A very dry book that is written in an easy to read style. That's great, but it is so relaxing that it can put you to sleep within a few pages. Granted, he had a tough topic to create excitement out of, but this reads like one of those textbooks that you dreaded receiving the first day of classes.
He talks about the motivation of European imperialism. He should have remembered to motivate the reader to care.

I think he pays attention to the wrong things. I agree with much of what he says about technology and imperialism, but he seems to ignore the fact that motivations are often what drives technology rather than the other way around.

Mr Headrick, let's face it: since the advent of capitalism, people have always wanted to get rich. What we are talking about in the 18th and 19th centuries is not so much a technological imperialism or even the interaction between humans and their new discoveries, but rather the dominance of greed and the motivation to get rich. Indeed, Headrick touches upon this idea of "secondary imperialism" - by which countries accept inroads made in other countries by PRIVATE COMPANIES and PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS after the fact, but he seems to brush it off. He seems instead to place an emphasis on technology that is rather unwarranted. Technology never has and never will dictate what humans want to do. Rather, it simply determines what they can accomplish. Even today, people do not clone sheep because they CAN. They do it because they WANT to. Whether or not Mr. Headrick likes it or not, some people get off on taking advantage of, subjugating and even enslaving others. It is a sad fact of life.

Headrick also makes some ridiculous conclusions in his book that could be insulting to non-Europeans. He writes that the true legacy of imperialism was that "Europeans passed on to the peoples of Asia and AFrica their own fascination with machinery and innovation." Excuse me? Has Africa and Asia really had any CHOICE in the matter? Has even the private citizen in the United States had any choice? The imperialist has won out and has been able to dictate how to live life and this is the legacy of imperialsm. Furthermore, there as a lot of interest in technology even in Africa before the invasion of Europeans.

There are several other things in this book that annoyed me. Headrick gives a simplistic account of the development of the steamboat, emphasizing the role of Fulton while completly ignoring the contributions of Fitch, Rumsey and John Stevens Jr. And he states in his conclusion that, "Today, we are accustomed to important innovations being so complex ... that only the governments of major powers can defray their research and development costs."

Again, excuse me? If anything, the power of the government has DWINDLED. In the 1930s, no one would have ever dreamed of a company developing something like the atomic bomb, but today, with the accumulation of so much wealth in the hands of private individuals in the corporate world, such things are commonplace. Again, I am reminded of cloning. That was a HUGE achievement and no United Kingdom government was involved.

I realize I have been hard on Headrick, which is not to say I did not enjoy this book. As far as history goes, he generally gets his facts right and I found some of his interpretations interesting, although controversal. Anyone interested in imperialism would probably get something out of this book.

Though the subject will not interest everyone (thus 4 1/2 stars), "Tools of Empire" is still a fine example of sound research made accessible for a student/general audience by gifted writing. Headrick shows that, even though the will to dominate existed for a long time previously, Europe's chance to conquer most of the globe only came in the second half of the 19th century.

The technological changes associated with the transition from the First to the Second Industrial Revolution helped create this opportunity. Major innovations such as modern firearms, steamships, railroads, anti-malarial quinine and the telegraph made it much safer for Europeans to live and travel in the tropics, and also easier to attack the indigenous people there. The author gives special attention to developments in India, China and Africa.

Headrick's later works lack the sparkle of this groundbreaking text, but are still worthwhile in bringing the story closer to our own time. The more recent titles have rather more coverage of technology transfer---non-Western peoples' use of introduced technologies---in contrast to "Tools of Empire's" focus on the ways they were used against them. [Michael Adas, "Machines As the Measure of Men" is a stimulating look at Europeans' moral judgements about other societies based on their relative technological proficiency.]

In 1961, KGB defector Anitoliy Golitsyn told of a 40 year strategic deception plan to disarm the West in preparation for the final conquest of Communism. According to the plan, after an arms race, insurgent operatives would orchestrate mass peace movements while at the same time the USSR and ilk would engage in a final orgy of overt arms build up. Reagan served this all very well and when he "won" the Cold War, it must have been beyond the late Khrushchev's wildest dreams. Then came the "great fall" of 1989 - 1991, predicted by Golitsyn well prior (all according to plan.) Now the West are at their weakest and a restive Russia talks of restoration of the USSR whilst feigning cooperation in the "War on Terror." I sincerely hope the Pentagon has a plan for winning a nuclear war because today the odds are against us. We must start rearming immediately!

