Training Books

If you have lost your joy for living, this book is a must read! With simple everday symbols, Dianne reminded me of things I can do to bring happiness and joy into my life. I found the activities at the end of each chapter not only fun, but really worthwhile in reinforcing what was presented. This book is an easy-read, and a really great gift for friends and family...

This book allowed me to realize what I was feeling and going through in my own life. I was able to relate to many things Dianne talks about. Having read the book, I feel as if a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I'm ready to take the next step in life.

Ms. Durante's book is a real gem! I've bought several to give as gifts to my friends. The book shares insights for a more meaningful life. It makes you realize it's the simple, day to day experiences in life which makes it all worthwhile. Thank you, Dianne, for sharing your book!

When I first picked up this book, I was not overwhelmed by its volume. Nor was I put off by the language. It was easy to read and digest. Its exercises were helpful and thought-provoking. But most of all, it inspired me to look at my life differently, and for this, I am grateful. Thank you, Dianne, for your pearls of wisdom.

Diane Durante has written an exceptional book that is both reassuring AND illuminating; familiar AND revealing. And that is why her book--and her wisdom and insights work so well. She meets me where I am comfortable and leads me to where I need to go. I also love the symbols: simple, memorable, and effective. Get the book. Read it. Assimilate the ideas into your own life. Nice job, Ms. Durante...

Here's What I Know So Far is a unique picturebook written to help young people better understand the responsibility of caring for a puppy. Each two-page spread discusses the realities of a puppy's life, both directly from the puppy's point of view ("Why walk when you can run? Walking on a leash is just no fun."), and from the sage perspective of a professional veterinarian ("Puppies know an 'I mean business' tone of voice when they hear it. Well, you do too, don't you?"). The abstract-style illustrations add a distinctive touch without being too distracting from the immersive wealth of information. An excellent starter book for teaching young people the basics of understanding how puppies think and how to properly train and care for them.

My cat Pino was outside rolling in the garden dirt the other day when he escaped from the house. I found out from the book why he does that. Ms. Till has put together a wonderful book. Doc's words are interesting to kids and adults, and the Vet's explainations the same. Very clever! ....and the Illustrations are FABULOUS! Dock is just the cutest puppy. I learned more things about animals from the book but I'll let you read it and find out for yourself.
The cover is STUNNINGly beautiful, and the illustrations truly incredible. I have it on my coffee table and bought two other copies for animal lover friends who adore the book. I certainly hope they, (Diane Till, Tom Schwartz and Dr. Tim Roberts), do produce more books on this style as they offered on the book jacket. The neighbor kids 6,10, and 16 loved it.
....Bill

This book is the perfect answer to a parents prayer when children ask about having their first dog. It explains all of the many issues related to dog ownership in a simple straight forward manner that is easy for the kids to accept. The writing is wonderful and the illustrations are engaging. Adults will particularly appreciate the visual quality and intricacy of the festive art work as they watch kids pore over the pages. I am waiting for the next volume in what I hope will be a long series of animal stories for children.

Fabulous book. Our kids wanted a dog and I never had one. This helped me and the kids feel comfortable about going ahead. It's very well written for adults and children and the graphics and illustrations are simply marvelous. This is what making education fun is all about.

Diane Till does a wonderful job with the idea of expressing a puppy's thoughts about its first year of life. It really does make you think
more from the perspective of the pup.
Though the book is educational, it is not preachy. Both my children, ages 9 and 13, read the book and giggled through most of it.
We bought an extra copy for the waiting room of our veterinary clinic. I really believe Till's book will be an excellent starting point for teaching children (and adults) how to train puppies.

As is frequently the situation, I read this book in combination with another, Return on Learning, in which Donald Vanthournout and his associates on Accenture's Capability Development team explain how their firm achieved an ROI of 353% on its commitment to enterprise learning. I highly recommend both Return on Learning and this book and, if possible, read in combination. In the Introduction, Jay Cross makes a number of crisp assertions, several of which are certain to generate controversy. For example, "Workers learn more in the coffee room than in the classroom." Rather than take this out of context, I continue the excerpt: "They discover how to do their jobs through informal learning: asking the person in the next cubicle, trial and error, calling the help desk, working with people in the know, and joining the conversation. This is natural learning - learning from others when you feel the need to do so." So far, no pyrotechnics. Cross continues: "Training programs, workshops, and schools get the lion's share of the corporate budget for developing talent, despite the fact that...," and then, "this formal learning has almost no impact on job performance. And informal learning, the major source of knowledge transfer and innovation, is left to chance."

