I love the book <>. I first read it in my Advanced Placement French Language/Literature class. After reading this particular English translation - the Penguin version - I was dismayed at the lack of English grammar the translator exhibited. The book has major grammar mistakes in almost every chapter. Some of these mistakes are not too picky either. For example, the subjunctive mood is often tossed aside by the author. I recommend the book to everyone, but please purchase a different translation - he didn't do the best job with this one. Enjoy!

WHAT CAN BE EXPECTED TO HAPPEN IN A FAMILY WHEN ONE OF ITS MEMBERS INHERITS A LARGE SUM OF MONEY? EVERYBODY IS HAPPIER AND BETTER OFF, RIGHT? WRONG! AS WE SEE FROM THIS STORY, THE WHOLE FABRIC OF THE FAMILY CAN BECOME TORN. YET, BY EMPLOYING SOME SUBTLE TACTICS, MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY CAN FIND A WAY TO STAY TOGETHER. AT A BIG PRICE THOUGH, BECAUSE ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY HAS TO HOLD HIMSELF ALOOF IN ORDER TO PRESERVE FAMILY BOUNDS. A VERY DELICATE STUDY OF THE SUBJECT!

This short novel just blew me away with intense and detailed characterzations and a plot that builds tension based on the interaction between the members of a family that is nearly rocked by a seemingly positive development. The two grown brothers are established as near opposites in almost every detail and when one inherits money from an old family acquaintance the reason behind their differences becomes the driving force of the story and it's revelation nearly rips the family apart.
A short novel that will stay with you for some time after reading it.

Although this book approaches the child marketing area from a unique view (developmentally), what I found refreshing was the attention to responsible marketing according to children's ages (chpt. 2!

I've been on a quest to figure out of the optimal youth age breaks based on cognitive abilities, and this book gave me exactly what I was looking for. I was fascinated by the content on both a professional and personal level...I would love to see the authors update the book with some more current product examples (it was published in 1997) and to see what further impact the growth of Internet usage since 1997 has had on the market.

I finished this book last night without regrets. It lit up many ideas that could be realized into revenue generating opportunities. Although the book doesn't encourage the sales of 'disempowering' products, services and programs for 0-19 year kids, it does give you insights as to why kids love 'bad' stuff too. I would have wanted more info on the 16-19 year olds though. But the author did state that these 'kids' consider themselves as adults and recommended marketing to adult books. Perhaps, the books The $100 Billion Allowance and Wise Up to Teens would help expand on what this book already taught me.

As one of Daniel Charles's sources and a very minor character in this book, I was disappointed at how a writer with so much inside information about what happened could tell a story that got what happened so wrong in an effort to make it dramatic and appealing.

Arthur Hailey's novels Airport, Hotel, Wheels, etc. comprise some of the better books that expose and glamorize the inside workings of an otherwise mundane industry. Of course, if it were really that enjoyable and interesting, they wouldn't call it work, they'd call it fishing and we'd do it for free. But Arthur Hailey wrote fiction, and he was smart enough to stay off the farm. Not so with Daniel Charles.

The enterprise of agriculture is more mundane than most, if only because it takes months of gradual growth and development to produce a crop, and years of almost imperceptible change to develop a new product. Much of the time is spent just waiting. Turning science into technology can produce beautiful and interesting results without the process itself being either glamorous or interesting. It's people going to work and doing their jobs. Most of us working in the field believed we knew what could be done and thought we could figure out how to do it. What made the process so difficult were the different visions of that same reality, visions sufficiently disparate that two people coming out of the same meeting had diametrically opposite understandings about what had been said and what had been agreed to. If that sounds like standard operating procedure in corporate America, welcome to the real world. It's three steps forward, two steps back, day after day. You might as well try to glamorize a trip to the barber shop.

Fact-based? It is. Balanced? It may be. But to at least some of us who were (and are) there, it still reads like fiction.

