This book goes a long way toward explaining CIA's intellectual and operational constipation in the 1950's through the 1970's. It follows James Jesus Angleton, who tied the Agency in knots and went so far as to privately tell the French that the CIA Station Chief in Paris was a Soviet spy, and William King Harvey, who literally carried two six-guns both in the US and overseas "because you never know when you might need them." Included in this book are some serious details about the operations against Cuba, a chapter appropriated titled "Murder Corrupts", and a good account of how Harvey, in perhaps his most important achievement, smelled out the fact that Kim Philby was indeed a Soviet spy. The concluding thought of the book is exceptional: "Immersed in duplicity and insulated by secrecy, they (Angleton and Harvey) developed survival mechanisms and behavior patterns that by any rational standard were bizarre. The forced inbreeding of secrecy spawned mutant deeds and thoughts. Loyalty demanded dishonesty, and duty was a thieves' game. The game attracted strange men and slowly twisted them until something snapped. There were no winners or losers in this game, only victims."

This book is well organised, well written and beautifully illustrated. Written by people who truly know the Galapagos Islands and all that exists there, including landings and information on what one can expect to see on arrival at any one island. I actually used three other guides whilst in the Galapago this month and only accessed this one at the end of my trip. I have continued to read this book since arriving home and highly recommend it.

In two words Quick Fun. This novel is no great piece of literature, but it was a good quick solid read, that was interesting to say the least.
The concept, alone was what riveted me, to read the book. Imagine that your best friend from 10 years ago suddenly comes to your front door and strikes up a conversation, about this or that. Then at some point he asks you who do you hate, and who hurt you or your family. No big deal. Right?
Then suddenly all the people who you mentioned the day before start turning up dead.
So starts the adventure, that is both interesting and never failing. I like these type of books from time to time, short in length, long in suspense. Good Clean Fun.

On the cover of my copy of David Martin's "Tap, Tap" is a sticker that promises the novel is "guaranteed to scare or your money back." This is a sucker's bet, and the reader wins nearly every time. "Tap, Tap" is not a particularly scary book, but that's not to say that it's not worth reading; quite to the contrary, it's a wonderful novel.

The story involves Roscoe Bird, a Washington, D.C., businessman who is married and putting his past behind him. Enter Peter Tummelier, Roscoe's childhood friend. Peter now claims to be a vampire and seeks to claim his share of the pair's childhood dream of sailing off into the sunset together (literally). Peter begins to kill Roscoe's enemies in a way calculated to frame Roscoe so that the latter will have no choice but to flee to avoid prosecution. Roscoe's wife, who has a fascination for the sort of very abnormal behavior Peter is exhibiting, finds herself drawn into the seine, as well. Meanwhile, police are indeed falling for Peter's ruse and make it very clear that Roscoe is suspected of murder.

That police would so readily fall for the ploy is problematic, but Martin's writing easily overcomes the plot holes. The writing switches tenses (from past to present and back), voice (from first-person to third-person and back), and locations in a way that could have been very jarring. But Martin is so skilled a writer and the pace is so fast that the end result works--and works well. As I said at the outset, I do not think "Tap, Tap" is scary at all. There are moments of terror, to be sure, but the overall effect is more along the lines of a rollercoaster, a ride on which the reader is carried along rapidly with so many sensations that they almost tend to blur with the passing scenery. Sure, there is some true horror, but there are also moments of great humor and of pathos. And it all seems to blend together remarkably well.

David Martin is a creative story-teller with a soulful and a sick, vivid imagination. He's got a way with words and has come up with another unpredictable storyline. A master of suspense, he opens the story with an intruder in the house and let's you know the married couple are doomed in the first couple of pages. Yet, the chapter is filled with suspense. Afterwards, everytime a chapter ends or starts with "Tap Tap," the reader holds on tight, knowing something horrible is about to happen. But you read on. You have to! Hollywood, instead of filming re-makes, should turn this book -- and others by Martin -- into movies ASAP.

Just when you thought David Martin had exhausted every literary trick, he does it again. Far less gory than some of his previous--but far more imaginative--PELIKAN is a must-read for Martin fans of which there are many. (Too bad his books aren't better-promoted.)

To those of you who have never been to NOLA and know the cityonly by its popular image as a once-a-year haven for the drunk andtopless, this is the book to read for a fit and proper introduction. Martin's PELIKAN takes you to the back alleys and dark side streets that give New Orleans its full-bodied flavor and true character. And as a bonus, wrapped in this accurate description of the city known as the nation's anus (the explanation is in the book) there's a gripping heist story. Read this book!

