Software Books

The book is excellent. I used it and understood it very easily. I would recommend it for anyone desiring to learn Microsoft Access.

Enjoyed using this book a lot! I would reccomend this book to all of my friends and neighbors.

Great book for a novice or one with more experience. Answered many of my questions quickly and easily. Highly recommended.

Great book for MS Access XP. Well written.

Well written with excellent illustrations. Easy to follow and excellent for anyone learning Access.

Great book for those who want to see a brief explanation or review of all the math involved in vector calculus. I bought the book to gain insight into the vector calculus integral theorems (Green's, Stoke's & Gauss'/Divergence). Though the book culminates in these theorems, what I found particularly helpful was a review of the the multivariable concepts (which in most books on vector calculus is usually used without much commentary)which comprise 6 of the 10 programs (chapters). In particular, the ubiquitous multivariable differential:
(df=[part.f/part.x]dx + [part.f/part.y]dy + [part.f/part.z]dz)


I also like the balance it strikes being not as verbose as a text but not assuming the material is familiar to the reader. The concepts are presented in a visual manner, the diagrams and examples are well thought out and helpful. It is ideal for self study with many exaples worked out and many exercises with an answer key.

Though it did not suit my original purpose, of providing a deeper understang of the vector calculus integral theroems, I feel much better prepared to find a text that will.

Overall a very good text to learn the basic concepts of multivariable calculus and the mechanics of the vector integral theorems.

In a sentence or two: this is a pedagogically sound and well motivated work. It offers a lot of well paced and well guided learning to the student looking to further their skills in vector analysis. It is VERY good. How can step-by-step instruction be bad?

How it teaches, or the algorithm is:
* provide learning objectives
* provide a motivating, easy to relate to reality example
* generate theory based on the example in a methodical and well explained manner and in BITE-SIZED pieces
* provide some fully worked examples
* provide the student with some questions
* provide fully worked answers to the aforementioned examples after the questions
* make the questions harder
* generalize the results
* provide questions with fully worked solutions using generalized results
* provide end of chapter quiz type questions with solutions
* repeat for each chapter!

This is a book that explains and continually reinforces your learning. The questions are probing with answers provided. This book will not leave you floundering or wondering how they got from one place to another. These guys really know (Dexter Booth)/ knew (K.A. Stroud) how to teach mathematics: take the student from what they know to what you want them to know in clear, manageable steps, providing guidance where required. I really like this book because of that. And it is reasonably rigorous to boot (but nowhere near as terse as a Springer book).

Audience: gifted high school student (having done some calculus) or 1-2nd year physics, mathematics, engineering student. I wish I had had this book when I did vector calculus. Also, take a look at Div, Grad, Curl, and All That: An Informal Text on Vector Calculus, Fourth Edition (Paperback) by H. M. Schey (ISBN 0393925161) for another seriously good book on this topic.

Another book book by the same authors, Stroud and Booth is also worth casting your eye over is: Differential Equations (ISBN: 083113187X). Chances are if you're doing vector analysis then DE's can't be too far away. And this is the second best value DE book I have seen (you can't beat Tenenbaum and Pollard's: Ordinary Differential Equations ISBN: 0486649407 , for value and content)

So in summary Vector Analysis represents excellent value with a quality teaching program and pedagogy and perfect for any student with the will to learn Vector Analysis (given some mathematical ability of course). And Autodidacts will really prosper with it!

While it may not have the content of those $120 books, but where's the point if you can't get a grip on the basics? This book will really value add to that $120 wonder by ensuring you do get the basics and well and thereby are in a better position to transition into the more arcane depths of that $120 hefty. Definitely two thumbs up!

Potential bias first: I teach mathematics and physics and have an engineering degree so my mathematic know-how is apparently well above average. This may color this review.

I have used this book as revision material after finishing my degree six years ago. I have found it really easy to read and the material is very well presented. I would recommend the book to undergradutes and anyone who is trying to understand how to use vector analysis without the proofs. There are plenty of worked examples to help you through the book.

