Internet Books

College leaders would do well to ensure that a copy of young Professor Trinkle's "The History Highway" is on the desktop of each faculty member, and then interview him or her a month later on what they discovered when navigating around the "new literacy". In pointed contrast, I remember too well a much older and "very retiring" professor at a highly ranked college recently insisting that "this Pen is My computer".
A journey through knowledge begins with but a single, small step --as ancient seers would remind us. "The History Highway" offers anyone (older or young) a "roadmap" to their own choice of any of 2000 or so stepping off points. For example, "images taken from the Bayeaux Tapestry [embroidery 230 feet long; the original story document presented to an illiterate population] make this a visually appealing and useful site (Norman Invasion of England, 1066)". But wait, there's more: "Periodic updates to the text are available online."
Our new digital lifestyle can (will?) transform Academia "before you can say Great Scott!" Or at least, for certain, a lot more quickly than the Gutenberg effect transformed schooling and culture.

As a history student I am constantly looking for sources and articles for research purposes. This book puts the most important internet history sites at my finger tip. When I teach my history classes in a few years I will require all of my students to purchase this book.

If you are at all interested in history, this book is indispensable. It offers an exhaustive guide to the reliable and worthwhile historical materials available on the Internet. The entries have been sifted by an international team of subject experts, and there is a resource mentioned for every lover or student of history.

Everyone who has ever stared in awe at a search engine result listing 1 million hits on some subject owes Drs. Trinkle and Merriman a debt of gratitude. This book will take you to the materials you really want to use or explore. It is not only worth the time and money you will invest--it will save you time and pay handsome dividends.

What else can one say--it is this history student's new best friend.

Now in an updated and expanded second edition, The History Highway 2000: A Guide To Internet Resources continues to provide the most extensive and reliable coverage available. Reflecting the swift growth of the Internet, featured are more than twice as many entries (2,500) and many new sections (Australian, New Zealand, Greek, Western History, Agricultural History, Rural Studies, Psychohistory, Historiography, Historical Population Databases, and Historical Book Dealers. The History Highway 2000 is further enhanced with a detailed cross-index offering instant access to every subject and every entry; an expanded glossary of multimedia and web-format terms; as well as periodic updates to the text which are available online. The History Highway 2000 is an invaluable, highly recommended resource for history students, teachers, researchers, librarians, authors, and the general public.

At 600 pages this behemoth is more than twice the length of the first edition. And every page of this guide to history related internet resources is worthwhile. The detailed Table of Contents lists a diverse range of site categories, such as General History, Early American History - 1783-1860, Jewish Holocaust Studies, Geneaology, and Archives and Manuscript collections.

The introductory chapter gives internet startup information, so the book is useful to newbies and experienced web users alike. Later chapters list specific websites along with a paragraph or so of information about the site written by a historian or specialist.

Of particular interest to family history researchers will be the genealogy section, which lists a variety of sites. Instructors and researchers of American History will find useful the 101 pages (expanded and updated from the 33 pages in the first edition) devoted to a chronological list of sites on specific segments of United States History. Also expanded in the new edition is the Women's History segment, which is now 17 pages long and contains a more diverse range of websites than the first edition.

Finally, entries are cross referenced in the index, with internet sites listed in italics. This work is both a useful and enjoyable reference title, and well worth its price.

Excellent insight into a topic and technology that seems likely to become prevalent on a global scale in the very near future.

Whilst my interest in buying this book and researching i-mode is more from a business rather than technical perspective, both angles seem to have been covered equally well. I appreciated Frengle's well thought through and clearly outlined discussions on a broad variety of topics relating to i-mode and the mobile industry in Japan. The text was very useful in clarifying a number of questions I had and overall I felt the contents in the book was easily accessible and user friendly.

It's definitely worth a read for anyone interested in the mobile industry in Japan or i-mode in general.

I was developing Java apps for i-mode phones in under 4 hours. That was after reading 2 chapters. The rest of the book was a bonus read. The text is a bit outdated w.r.t. European WAP phones, he doesn't seem to realise we have long battery lifes too, WAP on gprs to boot! That's not going to stop me giving it 5 stars. One of the downloads you really need is no longer at the link published in the book. I sent an e-mail to the author late one night pointing this out. When I woke and checked my mail he had answered and I could get what I needed.