Presumably several of those who read this review agree with Cross (as do I) that the value of formal learning tends to be exaggerated when, in fact, much of it has little (if any) enduring impact; and, that the value of informal learning tends to be underestimated when, in fact, the extent to which an organization achieves its objectives (whatever they may be) is determined almost entirely by how effectively those involved (at all levels and in all areas) communicate, cooperate, and collaborate (i.e. the Three Cs) on what must be done to achieve those objectives. For those in need of a single source to guide and inform their design and implementation of a knowledge exchange program that maximizes the Three Cs, Cross has written it.

Here are a few of the key points he makes throughout his narrative:

"Formal learning is like riding a bus: the driver decides where the bus is going; the passengers are along for the ride. Informal learning is like riding a bike: the rider chooses the destination, the speed, and the route."

Comment: That said, all organizations need traffic control, once the ultimate destination has been selected.

"Formal learning takes place in classrooms; informal learning happens in learnscapes, that is, a learning ecology. It's learning without borders."

Comment: That said, it seems reasonable to expect productive and beneficial application of what is learned to avoid what Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton aptly characterize as a "knowing-doing gap." Cross duly notes, "Executives don't care about learning; they care about execution."

Meanwhile, we are well-advised to keep in mind what Peter Drucker observed in 1963: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

"It's not who you know that's important; it's who those others know."

Comment: Obviously, ever-expanding networks of contacts is very important. Those we know can connect us with those they know. We are also obliged to reciprocate.

"Most training is built atop the pessimistic assumption that trainees are deficient, and training is the cure for what's broken."

Comment: I agree. However, there are formal training programs now available as well as superb instructors to conduct them that can substantially improve various skills that include reading, reasoning, writing, public speaking, decision-making, problem-solving, and situation analysis.

"Created long before knowledge work was invented, accounting values intangibles such as human capital at zero and counts training as an expense instead of an investment."

Comment: In most organizations, that is true but thanks to Peter Drucker, Howard Gardner, Peter Senge, Thomas Davenport, and others, the situation is changing (albeit too slowly) and recently published books such as this one and Return on Learning will accelerate the transition to enlightenment at the governing board senior-management levels.

Years ago, after a substantial tuition increase at Harvard had enraged many parents, then president Derek Bok responded with a suggestion: "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

"Imagine having an in-house learning and information environment as rich as the Internet. You'd have blogs, search, syndication, podcasts, mash-ups, and more. You'd also have a platform just about everyone already knows how to use."

Comment: And imagine such an environment that also provides formal training programs that strengthen various skills (i.e. those relevant to learning, communication, management, and leadership) of all who share that environment so that each can take full advantage of all the opportunities available. What about the bottom-line? "Management must assign enterprise-level accountability for learning." Cross is dead-on: Without proper governance, there would be chaos. Is Cross recommending a balance of learning with work? No. "As work and learning become one, good learning and good work become synonymous."

Don't stop there. Why not establish and then sustain outstanding learning that occurs both formally and informally? In that event, outstanding learning and outstanding performance become synonymous.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out the aforementioned Return on Learning. Also, John Hager and Paul Halliday's Recovering Informal Learning: Wisdom, Judgement and Community as well as Corporate Agility: A Revolutionary Model for Competing in a Flat World co-authored by Charles E. Grantham, James P. Ware, and Cory Williamson, Kevan Hall's Speed Lead: Faster, Simpler Ways to Manage People, Projects and Teams in Complex Companies, Dean R. Spitzer's Transforming Performance Measurement: Rethinking the Way We Measure and Drive Organizational Success, and Enterprise Architecture as Strategy: Creating a Foundation for Business Execution co-authored by Jeanne W. Ross, Peter Weill, and David Robertson.

I've read articles by Jay Cross for years, and was pleased to get his book on the seminal topic of Informal Learning. Jay has a history of identifying trends and technology use for learning (he was among the first to use the term eLearning) so I was keen to read his thoughts on informal learning.