Between 1945 and the mid 1970s, the U.S./U.S.S.R nuclear relationship went from America having total superiority, to the Soviet Union achieving nuclear parity (some would say dominance in number of warheads and megatonnage). So why didn't the blood thirsty and irresponsible Americans "GO FOR IT"? Why not do it even during such tempting opportunities as the Berlin Airlift, 1947, the Hungarian Uprising, 1956, the Cuban Missile Crisis, 1961? What held U.S. leaders back as they saw the Soviets closing the gap and then overtaking them? This book offers no new ideas. It is only the same old re-hashed liberal speak.

Every time one thinks that the level of evil to which the military-industrial-corporate media can stoop has been reached, along comes more information to tell us we haven't yet reached that level.

Authors Kaku and Axelrod have produced a book written in the style I enjoy the most--using the government's own primary source documents to impeach them.

They document the insanity of our fathers using their own words to pitch them upon their own pitards.

The volume contains quotes from hitherto secret NSC and Joint Chiefs of Staff documents outlining the insantiy, the ends of destruction to which cold war warriors could go to "win" a war with the Soviet Union, or anyone else who dared to stand in the way of American imperialism.

Fast forward to the "first strike" of Bush against Iraq. In reading this volume, one can easily find that cold war warriors of the past developed the "first strike" and that Bush and Company have taken advantage of them to establish a Pax Americana by force ofarms to make the Middle East safe for both Israel and American oil and multi-national corporate interests.

The authors trace the development of American foreign policy clearly demonstrating to the reader how "crisis" utilized the twin principles of cold war policy development--escalation dominance and first strike--to achieve the goals of American foreign policy--making the world safe for their brand of "freedom."

The book traces the evolution of how, in at least a dozen episodes, foreign policy planners used the threat of America's nuclear monopoly to achieve its ends. In contrast to the official party line spewed forth by the corporate media, a series of plans were developed all predicated on the insane notion of "winnig" a nuclear war.

"To Win A Nuclear War" is the kind of book to keep at your side when some lard ass flag waver talks about using nuclear weapons for any purpose. If we learn nothing else from history, we should learn that no war is really winnable. Americans are all too eager to inflict this sort of damage as long as it is NIMBY.

"Best Practice" appears to be the latest whole language code word. Many of the "best practices" suggested here have little or no solid foundation on convergent, juried, replicable research. To say that these practices make common sense is simply not evidence enough to implement them in our schools. For the first time since the Progressivism of the 1930's educational reform is not coming from our colleges and universities. They have, after all, perpetuated the "best practices" that have been failing our children since they were first widely implemented in our public schools in the 1950's. Reform is coming from political leaders, as in the "No Child Left Behind" legislation, and scientific researchers who have been commissioned by Congress. Whole school reform that is based on scientifically based, EFFECTIVE practices demonstrate positive change in the first year, not in the three to five years indicated in this book. The "Report of the National Reading Panel" would be a good place to start looking for effective school reform practices. This writer is the Coordinator of Instruction for a large, urban school system.

As part of my school's curriculum committee, Best Practices is on our assigned reading list. After reading the introduction I was shocked to find the book not only interesting, but also easy to read. The book's main premise is that school reform, what ever direction a school chooses to take, is a process, not a magic potion. Meaningful school reform, according to the authors, could and prbably should take at least three years. No one standardized test and no one curriculum can be a cure-all for improving student performance. Best Practice tells how to begin the process of reform to produce improved student performance in an environment dedicated to that process.

As an instructor of a graduate level education course, this book is an excellent example of the best that is happening in classrooms. It is filled with practical and engaging ways to involve students in their own learning. A must for all first and 20 year teachers.

This book has some great photographs, but does not say enough about breeding. Maybe breeding is very simple. If so, the authors should say so. When I finished the book, I did not feel that I had learned much about breeding. It was kind of like leaving a restaurant without feeling full.

It has excellent photos and it covers most of the boas and pythons you may purchase but, if you already have the snakes and you are looking for information about breeding them this book doesn't help much. It has enough information to help you make up your mind if you still haven't decided on what species to buy for breeding.