This book was worth it as a "get started with i-mode development" and was interesting as a "how they made wireless internet economically viable".

Frengle definitely hits the nail on the head in this book: He tells us all we need to know about the i-mode business model, the i-mode content business, and i-mode's history. Calling this book a 'primer' is apt--it gives us the basic information we need to understand i-mode. But Frengle goes further, in the technical sections, telling us how to program i-mode Java programs, design data driven i-mode applications, and even simple things like how to get sounds on to an i-mode phone, and how to optimize graphics for use on i-mode.
Frengle knows his stuff, working in this field, it says on the back cover, in Tokyo. That definitely matters to me, and is more than can be said for the author of the other book (i-mode Crash Course) that I read about i-mode.
Great job! So, now that we have this excellent book, when do we actually get i-mode in Boston? AT&T Wireless will get the same five stars from me when they do that!

This book delivers exactly what the title promises, and more, with its surprisingly broad and deep look at every aspect of i-mode. In addition to being a guide for programmers, "i-mode A Primer" has valuable information for business readers. Although the focus is on i-mode and DoCoMo in Japan, the case studies in particular provide lessons applicable to anyone considering a mobile solution. Although I haven't had a chance to play with them yet, I'm looking forward to exploring the goodies on the CD included with the book.

An excellent buy. Very readable and well laid out, I'll keep this one within arm's reach for easy reference for the next long while.

PS Okay, I'm not sure what my review title means, but I thought it was catchy.

I like to explore new topics and areas within computers to see what other things are out there. This book is an insight into a whole new arena for me. Judging from the content and the detail of the content, this author has certainly has shown me that he is one the foremost experts on the topic of i-mode.

Over 480 pages make up this manual which covers the model that Japan has found to be the best cash-for content model out there. In part 1 of the book you have the opportunity to look into the history of the i-mode as well as the hardware and software beginnings.

Part 2 is the i-mode environment, who would use the product, what type of audience can and do you target. Making it work so you can enhance the revenue. Finally part 3 is how to develop in i-mode. What application are used for development and the language used to create i-mode pages.

While most of the concepts are still a little beyond my understanding with the cd included , which has Java SDK, Forte for Java, a demo of Adobe Go Live and several other applications, I am beginning to understand what it takes.

Overall the author has spent a great deal of time and effort inputting together a seriously complete reference manual - well done.

When I first saw this book I had the idea that it would be beneficial to only those who are well acclimatised with the science of Internet Security. But I was wrong. This book has been beneficial to me like any other computer book I have gone through. Let me get into the facts.
The most remarkable feature of this book is that care has been taken to include even the commonest of terms which one comes accross reading technical journals but one is ignorant to the actual meaning of them since these terms donot contribute too much to the overall understanding of the concept presented in any paper.
for example we come accross the term 'firewall' so often. but one normally does'nt care to go into the technical details of it.
So I would suggest read this book and findout what firewall actually is.
This book contains both details and variety. I was personally extremely thrilled to find the illustrations in almost every page.
These illustrations helps me ot understand the concepts fast.

Also important is the abbreviation term glossary whcih removes in mind any doubt about the greatness of this book.
With this book I am experiencing a great learning experience and I would recommend this book highly to any computer and IT enthusiast.
Alltogether a great work.

When I first bought this book I was of the idea that it would help only those people who were well acclimatised with the science of internet security. But I was wrong.
Let me get into the facts and tell you that this book had been a great learning experience for me from the time I possesed it. The most remarkable feature about this book is the variety of topics covered and at the same time the details which have been looked into.
Some terms have been used which a normal reader ignores because they sometimes donot contribute too much to the overall understanding of the concept of the journal or paper.
For example everybody knows about firewall. But terms like these have been well explained and illustrated.
Illustrations are another good point about this book which require highlighting. Almost every page in this book is studded with illustrations which helps even a novice to undestand concepts.
The abbreviation section glossary adds to the feathers.
In all I ma having a great learnign experience. I would definately recommend this book for all IT and comp enthusiasts. Its a valuable possession and shall help in a long way.
A great pece of work.

I am a computer science graduate student just starting to work on my thesis in Internet security area. I need to read many papers and need a ready reference to clarify and understand the terms used in the papers. This book has been god-send; at one place it gives all the major concepts organized alphabetically so it is east to search and an index is a great help; it has a ready list of references; it is useful I think. The definitions have enough details to understand the concept and figures help.

