Programming Books

This is the best book on C++ ever written, even better than Eckel's "Thinking in C++".

It is a very clear book, easy to read, with colors, well organized and with exercises. Solutions are provided for the exercises.

I think the most important thing about this book is it's written with ISO C++ 1998 and STL in mind. Most other books teach you C++ 1989 (or even older!) and have an appendix about ISO C++ 1998 and another appendix on STL, and believe me, that's not good for you.

This is certainly the best C++ book I have read for auto-didactic purposes. C++ is a horrible programming language (coming from a functional programming POV, as well as a ton of ANSI-C systems and Fortran numerics coding in my past), which has unfortunately become a standard in many fields. Should it be a necessary evil to you, this is probably the book to read. Better yet: find a different line of work. All right thinking people should avoid making C++ a part of their profession. It has erased more hours of talent than MS minesweeper or solitaire.

After having purchased and read many different C++ books over the last few years in an ongoing quest for C++ knowledge... I can whole
heartedly endorse this volume... You will learn C++ from this book , buy it, study it , move ahead with your C++ journey...

Attending lectures on C++: Not a clue.

With this book: No problem at all!

The book is great!

If you like to learn from examples and illustrations, and do not have too much time to waste with long explanations, this book is for you. All the major topics of C++ are covered in a nicely structured series of 33 chapters. To name a few:

-Pointers
-Classes
-Methods
-Overloading
-Dynamic Memory Allocation
-Inheritance
-Polymorphism
-Abstract Classes
-Exception Handling
-Templates
-Containers
-etc

Every topic in a given chapter is typically introduced in two pages, the first with an illustration and/or a sample code, followed by a clear and concise discussion of the topic, including its motivation and caveats. The discussion on pointers is particularly illuminating, as well as the discussion on Classes and Object Oriented Programming, which is after all the heart of C++.

I would not recommend this book for someone who does not have any previous exposure to a structured computer language, but it is definetely a great guide and reference on C++ for those already familiar with C, Pascal, etc.

This book is an eye-opener on privacy invasion, and how it can harm you in countless ways. It is a comprehensive study of the many forms privacy invasion can take, especially as practiced on the Internet, and what you can do to protect yourself. Author Dan Tynan has studied these offensive practices for years, and gives us the benefit of his research and findings. Find out what is going on, and what you can do protect yourself, not only on the internet, but in other aspects of your life as well.

Much as we don't want to, privacy is something we all need to think about and protect these days, unless we want to give up our computers and other gadgets and go back to stone tablets. Now we have an easy, funny, understandable guide to protecting ourselves in the online age, and we'd be foolish (and just asking for trouble) to ignore it. Dan Tynan has done all the hard work for us; now we just need to make sure that everyone we know reads this book!

This book covers more than just your digital privacy. It sweeps on a wide variety of privacy topics. I find that a good thing since it's comprehensive. In reality your digital identity is interspersed with your physical identity and both a very important.

This is the most accessible of the privacy books I've read. The advice is presented in bite sized bits that are easy to understand and implement. It gives both background and practical advice. Both of which are necessary to understand the problem and the solutions.

Computer Privacy Annoyances
O'Reilly
By Dan Tynan
ISBN 0596007752

As someone who gets asked questions about Internet use and safety all the time, a book I had been itching to read was "Computer Privacy Annoyances", by Dan Tynan. According to the cover, the book covers "How to avoid the most annoying invasions of your personal and online privacy."

The quick and dirty? The book gives very practical, real-world examples of how your data can be used, yet the author manages to avoid sounding like a doomsayer... even some of the more scary scenarios don't come off sounding like sensationalism, just honest (and sometimes even apologetic) examples of what could very realistically happen. (I thank you, Mr. Tynan.)

I'll take bets on anyone that doesn't learn at least ten new things they didn't know about their privacy rights. Mr. Tynan has taken the proverbial "They" and reduced it to the very organizations that "they" really are. Did you know you can request a copy of your FBI files? Do you know who has the power view it? Do you know who is collecting data on you at this very moment and what they are doing with it?

The book's format allows for a surprisingly fast read. Well organized sections such as privacy at home, on the Internet, in public, at work, and even on a federal level allow for quick chapter absorption. In each chapter, the author states the annoyance, and then the fix. This allows for quick skipping over an 'annoyance' that might not annoy you that much.

