I'm sure most of you have heard of the book by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Scarlet Letter". Hawthorne weaves a tale of hardship, struggle, and victory as we follow the life of Hester Prynne, a woman who has had a child out of wedlock, whom she names Pearl. She is shunned from the community, refuses to confess the identity of Pearl's father, and is forced to wear a letter "A" on her dress, the symbol for adultery. Fighting against the stifling and hypocritical ways of Puritan life, Hester rebels in her own way, first by embellishing her letter with fine embroidery. This book gives us a look at what it is like to live in Puritan America from not just a woman's point of view, but a so-called "sinner's" point of view as well. As we read this book, we come to see how the letter becomes a symbol of strength and freedom for Hester, in a fight against facades of piety and hypocrisy. A very good novel, and Hawthorne does a wonderful job in the portrayal of his characters. Another little known fact, Hawthorne's grandfather was a judge at the Salem witch trials and Nathaniel was so embarassed by the affiliation, that he changed the spelling of his last name to distance himself from his grandfather and what he stood for. A very good novel, definitely something that everyone should read. Besides, don't you want to know the identity of Hester's lover? Go and read this book!

I think that The Texas Rangers Elite Series is a very informative, yet entertaining book. The book talks about The Texas Rangers from thier begining up to present day, going into deph about the more famous Rangers like, Jack Hays, and RIP Ford. I would say that this book is well worth investing in, especaially for people to whom the Texas Rangers is a new interrest, its a good starting block.

When I first pick up this book in the library, I was suprised by the date it was published. After reading a few pages, I start to love this book, it gives a detail describtion on almost every command that you'll need in Sys V. This is a good book to read and good book to keep for reference. Since most major commercial Unix are based on SVR*, this book still has its value after all these years.

We start with a dead Russian body being fished out of the water by Cubans for the benefit of Moscow investigator Arkady Renko, who has been called in by the Russian Embassy to investigate the dead Russian's death and cause, etc. Through Renko we visit and smell Fidel Castro's exotic, erotic and decaying Havana and an assortment of Cuban characters, most of whom seem to speak Russian and are quite caustic to their former allies. Cruz scrambles the story several times and builds and changes hard-to-follow conspiracies that ends up with Cubans changing their stories, allegiances and support - all to confuse and throw Renko off his scent. There's also some sex between Renko and the black Cuban detective, which doesn't make sense, because she really dislikes Russians. The best find in this book is the interesting tapestry of Cuban life that Cruz describes, with Santeria, racism, forced ingenuity, brutality and a colorful city destined to continue to be one of the jewels of the New World.

Perhaps, Mister Smith has become too comfortable with Arkady Renko. I guess I was expecting Gorky Park in Havanna. It just never happened.

There are the bad guys that come armed with syringes, baseball bats and machetes. There is a certain amount of deductive reasoning, but I must confess I did not see where the story was going until the last 50 pages.

Without giving anything away, it seems there could have been more fireworks than what occurred at the end of the book. Perhaps that was the intent, but I missed the hints - probably because I never connected with the supporting cast.

The backdrop of Havanna and the missed opportunity for the past half century is compelling, but it is not enough to carry off the novel.

Havana Bay is an extremely engaging and exciting mystery novel that is a strong and welcome addition to the author's three previous Arkady Renko novels, each of them featuring the quiet and sensitive but also extraordinarily dedicated and perceptive Moscow detective, once again up against the power and evil of a corrupt political and social system that is doing its best to obscure the facts, cover the crime, and eliminate him from the scene. Cruz-Smith takes us into the heart of Castro's Havana and gives us a gritty, raw look at a world that runs by its own rules, and the overall view isn't a pretty one. This isn't the Havana that tourists or Castro apologists will see, but one with a dirty underbelly that for all its moralism reeks of corruption on a political and social level. As he did with Polar Star and Rose, Cruz-Smith takes us into the heart of a place and a time we would never have otherwise visited and makes us feel as though we're actually there - the rarest gift of a fine novelist. This is a book that will keep you enthralled and however much you'll want to reach the end of the mystery, its very richness of scene and detail will make you wish the book were twice or three times the size. Definitely one you won't want to miss.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's acquired disdain for his own renowned detective creation is legendary, and 'tis said that when William Gillette wired him with the question, "May I marry Holmes?" (to a female character), Conan Doyle brusquely replied, "You may marry him or murder him or do what you like with him."

But one must draw the line somewhere. And notwithstanding Mollie Hardwick's excellent paean to the legend of Sherlock Holmes at the head of this collection of short stories, I wonder whether even Conan Doyle could have stomached some of these literary assaults upon it.

In "Sherlock Holmes and the Muffin", Dorothy Hughes presents us with a feminist Holmes and Watson who look forward to the day when women become doctors and scientists. Another swig of Women 100 Proof and Ms. Hughes would have had them lobbying from their 19th century perches for abortion on demand, free daycare, and a chocolate bar in the glove compartment of every SUV, a bottle of prozac in the pocket of every power suit.