Since the terms are reviewed by a panel of world-known experts in security I know that I am looking at reliable definitions and descriptions. The language of the book is so easy to understand that my husband who does not work in computer science, has taken to read this book; he just sits and browses through this book. Take the case of the description of a virus; after the definition, the book describes when and how the term virus was used: ¡°the first published use of the word VIRUS was by David Gerrod in his science fiction short stories which were later expanded and published in the book ¡°When Harlie was one¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.¡±, ¡°Fred Cohen first used the term computer virus in a formal way at university of Southern California¡­.¡± It gives three references pointing the reader to further information. This is a masterpiece written in a scholarly style yet is understandable with little computer science knowledge.

It is a technical reference book, perhaps not for a layman or a casual
user
of the Internet. Details and references (and citations for the
references
within the text) make it an excellent resource. If you are taking
security
certification exam or you are consulting, I suggest to keep a copy for
ready
reference.

If you connect to the Internet, then you pose a security risk to others. With the growing dependence of our global economy on computers, it is now a point of civic duty that we all do what we can to implement secure procedures on our computers. It all starts with knowing what the terms and acronyms mean, and they are all found in this book. I consider it an indispensable resource, not only for the definitions but also for the web sites with a focus on computer security.
The contents of the book are also on a CD in searchable PDF form. This is especially helpful, in that you can quickly click your way to an explanation of any term. The dictionary was put together under the guidance of an expert team of computer security professionals, so it is accurate and thorough. It belongs on the reference shelves of every academic and public library.

This is the book that should have been released BEFORE the 5 ITIL v3 volumes hit the market - however, after having gone through the 5 core volumes all buyers do now need this condensed overview as well for a quick grasp of the big picture of ITIL LCM

This book is the book ITIL 3 needed. The five core books may prove to be an excellent reference - time will tell - but they are hardly accessible. There was no user-friendly way to get your arms around ITIL until Sharon Taylor produced this introduction. Some people think it explains some concepts better than the core books do. Certainly it attempts to make Service Strategy accessible to mere mortals which is no mean feat.

But before you buy this book, consider buying Passing Your ITIL Foundation Certificate - The Official Study Guide (not available on Amazon yet, but it will be). It is the same size, half the price, and covers much the same territory, only even MORE lightly. And of course it includes sample exam questions to check whether you are actually getting the hang of it or not.

The book is 238 pages long, but removing index, acronyms and glossary is just 170 pages. However there is a good reason for considering this book. At the end of the book there are about 21 pages devoted to explain the "ITIL Service Management Model", a lot of workflow diagrams that takes the reader through the practices, processes and activities. For example there is a nice workflow diagram called "creating a service". I haven't found SOME of those diagrams in the V3 books, I mean the other 5 books. That's why I consider this a very valuable book.
The writting style is very concise and sometimes informal, easy reading for the ITIL newcomers. Do not expect a detailed process description of everything. Overall it is the perfect starting point before investing in the whole V3 book set.

This book is the perfect introduction to understand the concept proposed in ITIL v3. It explains each one of the stage of the service lifecycle as well as their processes and functions. If you are looking for concise information on ITIL v3, start with this book.

Not ready to read the full V3 lifecycle? Then I strongly recommend this book. A great overview of V3 with sufficient explanations, diagrams, process charts and descriptions to satisfy most curiosities and illustrate the differences (improvements?) from V2. Easy read and less textbookish than the other V3 books. Start here before reading the core texts to help ease into the detailed specifics and complexities contained within each book. It also serves as a convenient quick reference for those desiring to travel light.

Its a shame this book is now hard to get. I had to track it down in a crisis. This book for me achieved no small feat. I was able to refactor an app based on Core J2EE patterns. That book, while explaining the patterns in this book, is vague. I really spent a lot of time on the Core book. For those types this book will be appreciated that much more.

This book is about code - about %90 of the pages have source. Perhaps the first book I ever seen that has compilable, working code. Also, I think the examples and interfaces in this book are much better than the Core book.

In short, if you have the core patterns book and are stuck, this indeed could be exactly what you need. I would say you could skip that book and start with this one.

