Active Books

"The ability to accept unpleasant truths and, at the same time, respond decisively is the hallmark of a great investor." Chu tells us in Mind of the Market, his essay on the psychology of investments and the history of the markets. Chu - a money manager, civic leader and former Wall Street investment banker - advances some unusual, well-informed and intruiging idea. Unfortunately, he doesn't fully apply his own concepts.

Chu enlightens us with notions such as "living to accumulate more money suggests that we are somewhat empty and incomplete, dependent on some external activity or substance to give us meaning." Chu also advocates trading with Zen-like detachment from short-term consequences. AS a money manager, I can attest to his wisdom.

Yet Mind of the Market doesn't face the unpleasant and unprofitable truth about the unfettered free market. Chu contends the existing market gives participants an opportunity to "lift themselves off their knees and to walk out of the darkness towards the sunlight." Although he admits a "small minority" doesn't have access to self-advancement (a "flaw" of a market economy), other people simply "whine about their unequal status." After all, unequal status is the market's incentive for production.

Chu's celebration of the unfettered free market ignores the huge number of souls who don't have proper nutrition, let alone capital to invest. This "flaw" is no more inevitable than it is tolerable, for there is nothing in the concept of a market economy that requires that purchasing power and opportunity be highly concentrated rather than widely distributed. While I agree with Chu's claim that unequal status motivates people, the important question is how much inequality is enought to motivate people.

Poverty is not a popular concern these days, and raising questions about distribution of wealth won't help anyone's career on Wall Street or in politics. But unflinching intellectual honesty can raise one's spiritual standing. Chu could teach the world some important lessons if only he would rethink Wall Street's advice to let capital be capital. As Chu himself says, "Few individuals have the nerve to stand outside the crowd. Indeed, to go against the crowd successfully is the hallmark of greatness...[Capitalism] humiliates those who defensively cling to the status quo."

This book is not much about the psychology of the market. In fact most of the text is changes in corporate finance over the years, boom/bust periods as in "madness of crowds". Lots of market history. There is no investing method per se, as stated in one review. It can be summed up as: trade with the trend, cut you losses, don't bet too much on one stock, and money goes where it is treated best. The market psychology is the same thing in other books.

Because of the high praise this book recieved I was expecting some new insights or a different perspective on market psychology. Here it failed miserably. Pass on this one.

The author attacks the true catalyst of the market. This is not the usual "How To" book about the market, rather a refreshing and coherent look at the foundation of the market.

It took a spiritual concept from the East to put a moral and high-minded face on the stock market. F.J.Chu has brought his knowledge and practice of Zen and martial arts, along with a broad background in Western philosophy and psychology, to bear in this superb series of lessons.

Both professional and private investors, as well as wannabe market participants, can benefit from this book if they are open to a real learning experience that comes from a thoughtful, reflective and analytical reading.

The history of the U.S. stock market is made clear and understandable, even though the author says, "The history of the stock market is the history of forgetting." Chu is encouraging us not to forget. Outstanding writings such as Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" which explains the invisible hand of allowing us to have fair prices on goods and services, and the works of John Maynard Keynes are put into perspective.

The author observes that the financial markets keep corporations and nations in line every single day by "marking them to market." Corporations' greatest taskmaster is the stock market - much more than regulators, managers and directors, and the market for their products and services.

Chu employs pithy epigrams and aphorisms from Albert Einstein, Warren Buffet, J.K. Gailbraith and others for every chapter title. They are all thought provoking and relevant. He also outlines prerequisites for beating the market. But don't expect a pat formula. The author's suggestions have more to do with patience, when not to be in the market, and avoiding weakness in one's emotional and mental state. There is an enlightening and detailed elaboration on each bull and bear market of the 20th century, with very helpful discourse on how one might look around the corner to the next major market movement. And hang on to your hat, he has some interesting thoughts.