That's what I like about David Martin's novels; they are beyond bizarre! Loyal Martin readers will be able to appreciate this new book. PELIKAN's characters and plot are intriguing, to say the least. No one else can combine hookers, clowns, and nuns so perfectly without seeming ridiculous. I, too, wonder if they are real people that Martin actually met while living in the French Quarter.

As one of the poets featured in Will Work for Peace, one might expect me to be a bit biased, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Most poets work in a virtual vacuum, only tenuously connected to each other by the occasional workshop or shared membership in a 'poetry society'. When Brett Axel first approached me for a submission to an anthology he was considering, the names Marge Piercy, Lyn Lifshin, Moshe Bennaroch and so many others were abstractions to me as a fledgling poet. I knew these tremendous writers were 'out there' somewhere, beating down doors with their words and keeping a struggling artform alive. But to think that someday I would ever share a credit with these dynamic modern poets would be a pipe dream at best. It is through the sincere efforts of Brett Axel that many newer voices like mine have an extraordinary opportunity to appear with Pulitzer Prize winners and other poetic heavyweights. By way of an honest review, however, I will say this- not everything in this book will be to your particular liking. I myself came across some works that did not move me in the way the author may have intended. Some imagery can be raw and visceral, using shock value in place of craft at times. But to ignore those voices would be an even more shocking turn of events, so praise be to the editor for not sacrificing his vision to a senseless conformity. As Pete Seeger so aptly put it in his quote, trying to read all these poems at one time would be like trying 'to swallow Manhattan whole'. I say to you- buy this book, read this book, but understand that it's what you do after reading this book that will ultimately define who you could be. Poetry is alive and well, and lives in the blunt pages of Will Work for Peace.

Brett Axel visited my Church and I bought a copy of Will Work For Peace from him, not for poetry, but because I care about working for peace. I started reading through it thinking It'd just go on my shelf and that'd be the end of it, but the book grabbed me and kept me rivited. If I had known that poetry was this alive I'd have been into poetry. I've been reading some of the poems to my friends who also didn't think poetry was important and they are saying the same thing. Fantastic! There's no way to get through this book without having your old mindsets challenged. It's funny, powerful, sad, and uplifting. A book that deserves to be read by everyone. A book that really can make the world a better place!

Just amazing start to finish! I like the disregard for fame used in putting the book together. That great poems got in even if they were writtenby nobodys. Look at Roger Bonair-Agard's poem on page 74. Shortly after Will Work For Peace came out he won Slam Nationals, becoming Slam Champion of 1999, which will be getting him lots of offers. But Zeropanik Press didn't need to be told he was good by an award. They could tell by his writing! Good for them and good for all of us because Will Work For Peace is a literary milestone. It's a new standard for all future anthology editors to try to live up to. Thumbs up to Brett Axel and Thumbs up to Zeropanik Press for their guts and integrty.

This book seems to have polarised its many online reviewers. I'm not really surprised. David Copperfield is Dickens at his very best and occasionally (but only occasionally) at his worst. It is a long book; the sentimentality is poured on with a shovel; there are long passages that don't seem to take the plot anywhere. But it has some of Dickens' greatest characters; the plot is powerful and driving; and the first person narrative (unusual for Dickens) makes the story particularly involving. Overall, it deserves to be considered one of Dickens best books. The major low for me was the 'child wife' character - dreadfully unreal and irritating. But the contrast to this was Steerforth, who I rate as perhaps the most interesting and believable character Dickens has ever created. Unlike so many of Dickens' cartoon villains, Steerforth walked the all too human line between good and evil so beautifully that, like David Copperfield, one could hardly help loving him even when we are despising him. Uriah Heep may be the character most reviewers mention, but it is Steerforth that makes David Copperfield my favourite Dickens novel.

Charles Dickens is a master at re-creating the world. Throughout most of his books, Dicken's own life is recreated time and again, always with a different plot but with the same basic truths. In "David Copperfield", we go along the protagonist through his troubled and orphane childhood, his sufferings in terrible public schools, his trip to the beach to visit his nanny, his life with the stern yet loving aunt Miss Betsie Trotwood, the intrigues of the despicable yet fearsome Uriah Heep, his marriage to the childish and immature Dora, the betrayal by a trusted friend, success without happiness, and finally the encounter with true love, in the form of a friend from youthness.

The characters are all people you find during your own lifetime: your friends, your aunt, your sweetheart, that woman you love but you can't stand, etc. Copperfield is the story of a good man in his learning through difficulties and setbacks.

