Unbelievable, and for a very good reason, namely it's not true
	This book belongs in the Fantasy section of the library.

Let's start with the question of Israel's borders.  Do some folks say that these borders ought to be the Nile and Euphrates rivers?  After all, Israel is kind of small.  Doesn't it need, um, a tiny bit more land?

Well, Israel may need a little more land.  But almost nobody is proposing anything like this.  I see very few Israeli politicians demanding even all of the West Bank, let alone all of Jordan.  And as for the Nile to the Euphrates, this is pretty much exclusively anti-Zionist propaganda.  There's a nice article by Daniel Pipes in the March, 1994 issue of Middle East Quarterly that goes into this in some detail, in case anyone cares.

Yes, we've seen propaganda before.  In the 1930s, some Germans claimed that the Jews were planning to take over the whole world.  Now, what do we see in this book?

What we see in this book is Chris Hedges quoting someone as saying that Israel allows state-funded religious schools to preach that Jewish rule should extend from the Nile to the Euphrates.  Is there any connection between this and truth?

Yes, there's a connection.  You see, in the Bible (in Deuteronomy), Moses says at one point that Israel's borders shall run from the river Euphrates to the "western sea" (presumably, the Mediterranean, but definitely not the Nile).  Of course, someone might want to ask a Jewish authority about what the Bible says.  It turns out that there's much more detailed material in the Book of Numbers, and that is what Pipes says religious Jews are taught is Biblical.  And that specifies a much smaller Israel.  In addition, it is quite a leap to go from Biblical borders, no matter how large or small, to preaching that Jews ought to rule such an area today.  Hedges is doing us a big disservice here.  You may want to check all this for yourselves.

In addition, Hedges has an exciting description of the Battle of Khafji (which took place during Desert Storm).  Some people who were really there dispute it, however.  You may want to check that as well.

We also see Hedges describe the behavior of Israeli soldiers in Gaza on June 17, 2001.  Now, remember that these soldiers are trained to obey orders.  Their superiors know that Israel can't afford unnecessary violence.  The soldiers are there to protect lives, not to hurt or kill others.  And in fact, it turns out to be true that in the fighting between Jews and Arabs, the Jews (as expected) have rarely been guilty of gratuitous violence.  On the other hand, the Arabs, who have rather different goals and constraints, have displayed quite a bit of bad behavior.

Nevertheless, in spite of logic and facts to the contrary, in this book, Hedges comes up with the following (as usual, I encourage you to verify for yourselves what the truth is, and you might want to start by finding out how many people died that day and who they were):

"I had seen children shot in other conflicts that I had covered - death squads gunned them down in El Salvador and Guatemala, mothers with infants were lined up and massacred in Algeria, and Serb snipers put children in their sights and watched them crumple onto the pavement in Sarajevo - but I had never watched soldiers entice children like mice into a trap and murder them for sport."

Well!  What is it about Israelis that could lead them to behave in such a surprising manner?  Hedges speculates that exposure to all sorts of nasty reading material about the Holocaust has perverted these unfortunate young men.  Well, I'm perfectly prepared to believe that men and women from all nations have been exposed to all sorts of reading material.  But I don't buy Hedges' absurd conclusion at all.  Nor do I buy any of what he says about the behavior of the soldiers.  And no, I'm not in denial.  If you believe Hedges, I think you may be in denial, though!

I'll stop here.  Anyone capable of saying what I've quoted from Hedges so far is capable of saying anything.  We readers do not need this.


Book never arrived - very disappointed!
	Never received the book, so very disappointed at the delivery process and cost I have incurred


A so so novel
	The most disappointing thing about The News from Paraguay is the beginning, and not precisely because is a bad one, but because in the first chapters of Lily Tuck National Prize awarded novel,  there's a hint that  could have been better than it turn out to be.
So I confess that  for a few pages (those that engage a reader with a book) I found  charming the decimononic  story of Ella Lynch, a beautiful widow living in Paris well beyond her means. That even when  Ella decided to follow hairy Franco -a paraguayan stud- not because his looks, not even for this foolish thing called love, but because  he smelled like luxury and power in a faraway land; I still found it a joyable read,  but right when she arrived to her privileged life of  "querida"  of the most powerful man in Paraguay and began to have one baby after another in tumultuous times,  The News from Paraguay became boring and I began to skip entire paragraphes until I got to a previsible end.
Based on true facts, the life of a Paraguayan dictator and his irish  mistress; Tuck, who confessed that she never went and wasn't interested in ever going to Paraguay (i think she finally did) can't even get the spanish names right: Manuel, instead of Manuel, Rosaria, instead of Rosario; Inez, instead o Ines. What's the deal with the?
Maybe I lost something in my not so good english, but I still can't get why,  a so so novel like The news from Paraguay, can win a National Prize


Should get ZERO stars
	This is one of the few books so bad that I couldn't finish it.  There is no explanation of how things work,or in many cases what they really are.  I feel like the only motivation for any of the characters was greed, sex, or guilt about greed and sex.  Do not bother with this book


Read because it considered a classic
	The book is written about an empire in the future.  I'm not really sure why Asimov thought that the future galaxy would be ruled by an emporer, which is a dying system of government, instead of a democratic republic.  I know this is nit-picking, but I didn't like this book.

Apparently, the future can be predicted with a high degree of accuracy using math and statistics.  Anyone who works as a mathematician or statistician, as I do, knows that it's difficult to predict what's going to happen in anyone's life tomorrow, much less the entire world 500 to 1000 years into the future using statistics.

This book is intellectual worship, which is something I can't stand.  Intellectual worship is when people think they are intellecually superior to everyone else, so feel they should rule over everyone else, if only you would listen to them.  This idea drips off the page as event after event is predicted by some really smart dude.  This smart dude predicted a collapse of civilization and treated it as inevitable.  Another idea that's patently absurd- that any event that occurs is inevitable.

If this guy was so smart as to predict, with a high degree of accuracy, the downfall of civilization, and the rising of a new one, along with the traumatic events this new civilization would go through, why wasn't he smart enough to avert the downfall of the original civilization.  Surely, with his predictive ability people would listen to him, but he decides to let it crumble for whatever reason.

And Asimov is a mediocre writer.  The story is only moderately interesting because no character really gets developed.  I read this book because as a sci-fi fan, I felt obligated


BIG SAMAD SEFIANES HONEST OPNION THEFT OF OTHER PEOPLES WORK
	My name is Big Samad Sefiane, I have been writing screenplays and making music since the age of 13. The only problem with that
book which came out in feb. 2004 is very much a like my screenplay I have written and copyrighted before he released his book. I wouldn't rate a book, singer or songwriter who takes other peoples ideas and mixes it with his work. The book is too much similar to my screenplay Entitled HACKERS. After sept. 11, 2000 mail slowed down and it took me a year to copyright my screenplay. The screenplay as visible on the internet and also sent to strattford career institute for editing. The similar scripts will be reviewed by an entertainment attorney


Help please
	Can anyone tell me if the book words on the vine has an answer key with it? Thanks. sgra


Hilariously Melodramatic
	The only thing this book is good for is getting high with your friends then reading the dialogue aloud.  The thought that anyone actually believes or takes the "situations" in this crap serious is so befuddling it's scary.  This is nothing more than propaganda for some strange religious cult.  I don't know about you but if I'm going to buy a book to help me with my kids it's going to be by an expert, not some failed fiction writer


This one misses the mark, for me...
	I've read five of the nine "Temperance Brennan" mysteries that Kathy Reichs has published, but this is my least favorite. I lost interest about two-thirds through. I felt the villains were not fleshed-out, the murder mystery too complicated and unlikely, the ending too neatly contrived, and the personal/romantic side story too awkward. This one was also too long, by about 50 pages. Reading it felt like eating a stew in which there were a multitude of ingredients, yet they did not blend into a successful flavor. The other four of her novels were fine. I love the TV series as well, although "Bones" allegedly shows Dr. Brennan much earlier in her career, with the supporting cast and the job duties and locations totally different than what is found in the books. In the TV series, "Dr. Brennan" has a steady cast of supporting characters who grabbed my mind and heart very quickly. In the books, her lesser characters all seem...lesser, indeed. Better luck next time out, Dr. Reichs


Not so good
	First off, so much of the copy is devoted to his horrible sense of humor, imagine a junior high school student "acting big" to impress his friends with jokes, that type of annoying bravura humor is simply unrelenting throughout the book.  It is filler.  The illustrations are sized so big the actual technical content of the book is quite low.  Just more filler.  Finally, all the techniques in the book can be found during normal operation of PS, or at worst a few internet searches.  I think this book is over-priced and I wish I could return it.  Caveat emptor


Harlequin Romance !
	If Tess is going to continue to write books like this, she should switch her publisher to Harlequin Romance, it will give the unsuspecting buyer a "heads up."

It is not possible to describe the many short falls of this rather long boring novel without giving the romantic subplots away, let just say that the ME does no pathology as she is way too busy whining about an unatainable romance and the detective does no detecting as she is totally wrapped up in her parent's pathetic lives.

There is a bit of a mystery bouncing around in the book, but it is hardly worth wading through all those pages.

