I love to read in the same way that some people love eating chocolates. Just as they disregard warnings as to caloric intake in making their selections and opt for the largest, darkest,or prettiest piece in the box, so, too, I disregard the admonition not to judge a book by its cover and often select a book by its size, heft, and cover. Guilty Pleasures meets all of my superficial criteria: it has a pleasing fit to the hand, a weight perfect for horizontally-inclined literati such as I, and an eye-catching cover filled with colorful shoes such that one's eye is drawn to the authorship on the suspicion (unfounded) that this is Immelda Marcos' work. Of course, as my chocoholic friends might say, "the proof is in the pudding" and the quality of a book is in the reading. Just as a square of fudge delights as it melts and clings to the palate, Guilty Pleasures delights the mind. Eight women writers unrepentantly share the joys they find in ordinary and not so ordinary pleasures running a quixotic gamut from taking antidepressants to applying toenail polish, from crossword fanaticism to extorting money from one's parents. The writing is refreshingly witty, wicked, and wise. Although these small gems of essays are assembled of necessity in an order, I recommend reading them haphazardly. After all, what chocolate lover would adhere to the map on the candy box, eating all the creams first before proceeding to the nuts? There are enough strictures in life! Just open the book and enjoy at random. And, yes, the next time you need to tote a small gift somewhere, you might forego the candy and bring along a copy of Guilty Pleasures. Think of it as a book lover's fudge!

These authors have tapped into a huge vein (keg?) of human experience. Each essay details a different furtive joy, and I could feel their pleasure even in the ones I couldn't identify with myself.
There are no morals given; no helpfull hints; just honest enjoyment of many things that may not fit our public personas or enhance our professional images. Before I even finished the book, I found myself mentally starting to examine my own guilty pleasures. It's so nice to know that I'm not alone in admitting that I do get a thrill out of a few somewhat dubious activities.
My daughter keeps dipping into this book, too. Obviously, it's appeal is multi-generational.

All the confessions in this book are deliciously guilty and are expressed in the picturesque language of poets and the best of literary writers.

As a detective officer studying for a post graduate diploma in Forensic Medicine I found the book extremely useful, not only from a theoretical point of view but also from a practical stance in relation to daily police operations. The text is well laid out and each chapter provides easy reference. I would certainly recommend this book to any detective officer who for the most part, deals with violent crime.

This work is not a reference textbook in the normal format of text photographs and graphic illustrations. It is written n a telegraphic style, with clearly defined headings, subheadings and lists of the important facts of every division of forensic medicine. It is in an easily manageable format with wire back-binding, which facilitate: the opening of pages without the constraints of the traditional hardcover binding. It is amply illustrated with simple graphs and line drawings to clarify the adjacent text. As a handy vade mecum this publication is ideally suited for under and postgraduate medical students.

In summary, an excellent manual on forensic medicine and pathology, recommended to all students and doctors interested and working in the field of forensic medicine and pathology. It will also be of value to lawyers who appear in inquests and trials, either as prosecutor or defense lawyer, where the understanding of medical facts and processes may be of paramount importance to ensure that justice is carried out in a fair and proper manner.

This small, spiral-bound handbook of forensic pathology is an accurate and concise manual containing all topics dealt within the forensic pathology/medical examiner setting.

According to the author, the book is intended for pathology fellows, residents, and medical students to aid in their instruction. In my opinion, the book would be quite useful to trained pathologists, medical examiners, and primary care providers (especially emergency room physicians exposed to forensic cases). The principal author is well-known in the field of forensic pathology.

All aspects of forensic pathology, including blunt force injury, sharp wounds, asphyxia, gunshot wounds, fire deaths, environmental deaths, electrocution, deaths in custody, intraoperative deaths, and natural deaths are covered in this small handbook. Many useful diagrams and tables are included, such as firearm pictures and related diagrams, body area charts and tables for thermal injuries, and several classic illustrated injuries which are encountered in a forensic practice. The forensic toxicology section is quite useful with a very handy table of various drugs with therapeutic, toxic, and fatal blood levels.