Widely acknowledged as the lion's share of corporate learning, informal learning is a difficult subject because it is even more nebulous and difficult to measure than formal learning. While there is a body of work on how to measure formal learning results including Kirkpatrick's levels, we have yet to determine realistic methods or measurements for informal learning. This book helps guide the learning industry in the right direction.

The value and ubiquity of informal learning is presented clearly and passionately by e-learning champion Jay Cross in this book. The notion of informal learning is very familiar, and most of us will understand immediately what Cross is getting at: every conversation, web site, conference, or collaborative enterprise tends to yield some new insight into the world. We are simply learning all the time.

The title of this review relates Cross's notion to one of my own observations about ubiquitous learning - namely, the "educational economy". Every one of these informal learning events is like a "transaction" in which some knowledge is shared, and in return the understanding or even reputation of the sharer is increased. The "real" educational economy, is very difficult to formalize, so what Cross would call "informal learning" is (to me at least) the portion of the educational economy that we have had trouble accrediting or otherwise keeping tabs on socially. Formal learning describes those artificial mechanisms, such as courses, (which Cross loudly proclaims are dead), that are easy to keep tabs on and can yield some educational benefit.

Informal Learning is, at its heart, a book rich with discussion of how we learn best, and what situations contribute to organic, self-driven learning - particularly in the workplace, but the ideas presented are really universal. Jay appropriately spends time discussing how the Internet has become the ultimate self-education tool, pointing out that "...my son and his peers [learn] everything from homework assignments to network administration on the Web. [That's] also where he learned a lot more than his dad ever did about meteorology, PERL, San Francisco politics, environmental action groups, obscure singers, and much more..." (166)

I'd like to sum up here just by sharing a quote from the book that I included on SR's website: "Many learners today are not self-directed; they are waiting for directions. It's time to tell them that the rules have changed. It's in their self-interest to become proactive learning opportunists." (175)

Jay Cross has written an invaluable book here for many reasons.

It can be hard to face up to, but the medieval basis of our education is suddenly and starkly out of touch with the needs of a post-network society. After reading this book, it's hard not to face up to that fact, because we now have a compelling, if nascent, alternative. The web enables a wholly different, but infinitely more effective approach to learning - through self-direction, and peer collaboration, motivated by individual choice, for example. As Jay points out, given the complexity and pace of change of 21st century life, we simply must change. (I have an 8 year -old daughter in school and it pains me to see what she's going through when it will all become obsolete in just a few years.) He outlines a kind of proto-pedagogical alternative, taking 'natural' learning as its starting point. He blends online/offline ideas with ideas from design, motivational psychology, etc, but is careful not to lose sight of learning objectives.

As an educator/trainer of over 20 years myself, I believe the book succeeds. Jay isn't a tremendous stylist, nor are his ideas wildly original, but he does exactly what is needed. He makes the case for alternative approaches to learning in a clear and simple way with plenty of diagrams, and examples. Although his focus is on corporate training, rather than traditional education, the implications reverberate. He brings years of training experience, together with an optimistic outlook to practice what he preaches. Having read his blog o ver the course of severalk months it has left it's makr on my own

The book is almost a metaphor for the kinds of challenge we face: hard to pin down, constantly changing, yet sometimes so obvious that we fail to see the significance. Jay doesn't have all the answers because that is the kind of (medieval) certainty he cautions against. He has brought an important discussion into the light of day. I don't know anyone who wouldn't benefit from this book.

Ken Carroll

Formal learning is like riding a bus, it goes, starts and stops when & where someone else decides (bus driver and urban transport committee) - informal learning is then like riding a bicycle, you choose the time, route and destination.

Way more learning happens in the coffee room than the classroom, but firms continue to spend way more on formal training than informal learning - there is a huge disconnect right there. The theme is similar in KM - formal structured tools, top-down mandates, ROI and the smells of project management dominance, do little to enhance agility, awareness, creativity, shared understanding and meaning - which add the real value.

Jay talks about unblended learning, emergence, grokking, envisioning, unconferencing, connecting, conversation, community, web2.0 and JDI (just do it). He makes the point that classes are dead, that every learner needs to cultivate an ecology, share via voicing, communicate using stories and build common text by collaborative editing (wikis).