Come on Tess, you can do better than this


Mary Mary
	Totally disappointing.  From the beginning the novel read well, but like a Sherlock Holmes mystery at the end the person who committed the crimes came out of the blue .  I, personally, do not like reading this type of mystery....I want clues.  Alas, there were none.  Also, the characters did not make sense.....most were too undeveloped.....Mr. Patterson needs to go back to the drawing board   try to forget the $$$ he is being paid up front by the publisher


You must be kidding.
	I wish I could have back the numerous tedious hours slogging through White Noise to the bitter, bitter end.  Not since Jane Smiley's Moo has such a dull tome been written aobut, among other things, Ameican academia.  Little happens of note.  No one cares about the cardboard characters.  Someone gets shot in the belly, for no good reason.  And yet this is fawnedover as a comic masterpiece by, among others, The New York Times.  I ahve been told to read White Noise before I picked up Underworld.  Have no fear.  I'll undergo root canal without Novocain before I try that one on for size.  I've been reading nothing but plumber's trade journals and German magazines just to try to get the taste of this novel out of my mouth for the past few days.  I'm thinking of getting the definitive Curious George collection just so I don't have to read any words.  At least that guy in the big yellow hat knew enough to keep his mouth shut, unlike that noncompoop Jack Gladney and his boring friends.  If people prersist in thinking this is great literature, I suggest giving up reading altogether.


Is there a sequel?
	I didn't find the book too bad but it has no ending.  Did he leave out the last chapter?  I have always liked his books so hopefully he's got this out of his system


The worst book supposedly about philosophy that I have EVER read
	Pirsig mistakes mental illness for deep philosophical thought; he mistakes child abuse for some form of "real" child rearing.  I just read his interview in the Guardian UK.   Although it has been years since I have read this book, it still leaves an awful taste in my mouth when I think about it.  I have read philosophy from classic to contemporary; I have lived in Japan and practiced Zen archery and Zen meditation - this book has only incorrect views of Western AND Eastern philosophy yet Pirgsig, to this day thinks he has contributed to the philosophical canon. This is proof that Pirsig remains deranged.  Moreover, in the Guardian UK interview he still found the time to criticize his son who was brutally murdered; Pirsig then tries to elicit sympathy by mentioning his son's murder. Pirsig is a perfect example of someone with Narcisstic Personality Disorder.  Pirsig's son should have sought court protection from his monstrous father and largely absent and/or capitulating mother.
If you are one of the poor souls who finds something "deep" in this very large pile of verbal manure then I think therapy would be money well spent


Unfulfilled promise
	The premise of the store is interesting.  How did left tackle become one of the most important positions in football?  The first half of the book does a fair job of walking through the reasons.  (West Coast offense, LT, etc.)

Unfortunately, at that point Lewis runs out of things to write about, so he starts talking about Michael Oher, an O Lineman at Ole Miss.  Oher's story is intersting, but it is too early to tell.  He is a "superstar" but only a sophomore.  I also think that Lewis overdoes how great Oher already is.

I also don't really understand what Oher's story really had to do with the original premise of the book.  Is Lewis saying that because left tackles now make millions, Oher wants to be one?  I would think that if Oher had come around in the 70s people would still have thought of him as a football player.  Last time I checked lineman were big and strong (and quick) in that era too.


Disappointing and lacking something
	I love Linda Howard books.  I always look forward to her releases and this book was a gross disappointment to say the least.  I think the characters are not developed well, and the relationship between Cal and Cate occurred too fast.  The story was rushed and I'm sure Linda could have done much better writing on this book.


Liberal's Study Bible
	This is a liberal's study bible.  The study notes show the best 'modern' scholarship, which doubts Moses wrote the first 5 books of the bible.  Doubts the authorship of most of Paul's Epistles.  Even doubts that the beloved disciple John wrote the Gospel of John.

Believes Redactionary Interpretive Theory is valid.  Falls right in line with most modern and so called 'higher' critisim of the Bible.  Avoid this study bible, if you believe the Bible is really God's word from cover to cover


Only read half of it
	I picked this book up at my public library because I had put it on my reading list a while back when I saw that the President(!) of the United States George Bush read it while he was on vacation too.

I went to my local cofee place and got a MEDIUM regular cofee flavored cofee but in a LARGE cup (so theres room for plenty of milk which I like and also you only get charged for a medium even though its in a large).  Anyway I am reading this book and it seems okay but then this guy with a laptop bumps into my chair where I have rested my cofee which is not at all my fault because thats why the chair has a little ledge there.  So then this guy says he is sorry but that doesnt exactly unspil my cofee if you catch my meaning.  And he offers to pay for a new cofee but it doesnt really matter its the principle of the thing.

Anyway then he leaves and I notice my copy of the book has cofee spilled on it not just my pants as I thought previously.  So I'm not about to read a book with cofee stains all over it so I take it back to the library.

Now here I have to point out that I had a little incident a couple weeks back with the librarian and long story short they lost a book about a fireman that I returned and made me pay for it but not without a fight.  Well you better believe that same librarian who yelled at me is watching me now whenever I go in there and she sees that cofee stain right off when I turn the book in.  I explain that its still perfectly good and you can still read it and it wasnt even my fault and maybe they should get the $8.50 from the cofee house they made the cofee not me.

But you can guess how this ended up.  I am down another $8 dollars and change (I paid the .50 cents in pennies I got from the place I keep pennies in the car which got me a cross look since I counted them out one by one but it was worth it).  And I never finished the book since it was ruined.

But! I liked the parts I read "okay" and if the President likes it I guess it gets FOUR STARS only I made it TWO STARS because I only read half.  Maybe I will read the second half later if that librarian retires and then I will come back and give this book it's missing TWO STARS if it ends well.

Lesson learned is life is not always fair but you "keep on keepin on" like they say


Is the writer a real believer ?
	To say Christianity will die is to say that one can see the end of the world. Purely craziness. Christianity will live as long as the world exists. What is died is the faith for many Christians, what has been changed is our faith (by money, pride, and selfishness) and consequently, our church and our societies.

What dominants many US and European Christian churches is a worldly Christianity, a Christianity affected by the materialism, and world-view. The exact thing that Jesus repeatedly condamned.

I feel extremely sad when I can see pasters and evangelists earn 6-figure salaries, live in luxury houses, air-travel in business class, or socialize with social elite. I feel extremely sad when I see young theology students without born-again experience and spiritual life become pasters and preasts.

Jesus have given us great mission: to preach gospel to every corner in the world. But money, pride, and selfishness have consumed the hearts and sole of many Christians and today they love the world more than they love Jesus. Are they still Christians? Of course not.

To say Christianity needs change is purely nonesense. Only person see himself greater than Jesus would say something like that. What needs to be changed is ourselves, not Christianity.
Because we have embaked a wrong way, following the world and not following Jesus.


not good for learning, OK as a reference book
	i am currently subjecting myself to finance curriculum at a quant-heavy, top-5 bschool.  this text was recommended for my Intro Cap Markets class (although the prof didnt exactly use it in the class).

i often used it to gain understanding of what was taught in class.  unfortunately, i found this book to be EXTREMELY painful.  it was verbose, overly complicated, hard to read, poorly organized   full of jargon.  while it is thorough in its coverage of Capital Markets   instruments, i found it to be nearly impossible to read.

esoteric theories   mathematical proofs were introduced with little background, and often without insufficient detail to understand grasp.  but the jargon   vocabulary are what made the book so unreadable ... trying to read a chapter in this book would literally consume 4-5 hours of my time.

AND forget about trying to use this book to do problemsets OR assignments. i could go on, but trust me, this book is bad ... UNLESS you already have a good intro   just want to use this as a reference


How about a zero star rating!
	Very disappointing and BORing! NO likeable characters, VERY uninteresting story.  Could/Would not finish--too many "better" books waiting


formulaic and unsatisfying
	I have enjoyed the Miss Julia books tremendously but this is my least favorite.
Miss Julia is married to Sam Murdoch. Poor guy is sent to find the missing Hazel Marie in one part and is gone for a good deal of the story. Miss Julia does not even make a case of those missing hours! It is as if the author could really care less.
There are so many little plots that you feel as if the author had several ideas and just took one and expanded it but left the others to show all the complications in this woman's life. There are times when Miss Julia seems to self-centered and the tongue in cheek mood of the other books in this series is really not present here. I found her less likable and also less believable. She has taken in her husband's mistress ad illegitimate child. Now, there is a question about the child's paternity and she is tolerating the whole thing!!!!!
Perhaps other books in the series would be a better intro for the uninitiated


Readable, but very disappointing
	Don't make the mistake of judging the entire Hard Case Crime series by this lackluster entry.

I can imagine the publishers being overjoyed when Stephen King agreed to write a novel for them and then cringing when they received this manuscript.  The writing is fine, as you'd expect from King, but there's nothing remotely hard-boiled or sexy in this novel.  (Don't let the cover fool you!)  It's simply the meandering story of an apparent murder that happened years before.  There are a couple of interesting hooks, but they certainly don't lead anywhere.  This one's for Stephen King completists only.


Where has the magic gone?
	PROS: 1. John Corey is still a funny, memorable character.

CONS: 1. Very little suspense. The author's use of a doomed character's point of view--switching to third person--to tell the reader all of the hows and whys of the main villain's Dr. Evil-esque plan ("FIRE THE NUKE!"). Then, after we know everything, we get plopped back into the first-person, investigative head of Corey, who doesn't yet have the story solved. The result is predicatable and tedious.

2. The don't-look-behind-the-curtain (gratuitous?) use of the Ted Nash character, who makes a brief appearance at the end...despite having died in NIGHTFALL...and, uh, THE LION'S GAME. Why is Ted's appearance so brief here? Well, he admits to screwing Ms. Mayfield. Naturally, Ms. Mayfield opens fire and fills Ted with bullets. Presumably, Ted's dead for good now.

3. The politics of DeMille's novels has been present in other books, but it's never been this catty. Why is the nuke kook a right-winger? (Hey, why not?) I should have known when the jacket cover said the book "will challenge you to question everything you thought you knew about your leaders and your country." The only thing this book has made me question is how anyone can seriously be more worried about conservatives nuking L.A. and San Francisco than the real terrorists out there...the ones who want to slit throats and post the footage on the web.