And even THIS atrocity barely holds its own, as an atrocity, against the contemporary setting of Joyce Harrington's "The Adventure of the Gowanus Abduction", in which a delicate hippie-type Watson plays second fiddle to a ferocious liberated female Holmes - not only as "her" assistant but as "her " lover. Indeed, the story winds up with a broad hint of a rendezvous in the bedroom, but I think that this Watson will couple with this Holmes about as successfully as Tchaikovsky did with Antonina Milyukova.

This book also has its share of short stories that do considerably more justice to the Sherlockian tradition, and the best of these are Barry Jones's "The Shadows on the Lawn", Edward D. Hoch's "The Return of the Speckled Band", and Stuart Kaminsky's "The Final Toast". The Jones story, in particular, is very chilling.

But John Lutz's "The Infernal Machine" also deserves credit for craft and subtlety. The threat of an international conflagration and the new concept of the "horseless carriage" are crucial to the resolution of this story, and there's a passage in it where a young inventor asserts that in ten years, everyone in England will drive a horseless carriage. "Everyone?" Watson asks. "Come now!"

Holmes laughs and says, "Not you, Watson, not you, I'd wager."

How many readers realize that Lutz is paying homage to the last story in the Conan Doyle concordance, "His Last Bow", set on the eve of the first World War, in which Watson does indeed drive an automobile, in the guise of a chauffeur? Not many, I'd wager.

It must have taken a lot of commendable restraint for Lutz to simply rely on his readers' perspicacity and to resist the sore temptation of finding a way to directly point to the Conan Doyle story.

For that matter, Malcom Bell, the villain in the Kaminsky story, may be based upon Dr. Joseph Bell, one of Conan Doyle's medical instructors, who is said to have been the chief inspiration for Conan Doyle's creation of Sherlock Holmes.

Stephen King's contribution might be the cleverest, if not the best written. He apparently wrote his own Sherlock Holmes story in response to a challenge from the editors, but King's normal writing style doesn't quite click with the sober Watsonian chronicling presented by Conan Doyle.

And King is usually a good researcher, but this skill fails him on at least two occasions. He presents us with several images from the Victorian Era that Conan Doyle withheld from delicate sensibilities, including orphans losing all the teeth out of their jaws in sulphur factories by the age of ten and cruel boys in the East End teasing starving dogs with food held out of reach.

But the authentic Sherlock Holmes, having learned that Jory Hull was a painter and having deduced that he had no need of monetary support from his cruel father, would have further deduced - without asking Lestrade - that Jory probably gained his independence by painting professionally.

And the authentic Holmes, as Watson says in the Conan Doyle classic, "A Study in Scarlet", has a good practical knowledge of British law. Stephen King is surely wrong to have Holmes ask Lestrade what sort of treatment the murder suspects might expect to receive under it.

Still, we must be grateful to King for bringing to our attention the one case in the lexicon where Watson actually solves the mystery before Holmes does - and yes, it happens in a plausible manner. As Loren Estleman has pointed out, Holmes's brilliance wouldn't be appreciated by us as much if it were not for the buffer provided by the savvy but unremarkable earnestness of Watson's narrative. We admire Holmes, but we empathize more with his Boswell, and it's wonderful to learn of a case in which Watson has his moment in the sunlight.

This collection has its share of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the just plain silly (Peter Lovesey's "The Curious Computer"). The reader is advised to judge each story on its own merits. Don't be too impressed with Dame Jean Conan Doyle's endorsement of the volume as a whole. But do ask, as another renowned English author once did, "What's in a name?"

"The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" was like a breath of fresh air. Lately I have come across some anthologies which just aren't up to par as far as the quality of the plots. These stories I found to be entertaining and fun to read. Two which stood out for me were "Shadows on the Lawn" and "The Return of the Speckled Band". There's even a story in there for Watson lovers, "The Doctor's Case", penned by none other than Stephen King. Though there were a few which I didn't really care for, this is a worthwhile read.

I love anything about Holmes and Watson. These were well written stories that I truly enjoyed reading. It took me back to when I read all of Doyle's stories about Holmes and Watson. I recommend it highly.

I havent read this book because I havent received my copy yet. It was explained that this book was only available via the market place. I've paid for my book and after 20 days it is yet to arrive and the seller refuses to contact me. NEVER buy anything via the marketplace.

Great instructional book for building a traditional style fireplace surround (title a bit misleading - the mantel is only the shelf above a fireplace - the surround is the mantel, columns, etc.) Limited, though in that it only covers one style surround with different variations.

If you like the style of fireplace surround on the cover of the book, then buy it. It steps you through building that style in "great" detail.

this book cleared up a lot of questions i had about building a mantel.written clearly so that most anyone could understand the sequence to get a very professional job.this was money well spent.

AT LAST!!!, a reliable reference BOOK. A self-taught VBA programmer, I know well the frustration of relying on Microsoft's 'help' for Visual Basic in Excel. Not knowing what to ask makes Microsoft's search engines just about useless, and the use of generic names for objects and variables in examples only adds to the confusion. Microsoft's 'on-line' manual lacks detail, adequate exemples, and is cumbersum when trying to review a previous sections.

