FO Books

The people who previously reviewed this book are not intelligent and you should not listen to them. They were teaches in California under false pretenses and did not have teaching degrees in the United States. They now live illegally in Canada.

Beautiful and imaginative incursion of Simak at the fantasy universe. Echoes of Lord of the Rings and other fantasy classics.
A poetic and well constructed text for a masterpiece in this literary genre.

This Simak's novel is one of the worst -if not the worst- he has ever written. The plot is about a group of people who trudge in search of a manuscript that if found would save humankind from the devil forces. But it's so simple and boringly written that it's very hard to advance in its reading. On the other hand there are too many and poorly developed characters that are included with no sense at all. Personally, I don't like goblins, ghosts, wizards and all that stuff. I prefer Simak's other characters as robots, dogs, plants and aliens. And I also like his other subjects as parallel words, time and space travelling and the disappearance of humankind. He came up with a very personal style in the science fiction field: a very humanistic one where understanding between humans and aliens is possible (most of the times), where technology based progress is questioned and the American mid-west farming life style is idealized. If you are interested in reading Clifford Donald Simak (1904-1988), you'd better try "City" (his 1953 International Fantasy Award master piece), "The big front yard" (1959 Hugo Award), "Way station" (1964 Hugo Award), "All flesh is grass" or "The werewolf principle". Don't think he's just capable of writting forgettable pieces as "The fellowship of the talisman". Give him another chance.

Simak's book is not for advanced readers, but it is great for kids in school. When teaching the fantasy genre, it has incredible applications. The simple characters are easy to understand, giving the book a logical progression, while generating ample discussion on their interractions. A previous reviewer mentioned that the characters have only one characteristic (An understatement), but for a critical thinking exercise students can identify and define characters by observing their actions and interractions. To teachers who struggle with fantasy books which students can not engage in due to alien ideas and complex plots, I readily reccomend this book!

I really believe this book was a wonderful beginner for me. It was the first of my ventures into the fantasy genre. I mean, there were all sorts of interesting characters and be it that they didn't have an immense background or personality to them, they all still fit in well to make the book enjoyable. I believe a lot of readers missed (including other reviewers) the underlying religious plot, that gave the book a bit of in-depth meaning. If Mr. Simak had made this into a trilogy or something similar, I'm sure there could have been a lot more done with character and plot. I thought it was quite impressive. I found myself even upset when the lady horse or donkey was killed. The book drew me in and that is what I like...and the character ideas were superb! I mean, a banshee, witch, and hermit! What great additives. Thanks Mr. Simak for an enjoyable adventure.

Spend your money wisely and get another book. This book is poorly written in what seems to be a foreign language. The phrase "it's Greek to me" certainly applies here. This book contains grammatical and spelling errors alike. The coding is incomplete and as a student of C++ I find it outrageous that computer science professors require this book as a textbook. All in all do not buy, try C++ Primer Plus.

easy to read, helpful excercises, a good book for those who want to learn C++ programing

Great choice for new students to programming.

From the back cover: "[...] no matter how powerful the language, it is still far too easy to write poor programs. [...]". The code examples in this book prove exactly this point.

The authors mention the ISO/ANSI C++ standard and claim to follow it "wherever possible" (sic). However, they make so many false statements that I seriously doubt that they have ever consulted the ISO/ANSI Standard documents, or any of the excellent text books on modern C++ design and coding practice (Cline, Meyers, Sutters.)

I believe (and I'm not alone) that in a modern C++ course std::vector should be introduced before arrays, and std::string before const char*. Not only are they safer, they are also *a lot* easier to use, and make it possible to come up with more interesting programming exercises than the endless array of meaningless numerical computations. Unfortunately, many instructors and authors consider std::vector and std::string to be "advanced topics", and torture their students and readers with the old stuff they had to learn themselves ten or more years ago. The authors belong to this category, I'm afraid: they learned C, and think that they know C++.

Let's have the book speak for itself.