THIS BOOK IS VERY GOOD FOR THE NEW SNAKE OWNER AND THE UNSURE. IT HAS USEFUL INFORMATION ON MANY DIFFRENT TYPES OF BOAS AND PYTHONS. THE BOOK DOES NOT USE "LARGE WORDS" THAT COULD CONFUSE READERS AND THOSE IT DOES THEY EXPLAIN THEM IN THE BACK. I WORK IN A PETSHOP AND THE BOOK IS REALLY CLOSE TO THE REAL THING. IT'S A GOOD BOOK FOR GETTING STARTED. IT ALSO HAS GREAT PICTURES.

Why oh why did I buy this book. I just wanted to speak some finnish and I thought two tapes was good value. I should have bought teach-yourself instead. The tapes are more english than finnish and there is virtually no match between the tapes and and the book. The book might by fine for a University course or for someone who already knows the language but otherwise it's useless to someone about to travel to the country. I've learnt more finnish from the official goverment website which has one page on useful phrases. Good money down the drain and maybe I'll know better next time.

I want these books - textbooks, because my fried came from Finland. And here - in the Czech Republic are not books for learning finnish language.

I own a few other Finnish language books. Actually, all of the books that the local bookstore I visit had, which was like 5 or 6. Routledge's language courses are the best you can buy, I know because I've bought an array of books for an array of languages. But this one takes the cake; Author Daniel Abondolo delicately blends the professionalism or language books with the speech or normal people to create a very conducive environment for learning, especially with such a diffucult language. Abondolo teaches you the essentials of the language, as no single volume book could teach you an entire language. By the end of the book, you will be speaking the language seemingly as if you've known the language all your life, without the accent though. The authors credentials are confirmed by his other books, namely the Uralic Languages(editor+author), a highly technical book dealing with the language group with which Finnish is part of. The tapes provide a very useful tool, that is, hearing the spoken language through native speakers.

This book was a big disappointment. In very short words the book is a plug for the author's company. But even if you can live with that, the outdated material is not very valuable. My recommendation is for the authors to update the book as much of the cyberlandscape has changed in these few short years. On a positive note, the business models presented are informative. The writing style is not very clear or structured, and in 2 chapters I found more than 2 mistakes. The figures are very primitive and don't add much to the already scant information. It is a shame as I would have loved for this book to work for me. The information the book has to offer can be found free on the Internet and it is more timely.

In the brave new world of Electronic Commerce money or the concept of medium of exchange is morphing. This book lays the ground work for understanding the technology and issues of transacting on-line. Encryption, authentication, smart cards and general security issues are discussed in sufficient detail to grasp the concepts. A must read for all company owners and managers contemplating the era of digital money and preparing for the future.

Although not extremely thorough or insightful,the authors paint a clear landscape of the changing role of money in the new digital economy. Touching on several related products such as smartcards and encryption, they give the reader a solid footing in these new technolgoies

THE DIMENSION RIDERS is one of those stories that's quite a bit of fun while you're actually reading it, but which doesn't particularly stick in one's memory. There's nothing inherently wrong with it, and, in fact, there is quite a lot here that is very enjoyable. However, there's also nothing really fantastic about it either. I read the story, and I enjoyed it, but there was very little that stood out about it in my mind after I had finished. It works well as a simple adventure, but don't go into it expecting anything more.

The plot appears to be a tad more ambitious than it actually is. It's set in two main time zones with a lot of interacting going on between them, and that layer of complexity really doesn't have all that much impact on the plot. There didn't seem to be any real plot reason for having the action spread out over time rather than space, but it did make the story seem just a little bit more interesting. It's a case of style over substance, perhaps, but it works. The plot may not be especially complicated, but it is fairly clever in a few places. There are parts that are a predictable, yet I found one or two twists that genuinely surprised me. The modern-day Oxford setting is drawn realistically and goes a long way in helping add to the atmosphere. This contrasts well with the ghost story feeling of the passages set in the future.

The characters introduced here are competently drawn, but aren't particularly deep. They fulfill the functions that the plot requires of them, and aren't really fleshed out beyond that. Again, the characterization isn't anything that really hurts the book, and, indeed, there are a handful of moments that do stand out as being special. It's just that the vast majority of what we see is adequate, but not great.

Actually, my overall opinion of THE DIMENSION RIDERS was adequate, but not great. There is indeed a small smattering of interesting pieces, and the storyline itself it quite fun, even if it isn't terribly deep. The hints dropped here concerning the ongoing Alternative History story-arc are intriguing. You could probably skip this one and not worry about missing anything terribly exciting, but you'd be missing out on an enjoyable few hours.

