I finished reading this book only a few weeks ago for a college class I'm in. It certainly wasn't the kind of book I'd pick up just on my own, but I wouldn't say I didn't like it.

The story is set primarily in Boston and somewhat in New York during the 1880's. At the request of his cousin Olive Chancellor, southern lawyer Basil Ransom comes to visit. He accompanies her to a meeting where the young Verena Tarrant speaks wonderfully on women's rights. Olive is so impressed with Verena, she starts what's debatably a lesbian relationship with her, but Ransom is taken with Verena as well and so a struggle begins between the two for Verena's affections.

I think Henry James does an excellent job of giving complete descriptions of each character and you really get a sense of who they are. Olive comes across as rigid and passionate, Verena as young, full of life and curious and Basil as sexist and determined. Basil uses all his ability to wrench Verena from Olive. As I mentioned, the relationship between Verena and Olive is debatable. There are no sex scenes in this novel, but the implication is there. Additionally, I've learned in the class for which I read this novel that many women during this time period engaged in very intense romantic relationships which may or may not be described as sexual.

There are of course other characters such as Verena's parents and other women's rights activists, but the whole focus of the novel is on this struggle for Verena. It wouldn't be completely unfair to say that in some ways nothing much happens in this novel. It's truly a character driven story. There aren't really antagonists and protagonists in the story, but more just people whom all have faults and are just trying to make the right decisions. Although my description of Basil above may sound like a bad guy and although he's unapologetically sexist, he perhaps is no worse than Olive who sometimes seems to be using Verena, a young woman whose thoughts and feelings are maleable. At its heart, the novel is still a love story. Overall, I'd say this is probably worth reading if you like novels about this time period, about love or if you like this author. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'd read another novel by James, but I don't regret reading this.

The astonishing thing about this book -- and a lot of Henry James's writing -- is his insight into the problems of women. This book deals with the problem of independence and freedom. Most of us, let's admit it, love the idea of being swept off our feet by some competent, assertive male. It's a real turn-on. If you don't believe it, check out how many successful professional women secretly read historical romances by the boxload. The problem comes the next morning when he starts to take control, bit by bit, of your entire life. In this book you have Olive, who is not, I think, a lesbian but someone who is very lonely and doesn't trust men and Verena, who likes men just fine, but is, for the moment anyway, under the spell of Olive and her feminist ideology. Are these our only options? Verena Makes her choice, but James notes that the tears she sheds may not, unhappily, be her last.

James after 1898 was too subtle, too often employing apposition to add layers like coats of paint to each observation. Works like The Ambassadors (1903) rely on the reader's powers of synthesis, which can be in turns exhilarating or frustrating. The Bostonians (1885) is an extremely straightforward, dramatic, cruel, hilarious, political, compassionate love story and one of the best novels by anyone. Olive Chancellor is tragic: with so much love behind her cold, horrified stares. Basil Ransom is magnetic, but an educated idiot savant whose passion and will are nothing other than natural talent. Verena Tarrant has nothing but natural talent--she is an organism that throbs with passion like a finely tuned Geiger counter. Whether the private turmoil of sex and marriage finally draw her from the political sisterhood, and what happens to queer women like Olive, are high-stakes, human questions that James presents with sheer drama and almost unbelievable insight.

Just to brief you I have been teaching field for quite a number of years and also have been in ASP programming for sometime. I love to read books. I had picked 2 of the previous books on classic ASP by the Stephen. Both books have been a great help for me in development. So I blindly picked up this book and didn't bother to pick up any other book. A few months later just to upgrade myself I restarted on this book. Well I covered almost the whole book chapter by chapter. And by the end of the book I was confident to set up a site. I made extensive use of the book. I could use most of the advanced techniques of ADO.net, form authentication and also set up two XML webservice. It has been a great resource and a companion in my devoplment environment.
Is it a book for beginner or professional?? Well the author has not left a stone unturned to give a feel and exposure to almost all aspects of ASP.net. He really lays a through foundation from where a developer can leap ahead. So if you are a beginner or intermediate programmer I recommend this book. But beaware you will also have to take a reference book for Visual basic .net or you will find yourself wondering in few situations. Infact to throuoghly implement the ASP.net technology I recommend that you also get hands on Vb.net language.(I am not talking of window forms).
ASP.net is so vast that a thousand pages can just give you a feel and a knowledge of the varous technologies. And that is wht the author has done. I believe that was his motive. Also he didn't spare an opportunity to give a glimpse of the heights one can reach through ASP.net. Hence if you are looking into advanced programming books get one for that particular topic. ie.. for ADO.net get an advanced ADO.net book and XML webservice get advanced webservice book. Please do not try to get all of the ASP.net technology in one book. If any book author promises that check the size of the book. It has to be more than 2000 pages.
One more thing this book does not cover is development using visual studio. Most of the examples are not done in code behind approach. So a developer using only visual studio may find this approach a bit confusing. Hence a beginner trying to develop pages in Visual Studio should give a second thought.