Jay has written this timely book in the form of short stories and vignettes, recounting his experiences and perspectives. I did not find much new stuff, although there are many interesting examples and truths, but Jay managed to hit the high spots so often, I was nodding in agreement as I read along. Clearly we all have to assume responsibility for our own awareness, learning and critical inquiry. Jay neatly illustrates the tools, hints at the practices (which need more refinement) and paints the landscape.

http://informl.com/

This book is so much fun. As a watercolorist, I am enchanted by her use of objects and her interpretation of the human form. Colors are wonderful. Hooray for Sara Midda and I hope she keeps publishing her books.
Janice Lawson - Montana

Hurray for the re-issue of this beautiful book! Paging through this hand-painted, calligraphied book any day of the year is like an escape into the Garden of Paradise! Hundreds of small, engaging watercolors of the garden and whimsical little garden people, harmonized with beautiful calligraphy. Besides being filled with the author/illustrator's charming observations, it is a veritable treasure trove of garden lore, with many quotes from authors old and new and advice from classic, old treatises on gardening and horticulture. Also many enchanting, anonymous garden sayings and quaint herbal folk remedies. The history of fruits and vegetables as a part of our culture. I bought two copies of this book--one to just periodically carry around with me! It's one of my favorite gift books, too. You won't be able to stop dreaming over it. You'll adore it!

What an enchantingly beautiful book! This is one of my favorite books, and I love giving it as a gift to gentle souls. If you like gardens, watercolor paintings, and calligraphy, you will love this beautifully bound book that is filled with Sara Midda's exquisite watercolors. Each page is a miniature painting of breathtaking intricacy and delicacy celebrating the myriad forms of gardens, flowers, vegetables, and herbs in which we delight. The book is filled with boundless garden wisdom, recipes, and poems, all charmingly set forth in Sara Midda's beautiful calligraphy. You have to see this book to know how beautiful and inspirational a gem it is!

I purchased this book when I was in Art college over ten years ago. Sara abilility to capture her interest with her illustrative talent is amazing . It is definately the most interesting book I ever read without seeing typesetting, but with her beautifully hand painted type.

I've gone through this book again and again. I think whoever like calligraphy, water color painting and gardening would love this book. Although it's quite difficult to concentrate on the attennuated of water color written content. But it strongly inspires me to grasp by brushes and calligrpahy pens again. It becomes one of my possessive books and always added in my bag wherever I go since then.

This book gives you a broad scope of the to be used topics when creating elearning sites. You will get a quick tutorial of the most important Macromedia features to get the process done. In a clear way building up from using templates, attaching stylesheets, showing and hiding layers with Dreamweaver and using Flash for simulation and user-interactivity the book introduces the interaction with databases by using Coldfusion.

I thought Coldfusion was rather difficult to learn, because the tips of the week by Macromedia were a little to quick for me. But Jeffrey Bardzell proved it is easy. In a straight-forward way you are taken by the hand to take all the basic steps for building a data-driven website.

I'm an assoc. prof. of New Testament currently working to produce an interactive web workbook for teaching/learning skills for New Testament interpretation. I want to give students practice developing close reading skills rather than ask them simply to drill content. For a couple of years, I have had a dream for such a site, and I felt sure it was buildable, but didn't know how. I care enough about how the interactions work and the relationship of content to design that I wanted to design the interactions myself if possible. Yet I didn't know anything but a little Dreamweaver and its CourseBuilder extension.

Working my way through a copy of Macromedia MX eLearning is changing all that. Wow! The book teaches how to develop interactions in Dreamweaver and Flash as well as offering several chapters on putting ColdFusion to work in eLearning. Each chapter includes a fine combination of hands-on work and explanation for why we are being asked to do what we're doing, especially at those places where some task is counter-intuitive. The book is also free of mistakes, typos and muddled language, a welcome plus when so many computer books seem to have been rushed to press without having been edited or proofed.

Bardzell's book is giving me two things: (1) hands on work with the software that introduces and reinforces learning without devolving into busywork and (2) a model for developing materials (like the book itself) that teach effectively from a distance. A+

I am a trainer and instructional designer at a university. I thought this book was very useful in helping me to use Flash MX for education. You would likely need some introductory training in Flash and Dreamweaver basics before using this book.

