This is a very well-written introduction to microeconomic theory, covering all the major topics you would expect to cover in a microecon course. However, I can attest to the fact that it is overly wordy, with an unnecessary number of examples (perhaps for the benefit of those who don't necessarily understand the subject well). I would have preferred to see a more mathematical treatment of the subject, something more than the elementary calculus used in this book. And, I don't believe it would be too difficult to summarize everything important that was said in this book in about 100 pages.

A well written book on the whole especially for beginners like me. Unfortunately, the book does lack mathematical examples.

I've used this book in an intermediate micro course at Berkeley, and I have to say that this is one of the best written economics books I've read. One of its greatest advantages is the clarity of explanation and abundance of visual aid such as graphs and tables throughout the book to support the material. The graphs get a bit complicated towards the last chapters, but that's only because the material that needs to be illustrated through those graphs gets complicated as well.

Second, even though I've had extensive economics background, the book could be suitable for beginners. The first two chapters give a concise overview of a basic Econ 1 course, explaining the basics of supply and demand, market structure, etc. - everything a person with little economics background needs to know to be able to understand this book. However, if you find this book to simple for you, keep in mind that Prentice Hall publishes it as "Intermediate Economics" - for use in 2nd or 3rd year in an undergraduate economics program.

Unlike many other econ textbooks I've encountered, this book is neither math-heavy nor theory-heavy - it has a good balance of theoretical information coupled with enough mathematical examples to get the message across. However, many students (and some reviewers on this website) find that there aren't enough examples and exercises (with answers) in the book - for that I'd HIGHLY recommend getting the Student Study Guide. It quickly summarizes each chapter (good for emergency test/quiz studying) and provides plenty of sample problems as it summarizes the concepts. It also includes a quick chapter quiz and gives the solutions to all problems found in the Study Guide.

Also unlike most outdated econ textbooks today, this one includes excellent chapters on Game Theory and pricing strategies. I've heard from a few business majors here at Berkeley that they're encouraged to read those two chapters as good examples of how these concepts apply to business and economics. The book features many "Sample Boxes" - small paragraphs on how the current topic of discussion has been applied in the real world. This helps understand that economics is a real science (in a sense that it can produce theories that are testable in the real world) and has some useful applications.

Overall, this is a very good economics textbook for intermediate microeconomics. The book alone deserves 4 stars, but coupled with the study guide, it's definitely a 5.

The format of the book is less useful. I was expecting something closer to a Monster Manual but for traps, and I was disappointed. Each "challenge" is formatted like a mini-encounter rather than a single trap or puzzle explained. Some challenges are 2-3 pages long. I prefer a bit more quick-use format structure so I can just pull out the encounter and plop it into my adventure just like a monster from the Monster Manual. I prefer Traps & Treachery by Fantasy Flight Games which has that type of structure.

While the book presents some interesting scenarios, most of it is rehashed information you can get from a book of logic puzzles or find in the AD&D 2nd edition DM's blue books (namely the Villian's handbook and Creative Campaigning) or even check out the Crypt of Lyranzad the Mad. If you want a bunch of one-shot encounters or traps, this book is fine, otherwise you can get as good ideas by buying a book of logic puzzles or riddles and adapting them as encounters.

The challenges cover a very wide range of levels with suggestions on how to tweak a challenge to make it suit the strengths/weaknesses of a DM's players. The book is quite dense for 126 pages, stuffing each page with detailed information on setting-up, presenting, and solving the traps. The artwork matches the mainstream AD&D adventure artwork, which is to say average to poor. It would be nice to have higher quality artwork to be scanned in to a computer and presented to the players for the clearest possible explanation of some very complex mechanical and magical challenges.

Book of Challenges is very comparible to Legends & Lairs Traps and Treachery series, however the Book of Challenges stays away from the traps a lone thief disarms into an encounter for the party to get involved with. So in the end, a good buy, but room for improvement.

This book was good for understanding the basics of all the concepts, but if you wanted to go more in depth, it was not a very good learning resource. The explanations were not very clear and detailed, and there were also not enough examples. Often, I felt that it would have been much more helpful to have detailed explanations of the more difficult problems.