I am a practicing system engineer in the aerospace industry and have several vector analysis books on my shelf. Mathematical modeling in the core skill of my discipline and theoretical mathematics is my passion. As such I spend a great deal of time going line by line though the proofs in my theoretical books, but I also have to pay the bills by producing product in the form of mathematical models of physical realizations. As such Stroud's book helps me to both produce better product in career and to validate and strengthen my understanding of my theoretical readings.

I would highly recommend this book as a companion book to anyone trying to learn vector analysis for the first time, reviewing the material, or expanding their understanding of applied vector analysis. The book has well written, well organized, and would be an excellent addition to anyone's bookshelf.

This book is written in the classic Dexter and Booth style - very similar to their immensely popular Engineering Mathematics series textbooks.
It is great for brushing up on forgottenn skills and solution methods.
On the other hand, don't expect any rigorous proofs or extensive references. As I mentioned in the title, this is a workbook NOT a textbook.
Nevertheless, I used this book as a refresher for a Turbomachinery grad course and it was highly useful. Its main merits lie in the fact that everything is "user - intuitive" and you can build up from scratch without almost any previous knowledge on the subject (assuming that you are familiar with basic college-level calculus). It is not very advanced and only focuses on the main techniques and pathways for solutions. No specific or special cases here.
Although, you WILL learn and learn fast with this book.Higly reccomended for the applied science student or for brushing up on forgotten math skills.

This book is awesome. It is exactly what I have been looking for.

I have been coding in VB.Net for a couple years now and I'm comfortable with the standard features of VB.Net and Visual Studio.Net. I needed a book that would take my skills to the next level and help me take full advantage of the more powerful capabilites of the .Net programming environment.

Make no mistake, this is not a beginner's book. It does not rehash the same old instructions on how to do the basics. What it does, and does very well, is take you straight into the advanced topics of interfaces, delegates, reflection, attributes, multithreading, COM Interop, remoting, custom components, smart clients, web services, and much more. I can see how this information will help me build awesome applications that I would not have otherwise been able to do.

Paul Kimmel's writing style is concise yet friendly. The examples truly help clarify the lesson at hand. The size of the book is small enough, 700 pages, that you can take your time to understand the material and still expect to complete the book in a reasonable amount of time.

I know that I will be writing and delivering better software as a result of reading this book. It is exactly what I was looking for in a "Level 2" book. I don't know if there is a "Level 3" book or not, but I can only hope that if there isn't one, that Paul Kimmel is in the processing of writing it.

This book covers a grab bag of topics around the .NET platform. Topics range in obscurity from reflection (which it starts with) to just above basic, using ADO.NET with stored procedures. Threading, which is always a difficult topic to explain, was covered in a well written fashion, but lacked illustrations, which I think would have brought a lot of clarity to the subject. Other topics were given some illustrations, but overall the book used screenshots for most of the graphics. Remoting was another area that could have used illustrations.

Overall well written, but could have been better organized and illustrated. Definitely worth a look over if you find that it covers topics of interest.

To start this book review I can only say one thing ... this book is AWESOME! I actually sat
down and read the whole book in just over a week. I couldn't put it down. The way Mr. Kimmel
writes will keep your attention GLUED to each page as you read and learn about Visual Basic
.NET programming advanced topics. His sense of humor comes shining through in his examples and
writing. It is a book that I could just not put down. I'd come home from work, grab a bite to
eat and it was off to the reading room for me. I spent many a night this past week staying up
late because I didn't want to close the book for another night.

Mr. Kimmel did what a lot of books have tried to do, but in my opinion have come up short on
all too many occasions. He started out in Chapter 1 explaining the differences between Visual
Basic 6.0 and the new, improved Visual Basic .NET programming languages. He drilled down into
the changes more than any other book I have read and made it so easy to understand the
differences. This is also something that he did throughout the text. This was to give the
reader a look back at the Visual Basic 6.0 language and then explain how it works now in the
.NET world. That is something that many books have tried to do, but in my opinion, Mr. Kimmel
NAILED the explanations to the barn door. He made is so easy to understand the VB.NET language
now and the advanced features that are available to us as developers.

