O Books

I've read quite a few of Jim's works over the years, and he has never failed to impress me. This book should be required reading for any project manager!

My initial pre-read perception of this book was that it was going to be just another perspective of agile methods. I was wrong. Coplien and Harrison have dissected development teams to identify the key criteria leading to successful efforts and high-performing teams. Beyond process, this book identifies the organizational structures required to make the processes work.

From an organizational perspective, roles and responsibilities within your development teams are a primary success criteria for your agile (or any other process) adoption. This book presents how and why key roles within your teams work and why teams without these key roles don't work. The way they have presented the material provides for a quick cross-reference when you are looking for solutions to help your teams.

Beyond the organization patterns themselves, I believe some of the richest material in this book is presented in the last few chapters as they present the history and importance of organizational structures, roles and responsibilities in applying process - "Process emerges from structure, and structure emerges from values". There is great value in this book beyond most software development process books.

As project managers, most of us who've been in the field working for a while come to realize that successful project teams are more the result of "good" ongoing social engineering of one sort or another rather than just dumping an almost randomly selected group of people together, coming up with an MS Project Plan and saying "do this" (the Death Star approach, all to common in large traditional process-driven IT shops). After this has happened to you, painfully, you begin to come to the realization that perhaps there's more to project management than the mechanistic "people are interchangeable resources" PMBOK-style approach.

If it hasn't already, it begins to dawn on you that the "soft" side of project management (client relationship building, communication within the team and between teams, team dynamics and team morale, motivation, empowerment, commitment, a human-style of project management) are as important or even more important than the technical work and the technical skills required. Most of us have run across teams with prima-donna's who think they're the cat's whiskers, be they project managers or technical personnel, who have the personal graces of a warthog and who are incredibly destructive to team morale and team performance. They continue to exist, sadly, and because they often deliver, albeit at the expense of everyone who works for them or with them, they continue to survive in "Death Star" style IT shops where delivery is all important and the style of successful delivery means nothing or is short-sightedly disregarded. OK, so that's my rant.

Now for the book. We've all seen successful projects and successful teams (or at least, I hope we all have). Some teams gell and perform way above the norm. What this book does is distil over 100 successfully applied organizational patterns of one sort or another from real projects in real software development groups. These patterns are broken down into logical groups (Project Management Patterns, Piecemeal Growth Patterns, Organizational Style Patterns & People and Code Patterns) which are dissected and explained, with examples provided. What the authors have done is to identify and describe key organizational patterns which are used by successful teams - not processes, but organizational structures of various types that are needed to make processes work successfully. A large amount of practical experience has gone into the content - over ten years of research experience from the authors alone.

I've read a lot of books on Agile, but this is the first I've come across that sets out organizational patterns - and does it so effectively that you'll wonder why all the stuff in here never occurred to you before. As you read through the book, you'll see patterns that will make sense, the kind of "ah-ha, that's what the problem is and this is how I can dom something about it" sense. You'll find this book useful in that the contents can be taken and applied right away. It's easy to pick what is most useful for your team, what can be applied immediately and what would be nice later on, once some of the basics are in place. The content is practical in that you can easily identify what your problems are and what pattern would help fix it, why the pattern is intended to fix it, and there's good advice on how to introduce new patterns.

With over 100 patterns, there are a lot, but they're set out concisely, a page or two to each pattern. There's no fluff, it's well-written, there's no appreciable bias, there's a lot of material, including some good coverage of the importance of effective organizational structures in applying process. As we all know, all the process in the world will not a great project team make. The book's structure is coherent and well-organized, the patterns described can be used individually or as groups and the authors give you some pretty good ideas as to what's immediately useful.

And the pictures all the way through the book are great! A nice humorous touch that helps make the point each time. Overall, I'd recommend this book very highly as a resource to anyone managing a project / team, whether Agile or not. There's a wealth of practical advice in here that any project manager could take and use, although the orientation is towards Agile Projects. An added bonus - unlike many technical books, this one won't date quickly - organizational patterns that work don't change much over the years, unlike programming languages. From a practical point of view, I've applied some of these patterns to teams I work with and the results have been positive - I've also shared the book with co-workers and they've all found it both illuminating and useful.