No wonder it is still read and probably will stay alive through the decades: Copperfield has something to tell us all.

Both critics and Charles Dickens himself generally class
"David Copperfield" as his "greatest" novel. The strains of autobiography and the rich array of comic and tragicomic characters give the reader the best of Dickens' wit and social outrage. As the years go by, though, people begin to speak of David Copperfield as a "set piece", a bit of Victoriana different in format but not in importance from a very natty
but a bit days-gone-by bit of antique furniture. This view misjudges the novel. This book presents a rich set of characters in a complex novel, deeply satisfying and in many ways still a very modern work. It's very hard to write about "good" and "evil" without descending into morality play, but this novel succeeds. The story is broken into three
"threads": a young boy, orphaned early, endures an unhappy childhood refreshed by periods of happiness (and comedy);
that same boy goes through late adolescence, and comes "into his own"; and finally, the narrator, now a man, sees the resolution of the various plot threads built through the early parts of the novel. Many Dickens themes are played out here--the superiority of goodness to affluence, the persistence and affrontery of fraud, and the way in which social institutions frequently hinder rather than advance their stated goals. The book does not read like a polemic, though--it reads like a bit of serial fiction (which in fact it was).

If you are hunting a good, solid read about values and
curious characters, David Copperfield stands ready to show you his world.

David Lozell Martin has created some memorable characters and vividly realistic scenes in his gruesome and gory novel, "Cul-De-Sac". Washed-up cop Teddy Camel (first introduced in Martin's "Lie To Me") comes to the aid of his former lover as she tries to save her husband from the evil clutches of the mysterious house known as Cul-De-Sac and one of it's former residents, convicted murderer Donald Growler.

Growler, you see, has revenge on his mind. Revenge in the form of grisly murders of the former residents of Cul-De-Sac who helped to frame him for the death of his cousin. But was Growler really framed or is this just the warped perception of a pychotic mind? As Camel and Annie Milton try to save Annie's husband, they end up finding out more about the original Cul-De-Sac murder then they bargained for.

Without giving away too much of the plot, let me just say that this book has a number of plot twists that will keep the reader guessing. And, while the finale follows a somewhat expected path, even it has an interesting final twist. As long as the reader is not easily disturbed by florid scenes of violence, then this will be a satisfying and extremely quick "read". Fans of Richard Laymon and Rex Miller will no doubt flock to other novels by David Martin.

Highly recommended is the aforementioned, "Lie To Me", plus "Tap, Tap" and "Bring Me Children" all written by Martin.

The majority of my favorite books have me well-hooked by the end of the first chapter. David Martin's latest nailed me by the end of the first page. And kept me thoroughly riveted right through the end.

Cul-De-Sac involves a very burned-out ex-cop, whose life is turned inside-out by the sudden appearance of his sensuous ex-girlfriend, the fairly freckled Annie. There's also the ex-girlfriend's husband (an ex-Jesuit). Most notably, there is Growler -- an ex-con who, after serving time for a murder he didn't commit, goes on a bloody rampage of vengence against all those who put him away. Growler's prison experiences have left him with a serious grudge as well as a new set of teeth; he's a man on a mission and in addition to wreaking some extremely violent havoc, is in desperate search of...yup, you guessed it; an elephant. Really.

This book made me laugh out loud. It also made me avert my eyes from the page occasionally; while some scenes are very funny, be warned that the violence is not for the faint of heart.

I've bought four more copies for friends thus far, because I won't let mine out of my sight. I've also scrambled to get my hands on all of Martin's previous books (only partially successful); Cul-De-Sac takes gets my vote as Martin's best for its sheer audicity, outrageousness, and great, great writing.

If you're a fan of Pulp Fiction or Twin Peaks, Cul-De-Sac will thrill you

David Martin does it again, another homerun. Is is possible that jail can change a person? Take someone who's innocent of murder then spent several years in jail, and when he comes out, he's a changed man. This is the story of Doland Growler. Grolwer (you have to love that name) had to spend years in jail, and he was changed froever. Now that he's out, he wants to find the ones who set him up for murder and was forced to do unspeakable things in jail. But now Growler is out, and it's times to make the giulty pay.
Don't think that that the above spoils anything. What I said is mention in the back of the book. I left out a lot, trust me.
Martin gives the reader many chills with the unique murders that Growler commits. Martin also has the ability to keep the reader glued to the page, and actually forced the reader to put the book down. This book has a lot of plot twiwts and excellent characters that will heep the reader hooked to the very last page.
If you know of Martin's works, then you need to get this book, and other book Mratin wrote. Now, if you haven't read any books my Martin, then you must start it. You may want to read a book called "Lie to Me", before you read this book. One character in Lie to me, shows up here. Start this book, you won't be sorry.

