives require to generate the information needed. Each article begins with an executive summary which, for the fast-forward crowd, is a big plus.

So many books are merely ONE GOOD ARTICLE embedded in a thicket of verbiage. Chopping away through such a jungle of verbosity for the gist-of-it-all often proves tedious and disappointing. (Blessed are the laconic!) This book, on the other hand, just serves up a bunch of 'gists' -the pure meat and potatoes of ideas. Happily, the HBSP has published several other collections of this sort on such topics as knowledge management, change, and strategies for growth. Each of these is collection of first-rate 'gists'. Reviewed by Gerry Stern, founder, Stern & Associates, author of Stern's Sourcefinder The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and the Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.

I passed the java certification 1.1 exam last week for the first time.With no java work experience i could pass and thats only with this book.i had prepared for a month.Firstly i studied a java programming book to get to know about java fundamentals(i was clear about fundamentals) and then started with this book. But,do not just rely on the questions given after every chapter,exam questions are much more than those given at the end but, need to practice them too.Need to practice very much all simulation tests provided in few sites.I dont know about Barry Boone but,one test given on internet was good.So,need to practice on sample tests to know the type of questions and read every detail of this book.so to those planning to take java 1.1 exam you can go for this book.With this book also you can pass but if you take Barry and Boone tests it would be more helpful.About the authors they made up an excellent book.

After taking three weeks of courses on Java 1.1 technologies, I picked up this book and found to my surprise that I still had a long way to go before I could pass the exam. Luckily, Simon and Heller pave the way with a well-organized and highly technical book.

They can't give away the content of the test, but they do list the exam objectives in the back of the book so you can gauge your readiness.

The sample questions are tough! Unless you've been coding in Java a long time, your weaknesses will become clear to you. That's a good thing when you're serious about preparing for an exam.

The included Java Certification Testing Engine will even give you a simulated testing experience.

This book does come with a number of minor but annoying errors. To Sybex's credit, they keep making it better with an online errata list (updated regularly) This book is one that you will find yourself referring to long after you pass the exam.

I just passed the Sun's Java 1.1 Programmers test and I owe it all to this book! I found the test pretty hard, but the book was excellent preparation for it. The book is organized around Sun's official list of test objectives and the discussion is entertaining, clear and helpful. The test questions at the end of each chapter are very typical of what's on the test. (In fact a few questions actually did appear on the test that I took.) But that should come as no surprise since Simon Roberts works at Sun and helps write the test questions. Finally, the CD that comes with the book has a tester program that pretty well simulates Sun's computer-based test environment. The tester software is easy to install (it comes with JDK 1.1.3) and works nicely; although I would prefer a graphical interface for the options instead of having to type arcane instructions into the command line. My only quibble is with the numerous typos that abound in the text and sample code. I found the few errata listed on the Sybex update website just scratch the surface. I naively expect that when I pay forty or fifty bucks for a book someone is checking to see that the sample code compiles and runs. Also, the book could have been half the weight if the JDK 1.1.3 API was not included in the appendix. After all, it's all on the CD. Oh, well...

A timeless classic, written by Robert Louis Stevenson was a great book for those of us who like adventure. The book begins at the Admiral Benbow Inn, which Jim Hawkins, the main character works. Suddenly, from out of the blue a rough sea faring man appears named Billy. That is when the real adventure begins!! Jim and his mother find a treasure map in a dead customers sea trunk. Jim got a couple of respectable people together and they bought a ship named the Hispaniola and set of sail for Treasure Island, not knowing the problems that lay before them. I think the author wanted the them to be, be careful whom you trust. I fully enjoyed this book and I think you will too. To find out the rest read, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

"Treasure Island," written by the 19th century novelist, Robert Louis Stevenson, is the timeless story about life on the high seas with pirates, treasure, murder, and treachery.

When young and naive Jim Hawkins is given a treasure map from the mysterious old pirate, Billy Bones, adventure and trouble are not far behind. Soon Jim finds himself aboard a ship with a villainous crew led by the cunning and mendacious pirate, Long John Silver. Greed and the lust for gold driving the pirates, they have murder in mind when they reach the dubious Treasure Island.