This book has to be The Grand Unifying Theory of Software with respect to managing the people and processes involved in software production.

To anyone who has worked in the software industry, this book is clearly the product of an enormous amount of practical experience in both management of people and projects as well as the development of software.

Coplien and Harrison have written a book which both the project manager and software engineer will understand and will immediately be able to apply to their respective work environments: This is because the book cunningly captures essential organisational concepts using a framework that is familiar to software engineers. Thus, the concepts will be by recognised by staff trained in business as well as those trained in software and systems.

I strongly feel that the material covered in this book can achieve a common communication basis between managers and engineers, and can help business developers understand the nature of their people and organisation.

If I could insist that all people in software read this book I would; but without the policing power, I can only highly recommend this book to those involved in all facets of software.

OK, I have to admit, this is the first book review I've ever written on Amazon and having read a lot of good books I should probably get off my a** and write more :-)

As a former developer and now a software development manager, I have come to realise that the "soft side" or sociology of software projects (communication with clients, communication with teammates, project management, team dynamics, cultural issues, morale, division of work, remote collaboration, etc) is considerably more complicated than the programming work itself.

Over time, you start to see patterns emerge such as "start a large project with a small experienced group and gradually phase people into a project as time goes on". This book does by far the best job of cataloguing and explaining dozens of these patterns related to (1) software project management (2) structuring, building and nurturing software project teams and (3) organization and division of development tasks to maximize the effectiveness of the team as a whole.

Highly recommended to anyone involved with software development at both the management level and in the trenches. Have fun!

This book is filled with loads of laugh-out-loud scenes. O'Brien is especially good at setting up a scene and then delivering a hilarious punchline. Even when the reader can predict how the joke will play out, O'Brien teases the story out in such a way to make the humor even funnier. Each chapter is episodic and stands on its own, but there's a wonderful arc to the entire book. The allusions to Irish history, literature, and folklore add to the writing, and O'Brien really captures the style of writers like Tomas O'Crohan and Peig Sayers. There also are some clever allusions to Wm Butler Yeats and John Millington Syne. I found the satire to be a good-natured, tongue-in-cheek humor that revolves around hyperbole and even surrealism. I find it curious that some fans of Gaelic literature, especially those who admire the real "poor mouth" writers, would be offended by the book. I like the writing of O'Crohan, Sayers, and others, and O'Brien's satire actually seems to complement and enhance the humor in their books, rather than cynically criticize their tomes. O'Brien's real target seems to be more focused on the misty-eyed romanticism of readers of Gaelic writing.

The bleak atmosphere and the beautiful, flowing prose in "The Poor Mouth" are completely at odds, which is what makes this novel so hilarious. O'Coonassa has no idea what's happening to him much of the time, but he dutifully records it as best he can, with amazingly comical results.

The concept here is much like a Buster Keaton film, in that the protagonist is presumably ignorant, but he keeps a sharp eye on events, and he's basically good-hearted (except when he has to resort to stealing a pig or a chicken or some silverware, just to stay alive).

Have you ever had a laughing fit while reading on a bus? It was almost enough to have me committed.Although not personally aware of any Irish in my blood, the way this erupted in me makes it a strong chance.

It has never been better explained why so many Irish ended up in America and elsewhere abroad. A true story!

Lighten up guys. This is satire. Flan O'Brien is satirising those - like Yeats - who mythologised a Celtic and Gaelic past that never existed. The spirit is like Paddy Kananagh - but it's satire rather than gritty realism. Understand?

This book is an inside joke, and a classic at that. It is a grand send up of professional Irish (both at home and abroad). As example, consider a book written in Gaelic making sport of the Gaelic movement by means of a Gaelic festival. ( In ourland of the professional ethnic festival, this might serve as an effective antidote to "Irish" nights and "Scots weekends.") If you are inclined to romanticize villages of the old sod dominated by pigs, mud, rain and potatos, avoid this work. If you want a great classic of the jaundiced eye school of literature, read this book. By the way, some of the fun lies in the many parodies of Irish literary works in the assorted chapters; knowledge of the genre helps.

