Dear readers,
I am the daughter of Ron Lyon who is the brother of Donna Denice Harraway.She was my aunt...I know her as Denice.I was 4 years old when this horrific crime against my family occured.This event tore my family apart and continues to torment us to this day.When this book "The Dreams of Ada" came out, our family was outraged.The so called "facts" in this book are not only untrue, they are ridiculous.Tommy Ward and Carl Fontenat DID do this.They confessed and then later said it was all a "dream".They had the facts that only the police and the killers would know.I am sickened that this book is still in circulation.I am writing this to inform anyone who has or will read this book that it is merely a collection falsehoods.I just want this to be known.Thank you...

I have never believed that Tommy and Karl were guilty of anything except being poor country boys. There are people in the Ada area who know who did the crime and are just to afraid to come forward. One day there will be a Part II and the truth will be known but in any case the book is a good one to read.

I moved to Ada the same year that this crime took place. The "mood" of the city at that time was unbelievable. Somebody had to go to jail for this crime and I believe the police knew these two men were innocent. Convicted of murder for a dream ...even though every aspect of your dream was proved false by the police. More people need to read this book!!

This isn't actually a study of the Battle of Gettysburg so much as a study of Robert E. Lee's generalship there, and even then, it should be noted that it's really a defense of his generalship. Somewhere in the front of the book there's talk of an objective critical analysis, or something to that effect. Depends on your point of view, of course, but I wouldn't call it that at all. More along the lines of a nearly complete exoneration, something Lee himself never did or even tried to do.

For one thing the book has an almost relentless pro-Confederate bias, in all aspects of its arguments. One example will suffice. In the early stages of the book, while discussing Lee's early career, the authors note that the U.S. Army in Mexico paid for all the food they foraged from the residents, which is true. The authors then opine that this probably was Lee's cue to act similarly during the 1863 campaign in Pennsylvania. This is one of those hoary old myths that deserve to be put to rest. The Army of Northern Virginia did pay for all the livestock and food they took while they were in the North---in useless Confederate paper money! They didn't pay, however, for the several hundred African-Americans (escaped slaves and freedmen) that they kidnapped and took south with them when they retreated. Neither of these two facts makes Lee look like the gallant cavalier the authors want you to be thinking of, however, so you need to ignore the little man behind the curtain for a minute while they regale you with the great general's gallantry.

This is just the start, however. Everyone, it seems, made mistakes at Gettysburg. Davis goofed in not reinforcing Lee's army before it headed north. This is the only place I've ever heard the fantastic argument that Lee should have been reinforced from the west, rather than the other way around. The authors make the point that only in the east could the war be won by the Confederate army (as opposed to simply avoiding defeat) and feel that defeat in the west, at least in the short run, wasn't decisive. The part they leave out is that while victory in the east was possible, it would have been very difficult to pull off, and the Union armies there would have had an equally difficult time (and did, in actuality) defeating Lee's army. If Lee had reinforced either the Johnston/Pemberton armies, or Bragg's facing Rosecrans, the situation in the west might have recovered some, and it's difficult to see how things in the east would have been much worse. True, the farmers in northern Virginia would have had to endure Yankee occupation for another summer, but can anyone imagine Hooker (still in command of the army, presumably) doing anything intelligent, given a second chance?

One major emphasis of the book is that Lee's plan for the battle, and the orders that he gave laying these things out, were basically brilliant, and that scores of other historians (Alan T. Nolan, Harry Pfanz, Edward Coddington, Glenn Tucker) simply don't understand the fine points of Lee's brilliance. The famous discretionary order to take Cemetery Hill given to Ewell at the end of the first day turns out to be peremptory, with the phrase "if practicable" just a courtesy. His resignation after the battle was an attempt to cover for incompetent subordinates. The authors argue that Lee's system of making suggestions rather than giving orders basically never existed, or at least wasn't in use here, when everyone else agrees that it did and was. Most other historians prefer Richard M. McMurray's point that the suggestion command system only really ever worked when Lee was in command of the army, with Jackson, Stuart, and Longstreet his principle subordinates.

