Agent Books

This book, written by a former Secret Service agentgives a great insight to what the job is like in the eyes of an Agent. McCarthy gives great detail in the assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan which is interesting. This is overall a great book that I keep on reading over and over again.

As the leading civilian authority on the U.S. Secret Service, I was most impressed with this fine book by Dennis (no relation to Tim) McCarthy (with some help from his co-author, Philip W. Smith). It reads very well, it's funny, informative, and even has a nice photo section, to boot. The Secret Service were NOT pleased with this book...further reason to get it asap! ;-) Seriously, although, in hindsight, although he received a medal, Dennis McCarthy's role that fateful day on 3/30/81 was relatively minor, especially in comparison to the bravery (and bloodshed) of Jerry Parr, Tim McCarthy, Drew Unrue, and Ray Shaddick, among others. In fact, on the video "Inside The Secret Service," an actor portraying a threat to the President is shown reading a copy of this book (!) and, if that weren't enough, a still photo of the four agents decorated for valor for their heroics---Parr, Shaddick, McCarthy, and TIM McCarthy---is depicted with DENNIS McCarthy cropped out and not even mentioned! All that aside, a fine book. Get it!!!

This often ignored problem is sensibly discussed in this excellent reference book, which was recommended to me by the senior pharmacist in a leading UK psychiatric hospital. The clear and honest approach to a difficult subject, makes an invaluable contribution to help physicians, nurses and users. I believe that every university and reference library, hospital and medical practitioner should obtain a copy. Top marks for including a CD Rom too. from the founder of 'APRIL' (Adverse Psychiatric Reactions Information Link) email address : info@april.org.uk

This often ignored problem is sensibly discussed in this excellent reference book, which was recommended to me by the senior pharmacist in a leading UK psychiatric hospital. The clear and honest approach to a difficult subject, makes an invaluable contribution to help physicians, nurses and users. I believe that every university and reference library, hospital and medical practitioner should obtain a copy. Top marks for including a CD Rom too. from the founder of 'APRIL' (Adverse Psychiatric Reactions Information Link) email address : info@april.org.uk

How long would YOU fight to make your dream come true? Can you put a value on your dream? When fighting for your dream, how far would you go to make it happen?

Jennifer O'Reilley has had a dream for going on two decades. Because of the nature of her dream she not only doesn't make it come true...she gets form letters rejecting her and her dream. She is TOLD she has failed..she doesn't just "know" it.

You see, Jennifer wants to be a best selling author. At last count she has six novels completed. Very special novels these... Jennifer wants to change the world and getting her books published and on the best seller list is crucial to changing the world.

You can approach this book as an odyssey of a woman and her dream... or you can see it as a meticulously drawn anatomical study of the publishing world.

Either way...watch the character of Jennifer. She is central to this because it is through her eyes that author Linda Gail Shelnutt masterfully reconstructs the publishing world. I doubt you could possibly find anywhere a more concise portrayal of the impact of a dream on a woman and her family as you will here.

You follow Jennifer through several days, learning her habits and foibles...learning her tastes and moods...learning her view of marital obligation and devotion. Husband John works at a coal mine...he works at several mines. They move...you follow Jennifer as she sets up house wherever they need to go. You learn to love her and root for her, for alongside the world through which she must struggle to realize her dream Linda Shelnutt ALLOWS THE READER to construct a character study...who is this woman? what does she want? and why does she want it?

I realize that there are many other levels on which to appreciate this book...even adore it. Me I like people...what makes them tick...their struggles, their ethics, their strong and weak points. You couldn't ask for a better literary work in that genre than this one. From start to finish I was fascinated with this woman, and I was both amused and admiring of the way she pursued her dream, pursues her happy second career as the wife of John O'Reilley and faces and copes with months of rejections such as "you cannot get published without an agent and you cannot get an agent unless you are published..."

I've been following Jennifer's exploits since MORNING COMES. Full Moon Rising and New Moon Blues came next, followed by this one. You can read it independently of the others or, like me, in series. I'm glad there are more Jennifer books around and I am off to read the next one...more of the woman and her dream... More of the Books of Gem. Five Stars for sheer engaging plot interest. John W. Cassell

John W. Cassell is the author of seven novels of life during the American Cultural Revolution of the 1960's and 1970's. His Crossroads: 1969 is one of the books featured in the London-based ARTS ON THE UNDERGROUND FOUNDATION'S publication for 2008: "Piccadilly Land". Cassell retired from a career in law enforcement in 2006. Since that time he has been a regular contributor to the Amazon-Connect Blog and has published several guest editorials in Israel National News.

