This is the worst thing I have ever tried to read. I can't believe anyone would give this guy a book contract.

Chuck Eddy certainly seems to know alot about rock music, but he doesn't really seem to understand it. While dismissing the music of Bruce Springsteen,Sonic Youth,and Pavement, he extolls the virtues of someone named Frank Kogan on what seems like every other page. More an excercise in showing off his arcane musical knowledge than an insightful criticism, Eddy rattles off obscure song titles page after page, trying to find ridiculous links in their subject matter such as "working women" or "memories." Does anyone really care though? Gee, thanks Chuck, I was just wondering how many song titles contain the word "popcorn." He even seems to consider the vomit enducing power ballad a legitimately interesting genre while dissing Nirvana as purveyors of the "boring loud-soft thing." This probably all sounds more interesting than it really is. All in all it seems like he would make a good librarian as long as he never read the books.

Reading the other reviews on this page, one might well be confused: Some complain about Chuck Eddy's weak grasp of his subject matter, others delight in the obscurity of his numerous references. So what is it?

Well, all of these reviews are accurate. Chuck slings names all over the place, and shows laudable contempt for genre classification (sure, he spends a lot of time on Debbie Gibson, but not everyone would compare her to, say, Von Lmo). But if you're actually going to him for information, you'll be disappointed, as there seem to be very few albums Chuck has actually LISTENED to. References abound, but are restricted to trite observations about song titles; in fact, he doesn't even make observations so much as group songs by some common word in their names. He doesn't seem to have any grasp of his subject matter because he doesn't seem to have grasped the notion that those plastic things inside album covers play music if you put them in a special machine.

Rock criticism has always been pretty grim, being dominated by hacks who prefer to deconstruct song lyrics than listen to the music. (Just look at the praise lavished on Bob Dylan's "poetics" over the years, qualified by blushing "admissions" that "he's really not a great singer": If only these people realized that Dylan's VOICE epitomizes the rock aesthetic, his stoner ramblings being mere frills!) Chuck Eddy, while relatively unpretentious, represents the absolute lowest form of this tendency.

This book is truly abysmal.

I had thought that this book and the sample Exam on the CD would be a realy close reflection of the exam content. But whan I took the exam, it didn't seem like that was the case. The book and sample exam seemed to focus on Admin. stuff while the exam seemed to emphasize SQL, TSQL and database design a lot more. I also don't think the book prepares you for security-related questions very well. But it might still be worthwhile for someone who feels ready to take the exam and just wants some practice.

This book is just a test book.
If you are able to pass all the tests in the CD, then you will not have problems with the real test. However, as always, some ot the questions are wrong.
The software for the test is not so good, if you just take the test for the third time, half of the questions will be known to you.
Since the main reason you buy this book, is to check your preparation pro-certification, i think i can give it 3 on 5 stars.
If you are italian, you should not take the italian version of the book, it is just written in something different from a language for IT professionals.

I bought this book the day before I took the exam because I was struggling with the measure up tests. I read through the book in one day and passed the exam the next day.

I was disappointed that the exam questions on the CD were the same as in the book. I was hoping there would be a different set of questions.

I recommend this book if you're just looking to pass the exam and also have access to the course material. It will help reinforce what I learned in the course material in an exam-type way.

I knew less about databases after reading this book than before. Most of the book focuses on how to use existing databases, not create one of your own. A surprising amount of space is wasted in describing basic Windows procedures (how to open a file, etc). You will not be able to make a database after reading it. Do not, under any circumstances, buy this book.

You could learn this stuff from scratch (as I did) in a book that should be called "Teach Yourself Access 2000 in 1 hour". As another comment on this book reads, it is true: there's is a lot of duplicate info in here. However, it is a good reference to learn Access.

Good all around primer on Access. You can blow through the first four or five chapters in two to three hours, depending on your level of concentration and your familiarity with other Microsoft Products and 'wysiwyg' all-in-one database programs.

No one book can hope to provide every reader with the best solution to tackling an application that is new or unfamiliar to him or her. TYMSA2KI24 should be considered an introduction to the interface, functionality and basics of Access 2000, with a brief tutorial on relational databases thrown in for good measure. You should also be able to create relatively simple database projects by "Hour 24". Your mileage may vary, since database design talent cannot be acquired from any book.

