Enterprise Books

Read it and weep at how far the West has deteriorated since Medieval times.

I had the opportunity to use this book as a text for a course while studying at UC Riverside. It serves well as a secondary souce; for those unfamiliar with the term, this kind of source is historical documentation written by contemporaries. So it contains accounts written written by medieval Europeans. It does primarily contain translated documents, in modern english, from Western Europe. Readers will find all the usual suspects and many more: Tacitus, Charlemagne, Gregory of Tours, King Louis the Ninth, King John, and a plethora of papal thought. Additional gems include the memoirs of a Byzantine princess, the Domesday book, the Concordant of Worms, and the interpretations of Aristotle by the Muslim philosopher Siegbert (my favorite). Naturally, the writings are challenging to read for those who are unfamiliar with medieval prose and style, but as a student I found reading the documents remarkably similar to reading today's Common Law documents. For anyone who is interested in building synapses geared for the study of law, this thick book is a springboard as most of its documents pertain to canon law, divine law, theology, Roman law, and English law. Worth your pennies!

The book is intended to give the reader an idea of how people thought in Medieval times, which it does. It is also a sad commentary on how much of its values and backbone the West has lost since then.

Readings in Medieval History is a terrific book for a number of reasons. Many students today encounter only secondary source materials in their history courses; in other words, students are immediately presented with a particular historian's opinion of a given source document before he or she is allowed to dive into the readings themselves. Secondary text books frame (and limit) one's readings with phrases such as "the Anglo-Saxon chronicle was significant because..." Patrick Geary presents the material in their raw form and allows the reader to draw his or her own significance.

This text allows the student of history to read primary documents, which are mostly presented unabridged, exactly as they were written by their medieval authors. Other than the inherent problems of translation (most of these texts were writen in medieval Latin, Old English, French, or other vernaculars) this book offers the most direct contact with the past that an individual can reasonably hope for. This book allows you to hear the medieval voice without modern contextual hindrances. Readings in Medieval History situates its wonderful texts in their own particular cultural milieu, and allows the reader to appreciate these documents in their own right.

This is a most important book. Dwayne Williams takes us into his life on the streets: males vying for position, selling drugs when money is low, carrying weapons for protection, and using willing women. This is an insider's look into the subculture of the inner city which shapes many of our youth. Congratulations to Williams for being able to climb his way out of this unlawful, purposeless life.

Very good book I read it in one day. If your from the DC/Md area u can especially relate but really a good read for all from everywhere. I'll be looking out for this author.

Kojack,

I really enjoyed your autobiography and it was definitey a page turner. In the beginning, I thought it would be another B-Boy type novel, but you proved me wrong. Your book hit home because I am from DC, had a hustler for a man and hanging out at those same spots. Continue to be blessed and good luck in your endeavors!

By now the story told here has become a familiar motif in the ongoing internecine struggles of urban warfare in which "gang is pitted against gang," neighborhood against neighborhood," and in some cases (as this one), even family members against each other. This story is important not just because of its easy and much over wrought cover theme of "redemption of a lost soul through Christ," but mainly because embedded within and behind this familiar pretext remains enough truth in the underlying subtext of the book to decode the "Rosetta Stone" of urban violence. This not so well hidden code, the last remaining psychological barrier to understanding why there is so much "black-on-black" crime and violence, lies "hidden in plain sight" both at the center of this story and at the center of the tragic cycles of petty internecine warfare that for the last half century has provided the backdrop for a major part of the urban American social drama.

The strongest clue to this underlying secret is the uncanny way in which the "code of the streets" defines, dictates, utterly dominates and then ultimately undermines all "individual self-construction projects" of the life of young urban black men. Its centripetal force of peer group pressures, like an evil gravity in the ether, captures them at an early age, and then inexorably "pulls them in," by their noses, their Dicks, their spirits and their souls. And importantly, it does so well before they have had a chance to decide on healthier choices and alternatives, which, in any case, are, as often as not, missing in these diminished circumstances. Mr. Williams got an early start in his own "manhood self-construction project" and was already well on the ladder leading down into the urban social abyss and to his inevitable demise, by age seven.