I've read a lot of patterns books. Most didn't really help. Some got me to the point of asking new questions. This book, and "design patterns explained", are in my view indispensable classics. They left me with a clear understanding of what I was trying to learn.

One negative point: I read the comparison between "service to worker" and "dispatcher view" several times and I still don't get what they are trying to say. This is one of the few places in the book where there is no code, and it probably could have helped me here. To be fair, it does have some nice sequence diagrams but its seems lacking compared to the rest of the book.

This book is really excellent. It contains the Core J2EE
patterns and theserverside.com patterns (in <Patterns>>) and explain you the relationship between them. It
contains lots of demonstrable code.

Web tier patterns can be used as template for web tier for
any j2ee project; persistence framework explained the
Data Access Object and Value object in the clearest way;
it always contains security patterns and integration
patterns, which are not discussed too much in other books
as <>. This book is the perfect companion
for the J2EE Core Patterns book and <>,
and even wider than them.

This book presents patterns inside frameworks, so you can
easily see how it is used in real life. This book uses UML
in a very elegant way so it's also useful to learn UML
in J2EE.

A must for J2EE lovers.

Daniel

SCJP, SCJD, SCWCD, SCJEA and IBM Certified XML Developer.

Definitely a good, simple, clear introduction to J2EE design patterns, this book has the advantage of presenting example code in the form of little applications instead of just snippets and lacks all the 'mystical yadda yadda" that pattern books often employ to make their simple content pass for rocket science. I have been somewhat disappointed by the security chapter which is basically just an overview of the J2EE standard security model. Also, being a book "practice oriented" I would have loved to see details on the deployment of the source code presented. Overall a 3 and 1/2 star book that gets a little bonus for being simple and practical.
Previous knowledge of design patterns in general would certainly help you to get the most from this text. For a simple,clear, no bs introduction I recommend Design Patterns Explained: A New Perspective on Object-Oriented Design
by Alan Shalloway, James R. Trott.

THE book to understand and use J2EE patterns effectively! Excellent concept introduction to begin with, to tide over the pattern non-gurus, comparison with established OO design patterns to ones mostly used in the J2EE community including ones on theserverside.com, plenty of demonstrable code some of which found their way into our deployed apps, great emphasis on patterns applied to specific layers of an application like persistence, web, security, performance etc. Great insight into usually tricky integration topics.

The web tier chapter details patterns that could be used for request processing with session management, view manipulation, validation and security. The persistence framework chapter was perfect for our implementation with its data access layer strategy based on DAOs and value objects, though we would have liked to see some transaction management patterns. The scalability and performance concerns have been closely investigated, as have all security designs like single-access, check-point and role patterns. A working example targeted for a leading app server could have proved useful here, though there is plenty of code available for download. After all is said and done, the chapter on integration where everything comes together nicely, scores top marks for topics not usually found in other books.
An excellent addition to anyone's J2EE repertoire.

From the number of reviews on this site(just 3)it appears that this book is not getting the attention it deserves!

This book starts where "Core J2EE Patterns" ends. Instead of being one more book on patterns catalog and snippet code, it plucks related patterns and weaves them into a framework. This framework-oriented approach starts with the simple but pertinent observation that standard J2EE patterns like Service-to-Worker and Dispatcher View can be reinterpreted as micro-frameworks and continues throughout the rest of the book. For example, chapter 3 combines 3 patterns( DAO, VO, Service Locater)together to lay the foundation of a persistence framework.

Another positive aspect of this book is that it devotes complete chapters to security and integration patterns.Of late, integration patterns have become important enough to merit a web site of their own ( integrationpatterns.com ) and it is quite hard to find other good references on security patterns.

Thus this book has a lot of new things and perspectives to offer and deserves more attention than it seems to be getting.

Finally a criticism : This book mentions other books by name and ISBN numbers without mentioning the author(s) of the books. This is the first time in my life I have seen such a practice. This is definitely a bad practice and an antipattern and a cruelty to poor authors who deserve to be mentioned by name.

Words cannot express how happy I am to be able to write a review for Jeff Duntemann's new book. I have "known" Jeff since around the early 1980's. Unfortunately, Jeff and I are both old enough to remember when correspondence outside of your office took place via snail mail and the most popular Internet tools of the time were Archie, Veronica and Gopher.