This excellent handbook compiles the most useful information found in the better known textbooks in a well-organized, easy to read format. This book will be my first source to answer a forensic question before referring to a full size textbook.

(An update -- I just noticed that this book is now out of print. However, it's still, as of June 2003, by far the best source of sample configurations and detailed explanations for WAN design with Cisco routers. You could spend days digging around for sample configs and cisco.com and still wouldn't have the breadth of examples found in this book.)

This book is a must-have reference for wide area networking engineers. The book provides both background and practical configuration advice for a wide range of WAN scenarios. What makes this book uniquely helpful is the way that the author steps through each of the available Cisco techniques for providing redundancy. The author first explains how the technology works, and then proceeds to show full example configurations, and then explains real world caveats of the configuration. Reading this book gave me a clear understanding of the different types of fail-over and redundancy available in Cisco products, and in which circumstances each would be most applicable.

I would recommend that anyone designing a WAN read this book cover to cover and then keep it as a reference for future design work. I've read it multiple times already and with each new project I find another section that applies directly to my work.

This book is an important addition to the body of knowledge of high availability in general and network availability in particular. Do not let the title mislead you, this book is not about high availability for Cisco - it uses that product family for examples. The information provided in this excellent book can be effectively applied to any vendor-specific or multi-vendor network architecture.

I am not going to rehash the table of contents or the lengthly editorial review - I am going to jump into why I like this book and what I think makes it so valuable.

First, no 24x7 system is a true highly available information resource unless you can access it. Try as I may, I cannot think of a single company that does not employ a network as the base infrastructure for their information systems. This book provides information necessary to create a foundation for high-availability and 24x7 operations.

Second, the book is a catalog of high availability designs that will fit within any network architecture, regardless of complexity, products used or geographical scope. No matter what your network currently looks like you will find out what it takes to transform it into a reliable, resilient 24x7 network. The author has provided a design strategy for every conceivable situation and network configuration, and thoroughly discusses the underlying technical issues. This is where the "Cisco" part of the title comes in - he uses that particular product family as examples for achieving high availability designs for each scenario.

Third, the disaster recovery section in the book is well thought out and shows that the author has a lot of knowledge and experience in business continuity planning and disaster recovery. This section alone is worth the price of the book.

This book is, in my opinion, essential reading for network architects, consultants and integrators, and operations managers who are seeking a total solution to high-availability solutions.

What I would love to see is a follow-on book that provides the design information reformatted as design patterns. This would be an invaluable resource for experienced network architects and consultants.

This book is a fantastic, practical, detailed, readable reference for a huge range of very important networking topics relating to increasing the up-time of networks. It gives sample configurations for Cisco routers (with some reference to Bay/Nortel routers as well) in many environments (ISP connection, firewall, hub-and-spoke architecture, load-sharing, and so on), and provides supurb discussions of the decisions and trade-offs in the many ways of designing high-availablility networks. Difficult network problems, such as enabling backup data links for routers where the primary WAN interface fails "silently" (without a change in the interface status) are clearly addressed, with several detailed solutions presented, discussing the advantages, disadvantages and restrictions of each. There are none of those frustrating issues left for us to work out on our own, this is a tutorial book with all the answers, not a college textbook with questions. Redundant network components, including dual LAN adapters, LAN adapters with built-in dual ports, dual switches, routers with dual WAN interfaces, dual routers, dual DNS servers, dual firewalls, dual ISPs, and dual locations are all examined, showing what has to be done to actually get increased availability. Even though I likely won't be implementing these myself, I now know what I can ask of those who are configuring my routers, and I know how to look at network designs with a better knowledge about reliability and failure modes.

This hardcover book by Mallozzi is one of my most treasured books. It is a large hardcover book with a glossy front and glossy dustjacket. It features about 300 of basketballs all time great players. Each featured player is allocated a page which has some narrative about the player and his career. There is a 'fact file' on each player which lists : Birthdate, height, length of NBA career, major teams, records/awards. Each feature also had a large photo, generally of the player in action and a smaller photo of the player where available. The photos are in glorious colour apart from the earlier photos of legends such as 'Pistol Pete' Maravich. There are also a number of 'special features' in the book highlighting some great basketballing moments. Full of facts and action photos this book will not disappoint basketball fans. For the older reader this book will bring back fantastic memories. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Superb, essential purchase for basketball and sporting fans alike.