Where the larger Culture Meets the Black Male Self-Construction Project

It is in the subconscious where the individual's self-definition and self-creation projects are hatched and where they eventually intersect with societal rules to help shape ones personality. Even though it is taking place in the background, it is at this vital juncture, this interface between the "individual mind" and "larger cultural rules and forces" where all the tension and action of the struggle for self-discovery is centered. And because self-construction is a "private affair," indeed a solitary project even for young kids, shaped mostly by peer pressure, intervention can often be next to impossible: Independence mandates that self-discovery be closed to too much external interference, assistance and teaching. Thus, it seems to matter little whether there is a strong or a weak parental figure, or positive or negative role models involved. The results are all the same: The "call of the streets" the theater of self-discovery for urban youths, is always stronger than the strongest of "role models," and stronger than all but the most determined parental authority.

Put simply, the real story here lays not so much in Mr. Williams' tale itself (which, meaning no disrespect to the author) we have seen repeated ad nausea. The real story lies in the psychology behind (beneath and between the lines of) his carefully woven "self-styled" autobiographical tale of his own urban heroics. His story of survival against society's grim reaper, and his eventual redemption through Christ is now the signature story of the urban ghetto denizen's rise from a mostly self-imposed "pre-determined failure" to "limited success through religion." It is now the familiar and expected tale of "the urban warrior's" struggle against "the man" or more accurately, against the recycled urban jungle that his own actions have helped to create and sustain.

Mr. William's tale is the archetypical version of this story: The hero begins by learning at an early age how to fight, then moves on to petty thefts and muggings, how to engage in risky and mindless sex, gets thrown out of several schools, learns how to gamble, stabs and gets stabbed (by his own cousin Tyson no less); shoots and gets shot (again by his own cousin Tyson), and on up the ladder to dealing drugs (following in his already jailed father's footsteps), and then as his life hangs in the balance, just before death or a lengthy prison sentence puts a natural or societal end to his climb, he has an epiphany: a "comes to Jesus moment" in which his life is miraculously turned around. Now the newly "saved" (like our lame duck President, GW Bush) also due to his own over night conversion, becomes the new recruit for Christ, a new "Proselytizer in Chief," and the new ever-wise and ever-self-righteous and morally superior "savior" himself.

The Rosetta stone: the "psychology of the missing hyper-masculine non-white male," reincarnated as the "Urban Hustler."

There is something eerily similar about the tales told here by Mr. Williams and by all the erstwhile "urban warriors like him:" from Johannesburg and Pretoria, to Rio and Sao Paulo, to Kingston and Marrakech, and from Detroit to Newark and LA, and back to Southeast DC. These "hero's tales" have identical shapes and themes: they are about actions designed to create and sustain a reputation as "self-created full men" in societies which only want "societally adjusted" and "psychologically (if not sexually) neutered" or "truncated men of color," men whose humanity is cut off and stops "just above the waist," and who are denied access to the things that could lead to normal societal respect and descent reputations. And thus these stories differ only in their inessential details -- whether they are told in the U.S., South Africa, Brazil, Portugal, Morocco or Kingston. They are all based on, and driven by the same Rosetta stone: the "psychology of the missing hyper-masculine non-white male model."

But it is clear enough for anyone willing to see it, that the psychology that is really at work here is indeed a kind of "false consciousness," rooted in the "imagined and urgently needed heroics" of the hyper-masculine black male image. Although only an image, The "Super-fly" Hustler is as real in its impact on the "code of the streets," and in its consequences on urban black life, and on black values more generally, as the "false psychology of the Western Cowboy" is real to mainstream white American boys and its corresponding impact on mainstream American values. It is just that the rough and stumble cowboy image on the one hand, is made to seem that it has redeeming positive qualities, while that of the hyper-masculine "Super-fly" non-white male, on the other hand, most assuredly is made to seem that it does not.