"The most uncelebrated and misunderstood aspect of free market capitalism is its morality. Capitalism demands discipline,hard work and frugality. It preaches giving more to the system - via investment - than one takes out. It focuses the purpose and energies of a society toward productive enterprise. Finally, capitalism celebrates the wonderful diversity of individual talent and resolve. It reallocates capital to the daring; it rewards the industrious; but it punishes the indolent; and it humiliates those who cling defensively to the status quo." This is one of the more spiritual messages one could find in a book on the stock market.

"The Mind of the Market" says that "the markets rest on an intricate theory of sin that recognizes the human tendency towards depravity and evil but attempts to draw from it its creative potential. A marketplace of sinners is transformed by the virtue of reasoned self-interest into a vessel of moral productivity."

I agree, and hope that other readers can get beyond the noise and momentarily valued "how-to-beat-the-market" books and newsletters of the gurus du jour, on to a higher playing field of undersanding with Chu.

Well worth the money! Iconoclastic, irreverent and at times cynical, the author pulls no punches. Not the typical rehash of other investment books and not a tout sheet, this book delves into the philosophical and psychological underpinnings of the market and forces the reader to examine his/her motivations for playing the game. From the perspectives gained through the author's extensive experience, his insightful observations and the reader's own self-analysis, a coherent individual investment philosophy emerges. The book is filled with wonderful quotations from disparate sources that are both thought-provoking and culturally enriching.

Ahah! Finally a book that keeps me from trouble before I get into it. I saw Johnson's name and picked up the book right away. He lives up to his Outdoor Life popularity. This will be the new guide for this ramblin' man. It's light enough to put in a backpact. Very up to date. A great find.

Gosh, it's good to see Rich Johnson's knowledge packaged so nicely and so easy to carry around. As a forever camper, I can really use it on every trip, whether it's a long trek by car or by foot into the woods. Makes a nice gift book too.

The emphasis in this book in on prevention, followed by the do's and don't's of staying alive if something does go wrong. Given the recent history of disasters in this country, the book is a must read. It's not a book about how to live in the woods. It's about prevention, staying alive and getting rescued. He does go into some recent events that could have had better results, if the victims had followed the rules of survival. There's lots of great photos, nice sketches and wonderful advice on staying safe until your searchers find you. Johnson isn't preachy or pedantic, he writes in a breezy style with a bit of humor. I'm really interested in that hot rock bed!

This is a hard book to review. On one hand, it is easy to look through and well laid out yet the title is completely wrong for the contents. This book is about camping. Lots of information on the equipment with a scant few "survival skills" sprinkled in here and there. Most of the survival skills covered are done in such a way as to indicate the authors familiarity with the general concept, but lack of any real experience. In the chapter called "FOOD", subsection "Become A Hunter-Gatherer", Johnson covers very scantily, cattail, dandelion, thistle, nettle and rosehips. He mentions cattails have "...an edible root system" yet fails to mention anything about processing said roots. For hunting he recommends using a throwing stick to get birds and suggests finding their nests for eggs. Smoking out rodents from their burrows is also mentioned as is "...you can also capture frogs, crawdads, turtles and small fish." No mention on how to capture them or process them. Aside from a brief mention of insects, moths and muscles he offers no other information on getting food. And that is the whole section on hunting and gathering! More print is used in prepackaged camping foods and warning about Hantavirus and the like then about actually getting grub.
The book assumes you have water filters, tents, sleeping bags, tarps, a GPS and the like. Putting out a tarp to collect rain water is a no brainer and so is much of the information contained in this book.
Johnson tries to prop up his limited experience (yes I know he maintained a squatters camp in an old miners shack and a cave for a year) through lots of weak anecdotal stories and plenty of catalogue-esque pictures of himself modeling hats or water filters.
All-together disappointing as absolutely no new information was added to the survival world.

