The book provides a object-oriented methodology variation utilizing the project management concepts. The method per se is not new, but the application steps and implications involved provide framework and model to start a knowledge system development in organizations. But the terms in the book sometimes causes confusion.

Very good introduction to CommonKADS. Reviews the methodology, its principles and drivers.

Torrell's book is a two-fold masterpiece, but it is not for the faint-of-intellect. Die-hard Thomists will find the historical exegesis of scholarship on Aquinas' life and work to be the most fundamentally rigorous to date. Interspersed within this technical exposition are invaluable insights into the person of Aquinas as a man of faith first and foremost. For me, this book was a joy to read and I am utilizing it in a graduate seminar I will be teaching on Aquinas. That being said, I must warn the non-Thomist reader that they may find this book dry at times in its extreme historical exposition. The best approach to this book for the average reader is to skim through to find the gems contained within. Hence, I highly recommend this book to fans of Thomas Aquinas and cannot wait for the translation of Torrell's second volume to appear.

Torrell has provided the philosophical community with a most thoroughly detailed account of one of the greatest thinkers to ever walk this planet.

From the youth of Aquinas to his death, Torrell takes his reader on a historical journey through the life, events, thoughts, and works of St. Thomas Aquinas. Torrell uses the best resources available, and painstakingly documents all his sources. What is more, if certain things have been attributed to legend or mere 'story telling for the sake of story telling,' Torrell makes his reader aware of this fact. Thus, his research is honest, and quite detailed.

Every dispute between Aquinas and the Church or other clergy is included. Aquinas' years in Paris are detailed, the things he taught, the people he associated with, his travels, his writings, his habits (which have been documented), his writing methods, etc. all are detailed in this account. In fact, I do not think there is one stone left unturned that can actually be turned in the life of Aquinas, that Torrell has not touched.

Toward the end of this work, which it should be pointed out is written and organized in a nice chronological fashion, Torrell makes mention of those groups who after Aquinas' death formed cults in their following of Aquinas. Moreover, I enjoyed Torrell's account of Aquinas because it was real. What I mean by that is Torrell did not elevate Aquinas to an 'other than human' level and put him high on a pedestal. Rather, Torrell painted a picture of the real Aquinas, warts and all.

If you are wanting a detailed account of Aquinas and his whole life, works, events, etc. then this is the only text you may ever need (although there are others available which would be very helpful as well - i.e. James Weisheipl's account "Friar Thomas D'Aquino, which has been considered the standard biography). I highly recommend Torrell's work and wished I could have given it another star!

A five-star political narrative history of the leading statesman of the nation after the passing of Henry Clay, but a four-star biography as it barely touches the subject's domestic life. However, the author has painstakingly accounted for almost every political act of Douglas, who the reader discovers was the only possible savior of the Union in 1860. His electoral failure was the failure of the nation to understand what the disastrous consequences would be - a total civil war willingly initiated by abolition and secession extremists. Although as racist and expansionist as most of his contemporaries, his political motives were of the purest democracy (as he understood it). His constant attempts to get the nation's attention away from slavery and back on nation-building were futile was were his attempts to find a compromise on the eve of war. His anguish at seeing his beloved nation and party fall apart brought on his untimely death which left a 25-year void in the leadership of the Democratic Party. A great read for antebellum political junkies!

Johannsen's work will stand forever, it seems, as the authoritative study of Stephen Arnold Douglas, the man who almost alone carried the Jacksonian banner of democracy and union through the decade of American disintegration leading up to the Civil War. The views of Jackson and Douglas, in broad strokes, still today inform political thought in this country and around the world as recognizable elements of their philosophy turn up in "The Third Way" movement of moderation and political pragmatism that is sweeping the globe. A critical figure in American history and present, Douglas receives fine treatment at the hands of Prof. Johannsen, and is seen as much more than the anti-Lincoln that so many ill-informed people believe him to be. Indeed, Lincoln was little more than a gadfly, an anomaly for much of his career. His election was a fluke. Douglas' entire life bespeaks his status as the everlasting statesman that he was and Johannsen is a master at showing this.

With each chapter written by an expert, plus beautiful illustrations, this is a great anthology for those seeking a bird's eye view of the World's myths and legends. It is also fun to read and is not dense to the point that it cannot be read from cover to cover. I took off a star because there was nothing on Finnish mythology. Also, the mythology of Persia was just one page long, which I felt was too little.