Daniel Charles' "Lords of the Harvest" succeeds in bringing perspective to the biotech industry and the contentious issue of genetically modified food. The author does this by personalizing the protaganists at the heart of the story: the scientists who were driven mainly by the quest for knowledge and discovery; the businesspeople who sought dollar returns from their laboratory investments; and the environmentalists who felt that genetic engineering was simply the latest ugly manifestation of an out-of-control agribusiness industry. The result is a highly entertaining and readable book that should interest a wide audience.

The scientists who invented and nurtured the industry tend to get much better treatment from Charles than either the businesspeople or the environmentalists. As a former science reporter for NPR, Charles seems most comfortable painting psychological portraits of the researchers at Monsanto and elsewhere. Charles lovingly details the innovative and pioneering work that these scientists undertook and the intriguing problems they solved. Charles shows how these early projects gave shape to the modern biotech industry, and his writing in these sections is vivid and interesting. And in the chapter "Infinite Horizons", Charles enthuses about the potential of biotechnology to help solve the world's problems. Throughout, Charles' enthusiasm for science and biotechnology is unmistakable.

On the other hand, the businesspeople of biotech get beat up pretty badly in the book. You get the feeling that Charles seems slightly upset that big business can't figure out how to bring the benefits of painstaking scientific discovery to the people. Specifically, Charles relates the numerous and sometimes humorous mistakes made by executives at Monsanto and Calgene (the inventor of the ill-fated "Flavr Savr" tomato) in their quests to dominate their respective markets. Charles successfully uses these case studies to add color and context to the larger story that he is telling (for example, the author's profile of Monsanto CEO Robert Shapiro and his messianic-like appeal to the company's scientists to help save the world with biotechnology). Charles does an excellent job describing the corporate cultures and the motivations of key individuals, rendering his descriptions of the business wheeling-and-dealing that went on behind the scenes that much more interesting. However, I think that Charles is correct in concluding that it was the arrogance of Monsanto's top executives, more than any other single factor, that ultimately led to the company's demise and the public backlash against biotechnology.

Unfortunately, the environmentalists don't get treated much better. Although Charles appears to have abundantly interviewed scientists and businesspeople to gather original material for the book, it doesn't seem that he had much success contacting environmentalists; the profiles of well-known biotech opponents such as Jeremy Rifkin and Benny Sharlin appear to have been drawn from secondary sources. Consequently we don't enjoy the same level of insight regarding their motivations compared with the scientists. So although Charles does a respectable job of reporting why the environmentalists opposed biotech products and the actions that they took, the author's sympathies do not appear to lie with the environmentalists. Instead, Charles deftly swats aside several of the well-known studies that purport to show risks associated with genetically modified crops (such as Dr. Pusztai's rat and John Losey's Monarch butterfly studies). In fact, a certain level of hostility arises when the author makes the charge that environmentalists nevertheless publicized such "murky and ill-defined" (p. 208) studies purporting risk merely as a way to further their own agendas. But it does not seem to occur to Charles that many environmentalists might have organized the challenge to genetically modified food out of genuine concern for the welfare of consumers.

I also take slight issue with Charles on two other issues. First is his silence concerning regulation of the biotech industry. His techno-utopian bias leads him to claim that biotech is not substantially different compared with traditional plant and animal breeding practices, with the implication that the public should not be overly concerned about regulation of the industry. But the scientists' tools to recombine DNA in novel ways are so powerful and the effects are so little understood that it is not unreasonable to suggest that a greater level of corporate accountability should be required to ensure that the public interest is protected.

Second, Charles should have addressed the recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) controversy more adequately, given that this was a major Monsanto initiative (the heart of the book was about Monsanto and its scientists). His relative silence on this issue is defeaning: could it be that the environmentalists' charges about the risks of rBGH have at least some merit?

Still, I believe that Charles has done a good job of navigating some very tricky ideological terrain. "Lords of the Harvest" is probably as balanced a book on the subject of biotechnology as any other you'll likely find, and I highly recommend it.

In the epilogue of Lords of the Harvest, Daniel Charles talks about the power of stories to illuminate, and also to obscure. He talks about the mythologies that drive agribusiness and other competing mythologies that drive it's opponents. He can stand at a distance from both kinds of stories, and reflect on how well they are illuminating and obscuring.

