Standards Books

[The following is a review I gave for a slightly different version of this same exact book, the Real Book from Sher. I've decided to copy it here because it's applicable.]

From playing in both my high school's and college's jazz ensembles, it was clear to me that "The Real Book" was the bible of jazz standards. No instructor was without a copy. As a bass player, there have been countless times were I was just tossed a photocopy of a page from the Real Book and the instructions of "Here, do a walk over this chord progression."

A number of things made this book the most demanded of its kind. First of all, it contained hundreds and hundreds of jazz songs in a single volume. Second of all, it mostly followed a one-page-per-song format, showing the most essential parts: the chord and structure changes, the introductions, and the melody. If a song seemed to center around something like a particular repeated bass line, then that line was also shown. And last but certainly not least, the type face and unique "hand written" look made it the by far easiest book to physically read (no eye strain!)

Unfortunately, The Real Book was next to impossible to hunt down. No music stores carried it, or at least admitted to carrying it. It was pretty much an under-the-counter item that you could only get if you knew somebody. I guess these $50 books were always secretly copied and bounded in some local guy's basement, in hopes of skirting all the legal copyright issues.

Finally, Sher Music Co. has taken the original Real Book, got copyright clearance from each and every living composer, and in so doing even got to correct many mistakes based off the the composers' very own lead sheets. They also threw in a number of full-page photographs of jazz greats. The result is the only LEGAL, updated, and widely obtainable version of the original underground book.

One of the reviewers here [NOTE: again, this was for the "other" Sher Real Book I reviewed] seemed to make the gross assumption that this is a piano book. It's not. It's a book for everybody in the band. The fact that there are C, Bb and Eb versions of the book should tell you this. I've always been amused by "Piano/Vocal" sheet music books for bands that never even had a piano or keyboard player. For rock bands, they usually attempt a bad transcription of the guitar on the treble clef, and an even worse transcription of the bass on the bass cleff (written an octave down, of course).

Which brings me to the reason why this book was always called "The REAL Book": it's because it didn't take the shortcuts that "Fake Books" take. "Fake Books" are called such because they allow you to "fake" the song, i.e. dumb-down some chord changes, play it in a presumably easier key, and usually even try to adapt the whole song to the single instrument of piano.

It's so great to see a legit copy of this book in print. If you play jazz, this is the one book always worth investing in.

If you're looking to this book as an updated version of the old "Real Book", you will likely be disappointed. While there are a few tunes in common, most of the tunes in the old "Real Book" are not present here, replaced by newer (sometimes more complicated) compositions. The format and calligraphy in the book, while most excellent, is noticeably more formal than that of the old "Real Book", and may take some getting used to.

THAT SAID, if you disregard the implicit connection to the old "Real Book", this book stands on its own quite well. It IS an extremely well-prepared collection of jazz tunes, some of which you would be hard-pressed to find transcribed anywhere else (e.g., "Waterwings"). This doesn't really replace the old "Real Book", but it supplements it nicely.

This is one of the best. Easy to read during a gig. Very comprehensive. Plenty of tunes to keep you busy memorizing them for years. One book cannot have every tune, but this a great start. I also recommend volumes 2 and 3.

This book has hundreds of pages filled with all kinds of jazz tunes, written in the clearest font possible. Most tunes have the basic chord changes and general solo's, but some are "as played by ..." and may even have the bass, piano or rythyms section written out, if it's particularly special. A must for people playing jazz from sheet music. If you could ever finish this book, you can get versions two and three both filled only with new, completely different songs!

Clear and concise, this book has taken me from knowing nothing about web design to publishing a site of my own in 3 weeks. While there is much more to learn, my site is running smoothly and 100% W3C Strict compliant.

this book is the greatest that i have read ever.
though that i have a little expiriance with HTML and CSS , but this book give you the actually way to write your code only at XHTML and CSS , with a great way of explaining .