Instead this book goes on and on, repeating and hammering home the arguments that Lee made few mistakes until the third day of the battle (which, by a weird coincidence, gets the least coverage by far of the three) and that all of the responsibility for the defeat rests with Lee's subordinates, and Davis' refusal to reinforce the army before the battle. One side point: Longstreet is relatively gently handled, and rather extensively praised for his handling of his part of the second day's attack, which the authors see as achieving its objectives. This is one of the points that the author's make which is actually worthwhile: they believe that the assault on the second day was intended to lead to an attack by Dorsey Pender's division, which would have captured Cemetery Hill, and which was derailed when Pender was mortally wounded by an artillery shell. This is actually a good point, but the authors manage to obscure it. They also think Hood's wounding earlier had a negative effect. They do tend, however, to think that if things went according to plan, the Union army would have been powerless to stop the Confederates, and never consider the riposte that Meade would have come up with for a particular stratagem.

Lastly, I must concur with the one reviewer who complained about the typos. There are numerous errors; they detract from the book greatly. I also can't see what the various Dale Gallon paintings are doing in a serious history of the battle.

It's been a long time since I've read such a polemic history of anything. You almost never come across a book which criticizes other books by respected works on the subject as "flat wrong" and "mistaken." The authors have a habit of cherrypicking too. When Glenn Tucker praises Lee, he's brilliant, but when he criticizes him...you get the picture. There are some good points here, but I can't recommend the book for anyone but the most serious student of the battle, and he needs to be aware of the bias of the book prior to putting it to use, or at least recognize it.

This is a well-researched and fresh look at the Battle of Gettysburg. Having read more than 20 books on Gettysburg and countless others on the Civil War, I thought that I knew all there is to know about the epic three day battle.

Bowden and Ward pleasantly surprised me with their fresh analysis of this battle and Lee's generalship. They look at the battle from a different perspective. In the process, they shatter (conclusively in my humble opinion) many of the traditions that have grown out of the battle.

The tour de force of the book, in my opinion, is the chapter on Day Two. The authors' conclusions are compelling and thought-provoking.

While it's a cliche, it's true: once you read this book, you will never think about the Battle of Gettysburg the same.

In addition to being thought-provoking and compelling, the book is also an excellent read -- dare I say a page turner!

Every serious student of the Civil War and military history should read this book.

It is also very approachable for those not entirely familiar with all the nuances of Gettysburg and the Civil War.

This is not just another book on Gettysburg. It is a long-overdue study of this important battle written from the point of view of what Lee and his generals knew before and during the 1863 battle. The authors care-fully craft Lee's background and his history and relationship with other leaders including Jefferson Davis and Jeb Stuart. They describe Lee's plans and the actual battle, including the failure of subordinates to effectively utilize their artillery on the disastrous last day. The authors did not base their presentation on how the battle turned out. Instead they explored the actions of the Confederates and analyzed the facts known to Lee, Stuart, and the others to determine the basis for decisions and courses taken. In doing so, Bowden and Ward reach conclusions drastically different than those of many other historians, showing that many of the popular myths about the battle are indeed false. By using Stuart's initial troop movements while Lee was moving north, they show that Stuart did indeed have orders to move north rather than take his wayward ride around the Union forces. They show that Lee's orders to Richard Ewell to take Cemetery Hill were not discretionary. They not only look at actions taken; they also examine options not taken. Lee's generalship in this battle is shown to be much better than often credited to him. The arguments of many of Lee's critics are addressed and refuted in detail. Even a reader with great knowledge of this battle will benefit from this book. It is a "Must Read" for every student of the War.

New Raiders have problem with Flash MX Magic and now there are some problem with Photoshop 7 Magic, too.