This is certainly a very good reading about building enterprise applications. I like that the author gives samples for the most currently used software platforms, such as Java and .NET. Anyway, the author treats more the specifics of Java than those of .NET, and that shows the patterns he discusses don't always have such a general applicability. A certain thing not well covered is related to the table module. I have a compelling question about it and if any readers of the book are willing to help me with that, please let me know. I suppose questions aren't to be posted in a book review.
To conclude, I liked reading the book and I'm sure it's worth the money.

This is the best book I've found on J2EE and .Net patterns. I think it's destined to become a classic. I found the discussions on when to distrbute ('sell your favorite grandmother first'), Unit Of Work, Domain Model and Data Mapper patterns extremely useful. It has changed the way I think about enterprise applications.

I think it fits somewhere between the original 'Design Patterns' book, by Gamma, et al, and a book like 'J2EE Patterns' in terms of its scope. 'Design Patterns' describes existing patterns that are applicable to any kind of application. 'J2EE Patterns' describes patterns in terms of one platform (although many of them apply to other platforms as well.) Fowler's book describes a set of patterns that work with a certain kind of application, business apps, but that are applicable to more than one platform.

It's better than the 'J2EE Patterns' book, which doesn't do a good job explaining which parts of J2EE to avoid, and which 'patterns' are in fact workarounds for problems in the platform itself. (For example, the 'Composite Entity' pattern.)

I have to strongly disagree with the first reviewer. Fowler does explain which patterns work best on which platform. The first section of the book gives a good road map for deciding which set of patterns to use for your app. He mentions explicitly that .Net pulls you in the direction of Table Module, but that with J2EE you would be less likely to use that pattern.

As far as the patterns being available in frameworks, I still find it useful to know about the patterns the framework implements. That way you know which framework to select. We recently went through an O/R mapping tool selection process. Reading the Unit Of Work, Data Mapper, Repository, Lazy Load and Identity Map chapters helped *immensely* in that process. Likewise reading the Front Controller pattern gave me some new ideas on how best to utilize the Struts framework. I totally disagree with the notion that "learning about the patterns that are associated with these frameworks will provide little value". Ignorance is definitely not bliss here.

Finally, the idea that because the book 'just' collects and names patterns that already exist somehow decreases its value is hogwash. These are tried and true patterns that many developers have found useful. Naming and clearly describing common patterns is very helpful. This is exactly what the original 'Design Patterns' book did. By this logic, I guess the original reviewer would have given 'Design Patterns' only 3 stars.

It's a great book.

This book gives a catalog of patterns for enterprise solutions based on layered architecture(he has not covered the filter/pipe pattern). It provides multiple probable solutions(In C# and Java) for many enterprise related issues/problems. Most of these issues are shared by J2EE/.NET/CORBA framework based applications. If the user has already read J2EE Design Patterns, Design Patterns(Gang of Four) books and worked on 3-4 Enterprise multi-layer applications, then this book makes a lot of sense. The solutions can be put to practice fairly easily , atleast in the J2EE app server based solution space.

BTW, this books is out of stock at Amazon, I ordered my copy from Barnes and Noble and got a good discount too.

The book was on the net for a while on martinfowler.com site and only after it was published at OOPSLA 02, was it removed. Going through the June 02 snapshot of this book provided for interested reading. The final version has been edited for easy reading and comes out pretty well.

CONS :
1) Does not come with a CD :-)
2) Does not use all(advanced) language facilities (to make it readable)

As I started to read the back of the book, it caught my attention and it seemed very interesting. I thought the book was very good because it always kept me wondering and as I read on, it would get more interesting. This book was about a detective trying to find out if the crime committed was a murder or a suicide. I also thought that the secrets and deceptions is what kept me interested and wanting to go on further. I couldn't put the book down because as I read on, I would find out new and more twisting things. Something else that I liked was how all the characters had something in common and how the author related all of them. The thing that I also liked about the book was that I always thought I had the murder solved and figured out, but finishing it up, it had a really twisted ending and that is what I liked most. I liked how the author wrote is so that you would think one thing and be so positive that it was true, but then he makes it so that there are other points of views. I liked the way the author used so much detail because it gave me sense of what the characters looked like and I could picture in my head the actions that were happening. Over all I would recommend this book to anyone because of it's mysteriousness and the way the author wrote it was great.