I did notice that the author made no mention of the everyday information users give out about themselves without even realizing it, such as usernames that contain birthdates and such. But the Internet privacy chapter is only a small portion of the topics covered in this book. In fact, if I had to find one fault with this book, however, I'd say they lost a much larger audience that could have easily benefited from the book by calling it *Computer* Privacy Annoyances.

As a tech professional, if I could get all my clients, users, friends, family and complete strangers to read this book, I strongly believe identify theft could become a thing of the past. And it might even reduce global blood pressure, too. Bonus!

Privacy? Good luck! Even the slightest misstep on line (or anywhere else, for that matter) can open you up to privacy intrusions that you may not know about. Dan Tynan does a really good job in outlining these areas in Computer Privacy Annoyances. This is pretty much required reading for living in our heavily computerized society.

Contents: Privacy At Risk; Privacy At Home; Privacy On The Net; Privacy At Work; Privacy In Public; Privacy And Uncle Sam; Privacy In The Future; Index

In this Annoyances title, Tynan looks at a wide range of activities and situations that involve a potential unwanted loss of privacy. Using a question and answer format, he effectively shows how seemingly innocent activities (like booking a hotel room or ordering a kosher meal on a flight) can be logged and combined to build a profile of your activities that may not present a very flattering picture of who you are and what you do (and with whom). While there's the obligatory chapters on spam, online registration sites, and the like, there are also excellent chapters that cover privacy at work (what your employers can and can not do) as well as health record concerns. Things may not be as secure and private as you think they are...

Realistically, there's already more information out there to be gleaned than you'd probably expect and be comfortable with. But by reading and digesting the contents of this book, you can start to reduce your exposure going forward. Even just the awareness of privacy concerns will start to cause you to question *why* a merchant might want certain information. They may *want* your zip code or phone number, but that doesn't mean you *have* to give it to them. Even if this book keeps you from making just one mistake that would lead to identity theft, then it's more than paid for itself. A recommended read...

It is really a very good book from IBM about DB2-SPL. In our company we bougth a lot of DB2 book, but this is the very best.

from basics to tricks

Has been extremely helpful. Good information

If you are a developer or DBA who is new to DB2, I would highly recommend this book to you. Both administration and development topics are covered, helpful best practices and tips are included, and illustrative examples are used.

The fundamental DB2 concepts and the different DB2 tools such as the Control Center are introduced in a very straightforward and easy-to-understand manner. This allows DB2-newbies to get fully up to speed on DB2 terminology and functionality, while serving as a gentle refresher for those who might have prior DB2 experience. The book achieves a good balance of topic selection and level of detail. More advance topics that are covered are explained in a manner that most novices would comprehend and in enough detail to be useful.

The prime focus of the book is on leveraging the ease-of-use and autonomic capabilities of DB2. If you are a developer not wanting to memorize database and/or SQL command syntax, you will particularly appreciate this book. The book shows how most common administrative tasks can be very easily performed using the GUI tools and Wizards provided with DB2. Ease of application development is demonstrated in both Java and Microsoft .net environments. An easy and intuitive introduction to DB2 SQLPL is also provided.

Overall, I think that if you are new to DB2, or need to learn the essential concepts/features needed to develop and/or administer DB2 quickly, you will be very pleased with this book. It is a perfect starting point for introducing the most important concepts, features, and tools. As you gain more experience and familiarity with the product, a more advanced book can be obtained.

I didn't know anything about writing DB2 stored procedures until I bought this book. After reading it I have written several procedures to aid in data migration. It is well laid out and has all the necessary information. The best part is that you don't feel like you are reading a technical book.

The book describes IBM's Procedural Language, which runs on their db2 servers. It is not a general purpose language, like C or Java. Rather, it is tied directly to db2 and IBM's implementation of SQL. But within this context, the book explains the expressive power of PL. It shows at length how you can write stored procedures, triggers and functions in PL. The level of detail and the cited examples should reassure you of PL's capability.

But why even write business logic code at the database layer? There have been other books on n-tier application design, which call for the locating of business logic in a middle tier and not at the database. The authors' rejoinder is that while that makes for an elegant design, practical experience shows that often, crucial logic needs to be at the database. This reduces networks traffic and can heavily improve perforance. Hence the need for PL, or something like it.

Be wary of the book's claim that PL lets you write "portable application logic". It is portable only between instances of db2 running under linux, unix, Microsoft Windows or IBM's operating systems. When you write embedded logic in PL, you are also embedding yourself or your company into db2. Which may indeed be fine by you. But just so you know.