Page 28:

"While C++ allows declarations and statements to be intermixed, we believe that functions should be organized for readability. Therefore, we continue to follow the C organizational concept that places declarations first in a function, followed by its statements."

On a related note, on page 40 the authors write:

"One final point about initializing variables when they are defined: Although the practice is convenient and saves you a line of code, it also can lead to errors. It is better, therefore, to initialize the variable with an assignment statement at the proper place in the body of the code. This may take another statement, but the efficiency of the program is exactly the same, and you will make fewer errors in your code."

(My comments:) It is commonly accepted by knowledgeable C++ programmers that the practice of declaring variables near the point of their first use in one of the things that makes C++ a better C. It is the old style that leads to errors (forgetting to initialize variables) and maintenance problems (variables that are no longer used, but are still in the declaration section). Furthermore, it is considered good style to prefer initialization ( int sum = 0; ) over subsequent declaration and assignment ( int sum; sum = 0; ). The former is always more efficient, and the difference can be substantial when dealing with large objects for which construction is expensive. You may argue that this is of no concern for beginning C++ programmers, but I disagree; habits, both good and bad, form early.

--

From the code example on page 363: bool binarySearch (int list[ ], int end, int target, int &locn){ ... }

(My comments:) The first argument should be const-qualified: const int list[ ]

Not only does this protect the programmer from inadvertently changing any of the values stored in the array; it also makes it possible to use the function with const int[] arguments (which would fail to compile with the original code). The const keyword is an important asset of the C++ language, and students should be trained to use it properly from the beginning. Using the Standard Template Library will drive programmers who are not aware of const-correctness issues insane. The book is extremely sloppy in the const-correctness area.

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Page 119:

"If a function has not been declared or defined before it is used, C++ will assume that you will provide that information when you link the program. Since there are no specifications, C++ will also assume that the return type is integer and that the parameter types correctly match the formal definitions."

(My comments:) This is not true: in C++, functions have to be declared before they are used, and there is no such thing as 'implicit return type int'. C++ really is different from K&R-style C.

--

On page 195, the following insight is highlighted:

"The else-if is an artificial C++ construct that is only used when

1. The selection variable is not an integral, and

2. The same variable is being tested in the expressions."

(My comments:) No further questions here, your honor.

--

It gets really interesting when the authors express their ideas on Object-Oriented programming. They claim that Object-Oriented programming is just a different view, but that the implementation is exactly the same as in structured programming. They are probably misguided by their own example of an elevator simulation program (in the chapter on classes), which is simply a structured program wrapped in a class, and has nothing to do with OO.

This is the text for my C++ class, so I did not buy it by choice. It's terrible! The people in class who are new to programming are having a hard time. Often the authors use imprecise language. There are many errors of omission: sometimes there is backpedaling or an explanation later. It says a lot that the non-programmers in the class can almost always tell when a statement in the book isn't quite right, even if they don't know why it isn't right. You have to wonder if there was a technical review of this text. And I can't figure out how it got chosen as a text for any class anywhere.

One, the authors did not mention which compiler they used to compile their program examples. Many of the programs do not compile in MS Visual C++ 6.0 as written in the text. The authors fail to mention you might have to modify the code to get it run on your compiler. For instance,
cout << fixed;
may have to be replaced with
cout.setf(ios::fixed);
or
cout.setf(ios::fixed, ios::adjustfield);
to run right in your compiler.
They do finally talk about cout.setf in chapter 7 (out of 15). The program example downloads from the website compile; they contain preprocessor directives to make the programs more portable. I guess it never occurred to the authors, while adding those preprocessor directives (which DO NOT appear in the text), that some words about compiler compatibility might be helpful. Fortunately, I have C++ Primer Plus by Mitchell Waite; he addresses the compatibility issues as he teaches the syntax.

Two, I often disagree with the authors' definitions. My favorite example: the statement
x = 5;
changes the value of the variable x to 5. The authors call this a "side effect." Huh? Seems like that's exactly what the programmer intends to do. Usually, I think of side effects as being more subtle than that. More like a function changing the value of a variable parameter to the function because the variable was passed by reference instead of by value (this could catch an unsuspecting programmer by surprise if he/she didn't check the prototype carefully).