Issues specific to Open Source are well-covered in this book. I found the section titled "Handling Difficult People" especially useful; his advice in this dodgy area is to act eloquent and keep feedback directed at the problem, not the person. If the person *is* the problem, nip in-public issues in the bud and contact the person directly to resolve the personal issue(s).

Fogel presents lots of down and dirty day-to-day details on how to create excellent software. Not just Open Source, either... the transparency built into the processes he describes are also useful within a company firewall.

Fogel places a huge emphasis on development by random unsalaried people, but I feel that most important and rapid development is due to corporate sponsorship.

Overall: excellent. Read it cover to cover, refer back to it often.

If you are thinking of starting/managing a project in an "open-source" model, this is the book you MUST read.

The book is very well written and goes over lessons learned of others that created their own open-source projects. Believe me... every step so you don't have to guess anything!

How to start, how to document, where to deploy the project, what people to invite, whether or not coding standards are necessary, democracy versus dictatorship, all of these questions are answered inside.

A friend of mine has told me that much of the information in this book can be seen for free in video in Google. It's worth looking for.

I read the book in 5 hours and i think my time was very well invested. I now believe that this model is not only suitable for small projects but to larger projects. The complexity of the system will not the an issue if you apply the rules in the book. I still have to try it though... ;-)

Just yesterday I was talking to a friend about this book and we discovered each other very glad with it. First of all, the author has a lot of experience with the theme in question. Furthermore, Karl Fogel is very compelling with words. He knows how to write down his experience in a way that is pleasant, certainly due to a lot of writes he had made through plenties of open source projects.

With this book you will be in touch with topics like the needed infra-structure to setup open source projects, the dinamics of the open source community, strategies for packaging and releasing software, common issues that arise in open source daily development and how to workaround then, a brief about licenses (with properly links for more information on this topic); just to highlight some aspects.

This book was the first hand someone land me into the open source world. It's helping me in three ways: to extract more from open source softwares that already exist, to start my own open source project, and to look at software development through a new, different, and till now better perspective.

Hope this review helps you!

If you have already read pretty much everything that there is to be read about why you'd want to start, manage, fund or participate in an Open Source project, but want to know everything about how best to do it, then Karl Fogel's Producing Open Source Software is the book for you.

Drawing from his extensive experience with the Subversion project, Fogel provides in this book a comprehensive overview of all aspects of Open Source software development, covering technical, social, political, economical, legal, and managerial aspects.

While the book is more aimed at medium-to-large scale projects, especially those involving some kind of corporate entity, there is much in it that is applicable to most projects, excluding maybe only those little, one-man efforts that rarely become successful. But if you are the originator of one of the latter and, should it suddenly attract a wide following, you'd better be prepared to face the unavoidable problems that popularity brings.This book will come in handy in this case.

Here are, in my opinion, the strong points of the book:

* Providing a concise, yet comprehensive, overview of all aspects of Open Source development. This is really the manual of open development.

* Demonstrating that there is much in open development that is similar to more traditional, corporate-style software development (you cannot always rely on good will and volunteers), but also much that is different, in motivation, rewards and objectives.

* Putting the accent on the human aspect of development: mutual respect between participants is often the deciding factor in determining whether a project will thrive or fail. Since even the best of intentions sometimes are not enough to foster a peaceful, productive and collaborative environment, Producing Open Source Software contains a lot of useful, practical advice that you can follow if you want to keep developers happy and motivated.

It's easy to make the mistake of viewing this book as "too fluffy" or perhaps too soft to be of any use to the practical user or developer of open source software. Nothing could be further from the truth: in a classic open source way, the author has compressed man-centuries of OS community experience into a practical working guide for anyone who wants to do something serious in this area.

If you want to understand programming the Flash Communication Server and it's capabilities this is a good place to start.

Although I'm using Flash Media Server 2, this book is still highly relevant as not much has changed. The core objects and language is the same so I would not hesitate to recommend it for anyone looking to use FMS.

This book is all about the design of applications using Macromedia's Flash Communication Server MX. FCS MX enables the building of media-rich web applications by taking care of the basic tasks required in the networking of the applications. Thus, you can focus on the application itself rather than worrying about low-level communication details.