Skillfully yet simply written, Robert Louis Stevenson gives us an alluring tale that sparks the imagination. With its dastardly plot and mothly crew of rogues and villains, it entrances the reader, and keeps them wanting more. "Treausure Island" is the perfect read for anyone just wanting a good, exciting story.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson is by far one of the best adventure stories I have ever read. This book deserves all five stars, it has everything you could ask for such as, suspense, comedy, action, drama and a great plot line. R.L. Stevenson puts a lot of detail into his main characters such as Long John Silver and Jim Hawkins just to name a few. He describes the scenes with such great detail that at times I had to remind myself that it is only a book. I spent more than 2 months reading this book and I enjoyed every part of it. I could RARELY find a paragraph that was dull, the book was very exciting overall. This book is fairly easy to read and I would recommend it to adults and children of all ages. The book moves at a very good pace, not too fast, not too slow. This book is anything but boring, something new happens in every chapter for instance, when Jim witnesses a murder and when he gets into bar fights, those are just some of the many things that happened. I was very surprised myself when I read this book because it seems a little childish but in fact it's quite the contrary. I highly recommend that you go out and read this book!

Like all of you who read this review,you're Everest junkies who probably won't even get near this mountain, but are hooked on all books about it.
High; Stories of survival from Everest and K2 is NOT what you're looking for. This book is nothing but one-chapter excerpts from other books. It's like walking into a movie half way through: You have no idea what's going on. Also, there are no maps of either Everest or K2, so if writers of these chapters (and some of them are BORING writers!) describe trouble on Everest's north col or K2's Abruzzi ridge, we can't picture these places in our minds.
This book (unlike all the other Everest books I bought and immediately read) has been sitting on my bedstand for months. I only read it when I wake up at 3AM and can't go back to sleep. Just reading from this book puts me back to sleep reeeeeal fast!
Don't bother with this one. The Everest season is happening right now. Maybe more books will come from this year's hikers.

I very much enjoyed and highly recommend this book. I've read many of the books from which these chapters are selected, yet there was much fresh material for me. The editing was so masterful that even though the chapters are from different writers, mountains, and times, they flowed together seamlessly

High does for climbing what the movie The Thin Red Line did for combat: It explores not the details of the event, but the inner thoughts of the participants. You read what it feels like to have a climber dying in a tent next to you. You learn about the humilation of having frostbite while back at home. You are with the widows who trek in the paths of their husbands to glimpse the mountain graves of their loved ones.

While I can understand that some reviewers felt the selections dropped one into the middle of a big problem high on a mountain without the broader context of the expedition, I didn't feel this was a problem. I don't need the beginning, middle, and end to enjoy a brief tale. There are plenty of books that give all those details, yet few that are gripping to read from the first page to the last.

This is the first book i've read that was a collection of excerpts from other books. The only thing i didn't like was that the book itself was big and bulky. Well anyways, just buy it. you won't be disappointed.

I had just passed the Sun Certified Programmer for the Java 1.4 Platform exam (with a score of 80%), and I want to help prospective test takers in finding the "right" Java study guide. I was bewildered by the number of books available, and I had to try many of them before I settled on the right one. Here are my short reviews for each of the major Java study guides:

"Sun Certified Programmer & Developer for Java 2 Study Guide" by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates (five stars): I felt this book was the best among all the Java study guides. Both the authors were responsible for the Java certification exam's development, and the practice questions are *very* similar to the actual exam. The authors also cover exactly what will be on the 1.4 exam, pointing out potential topics, questions, and pitfalls. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

"A Programmer's Guide to Java Certification" by Khalid Mughal and Rolf Rasmussen (four stars): This is a good choice if you plan on taking the 1.2 exam. The book also has a dual purpose of teaching Java and sometimes goes beyond the actual scope of the exam, but it is nonetheless excellent. However, as the title suggests, this isn't the book for you if you don't have any programming experience. Also, the book's practice questions are much, much harder than the actual exam.

"Complete Java 2 Certification Study Guide (3rd Edition)" by Philip Heller and Simon Roberts (two stars): This was the most disappointing book of all. I don't know why so many people swear by it, but the book appeared to have been rushed into production. Many of the errors and typos have been updated in the book's second printing, but the book's coverage of topics is quite weak. Lastly, the practice questions were not only too easy, but they don't look very similar to how questions look on the real test. It's not a terrible book (many people appear to have passed the exam with just this book), but there are better options.