4. Continuity problems from how the last book, NIGHTFALL ended...Corey and his wife seem way too disaffected by it all. Yep, they are bothered by 9/11, but they are both working their same jobs, apparently having gotten over the whole sickening coverup (witnessed via videotape) that the "accident" of the TWA flight 800 was really caused by a missile. There is passing reference to this, but not much. Apparently, a guy like Corey doesn't do much soul searching. He just keeps going to work. In realilty, it's hard not to notice that DeMille still doesn't know how to deal with the storytelling hole he got himself in with the last book.

Corey is really all this book has going for it. And, while in his capable hands the world will be saved from kooky nuclear schemes from kooky Republicans, he can't save this book.

I think I'm done with DeMille, for better or for worse


Insufficient Research
	Clarke's glaring research error: Author of The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), in an article titled "The New Frontier" wrote "Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what can you do for your country?". Clarke sure missed this one, as have so many before him. Did Kennedy just paraphrase, or did he plagarize? I would have liked to have seen Clarke deal with this sticky issue.


Lukewarm reception
	I was so excited when I initially bought this book and honestly, when I read it I was disappointed.  I thought it was a bit dry and boring to read through, despite the useful tips.  Although the authors try hard, they really don't convey the spirit and fun that college life has to offer


Scholarly but unpersuasive -- and heavy with details
	While I found this book interesting and informative when it dwelled upon the personalities and contributions of the physicists who discovered and explored the field of quantum mechanics prior to WW2, I found two problems with the book as it entered the war.  First, it spent too much time, at least for me, on the details of minor episodes and players.  In this sense, I might have appreciated the treatment had I been a scholar researching the field - but I wasn't.  Hence, I often found the reading dull.  Second, I found Powers' ultimate thesis - that Heisenberg purposefully delayed the German atomic bomb program - unpersuasive.  It appeared to me that Powers often strained his interpretation of the facts to make them conform to his thesis.  For example, when reviewing Heisenberg's "Farm Hall" statement in August 1945 that two tons of U235 was required to make an atomic bomb, Powers suggests that because Heisenberg articulated the appropriate lesser amount a week later,  and because he purportedly suggested at an earlier date that a bomb could be the size of a football, his "two ton" statement was a purposeful "error." Equally persuasive, if not more, is the simple thought that Heisenberg did indeed grossly overestimate what was required, thereby prompting him to tell Speer in 1942 that a bomb was impractical. This is not to say that Powers is necessarily wrong.  I simply believe that based on the facts he presents, the issue remains debatable


How to Say It:  Choice Words, Phrases, Sentences, and Paragraphs for Every Situation, Revised Edition
	This is not what I expected or wanted.  The book is written for business senarios with very few suggestions of a personal nature.  The description of the book does not indicate that it is mainly for business use


A real slog
	I know H. James is considered one of the "Greats" of American literature and I question my taste for hating most of his writing.  With few exceptions I think he is  a pretentious purveyor of obscurantism.  I read Wings of the Dove many years ago in the days when I would not allow myself to set aside books I did not enjoy.  I recently picked up a collection of his short stories and remembered why I disliked him so much.  Now in my old age I had no pangs of conscience when I happily closed the book before finishing it.  If more of the stories had been like Daisy Miller I would have proceeded further but unfortunately much of the writing reminded me of Wings.  I am currently seeking  relief from Henry's turgid prose by reading Hemingway.  I'd trade in a Henry  for an Ernie any day.  It's also difficult to like Mr. James' snobbish, shallow and unsympathetic characters.  The more sympathetic ones were obscured by his heavy hand and my impatience with his style.


not-so-fast ...
	Earlier this year I reviewed what many will see as the companion volume to this book ("Photoshop Blending Modes Cookbook for Digital Photographers"), written by the same author. Unfortunately, the newer publication is less useful. It seems to have been written on a pretext that it's clever to be able to duplicate what traditional artists can do. This seems - from my own personal viewpoint - to be greatly undervaluing the power of Photoshop (and similar software). Practitioners of digital fine art should (really, constructively) be looking to explore what the principles of prior and traditional art can mean within a new domain.

Plus, the book gets off to a definitely poor start. The second and longer of two introductory sections is titled "The Tricks of the Trade". Well it would be better if just some of the "tricks" had been explained in full and more accurately.  Say, how to make a selection in Photoshop from the best available precursor (a black-and-white alpha channel). Or say again, how to make tonal corrections to the original photograph using a luminance mask. Then again, the first (and shorter) of the introductory chapters, titled "The Artist's Eye", is just a teaser. This topic - pre-visualizing what can be achieved as an output image when composing the original photographic input - could have benefited from a much more detailed explanation/argument. Indeed, it could even merit an expansive concluding chapter (but the book doesn't have one of those at all ....). This is, after all, at the very core of what the user could harness to any given artistic objective.

Additionally, I think that it's strange that a book such as this simply makes no reference at all to what could be printed from the recipes it contains. Some of the finished (output) images might look quite intriguing as 3 by 5 inch reproductions in the book - but does the methodology hold up if you're targeting a 20 by 36 inch output (say) on a large format printer? And what to do if that's not the case? Finally, and in common with the earlier companion volume, this book suffers from strange and inconsistent layouts of screenshots and text, plus all sorts of technical and editing omissions/errors (which include, for example, having the wrong screenshot in the wrong recipe - see p.108)


Not a good martial arts book!
	This book is not worth wasting your money on.  The techniques that are represented look OK to the untrained eye, but if you examine them closely, you will notice many mistakes.  The techniques are sparse, one per angle.  They are also demonstrated with poor posture and attack.  To the novice,  this book may appear to represent the art of Cabales Serrada Escrima, but  it does not.  More than half of the book is unrelated to the system of  Serrada. This book does nothing to show the effectiveness of Cabales  Serrada Escrima


WHERE ARE THE REFERENCES?
	The monographs lack any sort of scientific references.  A true reference manual should list references so the reader can verify the conclusions made


Enjoyable but not recommended
	Ultimately the ending was so outrageous that it took away from the rest of the story. I would not recommend it to anyone for that reason. I've already given my copy away.


better red than you
	i was more than willing to give None Dare Call It Treason a chance, as i found the scale of Stormer's research impressive. However, the fact that none of his predictions concerning a massive Communist takeover in America came to pass, coupled with his outspoken admiration for McCarthy and truly insane predictions like this:

"Once the takeover comes, you, like millions of others, who believe in God and man's responsibility for his own actions, can be slaughtered like diseased animals or worked to death in slave labor camps or brothels for the Red Army." p. 20

have forced me to conclude that Stormer's thesis was overwhelmingly incorrect. Perhaps the most irritating part of the book was his suggestion that the American educative system was hopelessly pro-Communist. The fact that None Dare Call It Treason was distributed in American high school classes rather undermines his argument.
the sad thing is, because None Dare Call It Treason is so exhaustively researched, it is far too dry to be amusing, even when read ironically. and ironic amusement is the only positive product of propaganda.
in closing, i would take Communism over John A. Stormer's America any day


quot;Contract's quot;??
	If the author's misuse of the apostrophe in the title is any indication of how they wrote the rest of the book, I would stay away


No creativity and not very lasting!
	I recently picked up a copy of Mage: The Awakening not knowing quite what to expect. Since Ars Magica I've loved Mage. From GURPs I quickly switched over to White Wolf's editions of Mage: The Ascension, finally setting on the revised copy most commonly used on game sites today.

Mage: The Ascension Revised was truly a delight, featuring a complexity never seen before in role playing games. A complexity that made working magic truly fun, sure there were flaws, without a good Storyteller you could easily abuse the open ended magic system to do absolutely anything you wanted... but it was a good price to pay for flexibility, interesting possibilities and an all around great RP system.

Is it fair to compare Mage: The Awakening with Mage: The Ascension Revised? Of course not, the game has to be based on its own merits and flaws. The problem is that this game seems to suffer from a lack of creativity which pervades the RP modern RP market. It also seems to be marketed toward a very specific audience.

With the exception of some really interesting RP books (White Wolf's translation of "Engel" from the German, a role playing experience distinct onto itself and wholly creative, and "Demon: The Fallen" - which was unfortunately a flop and still managed to be creative), RP books are typically very bland and all the same.

Mage: The Awakening is no different. Unfortunately it tries to blend easy mechanics with simple spells as though past Mage books have been too complicated (which they haven't, unless the new World of Darkness market is much younger than they previously were... which is a possibility, or perhaps they aren't interested in realistic depth so much as they are just having quick fun).

There is absolutely nothing culturally significant about the Mage: The Awakening game system. If you enjoyed the Buddhist, Hindu, the various forms of Christian, Judaic and other religious outlooks being present in your game system, Mage: The Awakening takes a step back from the pluralism/intellectually stimulating material found in its predecessors and offers a quick, fun system with no lasting appeal.

The background story of Mage: The Awakening is simply terrible. Sure reviews constantly pick on Atlantis, but for a good reason: there's simply nothing else to pick on! The Awakening is simply devoid of any depth whatsoever, but what it does do is provide some interesting magic rotes (spells) instead.

Another problem is that there are no antagonists. In previous Mage games there were antagonists you could use or not use depending on your game. In Awakening they don't even offer any choices. This game is obviously less popular online and more popular in tabletop settings (online, where depth is usually called for, Mage: The Ascension is still used quite frequently).

Some positive qualities about the book are that it has an excellent production value and it provides a concrete game system to play with. Provided you had an excellent Storyteller present with lots of storyline ideas, you might have a fun tabletop session. But quite frankly aside from the production value I can't recommend this book. The largest problem of all is that it simply has nothing distinctive about it... nothing to make it stand out and be worth playing over previous game systems.

