In Media Scandals, Lull and Hinerman have completed one of the first consolidated scholarly approaches to the study of a common cultural form: the scandal. The essays utilize a variety of methodologies and produces, from a communication perspective, a rich orientation toward scandals--how they work, why they occur so often, what we can gain from them. For lay audiences, this book forces us to reach beyond the good/bad dichotomy--scandals are neither good nor bad, and perhaps not even a reflection of the moral quality of the characters involved in them. This book would serve as a fine textbook in a cultural studies course, especially for its attention to the rhetorical aspects of the media scandal form. As long as we have a commerical news media, and as long as we expect superhuman behavior from our public figures, we will have media scandals. This book is the right step toward trying to help us understand them.

If you're new to the seattle area and want to explore the best parks around, this is the book for you. It has maps of trails in nearby parks, lists hours and features, and has two or pages of summaries about each park. It lists out which trails are steep, which ones dogs or horses can go on, where there are picnic facilities, parking, and anything else you'd need to know.

This represents the third editorial compilation of the team made up of the Lutheran James Scherer and Roman Catholic Stephen Bevans. The focus of this volume is to bring together the best and most trend-setting thinking in the area of contextualization, or, the encounter of faith and culture. The thirteen page introduction to the volume traces the historical development of this missiological concern from 1970 to the present. This, in itself, warrants the purchase of the book, as it is the best survey of the trends and literature to date. The remainder of the book is divided into two parts. The first twelve chapters are general articles on contextualization or incarnation, while the last three chapters consist of documentation of official church statements on the encounter of Faith and Culture. One is a statement by the Lutheran World Federation and the other two are from the World Council of Churches. The articles in the first section are written from a wide spectrum of church traditions as well as geographical regions (half of them are written by non-westerners). One of the few weaknesses of the book is that only one of the authors is female and her (Kwok Pui-lan) article is about the oral hermeneutics of Asian Women. The editors have compiled an excellent index at the end, with all the major subtopics, conferences and people referenced, for easy access. Because this volume reprints some of the best current reading on the issue, I highly recommend it as a primary text for a course on Gospel and Culture or as a secondary text for a course on Issues in Missiology.

Persnickity is a wonderful book about a dragon who wants everything to be perfect. He finds this can be difficult living with a house full of messy dragons. He moves out to find perfection and with the help of a rose, discovers that each thing is perfect in its own way. All of the books in the Serendipity series are terrific, but this is one of my favorites. It helps to remind us that we do not have to make things "perfect." Sometimes perfection is found by appreciating what something already is. Kids will enjoy the brightly colored pictures and humorous story. They will also learn an important lesson for life. I highly recommend this book for children and adults alike.

I really found this book interesting from start to finish. There are the usual behind the scenes explanations and in particular the debacle between Michael Grade and the programme is explored in detail.

Personally I found the Colin Baker years some of the most interesting times on Doctor Who. Probably because of when I was growing up I suppose! The stories are described in detail and reviewed by the authors. Revelation of the Daleks (my favourite all time story along with Trial of a Timelord) is chosen for an in-depth analysis.

An interview with Nicola Bryant (Peri) is also included relating to her career and how she saw the character.

It's a good read if you're into the background of the programme.

This is a highly creative story with challenging vocabluary, by Stephen Van Rathje and fabulous illustrations, by James Baley is a very ambitious book about social justice. It tells the fanciful story of three pigs who live in the land of Wartonia, a land populated by Warthogs that is somewhere North of the South pole, who lose their home(hollow) to a Warthog bully named Crotchety. Together with the help of their Warthog friends Stephen Van Snout and Jimmy Swinefoot the pigs regain their home and have many adventures along the way. This richly illustrated and painstakingly detailed book presents complicated ideas and concepts, like voting and loopholes in the law in away that children will easily understand. It takes the time to establish each character for the reader that is often enlightening and always amusing. This is a book that an adult and child will enjoy sharing to together. The ideas presented and the sophisticated writing may present difficuties for younger readers, but everyone will enjoy the lavish illustrations. They are richly detailed and we come away with a real sense of what Wartonia is and what it looks like. You may find yourself creating games with the pictures, like trying to find Van Snout's pet, Sigmund the inchworm, in each scene, or trying to find the various featured characters in the grand tableau of the world of Wartonia. On every level this is a book suitable for all ages and I look forward to more adventures with the Warthogs in their land Wartonia.

