Being an avid reader and a huge J.P fan I didn't like this book at all, just too weird for me. I didn't finish it so don't know how it ended, except to take a peek to check on the mastermind.
The first of these two, which is Roses Are Red, was GREAT, Very Scary in a usual Patterson way. There was a bit to much gore in this book. I do think that together Gross and Patterson are a good team, I liked the beach house and kiss the girls, they were both excellent. I can't wait for their next collaboration.

Patterson's last couple of books have definitely not been up to the standards he set at the beginning of his Alex Cross series. At the end of his last book, Roses Are Red, Patterson reveals who The Mastermind is, thus leaving us hanging only in the area of how long it will take Cross to figure it out in Violets are Blue. Throughout Violets are Blue, there is never any indication that Cross even has an inkling as to who The Mastermind is--no little suspicions, clues, or niggling feelings leading up to his mind-boggling realization that it is none other than his close and trusted friends of many years. The fact that Cross never even suspected the man, and then suddenly figures out who it is totally ruins any credibility that the storyline might have maintained leftover from Roses are Red. Couple this with the main storyline that people are being murdered by vampires and wild cats and you've got yourself a disappointing read, espcially if you have followed Patterson from his first Cross book all the way through--somewhere along the way he detoured. Let's hope he finds his way back to the quality of books we know he is capable of writing.

This is the terrifying sequel to "Roses Are Red", the Mastermind continues to torment Alex, and some new serial killers are introduced. The killers are vampires (not the kind that turn into bats, just crazy men who suck their victims' blood). It comes pretty close to horror-novel territory. This may come as a disappointed surprise to those Patterson fans who want to stick with the more believable villains, but, in my opinion, it was very intriguing to read about the vampires. After figuring out who the Mastermind is, Alex is horrified. The Mastermind is probably the most interesting and one of the most sadistic of the villains in Alex Cross novels, and I hope that he makes lots more appearances in the future. This book is very good. Not quite "Roses Are Red", but still a very interesting and incredibly scary read.

Answered Prayers is the story of Faith Madison, the stylish, perfect housewife and mother to her husband Alex and daughters Eloise and Zoe. She runs into an old childhood friend, Brad, at her stepfathers funeral. Soon the two are emailing each other multiple times a day and calling each other whenever they aren't emailing. Faith decides to go back to school and maybe become a lawyer. This causes major tension between her and Alex and their two daughters. When Faith returns to school the tension builds and thus the story builds too.

This book was extremely bland. This was almost like reading The Kiss. Except in this book there is no car crash that land Faith and Brad in the hospital. It seems like Ms. Steel uses the same story line in all of her books lately. Faith had absolutely no backbone and Alex was just a complete jerk (like the husband in The Journey). Eloise was nothing short of a witch. Zoe was a spot of sunshine in this book. The character of Brad was a bit too perfect. Always at the phone or computer whenever Faith needed him. This aspect I found extremely odd. Brad is a busy lawyer yet has time to email Faith more than once a day and he's always at his computer or phone whenever she writes or calls.

Ms. Steels latest books have lacked the spark of her earlier works. She tends to repeat herself constantly. The book would be half the size if she wouldn't repeat herself so much. In this book she concentrates on Jack, Faith's deceased brother, way too much. He is brought up in the book as if he's still alive. The whole church aspect of the storyline was off too. Faith, the dedicated churchgoer, only went to church it seemed to light candles. Again, this whole part of the storyline just didn't seem to fit into the story right.

To sum it up....boring book, same as all other books written by Ms. Steel in the past few years. I would recommend revisiting one of her earlier books or if you must read this one, borrow it from the library. Don't spend your hard earned money on this.

Granted, she writes to a formula - but its a very successful one and guaranteed to keep us entertained.

After raising her family, Faith wants to do something else with her life. Her husband is very successful but hardly ever home. When he is, he takes her for granted. When she mentions going to law school, he is violently opposed to it. One daughter (Eliose) agrees with him and the other (Zoe) sides with her mom.

At the funeral of her stepfather, she runs into a friend from childhood, Brad. Brad, Faith and her brother Jack (who is now deceased) were inseparable as children. Brad lives on the other coast with a very successful wife. He is a lawyer, but tends to want to defend the underdog which drives his wife, Pam, crazy.

What I liked about the book (formula or not) is the slow pace and the idea that childhood (friends and feelings) can be regained. As one who is moving back to my hometown again, I guess it was the right book at the right time. I hope it is for you too.