I was doing a paper on Greek Mythology and found this book in the Reference section of our library. There was so much great infomation in it that I had the librarian xerox half of it! The layout includes vivid pictures of ancient artifacts and art work on just about every page. The book also has sidebars and "boxes" of information that are helpful--kind of like the impulse buy section at the check-out! As the title says--it shares myths and religious practices from all over the world; each country is broken down into logical topics. I really enjoyed this book and had to own it! It's ideal for anyone taking a Humanities, Literature or Anthropology course! I know I will use it again in the future!

This was the first book I read by HG Wells, at the age of 12. (I saw the film first.) After taking a trip into the future, a Time Traveller returns to the 19th century and tells his colleagues what he saw.

In the distant future there is nothing, not a trace, of our world left. The Time Travller discovers a new society and finds that we have evolved into a puny, ineffectual race called Eloi. At night he discovers the other half of the society, the hideous, carniverous Morlocks. The Eloi live simple lives and play in the sun. They are food for the Morlocks, who live underground, operating machinery. The Time Traveller goes even further into the future, to a depressing world where the sun is dying and monstrous creatures roam the surface.

Getting away from the point for a moment, there was once a "Doctor Who" story called "Timelash". In that story the Doctor travels back in time and meets a young writer called Herbert, who accompanies the Doctor on a journey to the future on another planet. There are monsters called Morlox. At the end of the story the young writer gives the Doctor one of his cards, which has the name HG Wells. The story implied that HG Wells' novel was inspired by the Doctor! But in reality "The Time Machine" paved the way for "Doctor Who", one of my favourite childhood shows. So we owe a lot to Wells.

Time travel looks like a fun thing to do but sometimes it's best if the future is left unknown. Would you want to know your own future and find it's not what you hoped for?

HG Wells' Sci Fi classic, about a Victorian scientist's trip forward in Time, differs greatly from the movie version, so if you don't recognize the details of the story in this review, it's because I am referring the original. The tale is narrated at the beginng and very end by a good friend of the Time Traveler--whose name we never learn. Nor in fact are his skeptical dinner guests named, for the emphasis sis Not on the present. Ninety percent of the short novel, however, is a direct narration by the Time Traveler himself, of his incredible journey into the future. The year is hard to credit: 208,701!

Wells loses no opportunity to expound on his theories of Mankind's self-destructive and degenerative "progress." He launches into fervid warnings about the separation of diametrically opposed yet critically enmeshed aspects of human nature--both vital while openly at war--which result in the total Human Being. Yet he never considers what Right his hero has to go back the Future, in a vain, foolish and risky attempt to alter the bovine existence of the beautiful people called ELOI or to reduce the subterranean population of the hideous MORLOCKS who repel us with their bestial behavior? (No Prime Directives here about not meddling with the Past or the Future!) We can only guess at Weena's grim fate, but why did Wells include an eerie chapter with the TT contemplating the primoridal tide at the end of Time itself? Still spell-binding despite the intervening years, The Time Machine enthralls us with its daring concepts of futuristic invention and social speculation. Despite uneven literary pacing, these pages offer great Sci Fi reading for all ages!

OK, we've all seen at least one of the movie versions of H.G. Well's The Time Machine, but none of them truly compare with the oringinal Sci-Fi classic. The book tells the story of the Time Traveler's journey nearly a million years into the future and the very unexpected and disturbing society he finds there. The Time Traveler formulates various theories based on what he observes of the society, which each, in turn, prove to be oh, so wrong! [Warning: mild spoiler] In the end, his realization of the future is especially terrifying considering it is the result of our current social structure (or H.G. Well's, anyway).

I especially recommend this book for those of us with short attention spans - it's only 140 pages (and that's the large print version). But don't get the wrong idea, this book still has more depth and creativity than most 500 page books i've read and is a great read, even compared with today's science fiction standards.

This book has to be considered a classic considering it spawned a whole genre of time traveling books, movies, and tv shows whcih imitated it. Get a hold of a copy and read it today!

Honest to Jesus is an interesting, energetic, and riveting book for anybody who is concerned about asking questions that would scare the pants off of Rev. Smiley in the average orthodox Christian pulpit. If you're not up to the challenge and are totally satisfied with your version of "faith," you won't want to pick up this book. Be prepared to lose some sleep. The book depressed me and energized me, all at the same time. Funk pushes the limit of scholarship to uncover the historical Jesus. However, be warned: there is more to the historical Jesus than what Funk suggests.

There is a lot that we don't and can't know, being human and having a finite lifespan. Funk proposes that historicity is the answer to nearly every problem and intellectual question. To this end, Honest to Jesus will stimulate minds, but dull hearts in the same time. Be ready to rethink your views on God's Kingdom - and Funk's, while you're at it.