Set in upstate New York in colonial times, Cooper here tells the story of the stolid colonial scout Hawkeye, nee Natty Bumppo (don't ask), who, with his two Indian companions Chingachgook (the Big Snake) and his son Uncas (apparently newly come to manhood), stumble on a party of British soldiers conducting two fair maidens to their father, the commander of British Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War. Under the watchful eyes of the young British officer who has the girls in his charge and led by a Huron scout, Magua, the party appears, to the indomitable Hawkeye, to be at greater risk than they realize as they trek through the wilderness toward the safety of the girls' father's garrison. And, indeed, Hawkeye's judgement is soon proved right as the scout Magua treacherously betrays the hapless girls in repayment, it seems, for a stint of corporal punishment inflicted on him previously by their absent parent. Since the Hurons, Magua's native tribe, are culturally akin to the Iroquois who are the herditary enemies of the Algonquin Delawares, from whom Chingachgook and his son hail and among whom Hawkeye has made his home and friendships, a natural antagonism has arisen almost at once between Hawkeye's party and the Huron and this proves salutary, when danger finally strikes. The tale quickly becomes a matter of flight and pursuit through thickly overgrown primeval forests, over rough mountains and across broad open lakes as the beleagured travelers first elude and then flee the dreaded Iroquois (allies of the French) who have joined the renegade Huron in an effort to seize the two girls. After a brief respite within the safety of William Henry however, the tables are once again turned as Magua's perfidy puts the girls once more at risk. And now the story shifts to a manic pursuit of the fleeing Magua who means to carry off his human prey in order to finally have his revenge on the girls' father, on the British and on the Europeans, generally, whose presence in his native country he blames (not altogether unjustifiably) for his myriad travails. Written in the fine tradition of the 19th century romance (which, of course, is what this book is), Cooper picked up where Sir Walter Scott (the venerable founder of this particular novelistic tradition) left off, creating a rich historical tale of adventure, nobility and marvelously sketched characters set against a brilliantly detailed natural landscape. If his characters are less keenly drawn than Scott's they are no less memorable for, in the quiet nobility of the scout Hawkeye lies the strong, silent hero of the wilderness which was to become the archetypical protagonist of the American western. And the Indians, Chingachgook and Uncas, are the very prototypes of the noble savage, so much used and over-used today. This is a tale of action first and foremost without much plot but so well told that you barely notice, as our heroes flee and pursue their enemies in turn until the very quickness of the prose seems to mirror and embody the speed of the action. Nor is this book only to be read for its rapid-fire rendition of flight and pursuit, for it touches the reader on another level as well, as the bold young Uncas moves out ahead of his comrades to place himself at risk for the others and the woman he loves. Although we never see Uncas at anything but a distance and never get to know the man he is supposed to be, he is yet a symbol of that people of whom he is the last chiefly descendant, the Delaware Mohicans. Nobly born into the finest of Mohican bloodlines, Uncas faces his final trial with heroic energy and resolve in order to defeat the nefarious and twisted Magua. Yet this struggle is also the final footnote in the story of a people, marking the closing chapter for all those Indians who, with the Mohicans, have seen, in Cooper's words, the morning of their nation and the inevitable nightfall which must follow. The book is a bit short on characterization and plotting and the prose is heavy for modern tastes, but the action is richly visualized in the flow of the narrative and the images are compelling. In the end, despite its flaws, this book of Cooper's is, in fact, the classic we have been told it is. -- S. W. Mirsky

