I was totally surprised at the lack of biblical support for all of Mr.Shubins assertions. I walked away reading this book feeling as though my time was stolen from me by reading this book. A lack of a clear, consise thought on paper really shows. It seems more emotion was present in the writing then any fact backing up his claims. I know doubt believe Mr. Shubins intent was in the right place, however that doesn't make up for the poor dialogue the book has. My recommendation is DO NOT READ this book or you will feel as if you were robbed of your money and time. I assume since Mr.Shubin has know real theological background and is a lay minister that this book really shows these qualities. Bottom line- Read books by people who have the credentials and who make clear points on their position and biblical backing to stand up to it. Less emotion and more clear, concise thought.

Mr Shubin, as his biography notes, is a lay Bible teacher. This is not in and of itself, a bad thing. We have benefitted many times from the Bible teaching of those without any formal theological education. But there is a disturbing trend in this country for non-theologically trained laymen to write books purporting to teach theology, and this are uniformly disappointing. We aren't sure why the average consumer wants to put down hard earned money for such books; after all, I wouldn't buy a book on how to fix my computer from someone who had no training in the subject any more than I would read a medical textbook written by someone who's only claim to medical knowledge consisted in his claim to have watched every episode of ER. Mr. Shubin means well, and we have no desire to impugn his motives or character, but we find his book to be less than satisfactory in regards to explaining attributes of heaven and earth. First, the book could have benefitted immensely from a good editor. We present the opening sentences regarding the world of the spirit as exhibit one:

"There exists another world than the world that we reside in. This world is apart and dissociated from the world that created humanity resides in. This other world is another realm of another nature and another constitution than the one created humanity is affixed to. This other world or realm is the realm of spirit. It is not a material world made of matter, as is the world of the created material universe. It is a world composed of another substance which is immaterial, meaning not of matter."

We find this wordy, cumbersome, and repetitive. Yes, many theologians suffer from a similar case of logorrhea, but we detest this anywhere we find it.

Beyond the editorial shortcomings, we would like to see more Scripture citations, and less philosophical meanderings. As noted in the title of this review, we could suggest an alternative: Wayne Grudem's "Systematic Theology" has a perfectly adequate cosmology, anthropology, etc. If you are interested in learning about these subjects, why not buy a book that has stood the test of time and orthodoxy?

Jerry: Read the entire book before submitting your critique. If every book was critiqued unfavorably based on the author's brief biography and only the first paragraph, no book would ever be entirely read. What do you have published? Get a life. Dan Shubin, author.

First off, I was glad to read other reviews confirming what I had already been experiencing with this book and that Alzheimer's has not set in. This is no beginner's book, Senator. Title perhaps should have been: "Accelerated Web-Programming, Seatbelts Required." What's more is that the text begins to dissipate in consistency and accuracy as it progresses. Go to the book's errata page and it's got errata itself. (Every chapter is listed as 0.) Even code samples do not always work. Need a specific? Try to run the last exercise in Chapter 6 from Wrox's download. No way, Jose. I guess they forgot about the chapter called application testing. The front page has six different authors displayed on it. I think this is part of the book's problem. It's a hodge podge. It's got the how-many-many-geeks-does-it-take-to-screw-up-a-tutorial syndrome. In all fairness, I should say that the book did help me to keep my feet wet with dot Net coding using Visual Studio. Mighty slippery surface, though.

A word of caution here, this is not a beginners book. More like an advanced or an intermediate book. If this is a beginner's book, then I would hate to see an advanced book. The first 2 chapters were okay, but starting with Chapter 3 it is a real lu-lu! It goes on and on about web controls and custom controls and dynamic control and customized templates and cascading style sheets. I think it would have been best if some of that advanced material had been left out and kept more simple for chapter 3 and concentrated on developing an application that didn't have to rely on all kinds of custom controls and style sheets and all other kinds of stuff. Keep it simple stupid would have been more the order of the day when it came to writing this book.

This book provides a good foundation but I took less and less out of it as it progressed. I like the chapters covering header controls and base classes and also the instruction on tables and datasets. The strength of the book is that one can follow along with the clearly written 'Try this out' sections, although these were not without the usual scattering of errors. Ultimately the authors seem to lose interest in the application we are supposed to be writing in this book.

The longest chapter was on XML frankly left me baffled. I've read more comprehensible stuff elsewhere since. All I could do was follow along without really learning. It seemed a complex exercise for a beginners book!

In summary, I learnt some good things from this book but ultimately I found it disappointing.