After reading this book I feel I am well prepared to adventure off the beaten path on my varied exploring adventures. Mr. Johnson has covered all facets of solutions to possible mishaps in clear understandable language even the most novice of would-be woodsmen can follow. Mr. Johnson writes with enough humor to keep the extremely serious subject interesting. It is a must read for those who plan to take up camping/hiking in the future, and helpful hints for those more experienced in this field. Lenny, (Leonora)Ames, Maryland

After I run through the book (it's too dry, repetitive and disorganised), my immediate feeling was: "What a sucker I am!" The book title and the front cover is definitely misleading. Instead of telling the hows, the author kept on quoting academic studies of how useless TA had been, and preaching the importance to look into the "context" of individual scenarios. I dont mind how bad the author disliked TA. However, he should have provided a solution, which is nada, but shallow fundamental and behavioural stuff, readily available and much better presented in books that focused on "Fundamental Analysis" and "Behavioural Finance". Glad to see that another reviewer Stephen B. Aust shared the same negative opinion as mine. In short, dont waste your hard earned money and valuable time on this.

Let me start by saying that I know Gary personally and he has told me to be completely honest about his first book. Firstly, this book is not positioned as a "How To" book. It would possibly sell more if it were because Gary is a successful trader in his own right. The book is primarily an in depth look into how markets REALLY work and how viable is technical analysis in its ability to react appropriately to market information. He lays some compelling evidence to suggest that technical analysis alone is grossly inadequate as a tool for trading the markets. The price alone is not the sole arbiter of market direction and in fact can be led by market information. He debunks popular assumptions made by technical analysts and challenges us to think more systematically when making our trading decisions (ie not just using TA but analysing other pieces of information). Even if you don't agree with his findings, it is important to read this so that discussion can be promoted without making assumptions that could well prove to be costly. The emperor has no clothes, and Norden is pointing at him and telling you that. He doesn't just do that though but also points you in the general direction of where to start looking for a better way to trade. It is his desire not to become a market guru but to treat us as intelligent people who have a choice not to become fodder for the markets. Essential reading before you spend thousands on another TA book and blackbox trading system.

I had to sit on this review a while and let it simmer. This book is five star material no doubt. It is a 4.5 star because there is one thing that bothers me. The author spent half the book ragging on the faults of TA.

I happen to agree with some aspects of TA and a simple chapter with a problem would have sufficed. In fact I (as a published author) would have started the book with the Nokia and Motoral divergence case that was presented near the end of the book. That simple illustration shows the fault of TA without much further discussion needed.

For those readers wondering what the author is complaining about, he is complaining about comments like the following: (Trading Markets.com)

As Goes the Rest of this Week, So Goes the Second Half of the Year

"As the last few days of the first half of 2006 come upon us and the S&P 500 is trading near break-even, we asked, "How does the market perform the second half of the year after it has risen the first half of the year?" And, "How has it performed the rest of the year after it has declined the first half of the year?""

The answer is that the market will decline, but you have to ask yourself why? What says that the market will decline, from a purely TA perspective? Sure it might, but it also might go up.

I am not going to give an answer which way the market will go because the second half of this book does give a generalized answer. I find the second half of this book brilliant, and if there ever is a second edition of the book (and there should be) the author needs to focus on expanding the materials in the second half.

If you want to buy the book, go ahead, just be careful of superbookdeals, they take your money but don't deliver and don't answer emails. Caveat Emptor.

Gary Norden describes trading how it actually is - hard work. So many people get involved in trading thinking it's an easy way to make money, and many techinical trading systems lead them to think this way. Most of these people ultimately lose money. Those that succeed develop a deep understanding of their markets, understanding that requires time, hard work, and intelligence.

Although Mr. Norden claims he didn't intend to write a "how to trade profitably" book (and it probably isn't possible to write such a book) I found his general advice excellent: understand the context of price moves, weigh possible outcomes and expected returns, and look for disconfirmation in other markets.

This is a great book on text mining. It provides every detail you need to know to build a search engine or text analysis. There are several other books available on similar topics, but this one is definitely the best. Among all the chapters in this book, I like chapter 2 the best. It provides a complete list of solutions to convert the unstructured texts into vectors. Many researchers and enginners are familiar with the process, but few pay attention to many aspects as the book did, such as sentence boundary determination and phrase recognition.

