I guess one way to learn about computer electronics is to buy a kit that has a defective chip and then do ad hoc diagnostics on each component using a 9-volt battery to determine that the Toshiba TC4011BP ain't workin'.

This is not what I had in mind when I bought this kit, but it *was* my "out-of-the-box experience."

I've learned a lot about LEDs and logic gates, but I've had to use my imagination instead of confirming my understanding with LEDs that actually emit light. Oh well: typical "Made In China" quality, even if the bad chip in question was originally Japanese.

The too cute documentation is, in places, too cute, and I found several obvious errors in the booklet that could have been fixed if someone had just bothered to follow *all* of the instructions. For example, you're told to take out "the three red and black wires" when there are obviously only two of each in the kit. But at least the author tries to use complete sentences, unlike the majority of hardware data sheets coming out of South Korea. But some of the projects are very clever.

I think I could probably do a better job if I just made the time do "build a better mousetrap"...Maybe I should.

This kit and book might just light a spark in a childs mind. Great and easy to understand projects using common components and integrated circuits. You can even get all of the chips and components from this book at Radio Shack and reproduce some of the projects on your own. The 10 Led Chaser/Sequencer makes really cool fake car alarm warning lights for your dash. The authors choice of components is great because it simplifies the circuits you build quite a bit. Putting the breadboard together you experiment on is very easy. I don't really have anything bad to say about it. Please be careful with the chips until you understand the way they work. They are CMOS and easy to damage if wired wrong. CMOS chips can also be damaged by static so you don't want to go scuffing your feet across the carpet before using the kit. Just touch your kitchen faucet and get rid of the static electricity in your body before touching the chip leads.

What do computers do? How do they do it? These two questions welcome inquisitive minds as they begin to embark on a quest for these answers with this book and kit.

The language used to describe relatively complicated concepts is simple enough for an eager ten-year-old to understand. However, the hands-on activities and the knowledge gained about computers from this kit makes it an enjoyable product for "kids" of all ages.

The book contains an introduction to the various components of a circuit board and includes several projects that demonstrate some of the inner workings of a computer. After setting up the cardboard "breadboard" and completing some of the projects, the user will understand concepts such as AND gates, NAND gates and flip flops. The hands-on portion of the kit gives the user the satisfaction that comes when a project works, along with the knowledge of why it works.

Anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of the electronics behind the computer should check out this book and kit.

4wd Adventures is a monstrous book. Seriously, this thing has to weigh a couple of pounds. It comes loaded with historical information, information on nature, and some nice maps.

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? Well, I'm a bit iffy on this encyclopedic compendium. Let me tell you why, when I first arrived in Moab I talked with a bunch of fourwheelers and asked them where they were headed. They told me I have to check out the Sands Flat Rec. area. Honestly, I blew them off. Why? Well, I had this huge book full of trails. What did they know that my 4wd Adventures couldn't tell me? So I pick out the best of the best of Moab and go driving around some trails. Overall I was disappointed. The trails had some fun spots (I'm talking mainly the ones located within the Arches), and it was lovely to see, but overall...ehhh, I wouldn't do it again. I head back to my hotel and remember my earlier discussion with the fourwheelers, and I decide to check it out. I couldn't believe my eyes.

With their help, I had found the Slickrock Trails. This is the spot that helped put Moab on the map! Why in the world was it not included in this book? Everything else was! This area is a gem, and absolute marvel. But the book? Basically, the book was a real let down, especially for the price I paid. Note, I haven't tried much of the other trails, but a good portion of them are rated as 1, 2, and 3 on the difficulty level, which can be likened to driving up your dirt driveway. I'm not one of those maniacal fourweelers with the giant tires and portable welding kits, but I was surprised by how much of this book I don't really need.

Want my advice? Skip this one and check out the Guide To Moab, UT Backroads & 4-Wheel Drive Trails by Charles A. Wells, Shelley Mayer.

A fantastic reference book that makes back country exploring not only possible for anyone at any desired level of difficulty (or not), but also great fun. This book rolls trail information & descriptions , places and history, for the whole state, into one comprehensive book; great value for money.

This book like the first one, is a comprehensive guide to the Utah back roads. Anyone who is interested in driving the back roads must have this book.