Since this book is concerned with situations where multiple Flash applications will be executing on the same server simultaneously, there is going to be considerable effort involved in coordinating events, which is addressed by this book. You should already have FCS installed and running on your server and you should also have Flash MX available on the client. The following is description of the book by chapter:

Chapter 1, Introducing the Flash Communication Server - Acts as an introduction to FCS and an overview of the whole book.

Chapter 2, Communication Components - How the FlashCom communication components encapsulate commonly needed features such as chat, video recording and playback, bandwidth control,and user configuration. These components implement many basic building blocks for your application.

Chapter 3, Managing Connections - This chapter covers connections in more depth past the SimpleConnect component, including how to write custom code to handle various changes in the connection status as well as different errors.

Chapter 4, Applications, Instances, and Server-Side ActionScript - This chapter describes how to write Server-Side ActionScript and work with the objects that control application instances and the Flash movies that connect to them.

Chapter 5, Managing Streams - Offers a somewhat oversimplified but complete example that shows the basic steps in publishing one live stream and subscribing to a second.

Chapter 6, Camera and Microphone - This chapter explains how to use both the Microphone and Camera classes to record live streams. These classes are at the heart of most communication applications involving multimedia.

Chapter 7, Media Preparation and Delivery - This chapter covers many details for compressing and streaming audio and video.

Chapter 8, Shared Objects - This chapter starts an entirely new subject - shared objects, which provide a mechanism for the transmission of data between client and server.

Chapter 9, Remote Methods - This chapter also shows how to broadcast method calls to every movie and application instance connected to a shared object or stream, or send them to and from individual movies using RMI.

Chapter 10, Server Management API - Discusses the Server Management API and its applications, including monitoring a FlashCom Server, gathering statistics on application instances, and managing the log streams.

Chapter 11, Flash Remoting - Demonstrates how Flash Remoting can be used to add data connectivity to FlashCom applications. Flash Remoting can access web services, server-side scripts, CGI applications, XML files, or the local filesystem with the help of an application server such as ColdFusion.

Chapter 12, ColdFusion MX and FlashCom - Teaches some specifics involved in using Flash Remoting with ColdFusion MX and FlashCom. There are some practical working examples shown that demonstrate how you can leverage the benefits of Flash Remoting in conjunction with FlashCom.

Chapter 13, Building Communication Components - This is the first step in building complete applications, and is demonstrated through an extensive example.

Chapter 14, Understanding the Macromedia Component Framework - How to modify an existing component and how to create a new one. Also discusses server-side framework code and its core features and data structures.

Chapter 15, Application Design Patterns and Best Practices - Describes some of the best practices available to application developers. This chapter provides some useful design options, patterns, and best practices that will help you build better applications.

Chapter 16, Building Scalable Applications - Deals with building multi-instance and multiserver applications that don't bog down as the number of client connections increases.

Chapter 17, Network Performance, Latency, Concurrency - Traditional network design issues affect FCS also.

Chapter 18, Securing Applications - Specifically this chapter examines the three A's of security - Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting.

Excellent book, stuffed of examples very well explained, easy to read and to understand, essential for who desires initiate or even though to profound itself studies on FlashCom.
Obligator reference in projects involving FlashCom, either for fast consultations and advanced tasks.
Excellent approach of subjects as Design patterns and security, yonder a perfect demonstration about audio, video and much more.

If you're a developer looking into real-time server communication using Adobe Flash, this book is a must-have. It guides you thru various levels of application development in an easy to understand format, and provides well documented pieces of code to assist you in the learning process of putting together your project:

Topics covered include:

- learning about components and how to use them
- establishing and managing client connections
- publishing live and recorded streams
- local communication with clients
- remote communication with outside applications

The book also shows how to build and integrate your own custom components, and how to scale your application using the components that you've created. Other highlights include information on how to use shared objects and server management API, as well as ways to improve both design and performance.

I wish every book about a programming language was written like this one:

First, it is fairly compact and doesn't waste space (and your time) explaining to you what is a byte or a register, like some 800 page "volumes about everything" do. It correctly assumes that the reader is a programmer and explains the language, not the programming.

Second, it covers Ruby in depth. Read this book and you'll easily understand the most craziest Ruby code examples that could be found inside of Rails and other popular libraries. Moreover, I've found a few tricks in the book that I don't believe I saw in the wild.