On the other hand, Daniel Charles is himself a great storyteller.

I appreciated the way Daniel Charles helped me to think about both these kinds of stories, and what they have to do with food and science, religious faith and moral values in the 21st century. Mostly, Charles stays very close to the "everyday stories of ordinary people," end of the spectrum. How he managed to get so close to the lives of these people is something I wonder about! People on both sides of this issue obviously trust him a great deal, or he would never have been able to write this book.

The "grand myths" he talks about in the epilogue, this was a very nice way to wrap it all up. Part of the difficulty of these issues is that there is no overarching spiritual/ ethical framework that can encompass this conversation. Just competing ideologies, and very little common ground. (Where common ground does exist, Charles is good at finding it.)

It irritates me when scientists who write about agribusiness and genetic engineering castigate others who don't have their scientific credentials for being "sentimental" or ignorant. They do this in a way that intimidates ordinary people who do not have Ph.Ds, as if you have to have a particular diploma to discuss these issues. We need to fight this kind of arrogance and parochialism. Science may be an elite field, but food belongs to everyone.

Daniel Charles makes the discussion accessible to everyday people who want to know what is happening to our food, and who are trying to understand why it is happening.

This book is filled with a lot of good information, but the problem I have is after carefully showing how messianic Judaism is really the brainchild and outgrowth of evangelical Christian attempts to convert Jews he throws up his hands and says that we should accept it as if it were a natural development of Judaism. It is not surprising that his views are soundly repudiated from all the branches in Judaism, including the Reform which he claims to be a member of.

My dear friend, "a reader from New England" is wrong. I seriously doubt he or she even read the book. Dan Cohen-Sherbok's opus is one done of courage and tenacity and of not being afraid to see things that one necessarily doesn't want to see. When the "reader from New England" piously states, "Jesus DID say that he came to release his followers from the 'curse of the law', did he not?", he or she not only casts a glaring spotlight on their own ignorance, but the foundational problem within mainline Christianity. The apostle Paul, in his letter to Galatians, stated in Galatians 3:13, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." He was referring to (if one takes the time to read the entire context and not just the portion that supports his or her own theological agenda) the fact that through Christ, no one has to try to "work" their way to heaven anymore. Indeed, Yeshua HaMashiach stated, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." (Matthew 5:17) Why would He fulfill something that would be cursed? Dan Cohen-Sherbok's book is one that everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, and ESPECIALLY Christians should read and study and take to heart. I highly recommend it. Messianic Judaism is a much of part of Judaism as is Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform. Dan Cohen-Sherbok obviously agrees.

This is a profoundly interesting book. There is no doubt the Jewish community detests Messianic Judaism and puts it about on a par with holocaust denial. Sadly, this is a knee-jerk reaction. Rabbi Cohn-Sherbok who is himself a Reform Jew and, from the evidence of his other books shares none of the beliefs of the Messianic community, has done an excellent job in presenting the history, beliefs and practices of the group objectively. It is an important piece of research and he has talked to critics of the movement as well as adherents. From his account, it is hard to imagine why any rational person would want to join the movement, but nonetheless it does appeart to be growing. If this is the case then it is important that the mainstream Jewish community voices its objections from the basis of secure knowledge. This book is an informed and fascinating piece of work and as such should be part of the library of every yeshiva, rabbinical college and synagogue. If the mainstream community were only secure enough to learn from fringe movements and make some attempt to understand their appeal to the more vulnerable members of our community, our synagogues might be fuller and our young people less turned off. Instead, the community prefers blanket condemnation and unreasoned abuse. No wonder the educated youth of today are disaffected. Rabbi Cohn-Sherbok is to be congratulated on his single-handed attempt to redress the balance; it is splendid to find someone in this day and age who takes Milton's defence of a free press seriously; as the great seventeenth century poet put it in his 'Areopagitica', 'Whoever knew Truth put to the worst in free and open discussion.' The Jewish community has nothing to fear from the Messianics; we simply need to be more confident in what we ourselves have to offer.