This symbol of the Hustler is the cultural answer to the deficiency, the gapping hole that lies at the center of the black male psyche. The "urban street Hustler" is the "Field General" on the urban battlefield. His image, that of the "hyper-masculine black male hero," is the psychological gestalt, standing in counter-position to that of the meek "societally adjusted neutered black male," which in any case is a wholly unattractive, unappealing and unacceptable hero to any young male of color struggling to become a "full," rather than a "truncated," or "psychologically neutered," man. James Baldwin has written about this phenomenon at length.

It is the image of the "Hustler" that is magnified beyond reason and that becomes a larger-than-life condensation symbol, one that serves to compress and then tries to integrate into the larger culture, all of the missing psychological elements of pride, ego, stifled sexual prowess and diminished societal status. Not accidentally, these just happen to be all of the same elements that a racist society works so relentlessly to deny and remove, both from the reality, and from even the image of the "the young criminal to be," black male buck. The crucible in which the "hustler's" image and psychology is created, incubated and nurtured is thus American racist society confined by racial segregation to the urban sub culture. It is a day-to-day grind, "being always on the struggle," the drama of tension against racism, poverty, over-crowdedness, alienation, harried and weak parental authority, and always weak disproportionately single mother-run families.

The cruelest of societal paradoxes is that black youths like Mr. Williams, when they engage in internecine struggles of violence, as they search vainly for the missing parts to their male psyches, are in actuality not so quietly engaged in a larger psychological conspiracy with the very racists who are bent on denying them their manhood: The more they kill each other, the more they lose their own self-respect and the respect they so desperately seek as individuals and as a group. And the more they fill up the morgues and the jails, the more they prove to their real enemies, the racists, that they are the wild animals who are un-deserving of the withheld parts of their missing psyches.

The urban battlefield is thus a vicious psychological circle without any redeeming qualities.

In the process of "becoming," that is, in the process of fashioning a life of which one can be proud and thus can become an assertive force and "agency" in defense of their own survival, young men of color have no choice but to elect to "become" through the false reality of their self-made heroes fashioned from their own self made sub cultural materials. Men of color cannot become, or even see themselves as "whole people" in the constricted leftover psychological space provided by racist white society. And as is typical of "missing" and "needy" psychological elements, both the individual and the collective ego, refashions the new hero into an exaggerated larger-than-life caricature of these urgent and vital needs. And from this we get the grotesque inversions of values, the mindless urban warfare, exaggerated preoccupation with sexual conquests, and a false feeling of invincibility. What is most assuredly at work in the psychological background of "Super-fly" is of course, self-hatred, the grand inquisitor of personal worth: If "we" lack those elements the white man has stolen from us, then it must mean we did not deserve them in the first place, right? Thus, there must be something wrong with us? We either are not brave enough, strong enough, masculine enough, or moral enough to fend for our own existence.

This thus becomes a vicious individual psychological problem that can only be solved at the level of culture. Thus enters the "street hustler:" The new "colored" urban cowboy, the buccaneer extraordinaire, the hyper-sexed woman killer, the psychological fixer of last resort, the "Mack," "Super-fly himself. The "hustler" is not just suave and smooth as silk, but also athletic, street smart and fearless, dressed to envy and to kill, with money to burn, packing heat and not in need of Viagra. And like all heroes, "the Hustler" too is an urgently necessary psychological fiction, an evil imperative called up from deep within a culturally deprived psyche and soul. Men fear the Hustler and all women want to make love to him. Amen.

This was the trap in which Dawayne Williams' tail was caught. And he is right, reputations based on a "false consciousness," do indeed fade away. But "false consciousnesses" can also have beautiful self-righteous faces too. Now he must see his new situation with his discovery of Jesus, as not an end in itself, but one in which the struggle continues, but this time with a "healthier self-concept," and a committed invisible ally at his side. With Jesus and self-knowledge now on his side, Mr. Williams must redouble his commitment and continue the struggle with even more zeal.

Five stars

Excellent source for the novice or even the journeyman rigger. Compact and portable reference with easily readable text and explanations.