In an age of simplicity please do yourself a favor and have a little patience and find yourself a good Storyteller. Go back and read the books that made this one sell like hotcakes - buy the "real" Mage books - if you still want to, pick up a copy of The Awakening and somehow incorporate it in your game


Awakening is Inferior to Ascension
	White Wolf wanted to revitalize a mature product line by rewriting it and they had problems with the old system that deserved fixing. They did an excellent job on the core rules and the game mechanics are overall the best they've ever been.
One of the flaws of MAGE:Ascension was that it is dominated by the struggle between the Technocracy and the Traditions, in a manner that reflected Vampire:Masquerade's clan structure and Sabbat vs Camarilla. One of the flaws of Vampire:Masquerade was that it had this whole history of "Caine as the first vampire and the Anti-Diluvians as the founders of the clans", that overshadowed the game.
In Mage:Ascension, Mages saw themselves as having evolved over time and that history had been re-written by the technocracy, so who really knew about the past?
In Awakening they took exactly what they were trying to jettison from Vampire and put it into Mage with the creation of Atlantis and the Exarchs. The Societies that replace the traditions are not as interesting. The replacement of Avatars with Towers doesn't make sense to me. The eternal struggle theme remains with the Exarchs but seems a lot less important than the struggle over the consensus in Ascension.
Awakening is chock full or rotes. For, Mage in a LARP, rotes are essential, shifting emphasis to rotes improves the compatibility of table top and live action systems, but detracts from the table top experience where Mages can do almost anything. They split the Entropy Sphere into Death and Fate, which kind of makes sense, except that Death has too much overlap with Spirit.
I'm going to use the new Mechanics with the old world in my new campaign.
The new Mage setting doesn't inspire me like the old one did. While the new Vampire and Werewolf settings may catch on, I think the new Mage is going to be a flop -- after the core book I don't expect to purchase any more of the supplements.


Get rid of the glasses
	I bought this book but should have listened to my gut feeling...look at the picture of the "Forever Cool" Ms Mathieson
on the cover.  She keeps saying GET RID OF THE GLASSES in the "before" pictures but she should take her own advice.
The before pictures of women are so bad that "duh" the after pictures do look better.  However the over-all impression is that the book "teaches" you how to dress so you blend in in suberbia, not how to be individually stylish or dress to look like anything except someone with a credit card who went to the local shopping mall and bought whatever was socially acceptable.


Not a worthy successor to Holy Blood Holy Grail
	This is another offshoot of the commercially successful predecessor. The book traces the history of the knights templar and their supposed transformation into free masons. Much of the discussion focuses on free masonry, including its role in the American Revolution. I found the factual support lacking and the prose quite uninspired


Review
	Krakauer is highly confused and I can tell that so are some of these reviewers. He cannot give insight into or shed light on something he knows little truth about himself. The church he is talking about is completley separate from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Jon Krakauer is nothing more than an sadly misinformed and idiotic person trying to enlighten his readers with things he has misinterpreted. Books like these are written on every religion with hopes of discouraging the believers and proving to those that don't believe -that their assumptions were correct


A Heartbreaking Disappointment
	Elizabeth George, please come back.  This book examines in sickening detail the events preceding the murder of our lovely Helen.  I, for one, don't care.  I get it.  We all got it the last time.  It's been a long time since I have abandoned any book after a few chapters, and this book truly deserves to be put down in every sense.  Don't buy it


Disappointing
	I had read such glowing reviews of this book, and had enjoyed other Creamer works so thoroughly that I was suprised how uninspired I was while reading this. Perhaps I failed to be dazzled by Stengel the man. Perhaps I grew tired of the predictable retelling of Stengel's life, season by  season, many of which held no remarkable events. Baseball in '41 is a much  more rewarding book, full of wonderful anecdotes well recounted


Funny book but too many grammar mistakes
	I enjoyed the plot and the characters -- it was very funny.  But there were too many grammar mistakes in the book, which I found too irritating and distracted from the book.  Some conversations did not flow logically --  one person would answer herself, which didn't make sense.  Also, the author  switches from 1st person to 3rd person with the character of Nickel.  And  she used 'to' instead of 'too.' As a former copy editor and English major,  this was very distracting!  But overall, a great book.  I plan on getting  the next 2


Didn't like book at all
	I didn't care for this book at all. I think it is a very well written book, for TEACHERS, but not for a parent who is transracially adopting a child.  I was looking for a book on how I would parent an African American child and this book was more of a textbook.  I think it is very misleading to have it labeled as a "must read for parents and teachers" and it should be advertised as a book for teachers.  I thought "Inside Their Voices" was much more informative about the experiences of a transracially adopted child


I can't really rate this item...
	Why? because I was expectin something else, but first of all, I didn't expect that you have to open/make a hole in your Robosapiens to modify it, so forget it! i will not damage my Robot


Way too long and repetitive
	I was interested in the plot and characters for about half the book.  After that it seemed that little new information was added, or the little that was new came in the midst of much repetition.  There were so many different characters, and we had to hear the separate reactions of each of them to bits of news.  The structure of the tale reminded me of the way a police procedural might be played out on TV


The Egotistical Master
	Mailer tells us a lot we don't want to know about. It's the gloomy long tale of an egocentric writer's acceptance of the ups and downs of his metier. He gives his biased opinions on things he knows and things he doesn't know about. All the negative aspects of his persona are laid out. Still, it must have taken some bravery to lay out some of them. Or else he needed the money. Truth sells, even if it is a very mediocre unfocused book, and quite un-useful. It should have been titled  quot;Me and My Books, Some thoughts on me and my writing quot;


Hardly Engaging
	I've read some of the other reviews, and I couldn't disagree more.  This book is not a page-turner.  I found myself skipping over whole sections of prose because they were boring and sometimes needless.  The story is straighforward.  Hardly any surprises.  Hardly any twists or turns.  Bad guys are always bad guys.  Good guys are always good guys.  There's no hidden agenda lurking through the story.  The blue rose is a natural anomaly.  The people who really want it -- the people willing to steal and kill for it -- are conveniently identified as people willing to steal and kill for the blue rose.  There's no "mystery" here really.  It's just a matter of getting to the end of the book


YUCK!!!! Just a BAD book!
	After trying 2 recipes, I thought that I was a pretty bad cook. So, I asked my friend, a very good cook, to try a couple more recipes. She had the same results. Disgusting!! These recipes must not have been kitchen tested. Mine as well just boil some chicken and dump a can of cream of mushroom soup on top. The results would be better.  Stay away


A Great Effort Sadly Lacking
	I held great hopes for this book--Duveen has long been of interest to me because of the pivotal role he played in the creation of some of the greatest art collections in this country.  However, Secrest in her drive to capture the "essence" of the man has so mangled the story of his life and career that reading her work is more chore than delight.  To say the book is disorganized is to deal in serious understatement.  But worse than that are the inaccuracies, especially when she writes about Duveen's customers.  Just for starters, apparently she didn't recognize the need to differentiate between John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his father (or maybe she didn't know there has been more than one JDR!).  You won't learn much from this tome that you don't know to begin, and getting through it will be a struggle.


UNBELIEVABLE
	The original Julie and Romeo was delightful. This book was utter nonsense.  A great disapointment. Finished reading it only to find out if it might get better as you went along. It Didn't


Weak and disorganized
	After some years in the IC design business (mostly analog) I needed to teach a course on ASICSs. This book was the text specified by my predecessor. I did not like the book, and eventually read the Weste and Harris book in its 3rd edition. Wolf is not nearly as clear, complete and logically organized as Weste and Harris - no comparison


Ironic -- an unproductive book on productivity
	The book is divided into 52 chapters that repeat basically the same points over and over again. So you have to read through the chapters and try to spot the occasional new idea. It seems strange that a book on productivity makes you waste time gleaning a few good ideas. (Come on, man, if you have 10 pages of good ideas, give them to me in 10.) But then again I guess most books in this genre make you do that. Sheesh


An opinion on Hendrix - far from anything new
	If your into Hendrix enough to want to find out more about Electric Ladyland, your probably already going to know everything in this book. If you've read such great Hendrix books such as 'Electric Gypsy' then you won't get much from this book other than information obtained that you've read before from 'Electric Gypsy' coloured in this authors opinion on Jimi's music.
The author lays down his opinion that reads like someone either not overly impressed by Jimi Hendrix, or someone that has trouble laying praise where it's due. The author makes big calls in this book which fall flat, for example expressing his view on how Jimi could of edited and recorded certain songs better in his opinion (not unlike like Alan Douglas made true) or ego trips like footnotes after mentioning 'Like A Rolling Stone' at Monterey can only be outdone by the rare hard to find Flamingo Club version in 1968 - where does he get that from? The Flamingo club version is near inaudiable for most of the recording with its vocals and the guitar very distorted at the very least and is no way a superior rendition than Monterey but the book has many little comments by the author like that which only makes you think, is this guy trying to brag about his Hendrix collection? Or does he just have to have a different opinion on everything to try and make his book, which really has nothing new, stand out from the pack? His opinions would be valid if he didn't try to go against the grain to just go against the grain! If you've ever heard or seen Jimi at Monterey you don't need to be told how so many people thought he played crap that night - the evidence that this is one of his greatest performances is right there on CD or on the screen as you watch it which just makes bringing up that negative side without balancing it with the many rave reviews he also got seem targeted. Why point out the bad things and not mention the good?

If you want to learn the technical side of the recording or the technical side of Hendrix, you won't learn it from this book. You'll get the classic Hendrix bio for most of it with this Authors strange comments, some bad reviews for Electric Ladyland to show Hendrix was human after all i guess and an author bringing up all his 'friends' and 'visits' to people that are well documented in knowing Jimi.

All in all, if you have no opinion on Hendrix and read this you probably won't think he's that great and get a distorted opinion on him, if you love Hendrix and read this you'll wonder why this Author bothered to write a book about Jimi in the first place other than to let us know he has so many friends that knew Jimi, was lucky enough to see him play a few times and the funniest of all, could of done some things better in his opinion.