I read the 21 days book and then data driven web applications book before I read this book.

This book is by far the best book I have read on asp.net. It covers many more things (and in a lot more depth) than the other books I read on asp.net. I develop in C# and all of the examples are in VB which kind of [stunk] but It didn't worry me too much because I have experience with VB anway and was able to read VB and write C#.

I can't think of anything that Stephen doesn't cover in this book. I found that the examples he uses are well thought out and useful, he doesn't just use the same examples every time.

When he covers a subject he covers it very extensively which also makes this book a great reference as well as learning material. I read the 1400 pages from start to finish and feel that I know something about everything in asp.net.

He along the way the author presents some good techniques for coding like using data caching. When he makes a statement he backs it up by explaining why which I think is important.

If you're ready to get going with ASP.Net, this is the book
you want to buy! Face it, there's a ton of information to
get up to speed on and yet you can't spend every hour of
every day reading .Net books (or can you?). You have to
choose and hopefully choose effectively. I was in the middle
of a couple of other ASP.Net books but once I started
reading this one, those books just didn't seem to have the
same attraction. It reads like a Grisham novel for .Net
mavens, you can't put it down!

What I really like about it is that it gets down to the
minutest details that many other books just skip right over.
ASP.Net is a radical overhaul of the platform and there are
just so many details to know. This book points them out with
clear, simple and understandable examples; yet you don't
feel like your time is being wasted. That's often been my
frustration with many books. Out of the blue I'll read
things in the code that's there's been no explanation for;

sometimes key facts aren't even given an explanation. I'm
unsure why this happens; perhaps the authors are limited to
a certain number of pages or perhaps they're just not paying
attention. This does not happen in "Unleashed." You're
carefully brought along, detail by detail. Each example
stands on it's own, addresses one particular point.

Seemingly minor yet important facts like "One significant
limitation of ASP.Net pages is that they can contain only
one

tag" are mentioned. The author
doesn't assume you don't care about these simple details.
This book is chock full of such particulars. On the other
hand, the book spends chapters exploring such advanced
topics as GDI+ and web services.

This book is well worth spending your time and money for.
And, for all my friends reading this: No, you can't borrow
it, get your own!

I really liked this book not only because that it's full of "must-know" tips and ideas, it's very compehensive having detailed explanations on each topic, great examples, complete reference of the programming language discussed and lots of valuable insights which I believe lacks to many of the books I've seen.

I usually buy Microsoft Press products (since ASP is their creation) but they still lack of important discussions. But when I bought this book, I'd say it's more than enough for the price I paid.

I rated this book with 5 stars because now I can confidently say I can work with ASP. I had no prior knowledge of VBScript, SQL or other Server side programming languages like CGI or perl. It starts with the basics of ASP and quickly leads you to building your own scripts. The codes given are not complete programs so you have to go step by step from the 1st chapter thus building your knowledge from the ground up. Later advanced technologies like MTS and DNA are explained in a simple manner thus not confusing you.

Also present is an introduction to future technologies like Win2000 with IIS5.0 and ASP3.0

Highly recommened book.

I bought this book about a year ago and refer to it often.

I've just spent some time on Amazon researching other VBScript, SQL and ASP books to see if there was anything that offered more.

With a list of books in hand, I went to my local technical bookshop and spent 3 hours sifting through about 10 books to see if any were better.

