This is a great book for the Russel Wright collector who wants to know more of the backstory and history of the man and the pottery. But do not confuse this book with a collector's guide. This book will probably not help you to decide if a piece is RW or not, and certainly will not help in pricing or deciding rarity.

This book is a great compliment to the exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt, but more than that. The information here is not more of the same, of what's already been said about Wright in other books. Although some overlap is necessary to tell his story, there are many new details of his design life and philosophy, and marvelous photos of some of his products and drawings, not seen other books. There are also great pictures of Mary as well. I feel that this book was very sensitively done and that all involved in creating it (and the exhibit) deserve applause. It would be hard to imagine any R.W. fan not loving this book.

This book brings uncountable information not only about network operating systems, but also about network hardware. It is very easy to be read. But if you really want to learn about networks, this must not be the only book to buy, of course. Since it is written in an easy language, it can be read not only by the ones who already works with networking, but also by the ones who are willing to enter this field.

This book provides an excellent treatment of network fundementals from the perspective of a person designing or repairing networks. It is a good book for a person with little or no network experience.

However, there are limitations to the book that are not apparent from the description. First, the book is primarily about Novell networks. If you are looking for an in-depth treatment of other networks, this is not the book for you. Second, the specific hardware and software recommendations are few and far between for a book of this type.

I recommend this book for people wanting to learn about installing and repairing networks, particularily Novell networks. Just be aware of its limitations.

This book has left a bizarre legacy. Que's "Upgrading and Repairing Networks, Second Edition" is written by a different author (Terry Ogletree, though it bears Scott Mueller's name in significantly larger type), and its true sequel ("Upgrading and Troubleshooting Networks" by Craig Zacker) is published by Osborne. One can only imagine the intrigue that gave birth to these two rival heirs, and one can only wish that such events had not taken place, as this book is far better than either of its descendents.

Though a few years past its prime, Craig Zacker and Paul Doyle's "Upgrading and Repairing Networks" remains one of the best, broadest, most authoritative and most comprehensive guides to local area networking in print. Published prior to the certification frenzy, this book was designed to teach the journeyman technician both the theory and practice needed to perform effectively in a crisis situation. Subjects covered range from "the stuff in every book" (like the OSI model, hardware, and a plus/minus analysis of operating systems) to arcane but incredibly useful information for those new to the care and feeding of LANs (such as a chapter each on UPSes and tape drives).

I strongly urge beginners to the networking field to put in the extra effort necessary to get this book; its scope all but guarantees that you'll learn new and valuable information, and its tone and style make this knowledge fairly painless to obtain. Seasoned networking professionals might also consider picking this one up (especially at marketplace prices)... that is, if the copy they've relied on since 1996 has worn out.

This is the sixth or seventh book that I've read in the M:TG series. I really enjoyed this to other books because it takes a much different approach. It is about Belbe, Emissary of Phyrexia, who much chose one of the several would-be-kings, a new Evincar of Rath. The book is very interesting and gives you a much more in-depth look at the intricacies of Rath than the previous book "Rath and Storm". Everything is handled extremely well from character traits, to the plot and storyline, to minute details. My only gripe is the fact that one of the candidates was pre-chosen and continuously gains more strength and grows insanely powerful throughout the book. The others never had a chance; including an old face who appears later. I won't ruin any of the story for you, but if you've played the card game you probably already know the outcome as I did. It's still a wonderful read. Highly recommended. Overall I give this about a 9 out of 10.

Paul B. Thompson's Nemesis novel is very unpredictable. If you are tired of reading Magic the Gathering books only based on a war, rejoice! Nemesis isn't only about a war, but the descision of the new evincar of Rath. To do this, Eladamri's daughter ( Avila ) is murdered, brought to Phyrexia, Phyrexianized and is a "lense" of Phyrexia. This unusual character is renamed as Belbe. Ertai's physique changes throughout the novel. Interesting fact: the powerful Magic the Gathering card, Lin Sivvi, is spelled as Liin Sivi in Nemesis. You will enjoy this book.

No book even comes close to comparing to this. The story tells how new evincars are chosen to lead Rath. Ertai, who is a former weatherlight crewman, is up for the post against his "friend" Crovax. The Phyrexian emissary, Belbe, comes to choose but a 'slight' mishap slows down her choice. Each contestant is set on a task, Crovax to quell a rebellion and Ertai to develop control over flowstone. But torwards the end Greven il-Vec and a mysterious figure named 'Furah' interupt the naming of the new evincar. That became the best fight in the whole MTG series, better then Gerrard and Volrath.

Hint Hint.

i really liked the story, but parts of it conflicted with an earlier book, The Kagonesti. according to The Kagonesti, at 3811 PC, the elves had steel axe-heads, plate mail, swords, daggers, and arrow-heads. and the humans were allied with the elves to defeat the dragons. and balif was leading an expedition east to expand the elven territories. if anyone would lead a western expansion, it would seem to be quithas, who is absent in this book. also, according to The Dragons, the humans also had steel. the only race that used bronze was the ogres. this dragon duranix's existence also conflicts with The Dragons. overall, a good story, but it conflicts with the back story too much. 3 stars for the story.