The things that I like the most about Jeff's books (and I have several of them) are twofold. First, when he writes on a topic he covers the given topic in-depth. With him, no stone is left unturned. Second, his writing style is such that he makes you feel as though you are sitting across the coffee table from him having a discussion while enjoying a cup of java or a glass of good (single barrel) Tennessee sour mash whiskey. His latest project does not disappoint!

If you are thinking of getting WLAN access for your home or small office, this book is for you. If you already have WLAN access at your home or small office and are interested in tweaking; tuning or expanding it, this book is for you. If you are mechanically inclined and want some WLAN projects to work on, this book is for you. If you are interested in wardriving, warchalking, setting up a hotspot or creating a captive portal, this book is for you. And (if you are like me) if you work with this technology for a living and want to pick up some pieces of technology that you were not aware of, this book is for you.

It is all there in the book and, once again, Jeff has done a great job of explaining it and making it all crystal clear. As I look around my office I have more than 30 books on wireless/WLAN technology. This book has now moved to the top of my list. Thanks Jeff and keep them coming!

If computer networking or security is NOT your day job, but you are interested in, or have already setup a home/small-business WiFi network, BUY THIS BOOK!

This is the "...for Dummies" for WiFi, except it does not insult the intelligence like other introductory titles. The writing style is approachable, humorous and flows well. It assumes no prior networking knowledge, and takes us through the historic evolution to present-day WiFi.

It is accurate, covers security risks & responses and the captures the overall excitement in the "homebrew" & wardriving communities. (Excellent coverage of custom antenna's, theory & practice)

If you are an MCSE or CNE looking to certify for some sort of WiFi test - this is probably not the book for you.

... but if you are a home-user, small business owner or general "radio-tinkerer" excited by the potential of WiFi - BUY THIS BOOK!

I was given this book as a gift of appreciation for contributing news items to Netstumbler.com. I highly recommend this book for beginners interested in further understanding their home network or extending its range and having fun with Wi-Fi.

The first part of the book is an introduction to Wi-Fi and its applications. The second part of the book shows you how to hook up a network in your home. The third part covers the theoretical and practical details of security. The fourth part deals with extending the range of your laptop and some of the secrets behind wardriving.

I liked the tin can bandwidth extender project section. It's just what you need in order to fire that over-priced cable or DSL connection and get your broadband service from one of the thousands of nearby Starbucks. The wardriving section shows you how to find access points from your car.

This is a great book and it's clear the person writing wrote it because they love Wi-Fi and what it represents. Wi-Fi can be two things, it can be just another networking tech, or it can a lot more. It can be something to tinker with, a technology to burrow into and learn a lot more about, and it creates all sorts of new cool things you can do. Duntemann clearly sees it as the latter, a technology that opens up entire new worlds and geeky fun things to do. This book covers how to wardrive, how to build your own antennas, and more. At the same time he doesn't skimp on the 101 stuff either, taking the time to explain everything to even a n00b like myself.

If you're a net admin trying to learn more get this book.

If you're a power-user who wants to get the most out of Wi-Fi get this book.

If you're into Wi-Fi and know lots of stuff you should still get this book.

What more can I say? This book is for the beginner and for the master.

Also I've looked at the other books out there. A couple of them are pretty good too, but unlike some of them the fact that Duntemann is truly into this tech and not just writing about it shows through more than most of the others.

I just recently came across this book because a friend suggested I get it. I've been using wi-fi for a little over a year now and I bought a number if the books that were published over the past year--big disapointment there. I was super gald to find this book because most of the other books were very academic and didn't really offer much.

What I like about this book is that it is very hands-on. And man this author can really write. This is one of the best technical books I have ever read. If I were a tech writer I'd really want to take lessons from this author.

The best part about the book is the hands-on projects and the chapter on War Driving. The Wi-fi reception in my house (I live in an older house) isn't great so I've been messing around with some of the projects in the book to improve my reception. The discussion of attennas is really first rate. I wish that I had more technical books that were written this well.

-Peter

Read this book, pass this test.

As far as being a reference for this information without regard to the certification, I like it.

It is well written and makes sense. I have several other certifications (MCSE NTv3.51 '97 through CCIE '00 and CCVP '06) and this book works as well or better than the books I had for those certifications.