Quarter Moon Dues (The Books of Gem)

Does this review title make sense? As a metaphor yes! At 7:30 a.m. on an island blissfully enjoying sub-equatorial winter YES! As a rye comment on a bomb story Y E S !

They teach young people to DREAM! Not too much mind you...for there are chores to be done. But yes, dream. Probably to keep us off the streets.

This is what has to be a true life account of the continuing dream of Mya Jennifer O'Reilley. It HAS to be true to life...because it feels so UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. Just like the previous instalments in Jennifer's adventures we get the day to day feel of what it's like to have a dream...and go after it....

Yes, you will find Jennifer's pursuit of her dream very real...and who can better comment on that than a 20 year old who knows all about dreams. Really great letters Jennifer writes to publishers and magazine people and relatives and TV news people and TV WEATHER people...anyone...anywhere...who could maybe help her realize her dream...or maybe just sympathize now and then.

Short stories, long stories even a bomb set of articles on the planets! In the foreground, in the background, is that supporting husband of hers. They have their ups and their downs but this story is TRUE TO LIFE, which I have seen all along as a primer on how to do it right. Not necessarily correct...but right. As I've said before, these stories have taught me a lot of good things about marriage. Things you can't read about just everywhere.

From that great American truck stop food I miss to those great American motel rooms I miss. From her Gemstar to one of greatest dogs you'll ever want to meet.

Anybody following Linda Shelnutt's really bomb forum posts on the publishing world will not help but be able to see where she learned all that and how. There is nothing about this story I don't like. Except that it is over. This is a story about adulthood...yes the joy of being able to buy Vailima all nice and legal. The REAL story...In Jennifer's own words:

>>>>>>A painful monsoon of self doubt overwhelmed and filled the exhausted, empty space of later evening.
Hemorrhaging energy.
Was that what she was doing?
Was her work good? Was it worth publishing? Was she deluding herself?
Was it time to quit?
She didn't know any longer if her work was good or bad. She didn't know if she was deluding herself when she felt it was good. During the evening emotional Monsoon it had seemed very likely she was fooling herself very badly and sadly to think her writing was good enough to publish. But, she wasn't ready to quit.
What else could she do?<<<<<

This is a really great true to life story. I can't wait to start the next instalment.

It is always that conclusion with the Gem books.
I can't wait to start the next one.

I have read some of Pivar books which were textbooks for my Broker's exam. I like his organization of material, and his completeness of detail. This book is no different. I bought it essentially because Robert Bruss, a noted real estate author/investor/attorney from the SF Bay Area wrote a wonderful testimonial for it which appears on the back cover. That's all I needed to see, as he has never been wrong on book reviews. I was not disappointed. The book sets forth the various concepts of Ethics, then gives different scenarios (probably court cases, as nobody could make this stuff up). The part I thought was most interesting was the chapter on Trust Fund handling, which was very complete and informative, and think most agents would get a huge lesson from it, as it is a soft underbelly in any agent's practice. What I thought while reading it was how many agents would benefit from this book, and it should be required reading in many brokerage offices. Sadly, books on how to become wealthy agents probably exponentially outsell this one. It is a fairly quick read, and should be required by all offices for rookie agents. It covers most everything I could think of having taken many classes on ethics to get my license renewed, and various designations. If anyone reads this, I firmly believe they will be a much stronger agent.

This is absolutely the best real estate ethics book I have found. It clarifies for the reader each standard & article of the REALTORS Code of Ethics. There are case studies with each chapter. With easily a hundred situations to analyze and disect throughout the book, an agent or broker can probably find answers to many of the typical problems that occur in the day-to-day workings of the real estate industry. Used in a classroom situation, it helps the student understand that sometimes there is no true Black and White, but only many shades of Gray! A must read for every licensee.

This book helps me pass my exam and then some.

Pivar's "Real Estate Exam Guide - Fifth Edition" will enable you to use common sense study methods to assure a passing grade for the ASI Real Estate Sales and Broker Exams. I have been a licensed broker for many years, and I wanted to be licensed in another state. This guide made this an easy task. Using selective " highlighting", reviewing every chapter at least twice, and taking the chapter review quizzes and the review tests included in the book will provide you with the knowledge to pass the ASI test with flying colors. The material is presented with verbage that you will find in the exam. The quizzes and review tests are presented just as they are in the actual ASI test. I recommend this book to everyone that will be tested by ASI for their real estate license.

This guide was super, tell you the truth, ditch the book and just use the CD. I totally didn't even open the book but with the help of the CD-ROM passed my sales exam on the first try. Nice.

Good questions that simulate the real exam. Bonus CD makes it worth the price.

