Digital Books

Val is my favorite type of crook. The crook we know, love, and probably have been burned by in the past but something about him - call it gritty, unrepentant charm - has us rooting for him to get away with it anyway. Val seems to be a guy who is getting into something that has been waiting for him his whole life with the full understanding that you can't look over both shoulders at the same time. I'd definitely like to read more of this.

From the very first sentence, there is something addictive about Frank Pisano's tale of Val and his life in Coney Island. His writing is neat and crisp, and he has the ability to hook you from the first page. Engrossing--by the end of the chapter, Valentino's Lament leaves you with hungry eyes, wanting more!

I was intrigued by the first sentence: "The Indians came to Coney Island on the first day of summer." And when I got to "It wasn't until awhile later I found out the Indians had come to Coney Island to kill Petey", I was hooked.

Frank Pisano sets his scenes vividly but doesn't bog down the story with superfluous detail. So far, with its sharp writing and colorful characters Valentino's Lament is a very entertaining read. I'm looking forward to the rest of the book.

I got a kick out of the beginning and I want to follow Valentino up and down the boardwalk. The writing is sharp and the characters got my attention. I'm looking forward to the rest.

Pisano's straight-forward and gritty approach to writing is refreshing and captivating. He has invented an intriguing main character in a setting that only a handful could successfully capture on paper. Simply put, Pisano has a way with words and has left this reader wanting more.

I purchased Jain's "The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis" for a 3-month graduate course, and I must admit that, in retrospect, I was a bit daunted by its size upon receipt (we were to cover the entire text). Further, I had my doubts about the relevancy of the text in the current environment, given its age.

But I must say, both of these initial questions proved wholly unfounded.

I've never used a text quite like this one before; it is a significant departure from the standard engineering text that weighs heavily on the side of analytical proof and mathematical equations, while foregoing textual elaboration. On the contrary, this book adopts a conversational tone whereby the author develops all of the book's topics in great detail, relying on substantial insight and experience. Truly, a breath of fresh air.

There's such a richness about this text, that a careful read--while admittedly quite time-consuming--is bound to give the reader a sense that he has just become the beneficiary of a heck of a lot of wisdom.

All of this is not to say the text is overly-subjective; in fact, there is plenty of detailed analytical analysis. It is just to say that the book is different, and one that exudes quality communication: it reads more like a lecture than it does lecture notes.

So, back to my initial doubts. It turns out that the verbose depth of material which constitutes the book's 720 pages is really a foundation of its main qualities: it is a very readable and highly-detailed exploration of the art and the craft of performance analysis. And it's for that foundational reason that its age is irrelevant.

A solid book indeed. It has the right mixture of theory and practical cases well dealt with. The techinques must be tried for performance analysis and implemented in real time projects.

This old book is one of the most valued on my shelf. I was first exposed to it in a graduate class, and I have to say that the book is so good I was not aware that my professor was not a good instructor until I had him a second time in a class where the textbook was less than stellar. Don't judge the book by a quick perusal either. At first glance, especially if you are looking at Part I, it looks like one of those books on Six Sigma that will put you to sleep. In fact, the vast majority of the book is quite interesting.

Part II, "Measurement Techniques and Tools", are where things get interesting. The good part about this entire book is that it uses problems in the analysis of computer systems as the basis of presentation for all tools presented. The graphs are excellent, the mathematics are largely self-contained, and if algorithms are presented they are usually given in numbered steps and an actual computer program shown. This is one drawback of the book - it uses the ancient Simula language for its demonstration code. However, if you are familiar with C, Java, or any of the other mainstream procedural languages, you'll find that Simula looks like very readable pseudocode, so this should not be an obstacle to understanding.

Part III is a section dedicated entirely to probability theory and statistics. Starting with the simple definition of the mean, this handy section not only derives all of the statistics you need in this book, it talks about common mistakes made in applying them.