If you want to learn calculus from first-rate experts and also first-rate explainers, you will love this text. The authors have gone to great lengths to motivate and elucidate the ideas behind calculus, and they do so in a brilliant and very readable fashion. They take the reader by the hand and explain, step by step, what you need to know. Countless applications from science, engineering, and economics let you get an idea of how calculus is really used out there in the field.

If this book should be your first calculus text, you may consider yourself fortunate because you will not only get an extremely well explained introduction into calculus, but will also be exposed to a wealth of colorful background information. Many math texts go into dry theorem-proof treatments; everything's there, but the subject does not come to life. You will find this book refreshingly different.

One caveat. You need to bear in mind that this book is an introductory text, though a very complete one that tells you about Lagrange multipliers and vector calculus and triple integrals. If, however, you are an accomplished mathematician looking for post-graduate information on integration in topological vector spaces, you need to look elsewhere. But even then you would be likely, in this excellent and exciting book, to stumble upon some interesting information that you may not have known about before.

Finney and Thomas calculus textbooks are perhaps the most popular textbooks in high school and college courses, and for good reason. Finney and Thomas write the definitive text for the subject, and this edition continues their tradition of excellent textbooks. I feel there truly is no better calculus textbook or calculus reference book than one written by this pair. This is the one I grab from the shelf when I need a refresher - and believe me, being a math teacher there are a lot of calculus texts on those shelves!

I am a senior enrolled in the AP European history class at my school. This year the class switched to a new textbook, which happened to be The Western Heritage. We were all excited that the new textbook had large, colorful pictures and not just pages of lengthy text. As the year progressed, my classmates and I noticed how poor the book was. Many of the key concepts were explained in a way that was complicated and unenlightening. The book greatly confused many students on significant practices of the Catholic church during the Middle Ages. The chapters are quite inconsistent. Some chapters are written fairly well, while others are cluttered and downright terrible. Each chapter is quite lengthy and is often hard to read or sleep-inducing. The organization of ideas is poorly done. Chronological events are separated by material that is either unrelated to any previous events, or do not occur until decades later. Recently, I read the chapter on the rise of fascist empires in Italy and Germany. Some major terminology that we all know was mysteriously missing -- I could not find the word "Autobahn" anywhere in the endless sea of words, but maybe the publisher suddenly ran out of ink and just couldn't print the word on the page. Alas...
So, in conclusion, I suggest you steer clear of this textbook unless you are stimulated by lots of colorful pictures and enjoy reading books that are more suitable for gathering dust.

I am a freshman in high school, and this is my textbook in my AP European History class.

The events depicted are often out of order, making it harder to understand the timeline. The writing seems inconsistent, sometimes short and understandable but often is long-winded and unclear. The authors of this book assume you have some knowledge of both of the geography in Europe and at least some knowledge of Europe's history already. In most of my fellow students' case, they assume wrong. If you do not already have some experience in studying Europe, then I would recommend searching for a different book.

I am a junior in an AP European History class. My class uses two textbooks, one of which is Kagan's Western Heritage. The Kagan textbook is by far my favorite of the two textbooks to read. It is very interesting and thoroughly covers all the topics of European history, many of which are skipped in my other textbook. I am even considering buying the book so I can read the chapters my class skipped and keep it on hand as a reference. The order of the chapters is not at all difficult to follow as long as the reader has a basic knowledge of European History or looks at the timelines at the beginning of each section. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Europe.

This book is a good starting point for the newly revised Windows 95 (70-064) exam. I just took it and scored 857 (minimum passing score is 632). The book goes into detail on topics that are heavily covered on the exam (networking with NT and NetWare, printing, system policies), and this makes it a great place to start studying. However, the 95 exam is full of nitpicky questions that are NOT covered in this book; you need additional sources to be completely prepared. In addition to buying this book, I'd recommend downloading the Win95 Resource Kit from Microsoft's Web site and spending some time going through it, especially troubleshooting. Also search the web for "70-064" to turn up helpful links. This is one of the hardest exams in the MCSE sequence, but if you use these sources you should be in good shape.

.... to pass the Win95 exam. This book is like all others in this series: Each test objective is examined in a seperate section while numerous fairly difficult questions test your knowledge. In addition, there are hands on exercises to reinforce the material. There are no pretty pictures here but this obviously helps keep the price at a very reasonable $25.00. The other recommended references would be the win95 resource kit and your hands on experience. A highly recommended book.