I've been studying at web design and construction for over 10 years. Since I'm both dyslexic and limited in my short-term memory, I've had problems with doing more than just the basics. Understanding XHTML and CSS have been problematic for me, and I've had to rely on programs like Dreamweaver and Front Page to write my pages. This book is finally bringing home how web pages are constructed, and how CSS is used for both styling and positioning things. Virginia has put together the best method of presenting the material in a manner that I can comprehend, and hopefully retain. I've purchased a lot of books on web construction, but none have helped me as much as this one has, and continues to do. I'll keep it over all the others as a reference in the future.

Virginia DeBolt's newest book is an excellent resource for modern, standards based design. It combines the depth of a well qualified instruction with lively, real world examples of practical web applications. This book will save you so many hours of work and research by showing you how techniques have evolved and how each application meets the various standards. Webpage structure (including columns), various navigation methods, working with images and picture galleries, banners, links, blogs, and much more are all discussed. Also included (in color) are inspirational website designs showing these modern CSS based techniques.

In the course of designing our numerous large websites for parent support I have read over a dozen design and coding books on html and css, and this is one book I return to over and over again.

I have been an avid reader of A.J. McClane for some years now and have found this volume to be the best of the best. It is in my opinion the most detailed and factual reference to be found on catching fish. Of particular value is the section on angling methods which clearly explains the various means by which you can catch your quarry. Any fish, anywhere in the world can be found in this book along with it's life cycle, spawning habits, how to catch it and weather it is good to eat. No angling library is complete without this valuable reference.

A MUST HAVE BOOK, if you have a library of your own or not this is it, I have used this book many times when I go to a new area, state,location, or wherever, it tells where,when and what is needed,its great, one problem I found is I lost it now I cant find it and am lost without it. I have over 75 other books on fishing and this one I miss the most!!!

We recently purchased a vacation home/fish camp in the Florida Keys. My wife consumes no meat, but loves fish. I of course, must comply with this life-style or cook for myself. The Encyclopedia of Fish Cookery became a source of endless new experiences. Our taste buds now have experienced here-to-for unimagined sensations. The book clearly defines the limits of consumption, from blowfish to shark and well beyond. The book covers everything we have ever encountered at the end of a line and many that we are actively pursuing. This book is greatly enhanced by beautiful and appropriate photography by Arie deZanger. If you tend toward coffee table books this edition fits nicely in a home that prides itself on excellent food, a focus on fishing, or simply enjoying nature! The proof is in the eating...try it, you'll like it!

The book is the best in its field, as it contains plenty of information for the casual fisherman or for the expert angler.
Unfortunately is somewhat outdated. Great book that every angler should have in their library/

These cards are everyhting I hoped they would be. And very fast shipping too. I wouldn't hesitate to use this person again. Thank you.

The quick reference cards purchased from BrainStorm Inc. were an enormous aid to us. A life saver for the situation we found ourselves in. Thank you for your excellent service and timely distribution.

Given the differences between Office 2003 and 2007, these card are essential. They are easy to read and of high quality. I just bought my second set for a friend.

I teach Word and Excel and needed a quick start over the summer before school starts. These cards are great for both home and school.

Amazon needs to fix its info for this product - it's not an audio CD. It's a great package of software that has helped me bulk up my vocabulary and get a better pronuncation in modern standard arabic. I learned arabic grammar a while back, but found that its hard to communicate without a growing base of vocabulary to use. THis program is helping me do that. Love the clear audio recordings!

I have been studying Arabic here in Cairo for 3 years now and this software has been a tremendous help. Whenever I need to know the correct pronunciation of a word, I can simply click on it and hear an Egyptian say the word as many times as needed. It even lets me compare the way I say the word to the native speaker's pronunciation. This is an audio-dictionary for your computer, which is a must-have when learning a new language! There are several other functions that have been very useful as well - such as the study sheets, the grammar guide, the quiz tool, etc. If you are studying Modern Standard Arabic ("Fusha"), I know you will benefit from this software. There is another good MSA one called "Modern Standard Arabic Verb Clinic", by the same company, but I'm not sure is Amazon sells it. (There is also another one called "Egyptian Arabic Vocab Clinic" if you need to learn the spoken Arabic of Egypt.) - Richard (Julie's husband)

This is a nice tool for beginners and intermediate level learners of MSA, but if you've been studying for a while you will find this a bit frustrating. The 4000 words utilized are good, but they won't take you to the next level. The lists are good, but it would be nice to be able to make your own. A section of Arabic proverbs would be very useful as well, as knowing them makes a real difference when dealing with native speakers. I would pay $25 for this, but no more.