Very good collection of Stellent Content Server. Only reason i gave 4 star instead of 5 is that sometimes it is hard to find stuff you are looking for. I have this book for about 18 months now and i have used it so many times both during new development as well as fixing some bugs.

Now that Stellent is bought by Oracle and not knowing how oracle will integrate Stellent CMS with other oracle products, I would suggest hold off buying it, if you are looking for a long term value. If you looking for only short term use, go ahead and buy it.

brian did a great job of getting right to the matter at hand with excellent real world examples.

I only wish this book was written two years ago. However, it is a very well written book with a good layout and great examples. At last many questions that I did not know to ask have now been answered.

Way to go Brain!

Well written, easy to understand and use, congratulations on a truly useful tool. I have worked with Stellent for many years, and have this book next to my keyboard at all times! Bex has always provided clear answers for the user group, but this provides a clear direction no matter what you need to do with your Stellent system.

Kudos!

If you do any customization to a Stellent Content Server or want a detailed over-view of what can be done to a Content Server, then this book is for you. Both developers and managers could benefit from this book. It's easy to explain what needs to be done or what you are asking for, once you know what can be done within the Content Server.

Finding information is easy in the book and Bex's example are clear cut and to the point.

I found this an exellent book. The original design patterns book drew its examples from C++ applications. I could see a use for the patterns in C++, but I thought most of them would not have been necessary if the code had been written in Smalltalk.

This book did an excellent job of showing how and where the patterns could be used in Smalltalk applications. The authors also extended and clarified many of the pattern so that they were simplier to understand. The book is more than a companion to the GOF book; it is an enhancement of it.

This book gives you a better understanding of the patterns than in its original version (the GoF one). I am not a SmallTalk programmer but a 9 years C++ one. At work I had to use the GoF book and never liked reading it. In contrast to this, the SmallTalk companion is easy to read and you can understand the patterns within the first few lines of their description. Take the Bridge pattern and compare their discussions in the two books. If you really like the Gof one then buy it. But according to me, it would be a big mistake buying the GoF in favour of the SmallTalk companion. Trust a C++ programmer :-)

This isn't a Smalltalk translation of "Design Patterns." Instead, it's a companion to that book. You'll need to read the first one to get the most out of this one. If you have read the first one, you'll find this one is better written and really casts essential light on some of the GOF material. The Smalltalk aspects of this book are really a non-issue (except perhaps showing static-typers how many hoops you don't have to use in Smalltalk). This is required patterns reading.

I bought this book because of the unresolved questions I had after spending so many hours exploring the GoF original book. I am an experience C, C++, and Objective C programmer, not a Smalltalk guru at all. And I found the GoF very confusing and intimidating. My current projects these days are written in Java (I miss Objective C). I looked for a book that would cover the pattern catalog in Java because I was really questioning the purpose of some of them in that language. Creating some mechanism to overcome the C++ language is somewhat understandable, but why bother with Java. Take the prototype pattern for example: "...It's (the prototype pattern) less important (to use it) in languages like Smalltalk or Objective C that provides what amounts to a prototype..." (page 121) Sure, ok, but what about Java? Can you give me an example on how it would benefit a language that doesn't really require it like Obj C, or even Smalltalk? Then the sample code refers to the maze example but not much material is given here. I bought several books with Java and Design Patterns in the title but was very disappointed with the beginner level these books approach this problem. The titles are seductive but the content is not that great. I don't need another ADOO (I've read Larman's book already. Get it if you are new to OO BTW.) So I ended up getting that book as a last resort. And you know what? It's great. I program in Java all day (and sometimes all night, sigh...) and this book spends more time on my desk than the GoF original one. So, if this comments remind you some of your experience, you should give this book a try. And this book lighted up another bulb in my brain: I ended up downloading Squeak and prototyping in Smalltalk some of my projects just for the fun of it, but that's a side effect I guess ;-)

I found this an exellent book. The original design patterns book drew its examples from C++ applications. I could see a use for the patterns in C++, but I thought most of them would not have been necessary if the code had been written in Smalltalk.

This book did an excellent job of showing how and where the patterns could be used in Smalltalk applications. The authors also extended and clarified many of the pattern so that they were simplier to understand. The book is more than a companion to the GOF book; it is an enhancement of it.