I used to read Danielle Steel years ago..her books were and are formula, of course. (Boy meets girl, Romance happens, trouble intervenes, trouble is resolved, happy ending). My former mother-in-law adores all of them and I send to her the audio tapes since at age 93 she can no longer read print. She gets much pleasure from the stories as I know thousands of women do.
The Palomino and Changes were two of my favorites. The plots and characters were so far removed from "normal" life that they were a great escape for me. I had to have my "fix" now and then. I stopped reading around the 45th book, I think.
Then I picked up this book mainly because of the title. It did resonate with me.
Faith Madison, a 47 year old woman trapped in a marriage with a man who no longer loves her, breaks away (her husband does her a favor and leaves her), goes back to law school, connects with her childhood friend, Brad Patterson, a Lawyer, and after many trials and tribulations, Faith and Brad finally begin their life together.
Part of the main character's story is my story. I believe one reads Ms. Steel knowing what she writes and not expecting great literature. I enjoyed the story...it gave to me what I was expecting to get from it... A happy ending and pleasure.
And if we receive from a book what we expect, then isn't it worth the time and the money spent?

If all you want are some java applets that you can adapt to your own use without ever understanding the API, then this is the book for you. It glazes over huge issues, while spending page after page explaining how to adapt their own examples in vain hopes you might actually be able to use them. If you want to learn how to program Java3D - don't buy this book, you're better off with the docs. If you just want to swipe existing applets - still don't buy this book, you can probably find some online and save yourself $45.

I'm a complete newbie to 3D, and picked up the book to learn Java 3D. I'm usually successful at picking stuff up from books, but this one was very difficult to follow.

At the moment, it appears to be the only book on Java 3D (other than the specification) so I'm sure that the publishers valued "speed to market" a lot.

However, I must agree with people who found the book extremely rushed, and at times, impossible to understand. For example, the chapter on Textures was virtually incomprehensible to me. The example used in the code sample was so trivial as to provide almost no understanding. I think the authors should have used TriangleArrays (to get across the idea of "throwing away" part of the image) and textures that span multiple surfaces.

I also think that the code examples provided could have been considerably cleaner, without sacrificing clarity.

Finally, I don't think that the authors ever established for themselves who was reading the book -- they appear to alternate from assuming no knowledge, to assuming lots of knowledge.

As someone unfamiliar with the Java 3D API this book was no help. Its very focused on creating Java 3D applets and doesn't go a lot into helping me understand the concepts behind the 3D API. I returned it.

This book assumes you know the subject already. The problem is that the book explains things as if the reader is already a Java programmer. How can one read & understand a company's 10Q filing if he didn't know what PE ratio meant? Then it leaves out too many details to be useful to anyone.

I get annoyed with these "kitchen sink" books that purport to cover everything and in reality *teach* us very little. I never need just *one* book for everything. I'd also like to highlight the fact that J2EE includes RMI (incl. Activation fwk), Corba (IDL, etc..), JNDI, EJB, Servlets (perhaps JSP). These topics are conspicuous by their absence so avoid this for J2EE and get: Java Enterprise in a Nutshell.
I pity any java-junior trying to balance this weighty tome on their knees: it's sheer size is unworkable. The book is a cancerous polyp on the butt of an over published tech-book-market.

I'm glad that I got this book as my first Java programming book. It was just what I needed to get up and going with Java development. The writing style is approachable and interesting, not just some technical manual for hard-core programmers, which helped me to make sense of the subject matter. I especially liked the introduction to object oriented programming, since I didn't have any exposure to OOP before. I found the "nuts and bolts" section of the book to be a good reference, but it didn't have the same amount of example code and programs that the other sections had (I'd recommend that the authors consider adding more examples and code to that section in the future since that would help with this part a lot). I also found that there was a lot of Java covered that I didn't need. I will probably never use Java and databases, for instance, so that chapter wasn't of any use to me although it's good to know that it's there if I ever do need it down the road. I also found the free online version of the original Java Bible very valuable since I wanted to learn how to program Java applets that all browsers could run, so having that plus the printed version of the Java 2 Bible was like getting two books for the price of one. Overall I found this to be an excellent first book for me, and would recommend it to others just getting started with Java and Java 2.

You need to KNOW programming to read this book. It is not a almost perfect book but a very good book!