Part IV is about experimental design and analysis. Using the mathematics developed in part three this section talks about all aspects of designing a proper experiment for the measurement or simulation of a computer system, including common mistakes and the best choice for the size of your experiment.

Part V presents the key issues in simulation modeling. First it discusses simulation terminology, simulation design criteria, and stopping conditions. Random number generation is the subject of three chapters in reference to inputs to your simulation. Finally there is a chapter on the commonly used distributions such as Bernoulli, beta, binomial, etc. that talks specifically about random number generation algorithms for each of the distributions presented. What makes this section so valuable is that although you may have possibly seen the math before, more than likely you don't know the value of each kind of distribution. This section makes that issue clear in terms of modeling computer performance.

Part VI is on queuing models, and is probably the most difficult section in the book. Although it is one of the better written pieces I have read on queueing theory, it is not as easily grasped as previous sections based on reading the textbook alone. There are examples present, and the book does a good job of presenting "the big picture" as to the use of queueing theory in computer performance analysis, but you may need outside material to really grasp how to set up a queueing problem from a mathematical standpoint.

No other book I've found does such a good job of discussing all of the topics covered and clearly tying it into practical issues in measuring and monitoring system performance. I highly recommend it.

I'm a performance analyst. I couldn't do my job properly without this book. It really is that simple.

This is an absolute gem. I really think that this book must be read by every CS/EE engineer. Performance analysis is always something that comes as an afterthought and engineers think that some some "mathematical" guy called a perf analyst will stop by after the product is completed and analyze the product. This is def wrong. PA should be done at every stage of production.

This book has been written assuming a novice reader. Several parts of the book have to re-read to really understand what the author is trying to convey, but trust me you will really appreciate it.

I suggest reading the following parts of the book(in order):

Part I (whole)
Part II (4, 5, 6, browse {7,8}, 9, 10 ) 10 is cool stuff..impress your peers with this
Part III (whole) read, re-read, re-read till you have digested every line..worth it really!!!!
Part IV (whole) read, re-read, re-read till you have digested every line..worth it really!!!!
Part V : You can skip this if you are not into simulation.
Part VI : Not really that easy to follow. I suggest Gunter's book for this.

I love that I can just skim through this book & find the information that I need. It is really basic - clearly written with great examples. After being away from work for 8 years & being out of school for almost 20, it was a great refresher! Besides, Max proves that even geeks can have a sense of humor!

As a student finishing my B.S. in Computer Science, I very badly needed something to liven up my CPU architecture and discrete math classes, which were horribly boring.

This book not only did a GREAT job of clarifying the finer points of boolean logic, but somehow managed make it interesting. I would recommend this book to anyone trying to understand the nuts-and-bolts behind what makes your computer tick.

Maxfield's book is unique, both in format and in content. And I'm not just talking about the gumbo recipe at the end.

The first section, almost 150 pages, is "logic lite." It starts with transistors, both MOS and bipolar. From there it works its way up to simple latches and such, and scratches the surface of state machines, with side trips to boolean arithmetic and such. The breezy, informal style will work for people put off by more academic treatments, but the logic design content stops way short of what any other basic logic text would present.

The second, longer section covers material sorely missing from all other logic texts I know. It starts with the simpler parts of silicon fab process, then goes through all kinds of printed circuits and hybrid packages giving a fair tour of the basic printed curcuit (PC) processes that were current when the book was written (1995). It even goes into gutsy stuff like the copper patterns in PC processes that have to do with heat flow during soldering. All those real-world facts earned this book an extra star. The "far out technology" chapter at the end is an interesting read, too, with its discussions of nano, optical, and molecular computing.

