Open-book

This is a small inspirational book. I read a page each day and found that my creativity was supported. The book is filled with Tracy's beautiful and creative paintings. I think this would be a nice book to give as a gift to a friend or...even to yourself!

Dream With Your Eyes Open
By Tracy Porter

Review by Joan Moore Lewis, author of southern fiction

I felt as though I was taking a walk through a beautifully decorated home featuring a different wallpaper in each room -- flowers, birds, butterflies, lace, cupcakes, basket filled with Easter eggs, keepsakes, and lots of color. There was an inspirational message on each wall.

My favorite message was "Encourage your dreams...while wearing your rose-colored glasses. (If you don't have a pair, it's time to get them!)"

I enjoyed Tracy Porter's philosophy of living, and I recommend her rose-colored glasses to anyone who enjoys dreaming...

This book is Superb bound Quality printed on High Gloss paper containing some very rare and beautiful pictures ranging from turn of the century to Pete Sampras. The text that accompanies is thoughtful though somewhat terse. A must-have compendium of US Open Highlights that will delight anyone who has ever picked up a tennis racquet.

This is an impressive book on the history of the US Open. Full of highlight photos of players in action, this very comprehensive piece of writing on the the final Grand Slam tournament of the year will keep the reader's eyes glued to the pages. The year by year section on the Open is a great chronological collection of photos of the champions with annotations. The chapter on the great matches of the Open provides details of some of the historical moments of the tournament since the inception of the US Tennis Championships. A must-read for all tennis fans and players alike!

This book starts off by defining the Open Source Movement and the General Public License. It then moves on to everything else...
As a newbie (2 months of using the free download of Mandrake 8.1 after doing the free online course...and 5 months of basic networking skills), I found this book an excellent read. It covered almost everything I needed to know to secure my network at home (I don't use windows anymore), and gave me confidence enough to want to apply for Network Administration somewhere.
CD included, you get tricks for locking down your system, or your whole network even, and the apps to help you do it (the entire book is in HTML on the CD, too!) I recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn linux, or anyone wanting to learn linux security.
I took half a star because it mainly refers to Red Hat Linux over others, and another half because I could see how a college professor might want a much more technical manual over this textbook style guide. Great book!

Follow simple step by step procedures to hardening your linux system, i was able to read the meat of this book in a 4 hour airplane flight. Easily install and configure Linux, firewalls, etc.

Hack Proofing Linux does the following very accurately:

1. It shows you how to deploy IPsec using FreeSWAN.
2. Readers learn detailed information about how to configure packet filters and proxy servers.
3. Although many theoretical references exist, few resources have practical advice concerning how to implement Kerberos. Before publication of this book, no authors had the common sense to show all of the steps necessary for a practical implementation. Other references either omitted steps or simply remained on a general level. I've never seen a book that does such as good job on this, in such a handy way.
4. After reading this book, you will have more than enough accurate information to scan systems for vulnerabilities, and you will also be able to accurately map and manage networks. For those who need more explanation, all they have to do is implement the tools as described, and they can then actually learn by doing. Seeing as how most of these people can't even buy or read the book all the way through, no matter they are impatient with a practical approach.
5. The book focuses on the pliability of Linux. Do you want to use a Linux server as a firewall? Read this book. Do you want to use it to audit systems? Read this book. Do you want to use Linux to securely centralize authentication? Read this book. Even though this book doesn't appear to be popular to people in Texas who don't understand that a mount point can be any directory on a Linux system, or who don't realize that Xinetd is a defacto standard, this California professor thinks it does an
excellent job.

In a macabre permutation of the children's game "Button, Button, Who's got the Button," a murder-for-hire contract is let out and then flung around like the ball in the old Chicago Cub field. Or a warped version of the Kevin Bacon game - anyone can find a hit man within 3 degrees of acquaintance? Very sad social commentary indeed. That's all I'm saying - I won't give away the entire scheme & scams. This is a well-paced true crime saga. I read the hard cover edition and am disappointed that it was rushed to print before the "rest of the story" was concluded. (The trials of some of the major players had not yet occurred.) Does the later paperback have an "update?"
reviewed by mbmlaw

My goodness I am going to have to stop reading true crime. True crimes that keeps me so engrossed and inhibit me from getting other things done. I started this book and could not put it down for too long. Even when I was doing other stuff my thoughts were fixated on this novel.

