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Liposuction is a controversial technique at any age, but Austinite Brooke Bates was the youngest person ever to undergo major liposuction. This enegaging, frank account of Brooke's metamorphosis offers a balanced assessment of this admittedly drastic measure. Bombarded with criticism by thousands of strangers after a dozen major TV apperances, this feisty Texas teen and her family somehow take it all in stride.
The book offers a detailed account of Brooke's experience, dealing with the medical, emotional and social ramifications of undergoing a major procedure at such a young age. The reader comes away with a compelling portrait of the daily anguish young people suffer when their face or body is considered adnormal or grossly unattractive. Brooke Bates's outlook on life has beeen utterly transformed by Dr. Ersek's magic fat-sucking wand, it seems, and it is hard to fault her or her family for resorting to plastic surgery that gave this wallflower turned winsome teen a new lease on life.
For readers of any age who struggle with a serious weight problem or love someone who does, this book offers a detailed account of a typical meg-liposuction procedure, discussing its pros and cons,which can serve as a private consultation of sorts for anyone considering this option. The abundance of before-and-after photos and Dr. Ersek's compelling response to his critics brings Brooke's uplifting story even more vividly to life.

I read this book, and I thought it was absolutly wonderful. I feel for this child so much, and my heart is so sad for her. Its so great that she is now better, and on a great path to a new beginning. This book really opens your heart, in so many ways. For all you people out there with an over weight child, this book is for you...
***** five stars!

PLEASE READ!!

If you want to learn about federal wildlife laws, this is the book. There are other texts and supplements out there for an introduction to the subject, but the depth this book reaches is impressive. For example, Favre's overview on CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) provided me with a clearer understanding of how the convention works (150 member states working to control international trafficking in wild plants and animals). His introduction spoke about the permitting system and enforcement of the treaty, and also provided a discussion of what constitutes illegal trade and contained an explanation of how individual animals are protected under CITES.

I was also impressed with Rebecca Wisch's discussion of the bald and golden eagle protection act. Very detailed. One arena that wasn't touched upon-fisheries-is acknowledged as lacking in the book's introduction (but it said a book on that topic may be forthcoming). Overall, however, the book is a great reference work. It introduces federal wildlife laws to those who might not know where to begin looking. The overview articles are packed with detail, yet they are easy to follow. In sum, this is a great book on Federal Wildlife Laws. I highly recommend it.

Federal Wildlife Laws is a nearly-comprehensive reference text on federal wildlife laws of the United States. If people are interested in gaining a clearer understanding of how wildlife is protected (or not protected) in this country, that understanding needs to begin with a foundation of how the federal government protects wildlife. That knowledge can be gained from this book.

The presentation of materials is easy to follow. The book's editor, David Favre, has chosen to not only include the full text of major acts (such as the Endangered Species Act, the Lacey Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the Marine Mammals Protection Act, and several others), but also to include essays and introductions for each section that provide a context in which to view the acts. Additionally, the book begins with a section containing several extensive essays that detail the history of federal wildlife laws in America and provide an in-depth look at federal wildlife laws in the twentieth century. From there, each section has its own contents so that a specific subsection of any act can be easily accessed.

Definitely worth its weight as a wildlife reference text, both for lawyers who deal with these issues as well as non-lawyers who might deal with federal wildlife issues or the person who wants to more clearly understand what's going on with protection of wildlife in this country.

This book offers deeply moving poetry and stories that are finely tuned to nature and spirit. Life comes at you with each reading, for all it is worth... and it is worth much. This is a book to savor.

I found much depth to her writing, as well as that of her contributors. Her respect for the environment is obvious, and I salute her. WELL DONE!!

This novel was the most romantic epic I have ever read. I loved it. The protagonist, Eve, is in her forties. Eve leads her people to an Eden that is pure and free, not only for mankind but animals as well-nirvana. The love is appreciated not only between Eve and Arny, other tribe and Clan members, but between mankind and wolves as well. The author speared my heart through the deep connections expressed between people, the love of animals, and the respect of nature. I hope he writes his next book with the same sensitivities. The author mixes hunting, mysticism, customs, song, wrestling, tie-matings (weddings), art, and story-telling to create a dynamic portrait of the times, people and wolves. There are cameos by ravens, cave bears, cave lions and an arctic fox that spice the stew and steal your heart.