And finally, author's language is very clean, free of buzzwords and needless repetitions. As always with O'Reilly books, this one is also very neatly structured and makes an excellent reference book.

Buy it.

Very, very dense reading, but very complete as well. Aspects of the language that were only glanced over (or even ignored entirely) by the "pickaxe" book are covered in great detail. The only downside is that you have to look at several of those horrible high school notebook doodles the wannabe Murakami "Why" produces whenever people convince him that he's either "clever" or "talented."

This is well written, well organized, and covers the whole core language. It isn't a cookbook, and it isn't an API reference, but for what it is, it's excellent.

The organization makes sense, the index is usable, and the writing is precise enough to leave no ambiguity.

My only complaint would be too much space spent on differences between 1.8.6 and 1.9, and too much attention to text encodings.

For a long time now Dave Thomas' Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, Second Edition (aka. The Pickaxe) has been the standard in the Ruby community as the book to learn Ruby from. Unfortunately the Pickaxe is not the best programming book ever written. In fact, its bulk and slowness almost killed my inspiration to learn Ruby. I respect Dave Thomas a lot for what he does for the Ruby community but the Pickaxe and I just did not click.

Since I didn't find the Pickaxe to be excellent reading material, I had been eagerly anticipating David Flanagan's The Ruby Programming Language to come out and unseat The Pickaxe as the de facto book to recommend to newcomers to Ruby.

I am happy to say that The Ruby Programming Language did not disappoint. I picked up this book solely expecting to just review it since I already comfortable programming in Ruby. However, once I started reading the book I found myself frequently learning things about Ruby that I didn't know before. Not like little things either like, "oh that's interesting". I'm talking significant things like "holy crap that's sweet!".

This book covers both Ruby 1.8 and Ruby 1.9. Initially this concerned me because as impressive as it is, it must have been quite a headache for the authors and was not sure how they were going to pull it off. It turns out to be pretty much a non-issue. The authors make a note of what is 1.8 or 1.9 only and it does not disturb the flow of the book since it doesn't come up too frequently. I do hope though that after Ruby 1.9 stable is released they upgrade the book and tear out all the 1.8 specific material. Since I currently use 1.8 on a daily basis I don't mind having 1.8 material in there but after everything has shifted to 1.9 it would be rather irksome.

The style of the book is fairly straightforward. It starts with an introduction to how Ruby programs work and then goes into an explanation of Ruby datatypes and objects. The later chapters cover advanced topics like reflection and metaprogramming. The authors opted not to go the tutorial route, which I think, was a good approach since the book is not designed to be an "intro to programming" text.

In the preface of the book, the authors state:
> [The Ruby Programming Language] is loosely modeled after the classic C Programming Language (2nd Edition) (Prentice Hall Software) by Kernighan and Ritchie and aims to document the Ruby language comprehensively but without the formality of a language specification. It is written for experienced programmers who are new to Ruby, and for current Ruby programmers who want to take their understanding and mastery of the language to the next level.

O'Reilly is hoping that The Ruby Programming Language becomes the equivalent of K&R's The C Programming Language for Ruby and I hope it succeeds. I think that every language needs their own K&R book for people to turn to as the definitive authority. That's something that I feel like the Java programming language never had and it creates something of a hurdle when browsing for a Java book.

The third edition of the Pickaxe is in beta and will be coming out soon. I really hope it makes a strong showing when it hits the press because after the bangup job Flanagan and Matz did with The Ruby Programming Language, there is no reason to look at the Pickaxe till then.

This is an excellent reference book on Ruby, if you already know Ruby this book will help you a lot, but if you are looking for a tutorial on Ruby this book should not be your first choice.

These reviews are all fictional, including the Ellen Tanner Marsh editioral review. Google her, she was paid off. Not all self-published books are bad, but this, supplemented by fake reviews and possessing no redeeming content whatsoever, is the lowest of the low in the literary world.

Shadow Fields is a wonderful book which captures you the minute you open and start reading the first page. I found that I could not put it down. D. F. Whipple's main character, Jack Maguire, comes alive immediately. You are sure you know him or someone like him and so you keep on reading because you really want to know what will happen.

