This is the best, most inspirational book, you'll ever own! It includes all the best quotes and then some. You will not regret buying this book -- in fact, I would recommend buying numerous copies for you, friends, and extras to give away!

I skimmed it a bit in the store and immediately decided to buy it for a friend. I couldnt stop reading it and now I dont want to give it up!Its one of those rare books you willwant to buy more of as a gift.

This book is a gem.What a wonderful book to have in my home thank you for writing it. I wait with great expectations for book 2

None of the guides to Laos are perfect. This one was at least helpful and the writing tolerable. That's all you can ask, apparently. It doesn't matter, though. If you make it to Luangphabang and stay for a while I don't think you'll care which guidebook was "best". You'll be too busy enjoying one of the most beautiful, romantic cities I've ever had the joy of setting foot in. If you're French visit the Dao Fe creperie, if you speak English, try to find the owner of the Duang Champa, and whatever you do, wherever you go, learn a little Lao so you can talk to people in their own language, like a proper human being. You can get away with speaking English in Vientiane and Luangphabang, but it's rude; in the villages they aren't going to be very interested in what you have to say if you can't at least speak a little Lao. So your choice of guidebook will quickly become an afterthought once the first few days have passed.

I traveled to Laos in January, 2001 and found that the Rough Guide to Laos enhanced my experience tremendously. The writing is much more thorough and intelligent than Lonely Planet's guidebook for Laos. About 95% of independent travelers depend on the Lonely Planet book, but I think Rough Guide does a much better job. Laos is changing quickly so there are oftentimes many additional restaurants and hotels in a town that were not around when the book was researched, but that is not a major problem. I highly recommend this book.

Unlike another reviewer, I did not have to benefit of travelling to Laos with the authors. But after reading this guide book, I felt as if I knew them, like they were old friends who were jotting down their travel notes to help me on my journey. By halfway through the book, i felt i could read between the lines to tell the good from the better, the bad from the horrible. As someone who generally hates guide books, I can honestly say, this one is all good. I only wish i could someday travel to Laos with Jeff Cranmer and Steven Martin. Such a fascinating read clearly could only come from fascinating people.

this was a good book to say the least. while i did not like loosing sima from the dark, jaya was a nice replacement. mr. grubb did not do a very good job on who lim-dul was possessing. =D this book though had one of the best duels i have ever read. lots of detail in the mental mansion idea, the mental mansion idea was one of my favorite idea's in magic. this book though, had a good balance of going to the different parts of the world. going back to tresserhorn to express the darkness, the part of the world that is still frozen. going to the school of the unseen, to show the development of the world, the foremost place of magic development. going to soldev (i think) to show the artifact reliant people. it worked out well. i think the best part in the book, by far is the jodah- lim dul fight. the giant jaya, kinda wierd, but okay. whats nice is that lim dul knew about jodahs mirror, made a strategy around it. im done.
go forth, wreak havoc

This was surely the best book since the Gathering Dark. I loved the end and how they rapped up Jodah's life and how they concluded the Ice Age. It was an amazing book that I will never forget. All three books have been the best books I've ever read, and I can assure you that I've read MANY books.

The 3rd book in the Ice Age cycle is quite good. What develops in this novel is two distinct threads of story, the conclusion of Jodah's lifestory and the continuity tale that binds the trilogy's landscape into the greater series of Magic novels. This makes it a very intersting read, especially if you've been reading the Urza series and the Weatherlight Saga. Because of the way the books have been published after the Brothers' War story, we are left to wonder what happened on Terisare(the place where most of the action is) after the Brother's War. The focus has been on the Phyrexians' imminent invasion, but this series has allowed us to finally know what has been heppening to get us to the present. Jodah's story is great for character development, and perhaps moreso than the previous novel, it allows to get a greater understanding of the character's concerns and thoughts. Even others, like Jaya and Gerda, have more focus time than before on who they are. The story this time follows good contiuity, but after a while you realize that the plot is pretty much going to go in a certain direction. The revelations involving Lim-Dul aren't that much of a surprise by the time the story reaches its climax. Also, fans of the card game will know what certain key events involving Soldev and Krov are coming in the story. Rather the story gives us a chance to spotlight notable characters and all this doesn't take away terribly from the dramatic conclusion and resolution that follows. If there is any problem with the novel is that in striving for closure of the Ice Age, it seems to leave more questions for devlopment. Without giving too much away, one does ask what will become of our heroes. Given the ending, you have to wonder what happened to Jodah; when will we see Jaya again; what became of the school of the Unseen; and even how Argive will develop into this all. Some of this has been mentioned by causality in other Magic novels, and the story seems to end on a firm note. But frankly there is room speculation and another story.