This is an excellent book where you learn how to integrate ColdFusion MX, Dreamweaver MX, and Flash MX by building interactive learning applications. The exercises are explained in great details and contain many tips and techniques especially for Dreamweaver and Flash. The newer aspects of interacting ColdFusion MX with Flash MX are not covered, but for those of us still using ColdFusion 5 there is a good coverage of LoadVars. I recommend this book without any reservation as it is one of the best technical books I have read so far.

Jeffrey Bardzell's book is intelligently written with plenty easy-to-understand examples. He engages, inspires, and motivates learners throughout. His Dante's Inferno project makes learning fun. He breaks subject matter down into comprehendible pieces, using Aristotelian logic in places. This guy knows what he's doing. Of several computer books that I have purchased over the years, this is the first time I have written a review. You can learn eLearning and website design, and this book will teach you how-even if you are a motivated beginner, technical type, or humanities person-this book is suited for most everyone.

This book is for those who desire self-help using a cognitive method. Dr. Low was an unrecognized pioneer in the mental health field; he has been credited by his patients with saving many lives. The book is extremely practical. It may encourage readers to participate in a self-help organization founded in 1937 which has in the intervening years become international in scope. One may choose portions of the book that are applicable. After having read the book more than 25 years ago and consulting it as a resource, I recommend it for those suffering from mental/emotional afflictions for whom self-help is appropriate. Recovery does not replace a professional, but rather works with him/her.

I was a nervous wreck and had been on the verge of suicide and could not find medication to alleviate my anxiety symptoms. I found RECOVERY through Alchoholics Ananymous, because I was not an alchoholic, but had reached a point where I could not sleep more than an hour a day and I found alchohol provided temporary relief but was afraid of becoming alchoholic. After reading this book and attending 6 months of meetings, the symptoms slowly disappeared and I was able to use the tools explained in the book to regulate my thoughts and as a result, regulate my feelings. This book is practical and very useful on an ongoing basis. I strongly recommend it.

sincerely,

michael

I received an e-mail from a lady who told me that rational-emotive therapy saved her relationship and maybe even her life! And I believe her. But some of us need more heavy "Head Work" I believe. Real "Trench Warfare". Dr. Low teaches you cognitive-behavioral therapy in this book. But he doesn't leave it there. Daily readings. And ONE TWO-HOUR MEETING A WEEK WITH OTHER NUT CASES! Why am I screaming? Because it is easy to sit at your computer and be mean. But you can't get

away with this in real life. I read most of Low's book after my first meeting. I felt excruciating anxiety for 4 days BEFORE THE MEETING! I'm screaming again, right? Sorry. And my reading didn't really DIG IN until I got to the meeting. You say something and then everybody else contributes and then these cognitive techniques are really cut into your brain. This is the main text. So it is one-third of the program. The other two parts are daily application and one meeting a week. It seems that people with psychological problems make TREMENDOUS demands on themselves. This book will re-wire your brain. And that may take awhile. But remember this. According to Dr. Low, when you cut a "temper" sequence of working yourself up into anxiety and anger or down into depression, you will be automatically reducing those HIGHER STRESSORS which you will have to confront. Let's make it simple. Asking a question of somebody on the street may cause incredible anxiety. Let's say 99. But if you "spot" this scenerio and replace it with realistic thoughts ("I'm not doing anything wrong") and endorse yourself ("I did just fine") - this process will reduce the the anxiety of public speaking, say, from 1,000 to 859. Good deal, huh? As Low says, "Strike at the Weakest Link". If your dog dies and you have a BIG DEPRESSION of 876, let us say, and you practice this program and your spouse dies, you might only get hit with a 700! Whereas, before, it might have been 7,000, given you a stroke, and put you in a hospital. Do buy the book. I could philosophize about all the chapters (Like "The Courage to Make Mistakes", chapter 30), but I think you now understand the whole purpose of the text. If you don't want to wait, then find out where the closest Recovery, Inc. Meeting is (they are worldwide for those of you in Guam), take 5 minutes, run in, and buy a copy. Good luck.