When you read this book you will feel the impact of the story because it hits home for many of us who are control people or who know control-type people--this is such a story where Jack Maguire who has money, power and all that goes with it. His journey of how he handles the gamut of life, death and all the ramifications that come with his decisions will keep you riveted. Like many, we can relate to Jack's successes, failures and finally the impact his lifestyle had on himself, his family and friends.

I most highly recommend this wonderful book--you will love it. I know we will be hearing more from this new, exciting writer--D. F. Whipple. Remember this name.

As a minor, upon reading the synopsis of the book, I believed the subject matter would prove to be too far removed to be of any interest to me. But - as I found myself increasingly engrossed in Jack's marital and familial trails - I realized just how universal Whipple's message resonates.

The style is uniquely his own; fresh, inviting, and ideal for Whipple's forays into matters of philosophy just as much as it is for his quick, dry, descriptions of the world in which he explores. Also of note is the feeling one gets upon reading his work; one is left with a need to contribute a voice to the issues he raises and pick up the pen themselves. Personally, the inspiration derived from his own ambition contributed greatly to my overall enjoyment of Shadow Fields.

Nor is his diction daunting or off-putting. Indeed, most passages from the book read at a fast clip. I point this out not as a flaw, but as a compliment - no unnecessary words are used nor does, at any part, the story slow to "pad out" the read. I believe Whipple has found a way, through combination of word and wit, to marriage Aristotelian philosophy with the best of modern writing.

Wall Street would appear to be a complex issue to introduce to unfamiliar readers but this is handled expertly within the text. In fact, all technical issues seem expertly handled under Whipple's guidance; an astounding feat most especially for a first time novelist.

My only gripe would not be the way in which Shadow Fields was explored, but in the way it wasn't; I felt that Whipple, himself, was on the cusp of some greater illumination that glimmered repeatedly throughout his writing but was left absent from the greater body of work. (Although I would like to point out that all conclusions Shadow Fields draws upon the morale of the human condition do not fall to stale, idle, abstractions. All insights are fresh without a feeling of disconnect from the reader) This arises, perhaps, from the many threads woven at Jack's childhood gone unacknowledged by the close of the book.

However, I did find the conclusion a satisfying end. (I'll attempt not to give too much away.) Not all ends were wrapped up but this did not lead to a cheapened feeling. In fact, one feels that Jack continues to exist in pursuance of the Great American Dream.

I highly recommend this book to all who are interested and to those looking for a fresh, inviting take on an issue grown long stale in the literary world. I have already picked up Snooker Glen, his second delve into the literary world, and look forward to seeing what new devices Whipple has forged.

From the moment I opened this book, I knew I would want to know everything there is to know about Jack's life. I felt every pain and victory with him. The writing is truly glorious. Thank you D.F. Whipple!
Stephanie D.

If you have ever heard someone describe seeing Springsteen at the Stone Pony *before* Greetings from Asbury Park, or saw LeBron play basketball in high school, you can get a sense for how I feel having read D.F. Whipple's Shadow Fields. The book is beautifully written, not just engaging but engrossing. That it comes without the hype of a major publishing house makes it even more delicious.

Shadow Fields tells the story of Jack Maguire, a man on the fast track who gets to the top and wonders what he has sacrificed and whether he should change course. But this is a fresh take on this not uncommon story.

I'm no literary critic, so I can't delve too deeply here, but the highlights of the book for me were the characters and their conversations, which are vivid and oh-so-real; the examination of the marriage, which will have anyone in a relationship doing some soul-searching; and the fact that I did not want to put this book down.

The book also passes my other tests: I will give it to friends confidently; and I will read it again myself to delve deeper into some of the important themes.

Look--I'm rooting for Whipple, in part because he is not backed (yet) by the big publishers. I just ordered Snooker Glen, his second novel, although I wonder if an author who scores big with his first novel can possibly nail the second as well.

And I recommend this book highly. You will enjoy reading it, and it will get you thinking. And someday, we'll all boast about how early we were aboard Whipple's career.

It is a fine interpretation of the Songs. I was looking for a little bit more of spirituality in it which I didn't find.

From a female perspective, there are times when nothing satisfies quite like really good chocolate. Over the years, I've done my share of research to find the perfect one: rich taste, silky texture, and only a trace of fat and carbohydrates. My search continues.