Photoshop 7 Magic also have CD problem, I can't open picture in Project1 Folder. So, I can't Follow the book. Further more, Most of all folder contain only Start File.. no psd, no finish file there are only TIF file without layer! oh dear Sherry London, I'm not professional like you but I need some PSD file to see each Layer because sometime I can't follow your instruction. (as I see, 3 folders have finish file.. it's a big mistake)

in page 47 of this book, Phill Williams say only use Retouching tool to move object in TIFF file to other place (this is like a photo retouching) but they give me only 2 picture in that page .. just only original image and finish image.. there are no clue to point me out where I have to rubber stamp nor start to clone! and it's very small .. I do not understand why they left space behind. Maybe this is a MAGIC! So, it's very hard to understand. I need more picture and bigger! I do not know why her left space away like this .. :(

Worst ever, NO FONT!! but in book say include in cd, (lier) .. and many many error i.e. wrong folder name (I read only 3 projects but I found 4 or 5 errors!! it's too much!) and wrong picture in project 4!! you can download fix file from newriders website but it doesn't help anything! because errata still have error itself!! oh no.

Only a few better left is good tech support! but it's useless because this book is .... ok, I can say only don't purchase this book until next edition of this title came out! or try by yourself :) or purchase Photoshop 7 Wow! book instead!

A plethora of new books are arriving on bookshelves thanks to Adobe releasing version 7 of Photoshop, and Photoshop 7 Magic by Sherry London and Rhoda Grossman from New Riders is one of the latest.

I have been using Photoshop 7 for a few months now (and had used a beta version, Liquid Sky, for a few months before that) so I am pretty comfortable with the new version. I was hoping Photoshop 7 Magic would teach me something new, something I did not know I could do with the new version of the program. Alas, that is not what this book is about.

Starting off with some very simple ways to use text, layers, and transparencies, the book moves into many different categories of Photoshop, from Marbled Backgrounds to Satin Beveled Type. The book is broken out into three main segments, Artistic Techniques, Web Techniques, and Image Manipulation Techniques.

The book features some really nice artwork and the accompanying CD-ROM has all the files you need to re-create the projects done in the book.

The book is well written, if somewhat Spartan. There is no sense of who the people are writing the book. It is "I did this, then I did that, etc..." With all the white space in this book, I would have liked to see a little more of the personalities of the writers come through. As it is, it is a boring read. Photoshop 7 Magic is a textbook, not an entertaining read. With the great pictures and examples in this book, it could have been so much more. Perhaps Sherry and Rhoda should take a page from another New Rider writer, Scott Kelby, and liven their work up a bit.

This book is geared to new Photoshop users, or graphic designers just now making the switch from brush and canvas to mouse, stylus pen, and monitor. Experienced graphic artists who have been using Photoshop for a few years will get little from this book they do not already know, or have learned from the countless book already available on the subjects covered in this book. Add to that and the very hefty price tag of the book, a whopping forty-five bucks, and I cannot recommend this book unless you are really lacking in Photoshop skills, unlike the demographic this book seems to be catering to.

Average book at best. Nice paperstock and heft to the book, but price is way too much for the quality of the 275 pages of actual content. The only Magic here is watching [money] disappear from your wallet or purse.

MacMice Rating: 3 out of 5

------------------------------------------------------------------------

With hundreds of choices out there for the category, this one stands out. Photoshop 7 Magic really enhances the possibilities of the tool. As a user, I want a text that's simple to read and NOT overwritten. Just show me how to do it! I'm a painter who found the chapter on brush techniques and liquid painting to be very helpful. You'll want this book on your shelf.

... I would have never purchased this book.
I love the idea of giving my little 2 and a half year old a universal approach to tales and stories from all over the world. I new Rudoph qualified. I had no idea that there was a monster in the story; note that it was the one thing that impressed her, and she asked me what it was.
I wouldn't suggest it to anyone that wants to introduce the idea of Santa Clauss to their child.