This is the standard text for the class I take at Hennepin Technical College.

There are essentially two programming languages: those that are easy to learn but which are limited, and are in constant need of extension and revision (Visual Basic and JavaScript come to mind...) and those which are powerful but difficult to learn. Java clearly falls in the latter camp. If you are new to programming, I doubt any book on Java will be a help to you unless you are very determined. If you are an experienced programmer, this book makes it a snap to pick the language up. The examples are clear and with a little thought can be comprehended, there are no wasted pages filled with screenshots beyond what is necessary, and no padding of content. While it is an efficient introduction it also does not overwhelm you with more information than you can handle at any one time, remembering it is an introductory text.

The author expects intelligence and experience from the reader: if you require step by step directions with screenshots at each point of the tutorial, you will get nothing from this book. If you do not require such assistance, then you will be very grateful that the author does not waste your time or his with "fluff", and gets straight to the point of teaching you what you need to know.

I've reviewed many of the Java textbooks on the market and have compared their coverage with the objectives of the Sun Programmer certification. I have yet to find another book that covers as much material in a well-explained manner. It does assume that you have programming experience. This is definitely not your Idiot's gude / for Dummies level of book. The book contains many, detailed examples which demonstrate effective use of code. If you want a reference book look to the O'Reilly series, if you want at textbook get Liang.

Let me emphasize that this is not a book for people with no prior programming experience. Familiarity with basic object oriented programming conventions is assumed by the author. If you do not have the requisite background (proabably C++) the "labs" are confusing and hard to follow. If you've programmed before, but are new to Java, this is probably a good book with which to start, especially if you're working in the MS Visual Studio environment.

Good:

Dives right in, plenty of resources. Fast track to learning.

Bad:

Begins moving rather rapidly in third chapter, a basic knowlege of java would helps significantly about here.

Ugly:

There are a few misprints in the book. Be on your toes and follow the instructions to the letter. If something does not appear in the book as it apppears on your screen, back up, look around and make it right.

Ideal book for those whose eyes glaze over after the first 500 pages of the metaphysics of OOP found in most Java books. The authors walk you through paced examples and exercises that skip over a lot of the details that are peripheral to the current topic under consideration. The only reservation is that J++, Microsoft's dialect of Java, is probably going to be phased out in favor of C#. CD-ROM includes examples and exercises plus a trial edition of J++.

Being one of the first books to deal with Beowulf systems, I was very eager to see what approach the authors would take in dealing with the subject. As they state in their introduction, a Beowulf system encompasses everything from the hardware that you use to the applications run on it, with many layers in between. They do a good job of outlining each of the different steps needed to get a Beowulf systems up and running, however, they don't do it in a consistent manner.

The book jumps from nitty details concerning voltages of power supplies to highly abstract concepts concerning overall system security architecture and parallel algorithm development. It also constantly switches focus from a handbook for someone who has never seen a computer, to addressing seasoned system administrators. The switching between these different styles made it very difficult to identify material applicable to ones experience level.

Overall, the book identifies some key issues and provides a rough framework for possible solutions. I personally would have liked to have seen more "from the field" information, as this is still a rapidly evolving system architecture, being able to understand the growing pains would be very useful. Lastly the book does provide adequate references to online sites with more in depth information on some of the topics they cover.

A "Beowulf" is the concept of using a network of low cost personal computers for distributed processing. The book doesn't specify a particular configuration. The author describes the three fundamental parts of a Beowulf system: node hardware, network hardware, and parallel software applications. Three chapters explain how to use the message passing interface (MPI) standard to distribute the work for a program executing on multiple nodes. An example MPI program for sorting is presented. The features of the Linux operating system are covered in Chapter 4 since Linux is a common choice for Beowulf clusters.

Before I purchased this book I was completely intimidated by the idea of building a Beowulf Cluster. I found this book to be a surprisingly thorough and accessible resource, allowing me to get a great understanding of what was needed. I've just placed my order for the equipment for my first cluster and can't wait to get it up and running!

Although I enjoyed reading the book, I simply did not find the definitive proof that Cornwell promises. One should not subtitle a book "Case Closed" unless one can provide far more proof than what Cornwell has provided. She makes a great circumstancial case, but that is not enough. The things that Cornwell says she sees in Sickert's works were a stretch for me to see. I saw her Diane Sawyer interview before the book came out. In it, she linked Sickert to crimes in Paris. Apparently, Cornwell couldn't cough up enough evidence to support that theory because no French murders were mentioned in the book. An entertaining story, but not the stuff that closes the book on a notorious case.