In one word, it is a great introduction book for someone new to the area, also a good handbook to check from time to time.

I found the book informative and timely. The book describes the algorithms with psuedocode, and this made it possible for me to apply the algorithms to a legacy structure using another language within a few days of finishing the book.

The book's software (available from their website) requires XML formatted documents for input.

The authors (4 guys) tried to cover all IR big words as much as they can, and ended up with the 221 pages book. Let's take one example, inverted index takes 1.5 pages: It says inverted index is a table with the key-pair. The key is all the keywords scanned from the source, and the value is the document and word position (key in that document), period. IMHO, it is apparent facts that inverted index is like this way. But in practical world algorithm, it is much more complicated than a table, for example, how to incremental fill the index, how to sync between multiple backup copy, how to blabla. And even THAT google paper is more useful than it on this area. People may argue it is a comprehensive introduction book, well, then try Gerald's classic book. The whole impression is like I am reading a C++ programming book which spends 10 pages talking K&R's from Bell, how long they had been there, etc ...
I spent about 1 hr scanning the whole book without much left on my brain . Considering the price 69 bucks, I have to give it 0 on performance/price.

The authors give an excellent review of how matters stood in 2004, regarding text mining. The approach of the book is to minimise linguistic and semantic analysis. Instead, it looks more at the statistics of words (tokens) in documents. By using various such methods, they offer an automated way to classify documents. When this works, it can be a tremendous saver of manual effort. Think of the book as perhaps advocating an idiot savant vantage, and seeing how far one can usefully take this approach.

The results of the methods can also be used as input to more advanced and specialised methods, that rely on semantic analysis.

The book can also be applied to search engine analysis.

I wouldn't give it 5 stars, but definitely worth the money. I took an online class at statistics.com that used this as the text. Really a great combination of book and class and wasn't expensive. Highly recommend both to any data miner interested in getting into text mining.

All information this book provides can also be found on the internet at no cost. just by using a searchengine you can have the same help and its faster.

I was looking for a help to build forms using PHP and mysql, also for some new ideas how to do things.

Unfortunately not in this book. Have to keep looking

Intermediate web developers will find the collection of forms in this book to be an invaluable library, and the tutorial on the techniques behind the forms well written and sure to increase both skills and knowledge.

Chapter 1 starts off with the basics of HTML forms. While nothing in this section is likely to be new to intermediate developers, the next chapter, which covers form design, gives a wealth of information and tips for assuring usability and aesthetics.

The chapters that follow is the reason why this book is such a value - each covers a specific environment, including Macromedia Flash, Microsoft's ASP and .NET, and PHP and MySQL. There are also chapters on general form validation techniques and client-side form scripting.

I like the fact that the book takes special pains to ensure that all forms are browser-independent and W3C-compliant. One of the book's goals is to show you how to develop forms that will work with IE and Netscape (versions 4 and above for PCs and IE 5 and Netscape 6 and above for Macintosh browsers), as well as Opera version 5 and above for PCs and Macs.

While the book does not come with a CD ROM, all code examples can be downloaded from the publisher's web site, along with a bonus chapter titled "Alternative Uses for HTML Forms". If you do web development in any environment, using any of the covered tools you'll find yourself referring to this book often.

I love to read straight through my books to learn everything I can, but I couldn't do it with this one. It is a very detailed reference book with everything you always wanted to know about forms, including every obscure thing you didn't care to know or that's no longer browser supported. It is incredibly dry to read, and the print is tiny. I had to keep jolting myself to stay with it, and could only read a bit at a time. There is absolutely nothing friendly about this book. It is a very detailed and complete reference book on forms, and that's its value. As a quick reference book, it succeeds. As a read-through, it fails.

A lot of useful and practical information, but the fonts are too small, and you will probably need a magnifier to read this book.

I've been trying to decide how to implement a data collection and information system based on a web interface for months. Since it's served in a Windows environment, the choices seemed endless...until I found this book. Probably the two most popular methods (before .NET *really* grabs hold) are presented side-by-side in a real-life application.