This book is very poor. I give it a poor rating because the solution manuals that compliment this book are very mediocre. The solution manual that came with the book (It came bundled with the text at my college bookstore) seems as though it was hastily put together. Some answers are wrong, have typos, or even lacking altogether. The solution manual only covers chapters 1-12. The remaining chapters are covered in another manual...that's where the above problems are thrown into plain view. In the second solution manual, some answers don't match, are missing, or wrong. For example, chapter 13 has two sections that are flipped around, which shows the haste in bringing out this book. I have nothing good to say about these texts. When Calculus 3 is over this semester, I have 660+ pages worth of TP...that's the only way I feel the purchased can be justified.

As all of you know already, all (except some exceptional textbooks by distinguished authors) Addison Weslely Mathematics books are well known for their terrible excercizes, explanations, lessons, and their contents. There are a few reasons why the above statement is true, but you can figure them out by yourself. Also, lack of information that hinders AP Calculus B C students further emphasize that this is a book made for the novice mathematicians of extremely low ability in problem solving and thinking. Overall, this book is not a book that can be used in an Advanced Placement Calculus BC class; and indeed, this book would a terrible choice for a short calcululus class at a university that offers a good quality mathematics education. This book definiately receives a "poor" recommendation; its contents must be enhanced for it to receive a better recommendation from the instructors and learners in the United States.

This calculus book is an excellent choice for college bound mathematics students in high schools. It covers every topics needed to succeed in later math courses and future; it has ample real-life problem situations that not only hone mathematics skills of the students, it also helps them to understand most of the abstract concepts of calculus. This book is suitable for use in any AP Calc courses (AB or BC). Despite many special features in this overall superior book, I do not strongly recommand this book. The reason is that this book uses very minimum colors and graphics that can help high school students to be interested in the materials in calculus; besides, graphics with colors CERTAINLY helps everyone to grasp the abstract "stuff". If you are a high school chairperson, and you are considering to purchase this book for your school to use as an AP Calc text book, I recommand you to look for a newer book.

Not only does this book fail to deliver on its promise to be a "Comprehensive Guide to the SQL API", it provides information that is just plain wrong. The first page I read (301) had serious errors, showing methods with incorrect (and inconsistent) argument types. A quick glance showed the book full of this type of error. This is inexcusable. The beginner will be confused, the experienced frustrated, and both will quickly realize that the book should should be thrown away. A book that has not been edited should not be published.

The first third of the book is Java...cool.
The Second third is SQL...OK, but none of the screen-shots line up their captions. It really makes it hard to follow. It's a good thing I already knew SQL or I'd be lost right now.
The Last third covers JDBC...well almost. The essential theory of connecting to a Database is covered but there is little practical demonstration on how to use this connection.

I wish I could get my money back. ($54.00 from "some other bookstore")

I had no knowledge of JAVA or JDBC and a limited understanding of SQL. I found the book extremely informative and well written Given the enormity of the three topics covered the author does an excelent job of introducing these. I don't think this book will suit professional Java Coders but if you want to understand the concept of how JAVA, JDBC and SQL work together this is an excellent book. A great book to get started

There are many problems with this book. The author uses the wrong terminology; he makes mistaken assumptions on the construction of the furniture; his woodworking methodology is very lacking; he dosen't appear to be a seasoned woodworker talking about making medieval furniture, but someone into medieval times writing about the furniture; 8 of the 19 projects are considered mideval on a technicality - beging made 50 or so years before the time frame ended; he says dovetails sould be cut with a hand held saber saw. I can picture people running to the local home center and buying 2x material and digging at it with dull chisels claiming it is medieval because it is crude. There are some good points. The tapestry and candle stand are inspiring, and the couple pages of resources at the back of the book. Anybody serious about medieval furniture should not consider this authoritative.

The plans offer a good starting point for anyone interested in medieval furniture construction, but please don't take the accompanying background seriously, because it is full of inaccuracies and insubstantiated rumors. This said, if you are an enthusiast of medieval furniture, use the projects in this book as a starting point for your own exploration of medieval woodwork and to guide you in your research.

This was a very good book. Of course if you are looking for the exact plans measured off the real thing then save yourself some time. If you are looking to make Medieval-looking furniture and are not an Authent-o-crat then you will like this. It has good solid designs and plans for the modern medievel enthusiast. Gets you from point A to point B using tools that we have in the 21st century and is the best I have been able to find.