"Java 2 Exam Prep" by Bill Brodgen (three stars): This compact study guide isn't a bad choice for prospective test takers with a good Java foundation. It covers all the exam's topics succinctly, but as another reviewer noted, it should not be your primary study guide. I personally did not find the book particularly useful.

Lastly, sign up for Sun's ePractice practice exams. You'll get three sample tests, and they will help you prepare for the exam by showing you how the questions will look and what type of questions they will ask. I didn't like the idea of spending the extra money, but the practice exams definitely helped me prepare for the real thing.

This book is very focussed on the exam objectives. I passed the programmer exam with a score of 98%. I used a combination of this book along with Exam Cram. This book will not teach you how to program in Java. However it will immensely help you in clearing the SCJP exam & learn a few finer points about the language. If you truly want to master the fundamentals of the language you have to read the Java Language Specification too, which by the way, is available on-line on Sun's web-site.

The book has a few drawbacks though:

1)It has a lot of errors, and you have to check out the errata list.
2)It does not cover GridBagLayout which is on the exam.
3)Collections is briefly mentioned only for a couple of pages. You have to look elsewhere (Core Java vol 2 is a good source) to understand collections.
4)The exam engine available on the CD contains the same questions as the ones which are given at the end of the chapters, so it's a waste.

I studied for the Java Programmers Certification Exam using the first edition of the book. I'd already had a few years of experience using Java on and off, and this book was a very helpful reminder of some of the finer points of the Java language that I'd forgotten or managed to miss.

I've heard that some people use only this book to prepare for the exam, but beware that Sun has recently changed the exam to require background knowledge of programming, not just memorization of Java trivia. I'd recommend learning Java from one of the several excellent tutorial books available (The Java Programming Language is my suggestion), doing some actual Java programming, then reading this book just before taking the exam.

I'm disappointed to hear that this new edition has lots of typos, just like the previous edition did. The good news is that Sybex now has a copy of the errata on their website. When I reported errata in the first edition, the Sybex editors put the errors on their website and corrected later printings of the book. If you do find errors in the book, don't just whine about it; do everyone else a favor and e-mail the errors to Sybex!

Van Kampen has woven a compelling, believable story which clearly lays out the Biblical prophecies regarding the end of the world. Even a reader with a limited familiarity with or understanding of the Bible will find "The Fourth Reich" an interesting and credible novel. The characters are people the reader can care about, most situations are plausible. A few loose threads are left hanging (Will Sonya and her brother Yacov reunite?, Is there no chance for Bulgakov's followers who doubt him--Anna, for example--to renounce him and be saved?, etc.) and some things are just a bit pat towards the end of the novel, but, in all, this is a book that you'll stay with until you've reached the end. As busy as I am, I read it in two days! Regardless of your personal religious convictions, it's worth your while to compare Van Kampen's predictions with your own understanding of Biblical prophecy. So much of the Book of Revelation is difficult to understand for the average person; Van Kampen spells things out quite clearly. "The Fourth Reich" helps sort things out. You'll want to read and learn more!

This is the best End-Times novel I have read yet! While I was reading this, my best friend and I were doing a study on the End-Times. I disagree with the assumption of Adolph Hitler being improbable of being the Antichrist. I really appreciate the fact of the book being based in Israel as opposed to America in the Left Behind series by LaHaye. I have found in my study that not all the things that happen in the End-Times happen all over the world. Some of them will happen only in Israel. I have also found that as LaHaye thought the Rapture to happen before the Tribulation, I have found direct verses in the Bible stating the Rapture to happen in the Middle of the Tribulation. (Revelation 10:5-7, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52) The Last Trumpet is sounded in Revelation 12:15. I say again, this is the most accurate End-Times novel I have read yet.

Robert Van Kampen has given us a great end-times novel. His writing provides us with with an interesting scenerio of end-times, prophecy, and interpetation of Biblical writings. If you like the Tim LaHaye "Left Behind" series, this book will hold your interest and provide a different slant on the end-times. The book is written as a novel but in VanKampen's words, "The book was not written to be simply an exciting story or an interesting novel about the endtimes, It was written to be a teaching tool for those wanting to know the events of the last days." I would have to agree with his assessment as I learned a great deal from this book. His choice for the antichrist is amazing...Read it!