In HONEST TO JESUS Robert Funk describes the methods used by biblical scholars in their quest of the historical Jesus. He shows how the Jesus Christ of the Nicean Creed of the fourth century can be traced back to the humble Jewish sage of Nazareth and then retraced on a return trip to Nicea where he is resurrected after three centuries of promotion by his gentile admirers to full divinity as the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Funk also uses a good part of the book attempting to describe the historical Jesus using what the author considers to be the likely authentic words and deeds of the real Jesus.

Funk believes that public knowledge about the ancient gospels is woefully inadequate. Mainline churches do not address the questions people in the pews are asking about Jesus. Biblical scholars may know many of the answers to these questions but the scholars are only talking to each other. The aim of the quest of the historical Jesus is to liberate Jesus from this prison and especially from the captivity of the church creeds.

Christianity took its conclusive shape with the formation of church creeds and canons at church councils held in the fourth century C.E. Progress in this area was aided by the support and guidance of Roman Emperor Constantine.

World dominance of Christianity is at an end, according to Funk. It is not, however, the end of Christianity but actually a great opportunity to begin anew. Our understanding of the origins of the Christian religion is constantly changing. Funk believes a new perception of Jesus is possible if we place him back in his modest beginnings in Nazareth.

We have forgotten many things about Jesus that must have been obvious to his contenporaries, according to the author. For instance, Jesus was a social deviant who practiced an open table. He also criticized public displays of piety and certainly did not support the use of brokers in one's relationship to God.

Honest to Jesus is a no nonsense book that will delight the serious reader and quester for the historical Jesus. Out with mythology, out with theology, out with canonical boundaries. The There will be none of these in Funk's historical journey back to Nazareth to recover the identity of the real Yeshua.

Bob Funk, biblical scholar and founder of the Westar Institute which sponsors the Jesus Seminar project, has written a book that gives the layperson an inside look at what critical scholarship has unveiled thus far about the man we today know as Jesus. Funk avers that the Jesus whom Christianity has appropriated as its founder, god, messiah, savior, redeemer, miracle worker, etc. is hardly a good picture of the man who lived almost two millennia ago. The Christian Jesus/Christ is larger than life, a theologized and mythologized version. Funk asserts that the Apostle's Creed glaringly points to the importance the Church has placed on the life of Jesus--there is no mention of his life at all apart from his virgin birth, death and resurrection. The Creed turned Jesus into a god-man.

Funk's quest is to find the Jesus before all the layers of mythology and theology were piled on top of him. The quest for the historical Jesus is to determine what Jesus really said and did, what his vision of God was, what Jesus was trying to direct our attention to. Ultimately Christianity is not about Christ or Jesus but about God....

I would doubtlessly recommend Ivanhoe to read. History may be often dull but Sir Walter Scott makes history extremely exciting by romanticizing his novel. It directly deals with hatred between the Normans and the Saxons, the discrimination of the Jews, chivalry, and politics--but it is a unforgettable tale of heroism, honor, and love. I felt that the characters were so fascinating and fun to read about. I was enjoying and cheering on the good characters like Ivanhoe, King Richard, and Robin Hood to beat the hated and evil villains. I liked the idea of love added in the story, like how Rowena and Rebecca were both in love with Ivanhoe. I even felt a little sorry for Brian de Bois-Guilbert who would do anything for Rebecca's love but is constantly rejected. I thought how it was appealing how the author questions Ivanhoe and Rebecca's feelings for each other. Suspenseful and action sequences also added entertainment to the story. This book may be a little too detailed for some readers, but I didn't mind. I felt that the details were brilliantly used to decorate the story in an outstanding fashion. The old English wording made me feel like I was actually in the medieval England. I have to admit that it took a great deal of persistence for me to finish this book and it was a challenge for me to read. However, I found Ivanhoe to be a wonderful pleasure. It is no wonder that Ivanhoe is such a well-loved tale!

I enjoyed this adventure yarn on many levels.

I was glad to learn about the Knights of Templer and that they were crusaders. I always wondered how Sam Spade in the Maltese Falcon knew that and it is because of this classic.

I was surprised that it talked so much about Robin of Lockesley. The story of Ivanhoe seemed to be the same only told by Ivanhoe's friends and not Robin's.

I thought that the DeBracyn and the Knight of Templer Brian de Bois Guilbert were pretty evil guys which made the story interesting. They were weasels when they had their backs to the wall but did preform with honor when required like when Richard gets DeBracy.

