This is an really fine collection of essays about the controversies over the writing of Mormon during the past 30 years. Both sides (conservatives and liberals) are represented. A special highlight is D. Michael Quinn's "On Being a Mormon Historian--and its Aftermath" which includes the complete text of Quinn's infamous lecture and a scalding account of the events that followed. Highly reccomended, and not just to Mormons but to anyone who likes intellectual history and is interested in the "culture wars" of today.

Michael Green is one of the best authors I have come to read, especially for military subjects. I have been a fan of all types of military/war books simply because politics is interesting for me. Michael Green has written a number of books on this subject all of which are considered my favorite. This book is well-written and gives clear, concise information. It also contains and array of astonishing and breath-taking photographs, liek in all of Green's books. I wish I could meet this wonderful author and congratulate him on his job well done. My wife and I both know that these books are at the top of my shelf!

If you are trying to cut to the chase and go online to some really good educational sites, then this is the book for you. As an educator, I was spending a lot of my time searching the net for educational sites to help me grow professionally, as well as aid in my classroom instruction. The Table of Contents is organized according to easy-to-understand educational topics of interest which allows the information on a particular site to be easily found. If you are a parent, this book has a section for parents and one for kids, too. There is also a description and commentary of each site which I found particularly helpful before actually going online to that site. For me, this took the guesswork out of going to a site for the first time. In summary, ... A definite must for the 21st century educator.

"Patton" A Genius for War " is an outstanding biography of General George S. Patton. After seeing some less than glowing critical reviews of this book, I was hesitant to read it, expecting it to be over-long, somewhat disjointed and unorganized. But, I plunged ahead anyway, and found the book to be a genuinely pleasant surprise - superbly written, richly detailed, balanced, and obviously well researched and organized. The portrait of Patton which emerges is that of a man destined for greatness on the field of battle from the beginning. Here is seen the scion of a Virginia family steeped in military tradition since the Civil War (two ancestors died as heroes to the Confederacy during that conflict). Here is the young man with a tremendous intellect and drive to succeed; suffering from, and successfully compensating for, dyslexia and feelings of inadequacy brought on by this disability. And, here is the army officer who believed he was destined for greatness, demonstrating a natural genius for war throughout his long military career; a highly patriotic, proud, and profane general, capable of quickly moving an entire army across Europe; yet afflicted with the hubris which ultimately led to his firing as Third Army commander at the end of World War II. "Patton: A Genius of War" is a wonderful biography of a highly complex and yet deeply flawed man. For readers interested in getting beyond the image of Patton presented by the movie, this book is a must read.

The book delves into Patton's outlook on life and war. It shows his immense boredom with peacetime soldiering and the unusual attitude about combat of this "born warrior".
Patton was, above all else, a warrior and an accomplished leader. His attitude of hard training and conditioning, along with strict discipline was calculated to protect his troops in battle because they knew what to do and were in condition to do it.

Up through World War II, Patton was the greatest expert about tank warfare and also about combining tanks with infantry, artillery, and airpower. His lack of control about what he said was his worst enemy and always got him into trouble.

Patton was dyslexic, which gave him problems with reading and made him unsure of himself. Apparently dyslexia affects more than just the ability to read. He always had a strong self-doubt mixed with the firm idea that he was born to lead a great army. He believed in reincarnation and thought that he had been a warrior in all the great battles of history. He overcame his dyslexia to the extent that he was very learned in classic literature and especially in everything concerning war. He also became a very successful lecturer (when he could control his tendency to purple prose) and wrote many important papers about military affairs.

The way General Eisenhower used General Patton like a deadly weapon to be used then put on the shelf is well detailed along with Eisenhower's efforts to hold the allies together and the resentment by Generals Patton and Bradley for Eisenhower's apparent favoritism to the British. The book is a really deep look at Patton's career, the politics of World War II and "The Battle of the Generals". It's thorough but highly readable. The account of the automobile accident that took General Patton's life shortly after the end of WWII is clear and well written. This should be a classic of books about World War II and Patton in particular.

ENN Book Review -05/12/97 - 22:00CDT

By C. L. Staten, EmergencyNet News Service

Shortly after my visit to the local hospital, and during a somewhat extended illness at home, I have had the good fortune to read a lengthy but very satisfying title by a retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. and military historian, Carlo D'Este. The subject of this biography is admittedly a personal hero and the subject of some deep reading on the part of this reviewer on several past occasions. In fact, at the onset of the manuscript, I wasn't sure what more there was to learn about George S. Patton, Jr.. Thankfully, D'Este's treatment of Patton is an amazingly well-balanced and unbiased analysis that will be regarded by some as a non-traditional treatment of the World war II hero.