The artist Paul Gauguin once said that "life being what it is, one dreams of revenge." In "Bad Men Do What Good Men Dream," Dr. Robert Simon explains that all people have "bad dreams"--thoughts of suicide, or revenge, or crime--but only a very few cross the line from bad dream to bad action.

This book explores the nebulous borderline between what people think and what they do. The topics covered include serial killing, workplace violence, multiple personality disorder, killer cults, suicide, sexual misconduct by professional caregivers, rape, stalking and pyschopathic behavior.

In each area, Dr. Simon's analysis shows just how complex and surprising the human mind can be. Even apparently straightforward questions, such as whether a given criminal is likely to be dangerous in the future, or whether a "suicide" is actually an accident, turn out to be very hard to answer.

At times, Dr. Simon's style is a bit academic, but on the whole he writes clearly and does a good job of covering a wide range of complex issues.

Bad Men Do What Good Men Dream is a fascinating and well researched account of mankind's capacity for evil. Written by a forensic psychiatrist with years of clinical experience examining the human mind, the book not only provides the theoretical underpinnings of the subject, it provides the seasoned observer's inside account of what makes us "tick". In the humanist's tradition, it recognizes that dark thoughts are latent in all of us. Dr. Simon has produced a highly educational and riveting read without ever lapsing into the usual pomposity or sensationalism often found in writings on this topic. Readers will enjoy the many thought provoking discussions not only about why we do the things we do, but about what separates "good" people from "bad".

Dr. Robert I Simon's book Bad Med Do What Good Men Dream is an erudite and readable treatment of one of the knottiest questions in the history of humanity: what separates good men from bad men? Dr. Simon has applied his vast experience in clinical and forensic psychiatry to illuminate the similarities and differences between those who demonstrate remarkable psychopathology and "normal" people. He has explored the spectrum of violent and horrifying behavior, from killer cults to serial murderers to workplace violence, and provided a thoughtful discussion of the difficulties of identifying the good and evil inside us and around us. As a forensic psychiatrist, I found this book enlightening, thought provoking and well written. I highly recommend it to any professional or lay student of human nature.

The textbook is wonderful for individuals interested in learning about human resource management. Each chapter is carefully constructed with the topics hightlighted. The important vocabulary words are located in the outside margins with their appropriate definitions, which is helpful. The book also consists of numerous relevent "figures" or graphs that aid in demonstrating important ideas. I cannot comment on the order of the chapters or the order of the material and how it fits together, simply because I do not know enough about HRM to determine an appropriate order. However, the text was well organized and did a great job providing information about HRM discipline. It gave up-to-date examples and I could always understand the chapters, compared to some texts that are difficult to read and comprehend. In addition, there was an employment guide computer disc located on the book cover. I was not required to use the CD for class purposes, therefore I do not know if it is beneficial or not. But it is an additional tool for learning about human resource management. Overall, the book was excellent and I have no complaints.

Human Resource Management was a well-written book that was easy to read. It is a great book for someone wishing to learn more about the functions of Human Resources professionals. After reading this book, I have confirmed my major in Human Resources. There are three aspects of this book that I particularily liked, apart from it being easy to read. Frist, it is clear to the reader what is expected to be learned because the objectives are stated at the beginning of each chapter. Second, the book relates the concepts to real-life situations in the HR perspective sections. This makes it easier to grasp "textbook" definitions. Third, the authors make good use of figures and graphs to further reiterate the concepts. This is especially helpful for visual learners, like myself. In all, I would recommend this book to anyone wishing to learn more about Human Resource Management.

The HRM book that we used for class is easy to follow and to understand. The text was written to make it easy for the reader to understand and follow along, getting a good foundation to the principles and functions of HRM. It gave a clear basis on the job functions, and the figures and tables were clear, concise, and detrimental to the understanding of the material. Without the figures, it would have been hard to grasp the entire concept of the chapter. The order of the chapters seemed to flow in an organized fashion, grouping the similiar chapters together in units, although this being my first HRM course, I find it hard to rate the order of importance of the chapters. Overall I would recommend this book to other HRM professors. I thought that the book gave a lot of useful information and with the figures and tables the information was easy to understand and to apply to the real processes of HRM. With the examples and illustrations, this book would be very useful to all those taking a Human Resource Management course.