I was so happy to see a story about BLACK EVE and even happier after reading it. Eve is a role model for all of us. I can recommend this beautiful story. With wolve, cave bears, cave lions, ravens and neanderthals it has something for everyone. My son says, "It's the wolves, mom". Ok, my grandson won't give the book back. Read and enjoy it.

Flash MX Learning Studio
Ethan Wattral

Published by Sybex...

ISBN: 0-7821-4180-3

I would give this package 5 stars, it certainly works for me anyway.

This is another in the new line of learning-made-simple using the Sybex "Savvy" line of books. Having the CDROM based on the book "Flash MX Savvy" added to the package has made this even better.

I have already reviewed this book and found it to be excellent.....

Once opened in your CD player, you can just leave it running while carrying on working in Flash, even after you have put the book down.

It provides a very good source of easily understood information and walk-throughs. These are broken into 7 categories for easy learning.

1. Creating visuals steps you through the basic steps of animating and is further broken down into different aspects of selection, grouping etc.

2. Animation comes next and this introduces the concepts of working with timelines and movie clips.

3. Intro to ActionScripting is really useful as this is what can make or break an animation and allow interactivity with your movie.

4. ActionScript for interactivity takes your basic skills in ActionScript to new levels, and like al the sections has been further broken down into another 5 sub sections.

5. Working with audio is really useful as this has been a problem, or at least difficult to do in the past. MX makes this easier, but understanding what to do is a great help.

6. Using other tools helps understand how to integrate Flash into Director, Freehand, audio software and 3D.

7. Publishing Flash is next, and this, once again is an important aspect when file size and bandwidth are concerned.

8. The referenced section contains what you expect from it, plus it has all the keyboard shortcuts.

9. Lastly there is the Hands On section and this is where you get to practice your skills, aided by video of the lessons/

Most of the descriptions are in slide show format using screen shots, which is supported by sound where applicable, and the lessons are step-through if you don't want to watch the whole thing.

There are some special video sections, using Flash, that take you through making some movies using the familiarity that you have built up using the preceding lessons. By all means look at these early on, but they will not have the impact that will come after stepping through the rest of the manual.

As a learning tool for those who do better by using visuals and sound, sooner than reading a manual, this is definitely the way to go. Obviously the slide shows don't contain the same amount of information as the book, but they do make you click on things so you learn to work in a sensible order, and then a lot of the written work makes a bit more sense.

Teaching is really about being shown how to do something, and then following explained principles to find out how to do anything associated with that process. Books on their own are great, even with the CD-ROMS that are included, but I feel that it isn't the same as this type of learning.

For a start, the CDROM attached to a book is just a set of lessons, and it is easy to skip past stuff when you don't understand, but this CDROM is done in such a way as to make sense of what you are doing quickly. It is just like having a help file open with interactive pictures instead of just words.

Once you learn where to find the answers, you don't have many problems that you can't solve, and that is where the strength of this package lies.

You may only need a small part of the jigsaw to solve the whole thing, and with the 700 page book added, then you don't need to look much further for any answers.

Bottom Line.

As the complete learning tool, and help and assistance for problem solving, you will really need to go a long way to find a better package.

I firmly believe that this is the way that good manuals for software will have to be produced from now on. As long as the book is good for it's purpose, and the quality of the CDROM is kept up, then there is a market for this sort of package.

Once a book has been written, then the making of something like this is not that difficult, as it uses screen shots that apply to the book. Therein lies it's strength. If the screen shots don't work, then the book doesn't either, and in this case they both go together really well.

Tim Skyrme...

I've got to admit, I was a little skeptical about plunking down [money] for Flash MX Learning Studio. Boy, was I glad that I did. First off, it comes with the book Flash MX Savvy...which would normally cost you [money] to buy. Secondly, the actual interactive training CD is absolutely incredible.

You can sit and watch tutorial movies...and then try out the techniques you just watched - all within the CDs learning environment. Its a perfect tool for those who learn software by watching things being done - instead of just reading about the techniques.

Flash MX Learning Studio is worth its weight in gold! Buy it and you'll see.

It's hard not to get inundated with all the talk of "Web 2.0" these days... Everything is "Ajax this, mashup that". But what exactly *is* a mashup, and how do you build one? Wrox has started a Mashup series of books, and I got a chance to take a look at Flickr Mashups by David Wilkinson. This is an excellent intro to the concept, focused on the Flickr website for content manipulation.