This book is written by small, established clique with association to the Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty. Individually, each researcher has turned out years of credible research. Unfortunately, they have a reputation for deviating from credible research results when arguing policy to the public and when making a case for specific reforms. The major failures of the current child support system are largely attributable to this crowd, which from the 70s have promoted the application of old Soviet Russian "welfare policy" in the United States. Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of this history, is that Congress was so willing to implement the reforms, forcing states to replace traditional Constitutionally based mechanisms for dealing with family issues.

I too, would like to rename the book. A proper title would be "Our Two Decades of Failure and the New Spin for the 21st Century: What We Want You to Believe Now".

I agree with the previous reviewer that lack of focus on the effects of child support reform at higher income levels underlies a basic failure of the book to enter current discussion in a rational way. The "success" of the authors in promoting policy reform is largely concentrated in the fact that federal "welfare laws" and welfare bureaucracy have now been extended to all income levels. Simply ignoring the most damaging effects of these reforms doesn't make them go away.

Each chapter of this book is a separate study looking at child support enforcement and its impact on nonresident fathers. The authors believe the biggest impact of enforcement efforts falls on low income and poverty level fathers, therefore virtually all of what they study focuses on that group alone. Consequently, it would have been more appropriate to include "Low Income" in the book's title. Unfortunately, the majority of nonresident fathers are not in this population, as enforcement activities impact them as well. Understanding the impact on the bigger population would help policy makers improve overall enforcement activities. One area that I was especially disappointed about in this book is the fact that none of the authors address the foundation for child support enforcement, and that is the basis that child support orders are determined. Statistics and figure abound on what nonresident parents (usually fathers) "owe" in child support, yet it seems to be simply accepted as a given that the guidelines used in each state are fundamentally sound in their philosophy and economics. If, as many argue, the numbers are overstated through lack of consideration of the expenses of an involved nonresident parent's "parenting", the impact on them can be enormous, creating a roadblock to involvement in their child's life. This creates enormous conflict of its own, and certainly can't help but contribute to the problem of father absence. As the US Census has pointed out, when a nonresident parent is involved in their child's life, compliance with child support is approximately 90%. One could argue, which this book fails to do, that for enforcement to truly work, we should do all we can to foster dual parent involvement. This book provides an interesting look at poverty level fathers within this public policy arena. Its usefulness from a practical point of view however, is limited to only that population. Focusing change based on this material would be dangerous as the data is "incomplete".

This book, unlike most other books which blindly focus on independent aspects of poverty and well being, succeeds in bringing together a pool of information on Fathers. I found the writing articulate and the information at worst a honed compilation of all research on the topic, and at best an excellent resource for all in the field of population studies.

Being a Kenjutsu and Iaijutsu practitioner for fifteen years I have seen many books upon the subject, in that time I have never seen one quite as bad as this book. Mr Daniel claims to be an expert upon the subject, even experts have off days, a slight head cold can badly effect ones performance, however I fear that was not the case with this offering. Mr Daniels Tai-sabaki (Natural body movement) in no small way resembles a pregnant antelope who has reccently undergone some kind of surgery to lengthen their already overly extended and unwieldy legs. After as long as I have been flashing a blade I do understand that a stance is a transition between movements and not a true position itself, however this is no excuse for mr Daniels inconsistancy and inaccuracy in his stances. I beg him to please review his dai-jodan because if he does not he will one day loose his head. Also, his waki stance, or should I say stances because no two are quite alike..., are regretable.

However the biggest jokes in this book are his nito (two sword techniques) they lack grace, skill and imagination. ...I know! we'll take all our bujinkan taijutsu stances and stick a couple of swords in our hands and mess around a bit. The only reason I gave this book one star was the fact that the Muto dori ( no sword against sword) techniques at the back of the book are so laughable, in their suicidability....

Another introductory text that really says nothing. Buyer beware..

Wow! This a good book! So many stances,techniques and extreme detail in the words and pictures!Obviously Mr. Daniels has much expierience.

Every English major has one writer who is responsible for their journey into the field. I have two: Muriel Spark and Kurt Vonnegut. I am not the kind of guy who walks around pretending to be a writer; I am no writer. I do, however, love to read about what makes writers tick, what inspires them to write. This is one of the reasons I picked up this tiny book--I hoped it would give me some insight. I didn't. The conversations, at times, are interesting. But it wasn't worth the cash I shelled out for the 79 pages. If this had of appeared in a magazine, I would have read it and not whined. If this had appeared in a magazine, I wouldn't have wasted over 10 bucks.

Anything by Kurt Vonnegut is good! Well almost anything. I was attracted to this gem featuring two authors of different generations conversing about the meaning of writing in their lives. I expected an enlightening tome that would set my mind to thinking and provide me with new insight.