This is THE book on mental health for any kind of disorder from compulsive eating to schizophrenia. Tens of thousands of people have been helped by this book. I already have been helped greatly. Self-disscipline is the only answer. And I think we all know this at some level. There is no easy way to happiness. The paradox is that we have to go through misery in order to be happy. I have written reviews on meditation for Amazon. And I do feel that this is what really makes us into warm human beings. But I did confer with practioners who have practiced for over 30 years. And in pathological conditions (severe depression, obsession-compulsion, eating disorders, and similar problems including schizophrenia) - many people need a little more. This also includes anxiety disorders which so many of us suffer from. Alcoholics Anonymous costs nothing for the treatment of alcoholism. And Recovery, Inc. costs a recommended donation of $2 for a 2-hour meeting. A.A. works despite the technocrats and their twisted statistics. The Mad Scientists. And Recovery, Inc. has been helping people all over the world for mental problems. And this is their Bible just as "Alcoholics Anonymous" or the Big Blue Book is the Bible of A.A. Dr. Low had created a system of cognitive behavioral therapy that works! Then came the "new breed" of healers who promised us self-esteem in ten weeks or 3 minutes a day. They ignored Low (ripped him off actually) and attacked A.A. They are not a "well-meaning" breed of lion tamers. In this book, you will learn about "The Courage to Make Mistakes". You will find that the first goal in mental health is to shoot for being average. Whether you think you are Napolean or "exceptional", you can afford to be average according to Dr. Low. This was all stated way before Drs. Ellis and Beck decided they were the new scientists of mental health. Dr. Low created the cognitive-behavioral

approach way before these gentlemen. The only difference is that his approach works. Please refer to "recovery-inc.com" on the net. A diagnosis from a qualified physician comes first in Low's method. Then you will be allowed to attend meetings. Yes, you can leave early. That is part of recovery. "Spotting" when you are beating yourself up with thoughts. And you "encourage" yourself for your progress. The people seem very intelligent and kind. Both my psychiatrist and therapist are ga-ga about Recovery, Inc. They love it and recommended it to me. The changes are swift and lasting. But not in 10 weeks or 3 minutes. It's very much of a shame that A.A. and Recovery Inc., which originated in the thirties when people were not looking for a "quick fix", are now being over-looked by the new intelligensia. Many have been hurt by these pseudo-intellectuals from the sixties. Dr. Low emphasizes that we go into a "DANGER" alert kind of status all the time. Many need to change this to "DISTRESSING". As he states in the book, sometimes a headache is just a headache and not a brain tumor! I am so grateful to Recovery, Inc. and it's kind members. Along with A.A. and my Insight Meditation course (also available from Amazon.com), I don't feel that I will ever be truly lacking in the ability to love others and to be loved in return. Thank you.

This is the best available therapy for depression, bipolar depression, panic attacks, and related disorders. Either alone, or with psychotropic medications, this group therapy succeeds where individual therapy fails and makes the patient more amenable to individual therapy, as not sabotaging mental health is a major focus. This is precisely the method used in cognitive therapy, effective since introduced widely in the 1980s, but not affordable by most of the population.
The Recovery method is still going strong after all these years.

As a Training Manager for a large wireless company I was charged with rolling out our online learning system. As you would expect, I and my company, did a good deal of research before we purchased our system. Michael Allen's book was very helpful in identifying the questions we needed to identify, as a company, before we took the step.

I highly recommend this book. Even though you will likely experience some frustration in your search for the most effective online learning system, his book will make the process less painful.

The book really focuses on the "how to" of developing and designing your online courses. It honestly lays out the pros and cons of online learning. You will find it helpful.

This book is a must have for the aspiring e-Learning developer. It reviews enough theory to make the point and directs the reader quickly through the logic and science of good e-Learning design.

This book takes e-learning to its core mandate, that of engaging and involving the learners, so that they learn the key skills and knowledge required.

An excellent and easy read, with lots of good examples and non-examples, nicely compared side by side.

Dr. Allen is a champion of learner-centric design - and has written a refreshingly reader-centric book about the topic. He understands that learning is an "internal, personal, and ultimately individual act." His words reveal his passions and opinions in such an authentic manner that you can quickly understand his perspective, and extract points of meaning that can directly apply to your work. As a producer and designer of interactive media, I continually find his insights an inspiration.

I purchased this book as I was beginning to design an eLearning curriculum for my company. The book was a great jumpstart to helping me structure the program, consider ways to involve the learners in eLearning, and remember to find ways to make the course material memorable. I found the accompanying online and CD-based demos to be good stimulators, too. Although I won't be using an authoring tool like the one Michael Allen invented, it was easy to take and apply several of Allen's ideas to my project.