A wonderful well written history of basketball's greatest
players. Any serious fan of the game needs to have this
in their collection.

"Basketball: The Legends and the Game" is a wonderful book for any sports fan. It is well researched, well written and has wonderful photographs. I read the book during the N.B.A. lockout and found it to be a very suitable replacement for the actual game. I highly recommend this book to any basketball aficionado who is interested in learning a great deal about the history of the game.

This is a must for anybody's personal library. No matter where you are in life, Sir John has done us all a great favour by writing this book. He uses a range of philosiphies and theologies to explain everyday events in our lives.
Are you overwhemled or caught up in day to day events? Mr. Templeton's collections of various authors and his own works will explain sometimes difficult situations into easy to understand english. For example, lesson "No one knows the weight of another's burden" on page 20 is about the young man in a male therapy group.
The men were in a group session and the person in the story is a new participant. The mediator explained that each person would have a few minutes to explain his problem and what they plan to do about it. Natually, the new person thought with his marital break down, near bankruptcy and poor health, his would be one of the saddest cases.
Before it was his turn to speak, a handsome young man in his 20's revealed that he was terminally ill and had 6 months to live. Rather than dwell on it, he decided to take up flying lessons and live! Naturally, everybody else was taken off guard and rediscovered the gifts they have.
Templeton's 200 lessons in this book address almost every situation around. You don't have to be struggling with life to enjoy this. Everybody needs a bit of down to earth insiration and you'll have it with this!

John Marks Templeton's most important discovery is that our lives are shaped by certain eternal laws. He has established several foundations to advance spiritual developments and offers free literature plus newsletter to all who ask. Enjoy a visit to the Templeton Foundation . He rose from humble beginnings to lead a 30-billion dollar group of investment companies and established the Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, which exceeds the Nobel Prize in financial value. This beloved book includes two hundred "laws of life" and appeals to all on the spiritual path. Contributors to "Laws" include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jesus, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Benjamin Franklin, Dr. Gerald G. Jampolsky , and Eric Butterworth . Endorsements include Dr. Robert Schuller, Billy Graham, and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale.

Great therapy. It is an easy read. Something you can open a few minutes a day to lift your spirits, and it doesn't hurt to read over and over again. It may not dazzle your senses (nonfiction), but it should make you feel good.

Most people can name at least a couple famous artists and cite some examples of their best-known works. But have you ever wondered what's really behind all that painting, sculpting, and drawing? Kathleen Krull's book Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought) gives an in-depth view into the humor, tragedy, and mystery in twenty artists' lives, as well as the gossip inspired by their peculiar lifestyles. Carefully researched, this humorous biography travels throughout the centuries, offering basic facts along with interesting tidbits and anecdotes about artists from Leonardo Da Vinci to Georgia O'Keeffe and beyond. It also includes interesting backround information behind each one's artistic works as well as creative and eye-catching illustrations by Kathryn Hewitt. This entertaining book allows readers to get to know the world's greatest artists and their artworks through each one's unique and engaging story.
The book is well organized into chapters each focusing on the life of one individual artist. The author skillfully and humorously connects information about artists' personalities, preferences, and lifestyles with how they affected their most well known artworks. It recreates each one's position in history, telling how the artists were seen by the general population in their day, or even their reputation among curious or superstitious neighbors. Readers will be able to see for themselves that famous artists were real people who did mess up once in a while. The author explains a time when Leonardo Da Vinci decided to try out a new painting method, saying, "The technique resulted in disaster...(he hadn't read all the way through to the part that said "don't try this on walls")."
The author's voice helps compliment the content in several ways. Kathleen Krull's words strike a tone that is warm, chatty, and friendly, making you feel as if she were talking with you in the same room. Her gossip extends not only to the basic facts but also to many specific details abou the artists' lives. Showing the passion and tragedy in his life, she remarks about the artist Vincent van Gogh,"Van Gogh imposed a condition of near starvation on himself and would go for days without food so he could afford to buy art supplies." In addition, every sarcastic or humorous comment made on the part on the author helps readers to feel they are getting to know an actual person rather than a cold, vague historical figure.
The author also ensured that the book would appeal to an audience of both children and adults. The words and explanations are engaging and humorous and immediately capture your interest, yet the vocabularly is not too difficult for children. The full-page color illustrations are vivid, clever, and bring to life each artist for the young and old alike. Because the book gives more information about each artist than is generally known, it is sure to benefit and interest a wide range of audiences.
Readers of all ages will definitely become hooked on this fact-filled and entertaining biography. Lives of the Artists: Masterpieces, Messes (and What the Neighbors Thought) retells the one of a kind stories of each of the world's most famous artists, blending historical facts with humor and captivating details. Most importantly it allows readers to recognize each individual artist through an attractive mix of their achievements, lives, and unique personalities.