As I read this in Provence it may have coloured my view of the book. Had I read it on a wet afternoon in Liverpool like another reviewer I may have had another view entirely. Nevertheless I enjoyed the bite size chapters, each dealing with a different food/fair/or culinary treat. It made me want to seek out the bizarre and eccentric corners of France discovered by Mayle. It's not meant to be great literature but he paints an interesting picture of a country that is only reluctantly embracing the rampant MacDonaldization of the world.

A fun read; I have ordered the rest of his books.

Not really a review, (although it was quite an entertaining read!) but just to let readers know that this book is the same as that published in the US under the name: "French Lessons: Adventures with Knife, Ford and Corkscrew". Anyone have an opinion (or information) as to the reason for the change in title for the US market?

There is a time and a place for reading Peter Mayle. The best place is in Southern France in the heat of the day, over a bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape. On rainy afternoons in Liverpool, something is missing.

In this latest book he tours France visiting various festivals related to particular foods and wines. Frogs - with remarkable thighs in Vittel, Chickens in Bourg en Bresse with perfect colouring - Red, White and Blue of course, Wine in Beaune, Scantily clad women in St. Tropez (?). They are all here. They are described with his usual humour and observation. If you love food, wine or France this is for you. If not you may become a convert.

A nice holiday read.

I found the book to be a good beginner's giude to RSDS/CRPS.

The basic information on the disease and symptoms is put together in an easy to read and understand format.

I was hoping for more in the Treatment area. Specifically inclusion of some of the new drugs and treatments being tested today. Some of the information here is out of date, specifically the information on the use of sympathectomies as a viable treatment option for RSD patients.

One thing that was mentioned here concerning them that is important to note, is that the Drs. who perform sympathectomies consider them a "success" if they last only one year.

Most patient's are not told this before the treatment, nor are they told that this treatment can result in a spread and worsening of the disease. Consequently most of the top RSD Drs. in the country have stopped this procedure.

Overall I would recommend this book for those patients and family members who need to be educated about this disease but they need to remember that there is much more hope out there now for RSD patients.

There are a lot of treatments just beginning with successful results, so please supplement your education with the reading of some of the RSD websites on the net.

Having RSD is a life-altering disease for the patient AND their families but it is not an end, just a change. This change can be dealt with, with the support of your loved ones and your and their education of exactly what you are facing. Never give up hope!

I give the book 3 stars.

Sincerely,
Keith Orsini
American RSDHope Group

It goes chapter by chapter explaining this horrible disease to
family members and the medical community.This is an illness
that not only affects the patient, but their marriage, relationships, children, and their caretaker.No matter what
your situation, it affects your whole life.
It gives examples of personal stories of people's lives that
have changed forever.Although all stories and lives differ,
all complain of pain in the upper or lower limbs.
The Hallmark symtom is PAIN, unrelenting PAIN.
Most of these victims turn up in the E.R., where if you are
fortunate one or two professionals have heard of RSD and
will medicate you and refer you to a pain clinic.
Usually, patients are given medicine and told not to bother
the E.R. staff with a chronic illness.Unrelenting PAIN is
Hell on Earth.The suicide rate for this disorder is 20%.
Although women have the highest rate of illness-it can
strike men and even chidren.
People are sick and in pain but because so little has been
written of this disorder, they must fight to get S.S.D
or help of any kind.
RSD( reflex sympathetic dystrophy)is a neurological disease
the way Multiple Scerlosis is also neurological.
We also know very little of coping. Coping has been defined as the ability to deal with a situation.Trying to cope with pain,suffering,and disability creates emotional distress-the daily life of a person with RSDS.
Fortunately, the internet is bring patients closer and people are demanding attention and a cure... This book reminds you not to become your disease.If you
are in great pain, you will become angry at that statement.
If you are being treated and have some good days, I agree.
If you find friends on the net you can exchange ideas.
Also,you can build a friedship of similiar interests, books, movies,sports, recipes,decorating,etc. that take your mind off pain and validate you as a person.
There were some palliative measures not mentioned that
disappointed me.Patients are now recomended to have
aquatherapy in a heated pool. It is easier on the body and
more beneficial to a damaged part.There are many new drugs
and research not mentioned that show promise.
I agree with Keith, sympathectomies are usually not done because the ganglion of nerves grows back after giving a person
relief for 12 to 18 months.When the nerves grow back they
are angry and more painful.The disease process may also
spread to other parts of the body.
On the whole, this book gives some comfort issues at the
back-although I question the one of putting clothes in a
freezer, because ice does so much damage, but maybe it is
a special case. Keeping a pillow with you is almost a
necessity.
There is a good chapter on isolation. In the beginning
everyone tends to isolate,because of the pain.
Music in Church makes you hurt,large groups of people and
noise all cause more pain, so you gradually eliminate
your favorite places and people.
Later,if you have some control of pain or do better at
different times of day, do become active.If you can only distribute fliers or put up posters for RSD-let that be your
contribution. A little charity work goes a long way.Send a
card. Let someone know you think of them. Some people are too overwhelmed just getting through the day but you can let them know you care. Space yourself and your time and you will
find you can enjoy life more.
Share this book with your family and they will understand
that people with RSD can sometimes spend time with you
and other times cannot.They will feel less rejected.