Three, some of the "good programming" tips would cause me to fail code inspections at work. This is a good thing, because they would make verification and maintenance a nightmare. Like not initializing variables when they are declared. I guess the authors have never seen weird things happen as an executing program tries to deal with the garbage in an uninitialized variable. Or maybe they just figure this is a good way for you to discover you forgot to initialize a variable before first use. It just might take a while to figure out that's what's going on since the results can be unpredictable and/or bizarre.

I could continue, but I think I've more than made my point. I won't be standing in line to get the second edition when it comes out next year.

Ordered text for class. Got here in record time!!! Using for class; easy format to follow, interesting so far...

This seller did not send me the book entitled "Exploring Lifespan Development" by Laura E. Berk as stated in the ad. Instead I received a book called "Grade Aid for Exploring Life Development" by various authors, which is a workbook for the text. I'm sure the seller did not unintentionally leave this information out. Fortunately I only spent $20 and I will be returning this useless product. Normally I would just say "read the small print" before purchasing from this seller but I went back and reread the ad and IT IS MISLEADING! It says nothing about a workbook at all. It does say that the item is paperback but so is the original text so even that wouldn't tip someone off. Be smart. Use another seller!

I am not a senior but my parents are. My father is rather difficult to purchase gifts for because I always like to give gifts that are useful. The book, "Free Stuff for Seniors," met my qualifications for a useful gift. My father was especially interested in the section on taking College courses for free. I figure my parents will use the information in the book for years to come.

This book is a rip off every bit of information is available free of charge from Goverment Agencys, Elected Officials, Public Librarys. And here on the Internet. And Most of what is discussed Has Eligibility requirements Such as being a veteran, Low Income, Disabled, etc.

Before reading what to do about trouble with high utility bills because of low income (social security) we thought we would have to move out of our home after living in it for 34 years. "Free Stuff for Seniors," advised us to contact our local utility office, because our utility bills were so high, as a result we got fuel assistance and a new furnace which was desperately needed. They also provided smoke detectors and insulation.

You remember when seniors were being taken for their life savings by someone who claimed to find some money and would share the found fortune with the senior. But the senior had to come up with "trust" money. The scam artist would take the seniors money and never be heard from again.
This is what this book does. I purchased this book for my mother. I hoped it would provide access to free services. It doesn't. You have to be disabled, a vet, living in a rural backwater town in Idaho, with one good eye and 3 missing fingers on your right hand. Okay, so I exaggerated a bit. But you get the drift.
Matthew Lesko is a good pitchman but his products don't live up to the hype.

I have received several calls from senior citizens who have read this book and want to know how they can rent their homes out to filmmakers.....although I do not mind bearing witness to the possibility of using ones home for use in motion pictures, I find it troubling that the author uses me as a reference without proper permission. Given this information, I can only suggest that seniors be "smart consumers" and decide for themselves if this author's work merits serious consideration.

This is a horrible book to read and gain any insightful knowledge from other than superficial, basic knowledge. If I wasn't a Chem E and didn't have a great teacher then I'd be in a world of complete confusion. This book does little more than use magic to derive equations and uses inconsistent conventions. In addition, it seems to spend a lot of time on specific thermodynamic examples then using mass and energy balances: the very staple of thermodynamics.

This solution manual is a true waste of money/

First off there aren't even that many solutions, probably a couple per chapter.

Second, the solutions aren't really solutions, nothing is explained just a series of obscure steps and viola the solution.

Third, well, lets just say that this wouldn't be so bad if just the solution manual was crap, but the book is pure crap as well, can't say i have had a worst experience than this.

Let me begin by saying - I love chemistry. I love math. I'm a total nerd. But this book turned me off to both. Taking a year of physical chemistry is hard - but this book makes it even harder. This is the first year my professors have used this book, and I think it will be their last.

The key points aren't covered in detail. The math is overly complicated, and the problems don't hit the right points. I don't have a lot of P.Chem textbook knowledge, but there has to be something better out there.