The 70-64 Windows 95 exam is tricky, but this book provides a very good foundation for the success. It does cover much more than is actually on the exam, and as such serves as a reference for the OS. I do think you will need to supplement study with the Windows 95 resource kit, but all the objectives on the exam are covered in the book. While the sample questions are sometimes lame (and really do not mimic the exam) there is an appendix which provides GREAT last minute study tips. The section on troubleshooting is fantastic, written by a person who obviously has spent time in the field wrestling with the same kind of problems administrators see every day. All in all, it is well worth the money I spent.

This book feels like it was written for no other reason then to cash in of Left Behind's popularity. The writing is unfocused and hard to follow and the author certainly doesn't use his book to explore Christianity in any kind of depth or bring any insights into the faith. It's a waste of time from any angle you look at it. Try We All Fall Down or the Christ Clone Trilogy instead if you're looking for thoughtful books that explore the topic with insight and intelligent writing.

By in large an EXCELLENT, EXCELLENT novel!! Although there are some similarities with the Left Behind series, this book is without a doubt much more superior in its characterization and writing style. From the beginning you're immediately pulled into the lives of each of the characters and you can't help but sense that the time they live in is all too real. In addditon, although this novel is about the end-times, its delves much deeper than that. It touches on the struggles of coming to true faith in God and the reality of what it means to be born-again. It doesn't use a lot of ambiguous terminology like "finding Jesus" or "getting save" but it focuses on describing the real experience of encountering the living God through Christ. I have no doubt that this series will not only change a lot people ideas about the last days but about what it really means to be a Chrisitian.

I have read all of the poor reviews and can't help but wonder who is writing them. Didn't they read this book? I couldn't put it down. I carried it everywhere with me. I read the entire Left Behind series and became bored toward the end because I felt that the story line began to drag and the writing and character development was poor. Not so with this book.

In order to understand the importance of this topic and storyline, extensive and needed character development has been achieved throughout the first half of the book. I was truly disturbed by what I read and the evil doings in the book. I was able to feel and visualize the evilness not just read about it. The scenes of war and devastation left me breathless.

I look forward to reading the entire series and recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed the Left Behind or Christ Clone series and anyone else who may need enlightening.

I'm a Santa Clara University student, and I'm in the class taught by the author of this book. I'm an experienced programmer who knows PHP, ASP, Java, VBA, and some C and C++, and I must say, this book is very confusing to follow. It offers very little examples and explinations; the accompanied cd-rom doesn't make it easier at all. You won't be able to understand half the slides presented on it without him physically explanining it in front of you; even if you were in his presence, you'll still have a big ? mark on the top of your forehead. For those who enjoy the 'hello world' approach, don't bother with this book; the only words you'll be seeing in the end are 'hello class repeat'. I'm very sure there are other books than this that can teach assembly more fluently.

Put simply, this book is terrible. The lack of examples throughout the text keeps those without prior knowledge of the subject from fully grasping the concepts. Dr. Lewis failed miserably with this book. Please do not purchase it unless you would like very expensive fire wood.

I have been teaching X86 assembly language for 6 years as an undergraduate course in Computer Engineering in San Jose State University. The students have been always concerned about the value of this course after graduation. Many have the false perception that learning assembly is no longer needed since most of our programming is done nowadays with high level languages. Last semester I introduced assembly language as a tool to program embedded systems and I used the first few chapters of this book to demonstrate to students the fact that 98% of processors sold are embedded. As a result, most students selected their class project based on one of the embedded examples shown in this book. For students who needed more X86 details, I referred them to a complementary text book. But, for those who needed to understand the fundamental link between c/C++ and assembly, this book was very helpful. I would recommend this book for Juniors or Seniors who would like to have a better understanding of the high level and assembly language interface. To maximize the effectiveness of this book, I recommend the use of more complex real-life design examples, the use of commercial Assemblers, and more emphasis needs to be given for embedding assembly into high level language and vice versa.

What I had hoped to find in The Philosophical Programmer was insights into the synergies between philosophy and programming. What I got was yet another introduction to programming, albeit a quality one.

A more accurate title would be Introduction To Programming By a Philosophical Author. In other words, the author has a sound philosophy for describing various aspects of programming (and making them intuitive), but offers no philosophy for a programmer to apply to her or his job.