Two stars because there's many books out there with much more information about Electric Ladyland, let alone Hendrix, that aren't trying to re-write Jimi's history from one person's perspective and critique thou it's cheap and quite funny if you have a big Hendrix library anyway.


General and shallow overview
	This book is bad for beginner and practically useless for a master. There is no comprehensive description of training complexes, footwork drills and other important details, which were completely omitted. It gives just an  overview of the system in general, so the reader can have some vague  feeling of what Giron escrima is


Horrible
	It is now more than a month after I was supposed to receive this book and I have not gotten it yet, what the hell is going on


A world of boring.  A raging sea of boring!
	2 stars for decent writing (at least a decent translation), for an intriguing start, and for the occasional appearance of a melancholy dwarf.  That's pretty much it.  Negative stars aplenty for the protagonists -- Coy and Tanger (I listened to NC on 13 endless tapes, so perhaps am misspelling their names).  The tortured metaphors they speak, think, and by which they -- and their insipid adventures -- are continually described, bore to tears.  Aside from an occasional scrape between Coy and the aforementioned dwarf or his boss, all of the action in NC clusters at the beginning (promisingly so, I'll grant) and the end (all wimper, no bang) of this novel.  As a salty seadog once said (no doubt anticipating this novel), "Ahoy matey, thar.  She blows!"


Disappointing, Slow, Clumsy
	South by Java Head features fundamentals I find so promising:  a nautical adventure set in Southeast Asia during World War II, written by a prominent screenwriter.  Nonetheless, the story falls flat and I found it just barely compelling enough to finish; the plot moves slowly, punctuated by one clumsily executed plot twist after another, the descriptions of action are confusing, and the characters mere outlines devoid of development.   I hoped this book would be as good as a 1950's nautical adventure i highly recommend, The Wreck of the Mary Deare, but unfortunately Java Head is just disappointment.  For other SE Asia World War II fiction, Clavell's King Rat is also a good place to start


No flavor, no color, no good
	I read this book and hated it; I was sorry I wasted my money.... Normally, I would have donated the book ater reading it. But, in this case I was so disappointed, I threw the book away after reading it.  I was disappointed with the author for scrubbing the language so clean that the area she set the book in could have been anywhere in the US.  I was also disapponted in the Oprah book club selection committee.  It seemed to me they found a "story" they liked, and that is where their critical thinking ended. It was the only and last Oprah book selection I ever bought.   After reading it, it was obvious to me that whoever had chosen the book for the Oprah club had never been to western Pa.  I am from western PA as is O'Dell and this book lacks local color.  She either forgot or choose to ignore that language is also a part of the landscape of a locale.  Landscape is just not about dysfunctional families, EatnParks and religious statues in the yards.... People in that area of PA say "ain't," "slippy," and "youns." This would be esp. true for someone like the main character, Harley. (There are people with college degrees from this area who still have "color" in their language.) O'dell is no Faulkner or Caufield. I find this lack of "local flavor" with a lot of modern authors.  Unfortunately, our books are even becoming Mcdonaldized. There is nothing special about this book


No 'Real World' Relevence
	Although interesting, these are designs and concepts that are not practical in the real world.  But, if all you want are some pretty pictures..


This book should be called Occanumba, not Heartland!
	This book is not my favourite in the Heartland series. It is not even really about heartland, the main part of the book is based in Occanumba.
Also, there are hardly any horses in this book, just Maverick (who is only a minor part) and a tiny bit of Spindleberry and Albatross. It is mainly about Carey and her mood swings.
It is also a bit unrealistic, as Amy comes out eith long, involved, emotional speeches that no teenager i know would blab on about! The way she talks is more like a middle aged psychatrist!
I also think that the most recent books have been targeted at a younger audience. At the start of the series i would class them as 'young adult' material, but now they are just for kids who like horses. She is supposed to be going out with Ty but they never seem to kiss much or do anything romantic. In this book he goes to Occanumba with Amy and they don't even get off together once! Even though they are in the forest all alone at one point, with no adults around.
All in all this book is ok, but rather boring. Nothing much happens, i thought Amy might at least have an arguement with Joni when she takes over with Spindleberry, but no, Amy has gone middle-aged and doesn't do anything. I would only recommend buying this book if you are a total heartland fan. Carey is really annoying at the start and the horses hardly feature at all.
I hope the last 2 books in the series are better, because this one was rather pants.


Tedious Film School Psycho-Babble.
	Replicant Alert! Avoid this book if you have any affection for the movie. Except for the last couple of pages, the author has little to offer other than the usual drivel about  quot;Post-Modernism quot;. You will be much  better off buying the Director's Cut on DVD, and watching it several  times!   This series of books has its exceptions, this is not one of them.   Unintentionally hilarious in parts, as only the academician can be.    Pretentious, ponderous cinema-scholar jargon that offers little of value or  insight.   Read Sammon's The Making of Blade Runner instead!  (Nice  cover, though...


Not for 4 year olds
	The message meant more to me than to my young children.  They didnt understand why the children were being locked in a box.  They think playing in cardboard boxes is fun, not a punishment for exercising too much freedom.  I could see using the book as a basis for discussion, but I think it may just scare children that they too could be locked up by their parents


Great if you have that specific model BlackBerry
	The book was specific to one particular model of BlackBerry. They should have that in the title. It was of no use to me. After five minutes, I set it aside to gather dust.


You'd have to be a true Blue Devil fan to like this book
	I got this book thinking it might give me some insight into how Coach K motivates his teams, organizes his practice sessions, and instills leadership qualities in his athletes.  What I got was a less than thrilling re-hash of some of his best quotes as seen through the eyes of a local news reporter.  You'd have to be a true Blue Devil fan to like this book.  I didn't, so I gave it to one of my co-workers who graduated from Duke.  He likes it


Ye gods and little children
	Leaving aside the fact that the author lied through his teeth (e.g. he never actually studied Hwa Rang Do - he offered the Lee brothers some ink and they gave him a faked history) this stuff is about as inefficient as any stick fighting book I've ever seen. Try Marinas' Panandata, Mark Wiley, the Presas brothers, Leo Giron or Ray Galang for stick stuff. You'll be much better off


For Hardcore Fans Only
	Not the most exciting book out there.  But if you like minor league baseball, this book's worth a quick read.


A soap-bubble book
	I was disappointed greatly at the time I opened this book. HUGE gaps between strings, LOTS of empty space on pages - all this is for masking the simple fact: this "200 pages book" contents could be easily printed on 80 pages or even less. And, more, these pages are filled with useless "interviews" (who wants to read an interview INSTEAD of explanations?!) and other empty words.

The book is supposed to teach us how to make modules for NWN 2. But it doesn't. See, the chapter about scripts consists of 4 pages - is it REALLY enough for such a great theme? (These pages, I mentioned it already, are less than 2 pages...).

This book is better than nothing. A bit. Because SOME useful information it provides. And that's all good that could be said about it


Great efforts but lack reality
	I was not expecting this book to be a Sunday afternoon photo shoot for reanactors. It lacks reality and substance.I returned this book out of disapointment.Seeing the same faces in every picture but in diffrent uniforms takes a lot away from this book. However, the color photos were nice. Better luck next time but a A for effort


Not very satisfying at all.
	I'm a pretty diverse reader, so I decided to give this one a go.  It started out somewhat interesting, but then just sort of made me keep saying, "Okay...what's the point here?"  I really like Ninah, the main character, but I keep waiting for her to break free from the chains of this commune she lives in.  I guess the ending is somewhat a symbol of her doing this, but I closed the book wondering, "why did I read this?"  I grew bored with a lot of the goings on in this community and found many of the "punishments" just ridiculous.  I'm pretty open when it comes to accepting different religions, but this was just way out there for me.  Ninah's relationship with her Nanna was the neatest one in the book.  I'm glad I'm finished...now I can move on to something more fulfilling.


lots of not what NOT TO DO.
	Having a plant nursery for 20 years I can tell you if this book is you only resource be in for a wild ride. He  states many places what has cause him the most problems, but no one starts a nursey the same and workable ideas would be better than the work he calls stressful and more important than growing plants. Our nursery is the opposite of stressful and has so many happy rewards never mention in this book.........Very little help on selling and getting customers also


Way too long and repetitive
	I was interested in the plot and characters for about half the book.  After that it seemed that little new information was added, or the little that was new came in the midst of much repetition.  There were so many different characters, and we had to hear the separate reactions of each of them to bits of news.  The structure of the tale reminded me of the way a police procedural might be played out on TV


Missed the bullseye :-(
	I'm a huge Suz fan ... but I really think she missed the boat on this one.  Her style has changed since she moved to hardcover   this book just fell flat for me.  The secondary storyline or FBI agent Jules was much more enjoyable than the lead couple Cosmo   Jane.  Didn't like her at all   Cosmo lost his "Seal-ness" somewhere along the way.  Not a re-read for me


In a word, ego
	This book is simply an ego boost for the author. I found absolutely nothing I could use in my own business, but was
vaguely impressed with the writers "word of mouth" business. I kept reading, expecting to find the secrets to starting my own word of mouth campaign any minute, only to feel that final book readers frustration in the end. No good ending, no secrets revealed, this book is a waste of time


Interesting subjects who deserve a better writer
	A book on the theme of having the courage to deepen family ties.  That's a good theme.  However, the author can't leave well enough alone.  He really goes after people without kids as though they all, regardless of their circumstances, remind him of his former self:  someone with too much cynicism and cowardice to raise a family even though that's obviously the "only" way to become a complete person.

Each chapter introduces a family and a crisis.  The people, who range from southern Americans to Turkish Muslims to Protestant Irish in Belfast, are terrific.