Mary Kirtland has written a terrific resource for those who wish to know more (i.e. go from basic to advanced) on how to program with COM and MTS. I found the example code (and companion CD-ROM) very useful and relatively bug free. Some of the chapters include:

Windows DNA (now .NET)

COM (101)

Data Access Fundamentals

MTS

ASP

Extending MTS

Application Definition and Modeling

Building Data/Business Objects

Packaging

Building the Presentation Layer

Debugging and Troubleshooting (an excellent chapter on a tricky subject)

Performance Validation

Deploying

Extending the Application

COM+ (pretty good for when this was written, it is time to update the book with the latest and greatest, however).

Most of the information here is still relevant, especially to those with a smattering of COM or MTS under their belt and are hungry for more. Everything is wrapped up well with a comprehensive index. Well worth the purchase price. Definitely a must along with "Programming Distributed Apps with MS COM+ and MS VB."

This book does a good job of explaining the COM standard from the ground up. The first third is devoted to COM. The rest of the book is an overview of building an enterprise application from the ground up using Microsoft technologies.

I used this book as my primary reference in preparing for the new Analyzing Requirements exam (70-100) in the new MCSD track based on the recommendation of someone I know that passed the beta. It may not be listed as a study guide for the test, but it is far better than the Syngress or Sybex study guide for that test. (They were both fairly useless.)

This is an excellent overview of Microsoft's DNA and the technologies that make up DNA. The pieces of the DNA puzzle are clearly defined individually and the way they relate to the others. The Island Hopper application sample (maintained up-to-date on MSDN) is a great hands-on intro to the topic. The amount of coverage on topics like COM, MTS, MSMQ, etc. is just right: technically deep enough to help you understand the concepts, short enough to prevent you from shifting your focus from the architecture to technologies contributing to the architecture.

You may try to surf Microsoft's DNA pages to understand the topic (and potentially get lost in the amount of links that span hundreds of different Microsoft technologies) or get this "one" book to really understand what Mr. Gates is talking about for the last couple of years.

After being confused by multiple books on Windows DNA I was very happy to see a book that actually showed and an entire application which utilized this technology. Part I of the book offers a very concise explanation of MTS and COM without getting too deep into the subjects. Part II showed examples of components that the sample project utilized. I enjoyed the fact that the author used both VB and VC++ in her examples. Beyond the examples, the author also offered very good insight into component design and tool selection. It was enough to get you up to speed so that you can look into deeper books on the subject.

Everyone always draws the same n-tier diagram and says they are going to build a scalable, MAINTANABLE solution.

This book actually provides a blueprint, not the 30,000 ft view.

At my job, we call it "The Good Book"

This is much better than the Oracle Documentation. Easier to read and presents the information in a clear and concise manner. If you can't take the Oracle Security class from Oracle Education this is the next best thing. The only thing bad that I could say about this is . . . . Pete Finnigan could of been brought in to get a different perspective.

Buy this book if you haven't already... it's wonderful!

An easy/enjoyable read full of everything you need to know about locking down a 10gDB install!

Effective Oracle Database 10g Security by Design is sooo helpful.

There is a lot of good info in the Oracle documentation, but David Knox fill in a lot of the blanks.

I'm trying to set up proxy authentication and the book made a lot of assumptions about what I know. The author uses the SCOTT, BLAKE and APP_USER accounts and assumes that we know exactly how these accounts where set up. It would seem that the APP_USER account seems to be the schema owner, or is it the SCOTT and BLAKE accounts. Am I to assume that the SCOTT account is the defualt demo account that is setup by oracle? Being new to high level Oracle security I would have preferred a step-by-step approach to solving my security problems. I noticed that all other reviews where by people that seem to have a handle on this and just needed hints. Even the setting up of an LDAP sever was confusing, we never got it to work and even after following the steps did not get the same things that the author got. Even though I have not been a DBA for too long I have been using Oracle for 20 years now, so I'm not a novice.

It would be easy to be secure if all the data were in one room, there were no connections to the outside world (well I guess you have to have power coming in, but that's all), and there were no people who knew the data.

Unfortunately that's not the real world. Breaking the German and Japanese codes during World War II would have been meaningless if that information wasn't used to sink the submarines, divert the convoy, or be ready at Midway.

The situation hasn't changed, but the integral capabilities of the Oracle database itself have. As security has gotten ever more important, the steps you need to take get every more complex. At the same time, the users of your data can't be expected to agree, they have a job to do and if security systems prevent them from doing their job they will find ways to bypass or ignore the security system.