Green's Excel 2000 VBA Programmers Reference has opened an entire new world for me as a programmer. Green approaches Excel 2000 VBA assuming the reader knows nothing. He presents one simple block of information at a time in a logical, building-block outline and avoids overwhelming the reader. His examples use actual code that when typed in, provide an instant result.

Green does a fair job in the daunting task of providing a quick reference to code through logical grouping, Table of Contents, Index, and page headings. However, to achieve the best results from Green's book, the reader must 'read' the book from start to finish otherwise, you'll be just as lost, maybe not as confused, as using Microsoft's on-line help. Green's organization is such that once finished, the reader will at least know which chapter to start looking for the right information.

I have been an avid supporter of Microsoft Office suites and firmly believe their potential goes largely untapped by businesses costing them thousands, if not millions of dollars in lost production and through the purchase of software which can be done by MS Office. Green's book allowed me to compose a script which translated data from an old database management system to a new system - a process which was quite complex in some areas. This self-help endeavor saved my company several thousand dollars in paying for the vendor to perform the work.

Just getting started, then get Green's book and invest in a few Post-It's to mark the really useful sections. You win, your company wins.

Many programmers are not satisfied that their programs work, but they also want to know if the techniques they employ are the most efficient, or if there is a better means of doing something. For those readers who want to make use of Excels sophisticated object model this is a great book to learn how to do it best. Just about every programming technique I have needed has been covered, allowing me to develop Excel applications written with efficient code that is FAST.

John Green seems to stay one step ahead by pre-empting any questions the reader has, and all the points he covers are backed up with code. Often the author will give several alternative approaches to solving a particular task programmatically, and also explain which approach is more effective / efficient and why.

Although some explanation of basic programming techniques are covered in the "Primer in Excel VBA" chapter, this book is probably best suited to readers who have some programming background (although you don't have to be a pro either).

My one criticism is directed more at Wrox Press than John Green, and is the reason I have only given four stars not five. As has been already mentioned in other reviews, the index is very poor, and is little more than an extended Table Of Contents - a trait in common with other Wrox books I have read. Finding that "golden nugget" in this is a gold mine of information is very time consuming. For example, trying to find the section on the EVALUATE or CALLER methods from the index won't yield much success unless you already know that they are covered in "Chapter Three: The Application Object Model" - this is what you look up in the index - crazy! Finding other entries in the index is just impossible since they are not there.

My suggestion is buy this book, but as you read it through for the first time, use a highlighter on any points that you think may be of significant interest.

Those with no programming backround may find this a little advanced. I first read Walkenbach's Power Programming for Excel 2000 which was very good and then followed with this book so I had some familiarity of the subject matter. I found this book very helpful in teaching me some useful techniques dealing with range names, custom menus, error routines and the Excel 2000 Object Model. Most of the chapters require a solid effort in reading the material and experimenting to really understand it. They also have a website (Wrox.com) that allows you to download code so you don't have to key it in (although I found keying it in helpful toward learning).
Overall, it's not a book to be read casually but requires time, patience and focus. The best approach if you're trying to teach yourself is to read a couple of pages per day AND even if you are an experienced VBA programmer to start with Chapter 1, History of Spreadsheets followed by Chapter 2, Primer for Excel VBA. There's usually a trick or technique that you can pick up that you didn't know prior. Then continue with each chapter after that. Also it is helpful to go back and read the early chapters again as your skill level improves. I found this approach to be a good self teaching tool.

The index falls a little short so the idea of using it as a reference without reading it first will probably not work too well. I think it is better suited as a teaching book that flows logically so you have to be willing to devote the time necessary to each chapter. I usually put a check mark in the margin indicating that I read the material which was helpful if I was away from it for a few days.
I would highly recommend this book to those who are serious about improving their skill as an Excel VBA programer.

I ordered this book last year. You are still promising delivery on December 3rd 2000. This appears to be the only way I can get to you. Where is the book?

... It is a WONDERFUL book, full of very clear large photographs ("over 830 color photographs"). I bought this book in London and had to carry it home to the U.S. It is big and heavy, but it was worth it. If you appreciate the style of Liberty and Co., you need this book.

This book does include all the highlights on each section. However, the layout could be improved for readability. There's an error on the questions and answers arrangement. Overall, I like the in-depth answers to all the questions, help readers to analyze questions in MS way. It's great to review this book prior to your exam for consolidation.

This book has some good information, but it's obvious that they skipped all the steps needed to locate the errors. It's supposed to have the correct answers for test questions. However, multiple times up to chapter 7, I'm finding that the answer key is off, obviously off by getting the numbers mixed up and so on. This book can still be helpful, but it's very disappointing to find this many errors after paying good money for the book. I'd consider going to other publishers before buying again from these people.

When you first pick up the book, you feel exhilirated that you, too will be learning all about Civil Procedure. The case in the introduction is fun, but it is all down hill from there. The cases are important cases, but the editing took out parts of the opinions that should be there so you can understand the rest of the opinion (I could mention Erie, but nobody understands that on a good day either...). It is a necessary evil that we mut struggle through in our attempts at world domination...I mean our attempts to become lawyers...