An excellent treatment of the formal modelling of what Mike calls Rational Agents and others have (more provocatively) usually termed Intelligent Agents. What sets this apart from other books on the subject are Mike's refreshingly direct, no-nonsense writing, and his recognition that his audience may not have all of the formal tools at their fingertips. The Appendix "Formal Foundations" would be a good choice for anyone who wanted to understand modal logics, especially as they apply to time and intention. Even software engineers who would rather hack code than grapple with formalism will find this accesible, stimulating and useful.

You simply cannot choose a better overview of intelligent agent modeling. Wooldridge brings the reader from an extremely non-threatening, non-technical treatment of the basics to formal modeling of individual agent properties and multi-agent interaction using (essentially) constructions of formal logic.
This book is clearly intended to communicate a particular theory in a very effective manner. However, it does not (nor does it pretend to) provide a path to implementing any of the theory, so dilettantes beware.

Lake City Silver World,Lake City, Colorado
September 16, 2004
Review by Laurie Vierheller

You can't just read Claude Thormalen's newly released novel, The Right Side of the Law, Reminiscences of a Federal Narcotics Agent. You have to experience it. Main character Alton Hayman is such a perplexing mixture of whiskey slamming Texas outlaw and Lone Ranger, you have to step into his boots and grow with him, just to understand what he's about. And when you do, you can feel the white-hot sweat of fear running down the back of his neck in the relative cool of a South Texas night and feel the knots in his stomach that only "Jack Black" can relieve.
Hayman isn't fearless. But even in his youth he demonstrated a fearless façade that gave him a reputation. "I would stand up for what I thought was right and would not back down from anything," Hayman reminisces.
After a stint in the paratroopers, Hayman begins his career as a Federal Narcotics Agent, as a brand new member of the United States Customs Office, in Laredo, Texas on the Mexican/US border. He believes in his cause.
His relative innocence is not to last for long, however. He quickly discerns that, in his job, it is every man for himself, as agents are rewarded on the basis of cases made, not cooperation and teamwork. Hayman lives in a world of informants that may or may not tell the truth and agents that are only as trustworthy as their own best interests. He learns that drinking on the job is expected--a not unwelcome revelation-and that "Customs doesn't give a...what you do, as long as you can ... produce." During the course of his first year, Hayman remarks, "In the eight months that I had been in Laredo, I had been shaped and molded into a much different person. I was no longer the naïve trusting person that had come to Laredo."
From his innocent beginnings, Hayman's drive to succeed compels more and more dangerous encounters, many alone, at night, on the banks of the Rio Grand River. He discovers that stops at the US Customs stations will not fill the bill , so he resorts to isolated river crossings, making his way, through rattlesnake infested brush, to lie in wait for smugglers, without backup, under a darkened sky. His tools were minimal: a Browning 9mm with an extra clip and a pump, a .12 gauge shotgun, a flashlight, snacks, coffee, plastic handcuffs and a snakebite kit. He quickly discovers that the smugglers have machine guns, leaving him well out gunned, but even this does not stop Hayman, whose risk-taking behavior causes him to grow in status daily, due to the number and size of cases he is making.
But the risks he takes are not lacking in consequences. Hayman continues to work for the Customs department for several years, making increasingly dangerous and sophisticated busts, and he continues to drink. His obsession with his work grows and his inattentiveness to his wife and child grows right alongside. He makes a transformation from regular guy to federal agent, something that you almost sense he regrets, looking back. He then moves to the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, a move that will further erode his confidence in the cause that he has chosen to pursue.
At points in the book, it is impossible to tell whether the good guys are good or the bad guys are bad, with the hero taking on significantly concerning characteristics, while observing concerns of his own in the other agents. Over the course of his career, the stress of the job takes its toll on Haymon, who suffers post traumatic stress syndrome from too many near death experiences and appears, at times, to have fallen completely apart.
This book is about the human condition. Anyone who has ever felt fear and moved forward even when the odds were worse than bad; anyone who has ever questioned their own innate goodness; anyone who has experienced stress beyond their ability to cope; anyone who likes the excitement of the chase and values the toughness and determination of the Old West; anyone who wants a glimpse into the dangerous world of narcotics agents and smugglers and the dangerous world of a man's mind, will find this book fascinating. The main character will challenge the reader and make the reader think.
The author, Thormalen, was born in San Antonio, Texas, in 1940 and grew up in Alice, Texas, which explains his realistic depiction of the climate and geography of Hayman's surroundings. Thormalen has worked as a police officer, criminal investigator for the Customs Agency Service in the Treasury Department and as a special agent with the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs in the Justice Department. After leaving the Justice Department, he taught law enforcement at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas, where he also served as department chairman, Dean of Men and Dean of Students. He also worked as a middle school counselor in San Antonio.
Thormalen says to keep in mind that this story is a novel, not an autobiography, and the main character, Alton Hayman, is a composite of himself and others. He emphasized, "The characters are fictional and if anyone says that they see themselves in the book, they are mistaken." On the contrary, Thormalen notes, "This is as accurate a portrayal of the true life of a Federal Narcotics Agent's life as I can make it [and stay out of court and not get shot]."
Thormalen conceived of the idea for the book when teaching Criminal Justice at Sul Ross University in Alpine, Texas. He was having difficulty finding a good, honest text for his senior level class, "Special Problems in Law Enforcement." Thormalen says, I thought it was important for the kids that were my students at the time and just entering `the life' to have a true and honest idea of what lay ahead of them; so as to avoid some of the true pitfalls."
In closing Thormalen noted, "Change can never take place unless you have the strength to look the truth in the face; and change was what I was hoping for both for myself and our government."