Wrox Press continues their time-honored tradional of piling as many authors into one 1200 page volume that they can in the hopes that they will end up with a definitive treatment of the subject. The authors range from seasoned professionals with real-world experience to pimple-faced hacks with nothing but a year or two of college computer science courses behind them. .... I must confess that I am not sure what I was expecting in these chapters but since JSP Tag Libraries seemed to be one of the more challenging and interesting areas of JSPs I was hoping for some more meaningful, 'meaty' content.

The assembly of these 18 (yes, 18!) authors wind up generating a book that essentially could have been put together with more precision and continuity if it had 15 fewer authors. It very much comes off as a rushed effort, without any tightness whatsoever. The writing style of this second edition can only be described as amateurish. This, fortunately, can be a little easier to swallow if you accept the spirit of the book (in Wrox's words 'Programmer to Programmer'). Take the text as quickly put-together material from programmers that have been through it (even if it was brief or only in school) and you should be fine.

Many unnecessary forward references exist throughout the text and, because of the unusually large number of authors, there is a large amount of repetition in the body of most chapters. The book's page count could also have been greatly reduced had the authors not consistently given condensed introduction to material that ends up being the subject matter for entire chapters later in the book. For example, two early chapters describe the basics of Tag Libraries, only to have them surface as the primary topic of chapters 8 - 11.

The code included throughout the book is variable in quality, as you might expect. The book doesn't pretend to be an academic tome of best practices or a showcase for some top-flight, brilliant programming but you end up thinking that many of the examples could have been made much more effective with more thought put into them. As with many other programming books out there, this one is definitely not without its errors. You'd hope, however, that with the 21 technical reviewers and 3 editors that worked on this book that it would have fared better than most.

In summary, if you take the text for what it is and skip over the segments of fluff and numerous poor code examples I think that most professional programmers new to this technology will find enough material to make the hefty price tag almost worth it (especially if you share it with others on your team!). ....

Professional JSP (2nd) is a huge book with over 1000 pages and 18 different authors. This book is aimed at developers seeking
intermediate and advanced knowledge about JSP.
The first 4 chapters cover the basics of web development, servlets and JSP. These chapters could have been taken out to focus more on advanced topics (such as integrating with EJB). Chapters 5 and 6 present JSP pages working with servlets and JavaBeans. This includes a simple implementation of the MVC design pattern using JSP, Servlets and JavaBeans.

Chapter 7 focuses on the Web Application Architecture wih more detail about designing JSP based applications. Chapters 8 - 11 go into detail about Custom Tag libraries, from building a simple tag library to custom tag idioms.

Chapters 12 -17 include topics such as Java and XML, JDBC, Security, Filtering and good practice.

Chapter 18 goes through the implementation of a maintainable database explorer.

The rest of the book covers
debugging JSP, improving performance, Jakarta Struts, WAP, Generating Binary Content and using JSP within the Java 2 Enterprise Edition. Many JSP developers will want to read this book to learn about Struts and other ways of producing maintainable JSP based web sites.

This is not the kind of book you would read from start to finish but as a quick overview and reference of some advanced topics. Don't expect to become an expert by reading this book but you will have a good idea what you can and should do with JSP. Most JSP developers will find something new in this book but some will require more detail. We would recommend this book to JSP developers who have read the beginners JSP books and want to learn more about JSP.

Well, i bought this book with one aim: Be able to learn and actually write JSP in limited terms. Since I found a job where they wanted me to do JSP, and I was doing ASP for last 2 years. This book has even section for ASP developers on how to move to JSP. So, with this book, I was able to write jsp in a week or so. ok, Now, actually about the book:

a) Great code explanation provided, as usual in any WROX books

b) Great code examples (especially voting application and database explorer one)

c) Tomcat and MySQL tutorial make my life easier, so i don't have to browse their sites for help - I have everything in one place (well, not everything -- but still, better then nothing)

d) Yes, price is kind of high, but, they got so much in one book, so i'm pretty sure that you will be glad once you buy it

I'd recommend this book for people who have to move from ASP (or any other programming language) to JSP. I would not recommend it to someone who is new to programming.

Thanks for all authors. Great Job.