This booklet has the basic information needed for products and proper rigging methods for lifting materials with cranes, derricks, etc. US units are used. The booklet is simple to use with diagrams and can be understood by foreman and superintendents with a basic education. It covers wire rope, wire rope slings, nylon slings, chain, mesh slings, and hardware. It has also has formulas, examples, references, and standards. The basic rules are covered to keep you out of trouble. It is also small enough to carry around.

This handbook is designed to find the information that you need quickly. It explains the correct and incorrect way to rig and attach harnesses

This book provided me with a better understanding of how to recognize potential problems with rigging. I have purchased several copies of this book for all our employees to help them perform safer lifts by learning more about the slings and hardware that they are using.
The illustrations are very understandable and compelling. Explanations are simple and the reader won't require special knowledge of math or physics to understand the material.

This book is written for the software tester and/or test manager, but not just those professionals who test eBusiness Web sites. Rather, there is something in here for any software tester, or IT manager who has responsible for software quality.

In some ways this book is actually 4 books in one - the first part of the book focuses on using Risk to drive the test strategy for a product being evaluated, an approach that works as well for testing embedded software in aircraft engines, as for testing a Web site used for eCommerce. For example, in Chapter 3 Paul & Neil pose age-old software testing questions such as; "how good was your testing?" and "when can we stop testing". Later providing answers based on a systematic (& defensible) approach, as opposed to good old fashioned "gut feel".

Part II provides a high-level overview of some of the more common risks that a Web site might face, and then applies the risk based testing strategy discussed in part 1 to this particular problem domain. In effect, providing a high-level generic case study for risk based testing.

Part III is the largest section in the book, and is a series of 9 Chapters that go into the details of how to test Web sites. The last chapter in this section focusing on tools that can be used to automate many of these tests.

The last part of this book; looks at some of the common challenges a testing team might face when trying to implement any new approach to software testing (i.e. many of these aspects being applicable to any testing environment, not just eCommence Web sites).For example; how to handle incident management, staff retention, and Beta testing.

In summary; this book has something for anyone involved in software testing (whether it is as a test executioner or in a test management capacity). Please do not let the title lead you into believing that this book is only appropriate for testing Web app's; there is plenty that is applicable for any software testing effort - especially the concepts of applying a risk based approach to determining what to test, and when to test it.

Note, additional details on this book can be found at [...]
Also, in the vain of "full disclosure", you should know that I've known Paul for many years, and consequently I cannot be considered a completely impartial reviewer.

This is a relevant text now. And even when e-business ceases to be a buzz word, this book will still have enough material, on the broader needs for risk-based testing in an organization, to remain relevant.

Each of the 20 chapters reads like an individual essay allowing you to dip in and out for reference purposes and, given that some of the sections have a lot of useful information buried in them, I suspect that you will want to do this.

The approach to risk based testing presented in chapters 2 and 4 is a useful one for helping the reader plan and approach test planning. From an identified risk, the tester builds a test objective. These are used as high-level test conditions which, hopefully, help determine if the risk has been mitigated or not. The later technique chapters provide examples of the risk->test objective translation and that is obviously a useful thinking technique.

Chapter 4 in particular 'Risk-Based Test Strategy' will be a popular reference source for many testing projects.

The web testing coverage is pragmatic, introduced in good order and provides a good overview of the technicalities of web testing. There is an interesting section in the Appendix which demonstrates how effective simple homegrown automation can be for web testing.

More important for this text though, than the drilling down to extreme testing of web technicalities, is the extended coverage of web testing over the life of the project and understanding how the traditional phases of the testing life cycle apply to e-business projects.

In summary then, a good book for management, and for testers that want to look beyond their collection of test scripts and concern themselves with the needs of the business.

The title of this book need not deter you. Yes, it is aimed at both Test Managers (the risk elements) and at web testers (the E-Business content). However, if, like me, you fall into neither category, it is still a very worthwhile addition to your reading list and workplace library.

The authors use very practical examples from real life testing to illustrate points. A continuous analogy of an individual E-Business being like a shop, with potential walk-in customers, works very well. Some rather startling facts emerge too; the average visit to the Systeme Evolutif web-site (of which Paul Gerrard is the web-master) is less than two minutes. I am sure that is true of a lot of sites, including those that are payment-now, real business sites.