Before delving into the details of the two types, the authors review form contents/elements, give advice on form design, and cover briefly Flash forms for those users. The heart and soul is the comparison between Forms/ASP and PHP/MySQL. And, for completeness, the authors cover form validation (mostly client-side) and the basics of the future (as Microsoft sees it anyway), .NET framework.

The Pizza This order system (Forms/ASP) and online survey (PHP/MySQL) examples demonstrate how knowledgeable the authors are about "getting the job done...real time because its real work."

I highly recommend this book.

When i bought, I have in charge a little network (150 PCs) and I dont have a lot experience about Windows 2003 Security. This help me to give me directions about how resolve several issues, but its not a book to get foundations.

I run an e-commerce server with a very large Java application that I have developed, however, my knowledge of Windows Server is rather perfunctory, and I really don't want or feel I need extensive knowledge of the O/S. After a trojan trashed my server, I wanted to make sure that I had a better understanding of "best practices" and vulnerabilities, for example "back doors" in the O/S, so I could "lock it down." This book did not provide such an overview, and is written for the Windows system professional. It has this "You want to..." approach, like, "You want to encrypt the framzit block using the whoozit snap-in tool."
I was looking for a cook-book approach: e.g. you are running a web-server, here is how it gets hacked, so do A, B and C to secure the server. I don't think the book dedicated more than one page on using the Windows firewall tool. I guess the authors expected that you already know the basic tools.
In summary, lots of esoteric stuff that may or may not apply to your situation, explained in a way that only someone experienced with the O/S can use without digging much deeper than you may wish.

'Windows Server 2003 Security Cookbook' by Mike Danseglio is a great resource for any and all Windows 2003 IT administrators. Written in traditional O'Reilly uber fashion, this is a great desk reference that is easy to recommend.

Nuff Said!!

**** RECOMMENDED

Mike Danseglio & Robbie Allen's Windows Server 2003 Security Cookbook is for the IT pro and systems administrator concerned with Windows security. Windows 2003 is much more secure than prior versions but you have to know how to set it up properly - and that's where Windows Server 2003 Security Cookbook comes in, offering recipes and formulas sorted by task domain or system service for quick and easy access. Many topics here are more advanced coverages not seen in competing titles, such as auditing and event log usage.

Do you use Windows Server 2003 and perform security tasks as one of your primary job functions? If you do, then this book is for you! Authors Mike Danseglio and Robbie Allen, have done an outstanding job of writing a book that covers Windows Server 2003 and some amount of Windows XP security.

Danseglio and Allen, begin by setting the stage for the rest of the book by providing an introduction to Windows Server 2003 security concepts. Then, the authors show you how to secure an initial configuration. Next, they describe many techniques to help protect the computer at the TCP/IP protocol level. Then, the authors discuss how to protect local and network files with strong encryption. Next, they show you how to apply numerous options to your Active Directory forest. The authors continue by describing the use of Group Policy to configure and increase the security of both client and server computers. Then, the authors show you how to use security templates to save and deploy settings. Next, they focus on the tasks necessary to improve security on domain controllers. The authors then show you the vulnerabilities and security recipes you can use to defend against user account attacks such as password guessing or spoofing. Then, they describe how you can restrict rights and permissions to ensure that only desired users can perform specific needs. The authors continue by focusing on securing the grotesquely insecure DHCP component of Windows. Then, they describe how you can prevent several common DNS-based attacks. Next, the authors show you how to secure a file and print server, which is one of the most common uses of Windows Server 2003. The authors then discuss numerous methods that you can use to encrypt and sign network traffic using IPec. Then, they continue by covering the locking down of the much-maligned IIS. Next, the authors explore the remote access technologies of RRAS and IAS in depth, with a particular focus on improving their security. Then, they describe how you can help secure these remote access technologies, which are favorite attack vectors for evildoers. The authors then go into great detail describing how to plan, deploy, and use both PKI and certificates. They continue by showing you how to audit different types of events. Next, show you how to configure and manage event logs. Finally, they focus on and help simplify one of the most over-hyped security issues: patch management.