This is a very good book to get you started on issues such as encryption, public/private keys, message digests, certificates etc. The authors do know what they are talking about and I enjoyed going through it.

At the same time, I sometimes found repetitive text and code examples that are too elaborate. I find that most books these days try to cover too many topics and are unable to do justice to all of them. It almost seems like an obsession to achieve a certain number of pages or the buyer won't notice the book on the shelf. I'd probably blame the publishers and editors for that trend.

I would have preferred if the authors had added more depth than breadth to the book. For instance, I would have preferred if they had stuck to cryptography and skipped other aspects of java security. They possibly could have gone into further depth (behind the scenes) on the Java classes and their usage patterns. Also they could have dedicated a whole chapter or appendix to JCA and JCE, compared to the few pages they did.

But do not get me wrong, this is an excellent book which could have been made better by shortening some sections and elaborating some others.

I've never worked with security before, and found this book to be a GREAT introduction. Only under-average chapter is the one on JAAS. Furthermore a description of every term in the back of the book would have been great (believe me there's a lot of new terms in security for new newbie).

The cover of this book has photos of the authors, who have the boyish good looks of candidates for a 1990's boy band. The contents of the book belie the apparent youth of the authors. They both know the topic well and how to explain it. The not only know about how Java security works now, they also know about the quirks and peculiarities of the history of Java security. They don't seem to mention it anywhere in the book, but the authors created a nicely modified version of the GPL version of the Terraterm ssh client. Having read some of the Terraterm code I admire them for even making sense of it.

Unlike many of the Wrox technical books this is not a million page, multi author, multi topic tome but 520 pages that keep strictly to the title topic. There is plenty of information on the net about Java security but it is often hard to find and not explained well. This book goes right from the basics of explaining algorithms to giving substantial code examples for creating secure tunnels to manage database connections. I have read about public and private key algorithms several times in the past but the analogies used in this book really re-inforced my understanding. They explain the ideas behind some of the different encryption algorithms by using analogies with the characters in Hamlet the Shakespearean play. They go through the various permutations of how Hamlet could send a message to the king of England using a box locked with various key combinations. The analogies get longer and more involved with each algorithm, but they worked well for me.

Chapter 10 has a long example and explanation on how to create an SSL tunnel server, whereby they JDBC calls are redirected between a client machine. The idea is that you configure your client system to refer to a database on a local machine but the SSL tunnel server intercepts these calls and transmits them over the secure connection to the machine running the database. A matching program on the remote machine then redirects the calls to the actual database. This is a very similar concept to using an ssh tunnel, but you can run both portions on any machine that has a java system. This is a little like having a Java based VPN.

In one of my jobs we used the example code as the basis for a system for synchronizing files and directories between two different machines. This was an alternative to using rsync over ssh, as it it gave us operating system portability "out of the box". If we had not had the code from this book for the key ideas it would have either taken much longer, or we probably would not have started it at all.

One thing that would be good in a revised version of this book would be a step by step guide to installing SSL in Tomcat. It is not hard, and you can find how to do it easily on the net, but many people who buy this book will want to do it.

If you are thinking of putting Java applications on the web you will want them to be secure. Knowledge is the key to security and this is the shortest best informed route that knowledge. You probably need this book.

That is what the essance of Tantra is. Daniel Odier writes about his search to find a Master to recieve this ancient and secretive teaching from. On the verge of giving up he retreats to a small village in India where, almost seemingly by accident, he finds a great Yogini Tantric Master, Devi, in the forest. She agrees to take him on as a student and so begins Daniel's immersion into a whole new way of experiencing the world.

The transmission of Tantric tradition is very personal. Devi puts Daniel through a variety of tests to strengthen the bond and trust between them. She warns him at the outset of this journey that doubts about himself, anger and even hatred of her could manifest during their work together. As Daniel progresses, and the master/student bond is solidified, Devi's teachings become more deep and subtle. The final part of his time spent with Devi involves his initiation into the Tantric ritual sex, the joining of Shiva and Shakti, causing the rising of the Kundalini(a sacred spiritual force that purifies the body for deeper spiritual attainment).