Set in upstate New York in colonial times, Cooper here tells the story of the stolid colonial scout Hawkeye, nee Natty Bumppo (don't ask), who, with his two Indian companions Chingachgook (the Big Snake) and his son Uncas (apparently newly come to manhood), stumble on a party of British soldiers conducting two fair maidens to their father, the commander of British Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War. Under the watchful eyes of the young British officer who has the girls in his charge and led by a Huron scout, Magua, the party appears, to the indomitable Hawkeye, to be at greater risk than they realize as they trek through the wilderness toward the safety of the girls' father's garrison. And, indeed, Hawkeye's judgement is soon proved right as the scout Magua treacherously betrays the hapless girls in repayment, it seems, for a stint of corporal punishment inflicted on him previously by their absent parent. Since the Hurons, Magua's native tribe, are culturally akin to the Iroquois who are the herditary enemies of the Algonquin Delawares, from whom Chingachgook and his son hail and among whom Hawkeye has made his home and friendships, a natural antagonism has arisen almost at once between Hawkeye's party and the Huron and this proves salutary, when danger finally strikes. The tale quickly becomes a matter of flight and pursuit through thickly overgrown primeval forests, over rough mountains and across broad open lakes as the beleagured travelers first elude and then flee the dreaded Iroquois (allies of the French) who have joined the renegade Huron in an effort to seize the two girls. After a brief respite within the safety of William Henry however, the tables are once again turned as Magua's perfidy puts the girls once more at risk. And now the story shifts to a manic pursuit of the fleeing Magua who means to carry off his human prey in order to finally have his revenge on the girls' father, on the British and on the Europeans, generally, whose presence in his native country he blames (not altogether unjustifiably) for his myriad travails. Written in the fine tradition of the 19th century romance (which, of course, is what this book is), Cooper picked up where Sir Walter Scott (the venerable founder of this novelistic tradition) left off, creating a rich historical tale of adventure, nobility and marvelously sketched characters set against a brilliantly detailed natural landscape. If his characters are less keenly drawn than Scott's they are no less memorable for, in the quiet nobility of the scout Hawkeye lies the strong, silent hero of the wilderness which has become the archetypical protagonist in our own American westerns. And the Indians, Chingachgook and Uncas, are the very prototypes of the noble savage, so much used and over-used today. This is a tale of action first and foremost without much plot but so well told that you barely notice, as our heroes flee and pursue their enemies in turn until the very quickness of the prose seems to mirror and embody the speed of the action. Nor is this book only to be read for its rapid-fire rendition of flight and pursuit, for it touches the reader on another level as well, as the bold young Uncas moves out ahead of his comrades to place himself at risk for the others and the woman he loves. Although we never see Uncas at anything but a distance and never get to know the man he is supposed to be, he is yet a symbol of that people of whom he is the last chiefly descendant, the Delaware Mohicans. Nobly born into the finest of Mohican bloodlines, Uncas faces his final trial with heroic energy and resolve in order to defeat the nefarious and twisted Magua. Yet this struggle is also the final footnote in the story of a people, marking the closing chapter for all those Indians who, with the Mohicans, have seen, in Cooper's own words, the morning of their nation and the inevitable nightfall which must follow. -- Stuart W. Mirsky (mirsky@ix.netcom.com