This book can be read on two levels. First it is an excellent primer on security in general. Second it is Oracle centric so that anyone responsible for security on an Oracle based system need go no further.

Note that the Foreward is by David Carey, former Executive Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. It is generally believed that a big contract from the CIA was Oracle's first major success. The implication is that the CIA worked with Oracle to develop the security system discussed here. If the CIA says it's good enough....

I found it best technical book till date but you should know Flex & Ruby before you can jump into this..

This is a great book. Peter is the #1 expert in Flex + Rails.

The author goes into great detail on how to efficiently get Rails and Flex working together. The book is updated for the latest version of Rails as well as the upcoming Flex 3 release. I've found the book easy to follow along with and enjoy the author's humor spread throughout the book.

As a developer I'm often tasked with making "things talk to each other". Typically if I can I'll use a tool like Flex Builder for a project and if I have a choice I'll pick Java, .NET or Ruby for the server back end - whatever is the best fit. This book only backed up my belief that Rails and Flex really do work very well together. I've learned a lot going through the code both on Rails and Flex.

I also liked how the author is continually refactoring the application (called "Pomodo"), that is where your learning kicks into overdrive. He uses the Cairngorm framework and even RubyAMF. I didn't have any experience in either up until this point. Now I can say I do and it all fits together nicely.

I have used Flex for about a year and I have only dabbled in Ruby/Rails development. I have been curious how I might back a Flex front end with a simple service layer that isn't hard to create, maintain or host. So far I have only worked with Java/Spring/Hibernate backend services which can take a little while to build and integrate (Grails is MUCH faster).

After about 100 pages I'm in interation 4 building an interesting RIA with a Rails backend that I can host on relatively inexpensive server if I wanted to. My only struggles thus far was getting MySQL going properly. But that was only because I forgot a step in installing it.

If you have little exposure to Rails and/or Flex and you feel at home on the command line as well as you do in an IDE like Eclipse, this is a great "project" book for you. I'd say you probably want a primer in Ruby, Rails and Flex before you get going but it is pretty easy follow and has a lot of free professional advice from someone that has obviously been around the block a few times. Peter is very upfront about some things that he has done in the book that should not be considered "best practice".

I am hoping to get some good insight how I might do something similar for Flex and Grails. Regardless, I am confident this is going to be a fun journey!

I wasn't sure whether a mixed-technologies book would be adequate for both reading and reference, especially with two technologies. As both a software engineer and a moonlighting instructor this book was an easy read from the start. Mr. Armstrong explores both Flex 3 and Rails 2 with enough background information on both technologies to get a reader ready to code--and that was just Chapter...err...Iteration 1. The second iteration begins with coding (Hello World) and it doesn't stop. This is a must for your coding library and makes a great textbook for students who enrolled in courses geared toward building web and Rich Internet Applications.

I bought this book, because I'm a big Halo 2 fan. I play Halo 2 all the time. And let me just tell you, this book is the greatest.

Don't let the name Halo 2 Hacks fool you, the first half of this book shows you plenty of Easter Eggs, techniques, glitches, and awesome stuff in the game. The second half shows you modding tools, where to get them, and how to use them. It does absolutely nothing to show you how to cheat on X-Box Live, which is good. I'll bet you didn't know that you can mod a map so when you crouch, you get an ariael view of the sky. You can jump a bazillion feet into the sky. You can put a Scorpion turret on the back of a Warthog. You can even make your shotgun fire dozens of plasma grenades, and this book shows you how to do ALL of those.

See people with interesting textures on their modded maps? This book shows you programs you can use to make those. You can inject meta (I bet you don't even know what that is, but this book will show you!) to make a picture of George Bush apppear over the map. Now I don't know why you would want to, but you can!

I bet you had absolutely no idea before that the Scarab gun is in the form of a Plasma Pistol on Metropolis. This book shows you how to get it. There's a giant soccerball on Metropolis, also. This book shows you how to get it. There's a skull that changes the physics of the game and makes everything explode bigger. This book shows you how to do that. This book shows you EVERYTHING!

In overall, I give this book a 11/10. It is the best guide book I have ever read.

A good book for those who love Halo 2 and those to need a little help gettin' the edge on the enemy!!!

Do you want to know the type of work that is currently being done by the Halo community? If you do, you're in luck! Author Stephen Cawood, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that will show you how to explore the new dimensions of Halo 2 games and some of the most interesting Halo 2 mods that you can create on a modded Xbox.