Neither happened. Vonnegut and Stringer are good writers but these interviews just didn't come off well in print. A question is raised as to what the two writers had in common. Stringer gave some good points but Vonnegut rambled on into the wild blue yonder. Of the two, Stringer appeared to stay focused on the questions and provided the reader with insight as to how writing impacted on his life and freed him from his own internal demons.

As a collector's item in your Vonnegut library, yes, do indeed purchase it. If you want something more in depth with Vonnegut and Stringer read their works. This text just doesn't get to the heart of their writing world.

In this slight volume (only 46 actual pages of transcribed talk), Vonnegut, the novelist, and Stringer, who wrote a book of memoir essays, carry on an enthusiastic conversation about why and how they write. This seems one of those brief dips into the psyche of very good authors that can be so motivating to all of us at various stages of our careers, no matter what we write or aspire to write. Vonnegut and Stringer are both passsionate about their work. The latter tells of how he realized he could write by describing his first extended flow experience, when he decided to use his pencil, which he otherwise normally used as a drug implement (to push screens into his pipe) to write. After five hours of nonstop focus, he realized this was something, besides seeking drug highs, that he could really do well. They both talk about the primary importance of answering the big questions for themselves in their writing, and how publishing the results is almost an afterthought. Reminding us that even nonfiction authors write to find out where we're going, Stringer says, "I had a lot of fun trying to figure out how I was going to fill up these pages, and then, convinced that I'm not going to figure it out, bingo! something happens. It's like shaking hands with God." There may not be a lot to read here, but it's on target and REAL.

Susan K. Perry, author of the bestselling WRITING IN FLOW

Since I stubbornly refuse to stop reading a book no matter how bad it is, I suffered through the whole thing. Between the ridiculous premise that's completely unbelievable, the lousy writing style, and the lack of anything remotely resembling a plot, the book easily rates instant-dumpster status

Egads, these reviews are appallingly negative. "Steal this book and then burn it"? This must be one crap-fest, this wacky Indian book here. It must suck something fierce, no? I admit, the summary is probably turning you off. I felt the same way; I found it in a used bookstore and giggled. Indians in space on birchback canoes?

However, that summary and most of the reviews here can't tell you how good this book is. They don't mention the sheer inventiveness of the novel; Daniel has half a dozen good ideas weaved in and out, along with themes of imperialism and cultural sensitivity, and a sly satire of secular humanism to boot. On the surface, it seems like a future-western, with white folk facing off with Native Americans, but to be so simplistic does the novel a disservice.

Now, it is true that sometimes it seems like Daniel is stringing his book along more on pathos and cool sf ideas than by actual plot, but my enjoyment never suffered for it. I loved the exhilaration of creativity; why should mere logic come into the picture? Daniel is brilliant, and should he ever control and direct that brilliance, you can be assured that nothing less than a masterpiece will result.

I will admit that Warpath forces a tighter suspension of disbelief than many S.F. novels.

The writing, however, is superior!

I would much rather have a off-beat, or even odd, alternate universe written tightly and with a very enjoyable style than most of the poorly-written, but straight-line extrapolation, SF novels one runs across.

Daniels writes fluidly, engagingly, and I felt very connected to the characters, the plot, and the alternate universe he created. I'll admit that some fo the universe conceptualizations were hard to accept, but have you every tried analyzing the universe A.E. Van Vogt created in "Slan"? It's got more inconsistencies than one could shake a cliche at, but in the end it doesn't matter because you enjoy how it's written, and you have a good time reading it. Warpath and Daniels writing affected me that way. I want to read more, and have two Danniels books on pre-publish order here at Amazon based on his entertaining and professional writing style.

I concur with the other reviews, I bought this on whim at a trade show.. the cover looks better than the contents.. there are some good hacks in here but the author really doesn't appear to know why they work, he just appears to have stumbled on them (like a lot of us do)and documented them. I prefer better explanation when hacking such a critical core component.

On first look, the book is not bad. But when you go deeper, it seems to be a collection of personal experience from other users, and already published by Microsoft entries. I would rate it as an entry level book. The NT resouce kit has a better coverage of the registry.

Daniels takes a very "lazy" (IMHO) approach to documenting the regisrty. The author lists a large number of reg keys, a brief description of what the key does and occasionaly a list of possible settings. While there is some useful information here, the internal workings of the registry (.INF scripting and using programming to access the reg) are sorely missing. Also, some newer applications, notably Internet Explorer 4.x, are missing from the list of registry entries. If you want a list of hacks, this is your book. If you want to really *understand* the registry, look elsewhere.