Set in Texas, this novel haunts you until the very last page. When Roxanne Gailunas is found murdered in the bedroom of her Dallas, Richardson house, her husband Dr. Peter Gailunas, and her lover Larry Aylor are the prime suspects. However it is not as simple as it looks, as Detective McGowan goes far beyond the call of duty trying with all his nerve and sinew to make some sense of this obscure and complicated occurrence. There are so many characters involved in this case, it takes over five years before the absolute truth is brought to light. Drug addicts, sociopaths, greedy persons who will do anything including murder for a bit of money are all associated with this case.

With all it's exciting twists and turns, this should be a ral page turner for all of you out there who truly enjoy true crime.You will be kept on your toes with this well written Carton Stowers novel.

This is the most engaging book that I have read this year. I picked it up with very low expectations, and couldn't put the book down. Stowers writing style is very engaging. The twists and turns are remarkable. A very nice piece of research and writing.

Great Subject Matter - Hard Read

I dig the Dalai Lama so much - even seeing his smiling face on the cover of this book fills me with joy and brings a smile to my face - I just find him so hard to read.

The content and subject matter is great. There is so much in this book and it's always a moving experience reading the Dalai Lama's words

The focal point is about opening your heart and practicing compassion in your everyday life - and calm abiding.

This is a great book, warm and comforting - my only complaint is that it is difficult to read.

In my humble belief, this book might have been more appropriately titled, "On Peace: A Guide to Inner and External Happiness." As we go about our somewhat materialistic lives, its important and helpful to consider what it is we desire. As we embark in the passion of work, play or friendship, its important to consider what we are doing on this earth.

Such answers are provided by this book. It is a compilation of the speeches and lessons taught by the Dalai Lama on his three day visit to New York City culminating in a speech given at Central Park to a crowd of 200,000 people.

This book is less about compassion and more about finding an inner meaning to your life. Loosely interpreted, it is about finding peace, a peace which arrives from the happiness of your actions, and a happiness which arrives from assisting others rid themselves of suffering.

I believe Buddism, and this book particularly argue that there is no material self but rather only soul. It serves as an important guide both in a broad and specific sense of how to meditate, open your heart, and perhaps most of all, open your mind. The Dalai Lama speaks of global issues and the way in which one can internalize those issues so as to project compassion both inward and outward. The value of his teachings and this book are twofold. Just by reading this book, you will instantly recognize a path to self improvement, and upon reflection, meditation and most importantly practice, you will reap the eternal benefits of a life dedicated to the betterment of yourself and ultimately mankind.

This glowing review was written a day after having completed the book, and I hope to stand by it, a year, and even a decade or more from now. In the meantime, I hope to read it again, and I hope to impart its wisdom onto my soul and onto the soul of those around me.

Kosovar, another reviewer, apparently does not realize the meaning of what meditation is. In a Buddhist perspective, it means simply concentration. To drive in concentration is not dangerous, but advisable. It is true, however, that people often are NOT at all concentrating on the moment when driving; many of us seem to lack an element of real concentration in all of our daily tasks.

How was the book? It was wonderful, HH The Dalai Lama is such a great teacher. Where Tibetan Buddhism from an academic standpoint can become very dogmatized and esoteric, The Dalai is able to present us with the core of what is taught. Not which Buddha did this when or where, but practical advice on this life. In "An Open Heart", he provides a great introduction to anyone interested in Buddhism. Nobody often knows what tradition of Buddhism they will take when first reading into it all, and The Dalai Lama is the most popular writer on the subject to date. I think it's wonderful, thank goodness it's not someone like Taisen Deshimaru that is popular, someone who didn't understand the Dharma so well. That would be dangerous. The Dalai one can trust, a good read and informative as well. May you have many Dharma dreams to come my friends!

Enjoy:)

The major problem with this book is that ER NEVER really
discusses the "business model" used by the "software" industry
which is more of a form racketeering and money laundering
than any legitimate model. Since he does not do this and
does not offer a viable alternative business model - he
doomed open source to a quick death. Had he taken this
issue more seriously,Enron,WorldCom,Auther Andersen and Perigrine
debacles might have been avoided.