I guess I did not understand the prejudice of the time because they treated the Jews like dirt and they were so sterotypical. I really thought that the Jewish girl Rebecca was going to end up with Ivanhoe instead of that Saxon Lady Roweana. I guess you have to appreciate the times that they lived in.

It was a different look the Richard/Prince John history.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but this book, by Sir Walter Scott, was the progenitor of what was to become a venerable tradition in English letters (and in other European literatures as well): the historical romance. There have been many after IVANHOE, and frequently with a finer eye to the period in which the tale is set (for IVANHOE contains quite a number of anachronisms -- even Scott acknowledged it), but few have done it quite as well as Scott. He uses an archaic English to give voice to his characters, but one which is readily absorbed because of the speed & quality of the tale. So, though these people certainly wouldn't really have spoken as he has them speaking, they yet sound as though they should have. Peopled by many 'stock' characters and situations, this tale was fresh in its time & still reads well today -- a testament to Scott's skills as a teller of tales and a sketcher of marvelously wrought characters. In this tale of the 'disinherited knight' returning home to find the world he left turned upside down, young Ivanhoe, after a stint with King Richard in the Holy Land, must fight the enemies of his king and kinsmen anew. Yet the hero is oddly sidelined for much of the tale as events swirl around him and the brilliantly evoked villain, Sir Brian de Bois Gilbert, in the pay of Prince John, struggles to win treasure and the beautiful Rebeccah, who yet has eyes only for Ivanhoe, a knight she can never hope to win herself. There's lots of action and coincidences galore here and Robin Hood makes more than a cameo appearance, as does the noble Richard. In sum, this one's great fun, a great tale, and the progenitor of a whole genre. All those which came after owe their form to it. Worth the price and the read.

As did Gilbert Moxley Sorrel (Longstreet), staff officer Walter Taylor offers his insights of the War of Southern Independence. Indeed, Taylor has rightful claim to his judgements, as his acquaitance with Lee offered him first-hand knowledge of events. However, I caution future readers that this is NOT a memoir or diary per se - Taylor rarely gives any unique slants to anything, and more often than not, seems occupied with setting the "numbers straight" - many, many, many tables and charts are provided giving the numbers available for this battle and that battle, etc...I suggest this book only for serious students of the war - and more particularly, those wanting "first-hand" data on "numbers." Of final interest, though, is Taylor's disdain for Hiram U. Grant (accurately recognizing Grant as a true butcher - merely throwing big numbers at an under-manned, under-supllied army) and the insertion of a speech given upon the anniversary of Genl Lee's birthday (albeit NOT written, or presented by Taylor himself)

Taylor's approach to covering the history of the Confederate struggle is encouraging to read. Though the title of this book tends to be a bit misleading. It should be called Four years of Confederate history. Taylor tends to describe battle movements and give calculations as to the manpower of divisions, brigades and regiments to a dragging sense. This books I recommend highly for those trying to get an accurate count of soldiers available for each battle, how many were casualties, after battle net amounts,etc.. Rarely are daily affairs of Lee covered. When I read this book I was disappointed to find out that it wasn't a book about General Lee and his daily livelyhood as I wanted to read about. Since Taylor was Lee's secretary I thought who better than to describe Lee's motives, attitudes, triumphs and defeats? Very rarely did Taylor ever mention Lee in this manner. Not enough to capture the man and tell his story. This book is a quick refresh of battles and movements throughout the war of the Army of Northern Virginia which hardly fits being called Four Years With General Lee. Credit is due to Taylor's ability to calculate total manpower and army positions throughout the four years though falls way short in covering Lee.

Wonderful book describing the massive work and devotion to duty that General Lee adhered to. Written by his A.A.G. A must read for southern patriots.

Luke Johnson in The Real Jesus does something that all whom he criticizes does not: he emphatically states the limitations of his own field. He attacks the hubris with which scholars (or, those who refer to themselves as such) wield the mighty tool of the historical method of determining what is real, not just about the man, Jesus, but the foundations of the Christian faith. For faith it is: a belief based on a religious language and hermeneutic, in the same vain as the Gospel narratives. The title of the book is apt, not only because it reflects a similar sensationalism that those of the Jesus Seminar use with their literature. It is clearly tongue-in-cheek, for he is emphatic that there is a distinction between the sum of probabilities of historical events and "knowing" what is "real" about Jesus. In the end, he does not write about how the historical records or the events portrayed in these records tell us about the "real" Jesus, but how they in fact cannot one way or another. Jesus is a Jesus of faith, directed by the records, but having been brought alive through the presence of the "real" Jesus who works through Christianity today.