I have spent the past three years teaching at the Community College of Aurora as an Adjunct
Instructor in the Computer Sciences Division. I have had the opportunity to teach Visual Basic
6.0, Advanced Visual Basic 6.0, and Java programming languages. I have read and used many
different textbooks in my tenure. Going forward, I'm going to be telling my Visual Basic .NET
programming class students that this is the book they need to read after they have finished
their Advanced VB.NET book. The textbooks that are available for instructors are all fine, but
I believe that Mr. Kimmel's book will be a much higher benefit to my students who are serious
about learning VB.NET and the power that it now has. I have already contacted some of my
previous students who are Visual Basic .NET developers and have advised them to get their own
copy of this book.

My favorite chapters are 10 & 11, ADO.NET and Advanced ADO.NET. In my years of developing
projects I have done A LOT of database programming, as most of us have. I found that ADO.NET
is a subject that has MANY, MANY different books written about it. Most are very intricate and
very technical, which is good for some people. For the rest of the folks out there, it's best
to get a GOOD grounding in the basics before moving on to the heavy technical stuff. I believe
that Mr. Kimmel found the secret of how to give us that understanding of ADO.NET that we can
now go forth and build upon.

That is how I feel about the entire book. There is enough technical expertise to keep the hard
core developers interested, but at the same time there is a good balance of information for
folks who are just stepping out of a college level advanced VB.NET course who are looking for
a good reference book to help them get a better understanding of VB.NET. Mr. Kimmel covers
Visual Basic .NET like no other author I have found yet. Very concise information is shared in
the pages of his book. There is no "fluff" that you find in some books. No, not in this book.
He drills into Visual Basic .NET like no other author that I've read thus far. I feel very
enriched by having had the opportunity to read this book and plan on having this located on my
bookshelf within EASY reach while I'm developing projects.

I feel fortunate in that I have been extended a hand by what I believe to be that of a
gentleman who is a person I consider to be extremely knowledgeable in both the technologies
and helping others understand the technologies. I received an e-mail from Mr. Kimmel just a
short time after sending a thank you note to the publisher's representative who donated this
book to the Denver Visual Studio User Group, Denver, Colorado, where I selected this book for
a review. I was shocked when I opened my e-mail and I saw the address being Mr. Kimmel's. When
I opened the e-mail what I found was a gentleman who can only be described as an individual
that I hope to keep in contact for years to come. He had a genuine interest in me as a person
and a developer. We have shared a few e-mails since then and I sincerely hope that he will
consider revising his book and writing a 2nd Edition for Visual Basic 2005. I know that there
are going to be many upgrades, changes, additions, subtractions, etc. that are accomplished by
Microsoft and I would really appreciate it if Mr. Kimmel could be the one to lead the charge
as the new technologies are released. He has such a tremendous understanding of the
technologies and how to put them into words that makes it easier for us developers to
understand and then use the knowledge that he shares with us to help build our foundation on
which we build our empires of knowledge.

Thank you to Mr. Paul Kimmel for writing such a true work of art for those of us who are mere
students of Visual Basic .NET and who seek the wisdom of the Masters! I truly believe that
this book could be considered a book written by a Master of Visual Basic for the Ages!

As a professional programmer with almost 2 years experience with the .NET framework, this book is a breath of fresh air. Finally, a book on .NET that goes beyond the basics and shows some of the more advanced and interesting capabilities of the framework.

Highlights for me include a discussion on value and reference types, delegates for multithreading, reflection, attributes, COM interop, remoting, custom components (including UITypeEditor) and implementing Extender Provider controls (like the ToolTip control).

I discovered many details of the framework that had eluded me. For example, did you know that all value types inherit from the ValueType class? how to add custom properties to all controls on a form? or how to use COM interop to provide a smooth path for the migration of VB6 application to .NET?

On the down side, the chapters dealing with the subject of ADO.NET, which is itself in need of a few advanced books, only describe the more basics aspects of the technology. Also, there is no chapter on XML.

Overall though, Kimmel does an excellent job of putting together a wealth of advanced subjects in a compact package.