If you don't mind an electronic copy, the PDF of this book has been made available without cost on Juniper's web site.

It is very suitable book for JNCIS candidates. You need deep network knowledge before read it. JNCIA study guide is a good supplement. To pass an exam own hands-on experience with JN routers is very helpful.

This book does a good job of explaining the different networking topics in a simple and clear manner. The topics covered in the book are comprehensive and more than sufficient to prepare the reader for the JNCIS test.

The book also has enough details to serve as a useful networking reference guide for readers who has already passed the JNCIS exam.

I got this book after I had already passed my JNCIS, but I still find it very valuable. I used it to help strengthen my understanding of JUNOS and the networking topics I was weak in. This book is a great supplement to the JUNOS reference materials available online which so often tell you vaguely what a command does, but don't give you any context for why you might need to use it. It provides good examples and gives good descriptions of what is going on and shows how to verify behavior with the CLI. I like to carry the CD with my laptop for reference.

The book assumes that the reader has at least a JNCIA level of experience, so it skips most of the introductory topics such as CLI and hardware architecture covered in the JNCIA guide. Although I think that a person could pass the JNCIS if they just studied this book very well, it would be much easier if they have some basic knowledge and experience with Juniper M and T series routers (at least at the "JNCIA level").

Comprehensive, clear and accurate coverage of all areas of the JNCIS exam. Complicated subjects are discussed in depth, with explanatory diagrams and sample configurations.

Topics range from a demonstration of how OSPF calculates routes, with a sideline discussion of the new standard Graceful Restart to splitting multicast traffic onto different links than unicast traffic in a network that carries both types of traffic.

There is coverage of items that seem to often come up in Juniper study discussions, such as the differences between Martini and Compella layer 2 VPNs, for example, as well as example scenarios and sample configurations that show you how to get them working in your lab or in real life.

If you want to do some serious studying, and are willing to put the time and effort in, this book will help you pass the JNCIS exam.

A java nut is defined as someone who worships the community developed JSRs. This book brings the ultra-boring standard to life with quite a bit of humor thrown in. For a veteran servlet/JSP developer, this is indeed a perfect starting point for portlets. However, you do need to know about servlets to understand phrases such as "...like a servlet, a portlet lives peacefully in a war file..." on page 2. It gets better as you read and I simply could not put this book down (a rarity among all programming books). It comrehensively answers the question "I know all there is to know about jsp, now how do I code portlets?".

I do have some suggestions for improvememts though (although I suspect the author will hate this). Basically, I think there is much more to portal development than the JSR-168 (soon to be obsolete or augmented by a new JSR). The standard is silent on practical aspects of portal development like themes, layouts and the all important content management systems (CMS) needed for large sites (in fact, anything to do with a database persistence or system state and, well, data is missing in the JSR-168). Portal vendors, even the "reference implementation" Pluto, therefore need much more than the JSR-168 to deliver the required developer functionality...this virtually guarantees that any "pure" JSR-168 portlet you write will need to be tweaked somewhat depending on which portal framework you will deploy into. Conversely, if you are using a commercial vendor CMS to create a portal, you need to know zilch about JSR-168. You will need to figure out the database level housekeeping details by yourself (or pay the vendor to teach you...no free lunch even with the open source guys). So, beyond the simplest toy portlets, albeit a solid exposition of the JSR, you will need more than this book to get really going (mostly understanding your framework and container etc...especially to master themes, layouts and CMS).

Finally, thanks to Amazon, I was able to order this book directly from the author (pulpjava). In addition sending me the latest edition of this book for no charge, he even sent me a free book on java exams...THANKS!

A friend of mine attended his class. He said this author is great, he explains things clearly and seems really understand students' need. He knows where students may get confused and he spends more time explain on them. He said he felt the teacher know what questions students may ask. Before student asks, the auther explains.

So I guess a good teacher can write good books because he knows how to explain. I think I am right. I have read another porlet book and very disappointed. After I read this one, I really understand how to work on portlet development.

Like in college, professors good at doing research may not be good at teaching, because they never figure out why students do not understand this kind of simple things (These professors are too smart). Teaching is a skill. This author is really good at teaching, so he is good at writing a book to teach reader.

This book gives you exactly what you need if you're new to the Portlet API. It goes over all of the classes of the JSR168 API, with lots of explaination of how portlets work, and simple, but relevant examples, that make it very easy to understand how, why, and what is going on inside of a portlet.