The book's weaknesses are significant, though. It would work well with any of several companion texts that would cover what this misses. That includes more advanced logic techniques, like alternatives to gate-level implementation and all the fussy bits of state machines. A standard logic text (e.g. Katz) would fill in those blanks. Going in a different direction, it does only a little towards talking about how PC layout interacts with logic design. More about ground planes, guard rings, power decoupling, RF emissions, etc. would fit well with the detail presented here, espcially when you see how much time and effort it already spends on "vias" vs. "holes." The little bit of analog discussion from the front would help here - why inductive effects matter at high frequencies, why distributed capacitance is different from lumped, why you'd have a high-value and low-value capacitor in parallel, and why that ceramic cap near the power input has a saw cut in the edge. A third possible direction would be the way Wirth's book on circuit design for CS students went: into the higher levels of design, letting tools attend to the lower levels. The biggest flaw is in treating FPGAs as exotic, out-there technology - by 1995, they were well into the main stream, and have very nearly killed off discrete logic and ASICs in many areas.

If you just want a light-weight intro to logic design and to the physical circuits that carry it, this is OK. It could have been better in all directions and, at this 2005 writing, you should check it's sell-by date. I gave it the fourth star for addressing PCs and mounting at all, not for addressing them well.

//wiredweird

Considering this book deals with what I consider to be rocket science at best and black magic at worst I think it does a really good job of explaining things. I'm still working through it and it still makes my head hurt but I recommend this for anyone like me who wants to understand this stuff and has zero background to do so.

I grew up watching my neighbor, a mechanic, work on cars and it helped me pick up the basics. When I would try to take apart a transistor radio and figure out how it worked I was left with an assortment of colorful bits and no clues. This book is the remedy for my total ignorance of things electronic. Just how good it is I do not know due to my lack of knowledge in the field. I reccomend it to any interested beginners.

"Beyond Stone and Steel" by Brian W. Vaszily recounts a personal passage from one mental state to another far better one, describes the slow, step-by-step trudge often required by events much larger than ourselves.

That event might be death.
That event might be the loss of a job.
That event might be rejection.
That event might be bankruptcy.
Or the event might be national loss.

For this author, all of these experiences played a part in his transformation. Right from the first chapter, Vaszily makes no secret of the result; what he discovered on his path down misfortune's lane is that he is "a lucky man" in spite of the hardships he has suffered.

This slim volume may be difficult to take, depending on the reader's status with recovery from the events of 9/11. Regardless of one's recovery status, though, it may be just what the doctor ordered.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"

I've had this book a long time. I've read it many times. Each time I experience an expanded and enhanced spiritual and psychic understanding of an event I thought I'd come to terms with long ago. Probably because he doesn't journalistically report exactly what happened; probably because he presents the psychic reality of his personal experience: that experience enlarges our own. I was watching a local Spanish station at the time because, of course, the antenna for regular major news media broadcasting was destroyed. At the time I worked in an international on-line network. I remember being physically discomfited by others, elsewhere in the country/world, speaking as though they had some inherent legitimate authority to tell me what was happening less than 3 miles away (by flying crow). But that fortuitous allegation reminded me that the unthinkable event had happened to the "World" Trade Center - not the "New York" Trade Center. I remembered that New York Harbor was a major trading center, a stock exchange in physical goods dating back to the 1600s and housed in the Custom House which is still there. The traders were Dutchmen. I, too, have a semi-tangible psychic reality about the entire 400-year time line. We live in a spiritual world and there is still much that we really don't understand but we do get glimpses of it along the way.

This slim volume greatly humanizes the lives, hopes, fear and dreams of those about to die. It is fiction...no real names are used. It reminds us that of the thousands who died, every one of them was a living, breathing person, just like us. This is a small masterpiece and deserving of your attention.

"Beyond Stone and Steel" by Brian W. Vaszily recounts a personal passage from one mental state to another far better one, describes the slow, step-by-step trudge often required by events much larger than ourselves.

That event might be death.
That event might be the loss of a job.
That event might be rejection.
That event might be bankruptcy.
Or the event might be national loss.

For this author, all of these experiences played a part in his transformation. Right from the first chapter, Vaszily makes no secret of the result; what he discovered on his path down misfortune's lane is that he is "a lucky man" in spite of the hardships he has suffered.