What I wanted but didn't get was a fresh perspective on what a programmer does and how she or he can apply various philosphies to make them better. For example, Descartes' method of doubt is perfectly suited to coding.

I recommend this book to anyone who needs a general (and soft) introduction to programming. If your a seasoned vet, read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

when i read this book, i was struggling to understand what it meant to program. i had very little exposure to programming, but wanted to learn because i was curious. at some point, you have to figure out "okay, you have to write in a language, and then you need this compiler thing to actually make a program."

i don't imagine that this book would be too interesting for someone with a longstanding background in computer science, but it's very useful if you're just getting into the field. the book discusses the history of computing and talks about the fundamental concepts that allow you to understand programming -- bits and bytes, what compilers are and how they're used, and some basics of computational logic.

the book was written well and engagingly. it was a short read -- well worth the few hours.

After reading this book, i no longer look at any computer system or modern ultra sophisticated systems driven by computers as some brute magic of modern technology, but as a power of human thought and intellect amplified by the magnificient tool--the computer. i see the human face. thanks,Daniel Kohanski, for changing my former paradigm which was isolating me from the technology to one of embracing the technology by showing its human nature.

Janal would have received received five stars for his introductory book on e-commerce/web-based businesses, were it not for the many typos throughout the book and the hasty organization of the chapters. There were even typos in the foreword which, by the way, was contributed by the editor of Success magazine. This book is a good starting point for the novice, like me, but it could have been presented much better. The book simply and clearly takes you through the steps of how to get a business online, but not much else. I would strongly advise anyone who is new to the net and embryonic about business and e-commerce to look past the typos and read through the whole book seriously, as Janal gives the budding internet entrepreneur a lot of basic advice, and then go out and find other books which delve deeper into the subjects of marketing, business, and economics (the areas that really determine your success on the net). A lot of the information in the book was repeated over and over again, and such information could have been better presented in tabular form. For example, given the number of online interviews he undertook, he could have listed the common points or similarities to be found among those who responded to his questionaire in a separate chapter, such as those who started with formal business plans, those using the site for retail as opposed exclusively for marketing, those who started their e-biz while holding down a full-time job, and those who received outside funding for their start-up or bootstrapped their e-biz, etc. In reading through the whole book, I was surprised at the number of people in his company profiles that had previous business experience. I was also extremely surprised at the number of those profiled who started their internet businesses without business plans (more than half at a rough count). Practically all of the respondents put up their own money to get on the net. Finally, starting a business on the internet seems to be pretty easy, but getting such a business to turn a profit can be very difficult (as more than a few online companies are now finding out), and can be seen by many of his respondents' unwilligness to divulge their profitability ( a few admitted outright that they were not making any money). Nonetheless, his first four chapters are a good overview of the internet and electronic/real world commerce, but it is only a brief overview, and the paucity of information on this particular area (then again, this book was written two years ago, which is pretty much ancient by web time standards) is unsettling. Nevertheless, he succinctly and clearly touches upon the major points. Now, to your dismay, you may find that there are literally thousands of companies actually putting the business ideas that he has suggested in his book to practice on the net. Finally, even though I have been been a little harsh on the book's proofreading and organization, if you spend some time reading the company profiles, you will find some interesting insights and some very approachable web entrepreneurs. There are some hidden gems of internet wisdom in the interviews that the novice would be the smarter to know by heart. If you are thinking of starting an internet business, know next to nothing about the net, and have a lot of time, money, and resources to work with, then this book makes for a good start and a satisfactory (though a bit dated) initial investment.

This book is a great source of basic business practices for the enteprenueur who is about to start a business online. It contains usefull information and tips. Thus it is a good read. The case studies have the problem that they repeat information over and over again. It would have been easier to set a table with the most relevant answers to the survey questions.

It is certainly no secret that the Internet has changed the way people conduct business. Those with products and services to offer have had a whole new world of opportunity opened up to them. Now just about anyone with a modest investment of time and money, with varying levels of computer skills and talent, can make their presence known with relative ease. Another good Internet business book has arrived on the scene that readers should know about. Daniel Janal, the author of another popular book, The Online Marketing Handbook, has written another real winner, 101 Businesses You Can Start on the Internet, with the intent to address the concerns of those who would like to join the ranks of the Internet business community.