But the author goes off the deep end on page 47:  "Now there are cities full of professional women and men who wholeheartedly echo this feeling [not wanting children].  They go around saying things like I'm too selfish to be a mother, or I'm not a baby person, or my favorite, I love my life too much to do that to it.  A friend of mine calls them the Petrified Forest - people who would freeze their life in time if they could.  'Manhattan's turning into a Petrified Forest,' my friend mocked.  I [Bronson] winced when she said this, because I used to be one of them.  When the Petrified Forest imagines parenthood, their hearts are flooded with the feeling of doors closing, not opening ... In our society today, parenthood is on trial."

Well, hardly.  Bronson is making a lot of assumptions about childless people.  Everyone doesn't need to have a baby just because Bronson found it a refreshing alternative to preserving his immaturity.  I'm all for individuals pursuing the particular life that makes them happy, but they should never push their specific solution upon the rest of us.  In conclusion, read this book if you want to, but be aware of the bias.


Disappointment
	I bought this book because (if I recall correctly) it was long-listed for last years ManBooker Prize and also, (this I recall) because it had good reviews here on Amazon. Anyway, I was real disappointed. I quit paying attention after page 100 and quit outright a few pages later.  I found the contrasting aspects of the Father's character interesting but after awhile so contrasting they felt way off reality.  Character of aunt, cousin, priest, mom etc etc also grew gratingly "perfect."  This  may be excessive, but after a while I felt like I was reading a bit of sophisticated version of a teen romance novel.  The comparisons with God of Small Things are seriously unflattering to Roy's great book.  Comparisons with (the overrated) Memoirs of a Geisha or (also not finished) One Thousand Chestnut Trees would have been more appropriate


Disapointed
	This book deals with some fairly rediculous topics.  I'm not into mysticism or talisman's or that stuff, so perhaps I am biased.

It did provide a useful history of the 'masonic' symbol on the American one-dollar bill, which I enjoyed.

But Hieronimus puts forth far too much theory regarding supernatural powers for my taste


Junie's rude and I can't find anyting that redeems her.
	Why someone would chose these books is beyond me, especially when there are so many other good choices. Literature has an impact on people and the only impact I can imagine Junie having on others is negative.

My daughter's first grade teacher is reading the Stupid Smelly School Bus to her class right now. Wanting to be an involved parent, I borrowed a copy from the friend and read it too. Junie is a brat. She thinks like a brat and acts like a brat.

Our family says, "Thanks, but no thanks!


Not a great role model for kids
	I agree with some of the negative reviews that the Junie B. Jones books often use language and depict behavior that are less than desirable.  My son, who is a pretty sensitive boy, didn't like Junie B. Jones because he thought she was rude.  I would much prefer that my kids read books with kids who, though they may get in trouble from time to time or may make mistakes, are generally nice people.  We did love the Magic Tree House series, both for the adventure and the personalities of Jack and Annie


Reviews by S. Douglas Scotty and Hardluck Stink
	Why is S Douglas "Scotty" slamming every car sales book on Amazon but Zig Zigler's? Do you work for Ziggy or maybe a friend and pushing this book for him. Take a look at all of S. Douglas "Scotty" reviews concerning car sales. He puts almost everyone of them down but praises Zigler's book. What's up with that?

And then if you look at reviews from HARDLUCK It makes one wonder if he is selling a competitor's book on here because he is attacking books written by Douglas Hensley who is a really good writer. It makes me wonder if (S. Douglas Scotty and Hardluck) are the same person or are possibly in cohoots together pushing people away from pretty good books. Something stinks here. I wish I had time to play on the web all day and put bogus reviews on people. Something stinks in Denmark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Lacking in Details
	This book does a good job of telling you what your IPAQ can do but a very poor job of telling you how to do it.  I wanted more information about how to set up my IPAQ to connect with the internet.  The book told me it could be done and how wonderful it was, but lacked specific information about which screen to go to and how to actually make it work.

I later purchased IPAQ for Dummies.  This book told me what the IPAQ could do and specifically how to do it.  It was great.  The Dummies book also gave lots of information on programs that are very helpful to add to your IPAQ.

I was disappointed with IPAQ Pocket PC but very happy to get my hands on IPAQ for Dummies!


Badly out of date
	"Up to the minute".???

Hardly!!

March 2005, the publication date, is a loooong time ago in ipod years, if you have one of the new models, video 60 Gig for example, you will be sorely dissapointed, it talks about the nano and photo i pod as the "latest edition to the ipod family", well they are now teenagers and probably due to be retired at any moment, ipod mini anyone? Those things are Neolithic now, yet are given too much space in this "up to the minute" book as if they had just been released!

Go to Borders, look thru their ipod books and find the one with your ipod in it, if you have a brand new one as at May 2006.


You're advocating illegal acts.
	I remove children from abusive parents daily.

Legally, you cannot hit your child with anything but your open hand on any area but your child's buttocks.  If a neighbor, friend, teacher or family member calls Child and Family Services because your child reports to them that you are doing what Dr. Dobson advocates, your child could be removed from your care.


Snake Oil
	The book mentions Mannatech (notice the  quot;manna quot;?) and its product Ambrotose.  Snake oil, sugar pills!  Not backed by scientific studies.  All claims are anecdotal, i.e., are faith-based.  Mannatech products are peddled to the hopeful, the desperate, the last-chance-for-me's, and so this is not only doing a disservice to others, but is preying on people's weakness.  The company is set up like other pyradmid-schemed companies, using  quot;associates quot; to  pump its sugar pills, costing consumers a lot of money.  Folks, there is no instant solution in a pill.  The associates make claims for cleft lip, Down syndrome, obesity, all the terrible things human beings must bear in this world, and offer a pill made up of sugar to combat what is essentially a natural, human state.  In New Zealand and Australia, the govts. are looking into Mannatech.  Beware!  The sugar pill recipe came in an inspiring moment to a scientist when in prayer to God.  Excuse me, but while I believe in the power of prayer, I do not believe God drops manna-pills from heaven.  God expects us to do our work, namely, don't overeat, live with that cleft lip, get some exercise, eat your vegetables and fruits, read good literature and enjoy the sunlight


dry and dreadful
	It's no wonder that people look at me strangely when I explain a great love of history to them.  It's books like this that persist in the ruination of history for many a student.  If this book were more widely  circulated, the need for sleeping pills would be drastically reduced.  I  have no idea how the author could take something this interesting and make  it so boring that I would literally fall asleep reading it


Know your Woods? Not after reading this book
	I don't understand why anyone would publish a book anymore with black and white illustrations. I know this is supposed to be a classic and all that so it's my own fault for not checking when I read the description. I don't even know why I'm keeping it; I'll never read it. You have to wade through tons of technical jargon and lengthy chapters that would be much better served by some large color photographs. Maybe that makes me shallow, I don't know, but there are much more 'complete guides' out there on this topic these days


What a dirty trick
	I was seduced by the sinister cover and the synopsis on the inside cover into thinking this was going to be a chilling account- Account my foot!  I gingerly turned the first page and instantly drowned in wave after wave of details.  As if the rough draft was a series of scraps stapled together and mailed off to an impatient publishe


What drivel!
	The 20% you need to know: This book is poorly written, and the author would do well to use the 80/20 principle in his writing.

The 80% that will make up the rest of the review: I have never read such boring prose. I've had the concept fully explained to me. I fully understand what the principle is. I have heard it about 80 times now when 20 would have been enough (actually, once would have been enough). Now, what do I do with it? How do I implement it into my life? I am now on page 53 and he still hasn't gotten around to that part. It seems to me he should have used the theory when writing this book. Cut to the chase! Give me the top 20% of useful information so I can go ahead and use it to increase my productivity and effectiveness by 80%. Instead I get the feeling I'm wandering around aimlessly in the bottom part of his bar charts among the 80% of fluff to fill up his book quota. How many stories about economists and computer software do we really need? I don't know about you, but I wanted to increase my productivity by using my time better, and reading this book so far has been a complete waste of it


No Way
	Anyone who knows me would tell you I truly enjoy reading.  I am an avid reader known to finish an interesting book within hours. It took me two weeks to get past the first seven chapters of this book. The story just could not keep my interest.  I felt no real affinity to any of the characters.  I have other books by this author and come away with an interst in what would happen next with her lead characters.  She writes with real emphasis on how characters interact with each other and usually leaves you wanting more.  In the case of this novel I just didn't feel it.  Her other novels will not leave you dissapointed. Ugly ways is not a good example of the Ansa's true talent as a writer.  If you have not done so try her other novels.  I guarantee you will come away wanting to read more


For those who prefer speculation to reason
	The subtitle to this review should have been "Glaring Inconsistencies   Outright Fantasies". I've found a large number of inconsistencies with history that should be obvious to anyone who has read this thing closely. For example, on page 7 Coleman says "the Club of Rome was established in 1968", but on page 17 he suggests that the Club of Rome played "a key role in the Cuban Missile Crisis" and "attempted to sell its 'crisis management'...progam to President Kennedy."  Unless we've been misled, the Cuban Missile Crisis happened a full 6 years before this group was founded.  What are careful readers to make of such a passage? Either it's a typo and he means 1958, or, as I heartily suspect, he doesn't have a grasp on his subject.  On page 9 Coleman suggests Henry "Kissinger's role in destabilizing the United States by three wars, the Middle East, Korea, and Vietnam is well known..." However, Kissinger, working at Harvard from 1948, had no role in the U.S. government until the 1960's, working for the Kennedy Administration.  The Korean War, as we are all aware, occured in 1950, and ended long before Kissinger had any influence on American foreign policy.  If it were true that Kissinger had an influence on the United States' policy in Korea, for example, then Coleman would be wise to address that issue at this point in his text. However, he only leaves us with the cryptic "is well known". It is definitely NOT well known, and Coleman is just fooling those readers who think that a book which is difficult to read or which is discussing difficult subjects must be true.
These are just a few of the inconsistencies that I could check in a short time that Coleman throws out at you. If you're not a careful reader, you'll be tricked into accepting some really ridiculous ideas.  If you prefer speculation to reason, then by all means gorge yourself in the sickly sweet nectar of "what ifs". If you're looking for something based on reality, then, rider, pass by


A backlash wolf in sheeps clothing
	It would take a book to answer all that is wrong with Farrell's reasoning, but to make a few points:

1. He implies that female 'circumcision' is much the same as male circumcision which is astounding but points to his general ignorance. If male circumcision is about teaching males to endure pain (actually more about male tribal bonding) then what on earth is a little girl being taught when she has her external genitalia cut away and is left with a tiny hole and a life-time of pain and health problems?? It's for protection? What, or whose, interests are being protected?