Set in upstate New York in colonial times, Cooper here tells the tale of the stolid colonial scout Hawkeye, nee Natty Bumppo (don't ask), who, with his two Indian companions Chingachgook (the Big Snake) and his son Uncas (apparently newly come to manhood), stumble on a party of British soldiers conducting two fair maidens to their father, the commander of British Fort William Henry during the French and Indian War. Under the watchful eyes of the young British officer who has the girls in his charge and led by a Huron scout, Magua, the party appears, to the indomitable Hawkeye, to be at greater risk than they realize as they trek through the wilderness toward the safety of the girls' father's garrison. And, indeed, Hawkeye's judgement is soon proved right as the scout Magua treacherously betrays the hapless girls in repayment, it seems, for a stint of corporal punishment inflicted on him previously by their absent parent. Since the Hurons, Magua's native tribe, are culturally akin to the Iroquois who are the herditary enemies of the Algonquin Delawares, from whom Chingachgook and his son hail and among whom Hawkeye has made his home and friendships, a natural antagonism arises almost at once between Hawkeye's party and the Huron and this proves salutary, when danger finally strikes. The tale quickly becomes a matter of flight and pursuit through thickly overgrown primeval forests, over rough mountains and across broad open lakes as the beleagured travelers first elude and then flee the dreaded Iroquois (allies of the French) who have joined the renegade Huron in an effort to seize the two girls. After a brief respite within the safety of William Henry however, the tables are once again turned as Magua's perfidy puts the girls once more at risk. And now the story shifts to a manic pursuit of the fleeing Magua who means to carry off his human prey in order to finally have his revenge on the girls' father, on the British and on the Europeans, generally, whose presence in his native country he blames (not altogether unjustifiably) for his myriad travails. Written in the fine tradition of the 19th century romance (which, of course, is what this book is), Cooper picked up where Sir Walter Scott (the venerable founder of this novelistic tradition) left off, creating a rich historical tale of adventure, nobility and marvelously sketched characters set against a brilliantly detailed natural landscape. If his characters are less keenly drawn than Scott's they are no less memorable for, in the quiet nobility of the scout Hawkeye lies the strong, silent hero of the wilderness which has become the archetypical protagonist in our own American westerns. And the Indians, Chingachgook and Uncas, are the very prototypes of the noble savage, so much used, and over-used, today. This is a tale of action first and foremost without much plot but so well told that you barely notice, as our heroes flee and pursue their enemies in turn -- until the very quickness of the prose seems to mirror and embody the speed of the action. Nor is this book only to be read for its rapid-fire rendition of flight and pursuit, for it touches the reader on another level as well, as the bold young Uncas moves out ahead of his comrades to place himself at risk for the others and the woman he loves. Although we never see Uncas at anything but a distance and never get to know the man he is supposed to be, he is yet a symbol of that people of whom he is the last chiefly descendant, the Delaware Mohicans. Nobly born into the finest of Mohican bloodlines, Uncas faces his final trial with heroic energy and resolve in order to defeat the nefarious and twisted Magua. Yet this struggle is also the final footnote in the story of a people, marking the closing chapter for all those Indians who, with the Mohicans, have, in Cooper's own words, seen the morning of their nation and the inevitable nightfall which must follow. If you give this book a chance and bear with some of the heavy nineteenth century prose, it will prove out in the end. An exciting and worthwhile read.

Unfortunately this book suffers from a failure to live up to its own hype. There are too many gaps in this so-called "beginner's text", and there are far too many parts of the text where no example is given except in the CD --- which is practicaly unplayable. PURCHASER'S CAVEAT --- This book will NOT allow you to set up your own web page based only on information contained within it. A disgrace to the usually dependable "Dummies" series.

I was given this book as a gift and promptly returned it. To but it bluntly, this book is subpar with respect to its competition. In its place I purchased Elizabeth Castro's "HTML For The World Wide Web 4". Castro's book is an excellent reference and a great value. Then I came across Joe Burns' "HTML Goodies" and my search ended for a SUPERIOR beginner's book on HTML. Burn's book is a peerless product in terms of content, presentation, value and his uncanny ability to clearly communicate. Don't be fooled by that slick yellow/black cover. Seek out Burns' and Castro's books and at $35.00 for the PAIR you'll be happy, hapy, happy.

I can do just about anything on a computer but program, so I was worried about learning the HTML language. Thanks to this book, I learned HTML quickly. The disk included with the book also was a big help, since it gave me lots of references to help me with tough coding. I now have several Web pages up and running, but I make sure to keep the book handy for a quick reference. Highly recommended!

This has to be one of the worst Solaris study guides I've looked at. Several of my colleagues use it to do a study class, but we have found some of the material to be incorrect and/or badly presented. My advice would be to avoid buying this one!

The best way to prep for the exams is to get hold of a set of the authorized training guides from Sun ( someone needs to go to class for that though ) and use those in conjunction with practice tests.

I bought this book because it was the only one at the time that was on Solaris 8. I suppose that's also a bad thing since there was nothing else to compare it to. I ordered the New Riders book and am very impressed with it however. The Syngress is decently organized, but not good enough for remembering things -- for example, all the switches for the commands you will invariably need to know are not as cleanly laid out for quick reference (many are just crammed together in a single paragraph). New Riders is not like that -- it's much better laid out.