The cult-like status of this book and its Web antecedents in the Linux community isn't surprising. But even for those of us who aren't staunch open-source partisans, it's a surprisingly well-argued (if a bit scattered) and concise collection.

Taken as a whole, the book makes a series of good business cases for when opening the source code to software is appropriate and potentially profitable -- as well as maximally efficient. I was pleased that Raymond acknowledges that open source is _not_ always the best way to go, even while noting that it will probably be more prevalent over time.

Raymond's fervour about open source shows through, particularly late in the book, but it doesn't detract from the largely objective analyses he makes -- so his arguments carry force.

Worth reading for anyone who's a programmer, a hacker, or interested in the politics of the software business. Or anyone else, for that matter.

I read it in one evening. It was extremely well written. Eric Raymond is a hacker with a tremendous command of the English language. He imparts information and his beliefs in a way that even non-geeks should understand. I gave it to my boss and he was fascinated also. This book is an important work that juxtaposes the traditional "Cathedral" style of software development (i.e. Microsoft) with the contemorary "Bazaar" style in which open source software is written (i.e. Linux). It explains how hackers all over the world somehow came together to form a formidable revolution of open source software. Linus Torvalds started it. Eric Raymond explained it. Long live the revolution! I have been using Linux for 2 years so I am partial of course. But ask yourself - Why would you pay for mediocre software, created by good people with bad deadlines, when you can get better software, created by good people for the love of it, for free, that is better supported?

I agree with many of the reviewers below that this book was helpful and often interesting. It gives a readable orientation to one of the most important movements in the software industry today, and the editors have been fortunate to gather together so many contributors who obviously know whereof they speak. In particular, the editors' Introduction, Eric Raymond's "Brief History of Hackerdom," Richard Stallman's account of GNU and FSF, Bruce Perens's discussion of Open Source, and Tim O'Reilly's essay on "Infoware" were informative and thought-provoking.

That said, it should be noted that the Amazon reviewer above gets it wrong when she writes that the book gives a "fascinating look at the raging debate." In fact, *nothing* about Open Source is debated in this book, which is a major disappointment. As the reviewer from Princeton below notes, the goodness of everything Open Source and the badness of everything Microsoft seems to be a given for many of the writers. At the risk of criticizing the book for not being something its creators didn't intend, I think it would be greatly improved with the addition of a wider range of viewpoints and even a dissenting voice or two. (There are a number of essays that could give place to some alternate content: Eric Raymond's second essay, "The Revenge of the Hackers," leans heavily toward the self-congratulatory, as does the Netscape cheerleaders' "Story of Mozilla." And Larry Wall's "Diligence, Patience, and Humility" seems to have been included not on its own merits but on the author's reputation as the Perl Deity.)

A final wish is for the book to address a broader range of readers. As a longtime computer user but a relatively new programmer, with no formal business training, I found many of the essays to rely heavily on the jargon of hackers and MBAs. More editorial control here, in addition to a broader range of content, would make this book seem less like preaching to the choir and more effective at spreading the Open Source gospel.

This book is an interesting window on the Open Source world. It is a strange planet with strange people. Some crazy idealist like R. Stallman (I like the guy very much), some smart and intelligent person like L. Torvald (he did a very good job with Linux). In between someone that was just in the right place at the right time, but who doesn't deserve so much space and celebrity. I am talking about a person that seems confused as the language he invented: Larry Wall. His contribution does not require further comments.

This is a good idea on O'Reilly's part to try to document the history and goals of the Open Source movement, which had roots in several college campuses and research labs in the '70s and '80s, and became news in the late '90s with the popularity of Linux, Apache, and the decision of Netscape to open its browser source. The best introductory piece, however, is probably Eric Raymond's "Cathedral and the Bazaar" which is not in this book(O'Reilly publishes it separately, but it's available free on the Web and short enough to be read in one sitting). As for this collection, I liked Robert Young's business case for distributing open source - his story of how Red Hat was launched reminds me of the Compaq tale of "three guys in a restaurant". The Apache article is also quite good, and Linus Torvalds offers a brief but interesting (and characteristically opinionated) article about how Linux evolved technically. There's also a good article discussing the various open source licenses (BSD, GPL, Netscape, etc) and what they do and don't restrict.