Everyone in testing seems to promote 'risk'. Here is a strategy for answering the inevitable questions on ready-for-live issues based on whether risks have been addressed. "When enough tests have been prepared, executed and passed to convince the risk-owners that the risk has been addressed, enough testing has been done".

I have dabbled in web testing, both formally and informally (the latter probably every time I use the internet). The techniques for addressing real and perceived E-Business risks have a large carry over into other (i.e. non E-Business) test forms. The sections on performance, usability and Large Scale Integration rung some bells with me, and the use of tools is both encouraged, and discouraged. Strange as it may seem, the way of doing this did not seem to be contradictory. The sections on why the concept of E-Business is different only seeks to place MORE emphasis on why a coherent risk strategy is necessary. With web applications, not only is the time-to-market critical, but the price of failure can be so much more disastrous.

Use of American spelling and currency (everything is quoted in dollars) jars for the British reader, and look out for the words "we", "us", and "our". These are sometimes used a little ambiguously. (Ask who "us" refers to). However, expect to be challenged, and encouraged on to the land of better testing. There is a wealth of source material provided, especially on tools, and toll providers. There are lots of web-based references; additionally, a significant number of articles and books referenced are from 2001 or 2002.

The preface gives one of the reasons for the book being the ordering of the vast quantities of information that there is around. What was set out as an aim has been achieved, and both Paul and Neil have brought their experience, knowledge and communications skills to benefit us all. One of the dedications says: "To all those testers who do the best they can, but always think they should do more". I for one appreciate that the book was written for me. Thanks.

Although the focus is on e_business testing this book has changed my views about the realities of risk-based testing for any environment. First, the authors give a dose of reality regarding the differences between 'best practices' provided in the testing body of knowledge that is growing into hundreds of books (less than two years ago there were only a few dozen books on software testing, so this is a positive trend for the profession as a whole). Second, the fallacies in conventional risk-based testing are exposed. Here the authors propose that testing be exclusively focused on product risk, instead of trying to encompass the wider scope that includes project and process risk. This, in my opinion, is sage advice and keeps testing focused on areas where it can contribute to a project's success.

Among the strong points of this book are it's clear writing, which is full of examples, and the logical sequence in which the material is presented. In addition, the clear definitions of general risk management and associated processes and procedures, and how it all ties together are among the most succinct I've read. However, the best aspect of this book is the way the chapters build upon each other, and the complete coverage of risk-based testing.

Specifics include a general chapters on risk-based e-business testing and types of web site failures that lay the foundation for the technical aspects of the book. These are followed by chapters that show how to develop an e-business test strategy, how to fit risk analysis to a test process, and a comprehensive treatment of test techniques and tools. The latter is especially valuable because it covers the full range of testing techniques that are tailored to e-business testing, which includes static, web page integration, functional, service and usability testing. This part of the book also includes security testing and large scale integration testing - both of which make this one of the most complete collections of test techniques for e-business as well as general testing.

The remainder of the book covers the context of e-business testing (including brief advice on how it fits within Extreme Programming and the Unified Process), E-business test organization, planning and specifications (a wealth of information for the test manager), and E-business test execution (which also addresses important topics such as incident management and testing in a live environment). The two appendices, Essential Web Technologies for Testers and Web Testing Using Home Brew Tools are also valuable.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is involved in E-business testing, and also recommend that it be used in conjunction with Systematic Software Testing by Rick D. Craig by Stefan P. Jaskiel (ISBN 1580535089), which nicely augments this book.

As I finish the book " a River Calling", I look back at the pages, underlined; dog-eared and tear-stained. Mr. Frontin tells a remarkable tale of a journey as a young man, a journey of faith and a journey of fatherhood. A tale everyone will be able to relate to in one sense or another. Telling more than one story in a book is no small feat and as a first time, published writer I was impressed at the ease he was able to take the reader from one tale and then to the other. Never realizing how long the Missouri River was, it is hard to fathom what it takes to canoe such a daunting river. The adventures of these four young men filled me with both admiration and inspiration at what one can do if they set their minds to it. The history he weaves into this excursion is also educational, that I am sure most Americans are unfamiliar with.