This slim volume may be difficult to take, depending on the reader's status with recovery from the events of 9/11. Regardless of one's recovery status, though, it may be just what the doctor ordered.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"

This book was like none other I have ever read... the author seemed to digest this tradegy and somehow turned it into something beautiful. It has reminded me of all that I have, how easily it could be gone and to cherish every moment we are here. It has truly changed the way I see my life. I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend it to everyone.

What a pleasure to read Buckeye Girls. Margaret Adams voice rings through with sensibility, abandon and true voice for its central figures. I found myself wanting more all the while appreciating the gift written. Until we have more I will venture off into imagining the futures of the Buckeye Girls ...

The Buckeye Girls certainly left me wanting more, can't wait to read the entire novel. Great care of what was shared in the excerpt, set the stage and desire to say, get on with this contest so I can buy this book.

The writing style of this author was fresh, new and very enjoyable. I felt absorbed in the characters of Arden and Sealy and hanging on every word written so as not to miss the very witty use of common, kids mispronunciations and the inferences that vividly detailed their emotions.I measure the skill of an author by that ability to take you into the their characters world and Margaret Adams certainly accomplished that for me. Buckeye Girls - Official ABNA Entrant

A delightful foray into the adolescent world of discovery and remembrance of the mid-century heart of America and the every-girl of that time and place. The phrasing is sometimes comical, sometimes revealing, but always to the point and fitting.

BUCKEYE GIRLS is a tender, moving story told by two sisters growing up in the 1950s. Their quirky voices ring true as they candidly and often hilariously reveal secrets about themselves and their family. Hidden beneath their humor and youthful revelations, however, is the hint of some deeper trouble in their lives. In this grabber of an opening, Margaret Adams skillfully draws us into the world of these two endearing characters and makes us care what happens to them.

Margaret Adams really gets the interior lives of children -- the meandering thought-paths, the hilarious confusions and false conclusions. She writes TRUE, making you feel lucky to be allowed inside this world, where everything is fresh and new and also a little bit terrifying... just like life. Adams has created not only one, but two distinctly original, endearing young girls, who you can't help but cheer on. When you read "Buckeye Girls" you'll find yourself remembering things from your own childhood that you haven't thought about in years; you'll wonder how it is that Adams has gotten inside your head, too.

Very good book.
To figure out by yourself all tricks on Alpha 100 that author provide in this book you would probably need at least a 2-3 years. Strongly recomended. GREAT GUIDE.

This is the book that should have came with the camera. Now I have a better feeling how the camera works and how powerful the camera really is. I will be using the "AUTO" setting much less, and only when I don't have time to set anything. A great book.

I was surprised that a former rocket scientist could write such a clear, succinct and absolutely useful book. I have tried his suggestions with my a100 and have taken a few pictures I am very proud of. You cannot go wrong with this choice. Hard Copy or downloaded (print pages to take with you on theme shoots).

dateline 3 months later... I have since taken many more pictures with the Sony and Gary's guidance and am still very happy with the outcome.

I even took one of his weekend seminars and came out with much more knowledge than I took in. If you want to move your photography to the next step, check out his schedule on the website when you order.

Agreeable w/the other viewer when she said - it pays for itself in the time you'll save in learning how to use your new camera, (its a heck of lot faster than if you're working from the instruction manual alone) and you'll enjoy it so much more. This book is awesome, Gary Friedman is a genius and heaven sent. I finally found a resource material that helps me understand what I need to know about the basics of photography and how to best enjoy the camera. I would recommend it to any Alpha owner out there. Very concise yet very easy to understand. The amounts of insights, hints, tips and clues in every section covered every single question I had in my mind since I bought my A100 and opened a whole new horizon for my photography. Don't waste your valuable time on the manual that came w/the Alpha, get this one immediately!!