This is a full-fledged portrait of Patton, from his childhood, through his military service, and up to and including his untimely death at the end of the war. It doesn't spare the reader the blemishes of Patton's life, nor an insightful analysis of his generally acknowledged military genius. Interestingly, this work actually explores the possibility that much of what Americans commonly know about George S. Patton Jr., including his infamous profanity, may have been a facade intended to fool others.

D'Este spends a great deal of time dwelling into the family and private life of Patton, as well as exploring some of the psychological implications of events that shaped his life. He correctly observes, that given Patton's parentage and upbringing that there are few other things that he could have been except a "warrior." From the time that he was old enough to listen to the stories around the fireplace, he was educated about a deep-seated family tradition of military service and sacrifice for the country. These stories and his formal education at VMI and West Point undoubtedly, firmly, shaped his destiny.

Also of note in regard to Patton's education is the not well known fact that he suffered from dyslexia. D'Estes review goes to some lengths to discuss the effects of this condition and the possible emotional ramifications that it can have on its victims. D'Estes expounds on the works of Dr. Harold Levinson, a renowned Dyslexia expert, who contributes much of Patton's eventual success (and subsequent emotional distress) to his normal feelings of inferiority caused by the dyslexic disorder. Levinson's hypothesis includes an opinion that Patton's drive, authoritarian demeanor, macho attitude, and warrior mentality may have all been rooted in compensating for his life-long illness.

Finally, D'Estes covers the strategic war in Europe in great depth. He reviews some of the facts concerning stories associated with Patton's slapping of two enlisted men in Sicily, Patton's alleged feuds with Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, and his continued "political disputes" with Gen. Mark Clark, Gen. Omar Bradley, and Gen. Dwight Eisenhower. One commonly accepted fact does remain undisputed by D'Estes diatribe...Patton was one of the most successful generals on the allied side. D'Estes well documents the fact that through a combination of audacity, bulldoggedness, and clever tactics he managed to take more ground in a shorter time frame than any other general in the war.

All in all, "Patton; A Genius For War" comes highly recommended. Parts of it do contain mature language, which may not be suitable for children. But, that is only in keeping with Patton's philosophy of "giving it to 'em straight and dirty...so they'll understand it." This book gives significant insight for the serious World War II history student, as well as providing a "behind the scenes" feel that contributes to any readers understanding of a complex and turbulent time in the world's history. It you like detailed WWII history, and especially one of its most controversial generals...buy this book.

The book doesn't teach you much on the strategy on MTG. It's just too simple. For the thickness of this book, I expected more from it.

[originally written in 1997]
Yes, I do play the game. I first saw it being played at MileHiCon in Denver in 1992, and I kick myself for not buying cards then (that would have been alpha edition cards...). I kept hearing about the game, and finally picked up my first deck at a small gaming convention here in the Tri-Cities. While it's not been an obsession, as it can be with some people, I do waste more time on it than I should. When I first started to play, I got Jill to play with me, but then I rooked in some co-workers, and now it is the daily game at lunch that keeps us constantly creating and tweaking our decks.

If you have never heard of Magic: The Gathering, then you are probably quite confused by now. In a nutshell, Magic was created by a mathematics professor from Walla Walla to be a simple little game that could be played by two people in 30 minutes. Instead, he created a marketing monster. You buy cards to make up your playing set like baseball cards--random cards are sealed in foiled packs so you have no idea what you are getting when you buy them. From all these random cards, you and your opponent make up decks of around 60 cards each. The game is a contest of warring wizards, casting spells that summon creatures and enchantments to attack or otherwise reduce the opponent wizard's life to 0 from a starting amount of 20. For a simple game, it becomes quite complicated after that, because there are now over 1000 different cards to select for your decks, thus ensuring that almost every game you play will be different.

The book at hand tries to make sense of some of the chaos surrounding the game by discussing the mathematics of deck building (why you shouldn't play with more than 60 cards, what percentage of "mana"-- the magic that fuels spells--you need, etc.), and strategies of play. When this book was published, it was more relevant; today, I would not recommend this book except for those Internet Magic players because many of the deck ideas discussed herein involve out-of-print cards that would cost a fortune to actually possess. Magic is something like the Internet--it changes rapidly, and what might have been a workable strategy four months ago is likely a quick defeat today (or outlawed in tournament play).

I have read this book cover to cover one ten times! This book not only helps you learn how to build competitive decks, it helps you understand why you should build the deck how you are building it. It has a formula for building decks which I never ignore. I learn more and more from this book each time I read it. No matter if you are the world champion or you just learned howw to play, you should definitly read this book. A must for any magic player!!!

The book's description on the back cover doesn't even match the content nor does the CD-ROM. It looks and reads like a thrown together blob of stuff ... can someone tell me where to find the durn spreadsheet widget .. its mentioned on the back cover but not in the index, the table of contents nor on the CD-ROM....