Daniel not only shares his experience of Devi and what she taught him, but tells how he came back to the 'real world' to use what he learned. Not always an easy task.

A fairly good book, a beautiful story of the student/master relationship, and it's not too wordy either. A basic knowlege of Hinduism is a real plus when reading this.

I read this book while commuting on the bus and it was like going into a peaceful bubble amidst the chaos of traffic and noise. It was very refreshing and the translated version has free-flowing verbage that recalls meditation. The best part of the book is the end when the author tells of his reintegration into "normal" society and his problems adjusting leading to eventual overcoming of these problems. This made the ideas in the book less unattainable by people who cannot seem to get enough vacation time from life to travel to Tibet and become enlightened.

Although I have been on my path of 'enlightenment' for a very short time, I have had a chance to read through numerous publications (Power of Now, Tao Te Ching, Flow, Wisdom of Vedas) and other, I found this one to be a more realistic teaching. The answer to the eternal question of where to find happiness is answered for you on a very practical level, just like The Lost Gospel (as far as I heard). The difficult part is incorporating the teaching into your every day life that is if you really want to do that in the first place.

As a result of many criticisms from Protestant and evangelical scholars regarding Fuller's theological points on the Mosaic Law, faith, justification, and redemptive-history I was very weary to read this book. However, after reading this book I found much exegetical and practical insights regarding the Christian faith. I also enjoyed the way he speaks to the reader in a frank and easy to understand way so that even the average layperson can gain much information from the work. Also, the work can help many people gain insights into God's character and works, Christ's redemption, and man's responsibility. For Christians, there are many valuable reflections to scan over in order to gain a much more stronger faith and walk with God. Fuller's discussion on the unity of the Bible can help see through our own theological grids and challenge our own interpretive viewpoints (as a progressive dispensationalists I was very challenged by some of the arguments made by Fuller). He makes a pretty good case why the Bible must be seen as a unity rather than as a dichotomy (Marcionism?). The second part of the book dealing with God's nature and His work throughout salvation-history is an excellent argument for Calvinism. Many non-Calvinists always ask why a good and loving God would allow sin to permeate creation and only select a remnant from mankind for His blessings. Fuller answers these hypothetical questions by focusing on God's nature and work as a Trinity. His nature demands that He work in creation to increase His glory even if it means bringing sin and suffering into the world. Without the fall God's glory and mercy cannot be shown. The third section is about Israel's experiences throughout the OT as an example of what happens to people who receive God's mercy or reject Him. Those who receive His mercy are saved; those who reject His mercy are damned. Also, God is not a client that He needs humanity to work for Him--He is a patron willing to bestow grace upon sinful humans when they come to him in faith. This strikes a blow against any "church" that preaches a legalistic Gospel from self-made regulations. The last section deals with how Christ's first coming is the start of God's Kingdom program predicted in the OT. Fuller makes a good case why God's Kingdom has already come even though it still has a future element. Also, his argument for the mass conversion of Israel before the Parousia is outstanding. However, I must say that there are some negatives in this book. Fuller believes that the OT Law and NT Gospel are a continuum rather than a contrast. Critics of Fuller are right to argue that the Law has no place when it comes to receiving God's salvation through faith. To say that the Law must go alongside the Gospel is to wander into the path of Romanism, Arminianism, nomism, and works-salvation. His whole argument on the nature of the Mosaic Law is not persuasive. For most Christians, practically speaking, there is no difference between the "law of faith" and the "law of works." A Christian who is told to see the Law as a means of receiving the promises will fall into a works-salvation mentality. This can be very dangerous to those who are just "babes" in Christ. Works are the result of saving faith; not saving faith itself. This is where Fuller fails
in his theology. Overall, though, I would recommend this book to those who want to understand how and why God works with humanity.