Reading a chapter from this book has become a bedtime ritual for my daughter and me. My daughter happens to be very interested in art and this book gives her an idea of what it's like to actually be an artist. Both the illustrations and text bring these artists to life more than any other childrens or adult book I have ever seen. This is one of the few books that we both enjoy reading over and over again. I wish the authors would do another volume of artists. Meanwhile I'm ordering another book by this author/illustrator combination.

This book would make an outstanding addition to the reading list of any art lover. If you love finding out the gossipy trivia about some well-known and should-be-well-known artists, that this is the book you MUST buy. Really gorgeous illustrations by a fantastically talented artist herself, Kathryn Hewitt

Melanie Martin is back from Italy. She is now done with 4th grade (which I just finished, too!). She, her ever-serious dad, her art-loving mom, her six-and-a-half yr. old brother, Matt the Brat, and her best friend Cecily. She is SOO excited to be traveling again, especially with a friend!

The reason Cecily is going with them is because her mom, who Melanie never really liked, had breast cancer. Later in the book, Melanie realizes that Cecily's mother really isn't so bad after all. But 'Mellie' just is not very sensitive towards her best friend.

Melanie is frustrated with her parents, her brother, and especially Cecily. She is sick of hearing everyone dish out compliments to Cecily. Cecily is a good artist, Cecily looks great in royal blue, Cecily is such a good sport, Cecily says the most interesting things. Mel is pretty upset, as I would be. Not admirable,but quite true. In the end, she has a great vacation and she makes up with her pal.

This book was not perfect, but pretty darn good nonetheless. Written in diary form, this very realistic young girl teaches us Dutch words, info about artists, and how to deal with tough stuff. If you are an 8-10 year old girl who is smart enough to ask questions about breast cancer after reading this book, then pick this up at your local bookstore.

The name of this book might make you think it's just for girls. It;s not. Matt is really funny and it's cool to read about the different countries they visit.

This book is really funny. It made me laugh a lot. I enjoyed learning all about Holland, especially the artists from there like Vermeer, Rembrandt and Van Gogh. I liked seeing a new place through the eyes of a person my age. Melanie's trip reminded me of when I travel with my family (lots of excitement, lots of squabbles). I keep a journal at school, and I liked being able to read somebody else's journal. I hope Carol Weston writes more Melanie Martin books soon. I want to read them all.

Willem Elsschot was the pseudonym of Alfons De Ridder, who is widely considered a giant in Flemish literature. All of his works are very concise and "Cheese" is no different.

Within a mere 126 pages, Elsschot humorously recounts the tale of Frans Laarmans, an ordinary clerk, who tries his hand vainly at the cheese business. Laarmans is a clerk with General Marine and Shipbuilding Company and is quite content to plod along until a friend prods him to delve into the cheese business. What follows is a wonderfully wry and funny look at business. Larmaans is quite unsure about what to do when ten thousand wheels of the red-rinded Edam cheeses arrive at his doorstep. He knows he has to sell them all, but would rather first set up his office with a proper desk and typewriter. In the end, his business collapses predictably, but Laarman's failure saddens the reader. One feels for the shy clerk right from the beginning to the end.