I wouldn't recommend the text at all - but if you buy it, you ABSOLUTELY need the solutions manual.

I used this book for my pchem courses and found it to be completely worthless. While it does focus on computational crap that's not very important the first time around. The quantum chapters are pretty poorly done, and well the thermo stuff is just boring. All in all, I found this text to be useless. The derivations include many errors, and often are presented before the text introduces what they're trying to derive thereby further confusing you. You're better off not buying this book, unless you need for class, and buying one of the more used books like Levine's or Macquarrie's.

A modern, clear, and extensive physical chemistry text. It does break tradition with the heavyweights in the field (Atkins, McQuarrie), but does so for good reason: there aren't enough computational background or computer computation applications in the others. Those books do a great job with the theory and mathematics, but this book show's you how to use that mathematics to really understand chemistry. It focuses heavily computational chemistry with actual software and the Spartan Quantum chemistry software that book's authors use is very inexpensive if you buy the student version. As a bonus, this book is the most colorful and well laid-out and edited one available today.

This has one of the worst installers I have ever seen. I'm a professional software developer with 30 years experience, and I could not get this to install on my daughters windows xp machine.

This calculus book is an excellent choice for college bound mathematics students in high schools. It covers every topics needed to succeed in later math courses and future; it has ample real-life problem situations that not only hone mathematics skills of the students, it also helps them to understand most of the abstract concepts of calculus. This book is suitable for use in any AP Calc courses (AB or BC). Despite many special features in this overall superior book, I do not strongly recommand this book. The reason is that this book uses very minimum colors and graphics that can help high school students to be interested in the materials in calculus; besides, graphics with colors CERTAINLY helps everyone to grasp the abstract "stuff". If you are a high school chairperson, and you are considering to purchase this book for your school to use as an AP Calc text book, I recommand you to look for a newer book.

In my opinion, I think this is a very average calculus textbook. It lacks proofs for many theorems and puts too much emphasis on the graphing calculator and other computer technologies in both chapters and problems (what do you expect from some egghead in MIT?) On the other hand, all the information is organized nicely and everything seems accurate for a first edition. But I have seen better. In my personal opinion, Salas & Hille's Calculus is a better book.

This book is very poor. I give it a poor rating because the solution manuals that compliment this book are very mediocre. The solution manual that came with the book (It came bundled with the text at my college bookstore) seems as though it was hastily put together. Some answers are wrong, have typos, or even lacking altogether. The solution manual only covers chapters 1-12. The remaining chapters are covered in another manual...that's where the above problems are thrown into plain view. In the second solution manual, some answers don't match, are missing, or wrong. For example, chapter 13 has two sections that are flipped around, which shows the haste in bringing out this book. I have nothing good to say about these texts. When Calculus 3 is over this semester, I have 660+ pages worth of TP...that's the only way I feel the purchased can be justified.

As all of you know already, all (except some exceptional textbooks by distinguished authors) Addison Weslely Mathematics books are well known for their terrible excercizes, explanations, lessons, and their contents. There are a few reasons why the above statement is true, but you can figure them out by yourself. Also, lack of information that hinders AP Calculus B C students further emphasize that this is a book made for the novice mathematicians of extremely low ability in problem solving and thinking. Overall, this book is not a book that can be used in an Advanced Placement Calculus BC class; and indeed, this book would a terrible choice for a short calcululus class at a university that offers a good quality mathematics education. This book definiately receives a "poor" recommendation; its contents must be enhanced for it to receive a better recommendation from the instructors and learners in the United States.

The index in this manual lists pages to 258...unfortunatly it contains only 99 pages. Naturally, the subjects I was interested in are in the missing pages. It does have a wiring diagram but only for the gas model.

This book arrived with highlighting on most pages and in several areas on a page. We were very displeased since it was not described as such.

As an amateur artist, I was looking for some insight on Vincents actual technique (use of color, equipment, brush strokes, etc). Despite the title, I got little information from this book that was usful.

cursory and unimpressive -- shallow