For more than a century, the mystery of "who was Jack the Ripper" has fascinated both sides of the Atlantic. Who perpetrated the brutal murders of so many Whitechapel prostitutes in England in the late 1800s? And why?

Numerous theories have been put forth over the decades: a lunatic, a crazed doctor, a member of the royal family, a famous artist. And now, for the first time, someone has taken Scotland Yard's evidence, along with other letters and ephemera, and applied modern-day forensic science to the still-open investigation.

The someone is Patricia Cornwell, author of the critically acclaimed Kay Scarpetta mystery series and a forensic specialist herself. The results, while not entirely convincing, are compelling.

Cornwell asserts, with great confidence, that Jack the Ripper was the impressionist artist Walter Richard Sickert, an apprentice to Whistler, and, in his own right, a highly accomplished and recognized artist. In fact, Cornwell posits that Sickert's work is perhaps one of the greatest clues of his culpability. First, his paintings are menacing and threatening, particularly towards women of a lower class. Also, known as an artist who painted what he saw, a few of Sickert's canvasses eerily resemble the Ripper's crime scenes. Coincidence? Perhaps. But Cornwell interprets his work as revelatory, confessional almost. In profiling the famous serial killer she suggests that the Ripper would have been a man who harbored a keen, deep-rooted hatred of women, most likely founded in his own sexual inability or inadequacies. Sickert at a young age underwent a series of corrective penile surgeries, which quite possibly left him impotent. There is no proof one way or another that he was entirely sexually dysfunctional, but there are hints at problems that lend some credence to Cornwell's theory.

The Ripper did not exist in a vacuum, and Cornwell did an extraordinary job of setting the scene, placing the reader in late 1800 England. Detailed references to John Merrick (the elephant man), Henry Irving (one of the stage's greatest stars of the time), Henry James (author and constable) and others frame Cornwell's story. The Ripper was very much a part of the happenings of the time, and his name was as likely to be found in the pages of the newspaper as any of the abovementioned notables. Sickert, a voracious reader with morbid sensibilities would have been captivated by the stories of the Ripper. As a prankster and prolific writer, he might even have been tempted to pen a faux Ripper letter or two to the police or the daily paper. (At the time, many of the Ripper letters were thought to be hoaxes.) As a murderer, if he was a murderer, Sickert's well-known vanity would have thrilled at and thrived on the publicity. To be mentioned on the same pages as royalty and celebrities would have fed his hungry ego.

Cornwell offered much supposition and hints at Sickert's guilt. For instance, he was a master of disguise and could have easily lured a prostitute to her death and then escaped undetected, Cornwell suggests. He was enthralled by the music halls and the "unfortunates" who frequented them, and he was known to walk the streets of the Whitechapel area late at night for long periods of time. He had an unhealthy fascination of the anatomy of the human body that went far beyond an artist's natural curiosity. And the Ripper letters included allusions Sickert would have known and drawings in the fashion of Sickert's own work.

From DNA to mitochondrial DNA, from handwriting experts to watermark experts, from newspaper articles to authentic Sickert paintings, Cornwell left no stone unturned. She described in lay terms --- using easily understood analogies --- the forensic methodologies she and her impressive crew of colleagues used in their thorough investigation. Along the way she spent an exorbitant amount of money trying to prove his guilt. (She even went so far as to purchase several of his paintings, and destroyed one in the hopes of finding conclusive evidence.) The science is fascinating, albeit more often inconclusive than convincing. Her research did not always glean the results she had hoped for. But taken all together, the evidence, mostly circumstantial, is damning and probably would have been enough in today's court system to bring Sickert to trial.

Case Closed? I can't say I was convinced by book's end that Sickert was indeed the Ripper. I wanted a smoking gun that left no room for doubt, and Cornwell did not deliver a smoking gun because she did not find one. She found compelling evidence that makes the strongest case of guilt to date. But with no death bed confession, or bloodstained canvasses, or eyewitness reports, we will never really know his innocence or guilt. The strong science, the history lesson, and the story of Sickert's life make PORTRAIT OF A KILLER an intriguing read, and on those fronts I recommend the book. But I leave you to decide for yourself if she has found enough evidence to label Sickert the Ripper --- or not.

--- Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara

Noted artist Walter Richard Sickert (1860-1942) was Jack the Ripper. That's the position taken by author Patricia Cornwell in the first 20 pages of PORTRAIT OF A KILLER. She then goes another 341 pages to prove the point.

Cornwell, otherwise known for her crime novels, has penned an exhaustive, and sometimes exhausting, investigation of the Jack the Ripper murders, which took place in London's East End in 1888. Since the premise of the narrative is that the Ripper was the renowned, German-born, English artist William Sickert, it's also an examination of that man's life, art and presumed psychology. Not to put too fine a point on it, he was a real whack-job. Certifiably psychopathic. Early on, the author asserts that Sickert's rage against the prostitutes he butchered stemmed from a physical inability to have sex, a condition resulting from several (botched) surgeries he endured as a 5-year old to correct congenitally malformed genitalia. Yup, I suspect that would do it.

Cornwell details everything you ever wanted to know about the five murders traditionally attributed to the Ripper: the victims (Nichols, Chapman, Stride, Eddows, Kelly), the East End environment, the crime scenes, the condition of the corpses as found, and the autopsies. As background, she describes the state of the metropolitan police force of the time, and the reasons it was ill-equipped to find a serial killer, particularly Sickert. Of course, she also reconstructs the artist's erratic and eccentric London lifestyle that caused him to roam the East End, utilizing skills at disguise learned as an actor, in search of victims. Casting her investigative net wider, the author establishes links between Sickert and many of the more than 200 so-called Ripper Letters mailed to the police and newspapers during the period of the murders and the years immediately following. Furthermore, she notes details in Sickert's own paintings and drawings that suggest an up-close and personal familiarity with each individual homicide. He had to have been there. According to Scotland Yard, the circumstantial evidence compiled by Cornwell would be sufficient to place before the crown prosecutor.

Cornwell also makes the case that Sickert continued his slaughters (beyond the traditional five) up to as late as 1907.

Since the conclusion of PORTRAIT OF A KILLER is foregone, the author leaves the most hideous of the Ripper's killings, that of Mary Kelly, until last. Cornwell doesn't specifically say so, but perhaps this was the most gruesome because Sickert was indoors and safe from interruption rather than on exposed streets as with the previous four. He had the luxury of time and privacy to give full vent to his fury. It's a horrific vision.

Though there's no evidence that Sickert ever had a child - certainly consistent with the hypothesis that he was physically unable to engage in normal sex - a story persists that he had an illegitimate son by a Frenchwoman. This is a loose end in Cornwell's narrative - one apparently beyond her ability to resolve at this late date. (Remember, it's her assertion that Sickert's inability to perform sexually was at the root of his violent frenzies.) Otherwise, PORTRAIT OF A KILLER, with its three useful sections of photographs, is a compelling and convincing indictment of the artist, and a must-read for Jack the Ripper obsessives and fans of Patricia Cornwell.

A Moral Reckoning: The Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and Its Unfulfilled Duty of Repair by Daniel Jonah Goldhagen is a difficult book to read not because of the strong message, but because of the way that it is delivered. Goldhagen central thesis is one that has historical and moral resonance - that the Catholic Church, as a moral force, is culpable as a collaborator, if not an instigator, in the Final Solution. The Church as the self professed embodiment of Christ, participated in creating the climate that lead to the Final Solution through the dissemination of virulent anti-Semitism, and then turned its back on any responsibility in mitigating the effects of its policy or acting as a break on the Final Solution.

This is not a book on the history of the Church's involvement in the Nazi movement, but a moral inquiry into that involvement. Goldhagen message centers around the proposition that the Church is supposed to be more than organization whose purpose is its own perpetuation, regardless of the costs to others. Rather, the Church as the representative of Christ on Earth has a higher moral obligation which includes the responsibility not to encourage hatred of others, nor participate in the genocide of non-believers, as the Church directly did in Fascist Croatia and elsewhere.

The Church has taken the position that it is innocent of all wrong doing, and has attempted to explain away, or at best minimize, any involvement that it did have. Goldhagen writes that until the Church takes full responsibility for its acts there can never be any true reconciliation nor can Church rid itself of its guilt. This is especially necessary given the Church's emphasis on the need to ask forgiveness of ones sins.