Others I was less impressed with. Stallman's article is predictable and self-serving. He explains how he evolved his software-as-gift philosophy but doesn't come close to terms with how the software industry can support substantial employment if all source is given away. There's yet another history of the different branches of BSD Unix. There's a breathtaking inside account of the launch of Mozilla which ends with the fancy Silicon Valley party when development has finally gotten underway. The low point is Larry Wall's "essay", which is a frankly ridiculous waste of time and print.

Although this is a mixed bag, there's enough reference material and interesting points of view to keep the book around.

I found this book very useful because it filled up some gaps in my programming practices. For a long time I avoided to learn Ant and other open source tools because their documentation and usage if any look so intimidating. But now with big project looming over me I decided to give it a try.
The book not only helps to start with Ant, JMeter and JUnit but also shows mechanics of packaging and deployment of complex enterprise application.
I substracted one star because the book does not use more accessible application server and database.

This book is the first of its kind, covering topics that haven't been explored this directly anywhere. It does a remarkable job, covering not just the tools but the philosophy behind good unit tests and frequent, automated builds.

The book is divided into three major parts. Part I presents a foundation for the ideas in the rest of the book, exploring the philosophy behind XP, J2EE project development and deployment, and demonstrating the process with a simple Model 2 Web application. Part II spends its first three chapters (4-6) looking at ANT, first with a high-level look at continuous integration practices and then at more concrete examples. Chapters 7-11 look more closely at testing, with chapters on JUnit, Cactus, HttpUnit, JMeter, and JUnitPerf. Part III is a series of reference chapters for ANT, JUnit, Cactus, and HttpUnit. The coverage is exceptionally good and the material is comprehensive.

There's no question that a book like this is unlikely to stimulate readers to suddenly adopt these techniques. Instead, you should consider applying those things that make sense to you and focus on those chapters. The book is written well enough to make that possible, in part thanks to the flexibility, modularity, and effectiveness of the tools being discussed. Serious projects need to take testing seriously and few books approach the topics with this kind of practicality and experience.

If you're doing rapid development, and who isn't these days, this books is well worth a look. It goes beyond simple solutions and may be of interest to QA or testing groups. The philosophy behind this material is modern and forward thinking. It captures some of the best practices and clarifies the application of current tools in the Java community, and has the potential to make you a better programmer and better able to deliver higher-quality code on a shorter timeline. It's not a panacea, but it is a good investment, and inexpensive considering the book's content.

Regardless of whether you subscribe to the practice of Extreme Programming (XP) or not, you're likely to be interested in tools that can help you perform better unit tests and improve your build environment. Good unit tests can make the difference between discovering problems at an early stage (when debugging is least expensive) and less flexible, more expensive projects. If you make heavy use of Java, the ANT build tool is also important, enabling you to do much more than merely build classes. ANT has facilities that range from simple builds to sophisticated interactions with protocols, packaging, and much more.

I find if you are doing J2EE development this book is a must-have! Even if you are not doing XP. Don't let the XP title turn you off from this book.

At first glance at this book, I thought it was trying to be too many things to too many people. It seems to contain every buzzword: Opensource, Extreme Programming, Java, JSP, TagLibs, EJB, etc.

However the book focuses on applying Ant, JUnit and Cactus to J2EE development.

The book is very J2EE and web application centric. A small part of the book had very choppy flow--a few rough spots. Mostly (95%) the book is well written. Generally the book is easy to follow.
My favorite chapters are the ones on JUnitPerf and Cactus.

The case studies are a little long, but they can be skipped and returned to later.

The source code on the website is hidden in plain site. It took a while to find it.

The description above and title miss an important point. The book is J2EE/Jakarta centric. J2EE testing and continous integration can be very difficult without the use of Ant, JUnit, HttpUnit and Cactus.

The description of the book on the companion website clears up the missing points well. I found the description while searching for the source code.

From the companion website:

"Java Tools for eXtreme Programming describes techniques for implementing the Extreme Programming practices of Automated Testing and Continuous Integration using Open Source tools, e.g., Ant, JUnit, HttpUnit, JMeter, and much more."

"The book contains small examples and tutorials on each tool. The examples cover building, deploying, and testing Java and J2EE applications."

"In addition to small examples, there are larger case studies. The case studies are larger more realistic examples. We have case studies involving XSLT, EJB, Struts, JDBC, etc."