There are endless books for beginners trying to learn .NET. This book is for people yearning for more. His discussing on Asynchronous operations is worth the price of the book alone. So is his discussion on No touch deployment. If you want to take your VB.NET knowledge up a level, this is the book for you.

This is one of my favorite VC++ books. It has great examples and easy to follow explanations of the subject being covered. I have really learned from this book. Excellent.

The book is full of skills that helps programmers solve common problems when programming in MFC. Some problems exist: I found one "How-to" appeared twice in different parts of the book. Also, some programs on "Toolbars and Status Bars" have bugs. For example, the "ProgressMeter" application should derive CMeterBar from CStatusBar instead of CStatusBarCtrl. These are minor problems that can be easily corrected - I hope the authors have already done that. Besides all these problems, I still think this is a very good book on MFC programming. It prevents you from reinventing the wheel (many times).

If you have to code in MFC you need this book in addition to the Microsoft documentation and at least one other VC++ book. Scott's book uncovers techniques that are well hidden in the MFC documentation and not covered in other books but necessary in real applications. Usually if I am trying to do something slightly different from the standard look I find the answer in Scott's book or it gives me enough hints to figure out a solution. Many are not covered in the other VC++ books. Some important examples show how to change some properties in forms using MFC that are simple to change in VB but would be almost impossible to find in the MFC documentation or figure out by yourself.

An amazing amount of topics covered. Very thorough, and concise. No fluff. I constantly refering to it. One bad point: The index is not tabulated correctly, it can be difficult to find subjects. Overall the best book on Visual C++ I've seen yet.

Almost all of the programming books I have ever bought that are specific to a particular language product are worthless. They spend 550 of 600 pages describing the product's menu options and toolbar buttons then 40 pages of trivial worthless sample programs and 10 pages of index. This is not one of those books.

This book is 650 pages of pertinent and valuable examples and I have used it many times to help me solve many real world problems. I specifically liked that fact that it is the first book I have ever read that described the WM_GETMINMAXINFO message as a method of making CFormView based applications look the way they should. For the record, every other programming book I have that relates to MFC in any way gives naive CFormView examples that look stupid when running and behave stupidly when used.

First, before anything else, he links us to a character, a man named Bert Smallways, who we will follow and this allows us to see what is happening from the view of a normal man within the book. The first few chapters in fact deal only with Bert, pushing much of the major events into the background, suggested by news headlines that nobody seems to notice.
But when wars come it comes with a bam. The Earth's weapons seem to be bomb carrying airships and gun carrying airplanes.
The airships seem to be the major weapon, becoming the terrors of the sky, huge monster craft that carry death to the cities of Earth.
Why airships? The book was published in 1907. While airplanes were just being invented and designs played with, blimps and dirigibles were already flying about in good numbers. By the time World War One cames about, German airships are bombing London. Airplanes started off during the Great War totally unarmed, used for scouting out enemy movements and checking out the landscape. So, for him to suggest that airships would become the wave of the future in combat is not a great leap of logic.
One scene has German airplanes and airships destroying an American fleet of warships, a chilling vision of things to come.
As each nation designs and builds it own aircraft things get out of hand. While the air fleets can bomb the cities, they can't TAKE them (not being able to carry any troops) and they can't DEFEND them (as they carry many bombs, but few weapons to fight other aircraft), so soon the world is nothing but burnt out buildings and thousands of airships attacking anything on the ground that even LOOKS dangerous.
Will Bert survive? Will he get back to England? Will mankind ever learn to live together?