Learning arabic on your own is a challenge. I chose to supplement the Kitaab fi tacallum al-arabiya series with MSA Vocab Clinic to get up to speed a little faster. It gives good pronounciation help, and the word lists makes bus rides a lot more fun...

That's just yet another great title from Cisco Press! There are just too many books available on MPLS both as a technology and service enabler, but it's hard to see a book that focuses on only one aspect of MPLS applications, i.e., MPLS VPN Security. I just love the fact as to how the book is structured to serve both novice and the advanced user to MPLS VPNs and its Security aspects. I like the idea that authors keep both enterprise and SP implementation aspects of MPLS VPN. Information throughout the book is precise, up to date and easy to follow. Book is structured into four Parts;

Part I focuses on MPLS VPNs and network security fundamentals, upon completion of this part you are not only up to speed with the key security concepts for analyzing MPLS network scenarios and where security needs to be implemented (i.e., zones of trust) but also the complete threat model for it which even discusses on securing NOC.

Part II introduces you to advanced concepts of MPLS VPN security, i.e., Inter-AS, Carrier's Carrier (CsC) architectural security. Authors do a good job of keeping in check the security issues which are independent of MPLS and need to be solved separately. They also make it very clear that security is an important network design aspect and how some design decisions can make an entire network insecure. Chapter 5 is mostly a re-hash of basic network security fundamentals in Cisco IOS feature set.

Part III walks you through the practical guidelines of how IPSec complements MPLS and security of Layer 2 VPNs and concludes with how you can effectively operate a secure MPLS VPN core. Authors make it clear that both technologies work together very well, but before considering IPSec into MPLS, one should clearly outline what are the goals (basically when to use PE-to-PE versus CE-to-CE encryption etc.).

In Part IV, the chapter I like most is the "case studies" - it provides use cases, application examples, and best practices guidelines for the key concepts discussed in the whole book.

This book discusses security in the context of MPLS VPNs Security and other related aspects (like Internet access within a VRF, Extranet or common services etc.). Both authors are very well known at IETF and Distinguished engineers at Cisco Systems. Their experience in the areas of network security and attack mitigation shines throughout the book.

Overall, I strongly recommend this book to all network security engineers as MPLS (due to its inherent advantages and applications) is gaining momentum not only in the service provider space but also in the enterprise market segment.

This is one of the few books I've seen that starts off with a discussion of just what is secure. Secure from the casual hacker that might try to get into your network is one thing. If the resources of the NSA are applied to getting by your security it's an entirely different matter.

The second chapter continues this analysis through the design of a threat model. Just what is it that you want protection against?

The chapters that follow go into the design of a secure system, followed by some case studies that are used to illustrate the theoretical discussion points from the previous chapters.

It would be nice if the world out there were a friendlier place, but it isn't. If it's your job to set up a secure system using MPLS, this book will provide the basic background information you need before you start entering parameters into the various security devices.

A very good examination of MPLS security that goes way beyond "its just like Frame Relay". The authors do an extremely deep dive on those aspects of MPLS technology that may effect the security of carriers who run MPLS or enterprises who utilize MPLS services. This is a rare book of interest to both carrier and enterprise network engineers. There is also some excellent coverage of link layer MPLS technologies and their security issues. It should be noted that this is not a primer on MPLS nor is it an MPLS book for security engineers. Instead it is (so far) the best available work on MPLS Security for network engineers who are already familiar with MPLS and WAN technology. Strongly Recommended.