Set in the late 24th century, where space station Q4 is under attack from a group of beings called the Time Soldiers. But behind them is another foe, someone who should not exist...

The second of the Alternate Universe arc (the others being 'Blood Heat', 'The Left-Handed Hummingbird', 'Conundrum' and 'No Future'), this story follows on from the quite dark and bleak ending of 'Blood Heat' and, if anything, things get even bleaker!

The story is split into different parts, and the three members of the TARDIS crew all have their own story strands to pursue until they slowly draw together towards the end.

But for the very depressing atmosphere which pervades the novel, it might have been a good read! Not for those looking for a pleasant read.

This story is the middle of story arc that concludes in the NA "No Future." Like all story arcs, there comes a point in the plot were nothing really happens, and that's exactly what happens in "The Dimension Riders." The characters are thrown about through time and space (literally), with very little being resolved. If you can find it used, pick it up.

Sorry, but this book is lacking in key areas and doesn't provide many of the "essentials" needed for getting it done. You will find many features left unexplained to their fullest. Not recommended.

This book is harder to follow than the other Publisher books I've seen. It includes very little advanced material. In my opinion, the reader is left hanging on many functions. Spend your money on another book about Publisher and skip this one.

Many texts stop with the mechanics of the program. This book provides an excellent review of design basics to help the reader understand how to effectively communicate a message. As a desktop publishing instructor, I recommend this text to my novice students.

After year's of frustration with MS-Access, culminating with OfficeXP, I switched to FileMaker Pro. The software user manual and tutorial are first class (MicroSoft ought to try it) but, seeing prior experience with Access, I hoped to get additional insights from this book. Frankly, I didn't. It seems cookbook, poorly organized, dully written and of little use without a practice CD-rom. Worse, the latest FileMaker Pro 5.5 updates were tacked onto the end -- making this a poorly organized reference text. Disappointing!

Not too bad for those with about 1 year FMPro experience. This book is not a natural follow-on to the basic FMPro quickstart book, and the examples seem to be wrong in several places.
However, I did pick up several useful bits of info, and would recommend it as a rainy day read.

I had a hard time finding the specific answers I was looking for. For example, I spent hours trying to figure out why "View as List" wasn't working using Instant Web Publishing. All I needed was someplace that said "You can't do the following under IWP" followed by a specific list. Nowhere to be found. And the enhancements to web publishing in version 5.5 were tacked onto the end of the book, rather than being integrated into the chapter on web publishing. In fairness, I did find many of it's step-by-step instructions useful, but I expected more.

Having gone through the series again, I am downgrading it from three to two stars.

o The worst problem is the cute, artsy English translations which in many cases make it impossible for the user (at least for me) to use the English prompt to produce the correct Spanish counterpart. I have to keep going back to determine whether the problem was my own mistake or a bad prompt. Often it is a bad prompt.

o This is made worse by the fact that the units to translate (the sentences) are often quite long AND THERE IS NO CONFIRMATION so that to check on the correctness of my response I have to keep going back.

o A lesser problem but still annoying is the woman who speaks the English prompts and tries to use this as an opportunity to practice her theater-drama skills. I find this very annoying.

These are problems that the publishers could have avoided if they had tried the course on a focus group. I suspect that they didn't do such testing. This is regrettable since the method of the course is valid (more valid than Berlitz's) and this could have been an excellent course.

P.S. My comments, by the way, apply to other publications of the Living Language "all the way" series.

The other reviews are quite right.
The English translates the sense of the Spanish,
but it is very annoying because you have to figure out
the meaning of the Spanish from your current knowledge of Spanish, not from the English.
Let this be a warning for others who would create language tapes,
that people buy the tapes because they are learning the language.
Nevertheless, if you just want a review or want to hear some
Spanish spoken in real-life contexts, then this is for you.

The book is good. The quality of sound excellent.

However, hose of expect to do much of their learning while listening to the cassettes in their cars may well be disappointed:

o You will be frustrated doing the English-> Spanish translations because of miscues where the English differs gratuitously from the Spanish; that is, the translation is often so loose that you can never get the translation exactly right. An example is a prompt like 'Is there a car mechanic around?' where the Spanish would be 'Where can I find a car mechanic?'

o The prompts are too long considering the advanced vocabulary.