The book left me on the edge of my seat. The begining definately caught my attention and kept me interested in what actually happened to the real killer in the end. All the while secrets and lies were produced and descovered making the book that much more interesting to read. I couldn't keep my eyes off the mysterious and descriptive words as I turned each page eager to find out what happens next. "Lie To Me" is a cutting edge thriller, not for the weak of stomach. The graphic detail helped myself better visualize the characters and the plot the book was presenting. This was definately one of the best books I've read.

To be honest, I don't read many books of this genre. But, every once in awhile everyone wants a good mystery/thriller. And this is a good one.

All I really ask of a book like this is that it offer some suspense. I am not someone who is easily fooled. I am well-known among my friends as being able to predict the ends of books and movies. But I have to admit that Martin does a good job of keeping key elements of the story just out of reach.

But what raises this story above the typical is character. Detective Terry Camel is a fascinating, well-drawn person. He is known as the "human lie detector" but is it really a gift or is he faking or just burned out? And if he can find out the truth, how does he use this information and to whom does he reveal it? For a great detective, he seems more human than the type usually found in these novels.

Combine Camel with a good cast of supporting characters and a grizzly enough crime and you've got a entertaining read.

They say engineers (myself included) are generally poor writers; then David Packard must be an absolute genius. David Packard's book (as has his company been one) is an important contribution and a must read for company executives. But it does require patience and dedication -- like the one he and Bill Hewlette had to endure to make HP a success! Once you get through the first 6 or 7 chapters the book becomes and absolute GEM. Until then -- and unfortunately you almost have to read the first few chapters -- the book is a positive cure for sleeplessness. HP's dedication to innovation, its financial frugality (which shows up in Dave Packard not hiring a good ghost writer or editor) and the importance of Management by Objectives, Decenterlized Organization, and Management by Walkign Around, Expected Returns on R&D are only some of the Gems hidden in this book; but you do have to mine to get to them and IMHO it is a worthwhile pain to go through. What also comes through is how HP slipped their biggest chance of dominating the chip and computer market by not taking the risk and cancelling the OMEGA project. Reading David Packard's fatalistic justifications is worth 10 times the price of the book. Also little credit is given to the inventor of the calculator that made HP a house hold name, and no mention is made of procurement of Appolo(until in Appendix 2)!!! Admittedly, I am at fault for having difficulty with this book. I read it after reading "Hard Drive, Bill Gatees and the Making of Microsoft Empire" by Jamve Wallace and Jim Erickson. These gentlemen are professional writers/journalists that know how to grab ones attention and keep it. Reading them before "The HP Way", which incidently and surprisingly was rated the best business book of 1996 by Amazon readers, is like watching the movie Titanic, and then going home to suffer through 6 hours of Mr. Rogers!!! But I do still recommend the book not to mention that I am more inclined to one day work for the comapny! Cheers, --- Esfandiar

Considering that an electrial engineer like David Packard could have written a, boring, detailed account of how he and Bill Hewlett pieced together their very first piece of equipment in the now famous Pal Alto, California garage. This book surprises you with its simple down to earth account of how it all began and how they built this tiny garage shop into the multi billion dollar company that it is today. They did it not only with a strong belief in new and innovative products, but in the people that helped build the company. This simple belief built the foundation into the HP way of corporate greatness.

The book was simply written, but it is this style that allowed me to understand the friendship between David Packard and Bill Hewlett and the corporate culture that they developed at HP. I would recommend this book to anyone that is a manager or executive to benchmark the corporate culture that HP established or applaud yourself if you have already embraced the HP Way. I trully believe, as David Packard and Bill Hewlett did, that you need a strong belief in people to make a company succeed.

If you thought that companies become admired by magic then think again - or better still, read the book.

Bill Hewlett and David Packard created one of the worlds most admired companies and it has never stopped going from strength to strength, now with the likes of Carly Fiorina who has taken HP forward into the new millenium by going back to HPs roots.

This book describes the start-up HP company and some of the aspects of its rapid growth and global expansion. There's not too much detail in this book but it does make for interesting reading - although the style is rather dry - for someone who holds up HP as a benchmark against which other companies can and should be measured. If you like me, like HP, then buy the book.

Carly Fiorina has been quoted as saying "in this new world we must always remember that technology is only as valuable as the use to which it is put. In the end, technology is ultimately about people." - that, in a nutshell, is the HP Way. Regards,

martyn_jones@iniciativas.com