MPLS VPN Security (Paperback)
by Michael H. Behringer, Monique J. Morrow ISBN 1587051834
As Multiprocotol Label Switching (MPLS) is becoming widely deployed for providing virtual private network (VPN) services. Security becomes a major concern for companies planning to migrate from the legacy VPN's to MPLS VPN's. This book provides an indepth look at what are the real security issues that both service providers providing MPLS VPN's and companies utlizing such services face. The authors provide a clear understanding of how the MPLS VPN's work differently from other VPN technologies.
The book is divided into four parts MPLS VPN and Security Fundamentals form Part One. The first part of the book provides an excellent overview on the three basic components of security: the architecture, design and operations and defines the "zones of trust" for an MPLS VPN environment. It provides an excellent Security Reference Model for MPLS VPNs. The various threats to a VPN are broken down into parts for better understanding, like threat, intrusion, Denial of Service against a VPN. Threat against an Extranet site. Threats against the core, and from within a Zone of trust.
Part Two of the book provides an analysis of Advanced MPLS VPN Security Issues like VPN Seperation (Address Space and traffic), Robustness against attacks (where and how), protection against spoofing, Specific Inter-AS considerations and comparisons. And other issues not addressed by the MPLS Architecture. It examines in detail Secure MPLS VPN designs and shows how to design a DOS resistant network and the tradeoffs between DOS resistance and network cost. The security recommendations provide tips on general router security, basic templates and ACL Examples. CE-Specific router security and topology design considerations. LAN Security Issues. CE-PE routing Security Best Practices. IPSec both CE to CE and PE to PE. And a comprehensive checklist for securing Core and Routing.
Part Three provides practical guidelines to MPLS VNP Security and shows how IPSec complements MPLS. It explains the deployment of IPSec on MPLS and use of other encryption techniques. It underlines the importance of security of MPLS Layer 2 VPNs and the various generic Layer 2 security considerations. The section ends with providing a plan for the operation management and maintenance of a MPLS core. It deals with the secure management of CE devices, management of VRF and VRF details.
Part Four provides deployment examples and lessons learned, highlighting theoretical discussion points from the previous chapters. It also provides various scenarios for internet access and points out security considerations for each example.
The coauthor Michael H. Behringer is an active member of the IETF and has published work on MPLS VPN security since 2001.
The coauthor Monique J. Morrow (CCIE # 1711) is active in both IETF and ITU-T SG 13 with a focus on OAM. She is currently engaged in MPLS OAM standards development.
I feel this book would be extremely useful for security and operations staff of enterprises that deploy MPLS or subscribe to a service based on MPLS.
I give this book 5 stars on a scale of 5, 5 being the highest. I strongly recommend this book.
Niloufer Tamboly, CISSP

First of all, this book just looks fun! It is shaped, has many bright colors, and it SPARKLES!! This is a book that you will not mind reading several times. It also has a great message. It begins with, "The colors in this basket are my own special way for me to tell the story of that first Easter Day." Kids will hear the TRUE story of Easter in a fun, colorful way. By using the many colors commonly found in Easter baskets, the author takes us through the entire Easter story. From the green palm leaves, to the purple wine, to the red blood, to the brown cave, to the white angel, to the yellow sun. Each section is presented in rhyming format. "The purple in my basket reminds me of the time that Jesus shared with his friends a meal of bread and wine." In addition, the children depicted in this book are very diverse, which is an added bonus. This book shows asian, black, white, and biracial children, all experiencing the love of Jesus. A unique and welcome accomplishment.

If I had encountered this book when my daughter was young, she would have owned it. The structure is a basket containing a white rabbit, chocolate rabbit, a chick, flowers and Easter eggs. These items are depressed, so as the thick pages are turned, the items are "removed" from the basket. The pages are very colorful and the "basket" items sparkle, features that will capture and keep the attention of young children. The text, which appears in captions at the bottom, explains the religious significance of Easter.

Excellent introduction to the Easter account in terms toddlers and preschoolers can understand.

Nice way to combine modern Easter traditions and the real Easter story. The pictures on the Amazon site don't really show the glitter on the book well. The colors are really vibrant, and the glitter sparkles on every page.

"The Mystery of Banking" by Murray Rothbard is now back in print! You can get a copy for $18 at the "Ludwig Von Mises Institute" website.