As we face many trials and tribulations in our own lives, especially during the maturation years, it seems the parenting skills these days, are less than desirable. Mr. Frontin's relationship with his sons, his strong desire to be the best father possible and his comparison of the Lord, the Almighty "Father" is such a refreshing outlook and one that all fathers should take heed. It is not just the 3 day canoe trip Glenn does with Dustin and Joshua, but his continued ability to be awed by nature, God's beautiful Creation, and share what he saw. His love and consideration for his wife and daughter are never far from his thoughts as he spends this cherished adventure with his sons.

I am not a religious individual, but I found myself drawn to the biblical comparisons. It helped me realize how special the world around us is and saw how the teachings of God can and should reflect our actions and outcome. I read "a River Calling" on my own journey, as I travel extensively for work. I finished the book on one plane ride and as I waited for my connection, I purchased a Cross necklace that I proudly wore home.

This is a beautiful book. The author's descriptions of what he sees and feels, make the reader feel as if he/she is there. The intertwining of "real" life with Biblical passages adds to the overall impact of the story. Good story. Good lessons. A must read!

a River Calling is a great reflection on one historical (Lewis & Clark) and two personal adventures--the author's 2000+ mile trip down the Missouri River as a young man and raising two sons as a Christian father. References to the Corps of Discovery journey are woven into the 91 day canoe trip of Glenn Frontin and 3 other teenagers from Yellowstone to St Louis in 1979 and the retracing of part of that trip over 3 days with Glenn's two teenage sons in 2002. Glenn highlights many spiritual lessons from his own life and the challenges of traveling on the Missouri. It is an easy and encouraging read for new and seasoned fathers.

If you love American history, outdoor adventure and are a committed father in terms of raising your son(s) God's way, you won't want to miss this book. The author takes you on an unforgettable journey retracing the footsteps of Lewis and Clark with his own 2000 plus mile canoe adventure as a young man on the Missouri river in 1979 and later in life as a father with his own boys. Around every corner the author pours his heart out about his love of the outdoors, his country, his family and his own personal struggles as a man together with his wife charged with the most important responsibility in the world i.e. raising Godly children.

As a parent who can relate to similar challenges in life I found that the book just draws you in. Along the way, the author uses God's word in teaching about this awesome responsibility as a father. Beginning in Yellowstone National Park the author's imagery brings to life not only the beauty of God's creations but three journeys of a lifetime. Told in a very open, direct and easy to read style the author challenges the reader to imagine what it must have been like and how husbands and fathers must work so diligently to fulfill God's mandate.

This is a book to surely read and read again, pass along to others and urge others to buy.

Being A Small Buisness Owner myself, I am very impressed with people who still offer personal customer service. The next day the Owner from the book store E-mailed me a very personal e-mail saying that my book had been mailed. He insured me that if there was any problem make sure that I let him know, because the only way he would be happy was if I was satisfied. This book arrived in a timely matter and was it tact the way he said it would be. I Enjoyed the personal Customer Service via E-mail! Thanks! Your customer Service is the BEST AND GREAT PRODUCT!

I loved reading this book. It gave clear and concise methods of running a small business yet also inspired with ideas of how to do what you really love. The book gave good arguements why this is the only way to live and told many stories to back it up.

If you haven't a clue about running a small business then this book is for you. For more advanced topics - look elsewhere. This book is good for what it is; a treatise on the ins and outs of managing the small enterprise. You'll find many helpful suggestions but much of the information is quite dated. Still there aren't very many books that tackle the unique problems of the one-person business. So for a unique perspective on your fledging operation, check it out.

There are many new small business books being published but this is truly one of the classics. Rather than emphasizing information about getting permits, writing a business plan, etc., Running A One Person Business discusses how to keep from being isolated, how to separate your work life from your personal life, how to go on vacation when you're self-employed, etc. I recommend it to my small business students. Jan Zobel, EA, tax preparer/lecturer and author of Minding Her Own Business: the Self-Employed Woman's Guide to Taxes and Recordkeepin

This resource was a real find! As someone with no experience with Linux, this book was perfect as it allowed me to gain a real understanding in a short period of time. I highly recommend it.