"The War of the Worlds" wasn't the only masterpiece that H.G. Wells wrote with the words "The War" in the title. "The War in the Air," which came out 10 years later, in 1908, is surely a lesser-known title by this great author, but most certainly, in my humble opinion, a masterpiece nonetheless. In this prophetic book, Wells not only predicts World War I--which wouldn't start for another six years--but also prophesies how the advent of navigable balloons and heavier-than-air flying craft would make that war inevitable. Mind you, this book was written in 1907, only four years after the Wright Brothers' historic flights at Kitty Hawk, and two years BEFORE their airplane design was sold to the U.S. Army for military purposes. In "The War in the Air," Wells also foresees air battles, as well as engagements between naval and aerial armadas. His gift of peering into the future is at times uncanny.
We see this worldwide war through the eyes of Bert Smallways, a not terribly bright Cockney Everyman who is accidentally whisked away in a balloon and lands in Germany right on the eve of that country's departure for war. Bert is brought on board one of the German airships, and so personally witnesses a titanic battle in the North Atlantic; the Battle of New York (in which the length of Broadway is destroyed and many buildings near downtown City Hall Park are levelled, looooong before 9/11); and the huge fight between the German and Asiatic forces over Niagara Falls. And these are just the start of Smallways' adventures. Wells throws quite a bit into this wonderful tale, and the detail, pace and characterizations are all marvelous. But this isn't just an entertaining piece of futuristic fiction; it's a highly moral one as well. The author, in several beautifully written passages, tells us of the terrible waste of war, and the horrors that it always entails. In this aspect, it would seem to be a more important work of fiction than even "The War of the Worlds." While that earlier work might be more seminal, this latter tale certainly raises more pressing issues. And those issues are just as worrisome today as they were nearly a century ago. In his preface to the 1941 edition of this book, Wells wrote: "I told you so. You damned fools..." As well he might! And it would seem that we STILL haven't learned the lessons that Wells tried to teach us so many years ago.
Perhaps, at this point, I should mention that readers of this novel will be faced with many geographical, historical and vocabulary/slang terms that they may not be familiar with. If those readers are like me, they will take the time to research all those obscure terms; it will make for a richer reading experience, as always.
I said before that this novel is a masterpiece, and yet, at the same time, it is not perfect. Wells does make some small booboos in prediction, for example. Zeppelins were not more important than airplanes in war; civilization did not collapse after World War I. He tells us that the distance from Union Square to City Hall Park is under a mile, whereas any New Yorker could tell you that it's more like two. Wells mentions that the Biddle Stairs (which were built in 1827, led from Goat Island to the base of Niagara Falls, and were demolished in 1927) were made of wood, while in fact they were made of metal and encased in a wooden shaft. But these are quibbles, and in no way detract from the quality of the work. Indeed, this is a novel that should be mandatory reading for all politicians, not to mention all thinking adults.

H.G. Wells-what a genius. He foresaw the future better than any supposed "psychic." This novel, little known but available again, is the proof.

In the early 20th century, the invention of aerial vehicles precipitates the outbreak of a worldwide war that had brewed for hundreds of years. The aircrafts' ability to wreck unlimited destruction lays waste to civilization, reducing it to pre-Industrial revolution levels. That is the basis of this incredible piece of political and scientific prophesy. Wells unleashes his full understanding of human "progress" and the fraility of political systems, and with every page hits truths about war and technology even more applicable today than during World War I, the combat that Wells envisioned here. He even saw 9/11 and the Iraq War, pegging Western European complaceny so accurately that I felt my jaw drop to the floor on a few occasions.

Honestly, this H. G. guy was one in a billion. He was utterly, incalculably brilliant. He was also a helluva writer, expressing ideas with flashes of humor, irony, and passion. Wells uses a countryside Englishman as witness to the fall of civilization, and manages to effortlessly switch between the epic canvas of war and the cameo portrait of a normal man seeing everything he ever understood about the world fray apart before his eyes.

In a terrific last stroke, Wells writes the final chapter that sums up the possibility that "progess" may be an illusion. This novel deserves to be considered amongst Wells finest, and this new edition with Duncan's insightful introduction, may be the firest step in getting it the wide audience it deserves.

Written in 1908, Wells predicted warfare as we know it now. He foresaw pushbutton wars, "cold-blooded slaughters ... in which men who were neither excited nor ... in any danger, poured death and destruction on homes and crowds..." Paradoxically, Wells also predicted it to be "a universal guerilla war, a war involving civilians and homes and all the apparatus of social life." He predicted weapons "ineffectual for any large expedition or conclusive attack, [but] horribly convenient for guerilla warfare, rapidly and cheaply made, easily used, easily hidden." Specifics of the story needed to be credible to Wells's 1908 reader, but major points could have been drawn from today's headlines.