Dr Fuller offers what the church today needs- a Berean investigation of the scriptures for the "whole counsel of God." Fuller's depiction of the "history of redemption" raises many questions seldom asked (i.e. relation of OT to NT, law/gospel contrast or continuum, and role of covenant). Fuller's discussion of persevering faith will convict any and every antinomian, and his chapter on the conversion of Israel will make a supralapsarian Calvinist out of anyone! On top of biblical-theological depth, Fuller exemplifies the epitome of sound hermeneutics. Read it once for the big picture. Read it again for the methodology. Read it yet again for the sheer joy of understanding God's ultimate purpose- to "go public" with His glory!

Building on his path-breaking study Gospel & Law: Contrast or Continuum?, the former Dean of the School of Theology and Professor of Hermeneutics at Fuller Theological Seminary offers the Church a non-technical, highly accessible exposition of God's redemptive plan for humanity. The fruit of his 40+ years of study, reflection and interaction with generations of students, The Unity of the Bible is organized into relatively short chapters, each having review questions to help the reader catch on to what Fuller is up to. Thus the book is very well-suited for use in adult Sunday School classes, provided that both facilitator and students are willing to do the close, careful reading Fuller's book deserves and requires.

Unity of the Bible provides a thoroughly biblical presentation of God's controlling purpose in human history. Introductory chapters set forth Fuller's inductive, presuppositionless approach to the Bible, an approach he believes mirrors the practice of the early Church, and which best positions Christians today to persuasively communicate the message of the Bible in a diverse, multi-cultural context. Fuller then proceeds to an inductive study of Genesis 1-3 in order to discover God's purpose in creation. As the middle sections of Unity unfold, Fuller deftly argues that in all of the redemptive history set forth in the Old Testament, God is unerringly working out this single purpose, a purpose finally fulfilled in Jesus' life, ministry and death. In the final section Fuller shows how the Church now fits into God's redemptive plan to bring His single purpose to its consummation.

Along the way the attentive reader will be rewarded with challenging and life-transforming insights into the Law as a law of faith, how saving faith necessarily entails the obedience of faith, and that God is our Patron Lord and not a client lord. These "aha" experiences are more than worth the effort required to follow his exegesis and arguments. Though Fuller critiques the reigning theological paradigm of Reformed Protestantism at places, he is always careful in his analysis of theologians with whom he disagrees. Throughout his writing evinces a docility of spirit before the biblical text which ought to serve as a model for any who wish to understand and align themselves with the "whole purpose of God."

Thus, those who claim that Fuller sees no discontinuity between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant (cf. the review posted 12/13/99 by a reader in Minneapolis), or who detect "cynicism and error" in this book (cf. the review posted 12/8/99 by another reader in Minneapolis) have in my opinion not read Fuller carefully. Since Fuller forthrightly challenges some of the theological formulations of the Protestant paradigm, it is understandable that those fully committed to that paradigm might balk at some of his judgments and conclusions. But disagreement with an author does not justify such a gross mis-reading of his work. Unity of the Bible may be "dangerous," but the peril is only that it will shake us out of our settled religious traditions. The promise is that God may use this book to awaken the reader's thirst for the living water Who alone will satisfy.

Dan's obviously a prolific writer, but his musings here simply were not up to his usual standard. Everything boils down to 'it's a matter of personal preference' and 'if you're a vb6 programmer, don't be intimidated into learning c#.'

I've been using .net for almost a year, and while I found myself agreeing with his points, I would not have understood them as a .net newbie. Maybe a better title would have been "vb.net vs. c# - where are the differences."

Perhaps because you can find that free in about 100 different places on the web?

Overall a good comparison of VB .NET and C#. The author has a good deal of knowledge on both languages. His technique of comparison is both fair and accurate. He highlights advantages of one language over the other and why one might choose one over the other.

I got my money's worth. He really packs a lot of information into 45+ pages. He pretty much goes blow-by-blow each feature and then gives his impression as to who the winner is. At the end, he addresses his recommendations for Java, C++, and Visual Basic programmers. Although programmers familiar with other languages aren't specifically addressed, this is still a good read and you'll know more about .NET than a lot of people who use C# (and think VB.NET is missing a lot of features, like I did).