I've used the SAMS teach yourself series to get started in many different fields, from web design to basic programming, and I've found them to vary widely in terms of quality. This one happens to be among the best I've ever read. The pacing is just right. It starts with a quick overview of some of the issues involved in making the jump from Windows to Linux, followed by a quick tour of each application in the suite. Thereafter, the book quickly proceeds to tackle each application one by one.

The coverage of the applications is where the book really shines. The material progresses from rudimentary tasks to very advanced topics with respect to each application. The hours dedicated to WordPerfect 9 and Quattro Pro 9 were particularly helpful. The Quattro Pro material is simply the best spreadsheet application tutorial I've ever had the pleasure of reading. The hours build on each other very nicely, and everything is carefully explained and presented in the screenshots. There's also quite a bit of good humor here, too, which keeps the material from getting too dry.

Sometimes you've got to take the "24 Hours" reference in the title with a grain of salt. Not this time. I managed to work my way through each chapter in about an hour, usually including the exercises that appear at the end of each hour. Although I've had to go back to certain material to refresh my memory, the index is well-done, making the book very useful even after you've read it cover-to-cover.

All in all, an excellent, and relatively concise, introduction to using the most powerful office suite on the Linux platform. The authors' enthusiasm, knowledge, and teaching ability really shines through, making this a great tutorial for users of all levels.

Making the transition from the windows environment to Linux was not as smooth as I thought it would be. Particularly in using applications for word processing. Alan Golub's book on Wordperfect 2000 was a pleasure and made the entire process fun and exciting.

With clear, consice writing, Alan Golub has solved the mystery of Linux and WordPerfect Office 2000. As a newcomer to the Linux world, I approached this book with trepidation. I was a Microsoft junkie - Windows and Office were my foundation in personal computing! But, this book held my interest with its descriptive information, screenshots and exercises. It is an easy read and anyone with a foundation in Windows can easily make the transition to Linux. I highly recommend it!

Sand Castle by Joe Palmer is beautiful. He paints the sea side town where it takes place so well, you think that you are really there. The book's rhythm is relaxing - a perfect vacation mystery!

Joe Palmer wrote this novel of a powerful family's machinations based on his time in Youngstown in New England as a youth. Although he has roots in Monte Paone, Calabria, Italy, Palmer has no connection to organized crime. SAND CASTLE will be followed up by MURDER AT SAND CASTLE. Joe Palmer is presently director of the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library.

When Angelo Viscomi, founder of a multi-million dollar construction company in Youngstown, Ohio, suddenly dies his daughter Teresa Viscomi Blake Mahoney arrives home to find that her father's wife Claudia had completely remodeled the mansion. Her old flame Joe Cutruzzula, the family lawyer, arrived to help her sort through the legal tangle. Joe and Robert, Teresa's first husband and the love of her life, were best friends. Teresa then visits the "Sand Castle" home that she and Robert shared. Her current husband, John, is insanely jealous of her first husband and is pressuring her to sell Sand Castle and sign over her father's home to her stepmother. But then John is murdered, and Teresa and Joe must piece together what has happened over the last seven years to save her family and the business:

"Joe responded in a calm way. 'I agree with you. However, we need to be on guard. We know that John was murdered. We believe that Robert and your father could have been murdered also. Those supposed murders might have been tied to John's murder. If that is true, then it is all tied to the company. You will now be a major player in the company - perhaps the real power. Changing the direction of the company will cause much anger and unhappiness for those who have been directing it. We have to be careful. We have to keep our cards close to our chest.'"

There is nothing more fun than reading about a powerful family who are at each other's throats. Add murder and you have the scene set for a luscious piece of entertainment. Palmer is a smooth writer who carefully builds the plot and develops characters that are riveting. Teresa is an easily lovable character, and Joe's unrequited love for her is sweet and pure. Children scamper about in the many mansions, creating a life energy that positively adds to the plot. A great read!