Wells's war encircled the globe, years before WWI showed how widespread a war could become. Rather than narrate global destruction, though, Wells told his story through the viewpoint of Bert Smallways, an everyman of modest means, achievement, and intellect. In fact, Bert's only real skill was a knack for being in the wrong place when world-shattering events came to pass. Starting from his bicycle shop in England, Bert's involuntary travels made him witness to the destruction of whole blocks and rows of blocks in New York City, then to the rise of Eastern armies that over-ran the Western world. Then, somehow, he made it back to his sleepy village to settle into a post-war agrarian life without technology - easy enough, since the village had slept through the technology of the time anyway.

Despite the zeppelins used as warcraft, Wells's forecasts hit the bullseye of many targets. He predicted the worldwide caches of hidden weaponry, not too far from what we saw in the Cold War. He also predicted the bafflement of the common civilian, who really just wanted to settle down with a spouse, a house, and food on the table. Headlines aside, that's still the case today.

-- wiredweird

Bert Smallways is a rather backward sort, trying (but not too hard) to make a living in England, and watching the advance of technology. But, technology is moving on in directions that he might never have guessed. With the advent of the airship, a secret arms race has broken out among the world's powers, and a new type of war is about to break out.

When Bert is accidentally scooped up by a German fleet, on its way to launch a surprise attack on the United states, he finds himself with a front row seat to the greatest war that has ever been - the war in the air! This new war is to be a different sort of war than all the wars that came before it, unprecedented in its ferocity and destructiveness. When everything can be smashed, what will be left? A good deal less than you might hope.

This now largely forgotten work was written by H.G. Wells (1866-1946) in 1907, and is a masterpiece of forward thinking. While Wells missed the true course of the development of military aviation, his grasp of what a major war, involving fleets of aircraft, would mean was spot on. In fact, this book is quite spooky in its prediction of the destruction of cities and modern infrastructure, and in its portrayal of fleets of warships destroyed from the air! As a prediction of the future, this book is nothing short of amazing.

Well, if the book is so good, why is it now forgotten? In fact, while Wells' portrayal of aerial warfare is right on target, the book, as a novel, is not as good as it should be. The story starts out quite slowly, wasting too much time on the development of the character of Bert Smallways. And, there are many places throughout the narrative where the book could have benefited from some pruning and tightening of the narrative.

So, if you are a fan of H.G. Wells, or are interested in how correct a man of 1907 could have been about modern warfare, then this is the book for you. However, if you are looking for a good science-fiction story, you might be disappointed. Overall, I found this to be an interesting story, one that I am glad that I read. It's almost frightening how close to reality Mr. Wells was. I just wish that he had had a better editor.

First part of the book while describing Distributed Systems, Middleware and EAI lays strong foundation for Web Services. Second part of the book provides an extensive reporting about Web Services Architecture, related standards, service composition and BPEL. Though at the outset this book looks like serving academic purpose but it also provides the great insight of the subject to the programming community.

This book is must have which draws detailed conceptual and architectural views on Distributed Systems, EAI and Web Services.

This book is a little more expensive than most of the flashy Web Services books these days but it is well worth the money. Set in small font and not wasting pages on chapters like "History of XML and SOAP" this book is dense in content on the architecture of distributed systems, including Web Services. We get to learn about the issues of distributed transactions and the differences between conversations, coordination and orchestration. The text is precise but nevertheless easy to follow. One of the best books I have seen on Web Services architecture.

You can find a sample chapter on the author's site:
http://www.inf.ethz.ch/personal/alonso/Web-book/Chapter-5.pdf

I am using this book for a graduate level class about Web Services. I like the books approach on giving you enough background about middle-ware evolution that makes it easier to understand what Web Services are trying to accomplish. Given that the actual technology (implementation details) change so much in this area the books approach makes a lot of sense. I also found explanations to be concise and clear.

Advice: if you are looking for a hands-on how-to book about XML this is not the book to pick up. Otherwise, if you are looking for a good fundamentals book that will help you paint a big picture of Web Services this book is great!