I had a compulsion to buy something, but in the end I basically realised that this book had most of the info that really big expensive books had. And usually, they just dealt with one topic (ie., a book on SQL that didn't cover ASP, a book on VBScript that had more of a slant on Visual Basic for Windows).

For the meantime, I'm going to continue to use this book and supplement it with websites such as learnasp.com, 4guysfromrolla.com and aspin.com

I found this book pretty hard to work through, however I understand most of the concepts, the reasonings, etc.

However it takes it from the point of view of setting up an actual e-commerce site - which might not help students trying to write an e-commerce site for their end-of-year project! (hint, hint!). It is a quite good book, aimed at giving you enough information to digest yet giving you enough code to try out.

The author changes style half-way and explains a little, but not nearly half as much as Wrox's Begining ASP 3.0. Some code is required to download as it doesn't appear on the CD.

Regardless of the intermediate stance of this book, I feel it will be very useful for ASP programmers wanting to start an E-commerce project, however it may confuse most of its customers.

It is better if you have a firm understanding of ASP/VBScript, etc before you start out, otherwise you may find yourself scratching your head.

If you want to start out in ASP programming I can merely suggest Wrox's Begining ASP 3.0 as this is more for the beginner than this.

I had read the SAMS ASP in 24 hours book which was an excellent start to ASP. This book would have been just as good to start with and it is a lot more in-depth. Of course, the focus is e-commerce and you are taken through building an online store. The examples are easy to follow and the text is well presented and easy to understand (especially for people who hate technical books).

If you are looking for an introduction to ASP and have not yet purchased the SAMS 24 hour book, consider this one instead. They do cover a lot of the things that the other book has in it. Towards the back end, they have examples of email forwarding from forms and other bits and pieces that are not directly related to e-commerce, but were the reasons I got the other book.

If you are trying to build a full-blown store online, start here. It won't get any easier than this!

I teach ASP in the California State University system and my students are generally happy with this book. It provides enough source code you could make a shopping cart and catalog and understand what you are doing and why you were choosing to do it with Session variables or not. There is definitely some annoying errata, and the source code doesn't match entirely with the source on the CD. I was disappointed in it's coverage of password protection. So, this is far from a perfect 5.

Someone could get up to speed with ASP pretty quickly with this book. I use it to teach ASP to a cross-section of students with moderate computer backgrounds--not computer science majors. It does not cover the basic functionality, like loops and variables, so a better book for beginners may be one such as Learn ASP in 21 Days. That is if you are still teaching or learning ASP rather than dot-Net. And I honestly don't know which is best to learn at this transitional point. I find ASP very simple to learn and teach from books like this that just tell you what to do, show you, and let you do it.

Though well written stylistically, it's horribly researched. The author basically just took Wanderone and his fans' word for it, on everything. As most people with any knowledge of billiards history know, "Minnesota Fats" was a fictional character (from the novel, and later movie, "The Hustler"). Wanderone, who had been known as Brooklyn Fatty and New York Fats at the time, adopted the name and then began making up stories of his "exploits". But, in fact, he never played against most of the people he claimed to, much less beat them, and was not a very accomplished player at all (as completely crushing defeats at the hands of real pros, at least one of the televised, demonstrated). In Wanderone's defense, his snookering (pardon the pun) of the media and the general public was a masterpiece of p.r. manipulation, and his stage presence (he did many demonstration tours and other public appearances) was lengendary for its charisma, humor and general entertainment value. Still, people should not be taken in by this book or any other book that treats Wanderone as actually being "Minnesota Fats" (who never existed, nor was based on Wanderone), or as actually being a great player. He was mediocre on the table at best.

Written by someone that really knew the Great Pool Hustler! Walther's sincere compassion for the game of pool and for Minnesota is clearly evident. Not just a "Billiards" Book, it offers much more. And the proceeds go to a good cause too! A sincere fan, Mike Soper

I read the book on my last flight...I htought it was very insightful as to what this man experienced. It gave me a real feeling of what it must have been like to have this kind of skill, not just shooting stick, but everything that went along with it. I enjoyed it.