101 Businesses... is divided into two sections. In the first section, Janal offers his readers a number of compelling reasons why one ought to open up shop on the Internet. Some reasons to consider are the reaching out to a worldwide market, to do business with an affluent market, no barriers of time zones, being open twenty-four hours a day, beating the competition to new markets because they are not online, very low startup costs, and little or no rent payments to make. Janal proceeds to outline the basics of getting started on the Internet, how to find your way around, and how to conduct your business. To his credit, Janal is brief and to the point when he needs to be, saving the greater portion of the book for other important matters.

The second section of the book, which I consider to be the heart of the publication, deals with the kind of business opportunities that exist on the Internet and how some folks have set up shop. Chapter-by-chapter, Janal discusses a number of creative business opportunities, such as computer and service-related work, and then provides solid case studies of those who have braved the waters, so to speak. Complete with names, addresses, phone numbers, URL's, and Web pages, Janal provides his readers with the insight that few previous publications have brought to light. Janal asks a number of penetrating questions of those who have already set up shop on the Internet that hit right at the heart of conducting business.

Janal breaks new ground in the direction of Internet business publications with this book. It is one thing to read about how to conduct business on the Internet and actually speaking with those who have been there. According to Janal, we ought to learn from the experiences of others, whether positive or negative. They have sound advice to offer! I hope Janal and other writers will continue developing this trend. Janal's book is well thought out and written. It will help many, including college students, who want to start their own businesses but who are in need of the encouragement of others. Put Janal and his case studies to work for you!

This book is helpfull for those who would like to understand cultural assimilation using star trek as a metaphor. Cultural imperalism is a misleading term however, as no one is taking an active role in the expansion of american culture, it is a natural process that comes with being a powerfull economy. Imperalism is the preferd term for those who resent the loss of their culture, but wanted to gain the economic benifits of joining american culture. When in rome do as the romans, or be ostracized, this process is not a quality of american culture, it is universall.

However this book was not intended to be a metahphor for cultural imperalism (if that was his intended purpose he should have directly stated so). Its intended purposes was indicting Star Trek as a metaphor for cultural bias and it failed miserably in doing so. He ignored many scripts and episodes which would have undermined his argument. This book was a blatant attempt to sell a few copies of a otherwise boaring book by including verbiage and complicated arguments.

I am a black trecker, and I deride attempts to indict a good show just to sell a few copies of a bad book.

Apparently Martin Luther King disagreed...Yawn...Another tiresome politically correct diatribe written by someone who has clearly exhausted the possibilities inherent in writing essays on the homoerotic aspects of Gilligan's Island and the feminist subtext of Bewitched. Like most diatribes of it's kind, it hinges its indictment of Star Trek's racism on the most petty and ridiculous things and has no connection to reality but to the author's black and white version of reality. Star Trek fans should avoid this nonesense like the plague, while fans of academic essays on the Brady Bunch as a metaphor for Apartheid and the end of American nationalism will lap it up like spoiled chili.

This was a great book, but not of the genre most Trekkers probably read. No offense meant by that... I am a trekker myself... What I mean is that this is not a technical manual, an encyclopedia, nor a novel meant to flesh out some of the series most memorable charaters. I think a few of the other reviewers here misunderstood that... probably bought the book and then got angry. So be forewarned. This is, instead, an academic book intended to take a serious look at the cultural context in which Star Trek was constructed. This is not a book about Star Trek per se... it is a book about American culture, and the cultural beliefs that we have that allow Star Trek to be such an important part of American -- and even global -- popular culture.

The main thesis behind this book is that the way that American thinks about, constructs, and understands the concept of race affects the way that we see "races" in the Star Trek universe. This is a valid thesis, and it is supported well in Bernardi's book.

Although I don't want to oversimplify the argument, Bernardi's idea is fairly simple -- we define "progressive" society based on a white American norm.... thus the Trek universe (specifically of the "United Federation of Planets") is the cultural inheritor of American society and al of its goals and ideals. Mutliculturalism, as a Trek (American?) ideal, is there, but embedded within assumptions that people assimilate WITHIN Federation (American?) standards.

This is a good book, especially if you are interested in rethinking how we see race in our society, and how it is reflected in popular culture.