Syngress isn't BAD, or terrible, by any means (it covers the exam topics fairly well), but if you want a well-laid-out book for easy reference, and slightly more information, I would suggest you get the New Riders Solaris 8 book instead. I regret that I had to buy 2 books to see this, but had I waited, I would have seen that in the long run, the New Riders is just better. (ISBN 1578702593). The only disadvantage is that the New Riders is going on a "Soft Cover-kick" as I call it -- which most definitely is not as good as the Syngress Hard Cover. But to be honest -- I don't keep my older certification books for long. I find that my knowledge improves quickly enough to the point where I need other, better (geekier) resources.

If you want a true Bible that makes a good companion, and even better "keeper", get Unix System Administration (3rd Ed. at least). It's worth the money (I think it's actually a college book, hence the "no-discount-applies" theory that most publishers for academic books subscribe to). High, but worth it, ay [price] (ISBN 0130206016). That book deserves it's own review, which I've done, but you won't find many sub-5-star reviews of it anywhere (it's the best).

I felt the book was very well written and to the point (which is to get you certified). I had a couple of years of medium-user experience when I bought the book, got myself an intel box and loaded Solaris into it, couple of weeks later....voila!

I would like to stress though that even though this is a great book to get certified with, it is an invaluable resource as a reference book. The material is so clear, and applicable in real life situations that you surely get your money's worth pre and post exam.

This book has gotten a lot of good press- good reviews and the distinction of being The Today Show's first book club selection. Not a bad introduction to the market. The reality, in this case, doesn't live up to the hype.
Carter's style might be better suited to writing non-fiction than fiction. The book bills itself as a thriller, yet lacks the pace needed to sustain a good thriller. Of course, there's more to this book than the solving of a mystery, for the questions to be answered are woven into an examination of the deceased Judge Oliver Garland's character, politics, and familial role as well as an exploration of love, fidelity, loyalty - all issues of life beyond the solving of a mystery. Maybe that's the problem - Carter bites off so much, that it takes him over 650 pages to digest it all, and ultimately leaves the reader with the feeling of indigestion one gets from overindulging at a buffet rather than with the satiety of having enjoyed a fine meal. There's enough material for two novels - one a mystery, one a character (or issue) analysis. Each character has his own agenda: Older son Addison is the most detached from the family crisis, although he actually knows more than his siblings. Mariah, mother of 5 (to become 6 in the course of the book) has such comforts in her affluent life that she is left with no reponsibilities, a condition which unleashes her active imagination in seeking the answer to the family mystery. Younger son Talcott narrates. He is a complex character with personal issues that sometimes hinder his search. Are we following his relationship with his deceased father, who he refers to formally as "The Judge," or is it his splintering relationship with wife Kimmer, a candidate for a Court of Appeals judgeship? Talcott, Tal, Misha, all the same person, has definite issues with race, despite his black middle class upbringing and his position as professor of law at a New England college. Talcott's issues with his straying and ambitious wife Kimmer are woven into his quest to solve the mystery of "the arrangements" his father left to be found after his death. Kimmer, consumed with her upward move, is resentful that Talcott's search will jeopardize her candidacy and distances herself from him emotionally. Talcott, on the other hand, recognizing the weakness of their relationship, would be willing to continue it since to him, "love is a behavior, not an emotion." These sound like the words of one who can think, but can't emote. Only with his young son is Talcott capable of emotional love.
There is more character development in this novel than in the typical thriller, yet none of the characters are particularly likeable. Addison is too absent, Mariah too pathetic, Tal too much of an intellectual snob. The least likeable one, though, is the deceased Judge Oliver Garland, who set the whole plot in motion, controlling his children's lives even from the grave. 650 pages after the search for "the arrangements" began, I was just happy to have reached the end.