Similarly, some of us know that there is a longing in our hearts that only deep romantic love can satisfy. Fortunately, the One who placed that desire in our hearts has also given us His thoughts on romantic love, hidden in a Song so beautiful that some may wonder: can this kind of love possibly be real?

Respect, devotion, emotional and sexual intimacy, profound companionship, forgiveness granted and delights shared. All ideals we value in a romantic relationship. But while I value the quality of the ingredients and exquisite process of chocolate-making, what I really want to know is: if it is actually tastes that good, can I have a bite? I think many of us may have wondered if such a love might be too much to hope for.

Gifted and insightful author, Craig Glickman artfully answers these questions as he gently unveils the vision of the Songwriter's heart through Solomon and Shulamith's journey of love, passion and joy. He writes: "Could this much happiness be too much? More than they have a right to expect? Of course not. Their happiness is not about a right to expect but a gift to enjoy." This IS real. And just as exciting, it's not earned or achieved. This kind of love is a gift, and like a box of chocolates, its greatest purpose is to be enjoyed by those who receive it.

I am encouraged, even inspired. Whether you make it this summer's beach book or you read it curled up beside a warm fire, Solomon's Song of Love will encourage your heart to open and receive the love of your dreams.

Romance, passion, and intimacy. These are the landscapes of love and the longing of the heart. The beauty of this is seen in the Song of Solomon. Craig Glickman is a leading scholar on this remarkable Song, and in this new book weaves its hidden treasures into an understandable and enjoyable display. This book provides a clear vision of what real love between and man and woman can be, and what it should feel like. A must read!

This book unveils the mysterious and romantic Song of Songs, explaining its meaning with beautiful prose, and illustrating its message with touching stories. I have never felt more open to the beauty of romantic love than after reading this book.

This "work of art," as Dr. Paul Meier calls it, is a refreshing contrast to the dozens of Christian books that miss the romance. Many are simply ordinary sex manuals with Christian words sprinkled in, while others follow the format of the self-help, how-to guides that guarantee certain steps can "make love happen."

Solomon's Song of Love shows that love goes far beyond our ability to manipulate it. It is not simply our choice. It is also a gift. From God to us, and from us to each other. And it is filled with feelings of wonder and delight that are not illusory, as even some Christian writers have claimed.

I find Solomon's Song of Love refreshingly romantic!

Indiana Jones may have discovered the lost ark, but Dr. Craig Glickman has uncovered Solomon's lost treasure -- the meaning of the Song of Songs. Acting as expedition leader for this adventure, the author guides us through the Song's panorama of romantic wonder.

Buckle your seat belt for the ride! Whether by time travel to view love in ancient kingdoms -- from Sumeria to Egypt and beyond -- or by visits to the havens of poetry in Old Europe, or by excursions to Hollywood's romantic movies and love songs, I discovered secrets of the ancient world that explain the Song, and stories in the modern world that illuminate it.

If you've ever wondered what the Bible really says about sex, love and romance, you need to read this book. For centuries the Song has been shrouded in mystery. But now its breathtaking vision of love is unveiled. Love songs come from the heart and speak to the heart, and none have touched me more deeply than this mysterious Song.

Sky Thorne is the representative of a twisted American pop culture!!! He is George Costanza in 2002! O'Dwyer takes his self-absorbed protagonist and hilariously raps him around our decaying modern day Roman empire, the USA, and we watch him slowly unravel. O'Dwyer takes on many of todays socio-political issues in a non-heavy handed way. Thundering Sky is a fun fast-paced adventure with lots of laughs! Read this book!

This book was an exciting and enchanting read.

Rave reviews from Rochester! Excellent first novel, I can't wait to read more works by Starbuck O'Dwyer!

This work provides a satsifying and enjoyable glimpse into business, relationships and ethics. Thundering Sky's animated context is rich with generational references and robust characters. O'Dwyer's writing is concise and creative. I will definitely read his future work.