I don't recommend purchase lightly. I've been wearing out its pages for two weeks now, with occasional bouts of furrowed brows and impatient snorting. I've come, though, to a conclusion in which I'm confident: if you're a Tcl user, you should invest in *Tcl/Tk Tools*.

Why? Because you'll use it, and use it well. Almost everyone involved in Tcl has questions (so how do I really compile a Tcl script? How much does it take to do drag-and-drop and tool tips? Are the RDBMS extensions current with vendor features? ...) answered here. Simplify your life by putting these 650+ pages on your shelf.

What is *Tcl/Tk Tools*? It's a collection of descriptions of different popular extensions to Tcl and Tk. While lead author Harrison gives the impression they're written by "the extension authors themselves", there are a few exceptions to this pattern. The book is not written as a tutorial or introduction to Tcl, sagely pointing to John Ousterhout and Brent Welch's books for that role (although I've been thinking of experimenting with putting *Tcl/Tk Tools* in the hands of novices, to see what would happen. I suspect they'd survive in good shape).

*Tcl/Tk Tools* isn't exhaustive. It doesn't include several of my favorite extensions, including Scotty, NeoWebScript, stooop, tclMsql, the PlusPatches, ... It doesn't matter. If you care about only *one* of the extensions described here, you'll do well to have your own copy.

Harrison and his co-authors do a good job of hitting the target of telling "Here's the philosophy behind this package, and here are some examples of how to use it effectively" that he lays out in the Preface. While it's easy to move from one chapter to another, it's not at the expense of the authors and their personalities. D. Richard Hipp's thoughtful precision and De Clarke's care in engineering effective solutions come through, as do the assurance and lucidity those in the Tcl community expect of Don Libes. Less successful is the forward look that Harrison intended, toward "the plans the extension authors had for future enhancements and extensions." I assume this was in part a casualty of the realities of the publishing cycle; certainly many of the chapters appear to have been finished before the appearance a year ago of 7.6's betas.

Two unglamorous aspects of the book multiply its value: the index is sound (that's saying a lot for me; I have high standards in indexing), and Harrison's Chapter 17 on what he calls "Configuration Management" lays out much valuable wisdom that newcomers need to learn. Reading the latter is painful: it has all the important, tedious subjects ("Combining Extensions ...", command-line munging, ...) one wants--but without mention of Win* or loadable libraries! These frailties are inevitable when broadcasting on dead trees, of course. What's disappointing is that *Tcl/Tk Tools* doesn't go farther in joining the Internet Age: although a two-page Appendix lauds news:comp.lang.tcl and lists the FAQs and nine URLs (some of which have already moved, of course), and individual authors take it on themselves to provide appropriate references,
* it's not apparent that there is any page where Harrison and/or O'Reilly maintain errata, updates, new examples, funny animal GIFs, or any of the other resources readers might be expected to exploit--I couldn't find one at the URL the Preface gave, nor elsewhere at www.ora.com;
* some authors supply no e-mail addresses;
* some authors give references ("look in the archives") that will be inscrutable for those not already in the know; and
* there is wide variation in the quality of information authors give about extension prospects, bug lists (a particular sore point with me), mailing lists, and so on.
Understand, please, that I'm not labeling these moral faults; as on every project, the good engineering comes in deciding where to make the cuts, and what definite values to deliver. I personally look forward to seeing books that build a more dynamic relationship with online sources, and am simply noting that *Tcl/Tk Tools* doesn't achieve that standard.

The quality of production is high, higher even than the elevated expectations I have of O'Reilly. Typos, mistakes in word choice, and code errors seem to sum to around zero to five per chapter. Screen shots are judicious and illuminating, rather than gratuitously space-filling. The CD-ROM (with binaries for indeterminate but predictable releases of Solaris and Linux) does the little I asked of it.

Summary: whether you're a full-time Tcl-er or a greenhorn, you'll profit from having *Tcl/Tk Tools* at hand. Whenever you're in a pinch, there's a fair chance the Index and/or Table of Contents will quickly lead you to a useful datum. During more contemplative moments, you'll want to read the chapters in a connected fashion, and the accuracy and insight of the authors will make you glad that you do.

This was the first book I read on Tcl/TK (a mistake), but it was nonetheless helpful. I do refer it often. I particularly found the introduction to Expect useful.

This book does not even begin to deliver what it promises. A genuine dialogue between humanists and believing Mormons could have been interesting. This "dialogue," essentially between humanists and unbelieving Mormons whom it is impossible to distinguish from humanists in any meaningful way, offers almost nothing of substance or real interest.

This book was spurred by the excommunication of several church members in the early 90's. The specific issues addressed now appear dated. I read the book several years ago when it first came out. Even then, the discussions just did not capture my interest and did not cover any new ground.