This is a marvelous book to buy if you purchase the A100 and are a relative novice to high-end cameras and digital photography. As another reviewer noted, the A100's users manual will tell you what buttons to press to set "dynamic range optimization" and "zone matching". But for the rest of us who want to know what these features are, and then how to use them on this specific model, this book is fantastic. The book may look chunky but its a very easy and fast read with plenty of straightforward diagrams. If you're going to spend the money to purchase this as your first DSLR, it's well worth it to invest in this book. Frankly it pays for itself in the time you'll save in learning how to use your new camera, (its a heck of lot faster than if you're working from the instruction manual alone) and you'll enjoy it so much more.

My husband bought this for me when he bought me Photoshop Elements, and it was immensely helpful! I am now very comfortable in Photoshop, thanks to the easy to follow instructions and visuals.

The volume's strong point is its voluminous visual to illustrate every phase of digital photography from equipment to printing paper. It also bridges the gap from optical to digital photography. Technical in presentation ... for the experienced phohtographer ...

A profusely illustrated with more than 1500 full-color photographs, step-by-step 'how to' guide for taking great photographs and then digitally enhancing them using Photoshop, "Digital Photograph" by Michael Wright is very highly recommended both for its comprehensiveness and for being so 'user friendly' in its organization and presentation. Covering Photoshop essentials in general, including Photoshop 7 and Photoshop CS in particular, "Digital Photography" addresses simple and complex retouching techniques, removing 'red eye' from images, cloning, hand tinting, restoring old photographs, photo montages, digital painting, adding text to images, special effects, storing images, creating photo essays, printing, file size, composition, color theory, bracketing, lighting, backgrounding, and so much more. "Digital Photograph" is a single volume instructional guide that is strongly recommended for anyone aspiring to enhance their photography through Photoshop technology.

More pictures, less words, better understanding! This book truly is a step-by-step visual guide for taking pictures, and then whipping them into shape in Photoshop.

This book is not about about how to take better digital photos. It's a book that gives step by step instructions on how to do numerous photo editing. If you're not experienced in PhotoShop, then I highly recommend this book. For a novice, it might be a good refresher for you.

One of the things I love about this book is it actually does give step-by-step visuals on the how tos. It shows you what the photoshop box will look like, tells you were to find the tools you need, etc.

If that's what you're looking for, then this book is ideal for you. As I said, if you're a novice, it's a nice refresher or quick reference book.

This is not a "pat yourself on the back you can do it book." Romanus Wolter actually rolls up his sleeves and helps you get on track. I have learned how to create a method that helps me make decisions and his formula for developing an elevator pitch was the first time I was able to bring all my ideas about what I want to do into one cohesive sentence. It seems almost too simple but just follow the chapters and in a very short time you will be talking with the big cats.

From the first step to the last page, this book is compelling. It uniquely grabbed my attention and pulled me forward to a succinct goal, and success script. With daily action steps, I'm on my way to the vision and business that I hadn't been able articulate - and moving much faster than I thought possible. Romanus has opened my eyes and life through his approach. Kick Start Your Success works!

The book is amazing. Following the step by step approach I successfully completed my new business.

I went from thinking I should start my business to knowing I should. Then using the step by step approach I established messages and goals that encouraged others to support me. Getting advise and for free was a real benefit

Thanks Kick Start Guy. I got the Kick in the Pants I needed

It is a joyfull book to read, picks the pace quick and then ask you to do exercises on the spot. I have had experince with this kind of technique and its great to reinforce what you just have learned quickly.

I got this audiobook based on reviews given here, and maybe my expecations were too high, but I am disappointed in this book.

My first complaint is the author read his own book. Sometimes this works, but in this case, his voice failed to convey his ideas with enthusiasm. I recommend the author actually spend some money and get a professional voice actor next time.

The author's key to success is to write down not your goal, but your intent on what your goal will do to benefit other people. I found this to be helpful in preparing my elevator speech to find my dream job (which I have not yet found), but many other goals I found this to be non-productive.

Having a good intent and sharing with others may push me in completing my goals, but if some goals are selfish in nature (winning an award, having self-satisfaction with a personal hobby done well, writing that great novel), sharing whatever good intentions gets me no further along than before. The author's solution is for me to keep 'spinning' my intent until I get help.