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer

Very nicely written, flows well in character and plot
development. Vivid descriptions put you at the scene of
action. The knowledge and love of the author for Cape Cod and things Italian is very evident. My preferred suspect turned
out to be innocent; the surprise ending left me
slack and agape!

Sand Castle was a great murder mystery. It kept you on the edge of your seat through the entire book and the ending was totally unexpected. I would recommend it to anyone. I would like to know when there will be another.

I actually did the price hunting and bought this book for my wifee. She said that she was pleased with it and often uses it as a 'consulting' book for her job. Sorry I can't help much more here since I don't work with it and she is not the 'reviewing' kind. But the price I paid for it at Amazon was great with free shipping.

A pretty good book which is very suitable for some people who needs to use the mixed model. The content of this version is better than the previous version. I recommend this book.

I am a Ph.D. student, and I work with longitudinal and hierarchical data. I bought this book recently and I have only had a look at it. I like it very much. This book presents mixed model methodology in the setting of numerous applications and many examples are included from several applications areas. It is a useful book even to people with no muck knowledge of analysis of variance an regression analysis. You do not need to read the book from cover to cover. This book is certainly applied.

Positive: 1.Well written in a field with limited sources.
Negative: 2. Not enough explanations for a lot of procedures.
2. Expensive

This publication continues to be the best available source of information about warehouse software. The second edition is an improvement over the first with a 55 page addition, and new material including diagrams and pictures in every chapter. A chapter about implementation has been added. Warehouse operators who are considering the purchase of new software need to study this book.

This is a very relevant and concise overview of warehouse management system evaluation and implementation processes. Obal does a great job of giving comprehensive evaluation criteria and pointing out potential "gotchas" you might face in an evaluation process. The book is geared towards more complex operating environments so smaller warehouse operations may find the RPF approach a bit overwhelming. However, it is a great educational tool that highlights the numerous possibilities with available technology. The book lacks a serious discussion on the critical nature of the relationship between the warehouse operation and the software company. Access to key resources (both electronically and geographically), investment of time on the part of the provider (billed and unbilled), vendor expertise/advisory capabilities and value added options (such as remote hosting) are not highlighted and could play a critical part in your implementation.

Overall, this book is a great educational tool. It is well worth the money for any organization looking to embark on a WMS project or wanting to improve an existing implementation.

I came to the project on an executive level having little to no expertise in Warehouse Management Software(WMS). From the onset of my reading "Selecting Warehouse Software from WMS & ERP Providers" it proved to be everything and far more than I could have ever begin to appreciate. I now had the necessary information to mentally order an understanding of the difference between the WMS and ERP products, and a quiet ensued from what had felt like a swirling flood, leaving me with the sensation of being carried away in the wash of which software vendors, what product differential and what were the essentials.

From here I was able to move, and more competently frame the requirements for our own organizational needs. The author approached this written work with a sensitivity of the immense challenge the average person would face when taking on the warehouse universe and its technical requirements, by him demonstrating a simplistic and readable way of presenting the invaluable information contained within the work. The section identifying WMS software vendors and ERP supply chain software providers is simply priceless, and worth the cost of the book all by itself. I have since purchased more of the series and can now intelligently approach "applying the right software solution" with added confidence.

This book should be the first step in your WMS project. With the variety of functionality now offered by WMS providers it can be a daunting task to try to understand what a WMS does and (more importantly) what a WMS can do for your operation. Not only does the author cover standard functionality of WMS, he takes it a step further by pointing out "Differentiators" and "Common Deficiencies". These insights can prove to be incredibly valuable during the selection and implementation processes. The book is essentially a detailed report on WMS functionality with an additional section on the selection process (including step-by-step instructions and sample documents). The format makes it easy to simply open the book to a section on a specific type functionality and quickly get up to speed on key issues related to that topic.
Yes, it may seem a little pricey, but in the context of the overall costs associated with a WMS project, it's a minuscule price to pay to increase your chance of getting it right.