"Each case study is complete with an ant build script and several tests, written with JUnit, HttpUnit, Cactus, JUnitPerf and/or JMeter. The case studies focus on building, deploying and testing J2EE applications with Ant and JUnit."

"There is also a reference section for APIs. Instead of rehashing the API documentation, the reference section has example usage, i.e., code examples for the important classes and methods."

"Although this book speaks from an XP perspective, you need not practice XP to benefit from it. For example, you do not have to adopt the entire XP methodology to get value out of this book. Automated testing, for example, can help you refactor code regardless of whether you are doing pair programming or not. Continuous integration can help you detect and fix problems early in the lifecycle of the system regardless of whether your customer is on site or not."

I must admit that I bought this book because it didn't cost much. As is usual with me, I was short on funds one day when I stopped by the local bookstore to get some coffee. I decided to get lunch and something to read to go with my coffee. I can be picky; and on this particular day I felt no desire to wade through the usual rhetoric of one of the national newspapers...So I went in search of a cheap paperback...and it was then that I stumbled across "With Open Hands" by Henri Nouwen.

I had read some of Nouwen's stuff before. I'd really liked some of it (the excellent "The Road to Daybreak"). Some of it had left me less than impressed (the mind-numbingly academic "Wounded Healer"). "With Open Hands" is neither excellent or poor--its actually pretty mediocre; but towards the good end of the mediocre spectrum (if there is such a thing).

"With Open Hands" bears the marks of being quite well thought out. One can tell that this book was labored over by people who cared. In fact, it is the result of Nouwen discussing the subject of prayer with a group of twenty-five theology students.

Hand imagery (clenched vs. open) dominates the book; but other undercurrents are palpably felt. Some of these noticeable undercurrents are: liberation theology, the writings of St. John of the Cross, and the idea of stillness or solitude. Nouwen, and the students he discussed prayer with, were clearly steeped in the classic literature on prayer.

The book is laid out in series of brief reflections. These are no doubt meant to be reflected upon at length. These reflections also progressively lead the reader into the next subject matter to be discussed.

"With Open Hands" is ultimately unsatisfying (as so many books on prayer are) because it spends most of its time dancing around the subject it describes. In so doing, it gives only a limited perspective on the topic. One is left feeling that some sort of suggested practical exercise or other way of letting the reader experience the subject being discussed would have strengthened the book. However, it is not without its high points or worth. Therefore, I give "With Open Hands" a heartfelt, if not ringing recommendation.

Other books on the subject of prayer that I would recommend are: Emilie Griffin's "Clinging: The Experience of Prayer"; Madame Guyon's "Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ"; Richard Foster's "Prayer"; and C.S. Lewis' "Letters to Malcolm, Chiefly on Prayer."

Henri Nouwen had a great ability to take something rather simple and ordinary, and use it a as way to help people understand and experience God. Nouwen's now classic book WITH OPEN HANDS is an excellent example of using a simple image to invite a person to prayer and a deeper experience of God. Clenched fists demonstrate being closed to God, and through reflections on prayer: silence, acceptance, hope, compassion, and prophetic criticism, Nouwen invites us to open our hands and thus, be open to God. This work is excellent for people who are new to prayer or are trying to discover new prayer techniques, but it is profound enough to help all people experience God.

Nouwen's book not only opens the hands but the mind and the heart as well.

This is a book that does not define or explain prayer or give you a formula for better prayer, it is book that opens your hands and leads you to an experience with God. It is a book that one does not read but rather live. A book that leaves you slightly exhausted at the end but better for having read it.

After reading my way thru almost half of this book, could not take any more. I am a life long Lorain resident, growing up in the same time frame that the author did and also attending the same high school. Although the author does write very well, it would behoove him to check his so-called facts, several of the places he mentions have never existed in Lorain and his skewed perceptions of growing up in the city are full of fabrications. How sad that he choose to use his talent in writing such a shoddy book, certainly not something I choose to have on my bookshelves nor recommend to others. Shame on this author!

I love the book! The book is very special and has a place in my heart. My favorite part of the book is how Dirda makes fun of his middle pesky sister Pamela. i laughed historically at the part. i also like how toward of the end od the book Dirda's hormones begin to blossom. Overall i feel that it is an awesome book and should be read and shared with families all over the world.

I've only read the first two chapters, but so far I am laughing myself silly. The book is hilarious.