A great story -- I stayed up all night long to finish it -- and cried at all that happened in this brave young man's life. Very-well written, seems true to life.

The ideas behind Wave-WP, a high-level network-centric programming language presented in this book, are fresh, radical and thought-provoking. The author offers a completely original view on what distributed computing ought to be about. As someone interested in the design of next-generation programming models that make it easy for people to build, manage and control large-scale dynamic network systems, I found Peter Sapaty's work a very worthwhile read.

"Ruling Distributed Dynamic Worlds" describes the World Processing language and the Wave-WP model for implementing large distributed systems. The book will be of interest to anyone concerned with distributed computation, the software of robotic systems and application spaces such as network management and security and other crisis management scenarios.
Wave-WP is an extension of the Wave model of distributed processing expounded in the author's 1999 text "Mobile Processing in Distributed and Open Environments." His new text extends the model to embrace "spatial programming", using a "virtual world" abstraction whose content is assembled using the distributed Knowledge Network concept of the earlier Wave paradigm. Throughout the text, he supplies numerous examples of how Wave-WP interacts with the physical world, in such missions as multi-robot firefighting and hospital maintenance. More traditional applications of distributed processing such as network management are also discussed, as are security applications.
The Wave-WP paradigm superficially resembles the mobile agent paradigm. The author argues that it is qualitatively different to the latter in that mobile agent solutions anticipate emergent behaviour from the specified actions of the mobule agents, whereas Wave-WP operates at a higher level (the "implementation layer"). This allows some complex application behaviour to be generated from remarkably simple and concise Wave-WP code. A number of such examples are presented in the text.
The book includes a detailed description of the World Processing language and of the Wave-WP interpreter, and of the various worlds inhabited by the paradigm (the virtual world, the execution world, the physical world and the "united" world). The range of worlds occupied is (in this reviewer's opinion) the key distinction between Wave-WP and its predecessor Wave architecture.
Readers persuaded of the power of Wave-WP will doubtless be itching to try it out for themselves. Unfortunately, it was not yet available as a product when the book was published (as mentioned by the author in his preface) although earlier versions of Wave have been made available to the research community. Despite this limitation (which may well have been addressed by the time you read this review), the book is a provocative read for anyone interested in innovations in distributed systems.

I've read lot's of screenwriting books, books on the business etc. and this one is terrific. Lot's of great tips and a great reference section. The best section of its kind. Highly recommended

I highly recommend this book. It is written in a non-intimidating manner that somehow made it easier to put her ideas into use. Taking the names and addresses of the agents that accept unsolicited scripts, I sent out 20 copies, with cover letters that simply read: Enclosed herein please find a really funny romantic comedy, submitted for your perusal. I hope you enjoy. And I look forward to hearing from you. I added my name, phone number, and mailing address at the bottom. Month after month went by, with most of the scripts being returned, some unopened, some opened, with letters of rejection. Until it just stopped, and I gave up on that script, and started working on another one in the spare minutes around my day job. Then, after almost eight months, I got a call, from the woman who became my agent. She had only just got around to reading it, at the bottom of a pile of scripts on her desk, and wanted me to come in and meet with her. I did, she took me on, and although I haven't sold the script yet, it has been optioned several times, and hopefully the one I'm working on now, will sell. I also recommend the other book by K Callan, it has helped some friends of mine. So good luck to anyone out there writing and looking for an agent, just keep going. And K Callan, thank you for the help.

P.S. Don't forget to register your script with the Writer's Guild, and to put WGA registered on the title page, or to mail it to yourself, registered, and keep it unopened, just to be safe, before you send it out into the world. Good luck!