I thought the book was pretty informative but some of the pictures were real dark therefore not being able to show complete detail and his serial numbering dates were a little vague

This book offers a lot of info but however, it should be mentioned that the pictures are generally of a very poor quality as a result of which the distinguishing of (important !) details is hardly or not at all possible. The (few) drawings are of an even worse quality. Also the chapter covering the P88 and P99 models is inadequate (notably for the P99)and the subtitling of the pictures sometimes is completely wrong. Nevertheless this book has to be considered worth its price because, again, it offer lots of info (especially on prewar models)and it reads in an agreeable way.

This book truly offers a lot of information but however, it should be mentioned that the pictures generally are of a very low quality as a result of which the distinguishing of (important !) details is hardly possible. The (few) drawings are of an even worse quality. Also the chapter covering the P88 and P99 is inadequate (notably for the P99)and the subtitling of the pictures sometimes is completely wrong. Nevertheless this book has to be considered worth its price because,again, it offers lots of info (especially on prewar models) and the book reads in an agreeable way (courtesy of the author)

Mr. Shelton has written a well researched book. I find it specifically interesting in the fact that the doctor, Dr. Jannetta, allows the author a glimpse into the admitted as well as the often unadmitted; the surgical practice of "ghost surgery". (I no longer have the book so I may be wrong about page citiation but I believe it is approximately page 252.) The author relates an anecdote told by a resident about the time he wanted to operate on a woman with a brain tumor who had just given birth. Although Dr. Jannetta at first tells the resident not to operate because of the potential danger to the patient the resident persists and Dr. Jannetta relents. The author goes on to tell how the patient died and Dr. Jannetta, who had not been in either the O.R. or the hospital, comes in in the middle of the night to commiserate with his resident. It is not often, if ever, that a doctor admits publicly that he, by his actions, endorses 'ghost surgery'. This book gives the reader an entry into an often secretive and closed world. Neurosurgery seems to be the most highly regarded, feared and unknown of the medical specialties. For anyone curious about the life of a neurosurgeon, this is one of the books I would recommend.

Due to the review below, I was reluctant to buy this book, but I'm glad I did. It is one of the better books on neurosurgery. It chronicles the early career of Peter Janetta (Director of Neurosurgery at Pitt) and his "discovery" that decompression of the Fifth Cranial nerve will relieve the pain of Trigeminal Neuralgia. This book is similar to Healing Blade by Edward Sylvester, in that both books use an outside observer to descript the world of neurosurgeons to the reader. They use historical references (ie. Harvey Cushing and Walter Dandy, two pioneer neurosurgeons) to help us to understand the political battles that occur backstage as well as battles that hinder the progress of medicine. This book has great descriptive passages that makes the reader feel like one is inside the OR with the surgeons. It also makes the reader feel like one knows more about the techniques in question. It is also an immensely entertaining read because it teaches us about so many things. There are technical descriptions, historical references, touching case reports and a-day-in-the-life-of-a-neurosurgeon type of stories that attach the reader to the hips of the neurosurgeon as he rounds on patients, goes to the OR, goes to another OR and yet another OR, and then goes to a conference, and yet another conference.....what a life! If you are a medical student pondering about neurosurgery, read this book before investing 4 weeks in a neurosurgical elective! I love this book.

This book has all the potential of being a very useful offering as both a reference and teaching aid. Turns out it fails on both counts, because of the patchy nature of the chapters. This book cannot by any means be called uniform in quality. There are some excellent chapters and some simply average ones and some complete dogs!

By far and away best are the 2 chapters on Data Manipulation and Presentation, although these are let down by poor editing - in the form of a few missing source code listings. Another good chapter is the one on code-behind ("Separating Code from Content"). Also very good is the one on XML ("Using XML"). Although a single chapter on XML is not going to be sufficient for anyone, you will be happy to know that the writer of this chapter (Dan Wahlin) has published a worthwhile book of his own. There are also some rather useful chapters on areas that are usually left out of books of this type, and they deal with Error Handling ("ASP.NET Error Handling") and state management ("Managing State").
The chapters that are really awful and could do worse than being re-written are: "Web Services" and "Application-Level Programming" simply because they simply do not have enough in the way of quality code. One thing that I find quite curious is the chaper on "Enabling Better Browser Support" - which doesn't really have a place in .NET, which aims to reproduce uniform browser behaviour.

All code samples are in VB.NET with some consideration for the C# public, but certainly the source-code is not eqally bi-lingual- which I hope gets addressed in the future.