Exams 70-063 and 70-064 are being retired at the end of the year and you want to take them before then. You need a great set of resources in order to make sure you pass the exams and now Microsoft Press has delivered it to deluxe style.

The two volume set of over 1100 pages, gives you 26 chapters of information covering the two exams. There are review questions, practice examples, hands-on exercises and so much more included in each chapter. The chapters are broken down into timed segments and you can skip around to customize the learning process.

The first of two cds included is a self paced learning cd from Microsoft the will enhance what the books and give you additional information. The setup and installation was simple easy to follow and I was learning in a matter of minutes.

The other cd is NETg, National Education Training Group, and this cd is multimedia based learning, which can be used independently is you desired. While the price tag may seem hefty, the value outweighs the cost in so may ways. Microsoft is the first name in applications and certification and Microsoft Press makes the learning easier.

For many, this would be the single most helpful tool to prepare for the 70-064 certification exam. Although highly informative, I find all the Microsoft Press study materials boring. The saving grace are the entertaining CD-ROMs that round out the package. However, my opinion is based on my style of preparation so I gave this study tool a high rating because the material will satisfy the needs of the masses.

I used this kit along with the Sam's Windows 95 in 14 days to pass exam 70-064 and achieve my MCP!! Microsoft Press did a great job on this kit!! Write me if you like for more in-depth details!

The CD was especially helpful in my studies to pass the MCSE Win 95 exam, which was very challenging. You still need to know a lot about NT server that isn't covered in this book thoroughly, so I recommend taking that test first if you're going for your MCSE. I think this is one of the better MS Press offerings.

This is a spendy purchase but worth it. The CD-ROMs are great too. Everything you need for 70-063 is in there. Two volumes crammed with everything you ever wanted to know about 95. A bit fluffy but the info is there to be learned. You'll be that much better am MCP when you are done anyway.

Monte Forman should be recognized as the Father of Clinics. He started it all and, along with the wisdom and knowledge of Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt, gave us the foundation today that has sprouted so many well-known clinicians. Twenty-five years ago, all I heard about was Monte Forman from my "old friend" and a true horseman, Cliff Fisher. This book is a definite addition to any serious horse person's library. It is well written with simple directions and photos to achieve many tasks one would like to successfully complete. Highly recommended for all breeds and disciplines as horse talk is horse talk.

Monte Foreman's Horse Training Science, was written by Monte Foreman and Patrick Wyse, his long time student and his first certified insrutuctor, who has also been my instructor and mentor for nearly 30 years.

To really appreciate this book, a little background is helpful. Monte Foreman pioneered the use of video analysis in the study of how and why horses and riders interact.

Back in the days when almost everybody just leaned back and jerked the bit to stop a horse, Monte Foreman started taking home movies of good riders in various situations. He taped the same horse/rider combinations stopping while roping a calf, and stopping in a reining class. The differences in the horses and riders were astounding! Because of this, Monte started developing his own method of stopping horses, based on the calf roping stop. Horses trained in this method would stop balanced and relaxed from the rider's subtle signal, instead of getting suddenly yanked into the ground, as was commonly done.

Foreman also used video analysis to develope more effective methods for lead changes, roll maneuvers, and other elements of his training system, dubbed the BASIC HANDLE.

This method has been proven with thousands of students of Foreman and co-author Patrick Wyse. They focus in the book on practical and humane training methods, that have stood the test of time. Although this book is dated, the information is and always will be relevant.

In this age of "Horse Whisperers" who all seem to have some kind of hidden secret, Foreman and Wyse teach that all the elements of horse training can be learned by any student with enough time and desire to achieve it.

Monte Foreman's passing on was a tremensous loss to the equestrian world, but co-author Patrick Wyse is still teaching and training in clinics all over the North America, and at his home in Townsend, Montana. More about Patrick Wyse can be learned from his website, www.HorseWyse.com.

I bought this book way back in 1983. I still have it today.When I bought a green horse,it was like a bible to me. I still have the same horse too, so that should tell you this book helped me immensely. I believe in the methods that they teach in it because they really work. I also believe that the methods are timeless. I'm an East-coast backyard horse owner.

I am so pleased that this classic has been resurrected. It offers instruction that is clear and logical. This book made a lasting impression on me 25 years ago, and I heartily recommend it. Its techniques helped me to achieve many blue ribbons with my horses.