A very nice introductory book on Web services, much different from all the others on this topic.
Excellent overview of the problematics of service oriented architectures on the Web and of their relationships with their EAI counterparts (corba,rpc,..).

If you want comprehensive high level overview of today's enterprise software landscape, this is a must-read.

One of the best books which answers the question , Why Web Services?? Unique perspective on middlewares in general.

Do not expect any code examples or details of any particular middleware.

I stumbled on this book and gave it a read. I was surprised that to find it a great intro to HTML. It's balanced between discussion and examples.

The book is a little dated. The HTML tag section references 3.2 Some of the software links no longer work, but that happens with time.

However, the examples are simple and easy to understand.

The chapters are: Introduction, tools of the trade, HTML Standard, the Next plane, Frames and forms, advanced webbing, upload, wrap-up.

The appendixes give you a Tag Compendium, Color names and Hex equivalents and the ever present Glossary.

Some of the stuff can be "glanced" as there is a small discussion about CGI, DHTML, XML, and java.

Probably the only concern is there are a few references to Matt's script archive and I have heard many people say "it's good to find out who not to do things."

Overall, this is a decent introduction for people how haven't done HTML before. The book doesn't patronize and it doesn't bury with detail as with the dummies HTML book.

Mr. Howard outdid himself with this one. I cant say that I've ever read a better text on the subject of HTML. THe approach is subtle yet engaging on the most intellectual levels.

This book is a conversation between two users (one novice, one expert) and this gives us a great perspective. Howard proves that programmers shouldn't be writing books anymore than mechanics should be selling cars. There's only room for one more HTML book and this is it.

Mr. Howard and his sidekick Kate provide an introduction to HTML unlike any I've seen. Through common sense examples and real world techniques that will have the reader coding pages in hours instead of days, they use the Teacher/Student metaphor to guide the reader through the lessons. Mr. Howard never talks down to the reader or assumes too much, and the casual, conversational banter between he and Kate fosters a comfortable environment for learning about HTML. Highly recommended!

...second only to Catcher In The Rye is Todd M. Howard's funny yet poignant book about life and love in the world of HTML. This book moved me in ways I can only attempt to describe, it's protagonist was familiar yet distant, a recluse iconoclast, a stranger in a strange land, always pursued by the wolves in his own mind, whilst wrangling with the predators in his own, very real existence. As the book progressed, and I learned better how to spell URL and FTP, I immersed myself deeper into the mind of this terrifyingly sublime character. Would he ever tear his gaze away from Windows 98 to the windows right behind him, would he ever be free of those shackles of conformity that held him captive? Would the tender succubus of his own youth and naivate consume him whole? Would I ever figure out how to plug in a table to my homepage? Link up to this classic, folks, our boy Howard has talent, charm, charisma... he is a credit to our race. He is a force to be reckoned with in a galaxy of wolves and sheep. He weaves the written word with the skill of a surgeon and implements lines of code like a crazed Kabuki chef on New Year's Eve at BeniHana's. I only pray that, unlike Salinger, Howard lives to put pen to paper once again. They say lightning only strikes once, but baby, I'm praying for rain. Until then, I remain his loyal subject, like a master to an apprentice.

Passed NT Server with score of 899--first certification class I have taken. This book is not only an excellent study guide but a great introduction to NT Server. I have been maintaining Server for over a year and learned things I needed to know 12 months ago! I hope Alan Carter keeps writing technical guides.

Passed easily in conjunction with Transcenders. Excellent reference guide - perfectly explains core issues regarding NT Server 4.0 and the exam.

Studying does not get much easier than this!

Highly Recommeded!

I used this book, combined with Transcenders and my real-world experience with WinNT Server 4.0 and passed with a 900. Even with the new MCSE W2K Track (which I am pursuing) I feel the right way to do is to do the upgrade path especially if you have experience with NT 4.0. Good luck to all.

Best written book of any MCSE study guide series! It is the easiest to read, comes with great software, and does a great job of hitting each objective. I bought this book instead of the NT 4.0 guide that covers WKS, Server, and ENT because I had already taken WKS--and it is enough to get you through ENT too. Alan Carter deserves a raise or something--because he outdid himself with this series.