Little has been written about RSD until now for the common man. In the year 2003, this mystery disease goes undisgnosised in the vast majority of cases until it is too late. The patient is at the mercy of a complex disease. Like in my case, a minor injury caused nerves of misfire, sending constant pain signals to the brain. Whole body pain rules my body. This book is a common sense, what can I do now with this disability. How can my family help me gather my wits when the pain reaches the highest levels known to the medical profession. Living with RSD offers insightful information that helps the patient and the family live with this complex debillating illness. Living with RSD is a MUST read for persons with RSD, their families and the medical profession, who until now has been ill-equiped to communicate useful "day to day" living knowledge to the patient.

Wilson Hulley
Chevy Chase, MD 20815

I don't believe I've seen more than two of Mazursky's films but I enjoyed his book, especially the juicy chapter on his adventures with the increasingly more bizarre Peter Sellers. This is not a biography, but rather a series of essays about his involvement with different Hollywood people and some chapters about his current life and childhood. Recommended.

An interesting, light and witty Summer read that gives you insight into Mazursky's career and tales of movie production. Mazursky, born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn started out as an actor (Blackboard Jungle), moved on to be a comedy writer (Danny Kaye, I Love You Alice B Toklas) when acting parts were infrequent, and made his directorial debut with Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. My favorite scenes in the book? When a young Mazursky catches his zade eating his bubbe's herring on the afternoon of Yom Kippur; when Eisner and Katzenberg ask Mazursky if he thinks that the I.B. Singer story (Enemies, A Love Story) is too Jewish... maybe it can be about the Cambodian Holocaust instead of the WWII one; when Richard Dreyfus pulls out of the Enemies project; and the creation of Down&Out in Beverly Hills.

I loved reading this book, both from the standpoint of appreciating Paul Mazursky the director of many of my favorite films and reveling in Paul Mazursky the no-holds-barred storyteller. But--and, I'm sorry, there is a 'but'---why devote one sentence to the great Art Carney, who Mazursky calls the most pure actor he'd ever worked with, and then not tell the reader WHY he feels that way about Carney? There are no anecdotes to share about Jill Clayburgh or Robin Williams? Come on, Paul, give! This lapse is mostly compensated for by Mazursky's tales of traveling in the "then" Soviet Union and South America, his memories of working for Danny Kaye and his sharing the bitter and the sweet about his family, his friends and the ups and downs of his life. The chapter about Mazursky's relationship with his mother is especially powerful and a reminder that much of the pathos within even his funniest films came honestly to him. So, five stars for what's here---just would've liked to have seen more!

The description of the book has more meat than the book itself. This disappointing book is a 15 short chapter breeze through a multitude of subjects, and does not linger long on any single subject. There are some nice diagrams and ten thousand foot views crammed into 374 total pages (the page count vs. chapter count alone should indicate how superficial this book is). An example is the 21 pages devoted to weighty subjects encompassing project management tasks, configuration management, verification and validation, quality assurance, decisions and risks. Any one of the topics would have merited at least 20 page in a serious book on systems engineering. Useful to sales and marketing types who are selling systems engineering services, and executive management who might like a quick overview of systems engineering. This book is useless for technical professionals.

This book is a great introduction to the system engineering process. It might be lightweight for a practicing system engineer, but for an IT professional whose background is service delivery, production support and data center operations this book opened a whole new world.