Elsschot had a wonderful gift for telling a story in just a few pages and "Cheese" is a wonderful example of it. I was tempted to read more by the author but sadly found out that most of the rest of his work is out of print. Special thanks then to Granta Books for republishing this one.

Other pluses for the book are the bright red jacket, the price, and the crisp writing style. I finished the book in one sitting at the beach.

"Cheese" is just as delectable as the full-cream Edams featured in it. Dig in!

Great book, a fast read and it will make you laugh!
It might be a good idea to send some copies to the Enron executives.

I cannot remember the last time a book made me laugh out loud. In public. The self-deprecating flavor of the humor in this chronicle of an inept businessman is somewhere between Jerome K. Jerome and Jacques Tati. Highly recommended escapist, absurdist fun. Also for lovers of all things Belgian: Harry Pearson's comic travelogue "A Tall Man in a Low Land," which brings the 1933 Belgium of "Cheese" into the present.

To the top 1000 reviewer. Yes, Kierkegaard's conception of the world can be simplified (if you try VERY very hard) into an EITER/OR, but even then, you missed some of the irony of the position. The original conception of EITHER/OR was between the aesthetic and the ethical, and only later did he develop the religious. Of course, I am not so dimwitted as to say that the religious is a synthesis of aesthetic and ethical, in fact there is in Kierkegaard no pendulum motion between the ethical back to the religious, but to him only a farther upward motion.

The characterization of Kierkegaard's response to Hegel is misinformed because Hegel himself believed that the historical processes, once resolved, the movement of humanity was toward God. There was a directed upward motion in the dialectic that pointed to God. What Hegel was positing, therefore was that the dialectic was scientific (and therefore the scientific logic could no longer be classified as an either/or, but as a both/and, which makes the Kierkegaard's titleling all the more ironic) and objective, and by extension, God too is objective, at least to the extent that 'God' was the deus ex machinia of the system.

What Kierkegaard posits instead is that the world is absurd, and real meaning is subjective. Therefore, if the subjective is taken out of god, then the absurdity of life was meaningless, but with the restoration of the absurd to God, there was at least a teleologic to the absurdity of human existence which may or may not redeem it. (See Fear and Trembling).

Of course, this coming from the atheist/ironist/pseud-nietzschean-romantic who believes that Kierkegaard made a big mistake turning away from Lucinde in Irony and in turning away from Regine in life.

However, Kierkegaard is absolutely necessary, as much to the trembling christian as to the laughing aesthete. However, this should not be your first Kierkegaard book. (The title alone should tell you that, but in fact, you miss a lot of The Philosophical Fragments if you miss The Concept of Irony. Start there.). Also, I hereby disclaim any references to the 'God' word i just made, including this sentence.

This is Kierkegaard's most important work - the real meat of his writings. It is more difficult then most of his works and should be approached with caution, but it is absolutely essential to achieve a full understanding of Kierkegaard. Keep in mind that _Concluding Unscientific Postscript_ was originally written under the pseudonym of Johannes Climacus, the sceptical and pessimistic alter ego of the real Kierkegaard. Not to spoil the surprise, but in reading this book you should remember that much of what is being said is contradictory to Kierkegaard's real beliefs. In my experience reading this book, I only began to realize this gradually. This is because not EVERYTHING in this book is antithetical or diametrically opposed to Kierkegaard's real views; only portions of it are antithetical. Kierkegaard truly engages and challenges the reader by exposing views that make sense at first, but then after letting Climacus get riled up, his rantings and ravings become increasingly illogical and pessimistic. The challenge consists in discovering where the real Kierkegaard leaves off, and where the pseudonymous Johannes Climacus picks up. The reader must constantly be on alert for antithetical and contradictory statements, and must approach this book with a highly critical mindset. The end result is one of the most fantastically thought-provoking, creative, original, and entertaining books you will ever read. By forcing the reader to take this critical approach, Kierkegaard gives us an opportunity to formulate and fortify our individual beliefs in contradistinction to those of Climacus, forcing us to truly think for ourselves. The reader is bombarded with profound philosophical statements which are oten true and sensible, and can be proven consitsent with Kierkegaard's real beliefs. But sandwiched between these logical statements, Climacus will say something so off the wall that the reader must subject these statements to a critical re-evaluation. This is what makes the _Postscript_ such a profoundly thought-provoking and personally enriching experience.