Overall a good book, although be prepared for some ups and downs in quality.

I have read quite a few of the books out there right now on ASP.NET. There are those that are good reference books like the Wrox Press Professional ASP.NET one, but there are not a lot of books (programming in general) that actually read well and leave you feeling like you could actually implement the ideas after one pass of the material. This is one of those rare books that does that really well. Even if you own some other ASP.NET books, you might want to look at this one. The presentation is fast enough to not be boring, and it has a nice overall flow to it. If you like books that get right into the code, this would make for a good choice. The book does not get extremely deep into all areas, but it would be a bit much to expect one book to do that anyway. If you have programmed in ASP before, I think you will really appreciate the book's perspective.

As a serious developer, nothing is more valuable than nicely annotated code samples. This 878-page book is packed with code, with server-side code in VB. I bought this book together with Programming Data-Driver Web Applications With ASP.NET by Mack and Seven. (These two are among the authors of this book, Tips, Tutorials, etc.) Between the two I have a nice library to draw on for help on my current .NET development project.

I have found the SAMS Teach Yourself series very useful in spite of their beginner level content. This book is part of a newer series from SAMS (blue spines with glossy photos of the galaxy) that are intended as in-depth resources for professionals. SO far the six that I have rank with the very best professional series from Apress and seem a bit beyond the always timely and usually useful WROX books.

These days Howells is usually overlooked in favor of the more overtly urbane Henry James or the grittier Stephen Crane or Theodore Dreiser. That's a shame, since Howells at his best is a more varied and thought-provoking author than any of them. The Rise of Silas Lapham is Howells at his best. The title is quite ironic, of course, but ultimately spot-on, as Howells' nouveau-riche bumpkin is redeemed only in losing it all. Lapham is keenly drawn, alternately frustrating in his bluster and affected pompousness and endearing in his genuine (if sometimes poorly expressed) love for his family. Other characters are not so fortunate; one of his daughters remains mostly a cipher, and both Mrs. Lapham and Bromfield Corey, the rich scion of society whose favor Lapham so earnestly covets, are dangerously close to stock characters. Howells excels at elaborate descriptive prose focused on intricate detail, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. Some elements of the plot may seem quaint to modern readers, but Howells does not treat them with condescension. The Rise of Silas Lapham is definitely a book of its time. Perhaps it is so rewarding because his time and ours are not necessarily so different as we think.

This is a must read book and provides a glimpse of business morals in the nineteenth century. Read first, Mark Twain's "The Gilded Age" and Charles Dickens' "Martin Chuzzlewit". Silas' 'rise' is not ironic unless accumulation of wealth is your only value. While his monetary assets may shrink, his family 'prospers' in many ways. Clearly, Howells makes the point that honest work can bridge the gap of old rich and new. Commerce is not inherently bad, but it does ask the question, how far should one go in disclosure and protecting others from their potential investment folly.

I've had William Dean Howells' "A Modern Instance" and "The Rise of Silas Lapham," like many, many other books on my bookshelf for a long time. A recent meeting of a reading group of mine finally allowed me to make the time to read Howells' 1885 work, "Silas Lapham". I am extraordinarily glad I did. From the start of the novel, we are drawn into the world of late 19th century Boston, post-Reconstruction America, where newly rich industrialists attempt to enter the society life of old money. Howells crafts an extraordinarily realistic look at the American Dream gone awry.

"The Rise of Silas Lapham" begins with an interview that a local newspaperman is doing of Colonel Silas Lapham, a mineral paint tycoon. Lapham's account of his rise from the backwoods of Vermont to his marriage, to service in the Civil War, to his propagation of a successful mineral paint business is chronicled and gives us a taste of the effort and perseverance necessary for his rise, as well indicating the possibility of some potential failings, especially with regard to his one-time partner, Milton Rogers. We soon learn that Mrs. Persis Lapham aided a society woman in distress the year before, and the return of her son, Tom Corey, from Texas, signals another sort of ambition on the part of the Lapham daughters, Irene and her older sister Penelope. The rest of the novel plays out the ways in which the Laphams try to parley their financial success into social status - and how the Laphams are affected by the gambit.