IMHO this book will help provide a solid foundation to learning the application. After going through the chapters I hope to find a good "Beginning Access Programming & Development" type of book - something along the lines of "Beginning ASP 3.0" from WROX.

What's with all the errors in this book? Mr. Hampton is a wanna-be singer who is now just a washed up, drug addicted, drag queen trying to make a buck off of Tina Turner. At least that's what the book says. This book isn't worth purchasing.

Based on the amount of date and fact errors (that aren't hard to spot by even a casual Tina Turner follower), I would be inclined not to trust the rest of the information in this book. While I am certainly not an authority on TT, I was present for a portion of one of her rehearsals recently and didn't see anything other than professional behaviour. Seems to me that the author might be trying to capitalize on Turner's recent popularity. Shame, shame!!

Some of the facts may not be right but Eddy dishes up some stuff that would cause any Tina fan to read the book cover to cover. Its like reading the Enquirer - read it just for fun - and fun it is. Don't take it seriously. One thing is undeniable, pictures don't lie. Tina looks like she was a real party girl in her old days. But weren't we all, so what. She still survives graciously and gets better even without the protection of her fans. She didn't need her fan's protection when Ike was pounding on her, so why does she need her fan's protecting her from this piece of prose -not necessary. If she was that upset about this book, I bet her management would have filed suit to have the book removed. Truth is its just more publicity. Most of us will never know the real Tina so this is just another "story" which is as good as any from someone who was closer to her than any of her fans could ever hope to be. And Tina fans - relax - Tina can take care of herself. She always has. And think of this, she may not even mind if Eddy made a little money from the book - I believe she is reported to be that generous!

Gardner's claim of plagiarism of Quimby's writings by Mrs. Eddy simply doesn't hold water. Quimby did reach the point of recognizing to a meager extend the influence of the human mind on the body. So by necessity, some of Mrs. Eddy's writings might seem to parallel Quimby's writings regarding the human mind/body relationship. But that's as far as any seeming similarity can be found between the two. Here's excerpts about what Mrs. Eddy says about Quimby in her book, Miscellaneous Writings:

"Having practised homoeopathy, it never occurred to theauthor to learn his [Quimby's] practice, but she did ask him how manipulation could benefit the sick. He answered kindly and squarely, in substance, 'Because it conveys electricity to them.' That was the sum of what he taught her of his medical profession.

"The readers of my books cannot fail to see that metaphysical therapeutics, as in Christian Science, are farther removed from such thoughts than the nebulous system is from the earth.

"I never heard him say that matter was not as real as Mind, or that electricity was not as potential or remedial, or allude to God as the divine Principle of all healing. He certainly had advanced views of his own, but they commingled error with truth, and were not Science."

Throughout the latter years of her time here on earth, Mrs. Eddy was constantly being accused of plagiarizing the writings of Quimby. Many of her detractors claimed that he was the one who healed her of her many years of invalidism. The truth is that she seemed to derive temporary benefit from his treatments, but soon after, lapsed into an even worse physical state. Eventually she was completely healed through her own study of the Bible and her faith in a higher power, far transcending the electricity/magnetism techniques that Quimby employed. It's obvious that Gardner didn't study Mrs. Eddy's writings sufficiently to discern the vast gulf between her teachings, and those of Quimby. And as other reviewers have noted, he misstates many facts regarding the life of Mary Baker Eddy, which seriously compromises and undermines his arguments from the starting line to the finish line. Don't waste your money on this one.

After reading Gillian Gill's well researched biography of the founder of the Christian Science church, Gardner's book is incredibly disappointing. Misconstrued facts, while presented in a persuasive way, demolish his thesis. Gill's work, (a non-Christian Scientist just like Gardner) is the antithesis of Gardner's. She is fair, evaluative, does not editorialize, and while she tells things that Christian Scientists may or may not appreciate, she is honest to the core. Gardner would have done well to peruse the work of a TRUE writer (Gill) before attempted his own falsified fiction of an American religious figure.