This book is fairly good, and has some great characters and an interesting plot (although not very surprising). There aren't no real problems with the book few grammatical mistakes , and it is fairly interesting. Yet I didn't give it 5 stars, why?.Well for it quickly becomes a story about one of the main character bonding with one of the Dragons , the problem with that is that back then , the Dragons of krynn were in close-knit groups and chromatic and metallic weren't dishing it out. Then there is the elven-human war, were a group of humans led by one of the main characters and armed with flint weapons manage to hold off the elven forces of Silvanesti for 10 years , that's ok, but then they lose their entire hold of the land in one battle because the elves somehow manage to take them out with a suprise attack using cavalry. Also I find it hard to believe that in 10 years the humans who are mainly aboriginal could create a village ,tame horses , and create a reliable weight and pulley system. Oh well , if you don't mind these oversights, you should read it .

I found this novel interesting to say the least, it's set back before the Gray-Gem (no dwarf's or kender) and we get the see the human's of Ansalon rise out of the mud and start becoming a nation of people in the first book of the Barbarian's Trilogy. The main characters seemed three dimensional, each having their own flaws and strengths, which was good to say the least. I found the character Amero to be the most interesting, and find myself wondering what's going to happen to him in the second part.

Overall this novel was a good clean read, and I liked it. Fight scenes were good, just enough description, so I'm happy I bought it. One thing I didn't like though was the villains. They were very underdeveloped and seemed shallow in this first volume, but I'm sure that Paul Thompson and Tonya Cook will fill out their characters in the next novel.

Final Thought: Buy it, it's good DL, and you won't be disappointed.

While the characters were vastly more entertaining than the ones in the previous book & the writer not quite so long-winded, this book was still rather bland & as boring as the rest of the series.

With about 80 novels in the DL series, it's a good thing that not all of them are worth reading a 2nd time(or 1st for that matter)but it still drives me crazy when they so obviously give some of these books a half-hearted attempt.

An extremely well written novel by Mary H. Herbert, as always with her dragonlance novels, "Dragon's Bluff" is solid. This time she expands on her forays into the Majere family and Ulin Majere, son of Palin, comes into the spotlight. While not as interesting as his sister Linsha was in "Clandestine Circle", he provides a strong draw for anyone that enjoys the Majere family.

This novel includes just about everything a good DL novel needs. It has mages, thieves, dragons, gnome and kender sidekicks. It even has the cool theme of the story revolving around a card game called Dragon's Bluff. But it just kind of lacked that killer instinct that could have turned it into a truly great novel. Instead, while well written, the plot never really gives you the action you assume you should get. And the ending lacks that large bang you want during the end of a DL novel.

While it was realistic, had a well driven plot, developed characters, and even had the all important dragon as a villain, it just lacked a little "umph". Can't say I didn't like it, but sadly can't rave about it either.

Final Thought: Anyone up for a game of Dragon's Bluff?

This book was good. I enjoyed the characters and the setting but nothing was great. The plot was good, well everything was good but not great. I would say it is worth buying if you have nothing else you currently want to read. I was not dissapointed or impressed. Buy it if you feel like it.

The authors found that people's careers can be characterized by four stages: apprentice, individual contributor, mentor, and sponsor. If people do one stage well, they find it much easier to progress to the next stage. At each stage, the person must do certain things well for other people to consider them successful. If you know what other people expect, you're better able to succeed.

Years ago when I worked with summer students, I gave them the first assignment to read about the first three stages. Then we talked about what each of us should expect from the other. Later when I became a team lead, I had forgotten about this book, and didn't do it. I found some of my earlier notes, and realized that I had had several problems with some team members that I probably would have not had if I had given them that assignment.

This is a very hard to rate novel, part of me wants to give it a lower ranking, but I think it deserves what it gets. The main problem is that it is set over a long period of time, over ten years in fact. This causes a lot of problems. For one it suffers from Villainitis and there is no clear and present villain through out the whole novel only a few minor villains that really can never be taken seriously. Also because the "journey" in the title is a life journey and not one event the novel is broken up into different adventures and problems rather than one long quest. All these adventures allow, Tol, a farmer's son, to rise to greatness in the Ergothian Empire, right up to the side of the Emperor. He defeats wizards, rebels, and battles with the mysterious monster XimXim.

This is most definitely a beginning novel to a trilogy, it's leading up to the bigger story that is going to happen in the second and third novels. That being said, it does an excellent job setting that story up (should have probably stayed away from the classic Arthurian love triangle though) for what is coming. It is well written, has tons of action, a tad of mystery, and more magic than most. For those that love kender, a third of the novel takes place in the kender land of Hylo, so there are plenty of pesky kender. But still it was a set up novel, so don't expect it to be one full novel with another episode coming, it answers almost no questions, and if you can't go without them I suggest waiting until the second Ergoth volume comes out.

Final Thought: They named a monster XimXim, what's next WakaWaka?