A much better book (and audiobook for that matter) is Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy. You want clarity? It is significantly better than Kick Start Your Success.

I know this review is going to be voted as not-helpful by all the author's shills, but I am warning you. This book is definately over-rated.

Sause has written an extremely informative work that deserves attention from anyone remotely interested in policy. There are points in his analysis where I feel he takes some leaps of logic that are a bit of a stretch, but on the whole he makes a very convincing case.

Specific rave review: His chapter on education reform was simply brilliant. I cannot think of another work which so aptly summarizes just what is wrong with the public education system today then Left For Dead. Through cutting analysis, he demonstrates why the current factory model school system is entirely inappropriate for the emerging information age, and he spells out necessary first steps in adapting education for this end. It was a true eye opener.

This is an incredible work, part personal epiphany and part futurist's vision.

Sause starts off by relating his musician roots and trendy Leftist worldview and how it was disrupted by, of all things, the 1993 L.A. riots. Witnessing various racial extortionists and big government advocates selling their agenda of more social programs and higher taxes like snake oil, made him rethink everything he thought he believed in.

Ultimately he comes to the conclusion that we are in the beginning throes of the Digital revolution, one that will eventually sweep away the Industrial revolution just as surely as the Industrial revolution swept away humanity's agrarian way of life.

In Sause's view, this coming Digital revolution will change our economy, our family structure and, of course, our style of government. None of this will be welcomed, especially by those at the top of the Industrial food chain, but welcome or not, it's coming as sure as summer.

This is not only an extremely well written book, but an eye opening one as well. A must read for anyone who wants to get a handle on the reasons behind all the social, political and economic upheavals of the past thirty years and an idea on where we might be heading.

A positively awe inspiring book.

This book should be mandatory reading in political science classes for high school and colleges. Of course, that won't happen because those very institutions are part of the same dehumanizing system that Sause rails against. I'm only half way through this book and I already consider it to be a classic! The book is written from the author's standpoint of having been both a left wing liberal and now a supporter of GOP conservatism. This young man wrote this book with a community college level education. The fact that he could put together such a breathless narrative of the geo-political/socio-economic forces throughout history that have led to the development of socialism and its horrendouse offshoots is validation enough of his contention that the Information Revolution is empowering individuals previously oppressed. It seems Sause's epiphany led to the realization that he had been living a lie and that he needed to self educate himself beyond the confines of the education colossus that is the media and government school system. This really hit home with me as I too had previously believed that the left wing dogma that had been programmed into me was the truth and 'intellectually hip'. After reading this book, you may not look at the world the same way again. If you have ever stopped to ask yourself, why are things they way they are in our society, then this book is for those seeking answers to that question. Its heavy. I mean, heavy like "The Matrix" heavy. The author presents credible concepts and theory's that are much in line with what I have been thinking myself for a number of years. I am glad there are other's out there like me who see the current political/socio-media sphere we live in for what it truly is. Sause will show you how the present day era is shifting from an industrial output model to that of the information age. The enactment of the industrial era served to provide history with governmental systems that valued efficiency but degraded the individual in the process. With the advent of the Information Age, the individual is becoming empowered to compete with the previous gatekeepers of power. Case in point, the explosion of financial data and legal knowledge on the Internet which allows people to circumvent the old system of brokerages and lawyers who have a vested interest in the type of knowledge and amount they share with you. Sause exposes the current home of the leftists, the Democratic Party and their efforts to impose the old order so that they can put the genie back in the bottle....or at least harness the genie to obtain their own political ends. This book should be a must read for every citizen concerned about building a brighter future for America. I personally am recommending it to my friends and family. Other related books in which you may be interested in are Alvin Toffler's Third Wave (which is requently quoted in this book) and Newt Gingrich's To Renew America.