Although black influence may be discerned in many strands of modern popular culture, from sports to stand-up comedy, from music to fashion and movies, one couldn't say that this has also been the case for fiction. Professor Carter's book is a welcome first step in populating a compelling plot-driven narrative with characters we haven't heard from before (or at least, not to my knowledge). In "The Emperor of Ocean Park" black university graduates with high-powered jobs and all sorts of material comforts are resolutely center-stage. In Philip Roth's "The Human Stain", the main character must resign his blackness to achieve success and power in the academical world. Carter's characters never resign their race to be successful in the white man's world. The main voice is Talcott Garland's. He is a lawyer in his forties, a professor of law in an ivy-league-ish university, which in spite of Carter's denial in a post-scriptum is a straigth forward rendition of Yale Law School, where the author teaches. Garland is a complex man, not a cypher, surely a cut above the generic "cut-and-paste" renditions typical of modern popular fiction. He is slightly overweight, not very likeable (he is aloof and emotionally remote), very much his father's son. The father, the eponymous "Emperor of Ocean Park", is Oliver Garland, known in the book as "The Judge", a composite of Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Judge Robert Bork and famous intellectual Thomas Sowell. A moderately conservative civil rights lawyer, he is appointed to a federal judgeship in the District of Columbia Appelate Court where he moves increasingly to the right. In the Reagan era he is nominated to the Supreme Court, but he must withdraw his candidacy when certain sordid associations become known to the public. He then joins a Washington D.C. firm as counsel and rakes in fat fees as a very popular public speaker. The Judge has shaped his children sometimes in ways he didn't mean to. The first born, Addison, is a rebel who refuses to be subject to his fathers very exacting standards of emotional self-control. His daughter, Mariah, the cleverest of all, has withdrawn from intellectual life to become wife of a rich white banker and mother of a large brood. Talcott has fled the rough and tumble of political life to become a tenured professor, and is stuck with Kimberley, a woman he adores, although she doesn't love him and may be cheating on him. A third daughter, Abby, died long ago, run over by a car that then fled the scene of the accident. This death is the catalyst of all that happens afterwards. The Judge is dead at the beginning of the book, and Talcott is quickly assailed by all sorts of shady figures who are looking for the Judge's arrangements. Talcott has no idea of what this means, and he struggles till the book's very end to find the arrangements and keep himself and his family alive. There is a complex chess problem (whose relevance is perhaps less clearly conveyed than the author intended) and several sub-plots to keep the reader occupied. Those thinking about buying the book should not be dissuaded by its heft. The book is a page turner and it has the right mixture of plot, action and rumination to keep the reader interested. It is also evidence that a book may be compelling without a single overtly sexual set-piece, without unnecessary profanity and without obsessive concern by fashionable slang or luxury good brands. This book will still be readable in fifty years without a special dictionary.

Many people have commented on the detailed rendition on the specifics of middle class lives. The big surprise is that these lives are similar to those of their white counterparts. Middle class blacks are hard working achievers, sometimes hindered by emotional distance and obsessive self-pondering. Perhaps one key point is that this is not the middle class as such that we are regarding, but the upper-middle class, with their large townhouses in Washington D.C. ("the Gold Coast") and their summer places in the Vineyard and the Hamptons.

We should expect this book to be slaughtered in the movie version, with Denzel Washington as Talcott, Morgan Freeman as the Judge, Hale Berry as Kimberley and Angela Basset as Maxine. Gene Hackman would be a good Justice Worthington. Read the book before you see the inevitable movie. It will only spoil the fun if you do otherwise.

"The Emperor of Ocean Park" is both a contemporary mystery story concerning the secrets of the father who has just died, as well as a story of life being lived by a variety characters who come alive on the pages. It reminds me of some of my favorite fiction that I read decades ago - the long Russian novels of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, for example, that combined the politics of their times, with vivid stories and characterizations. This book is similar in nature, with the obvious difference being that it is a mystery. While I enjoyed the mystery and tried to make sense of the clues scattered about, my true enjoyment evolved from the richness of the characters that Stephen Carter created.
Misha, the narrator and son of "the emperor," speaks with casual frankness and a self-deprecating manner, often using irony and humor in his comments. His family: wife and son, father - alreay dead as the book begins- and siblings, all come alive to the reader. While the mystery has center stage as the reason for this book, the related purpose of presenting such wonderfully drawn characters, giving a true sense/a slice-of-life, was equally important to me.
I sunk into this book and finished it in a few days. My judgment of how much I liked it comes from how very much I regretted seeing it end. It's a long, satisfying book and one I would recommmend to anyone who enjoys a good novel.