Join Sky Thorne, an American everyman of the late 20th Century, as he battles his corpulent boss, an anti-beef lobby in Washington DC, his guru younger brother whose wacky advice drives him crazy, two spoiled kids, and a job assignment that can only be described as impossible - raise the market share of an ailing fast-food franchise or else. The laughs are non-stop in this satire which lampoons American cultural institions from Hollywood to our nations capital with the practiced eye of an insider. A great, light summer read that actually has some moral heft as we watch Sky transformed into a more thoughtful and better person with an ending that is a guranteed surprise! Pick up this book!

If you only read one book this year, you need to make more time for yourself. But you also should make this book the one you read. You'll find yourself strangely able to identify with one or more of the despicable characters, amused by the irreverent prose, and absorbed by the stark lunacy of this wild ride. Starbuck O'Dwyer has dreamt up some unforgettable characters, and pieces together a hilarious mosaic of the life of the main character, Sky Thorne. O'Dwyer shows a remarkable satirical affinity for pop culture and for all things tacky in America - a great read.

Parece que si, pues aunque el libro cubre la mayor parte de los temas relacionados a configuracion de servidores DHCP, WINS y DNS utilizando NT considero que el libro es pobre en ejemplos ilustrativos, graficos de flujo, consejos y trucos.
Honestamente no recomiendo el libro si es que tienes un serio proyecto en mente para crear un nodo internet y deseas desarrollar toda la infraestructura de soporte TCP/IP.
Este es un libro frio, una clase magistral distante de hace unos 50 años atras sobre un tema tan moderno como TCP/IP, que mantiene al lector muy lejos del autor.
Veamoslo de esta forma matematica:
Este libro + Más graficos + Trucos y Consejos = Que buen libro !!
Espero sinceramente que mi revision te ayude a hacer una buena decision. Saludos.
Piyux.

It's clear and simple. Very good and usefull to understand the network computer.

If you're any way involved with the administration or planning of your NT network environment, this is a book you must have! I consider myself pretty good in networking, but still found myself referring back to this book every so often. A must have on any networking library!

I bought this book to use as a reference when I got my first IT job. Areas of TCP/IP I found confusing from the Microsoft course I took were cleared up nicely from reading this book.

I never found the need to buy a second TCP/IP book after reading this. You won't either.

I had studied other resources, including a training course to get my knowledge to a good standard. This book was the first that was really worth the effort. So much so, I am now looking for titles by the same Publisher to complete my MCSE

I received my copy yesterday and laughed so hard I immediately ordered a few more for my friends. Any dog lover, gay or straight (unless you are a narrow-minded homophobe) with a sense of humor will adore this book. The illustrations are just gorgeous -- a real pleasure for the eyes! In addition to the tongue-in-cheek humor, the book is also informative. I will not repeat what others have already said. I will add that I was impressed that there was a section about puppymills and the Amish were exposed for being the worst culprits of this horrific money-making endeavor (just ask my dog who was locked in a tiny cage by the Amish for 5 years without access to sunlight or grass). Most people do not know that the worst puppymills are Amish enterprises and that they will not hesitate to club dogs to death when they can no longer bring in a buck. Here's an exerpt on this topic: "At the risk of losing book sales to my gay Amish fan base, a number of the Pennsylvania Dutch folk have become notorious for raising puppies under farmlike conditions and selling directly to brokers. Their dog-proud German relatives would be appalled; the Amish should stick to what they're best at: quilts, pretzels, and high fashion" (p. 122). You tell them Andrew DePrisco!

This Book is a Classic!!!
Great Humor,w/a Lot of Truth!!!!!
Would Highly Recommend to Anybody

I think this book is wonderful. It was a great present for someone who has everything. If you have a good sense of humor you will really enjoy this book. It is definately one of a kind!!

"Woof!" is an absolute delight. A fun and informative read for prospective dog owners of every persuasion. DePrisco is an experienced dog owner and brilliant writer who offers wise and witty advice on choosing and caring for a dog and answers questions you never thought to ask. Best of all, you will find yourself smiling as you turn the pages! O'Malley's illustrations are superb, making this a perfect coffee table book.

This book will solve many of your Christmas shopping dilemmas. It's a can't miss gift.

Woof! is Great! I've enjoyed reading every word of this book. It is the perfect gift for gay and gay-friendly households who are seeking a dog or already have a dog! Buy it! You won't regret it!