There is nothing wrong with Goldhagen's message, although it is unquestionably controversial. However, the way that it is delivered makes it difficult to hear. What Goldhagen takes almost 400 pages to say could more easily be said in less than half the apace. The book is highly repetitive, so much so that the message loses its effect and is difficult to read. It reminds one of the statement by Mark Twain, where he apologized for writing a long letter because he didn't have time to write a short one. The bottom line is that Goldhagen should have turned the book into a long essay.

The autor, a very bright Jewish Harvard scholar, assuming the attitude of a prosecutor more than a writer, makes fierce accusations against the role of the Catholic Church and its institutional behaviour towards the Jews during the course of history since Jesus times in general and over Pope Pius XII obscure rule in particular in the Second World War

It also describes with a lot of detail how the Vatican and the ecclesiastical Catholical hierarchy of almost every European country acquiesced to the horrifying Nazi hunt and deportation of the Jews to the extermination camps, as a mute accomplice, underlying the antisemitic foundations of the Catholic doctrine

There is also a short and concise analysis of the New Testament chapters that allude to the false incrimination of the Jews as Christ killers, a cornerstone of Christian antisemitism

Finally, there is a moral debate originated on basic moral and legal principles about how the Catholic Church should repay all the offenses made to the Jews as moral repair

Though the book exhibits abundant incriminatory evidence, displays interesting photos and provides outstanding complementary information, the language employed turns into a repetitive and tedious monologue that enfeebles the reader receptivity blurring key enlightening concepts product of the author own very valuable research

Goldhagen's book makes no apology for being a polemic, nor should it. The several people who codemn the book here are ignoring the greater truth of Goldhagen's work.

The explicit and implicit anti-semitism of the Christian religion (not merely the Catholic Church) is the great moral failure of Western history. No amount of quibbling about mislabeled photo captions can erase that fact.

The Jewish people as a whole have been exploited, defamed and demonized for centuries under the moral guidance of the "Christian" nation-states of Europe. The "Catholic King" of Spain (that was his title - el Rey Catolico) expelled all Jews from Spain in 1492. The kings of England ("Defender of the Faith') expelled Jews several times over the centuries. The Orthodox czar of Russia banished Jews to the Pale of Settlement. The Pope himself ruled over one of the most squalid and cruel ghettoes in Europe for more than 300 years - which was not liberated until the late 19th century. No other people in the history of Europe were subjected to this degree of harrassment and persecution - which, while stopping short of extinction, often ended in the mass murder of whole populations.

And it is a sad fact that even today defamatory comments about "the Jews" spring easily to many people's lips. While one may have a negative opinion of the actions of individuals who happen to be Jewish, at this point in history is disgusting to hear the same canards being repeated again and again against an entire people.

This is not an easy book for any Catholic to read, but it is absolutely necessary in order to frame the scope of the injustice done to the Jewish people.

Goldhagen has focused a spotlight on the moral void at the heart of Catholicism. That moral void becomes more apparent with each day, as the Church teeters under the blow of sexual abuse scandals. Based on its performance, Catholics of conscience should thoroughly question whether this institution can be entrusted their spiritual well-being.

I have a solid background in C/C++ and I was hoping to fill in some gaps in other areas with this book. Unfortunately, given the poor quaility of the C/C++ information (and the sometimes-silly stuff in the "how to interview" section), I really don't trust what's in the rest of the volume.

The C/C++ chapter is divided into "beginner", "intermediate", and "advanced" sections. Instead, they should be labeled "unbelievably trivial", "very trivial", and "trivial". Even worse, much of the information is presented in a misleading or incorrect fashion. I suppose this is to be expected, given that the main credentials of the person who wrote the C/C++ section are a music degree and the ability to play the string bass.

If I were giving an interview and I heard a candidate parroting the C/C++ answers in this book, I would promptly show him/her to the door.

Instead, get a copy of: "Programming Interviews Exposed" by Mongan and Suojanen.

This book suffers from poor editing,poor questions for VB, C++, Java and SQL. Many wrong and poor explanations and answers.

I have no idea about Mainframe, Cisco etc sections.

Only ASP section is worth reading with a comprehensive coverage of the topic.

I have never returned a book. This is the first one which I had to return.

I liked the concept of this book, presenting some typical questions that might be asked during a technical interview. But in the section that I read (Visual Basic 5.0), I found that many of the answers were totally incorrect. A study guide that gives out wrong info is worse than no study guide at all. To be fair, I only read through the VB5 chapter, and the other chapters may be more accurate. But if you're thinking about purchasing this book, be warned.