Contents: Rewriting the Web; Flickr - A Short Tour; Getting Ready to Mash; The Flickr API; Flickr Feeds; Remixing Flickr Using the API; Authenticating with Flickr; Uploading Photos; Remixing Flickr Using Greasemonkey; Working with ImageMagick, Visualizing the News; Searching the Blogosphere; Displaying Your Photos with Google Maps; Caching Your Data; Answers to Exercises; Flickr API Methods; Response Data Structures; Useful Resources; Index

To start with, you shouldn't have the expectation that you'll be able to (or even want to) run every mashup that's here. Rather than confine his examples to a single small set of technology tools, Wilkinson uses a wide array of software, such as PHP, Perl, JavaScript, Java, Greasemonkey, ImageMagick, and others. When he first talks about a technology like Greasemonkey, he gives some basic information to get the software and install it. From there, he builds the mashup with some pretty detailed explanations on the code and results. He states in the forward that the examples *should* be easy enough to follow even if you're not terribly familiar with the language, like PHP. Overall that seems to be the case. But to be honest, you'll probably get a lot more out of the book if you're already conversant with PHP, as a lot of the examples use that. But even if the particular language of the example isn't your forte, you should be able to take the general idea and apply the concepts to your tool of choice.

Another thing that is done very well done in this book is an explanation of the Flickr API. A solid, accessible API is critical to successful mashup use, and his explanation of how the Flickr API works is excellent. From getting your own API key to creating SQL feeds of Flickr data, he covers a number of possibilities that should have any photo-happy mashup artist coding in short order. The Flickr site and API are a constant work in progress, so you can't view this as a definitive guide to the package. The only way you can get that is to visit the website. But you'll receive a grounding in the fundamentals here, so you'll be well-equipped to handle the new stuff as it comes out.

Overall, I think this is a great series, and I'm looking forward to reading other Mashup titles. Flickr Mashups got the brain moving in areas I had never thought of, and I can see how this would be a must-read for any coder who can't live without their Flickr subscription...

Flickr is the photo sharing web application that started making people like taking photos again, Of course since flickr came on the scene many others have come up such as Zoomr and Yahoo Photos but neither allow developers to truly make use of its data with the flick api which allows sharing and manipulation of its photo data.

This is the first book covering this topic of creating a mashup with flickr so it has the pressure of covering the right material to help newbies like me to understand how to use an api. Although a background in web scripting and or JavaScript is not required since the material is not too technical and the author explains it well enough that the reader does not need to know too much.

The first chapter covers what are mashups and what technologies are used such as client technologies like HTML, XML, CSS, JavaScript and DOM, JSON and Ajax. Then the author briefly explains the server-side technologies that are involved like PHP, Perl, REST, SOAP, and databases. A nice introduction on the many pieces of web mashups.

The next chapter gives a quick introduction on using flickr aw a user on how to use some of the tools of flickr like the organizr (to organize your photos into sets), tagging, geo-tagging interface, joining groups, and linking your photos.

The third chapter gets started with getting the flickr API key. Once you get the key the author goes into showing you how to setup your development environment. The author goes though setting up an environment with ASP using IIS (Internet Information Server) and PHP with Apache as well as using Perl in a Windows or Unix environment. Since mashups can use any server-side technology, it is great that the author explains three of the most popular ones for broad range of server-side technologies.

The next chapter focuses in detail about the flickr API itself. Flickr accepts API calls in three different formats such as REST, SOAP, and XML-RPC. The author gives of each even though in my opinion using REST is the easiest and most common. Then flickr methods and objects are dicussed in showing the reader how to retrieve flickr images in any variation by invoking the specific methods and send the right parameters. The author gives some good examples of creating photostreams and putting specific images on your web page.

Chapter 5 goes though the client-side version of manipulating a flickr badge and putting the requests on the server as well. Chapter 6 goes through showing an image gallery using sever-side script in PHP and mixing in a little Ajax for good measure. Chapter 7 shows you how to authenticate using an API kit with some open source PHP tools to create some more robust applications. Chapter 8 shows you how to create an upload page using the flickr api.

The rest of the book goes into more examples of flickr mashups using other open source tools like ImageMagick, GoogleMaps, GreaseMonkey, RSS, Technorati, and others. Too much to cover but this book has it all. A great book on learning more about mashups and api ans using the flickr api to create some new and exciting web applications.