Much has been written about organizational change. The ability for an organization to successfully change and sustain the change is a key differentiator today's competitive world. I found this book was "manager friendly". I could quickly review the "Points to Remember" and "Common Trip Points" as listed in each task to ensure our team was focused on the right things. The Ten Tasks of Change is a ideal book to simplify every leader's most complex issue: change.
-- Don Langewisch, Performance Systems Manager, ChevronTexaco Corporation

I've just finished the Ten Tasks of Change and found it to be a practical guide to managing change. In my work in education, I find one of the most challenging hurdles is guiding people through change.

This book provides useful advice from the get-go, translating conceptual principles into plain language, as in "Swiss-cheesing the overwhelming.... poking a few holes in the task by getting on with what you can do now."

The authors also do an excellent job of synthesizing and building upon the work of others, as seen in their 'Checklist for a Well-Designed Job'.

Lastly, I found it most useful that they not only stress what to ideally 'do and attempt' when facilitating change, but also include advice on what to avoid doing, with a list of 'Common Trip Points' at the end of each chapter.

Organizations are changing rapidly and unpredictably and such change has now become the norm for successful companies. Ten Tasks Of Change: Demystifying Changing Organizations provides managers and owners with a whole-systems approach to handling and modeling changes, using a basic foundation of planning and managing work to help changes take place smoothly. Chapters provide an easy, pragmatic approach to achieving the basics tasks of the framework presented by the authors.

If you love racing, and if you have the respect of great drivers you will love this book. I own many NASCAR books, and this is my favorite. The pictures are amazing the information is great. You can't go wrong with this book. There is one sad thing about the book...after reading it reality sets in that we won't see this rivalry on the track ever again. The memories are well-documented in this book and will live on! Thanks Dale and Jeff!

Some of the greatest racing pictures ever. What a great way to remember Dale Earnhardt. If you LIKE Nascar you will LOVE this book. I have seen a lot of George Tiedemann's work and this is as usual, quality work. Buy it!

I ordered this book a few days after the death of Dale Earnhardt. I've been a Jeff Gordon fan for a few years now, and loved watching the on-track duels between these two drivers. The stories and pictures compliment each other very well, telling the story of two fierce competitors and their respect for one another. I am sad knowing that there will never be another last lap duel between 'Wonderboy' and the Intimidator, but this book helps keep the memories alive. Highly recommended for fans of either driver, or NASCAR fans in general.

this book rocked. anyone who can read should read this series. the next 3 books are #4 Dirty Big Secrets from Nicks point of view about Chealsea and Jazz and stuff, #5 The Evil Twin about Karma and her twin and #6 Truth or Scare where Lisha has to choose between 2 guys, supposedly the most romantic book of trash yet. I'm not sure if you can buy them yet though and i cant wait!

This book was a lot of fun to read. It had a lot of surprises (I really thought Lisha would end up with Sky) and suspense (I never knew what to expect next from Harley). I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

It was really fun, wild, and surprising. I love the relationship problems, it adds reality. I think Sky and Lisha should go out though...

I read this book in a day...well half of it. I finished it in two days and I found it to be very informative about prison since the stories come from prisoners.

This compassionate collection of prisoner autobiographies made me feel very sad in places, angry in others, hopeful and encouraged in still others. The accounts, like the prisoners who wrote them, are diverse: their tone varies from poetic and sublime to gruesome and shocking. Few, if any, are self-pitying. The editor seems to have taken great pains in selecting pieces that tell a different story about criminals' lives: how backgrounds (mostly horrific) aren't always to blame for their choices in life, how criminals *can* tell right from wrong, and how deeply sorry (but not always able to express that sorrow, and seldom encouraged to do so) many of these prisoners are for the damage they've done to others and to themselves. This is a fascinating, revealing read. Anyone who has any interest at all in prisoners' backgrounds, crime or criminals will relish this superb collection of autobiographical stories that editor Jeff Evans has compiled.