This book irritated me. The thing keeping it from two stars was the fact that I was interested in the relationship between Vixa and Naxos. I was a bit disappointed...maybe because I had higher expectations for the book. Anyway...The book never really held my interest; the only person that was truly enigmatic to me was Naxos and possibly the Queen. Still...As far as books about elves go, compared to some, this is action-packed. (Really, myself, I lost track of the rather tediously redundant battles...They kind of blur when the same things happen again and again). Some things are interesting, though I don't think knowing about sea elves (and this book is written mostly from a "land" elf's point of view, so you don't see too much of their minds) is exactly relevant. Well...Those were my two cents. Don't say I didn't warn you.

The Dargonesti are a race in obscurity, and while this book does little to shed some light on the main group of Dargonesti (it's more about a splinter group), it is an excellent book in itself! The characters are interesting, creative, and Vixa is an excellent person to center the book around: we see her faults, her strengths, when she is selfish and when she is caring. Gundabyr also plays a fascianting supporting role. A few rough spots exist - the half-hearted ending, for example, as well as some scientific errors (but I never noticed these - a friend pointed them out), and the misleading title detract this book from five stars but it is a very solid four.

The plot was good if you like storys with fantasy characters like elves, dwarfs, mages, and more. If you don't like storys with plots trying to save their country with characters of what I have listed, this may not be a book for you. The story is that a princess, Vixa and her friends are trying to save her country from intruders. On the way there, they got lost and find them selves on an uncharted island. There on the island they encounter many stranges things, meet a race of sea elves, and confronted a new foe. The book deals with some elements from D&D(Dungeon&Dragons) a game with fantasy characters on a mission or trying to reach a place that you can play with a group of friends.

I became a Hunter S Thompson fan early on. It was high school when I was in my more radical, experimental phase. Reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a whirlwind event. I had never encountered anything like it before. It was a bit more than my teenage mind could handle. HST immediately shot up the ranks of my favorite authors. He was explosive and also more accessible than the beats. There was always a sense of awe whenever the name of Hunter Thompson was invoked. The blend of journalism with fiction was a unique blend. It also seemed at times to hit on the truth more accurately than a lot of serious journalism. But before I go off about HST, let me get back to the bio at hand. This is not an authorized biography but I feel that it does shed some light on Thompson. It would seem that perhaps Thompson is receiving a bit of his own medicine here. Perry does give us some information on Thompson's childhood. He also gets into the early years of Thompson's career before the legend of Gonzo was born. This does help explain the development of this hick from Kentucky into a world renown icon of gonzo journalism. I would grant that a more definitive bio of HST could be written. There are others that I have yet to read. I was happy to get the info this book offers. I should tide me over until I read those books. HST is a fascinating figure in 20th Century America. This book is one piece to help solve the puzzle.

This is an excellent book, one that I am glad is not written in the gonzo style.

Hunter's life is dissected and examined by Perry, who did a thoughtful and insightful work.

If you want gonzo, read Hunter, he is the only one who can write that way. If you want to read about gonzo and the mind behind it, this is your read.

It is impossible to read anything ever written by Thompson without being intrigued about who this guy is and if he is for real.This book answers many of questions regarding his history as well as his interactions with those around him. It is a very well wrought and researched piece about a very interesting subject.

This book started out with some promise, and I was especially excited because the authors of book three were different than the boring author who wrote book one and two. Let me begin! These authors could have collaborated with the previous books or author for specific info. I would like to know what happened to some characters from the first two books, but instead we get new characters and those stories are not told and forgotton. A crime! On top of that, this book doesn't have an ending! It is like the last fifty pages are gone and several characters and missions and stories in the middle of this book are never addressed or finished! I was completely shocked at the amateur technique of these two authors. This whole three part series was a complete waste of my time! The only redeeming value was....well....I will think of something in the future, right now I can't! Terrible! Shame on these authors!

"The Qualinesti" is definately a great book. Not only is it full of action and adventure. But it come across with actual real emotions that people can relate too. There is jealousy, deceit, sadness and many other emotions filling this book. I had heard mixed reviews about this book before I read it. But, I was pleasently suprised by how good this book actually was. I liked it as much, of not more, than "The Firstborn" (The first book in this trilogy). This book brings about the end of a legacy. It is a little depressing, but it is nice to see the state of the Qualinesti under the leadership of Kith-Kanan and his son. A definate must for Dragonlance fans.

It's a shame that this series is out of print. I had to get mine off eBay for nearly $40.00! Now I know why. Though the series is written by different authors, you would never know it and the series is more about Kith-Kanan than the elves themselves. Sithas (Kith's brother) is featured in the 2nd novel for a few chapters, but it's mostly about Kith-Kanan. The Qualinesti focuses on Kith's two kids mostly but Kith gets some limelight as well. This book presents a very different view of the Elven nation than the one we know from post-cataclysm. This Qualinesti has men, dwarves and elves living together, while PC Qualinesti is inhabitted purely by elves. If you can get your hands on this series, do so!