One more thing to consider before you read this book: As I said, this book was written under the pseudonym Johannes Climacus. To fully understand the inner workings of this character, you must also read _Philosophical Fragments/Johannes Climacus_, which is the precursor to _Concluding Unscientific Postscript_. This first book helps the reader understand the pseudonymous and sometimes antithetical beliefs held by Kierkegaard's neurotic alter-ego. Taken together, the _Johannes Climacus/Philosophical Fragments/ Conlcuding Unscientific Postscript_ series is the be-all end-all philosophical work of the 19th century. It is a monumental achievement of epic proportions and will go down in history as the most important and profound work of literature to come out of Europe during that time period.

Be warned! The Princeton edition of this book comes in two volumes. Volume 1 is just the body of text to Kierkegaard's book. There is no historical introduction in the first volume, just Kierkegaard's satirical introduction that was intended for the original book. The historical introduction and scholarly apparatus are in the second volume. If the reader does not wish to inquire beyond Kierkegaard's text, he need not worry, the second volume is for the person who did not find Kierkegaard mind numbing enough and sees need to go behind the text. I am one of those kind of people, but you might not be.

This is a wonderful book about Vincent Van Gogh. It is beautifully illustrated and brings to life the story of "The Starry Night." The relationship between the boy in the story and Vincent is that of beloved friends. Vincent's insanity is never brought to the fore; however it is dealt with along with a subliminal message of compassion and tolerance. As an Art History teacher I have used this book on numerous occasions to introduce Van Gogh to children as young as Kindergarten and as old as 5th grade, with each level taking from it what they could. The illustrations in the book are exceptional. One can only be moved by Vincent painting in the darkness with a halo of starlight around his hat. Teaching Van Gogh to children is always a touchy subject. How do we separate the genius from the insanity? This book brings Vincent to a level of understanding that children can comprehend without ever mentioning his illnesses. It is a lovely, well-written story that introduces Van Gogh and one of his most famous paintings in a delightful manner.

THE FIRST STARRY NIGHT provides a perfect introduction for children to the life and works of the artist, Vincent Van Gogh. Jacques sees past the rough exterior that Van Gogh portrays to others and recognizes the loneliness and longing for friendship within his heart. We often forget that in their innocence children recognize the inner needs of another individual in ways that we as adults do not. A child is much more accepting of the uniqueness of the individual, not focusing on the oddities or eccentricities. Joan Isom portrays a kind and caring side of Van Gogh not often displayed in other books, but a side that every child should and needs to see. The comparison of the stars to a good painting or a good story in their everlasting qualities is one that should be instilled in every child. The emphasis on the fact that we all see things differently and an appreciation for those differences is a lesson that I try to incorporate daily in the classroom. I think that we all long for a "brother of the heart" and that those of us who are fortunate enough to have found such a person are truly blessed. This book provides the inspiration to each of us to reach out to others and to the stars just as Vincent Van Gogh did on that "starry night" long ago.

"Why do you love the stars so much?" young Jacques, who washes pots and pans in Madame Rouel's kitchen, asked his friend Vincent. "Maybe because they are like a good painting or a good story. They stay." Joan Shaddox Isom's THE FIRST STARRY NIGHT, like the stars that Vincent loved so much, is a story that stays: in the heart's mind and memory. Enriched by Joan Isom's illustrations, this portrait of Vincent van Gogh--as seen through the eyes of Jacques, his "little brother of the heart"--is as full of star-spun magic as Vincent's own paintings. One reads the last words of this elegant and perceptive tribute to this lonely and mis-understood painter, with a sudden shock of recognition: for Vincent's never-ending stars still whirl like pinwheels across the night sky above us--and though we may have feared to lose him, we see that "he is not lost at all.