I met the author of this book recently at a reading/signing in Brooklyn, NY and asked him why he wrote it. He was careful to point out that it was a collaborative effort of nearly 40 people but that he was always interested in the personal histories of prisoners and just could never find a book on them. Indeed, this is the first time I've ever come across a book like this too. I'm always skeptical about anything prisoners have to say, but I was deeply affected by the stories of these prisoners' lives. They were honest-sounding and eye-opening, and the piece by William Skeans, in which he describes his own family as "white trash" was especially heartbreaking. One woman prisoner wrote about her father's suicide and, although her piece was short, it left me feeling as numb as the author after she saw her blood-spattered mother seated in the living room. Not all criminals are witnesses to violence, but as Jimmy Santiago Baca writes in his preface, "For most of these writers, their childhood environment consisted of dope fiends, alcoholics, or thieves who lied, cheated, stole and raped, plundering their innocence and any chance of a normal life. When this happens to you as a kid, it virtually guarantees you'll end up behind bars." These well-chosen autobiographical stories will live on in your mind and make you think seriously about the nature of crime and our unforgiving justice system.

You sit sometimes and think for hours about how to do something in Visual Basic that is so darn easy to do in the pure Win32 API. It still does not come. More Jolt. Nope still nothing. Then you read this book and holy moly there it is!

I think that pretty much covers what this book is about. For someone like me that started programming Windows with Windows 2.0 and am an old hand at the actual C level API this book brings some of the tricks of the trade to the Visual Basic programmer. Between this book and "Advanced Visual Basic 6" by Matthew Curland a programmer of VB will find plenty of ammunition to shut down those "VB is a whimpy language" attack chihuahuas.

If you are a better than average VB programmer and need some new tricks to keep interest up or if you are any level programmer that needs a little spice to go with your code get this book and play with the code inside.

This book also does something else all books should do. The authors included the source code for ALL the examples and annotated the code to the max. Thus the "Annotated Archives" title, eh. Other peoples' code is a valuable tool for programmers and there is plenty of it in this book.

This book is the best example book I've ever read! A lot of examples, all are explained and the Code is very useful: Create flat toolbars with the Toolbar Control, do floating or docking Toolbars, or display designer menus! Congrats!

When it comes to references and "secrets of" books, there are so many choices that it makes finding a decent book nearly impossible. I am delighted to have stumbled onto "Visual Basic Annotated Archives." Whether you need to learn how to write an ActiveX DLL or simply wish to look at snippets of clever code, this is the one to consider. I heard that one of the authors (Kent) is a teacher... it shows in his writing style, which is very easy to follow.

This is about the third book I've read by Gene Veith and I enjoy his clear writing style very much. This book has a helpful overview of the main genres of literature and their place in the Christian worldview. The real gems in this book are Veith's discussions of Fiction and Fantasy. There would certainly be crossover into the realm of filmmaking for the thoughtful Christian screenwriter. I also found the end chapters on the development of literature throughout history, and how Christians interacted and critiqued the errors of their day a helpful corrective to much of the existential Christian nonsense which tries to pass itself off as "Christian literature" these days. My only disappointment is Veith's repeated use of Madeline L'Engle as a positive example of a Christian author. Certainly, she has some spiritual overtones to her books, but I don't think the worldview she presents could be called distinctly "Christian". The other slight criticism I have is that I would have liked to see Veith give more discussion to developing a model for how Christians can interact with their culture through literature. He kind of assumes too much here.

The only problem with this book is that it has the wrong title. It shouldn't be called a "Christian" guide to literature, but simply a guide to literature. I heartily recommend this book to both my Christian and non-Christian friends.

Mr. Veith clearly explains the importance of literature in our modern society. His description of the different literary forms gave me a new appreciation for some genres that in the past I had avoided. This book is important to both the avid reader as well as some one who would like to develop an appreciation for literature. It is most appropriate for anyone who has an interest in literature, not just Christians.

We live in a time which allows book lovers access to a tremendous amount of literature, but we often need help in sorting through the junk to get to the nuggets of gold. Veith has done an outstanding job of teaching the lover of reading what to look for (and look out for) in books. The author explores how to seek out quality works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry in helping the reader develop a sense of good literary taste. The book also explains how literature has changed from the Middle Ages to the present, but in an entertaining way. Veith's writing style makes sometimes confusing literary concepts easily understood. A very enjoyable read.

What a surprise this book was for me. I rarely read essays, usually preferring books that offer more color and action. Although I live in California, Upper Turkeyfoot and Jeff O'Brien kept me totally involved with his life in the mountians of Pennsylvania. Something about his writting seems to keep you totally involved. I even identified with the mice that live in his typewriter. I highly recomend this book a an absoring read and look forward to more works by this author.

I read his book many times. He relates to people and their own experiences. His nature pieces place his reader in our home and the fields and the woods we so love!

I've been meaning to write for a while now to say how much I'm enjoying this book. I laughed out loud at the "Soup" piece. But, mostly, it's just nice to have the company of a truly sane person in this crazy world. I love all of his meditations and I wish I had written most of them!