You can also download for free at the "Ludwig Von Mises Institute" website, why pay the ourageous price of $248 dollars?

I just finished reading this book and found that it filled in many inconsistencies that I have noted in my mainstream economic study. The author explains clearly and concisely the origins of and money and its importance to any economic system. He proceeds to describe the evolution of banking to its current inflationary state. He clearly shows that this inflationary states results from a combination of fractional reserve banking, the government's grant of monopoly powers through a cental bank (the U.S. Federal Reserve in the case of the U.S.), and the central banks open market operations to manipulate bank reserves (e.g., monetizing debt). Finally, Rothbard makes it clear that the banking industry's inflationary policies are beneficial to the banking industry itself and leave the reader no doubt that this industry has a vested interest in the status-quo.

I found this book to be the most interesting and revealing book I have ever read about the banking system and the Federal Reserve. Rothbard has a very different perspective than most conventional economists, but his explanations are very clear and compelling. He explains how fractional reserve banking makes banks inherently prone to bankruptcy, how the Federal Reserve and other central banks create inflation, and how money has evolved and been debased. Gene Epstein, the Barron's columnist, recently recommended The Mystery of Banking as the best book to read for anyone interested in understanding how our banking system works.

Murray Rothbard writes clearly and yet with a technician's precise knowledge of the operation of money and banking. This book should be read by any who truly desire to understand these important aspects of the ecoonomy. And, oh, by the way, you don't really have to fork over $98 bucks for this important book. Resourceful readers can locate it for free online. Who says there's no such thing as a free lunch?

I got two of these. The size is amazing--it's much smaller than my other compact reference Bible. That is without compromising the font sizes. I love the NASB translation. This is exactly what I need when I travel. I would definitely recommended it to friends.

I purchased this for my wife, and she thinks it's ideal to put in her purse, or just carry around on its own. The snap flap works well - especially if you are accustom to inserting notes within the pages. I have a pocket size, which is also great to have with me (OT and NT), but the font of this version is much more readable.

The NASB is greatly valued by those who are serious about their bible study because it is a very literal translation of the HEbrew and Greek. It takes a bit of time to get used to its sometimes wooden prose (due to the translators trying to keep close to the original languages) but the effort is worth it and will reward you with a greater understanding of the bible than the interpretive NIV can give. This is a neat compact bible with snap closure. The font is very readable. I do wish that there were center references but that would make the book too large for a compact. For twenty bucks, this is a great deal.

This is a Good Pocket Size KJB... a Good Buy of Good Quality to Carry and have as your Daily Travel Companion as you Apply the Words of Our Awesome Living God in your Daily Lives....

I am very pleased with this bible. It is everything I was expecting and more. I am thinking of ordering one for my mom.

I am very satisfied with the quality of this product. The only problem was that when I got the ISBN off of the Bible that I wanted--that one had a thumbed index & this one doesn't which is odd to me because I thought the ISBN would be the same exact book. Anyway, I am still happy because I got the Bible at nearly 50% less than I would have paid at the bookstore.

This edition reaches "Biblical Proportions" or more appropriately the printed text is proportionally sized for comfortable reading! The "Large Print" is large but not overbearing and thus makes reading more palatable on the eyes and reduces fatigue and strain allowing longer intervals of reading time without becoming tired. The binding and quality of materials used in this edition is top notch. They did not skimp and publish a flimsy book but rather published a sturdy book. I like the translation and the layout of the printed words. This is a good edition.

First of all, the New American Standard Bible is a wonderful translation; the updated version made it even better. Zondervan puts their NASB text in paragraph form, unlike the Foundation's editions. This does add to the ease of reading and comprehension.

The print in this edition is large, not giant, but comfortable to read. What stands out most is the darkness of the print, both black and red, that also contributes to ease of reading.

The center column references are quite thorough with many optional readings of words and passages in the text. Therefore, this is an excellent study Bible. The concordance, too, is better than most.

Zondervan has published a good quality Bible. The bonded leather is quite nice and the Bible is sturdily bound. I really enjoy mine.