What so few people understand (including JS scholars, if I may use that term) is that the biblical text is ONLY text and not the Bible unless read within a community of faith. This is basic theology. Without faith, you can tear apart the text and force out parts of it you don't want.

Johnson sets the record straight on the use of scholarship, obliquely (or, perhaps overtly) scoffing at the attempt of the Jesus Seminar to assume that what is scholarly is what is true and, moreover, far-reaching enough to make statements on the validity of religious claims. There is no doubt that as a believer in the traditional Jesus as espoused by the creeds, Johnson is biased. His genius is in showing that this also can be most emphatically said about the interests of the participants of the Jesus Seminar.

I have used Johnson's book as one of the textbooks in my "Life and Teachings of Jesus" course this past year. Students have found it stimulating and provocative. They are initially put off by Johnson's elitist, arrogant attack on the Jesus Seminar, but because of the book's lively style (and with my assurance that Johnson is actually a qualified New Testament scholar) they persist and discover his elegantly developed explanation of the relationship between history and faith. Johnson's attack on the Jesus Seminar is not entirely fair. Of course, his slamming of writers like Spong and Thiering is much deserved. On the other hand, he primarily attacks Borg for making a name for himself and advancing his career doing historical Jesus research. I thought choosing an area of specialization, becoming a productive writer, and advancing in the profession was what all academics seek to do. Johnson first criticizes Jesus Seminar members for not teaching at Harvard, Yale, Duke, Emory, etc. (as if everyone could) then criticizes many of them for doing their graduate work at those same institutions. He needs to make up his mind. Johnson's critique of Crossan is valid at many points, but he dismisses Crossan's work much too easily. It is not fair to lump him together with Spong and Thiering. I suppose Johnson needed to get all of that venom out of his system before he could write productively, and that is why I consider his book to be worth the battle of getting through the first couple of chapters. In the end it serves as a great reassurance that the best way to discover Jesus is to read the canonical gospels, which is what I still spend most of the course doing.

In "The Real Jesus", Luke Timothy Johnson provides a sure and steady critique of the pseudo-scholarship behind many of the recent historical Jesus books (including the efforts of the controversial Jesus seminar). Along with a provocative discussion of the roles of the media, university, and church in the "debate" about the historical Jesus, Prof. Johnson balances a sober assessment of the evidence with the wise admonition to follow the Jesus as testified by the gospels. Though a bit dry at first, the book soon becomes both exciting and relevant to any person seeking to relate the Jesus of history to the Christ of faith.

The format of this book can best describe as "ask a question and give an answer". Every topics start off with a question, follow by a small piece of code, and then an explaination of what each line of code does. This direct approach makes the book quicker to read, and in some way, it kind of goes without saying, "cut the chase and get to the point!".

The contents touch base with many juicy topics. It has a brief introduction to the Standard Libraries such as String and Vector, enough to tease you in getting a full book on STD LIB (I did). It also does a decent job in covering inheritance and virtual class inheritance. Type casting and namespace usage is also covered. Polymorphism is covered but kind of weak.

I bought this book at a half-price book store. Usually I don't like any books in the "How-To" series, because they are written in a fix format, I mean for every issue or problem -- no metter you like or not. It just seems to add some letters to assemble a book! I feel it likt that there is little bit meat in a big wok of water soup! But this book is good, after I read a couple of chapters. It worths what it costs me -- half price!

First, I like the approach of this book. The "How could I do ... ?" is good for refresh your memory. Since sometime you might forget, or become unsure about how something can be done.

Despite what it said in the back cover, I think that, this book is suitable for the someone who is about to become an intermediate C++ programmer (the advanced-beginner, or something like that). Why? Because when I was one, I always get confused about "How could I do ", or "How should I involve ", and this book provided almost all answer to those questions I used to have. And even now, it still worth my time reading it.

The code examples are very easy to understand. However, I found that each author's programming style are quite different. This is fine for someone who already has his/her own style. But for someone who doesn't, this might lead to confusion, and bad programming style (mixed style) later on.

Also, one thing... I found that in (almnost?) all code, main() return void, which is not correct. According to the Standard, main() should return int for some reason, like for checking the termination of the program. I don't know about Visual C++, but in many compiler, you will get the warning message if your main() does not return int.

Overall, this is a very good book, and it deserve 4 stars from me. However, it still can become a much better book.

To the authors : How about "More C++ How-To" or "Advanced C++ : How-To" ?