Cawood, begins by showing you some of the more interesting Halo 2 jumping techniques. Then, he covers the most mysterious of Halo 2 Easter eggs, the skulls. The author continues by showing you how to find some more interesting Easter eggs. Next, he introduces you to interesting things that you can do in the Halo 2 universe. Then, the author covers some interesting anomalies in Halo 2. He continues by showing you the best software tools available for changing the way Halo 2 functions. Then, he shows you how you can create your own weapon variations. The author continues by covering mods that can be made to Halo 2 vehicles. Next, he introduces you to some mods that alter the Halo 2 environment. Then, the author covers mods that relate to the presentation of Halo 2. He continues exploring mods that affect the Halo 2 game engine. Finally, he introduces you to some of the best modded maps that have been produced to date and gets you started on making your own.

In this most excellent book, each hack stands on its own. This book has been written with the same goal in mind, that is, to give you afresh way to enjoy your Halo universe.

He was a little disapointed with the item. He thought it was a book not a magazine

Halo 2 Hacks is a very well written book and easy to understand. The pictures and "visual aids" are very helpful. A definate must for EVERY Halo 2 fan! The section on modding is really well done too. A good introduction to modding, a good source for "how-to" find/use gameplay secrets. A well done book. 5 Stars.

OK, so perhaps you don't need this book, but you'll enjoy it anyway!
The best review and tutorial on clusters available, this book is also funny
enough that you probably don't want to read it in a quiet environment.

As other reviewers have said, this is an excellent book and is a *must have* for anyone exploring practically any aspect of cluster computing. Even beyond the quality of the information conveyed, the writing style is wonderful and the author makes an otherwise abstract and cumbersome topic quite readable and quite approachable. This book is regarded as the Clustering Bible worldwide, and I've seen copies placed prominently in the bookshelves of individuals in Beijing, Tokyo, Paris, and the US. Microsoft's own Cluster Server was codenamed 'Wolfpack', as an honerable reference to the cover art of this specific book.

Aaron McKee
Clustering Products Manager
TurboLinux Inc.

In a subject which is probably considered dull Pfeister has written a book which is actually entertaining as well as informative.If you are new to high perforamnce computing this book will begin from the basics and teach you all the way.If you are a pro you still will find it a great refernce material worth a read.You are bound to find something new in it.

This book provides a terrific introduction to the hardware, software, and systems architecture of parallel computing, candidly discussing the issues and trade-offs in various approaches. The emphasis is on clusters, but there is lots of information on the whole continuum from single processor machines to SMPs to clusters to distributed computing. Pfister will leave you with a better understanding of things like how SMP machines keep processor caches coherent, what the differences are between SMP, NUMA, and distributed computing, how various cluster products work, real world cluster issues (like system administration), programming models used in parallel computing, and why programming code that runs efficently on these architectures is usually the hard part.

The book is somewhat dated - nothing about Beowolf for example - but the concepts remain valid. Many of the issues are illustrated with reference to mainframe clusters, especially IBM's 390 sysplex, which I found particularly interesting since I don't have much experience with these systems.

The style is highly readable and informal, but not insultingly non-technical. The book is loaded with opinion and insights - it is not a dry textbook of issues related to clustering. Highly recommended for anyone in the business of creating information systems that need to run fast.

While struggling through this book, I spend more time thinking about the characters of this author than about cluster. He has this unique style of telling a subject like a friend telling you a story and it goes like : I am going to tell you this .. but first let me explain why I tell you this .. and now I want to tell you how I am going to tell you this .. and finally this is this, believe you me .. OK, truth is - I lied, it is actually this ... and on and on. He successfully made "this" simple and understandable to a certain degree, but the "how I, why I" portion mix with some high IQ humours did confuse me no end - though it is fun. I find that at some stage I have to use a finger to point to a key sentence and said " OK, Pfister is going to tell me this - lets see how" - then at some stage I will have to judge whether he has finished what he promised and is already on to new stuff. And, he does choose some words that I suspect is more often used in classical literature - rococco, dischotomies, litany, etc - which although harmlessly infrequent, does add some irritation to the already burden mind. All things considered, going through this book is fun. In case you are one of those like me that is quite lost and struggle a fair bit, I did find chapter 6 fairly readable - so perhpas you want to starts from there and work backward/forward if other chapters frustrated you a fair bit.