This most excellent book should not be considered the ultimate reference to Windows security--that's not the intention of the authors. More importantly, their intention is to provide efficient and innovative ways to complete tasks and resolve problems.

I picked up a copy of Active Meditation about six years ago, thinking it would be a good way to "relax". Instead I found out what meditation is really for - contacting and integrating the "Life of Spirit" into our lives. Since then I have read many other books and essays by the authors. They are among the best works available on these topics. One reviewer gave it a poor rating and claimed that the authors "can't handle mainstream religion". In fact, the authors have transcended mainstream religion. The views they provide are no different from those of great mystics such as Saint Teresa of Avila. They clearly point out the best principles that all religions are based on - but do not hesitate to point out the narrow-minded interpretations, distortions or faulty logic. That same reviewer also implied that these ideas were based on "unvalidated claims and assumptions". They may have been "unvalidated" by him, but in fact all the claims in Active Meditation can be validated. But we must develop "the eyes to see" and try these ideas ourselves. Highly recommended!

I bought this book four years ago but didn't quite understand what the authors are trying to communicate. Until recently, when I read it again, it seemed that I have been stricked by lightening and everything seems so clear. If you already own the book either you have already gotten it or just not ready like I was before. Be patient, you will know when you are ready.....I love you HERMAN

I say this because I was fooled by the subtitle about "the most complete explanation." I was very curious about meditation, so I tried to buy a comprehensive text. I will never buy a book that hasn't been reviewed yet.

Basically this book is comprised of all of the semi-mystical babbling spouted by people who would otherwise be priests but can't handle mainstream religion. There is no mention of any truthful backing (except from a few transcribed conversations with an androgynous "guardian angel") to any claims within the book, only opinions which are expected to be taken as prima facie facts.

If you feel that you may be missing out on something by not reading this volume, just thing back upon all unvalidated claims and assumptions you have ever heard in your life, write them down, and then read them to yourself. Just don't publish it, or it would be plagiarsim.

I consider myself a fairly open minded individual, but a reasoning individual has to draw the line somewhere. And this text is WELL beyond that line.

If you're looking for a volume on improving one's mind through introspective meditation, read "The Einstein Factor" and practice its techniques, and leave this one alone.

The only positive thing I can say about it is that it is very well printed. If it wasn't utter nonsense, it would be a respectable volume to have on one's bookshelf. The spine is well glued and bound; the paper is smooth, thick, and not at all glossy; and the fonts of both the heading and body are both easily read and wonderfully printed. Kudos to Ariel Press; research your clietel next time.

I read the only review of this book and was "inspired" to give my view. I liked this book. It gave me things to think about as I went through the day. I am not an idiot. I do not believe there needs to be an exacting formula to do "it" well or correctly. It is more than relaxation, which this book explains very well. It gave me a way to understand meditation and how to integrate the ideas of the practice in our society. This is why it is called "Active Meditation". I have other books also that are not so "Western friendly". It is certainly good for another look at things. Take it out of the library for a test. I have a feeling that if I talked to the other interviewer about this, there would be quite a backlash! Ironic. I keep this one around for reference. Their sense of humor makes the topic less intense than others. But this is not a wishy washy book. Helped me. In any case, I would say to each his or her own.

This is easily the best book on ASP.NET that I have read, among several titles from Wrox, Microsoft Press, etc. This book packs twice as much useful information into half the pages of the others, and is a steal at the going price.

Perfect for someone at the advanced beginner/intermediate level, there is no wasted space on how to declare a variable or construct a loop. Instead, the authors use several small project examples to highlight approaches to real-world issues such as injecting client-side script into .NET apps, building master-detail pages, and much more. One area that especially impressed me is the superb coverage of how to build a custom control. The explanation of custom controls in the other books I've read involves a waving of hands and a declaration of "that's how it's done". This book actually explains the process in a detailed and understandable manner, covering topics such as inheritance and the implementation of interfaces.