2. He does not acknowledge that the shorter male life-span is due to testosterone and all its consequences for males. Castration is known to increase the male life-span. Why do men even want more testosterone rather than less? Surely illogical?

3. The male 'instinct' to protect females is actually to protect the bodies men need for sex and reproduction. As more than 50 million females have been killed recently in Asia simply because they were female should make us question this supposed 'instinct to protect'. And protecting females most often translates into ownership and control. This is a similar logic to that of men in certain cultures that use the pretext of honor to justify the murder of females. Why do women need protection form their protectors? Men need to explain their logic here. Is it something like the protection criminal gangs provide for people against other criminal gangs?

4. Powerless men are created by male-male competition for access to young females and again, the sacred testosterone drives this not women.

5. His views on rape are ridiculous. Young human females have permanent sexual signals whether they want sex or not. These external signals do not usually reflect the females internal desires and concerns and this causes the confusion. Men are responding to fake signals that females don't know how to override without becoming invisible altogether.

6. This book is basically about all the hoops males try and jump through in order to rise in the male hierarchy and ultimately get their DNA into numbers of females.The men who fail are the men without power. Farrell wants us to feel sorry for them which is as likely as men feeling sorry for, and diverting their monogamous sexual interest and resources towards, unnattractive old women.

7.Farrell does not explain the irrationality of men rejecting and being abusive about women who don't sexually reject most men (ie the easy women) at the same time as they complain about the pain of being sexually rejected so often by women. There must be some mysterious male logic to it - perhaps situated in a fantasy world of being the only male who isn't rejected. Duplicity is clearly a male trait that farrell failed to mention.

8. It is a suspect logic that concludes that the people who have been the lawmakers and political leaders for millennia ie males, have actually only been acting in the self-interest of females. For men to have evolved a lack of self-interest is impossible. To argue that they have is Farrell's most ludicrous argument. Of course women also have self-interest, intimately tied to that of their children. The very real difference is that because we evolved with a mating system where females moved to male-bonded kin groups to breed males had the advantages of size, kin-bonding, no real reproductive demands of offspring and time and cicumstances that enabled them to be the rule-makers which included the enforcement of ownership and control of females as they were exchanged between groups for breeding. They may have felt varying amounts of power within that system and they may have felt the power of their sex needs as female power but to say that this is actually women having and exercising power is absurdly illogical and contrary to reality. It is another fantasy to add to that of South Sea Island free sex and mermaids.

This book is interesting for debate and as an example of male sexual frustration being blamed on women. Ultimately it is about how some men suffer trying to get sexual/reproductive access to females and might help us notice that the 'power' being defined is reproduction.
In a market where the supply of sperm far outstrips the tiny market of eggs it does reduce the value of sperm and create massive competition in males and competition in females for better quality sperm and/or extras that improve the outcome for offspring. Embedded in Farrell's books is the manipulative attempt to solve this by encouraging young women to 'put out' more. It's the same old male longing for 'free' sex ie the usual reproductive behavior of male animals where post-copulatory costs are carried by females.

In nature male animals experience far less or equal disposability as females when they are monogamous and concentrate more on parenting ie are symmetrical with female reproductive behavior. Can we look forward to this in the human male in the near future and solve the whole problem? Can we expect men might consider reducing the supply ie their sex-drive/seeking multiple partners and increasing their childcare. Reduce testosterone? Or is that blasphemy?
The new question is What do men want? The answer is the same as ever - sex. The methods of trying to get it are the same even when put in a new wrapper such as Farrell's ie irrationality, deceit and manipulation.
Perhaps the real myth is the myth of ADULT power and we should direct our anger and frustration towards our gametes, hormones, fetuses, infants and children that are the real reason males and females exist, are pulled together and driven apart.
At least let's not create a new myth that the human male somehow managed to evolve a lack of self-interest. How gullible does Farrell hope we are


YAWN
	This was expected. A fanatic relativist dismembers absolutist views into little irrelevant pieces. Our civilization has been jumping between absolutism/universalism and relativism ever since its decline, with only a few people realizing a third alternative. With this whole book based on a flawed definition, it is a pointless and utterly tedious read


TOO SEXUALLY EXPLICIT FOR MY TASTE
	As I was reading this book, I came across many poems that were far too sexually explicit for my taste, to name a few:  "The First," "Early Images of Heaven" and "Full Summer."  I found these poems to be highly offensive, and improper for the general audience.

Had I been warned of the book's sexually explicit content ahead of time, I would not have read it.  I believe that it should be so marked on the cover so potential readers know what they are
getting into


why are reviews same for revised edition
	I looked at the 2002 printing as well as this 2006 revised printing in order to see what has been updated and all the reviews are identical. why? which edition are people reviewing? I think Amazon is making a mistake by not alloting reviews properly.
I don't plan to buy this book until I can see the 2006 version and see if it's worth it myself


Repulsive
	We have to do better than this for our children. Controlling and turning your kid into the perfect little, well behaved lemming is going to haunt you until you die. This type of abuse never has a good, long term effect on anyone. Put the paddles and belts down and talk to your kids. They deserve at least that much.


Misinformation and Euro-centric
	You can tell I don't pay attention to Wall Street Journal or New York Times. I picked up David Sacks' book from Borders' Linguistics stack because of the title. I should have known better.

I started the first chapter and didn't have the time or intention to finish it. The book is a collection of charts and stories about the history of alphabetic writing that are to be expected from the title -- in some cases conviniently summarized things in tables and maps -- but lacks, in my opinion, systematic thinking on the reasons behind the origin and prosperity of alphabetic writing that is found in other scholarly works (scholarly it is not).

Even within the first 20 pages or so, I was disawayed more than a few times by dubious claims, utter misinformation, and distastefully Euro/English-centric. Here are some examples:

"The alphabet was not the earliest writing: Egypt, Mesopotamia, and probably China already had nonalphabetic systems. But the alphabet was the most efficient writing system ever found, before or since (p.1)" -- What about Hirogana for Japanese? Syllabaries can be much more efficient for languages that do not have a large inventory of syllables.

"The 'spreadability' of an alphabet means that the future of our Roman letters looks very bright indeed. (p. 10)" -- He was speaking of languages that are written in multiple alphabets, such as Swahili, Serbo-Croatian, Urdu/Hindi, and Yiddish. And then came this proud comment on the prospect "our Roman letters". Immediately following the above quote, he gave examples of Azerbaijian and Tatarstan's decision to switch to Roman, as well as other "struggling nation"'s likewise decisions to "switch to Roman letters for native tongues, as a big to tie into global trade and communications and to better prepare their prople to learn English. Tragically, much that is venerable and spiritually sustaining while be lost. Yet that seems inevitable in the 21st century were are shaping. And it is sobering to reflect that our 26 letters wield such power."

His view of the learnability of the alphabet is also uneducated, shall I say. The following superficial comment could have come from an old gradama who happened have NOT been a teacher for her lifetime.

"An alphabet enjoys on huge advantage over any other writing system: It needs fewer symbols. No other sysmtem can get away with so few. This makes an alphabet easier to learn. Students need memorize only two dozen or so letters to begin building toward literacy, which typically takes about another five years of instruction".

And -- he writes -- because of this simplicity, children can become literate before the working age. "This cricial fact has made the alphabet historically the vehicle of mass literacy. (p.5)" Well, "vehicle" is a very clevery way of framing it. At least he is not saying that where there is alphabet there is mass literacy. Mass literacy was nevery a goal before the inducstry revolution. Now Sacks joins the ranks of you-know-who's by implying that the Europeans and Western ideals were destined to take over the world because they had the alphabet and probably the mandate from God. (Guns, what guns?)

Sacks also compared "our 26 letters" -- as if alphabetic writing is patented at the USPO -- to Chinese. "Today Chinese schoolchildren normally take three years longer than Western children to learn to read and write, with most of that
extra time devoted to mastering the symbols."

This is completely misinformation. Learning to read Chinese is not easy, but do a little research, you will find studies over studies and books over books on comparitive studies of literacy (including my own). I've nevery seen a credible study that substantiates the 3-year lag. By the way, Sacks almost never gives citations.

I think that's enough. This explains my total disappointment with the book -- I sholdn't have any high expectation from the start, had I known who David Sacks is.