Sause realizes that truth is simply another subjective term among Leftist agitators. And, no matter how persuasively he shatters Leftist explanations concerning racism and poverty, his political opponents will deny the implications of their own moral abandonment. For it is the total abdication of responsibility that largely explains the difference between prosperity and pathology - between the skills necessary for success and the sins responsible for criminal behavior.

Sause envisions an America that is technologically agile and politically relevant. He wants to harness the Internet's freedom alongside an individual summons for greatness. He describes a world that will soon arrive, providing consumers with extensive choices and citizens with numerous liberties.

Sause's dream will, indeed, become a welcome political reality. But Leftist critics will temporarily forestall the Information Age's principal benefits with accusatory language and inflammatory complaints about racism or sexism. These tactics, though inherently counterproductive, also signify the Left's final political breath - a last gasp before the dawn of a new political paradigm.

Thus, Roger Sause is the Information Age's version of Paul Revere. He is a man with a warning (that the Left is intellectually irrelevant), containing a fundamentally positive message (that freedom and individual choice will govern the twenty-first century). He is a political sage, aware that the Left is dead.

When I first bought this book, I did so merely because David Horowitz recommended it. After reading it, however, I was astounded with the amount of information packed within this easily read book.

I read this book just before I started college, and I am thankful that I did; it introduced me to ideas that most college professors scoff at and started me on a journey that I have continued ever since.

It is an excellent introduction to some of the basic history of the left-wing establishment and its failures. Discusses America's future and how it lies with the right-wing. Also, a very good introduction to Alvin Toffler's extraordinarily influential theories of the "Third Wave" of social and technological revolution.

Buy this book, especially if you are new to politics!

Mad Seeds is a compelling tale about the unforeseen consequences of genetic modification of crops, which Cullen manages to make both fascinating and terrifying. You'll learn just enough science to make you understand why you should worry! Strong story, interesting and varied cast of characters -- the Vermont setting is particularly well done.

Cullen's novel is wonderfully written, a nice slice of scientific reality - enough to freak out (in the very first chapter!) the not-so-clued-in reader, but not so much as to drown same in medical and scientific boredom. The characters we meet in these 12 pages endear themselves to the reader right off the bat, and I particularly liked the crusty but sensitive coroner, Dr. Wheeler. I'm thinking he and the veterinarian are going to guide me on a strange and scary journey into the mysterious illness he discovers in the dead kid, and Cullen masterfully psyches me up for the trip. I also particularly liked the interaction between Dr. Mazette and Charlie. Cullen uses Charlie as a vehicle to help the scientifically uinformed (whew!, thanks Dr. Cullen) to navigate the stuff about gene cloning and using viruses as the means to infection into cells, etc. etc. The character Charlie is pleased to have been taken under the wing of Mazette, to have been treated to such down-to-earth explanations of the science behind his not-so-simple gardening. Charlie, and I with him, is going to learn a lot. What a great feat - to write a novel that informs as it entertains.

I am a big fan of Crichton, Robin Cook, Grisham and Coben. If you are, too, you gotta download this and read it. If the rest of this book is as good as this teaser, I can't wait to get my hands on it. Please let me know as soon as it is available to buy.

It is testimony to the author's skill, his ability to combine deep characters, technical details, and a quick pace. Its evident the author has a great grasp of the science behind his story, since he conveys details and concepts with imagination. This factor adds depth to every scene and conversation. Coupled with an ominous start increases my enthusiasm for this tile.

Dr. Mark Cullen's MAD SEEDS has all the qualities of a classic thriller. It's fast paced ,suspenseful, with threads woven between Cullen's real as life characters that the reader just knows will ultimately end up surprising us. His superb descriptions & quirky injections of wit and irony in the rapid fire dialogue immediately engage us. What I especially like about the writing is the sense of realism- from the autopsy of the teenaged boy to the descriptions of genetic modification- which clearly comes from an author intimately versed in medicine and science. This is not only fun and exciting reading but we end up with the sense that we have opened up a secret box,and like it or not, we will have to deal with what's inside.