An example of how this book opened my eyes is the way configuration management is explained, and how it fits within the system engineering process. IT professionals with my background are subject matter experts in change control; however, few of us (certainly myself) realize that change control is a subset of a much larger picture. Every part of system engineering it covered in sufficient detail to understand the basics. This understanding created, in my case, a desire to further research some areas in greater detail. Overall, seeing the process from a high-level view provided some unique insights about what is missing in IT management that can be filled by borrowing from our system engineering brothers and sisters.

I found this book valuable because I did not have to wade through a dry manual and sort out the details in order to get a big picture of system engineering. The brief, succinct chapters and excellent illustrations provided me with a coherent approach to my own job. In fact, I personally believe that applying system engineering principles to IT service delivery and operations management will significantly improve the IT profession. As such I highly recommend this book to my peers and anyone else who needs to see the big picture of the system engineering and how its principles can be related to their job.

Stevens' Systems Engineering looks at the place ofrequirements in a world which consists of complex systems in a highlycompetitive marketplace. This may be the commercial world or equally the military-industrial world in which systems must literally do battle with their rivals.

Stevens and his co-authors (two of them from the UK's Defence Evaluation and Research Agency) know that in this environment, many systems fail, very often because they were inadequately thought out, and often also because their development projects were poorly managed. Chapter 1 begins "The world is currently gripped by changes more intense and rapid than those triggered by the ndustrial revolution..." : we are at once swept into the rich, complex, and dangerous life of real system development.

For Stevens, the problem in systems engineering is complexity, and its mastery is, as the subtitle implies, the key to success. The design of complex systems demands hierarchy - of organisations, of projects, of contracts, of documents. Hierarchy implies interfaces: if you split a system into three, you probably create three interfaces between the component subsystems. Interfaces in turn imply specialisation: someone develops the hardware; someone else, the software. Similarly, someone (the customer) writes the requirements specification, while someone else (the developer) tries to meet those requirements. This, like the prime contractor - subcontractor relationship, consists of a customer and a supplier: the marketplace reaches right into the core of system engineering.

The book therefore covers a startling breadth of subjects, but always with the same practical vision and with the same conceptual tools. The first few chapters broadly follow the European Space Agency's now-classical PSS-05 software engineering standard life-cycle phases: user requirements, system requirements, architectural design, integration (of subsystems) and verification, management.

(Requirements are involved in every one of these phases.) Once the reader is grounded in the basics, the next chapter discusses how to tailor the simple life-cycle just presented. A tell-tale section entitled 'smaller systems' gives the game away: the systems in the authors' minds are a great deal larger than the PC 'systems' beloved of advertising copywriters.

The second part of the book (chapter 8 onwards) starts by looking at more realistic life-cycles, based on the management of risk: when is it sensible to go ahead with something? The answer is, when success can be assured even if the bad risks materialize. That can only be guaranteed if the risks have been quantified. Concepts of requirement priority and benefit, risk, and cost loom much larger in the marketplace than technical issues.

The remaining chapters examine management in multi-level projects (hierarchy again), software and systems, prototyping (to control risk), information modeling, projects and the enterprise, a chapter on how to improve and a summary.

Each chapter consists of a double-page title/table of contents, overlaid on some crisp pencil artwork on the theme of engineering progress (from Leonardo's hang-glider to an agile jet). The text is broken up by plenty of simple flow diagrams illustrating life-cycles, trade-offs, business processes and information models, as well as short summaries of what the most important system documents should contain. Key points are highlighted or bulleted within the text. The chapters end with a page or two of realistically tricky exercises: the answers cannot be coded in C.

The helpful appendices include a list of websites: Systems Engineering comes with its own website which contains pointers to several related sites, and itself includes 'proposed' answers to the exercises which end each chapter. Students will find the glossary helpful and comprehensive. There is an extensive list of very varied references, and a detailed index. This book is a carefully worked out description of the process of developing any large, complex, and risky system. The book can also be read as a polemic: an impassioned plea for the discipline to graduate from its narrow roots, whether in academia or in quality control. The concluding paragraphs make it clear that system engineering is a human process, a 'game' in which there are losers as well as winners, something that can be played well, and that absolutely must be played better to limit the risks and losses that are still all too common....

The book will be of interest to several quite different communities: in particular development managers, clients having large systems developed, and students of system and software engineering will all find much that is of interest here. The book may also be a useful supplement (or perhaps an antidote) to the academic perspective on RE. Everyone should have access to a copy.