I kept waiting for her to leave him
	The hero is a cold,mean brute who does not deserve his gentle wife Kassia.He should have been made to marry Joanna the shrewish woman he was betrothed to.I couldn't get past Graelam raping Kassia,I really couldn't.I know this is medieval England and women were more or less treated like chattel,but come on.Kassia is a gentle sweet girl who does everything to please this philandering,brute of a man.He sleeps with one of the servants after he marries Kassia, when she confronts him he threatens to beat and rape her which he had already done(I shuddered again right there).There's not one but two women undermining Kassia's authority and she sits back and takes this,please!The servants and his own soldiers abhor his treatment of Kassia throughout the book.I prayed for her to runaway with Dienwald or for Guy to fall in love with her and take her away from Graelam.The women who made Kassialife hell were rewarded for their treatment of her,they are never made to pay for what they did to her which is another thing that put me off this book.I like to see the heroine giving as good as she gets even if she's not a particularly strong character.Kassia was far too soft and gentle for this brute as a result he walked all over her quite literally.I wanted him to really suffer for his treatment of her which he didn't,this is why I bothered to finish this book for him to get his comeuppance which hedidn't.She capitulated far too easily in the end when he came to get her at her father's castle.I know that he's a warrior but didn't knights have a chivalric code


James Dobson is a sadist and a pervert
	Pinching a child's trapezius muscle? Hitting him or her with a belt or a stick hard enough for it to hurt? James Dobson should be put away.

Raising children this way may make them obedient to their parents, but they will be prone to abuse others once they reach adulthood. Look at Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein.

At best, children who are physically abused will grow up to practice BSDM.

This book deserves no stars


"Strong-willed Child"?
	Dobson has this to say about the supposed 'strong-willed child'. "Even in infancy, he fairly bristles when his dinner is late and he insists that someone hold him during every waking hour. Later, during toddlerhood, he declares total war on all forms of authority...his greatest thrill comes from drawing on the walls and flushing kitties down the toilet." The "strong-willed child" has a "rampaging will."

It should be pointed-out that James Dobson's training is in Educational Psychology, NOT Child Psychology, OR Child Development. I'm afraid he confuses 'strong-will' with anger, alienation, resentment, and contempt. These are behaviors that are commonly produced in children as a result of his (and his ilk) approach toward child-rearing.

Like his right-wing christian compatriot, Ezzo, he would have parents believe that children are inherently evil. The implicit advise is to beat the devil out of them.


California Al
	I wanted to be interested in this book, but it became pretty boring ater a while. There is an undercurrent of romanticism that pervades the authors purpose. He claims to be neutral, yet his descriptions and conversations with many of the people slant towards idol worship. Although the author claims to be in recovery, I did not get the sense of how drugs and alcohol can ruin peoples lives. I felt that his narrative was self serving, and glorifying the wonders of drugs and experimentation. There is a price to pay. What was good was hearing his father's take on the whole down side of watching his son grow up loaded. That was interesting. I'm getting weary of the proselytizing about how epochal the 1960's, 70's and 80's were. I didn't like his picture either


My Brother's Experience With The Perricone Prescription
	My brother had severe acne a year or so ago that he inherited from my Dad's side of the family.  He had tried antibiotics with no success and wanted to go on Accutane.  Having heard bad things about the side effects, my Dad wanted my brother to try the diet for a couple months before deciding to take the medication.  He faithfully followed it with no results whatsoever.  Some of the ideas in the book are absurd - as a diabetic with a horrible eating habit and no teenage acne, I can tell you that the focus on dieting and insulin spikes as a direct cause of of the condition is preposterous.  When I was a teenager, I'd go on serious candy binges that required insulin doses bordering on the irresponsible, and I got through high school with only the occasional zit.  I've read that for a small number of people, diet can be a factor for acne, but obviously our experience points to something else as the primary cause (this assumes you eat reasonably well - malnutrition isn't sexy).  Since medication should always be a last resort, a change of diet is probably a good first approach for those with minor blemishes, but those with a serious condition should look elsewhere.  For the curious, while my brother had some strong side effects from the Accutane (none dangerous, primarily incredibly dry skin and eyes), it certainly succeeded in clearing up his skin


Falco Falters
	This is a fine series so when I began this volume I had hopes that it would be of the same standard as the others.  Ms. Haney has a genuine gift in giving readers the "texture" of everyday life in imperial Rome (at the time of Vespasian and Titus in this one).  The dialogue and the characters are both engaging.  So what went wrong?  A young girl appears to speak with Falco believing someone in her family wants to kill her.  And away we go, on and on and on!  I was weary by the time I got to the rather flat conclusion and felt that a good editing would have been most helpful; the length of this book (326 pages) really cannot support so thin a story.  I was left wondering what had happened and if somehow I had missed something as there was so little going on


Boring....don't bother with it.
	Very disappointed with it. Was expecting something groundbreaking, but it failed to deliever. An easy read and quite honestly, boring.

Don't waste your time. Read something more worthwile like Robert Anton Wilson.


Sounds like the author reviewed this himself
	I am pretty sure that the author sent the only positive review.  That is pretty pathetic.  This book was written with no rhyme or reason.  There is no good progression of information or understandable sense to it all.  One  star is stretch.  Plus, i am asian, and it was still hard for me-that is  when you know it is bad


Raising a feminist
	This book, by the way, was published in 1988, NOT 1998 as the notes above indicate. It is also reflected in the books theme and attitude.

I have read three chapters so far and this is what I have gleaned from the book:
1) Your daughter will only be "successful" if she chooses male oriented occupations.
2) Your daughter will only be "successful" if she is a doctor, NOT a nurse. Heaven forbid she be a nurse, housewife, teacher.
3) Your daughter won't be "successful" if she goes to a coed school. Send her to a female only institution, that way she only has to compete against other girls.
4) Your daughter won't be a success without playing poker, chess or other strategy games. Don't even think of pulling out Dora or some other "girl" game.

Surely there must be better books for Dads to gain some info on theie daughters and ways to help them along as they grow. I could go on with more examples from this feminist rant, but frankly don't have the time. My daughter and I are going to kick the soccer ball.

And BTW, don't even let her enjoy an english class or play with dolls. Force her into that science and math slot. Sign her up for computer camp because we all know that PC's are designed strictly for boys.

I really feel this book is outdated, both in examples and most importantly, attitude. Try something different.


A bad way to spend bucks
	I have read this book only once time, it tooks me about 1 hour, It is very basic, have not any important info, else that you can get from a free catalo


Try that again?
	First a little background... I'm 53 with a preteen son. I'm not quite a Luddite.  I make my living from an online business that I own and operate. Our "big" present to our son last Xmas was a computer -- one he and I were going to build from scratch. The main use of the computer was going to be video games and school work. We gave our son a budget (not big by gamer PC standards) to shop for the parts.

I've read a few books recently on the gaming "culture" to better understand it. This book came highly recommended from reviews here, so I read it.

My reaction to the book? It took a while, but I finally realized it felt like I was reading a study paid for and prepared on behalf of the video game industry. There are lots of great statistics, but rather flimsy rational defending extensive video game playing and how it's successfully preparing gamers to succeed in the future.

I did learn a few things. I got a dose of reality about why it seems like everyone under 35 plays video games extensively. I see that the *gamer generation* has a lot to offer. I also seriously wonder about the gaps in what they have to offer.

A main thesis of the book is that gamers learn how to think and figure things out, because video games are about figuring out how to beat the game. Interesting, since by the examples cited, it mostly appears to be trial and error with no significant logic involved. I call it learn by trying anything, as opposed to learn by thinking. Both have their place.

Supposedly, gamers are more willing to take (theoretically controlled) risks as well. Somehow the authors see the dot.com boom (and bust) as an endorsement of the future of business in the hands of gamers (who largely ran the dot.coms). I see a different story than the authors from those days of yore.

I could go on, but I think you get the point. The book says little (nothing?) about how video games are helping gamers learn math, science, or reading. Personally, I believe those skills/knowledge are MUCH more important to a person's future than the ability to learn thru trial and error.

Maybe the conclusions of the authors will prove to be correct. I hope so. But personally, I'm concerned for any business that runs on the pure gamer mentality that I understand to be endorsed by the book.


Poorly researched, and not accurate for many drugs
	Unfortunately, Sidney Wolfe and the whole "Worst Pills" business enterprise is riding on the reputation of Public Citizen as a champion for consumers, but has failed to live up to it with this guide. In some cases, warnings are included regarding various drugs that are not based on scientific reports, but rather, are based on the marketing literature and information from the pharmaceutical companies themselves -- hardly an unbiased, consumer-oriented source of information. Consider as one example the book's "Do Not Use" warning regarding the prescription drug, Armour Thyroid. Rather than offering any research to support this severe recommendation (because there ISN'T any research), the "guide" instead quotes the AMA and the American Thyroid Association, two groups that greatly enjoy the largesse of the thyroid drug makers who want to put Armour -- a far less expensive drug -- out of business. If this is the sort of "unbiased information" you want about the drugs you take, you might as well go ahead and just read the pharmaceutical company pamphlets. If millions of thyroid patients taking Armour Thyroid were to follow the advice in "Worst Pills," the only thing that ends up for the worse is our health. I definitely do NOT recommend this book in any way. -- Mary J. Shomon, Thyroid Patient Advocate and Autho


Violence Begets Violence
	Dobson has it wrong. Children's susceptibility to God and the attributes of God has to do with rearing them with the love of God in their hearts from the beginning, praying and relying on God, and being taught to please God. Violence begets violence. To spank and be violent toward children is proof of the perpetrator's ignorance of modern scientific evidence that spanking is detrimental to the emotional, physical and spiritual evolution of children. Ignorance begets ignorance, and if you're in charge of children, feeding your mind with ignorance is no benefit to your child


Somewhat disappointed...
	I agree with one of the earlier reviewers headlines, that was something like  quot;just ok, not great. quot; I've been working w/ Server 2003 for a while now, and from my work experience, I knew certain things in the book were kind of being glossed over that really needed more coverage. I would read each chapter, read the summaries, take all the practice questions, and be left with this nagging feeling that the book was not really preparing me completely for what I'd face on the exam. Unfortunately, I was right, and I just missed passing the exam. This book isn't terrible, but just be sure you use some additional resources and that you have some good work experience also