A very informative well written book. Great for allowing average rider to get there horse handy with all the basic reining moves you could want. While I dont always agree with all he has to say I beleive that he has the horses best interest in mind. There are some things that have changed due to the times but his basics are still very good

This is a very good text for a beginning JSP/Servelet developer. Very clearly laid out, with copious examples, well orgranized, slanted to a novice Servlet developer. You cant go wrong with this text. Additional benefit is a chapter on how to use the NetBeans IDE.

This book takes you through a well structured learning journey of JSP, Servlets and related technologies such as Netbeans, Tomcat and MySQL for developing complete web apps. The book has provided me with the skill and confidence to start building my own web-app. The book finishes with a completed e-commerce example that builds on the earlier work, and gives the reader a basis for their own future development.

The book provides comprehensive details on how to set up the environment for developing and deploying web-apps, with the installation of Netbeans, MySQL, libraries etc covered in the appendices. The set up is generally a difficult part of learning a new computer concept and this book explains this very well.

The material, the downloaded code, and exercises are well integrated and provide for a comprehensive learning experience. I was able to successfully complete the vast majority of exercises readily.

I have ordered the Murach Java book as I found the JSP and Servlets book very useful.

COMPARED TO HEAD FIRST
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I am a big fan of the Head First series, a series which has taught me everything I know about Java, XHTML, CSS, Design Patterns Ajax, OO Design etc. I love it. But as a novice, I found Head First Servlets and JSP: Passing the Sun Certified Web Component Developer Exam (SCWCD) difficult to get into. Mainly because the HF book is directed towards accreditation, and contains some curved balls to prepare for the exam that distracted me from learning.

Instead, I did the Murach book from cover to cover, and skim read the HF book (partially because I am in love with that bossy HF girl!). The HF series is more fun and engaging, but for JSP and Servlets I found the Murach approach worked best for me. While the Murach book is as as well written and presented as can be expected of a more traditional text book, it is not as interactive as the HF series. I therefore found completing the exercises in the Murach book important for engaging with the content.

Murach does a better job than HF on the MySQL and IDE side of things. HF probably covers the nuances of the Servlets more comprehensively.

I recommend both, depending on what you need.

Hi guys, if you are looking for a book that guides you step by step thru servlets and jsp's this is the book you should buy, the method that is used in this book is learn and practice, for me this kind of studying is very proactive and it is better than just reading a bunch of pages with just a final example.
So do not hesitate to buy this book, this is the only one you need.

"Working hands are better than praying lips"

The previous version of "Murach's Servlets and JSPs" was a good book, and this one is too.

The book is described for use as "Training and reference", and while books tend to be good for one purpose or the other I found this one did manage to accomplish both objectives. The information is presented in small, distinct and incremental sections, and each block of code is clear and concise. It also contains all of the important information required to get a good start developing Servlets. I also found the same layout worked well when accessing the information as a reference.

It was very amusing that the book managed to get through four whole chapters before addressing Servlets or JSPs in detail, but given that many people leap into Servlets while their other technical skills are still growing, this prelude will be valuable to many beginners. These chapters are spent introducing web programming with Java, setting up Tomcat and the Netbeans IDE, and a one chapter crash course in HTML.

All of the required topics are covered elegantly, and enough room is left over to provide the same level of coverage for the next level of knowledge such as SSL, JavaMail, connecting to databases, container managed security and even some raw HTTP.

While I would not usually consider 10 horseshoes for a programming resource, this one is less likely to be read and forgotten, and should be of use for the first few years of Servlet programming for the novice. Therefore it is easy to recommend adding this one to your bookshelf.

Murach's Java Servlets and JSP 2nd Edition is a very good book for someone that would like to learn JSP & Servlet quickly and efficiently.

The book content emphasizes on the important and commonly used features of JSP & Servlet and various aspects Java web-based applications.

The writing style is a closer to Oreilly's cook book style than a conventional technical book. For me I really like it because I can just learn I need to know in order to get my job done.

In addition to covering topics about JSP & Servlet, it also covers many important aspects of developing Java web-based applications like MySQL, Tomcat, and NetBean. This is absolutely critical for setting up a development environment quickly so you can try out the numerous examples provided in the book.

Over all, I like this book and would have no problem recommending it.