Shortcomings of the book are that virtually all the code is in VB (although there are occasional pointers to specific C# differences), and the controls that are built in the examples have an unfinished feel to them, and are not ready for inclusion in a web page without further work.

The subtitle to the book says it all: "Practical Insight and Advice from the Experts"

This book is loaded with useful real-world information and code snippets. Code examples are in VB only, both in the book and on the companion Website, which is an excellent resource where you can download the code in one .zip file and also run the code examples online and see the code your just ran...extremely helpful to a developer like me. I consider myself an ntermediate level ASP.NET programmer and this book will definitely help me reach the next level... but if you're already at an advanced level, I think you will still find this book useful. Wow, I really can't say enough good things about this book.

I was at my local Barnes & Noble brick and mortar store looking for a landscaping book because our new property is in need of some serious landscaping. Well, I hadn't planned on getting any programming books but I decided I had time to check out the ASP.NET section to see if anything new was there. This book caught my attention immediately, so I read through the TOC and my eyes started getting wider and I adjusted my stance to get more comfortable because I could sense I was going to be standing here a while longer reviewing the book in depth. I immediately noticed the section on "cross-page posting" near the front of the book and one of the less advanced topics covered. Well, the authors spend 21 pages showing different techniques for passing values to another page. The book clearly demonstrates four main techniques for passing values between pages, something that is done in practically every asp.net application, but many books gloss over this at best and seem to concentrate on the Post back paradigm ASP.NET was designed for or other books seem to contain similar information but spread out in different chapters of the book. What I like about the approach in this book is that the authors breakdown a problem, in this case it's "how to pass values to another page" and then you are given options and then each option is explained using words, code examples and diagrams, so any intermediate or advanced developer could figure out what works best for their particular situation. In the more advanced topics there may be only one option, but at least they present it to you clearly and in a succinct manner. The writing style is easy to read without a lot of useless anecdotes and babble.

I would also like to point out that the layout of the book is top notch... not like a Wrox book where you can get a bit cross-eyed at times. Don't get me wrong, I like some of the Wrox books and have 3 on my shelf, but the layout of this book is very logical and clean. The content, code, figures and diagrams are very well presented, probably the most user-friendly layout I've seen when it comes to programming books. It's similar to the layout of the "ASP.NET Unleashed" book but even better IMO.(both published by SAMS) Each main section has a "best practice" subsection and there are also sidebar paragraphs to highlight tips and important information.

The code examples are very helpful at getting the point across and could be used in real-world applications. All of the code examples I've tried on the compainion Website have worked for me, although I have not tried every single one of them yet. Most of the code examples in the book are presented as a Sub or Function, so that helps keep the size of the book down to 559 pages not including the index and intro pages, but the full code is provided on the Website. Many examples use the standard SQL Server NorthWind db, so if you wanted to run the code on your local machine, you need a connection to SQL Server.

(...)

There is no CD, but really no need for one because the companion Website has all the code and you can run the examples online too.

There is not one ounce of "fluff" in this book. It is 100% real-world, useful, nitty-gritty content. It is not targeted for beginners. The authors assume you've built at at least a couple ASP.NET applications already and are familiar with the basics. The layout of the book's content is such that you can skip directly to the section you're interested in. It's not a beginning type book where each chapter sort of builds upon the next, rather, you can delve into specific topics and even subtopics directly. The only minor wish I have is for more code examples, but then again, doesn't every programmer wish for more examples they can directly apply to their own applications? Rest assured, there is enough code to get the point across for each and every topic covered.

I own 6 or 7 ASP.Net books. The best is Karl Moore Code Book and a near second is Scott Mitchell Data Web Controls. I read every book cover to cover and test ALL SAMPLES. So $50.00 for a book if I can get a trick or two that works is well worth the price. Well this book looks great and the on line demos work great. Just don't expect to be able to use any of sample code in VS.Net. Now if you want to code .Net in notepad this is you book. If you are using anything other than notepad - pass on this book. None of the 12 samples that I tried to bring into a test project would run. All needed one to two hours of rework just to get going. It is in fact faster to just read the text get the idea and fire up a new blank solution and type EVERYTHING. That is now why I buy books. I do not want to figure it out and retype most of the code...