I was very impressed with this book . . . a beautiful book, wonderfully illustrated, containing the original story, which did not have the Abominable, or Herbie, or Yukon Cornelius, like the later movie. I remember as a child in 1951 listening to the original story on 78rpm records put out by RCA and have attempted for years to find the original story. Although I did notice some subtle differences in the words . . .the original referred to Rudolph's, er, "forehead" (Santa was too polite to call it a big red nose) . . most of the text stayed true to what I had memorized. Definitely a book not only for children, but for us baby boomers who remember the original. A must-have to hand on from generation to generation.

Yes, the other reindeer make fun of Rudolph's red nose. (I would hardly call this bigotry.) That is the point of the story: Rudolph overcomes adversity and the other reindeer learn to accept differences. Even the elves learn to accept a dentist and the misfit toys are given to boys and girls who love them. Maybe the USA reader should have watched (or read) until the end of the story instead of making snap judgements like all of the other reindeer.

I pictured this book as a movie, almost from the opening page, and the fact that a large portion of the book is set around Hollywood is no coincidence. This probably would make an entertaining action thriller on screen with all the tongue-in-cheek comic-book violence and one-liners, but as a book, the frailties are a little more obvious.

Take the hero with the hero's name, Jack Walker. First of all, in order for any of the book to be taken at face value, you must be prepared to believe that he is rather stupid and terribly hampered by arrogance. Each plot twist can be deciphered shortly before it is revealed, and then the twist at the end seems arbitrary, tacked on instead of the result of insight and forethought. The heroine, Charlotte Rae, who it initially appears will be a mysterious, dark, seductress is also in the end bound down by stereotype, conventionalized and predictable.

Still, if you can put aside Jack's obvious lack of intellect, and try to ignore what Ebert would call the "Fallacy of the talking killer", where the bad guys decide not to dispose of the hero as they would anyone else, until they have prolonged their life by talking to them and left them alone just long enough for them to plan and execute an escape, then this is a mildly entertaining saga with a few nice touches.

Couldn't put it down! Simply one of the best books I have ever read! Hollywood should option this one!

The book is very comprehensive and thorough. You will need a financial calculator, and the ability to operate a financial calculator, to get the most from this book. Lots of diagrams and visual aids to help you through the financial material. It's a good book, probably best for those familiar with some of the concepts of real estate investment already.

Comprehensive study of real estate investment practices and techniques. Includes in-depth descriptions on standard investment measures such as NOI, IRR, Cash flow and expense analysis, tax considerations, etc. Subject matter is very detailed and may require some prvious real estate experience to fully benefit from the material.

with simple words and good exemples this book let the peoples come in the complexe world of the dental materials. If you know something better & more actual, let me know,I'm interrested.

Soy una estudiante en la maestria en prostodoncia en la Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon,Mexico. El catedratico de la materia de materiales dentales, el dr. Miguel Garcia, ampliamente reconocido en el pais, encontro que es un excelente libro dirigido para la especialidad. Nos hemos apoyado mucho en esta obra para comprender mas a fondo el material que dia a dia nosotros manipulado.

Plagiarism seems to be alive and well in the certification book industry--I found entire paragraphs in Lammle's CLSC book copied word for word from the Cisco Press CLSC Exam Guide and Cisco documentation. What have these guys got against footnotes and attributions? There are some important gaps, for instance, the book does not really cover Cisco's concepts of resource nodes/demand nodes, even though the 640-404 exam does have a number of conceptual and design questions. Before taking the exam and to fill in the gaps, you're well advised to review all the LAN switching white papers plus the hardware specs. available on the Cisco website. Like most books in the Sybex series, this one is sorely lacking in useful diagrams and illustrations--this is one advantage that the Cisco Press series has, but again you can compensate by hitting the website. Another inadequacy in the Lammle book is its poor presentation of the switch OS commands. I gave this book 3 stars because despite its shortcomings, it is somewhat more palatable and easier to follow than the Cisco Press one, and because some of its chapters are actually quite good--such as the one on ATM LANE. I got 100% correct in the ATM category on the 404 exam even though I didn't know much about this area before I picked up Lammle's book.