Howells explores a number of significant cultural issues in "Silas Lapham": isolationism, social adaptability, economic solvency among all classes, personal integrity and familial ties, and the relationship between literature and life. The fact that the story is set about 20 or so years after the end of the American Civil War sets an important and subtle context that runs throughout the novel and inflects all of the thematic elements. The ways that the characters interact, the way that the society functions, even though the majority of the novel takes place in Boston, is importantly affected by the fact that Reconstruction is drawing to a close, Manifest Destiny is in full swing, and ultimately, America was at a point of still putting itself together and trying to view itself as the "United" States.

Howells' treatment of the social interactions between the industrially rich Laphams and the old moneyed Coreys underscores the difficulty in creating and maintaining a national identity, especially when the people even in one northern city seem so essentially different. The romance story involving the Laphams and Tom Corey is obviously an important element of the story, and Howells does an amazing job of not allowing the romance plot to become as overblown and ludicrously sentimental as the works of fiction he critiques in discussions of novels throughout his own work. "The Rise of Silas Lapham" questions the nature of relationships, how they begin, how they endure - the contrast between the married lives of the Coreys and the Laphams is worth noting, as is the family dynamic in both instances.

I'm very pleased to have gotten a chance to read this novel. Generally when I say an author or a work has been neglected, I mean that it's been neglected primarily by me. Having turned an eye now to Howells, I am very impressed with the depth of his characterization, the ways he puts scenery and backdrop to work for him, the scope of his literary allusions, and his historical consciousness. This is certainly a great American novel that more people should read. It may not be exciting, but it is involving, and that is always an excellent recommendation.

Although I'm sure Keegan has studied war thoroughly, I must agree with two previous reviewers about 1) his questionable belief that famine and disease are insignificant problems (maybe for us residents of the developed world) and 2) the blatantly Eurocentric view of war (albeit the few references to China, Japan, and Genghis Khan). AIDS and malaria, poverty and hunger continue to kill millions of people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Also, while Keegan states that "it is poor states that mainly cause war" he makes no mention of the involvement (historical, political, or economic) of wealthier nations in those wars.

But more importantly, though this may be an entertaining read, WAR AND OUR WORLD actually tells little about the nature of war, its origins, its transformations, and its possible future. 74 pages is just too short to even introduce a topic as wide in scope as war, and Keegan doesn't come close to providing a sturdy framework for a brief discussion of it.

I'm not sure what some of the other reviewers had in mind when they decided to read this book. It is a slim volume--the text itself being only 74 pages and of a typeface that is fairly large--consisting of five lectures that Keegan was asked to present in 1998. These lectures simply overview the origin and role of war and how it has evolved over the millennia. Naturally, the author has a bias and focuses on wars that he is no doubt more familiar with. Sure there is nothing really groundbreaking in this book, but it is nevertheless a concise and lucid discussion of the subject, and I enjoyed reading it very much.

1 - War and Our World
2 - The Origins of War
3 - War and the State
4 - War and the Individual
5 - Can There Be an End to War?

This book is a transcript from a series of five lectures given by esteemed military historian, John Keegan. It is a short, but highly informative book; I read it in less than an hour.

The first four chapters are brilliant historical analysis. His insight into the toll and origins of war are invaluable. He explains well how war relates to the modern nation-state and individual, observing the increasing incidence of war-making by non-state actors.

However, when he diverges from history to try to answer the question of can we end war, he is less than prescient. I have a couple problems with the final chapter.

First, he seems eager to subjugate national sovereignty to the UN by asserting that war is now illegal, except in cases of self-defense or UN approval. That may be the case in Europe, but here in America, our constitution is still the supreme law of the land. It grants the office of commander-in-chief to the president and power to raise armies and declare war to the congress. Until the constitution is amended to read differently, the US reserves the sole right to determine the legality of our wars.

Second, his British sense of honour [sic] can be carried too far. He suggests subversion, sabotage, and assassination are less than honorable in warfare. I contend that one well placed bullet in Iraq would save countless lives and resources. Our special operations forces must use such tactics against assymetrical threats such as Al Qaeda terrorists.

Ultimately, I agree with the thesis of the chapter though: we must always retain the will and means to confront war and violence on equal, if not overwhelming, terms.