VERY DISAPOINTED.

The author, editors and the printers did a great job. The page is full of text, not like the Apress style of two-inch white margins. The code examples are in color, unlike the B&W of the Wrox series. The binding and page paper quality is superior to the O'Reilly type, so that even after alot of abuse as a desk reference text, it will last. Just like Glenn Johnson's "ASP.Net in 60 Minutes a day" published a year ealier, all the examples are in Visual Basic. I just wished they were in C# (not easy to find if you are doing ASP.NET ). Definitely worth its money.

The person I was suppose to buy it from emailed me and told me her daughter sold it this summer, so she didn't have it. She did refund us the money though, so I do appreciate that.

The book I ordered was received within the fastest period of time.The commodity was in good condition.

I dreaded the idea of taking a chemistry class because A) I have no real interest in chemistry as a subject, B) Because I have a horrible memory and have a hard time remembering uninteresting things I'm not interested in, and C) I despise math, and I know chemistry contains a lot of it.

This book puts my fears to rest. It talks to me like the beginner I am; the photos, illustrations and analogies make the subject matter fun and relevant (Did you know that a can of soda will sink but a can of diet soda will have some bouyancy? Welcome to density!) Even the mathematics portion is explained and illustrated simply. It's a great modular text that does more than just espouse the subject matter; it provides effective tips for learning and retaining information in general.

On the negative, the OWL software that accompanies the book, while reinforcing what you're learning in the book, assumes you know general chemistry formulas that haven't yet been covered in the book (C'mon, how would I have known that C12.H22.O11 means the compound lost a water-soluble electrolyte when I don't even know what an electrolyte is?)

The book is awesome for beginners, the OWL software could use some revision.

"Introductory Chemistry" by Cracolice and Peters is very well written, and well organized as far as textbooks go.I always found their ability to explain the basic concepts of Chemistry to be superior to many of the other General Chem books on the market. I used this book in conjunction with "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chemistry" by Ian Guch to self-teach myself almost all of the General Chem curriculum. Admittedly, I used Cracolice's work as a supplement to the Complete Idiot's Guide because Guch's book is heads above just about any textbook I have ever encountered in terms of an ability to present the "nned to know" info in an accessible framework. I only used Cracolice when I didn't feel satisfied with Guch, and was never really dissapointed. Recommended.

The price is great, but the table of content is no good. There is no way to navigate to books within books. For example, you can go to the laws, but you cannot go directly to book X of the laws. Also, there is no accurate way to jump past the commentary and go straight to the work. They need a table of contents for each work. I own the $50.00 hardcover version of the `Complete Works of Plato w/letters,' and was hoping that by buying a Kindle I could have an easier time hauling it around...guess not. I would be willing to pay more if I could get a good table of contents.

This really is all 26 dialogues. for less than a dollar. The formating issue mentioned is that there isn't a line break when the character switches. i.e. to indicate that a different character is speaking it puts the character name in caps and this can occur in the middle of a line like so: SOCRATES which is perhaps a little annoying but I think worth the hassle to save so much money and so many trees.

I originally gave this product a 1 star review based on poor formatting. However, to my surprise, the publisher provided a new version that fixed the line break problem. I am very, very pleased with the publisher's quick response. What a bargain at 99 cents.

I got my Kindle 2 weeks ago and am still learning its uses and limitations. As I build my e-library, I wanted to get some of the great works. I read the prior negative review but got this edition anyway. I figured that 99 cents was worth the gamble.
And for me, this was exactly what I wanted. The publisher did provide an active TOC (in response to the review?). The plays were as difficult to absorb yet rewarding to understand as I remember. The line breaks are off, but for me it was not an issue at all (I changed the font size and after a while stopped noticing).
Overall, I rate this at 5 stars because it is such excellent value for the dollar. I can literally have this (and other) great works at my fingertips at a price that allows me to build up my own e-library.