I have used the 1980 edition of this book. The main thing I liked about it is that it provided both the Pinyin and the romanized transliteration, which I assume is Wade-Giles. Each English word also includes the simplified Chinese character to help when trying to communicate with Chinese friends.

What I didn't like about it is that it is very basic and I would often find myself going to a more complete dictionary to find many words, but hence they would only give the Pinyin. Having both transliteration methods in this book made it much easier for me to get close to the correct pronounciation.

My Chinese friends found the list of words in the simplified Chinese characters by stroke count too limiting. They would often prefer to use a more complete dictionary...or their handheld translation computers.

This book is very helpful for beginners to get started on useful vocabulary and by filling in needed words for today's word usage from other sources. Some words may be outdated for todays usage, but will be understood by "patient" native speakers. Column format especially helpful for self-study on Eng-Chin, Chin-Eng (in Pinyin) and reading Chinese characters (caution: simplified characters used). Caution on some mispels and column misprints, very few though. Zai Jian.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much this book draws the reader in. The author has obviously done a tremendous amount of research in the era, and creates a chilling tale of murder and sexuality. A great historical fiction in the Gothic tradition.

Although this is not the last word in modern drama, the play included in this book is quite interesting. I am a theatre director interested in Grand Guignol Dramas and, even though I did not LOVE the play, it is most certainly a great excercise for actors, as well as for directors, since the play presents a very intriguing character. It is a ruthless character, yet the audience must love her dearly. It's a very fine line to work there, therefore a great challenge. It's strange, the poems and specially the play affected me in a peculiar way: I was not cray about the text, but it was intriguing and challenging. I guess the best way to know it is to stage it and see what comes out. For theatre lovers it is a very peculair reading. Join the Blood Countess crusade if you dare!

As a nonnative speaker of English who teaches English as a second language I've found this book to be a source of valuable information. Its wide coverage and the inclusion of alternative or variant pronunciations are among its best features. However, it is not possible to approach it without a working knowledge of the IPA. The explanations given in the introduction are hardly enough to aid production of the sounds. Explanatory notes are few and far between. In this aspect, I believe J.C.Wells' Longman Pronunciation Dictionary is a much more complete and detailed guide (especially for nonnative speakers).

The 15th edition of Daniel Jones English Pronouncing Dictionary follows the tradition of its ancestors. It gives not only details on British and American English, but also includes international place names and internationally known proper names. It is userfriendly and easy accessible, although to use it properly, the reader has to be used to IPA (International Phonetic Association / Alphabet) symbols, otherwise the transcripts are not readable. Nonetheless, the book has to compete with Wells' Longman Pronuncation Dictionary, of which a second edition is to come up. Already the first edition of it is a concurrent of Daniel Jones, both books serve the same purposes and are equally good. Either the one or the other should be on the bookshelf of each English student.

I find Foucault's work REALLY interesting, and I enjoyed the prequel to this book (Power/Knowledge). But unless you are a grad student looking for material to incorporate into some rigorous research, this book is just downright boring. The Foucault Effect professionalizes Foucault: the contributors appropriate his general methodological approach and use it to generate rigorous studies of political economy and government. The work by Foucault presented in this book is needlessly wordy and obscure, and yet it lacks the brilliant iconoclasm that characterizes most of Foucault's other work. Here, Foucault performs such banal tasks as explaining how he separates one discipline from another in his analysis, and it's just not particularly interesting.

Some of the stuff about liberalism, capitalism, and normality is fairly intelligent, but all of the work here is just "scholarship." It's well-researched, it's detailed, but it's not courageous or groundbreaking. In The Foucault Effect, Foucault is colonized by the professionalism of academic "research," and tamed. The Foucault Effect is a book that celebrates the efficacy of criticism, and yet its critiques are for the most part about as interesting as a journal on organic chemistry.

Academic researchers ought to buy it. People who are just interested in Foucault shouldn't.

This is a key text for any of us wrestling with the epistemological change which Foucault created in his own, earlier writing. The work on "governmentality",for example, expanded here into intelligible and practical context allows each researcher to use Foucault's vision to generate the methodological tools which he had deliberately avoided.Castel's analysis of 'normal' by itself makes this book worth owning because it is both a guide to Foucault's own philosophical progress and a set of practical extensions of his unrolling vision. Buy it!