For someone who writes Visual Basic books almost exclusively, Mr. Appleman actually seemed to overcompensate for this potential bias towards VB.NET. (I agree 100% with his final opinion on the last page regarding how one should choose languages.)

I'm a C# programmer who was thinking of trying out Visual Basic.NET (Basic was the 1st language I learned back when I was in gradeschool on my Commodore 64). Clearly, Basic has come a long way. Based on what I've learned from this book, Visual Basic.NET actually EDGES out C# in my humble opinion. However, that's not the answer he gives.

I think I'll use Visual Basic.NET in my spare time.

What is this trite, I want my money back. Pretentious "Bible Bashing " from a collection of boring writers, give it a miss.

This book is very important because it is one essential prophetic book about Jesus, one essential source for the Book of Revelation. It also contains a well-known passage about Daniel in Babylonia and his confrontation to the lions. Daniel is able to interpret dreams and visions and he is thus prophesying the future. His confrontation with the lions in the lions' pit follows the miracle of three other deported jews surviving a furnace in which they are thrown. The first section is the basis of a church opera, Ludus Danielis, performed in Beauvais, France's cathedral in the XII-XIIIth centuries. A recording of it is available.

But Daniel is also a model of fair justice against wicked injustice. That is how he saves Susanna from death, by logically revealing the two wicked lying elders. This is how he proves to Cyrus that Bel is an idol and not a God, and that the priests are cheating him, and all that only with logical means and devices. This is how he kills the dragon and reveals it is no God.

We will note that the episode of Daniel in the lions' pit is given in two different versions. As a matter of fact the second version is merged into the first version for the church opera.

This book is a good adventure book. It uses miracles only in extreme situations and it demonstrates that reason and logic are the fundamental tools of good government whereas deceiving and lying are the basic tools of profiteers and wicked people who detain power and want to retain it.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

This book is part of a series of NIV bible studies written by various authors. The author of this volume, Tremper Longman III, is a professor at Westmont College in California and was previously on the faculty of Westminster Seminary.

The commentary is arranged by chapters and contains sections on the original meaning of the text, the context in relation to the whole Bible, and contemporary significance of the text. His writing is easy to comprehend and pleasant to read. The book would work equally well as reference or as a group Bible study.

Longman is solidly reformed. He resists the temptation to use the prophesy in Daniel to set specific dates for the end-times. In fact, he has publicly debated Harold Camping on just this issue. Although not directly addressed, his traditional approach effectively answers the error promoted by dispensationalists.

Learning to play guitar from this book is like reading stereo instructions. This book is obviously written by a true guitar lover- it has interesting drawings, a piece on the history of string instruments and loads of diagrams... BUT this book is rendered to near-incoherent status by its poor organization. The book is organized in chapters, with big headings and loads of diagrams, but when you read the book, you begin to notice that the writing is attrocious. I have read and re-read chapters a half a dozen times and still find myself confused as to what the heck he's trying to say. I was so enthusiastic when I first bought this book because it looked so thorough. I'd get so frustrated, however, my girlfriend finally resorted to hiding the book from me. Finding a good guitar instruction book is SO hard- I feel your pain- but take it from me that this is not the sort of book any beginner would want to own.

This book is the best book I ever read on the guitar. It starts at the basics by explaining how the major triad is derived from overtones and subsequently explains the CAGED system and essential scales in blues and rock. Stuff that never made sense becomes clear when reading this book. Buy it if you want to understand what you're doing.
I also recommend The guitar handbook by Ralph Denyer.

WOW! What an intense piece this is. You cannot just read this book. You must read it and then study it, to take full advantage of this work. I believe that is what the author intended - a knowledge-based textbook. However, Richard Daniels wrote "Blues Guitar - Inside and Out" which far surpasses anything on music of which I am aware. It (Blues Guitar) maintains the reader's interest in order to teach of the art. It too, is not a book to be just read. You read it, and then study it. Anyone interested in music, especially guitar, must read these books.