You won't find any spin from brainwashed followers in this book. The truth shall set you free.

I've seen Peter Belesis' work around, and it is way too confusing and buggy to get any real use out of it. His Hierarchical menus are beautiful, but you never get to see one on your own site because it is so convoluted and screwy!

The book appears very comprehensive, but really needs a quick reference guide on all the elements of dynamic HTML (including scripts and HTML itself).

Dynamic Html Unleashed is a once of great DHTML books. But this is clearly not a introduction book. You should have a good HTML and javascript knowladge .

This book is terrible. In the first three chapters, they emphasize "plan twice but develop once" as an approach for DB development, which is good. Unfortunately, they don't seem to follow their own advice. The authors walk you through examples on a provided CD, but the instructions don't even match what's on the CD. Also, days 1 and 2 were completely OMITTED on my CD. This is my first and last SAMS book.

While this book *teaches* very well, it has a number of small printing mistakes and mislabels which could be confusing to those not following along very closely. I recommend it if you're willing to work with it.

All in all it was decent. The first 14 chapters were fine. The two chapters on Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) were fair at best. The Chapter on Objects and Collections should not have been there. I actually went out and got another book for these topics. They had a nice little section on DAO in the end however it was coarse. Keep in mind, the VBA sections were not very good at all. I question why they even put VBA in a entry level book.

For the user who want to get more out of Access 2002 or the user who wants to prepare for a MOUS certification, this book is fine. Keep in mind it is not Microsoft MOUS Official Cirriculum so the Certification Objectives are not identified in the text.

SAMS Publishing drops the ball once again in the editing area. Please note that you will have to go to the website to get the Chapter 2 exercises. The omission of the Chapter Two files can almost be forgiven due to the fact that the files are small in size and easily downloadable.

I have about 5-6 of their books and they are all buggy, lots of typographical errors. This one falls about average for SAMS in that area, not their worst, not their best. I would have given 4 stars if they didn't have so may typos, otherwise the non-VBA content was good.

I strongly disagree with all of the other reviews... I am not a beginning PC user (MCSE & CNA), but I've never had any experience with Access. Yeah, there are typos, but if you understand the exercise, you should be able to figure out what to do. I have recommended this book to several of the people that I work with in IT. The author does remind you to open the program way too many times, and the author does change at day 18 (for the worse) - I now have a very good understanding of Access, all thanks to this book.

This book is a good buy for the beginner. It covers areas that the other teach yourself books have not covered on Access. Mainly design issues. You may be able to create a working database, but without proper design, the pain of correcting it is intense.

Yes, the errors are annoying, yes the repetition of basic information is at times annoying but come on, deal with it you babies. The main reason I bought this book is because of the step by step walkthroughs. I am perfectly familiar with a computer and this allows me the benefit of skimming, which perhaps is essential to use this book to it's potential. Who cares about the typos as long as the steps are valid, and I have found them to be. This book surpasses all the available free tutorials out there on the web and I am honestly happy I got it. One caveat, you do have to be able to think imaginatively and read between the lines. If you are unable to do this, as many people are, don't buy this book. Take a class where someone can walk you through it and answer your questions. Also, the book clearly states in the beginning that it is not for beginners, but for those already familiar with basic concepts. Like so many other books out there this one is sink or swim, personally I like it. I can't believe someone wrote a negative review because it was difficult to remove the CD without damaging the back cover, how ridiculous.

This book takes what many would consider a mid level drug dealer and the search for him across the world - hence the "Marco Polo" tag. Well the villain here is not that bad so it is hard to get excited about the chase. He is no choirboy to be sure, but he is not a Pablo Escobar either. The detail of the police tactics used is interesting. The disappointing thing to me was the detail of how disjointed law enforcement is in the western world, nobody wants to work with any other countries? The book is ok and you can probably guess what happens in the end. If you are interested in this type of story, Killing Pablo by Mark Bowden is far better and more up to date.

In general this book is not bad. It provided many interesting control. If you are really good at visual basic plus some internet knowlegde you may like it. This book lag quite a bit of explainations. I did not get my browser application running. (not quite sure how to hook my application to the cgi server, provided in the CD rom)