Although it is used for CCNP 1.0 exam, I think it is a good book anyway. It can give you a good explanation on the VLAN, especially the explanation on the product. You can get much information on Catalyst 5000/5500 series, 3000 series etc. That is the main point you should buy it.

This book has an awesome ATM section. The price of the book is worth that chapter alone. Although Sybex has an updated switching book out, this book has some seriously great information.

This book is mostly a kitchen sink approach to speed training methods and is a sure fire perscription for overtraining. And as previous reviews have pointed out, the book does not provide an overall logic that helps the athlete or coach properly integrate the training elements. The book does not properly explain how the components of its sytem interact with each other and how they should be balanced against each other when determining the needs of a given individual athlete. In addition, many of the techniques, most notably overspeed training, are highly dubious and most likely counter productive. For those interested in proven speed training methods, I highly recommend Training for Speed by Charlie Francis, which is light years ahead of SportSpeed. Also be on the lookout for Charlie's new training manual which should be released by the end of 2002 and will make every other book on speed training obsolete.

The training advice to improve sprinting speed, until this book, was to sprint a lot and hope that you have it in your genes. "Sports Speed" is the first book to develop a systematic method for developing sprinting speed. The techniques are used by professional and college teams nation-wide. If you have ever been frustrated by working your *** off and not seeing results in your running speed, this book will be a refreshing source of knowledge. It includes several example 3 month programs that can be used to create your own program. Be prewarned that to get any results from this book takes patience and dedication, but you WILL see results. A must book for all those serious about improving in football, basketball, baseball--any sport in which agility and speed are important.

This is an excellent book for backs who need more speed, like me. There are many, many ways to improve speed. All of which are helpful. Any athlete needs to read this book, it will take them to the next level of performance.

The book Kidnapped was a very good book filled with excitement and adventure. As I read this book, I could actually imagine what was happening. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading books about exciting adventures. It was fun to read about how a young Scottish boy, David Balfour, finds himself in a horrible situation after being betrayed by his uncle. David is only seventeen years old and is robbed of his inheritance by his own uncle. David must try and find a way to prove himself not guilty after being accused of murder and he must try to stay safe while doing it. Read this book and find out what David does to protect himself on his incredible journey.

Let me tell you now that 'Kidnapped' is my personal favourite, and I've already read it four times! You'll never get a moment to pause to take a yawn. R.L. Stevenson with his superb writing capabilities writes of a young man named David Balfour. When his father dies, he is told to go to his uncle's house. After several failed attempts to kill David the wicked uncle sells him off to a skipper of a ship. In the course of his stay on the ship David meets the Jacobite, Alan. I can't describe the novel in words you gotta read it to know what you are really in for! This is the greatest adventure novel I've ever read. If you have read Stevenson's 'Treasure Island' then you won't be disappionted with this one.

I was surprised to see some reviewers didn't like this wonderful book. If you have trouble with the Scottish accent, read it out loud, use your imagination, and if you still can't figure it out, skip a bit. (Do you insist on understanding every single word spoken in a movie?)

This is the story of a young man overcoming adversity to gain maturity and his birthright. It moves right along, in Stevenson's beautiful prose. Read, for example, this sentence from Chapter 12: "In those days, so close on the back of the great rebellion, it was needful a man should know what he was doing when he went upon the heather." Read it out loud; it rolls along, carrying the reader back to Scotland, even a reader like me, who doesn't know all that much about Scottish history. Kidnapped is by no means inferior, and in many ways superior to the more famous Treasure Island.

Only two points I would like to bring up: I bought the Penguin Popular Classics issue, and have sort of mixed feelings. Maybe some day I'll get the version illustrated by Wyeth. I'm not sure whether this book needs illustrations, though. Stevenson's vivid writing is full of pictures.

In Chapter 4, David makes a point of saying that he found a book given by his father to his uncle on Ebenezer's fifth birthday. So? Is this supposed to show how much Ebenezer aged due to his wickedness? If anybody could explain this to me, please do.