The book starts off with the basics of PortletRequest and PortletResponse programming, and moves quickly at a good pace into deeper and deeper subjects, such as PortletPreferences, PortletSession and Validators.

The book covers everything in the Portlet API, is easy to read, and makes many of the advanced topics very easy to understand. The author makes learning portlet development simple easy, which is perfect, because so many other books make it so convoluted and hard.

If you're doing portlet development, you've got to have this book on your bookshelf, if not right next to your keyboard.

The author has done a beautiful job in writing a clear and concise text on portlet programming for the JSR-168 spec. I've taken plenty of training on portal/portlet development and applied it minimally. Reading through this text summarized and CLARIFIED all of what went on in class, and made it much easier to comprehend. The quizzes at the end of the chapters are great checkpoints to boot. I've been very happy with the series of books Mr McKenzie has put out. They are engaging and invaluable to me as a java/web programmer.

I knew nothing about portals and portlets until I picked up this book. It really is an easy and enjoyable read and easy to follow and understand. I recommend this book to any one who would like to battle the IT world of Java and portlets. Another great thing is, if you really don't understand something you can go to the web sites and watch the free tutorials the author has online, and no offence, but if you don't understand it after reading the book and watching the tutorials then maybe portal is not best for you. :)

Steve Fishman's "Karaoke Nation" is an underrated and relatively undiscovered gem. It covers Fishman's attempted transition from journalist to entrepreneur, intermingled with essay-like takes by Fishman on business today. Those pieces feature some trenchant (and funny) observations on the likes of Fast Company, Tom (the spitter) Peters, The Brand Called You and other late-90s business phenomena.

Where the book really excels is in Fishman's recounting of his attempts to breathe life into Karaoke Nation concept. What I love is his recounting of the interactions between himself and advisors/partners-to-be Steve Reynolds (aptly called "Consigliere" thoughout the book by Fishman), web guru Peter Clemente and Oddcast CEO Adi Sideman. It's really fabulous writing. Hopefully, these three are happy with the way they've been depicted. I think Fishman has drawn each of them in a very positive light.

Other high points include meetings with hip hop entrepreneurs Russell Simmons and Chuck D. Fishman has a real ear and eye for what his readers want to hear out of those interactions.

I do take exception to the comment by another reviewer saying "of course the business failed." Not true. What did happen is that the entire Internet craze got pulled out from under Fishman and his circle (they tried to bring this live in the 1999 - 2000 timeframe). And, Fishman does have a completed product he can point to...see karaoke.oddcast.com for a licensed version of the technology. You can actually go there and record a karaoked version of 'The Tide Is High' and a small number of other tunes. It's pretty slick technology. Fishman got his vision into a product. He can hold his head pretty high.

I loved this book. Steve Fishman offers the reader two great stories in one: his own sometimes hysterical, sometimes bittersweet story of trying to become an internet entrepreneur and all the characters he meets along the way; and the story, the history, really, of American business ethic and practices - from Ben Franklin's principles through the dotcom dreamers and schemers.
Fishman has a wry sense of humor and you will laugh out loud at his encounters with all those who participate in the e-business romp, from his dry cleaner who also sells missiles online, to his colorful partners, to the distractible Israeli commando in pink bathrobe and wooly slippers.
It's no secret or surprise that journalist Fishman fails at business; but, lucky for us, he took lots of notes and turned the experience into a great read!

I was in a friends house yesterday and picked up his copy of kareoke nation. It took me thirty minutes to put it down and we missed our lunch reservation but it was worth it. I can't wait till my copy comes and I can go back to reading it.

Definately a must for people who are interested in wit, modern culture, and a whimsical look at fortunes folly.

I f you love adventure this is the book for you. Steve Fishman has the ability to turn a conversation at a cocktail party into a high wire act of observation. His meeting with Russell Simmons as well as his encounter with his missile selling dry cleaner are hilarious and deeply revealing about the nature of the business culture in this country. I've long been a fan of Mr. Fishman's writing in NY magazine and this book confirms his status as one of the leading reporters on our time.