This book is a must have if you want to become a MCSE. It covers everything you need to pass all three NT exams with a very clear approach.

No review here since the book hasn't come out yet, but I am sure it will be an excellent source of information regarding its stated topic.


SWEATY B!

I've been searching for a book like this for quite a while. I was primarily looking for a book that explained how to use Windows Media Player. Other books would skim the surface but this one goes into detail for people who enjoy organizing and listening to their music in various ways. When the author finishes teaching you the in's and out's of Media Player, he's just warming up. The author then goes on to explain how to set up your computer for music to get the most out of it, how to record from analog sources into your computer, how to use portable digital players (such as I-Pod), ripping CD's and burning them, downloading and purchasing music, listening to the radio via your computer, and finally setting up your own computer-based, home recording studio and using it. whew!! I'm a professional musician and even I learned things from this book. Besides explaining the main topics of the book, Mr. Williams goes into detail well enough so that you don't feel like you are left hanging. Before this book came out you would have had to buy maybe three or four different books to cover the same information. It's well worth the price in my opinion. For someone who is wanting to get involved with any or all aspects of Digital Music and looking for a starting point, I highly recommend this book. Well done Mr. Williams.

What a charming book. I picked it up in a bricks-n-mortar retailer who shall remain unnamed... then slammed it down before I let my fingerprints mar the surface and be forced to take out a loan to pay for it. I would recommend purchasing the book, chock full of informative, helpful, and timely advice-lets here and saving a pretty penny, though. It's not like I wanted to buy the store... just this excellent tome of digital wit that will help the user navigate the recesses of Al Gore's Internet (does he have that phrase copyrighted yet?) and remain out of prison and without "severe monetary penalties" (or, more succinctly, consequences and repercussions).

This is a pretty good reference book for anyone who is just getting into digital music.

It is particularly focused on the Windows Media player. There is also useful information regarding ripping and burning CDs, creating a computer jukebox, portable music players such as IPods, etc. The author also discusses the different formats for storing/playing digital music and the online services that offer downloadable songs for each.

Overall, I would say it is pretty good as far as being a beginning resource for one's digital music needs.

This book saved my life. Covered every aspect I needed it to.

I stumbled on this book over fifteen years ago while substitue teaching, and have been quoting from it, and looking for a copy, ever since. Like all good 'children's' books, WINNERS AND LOSERS is written as much for the parent as for the child. A wonderful introduction to ethical decision making, WINNERS AND LOSERS would be my choice as the primer for a course in the works of Confucius and Philip Paul Hallie.

The first time I encountered this book was in high school (1983) and a friend's father loaned it to me. A MILLION THANKS TO YOU MR. MESTON! I was so moved by this book that I have committed many of its words to memory, and have recommended it to probably hundreds of other people. Many times since then I have asked myself in certain situations, "Am I a winner, or a loser?" So, are YOU a "Winner" or a "Loser"? Read the book and find out.

I obtained my copy of Winner's and Losers when I went off to college. Years later, and after several moves and job changes, I have held on to my copy. This well-worn book is chock full of useful and quotable messages that apply in many personal and business settings.

This is one of the valuable little books that you or a friend will treasure.

I planned to purchase a couple of copies of Winners and Losers today. Please reprint as soon as possible.

The book illustrates with clear phrases and illustrations the differences between winners and losers. Some of my favorite quotations come from this book and I morn the fact that my last copy was lent and never returned. Some illustrations of favorite quotes: "Winners focus, losers spray" "A winner speaks until he makes his point, a loser keeps talking until he blunts his point." (caviat: quoted from a possibly defective memory) -bz- P.S. PLEASE reprint!

This book effectively identifies the attitudes attributable to winners and losers in very, very simple and straightforward phrases. It makes you self-introspect to improving your outlook in life all the more. I got mine many years ago and never got it back when lent to a friend. Am eagerly awaiting reprint of the book and will order quite a number as fitting gifts to friends and loved ones.