This book had it all.. I had a hard time putting it down.. Every bit of it was exciting and I especially loved the end when ...ut ut ut no you have to read it to see what happens.... I'm waiting on other books like this one. Very well written... Thumbs up from me:)

I really think this is a book worth buying. The charactors were interesting and the story had a good plot. The story had action, romance and intrigue. I can't wait to read the sequel.

Prevailing e-commerce and e-business applications are form-based, i.e., the user interaction with the systems is via a set of forms. This book presents a formal yet practical integrated solution to the design, analysis and specification of such applications. The formalism presented in the book draws on intuitive understanding of form-based systems in which the form allows interaction via message passing. The formalism allows abstraction from unnecessary details and focusing on the design and analysis of the business logic and its effect on the form.

On the practical side, the book presents a host of diagrams such as formcharts, page diagrams and screen diagrams to deal with different aspects of form-oriented design. Considering the limitations of diagrams, the authors also present a domain specific language called Dialogue Constraint Language that extends the Object Constraint Language (OCL) to accommodate the specification of dialogues in form-based applications. Relying on such a wealth of modeling artifacts, the book proposes a set of methods for the modeling of the data and communications between the different components of a form-based system.

This is a must have book for the professional analyst, modeler and programmer involved in the design, specification or development of form-based projects. The book provides the methods and the artifacts to better model form-oriented systems.

Kyriakos Anastasakis and Behzad Bordbar

This is a book that has been needed for a long time. There have been studies in the past, indeed a body of knowledge even, on the design of paper based forms. The problem with computer based forms such as those for ordering a book from Amazon is that the forms tend to be generated by programmers, not forms specialists. In fact in this book the examples being used are from a hypothetical on line book store.

At one point the authors are giving an example of a book page of an online bookshop. On it they give an abstract of their own (that is this) book. It reads: "What is the business logic of n enterprise system? How do I specify it in such a way that I know how to transform it into a running system, by skill and by automated tool support? This book gives a self-contained introduction to the modeling and development of business logic for enterprise systems."

In practice, the authors develop a couple of new technologies for the modelling of such forms. Page Diagrams are analagous to flow charts that show what a page does in terms of its interactions. From the home or Welcome page you can go register, go login, look at suggested books, do a search, etc. What links to what? What logic applies (bad password for instance, or is this user logged in). The page diagram is a way for the non-technical manager and the programmer to define exactly what a page or screen is supposed to do. It can become part of the specification that the programmer uses to produce what management wants.

The next concept the authors develop is the Form Storyboard. The storyboard shows pages with respect to the actions they cause in the server.

Other models such as information pages, and data interchange complete the description of the forms related system. For the most part, HTML based web sites are used as examples in this book. But the same kind of modelling is equally applicable to form/database related system such as accounting, payroll or other business applications.

Using the approach developed by these authors is the best way I've seen to document/specify/design a forms based interactive system.

Newly revised and updated in a 2001 edition, The Foundation Center's Guide To Grantseeking On The Web is a massive, authoritative, all-encompassing reference, sporting 700+ pages densely packed with valuable information. Half of the volume is dedicated to teaching readers about how to take advantage of corporate giving information on the Web, and the second half lists countless foundations and charities on the Web that accept applications for grants and donations. Black-and-white illustrations of web sites and the like round out this unique and exceptional reference, which is a "must" for any grant-seeker in today's modern, technology-driven world.

Compiled and edited by Kief Schladweiler, The Foundation Center's Guide To Grantseeking On The Web 2003 Edition is a massively extensive, 852-page resource of 3,00 grantmaker websites, and offers up a wealth of information concerning corporate grantmaking, searchable databases, government funding sources, online journals and newsletters, guidance for seeking individual donors online, and so much more. A thoroughly accessible guidebook enhanced with screenshots, illustrations, and explicit instructions, The Foundation Center's Guide To Grantseeking On The Web 2003 Edition is justifiably a very highly recommended reference for both amateur and professional grant-seekers.

Long overdue book that covers the technology foundations behind the web as we know it. Great academic book and an even better reference for practicing professionals. Particularly strong in connecting theoretical foundations and the real-world web.
Great job!

Excellent book that covers a wide variety of topics related to web technology (see table of contents!).

Good topic selection, covering both basics (Part I),
and key web applications (Part II). Lot of real-world architectural issues in building distributed, scalable systems addressed.
Author is with Yahoo!, and brings excellent experience in this book.

My recommendation: Must have book for anyone interested in or working on scalable systems, especially Web/Internet related technologies.