The most redeeming factor about "Karaoke Nation" is that the concept, which reads like something Bill & Ted would have thought up, fails so miserably. Instead of another IPO story, what we get is a nonevent that proves that even during the nutty Internet boom VC's could occasionally be trusted to filter out unworthy projects.

Fishman, who spends almost a quarter of the book glorifying the 70's granola-flaky ideals that defined his sense of self at Brown University, makes a connection that the weird turned pro sometime during the 90's and things like research, development and execution just didn't matter to business anymore - all it took was an Idea, and Passion.

Unfortunately, Fishman has trouble even on these two counts. The Idea, after throwing away some amusingly low-caliber concepts like a "Hi-Five" dummy arm for lonely sports enthusiasts (don't ask) stumbles out of a bar with a vague concept having something to do with Karaoke (duh) and the Internet (because there's no manufacturing involved, so it sounds easy.) Through his journalistic connections, he ends up partnering with a couple folks who have enough experience to at least fake their way through their Power Point presentations and hype things up to some interesting audiences along the way.

The Passion part proves to be hard as well, partly because Fishman's exercising some truly new mental muscles here, and partly because it becomes increasingly obvious that he's the weak link in the chain. Ultimately, being the "Idea Man" isn't enough to keep his partners from deserting him, and Edison's "1% inspiration, 99% perspiration" success ratio holds true.

The downer for me is that Fishman should have read Tracey Kidder's "The Soul of a New Machine" before writing this book. As I mentioned, while 25% of the book is spent glorifying the marvels of EST, he totally missed out on the fact that the foosball-in-the-office sleep-on-the-floor cult of New Technology office life didn't spring from this; it evolved out of mid-1970's microcomputer engineering culture run amok. Fishman has nothing but disdain for programmers, tech workers, and anybody who actually has to develop things; he is, after all, an Idea Man and seems them as the logical extension of 1950's Organization Man. Even when OddCast provides Karaoke Nation's only saving grace in hacking up a quick demo, Fishman seems ungrateful; the fact that his shred of a non-idea ends up being bought out by his tech partner for a pittance seems poetic justice indeed.

And just in case you're wondering, the Million Dollars didn't happen, although Fishman did mange to find find a little bit of Glamour and Fulfillment along the way.

I am currently a student enrolled in the ECOT High School and I when I discovered this book I was excited to read it. I quickly bought myself a copy and couldn't put it down!! I think that more ECOT students need to read this book--it will really open your eyes and show you just how much work went into starting this school. ECOT has been wonderful for me because of my medical situation and I think this book made me appreciate it even more. I would definitely recommend it to anyone!!! Please read this book--it is definitely worth it!!

This is a great 'behind the scenes' look at one man's struggle to establish the nation's first public e-school. Sadly enough, many of the struggles the author faced stem from resistance posed by the educational establishment and its drive for self-preservation. While one might glibly assume a profit motive, the book reveals to us how the author's personal experiences drove him to beat the odds and make ECOT a reality. Rather than a money-making scheme, ECOT emerges as a labor of love.

One wonderful feature that maintained my interest was the student case history featured at the beginning of each chapter. These testimonials from successful ECOT graduates paint a wide and varied portrait of today's American students and the challenges they face. From school violence to teen pregnancy, lack of motivation, family illness and the demands of work, we get a firsthand account of the issues these students face and how the availability of publicly funded home e-schooling allowed them to cross the educational finish line.

Being one of the students featured in the book, I was thrilled when I first found out about the book. Upon reading it, I finally realizd how moch sweat and back breaking work went into ECOT. It truely has revolutionized the way that anyone will go to school. I enjoyed the time that I spent there, and can't wait until the day that it appears around the world.

I thought from the get-go, the book was mainly about Mr. Lager's approach to starting a school of this caliber, and I was right. From an idea to reality, this book really details what really went into making ECOT anything but an idea on a drawing board. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the future of schooling as we know it for one reason. It's here, alive and well and ready to go.

Bill Lager has truly changed the way I think about education. No more finger pointing, he has taken responsibility that the traditional education system can't - or won't. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in alternative forms of education for K-12 and for those who don't believe that online education can work. Lager has proven it can, and will - for a long time to come.

This was a great book; I really enjoyed reading it. More than anything, I loved reading the stories about the students whom were apart of the first e-classroom. This book proves a very important lesson; if you work hard and believe fully in what you are working at, anything is possible.