Condon Books

good entertaining book but would like to note the environmental gaffe about shawtoosh.

In October 1999 celebrities joined TRAFFIC and WWF India in calling for an end to the shahtoosh trade which drives a large-scale poaching of Tibetan antelope Pantholops hodgsonii (chiru) on the plateaux of China. A TRAFFIC East Asia and TRAFFIC India review summarised the latest information about the status of chiru and illicit trade of shahtoosh. It also served as the foundation for a successful campaign against shahtoosh trade in India, Hong Kong, Europe and the USA, gaining wide attention by the media and consumers worldwide.

International trade in shahtoosh, which is a luxury fibre made from the wool of chiru, has been prohibited under CITES since 1979. The only notable exception is the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, where the chiru wool is woven into shahtoosh shawls and scarves to be smuggled to consumer markets worldwide. Shahtoosh shawls range in price from USD1000 to USD5000. An estimated 20,000 animals have been killed each year to obtain the wool for the consumer market. The wild population is now estimated to be 70,000.

The summary report titled Fashion Statement Spells Death for Tibetan Antelope recommended, among other actions, that all the countries should stop all internal trade, export and import of shahtoosh products whilst consumers should refuse to buy and wear such products.

In India, the campaign spearheaded by TRAFFIC India and WWF India, with a helping hand from celebrities and politicians, has been the biggest success to date. Prominent adverts in newspapers urged people to "Say no to shahtoosh" and warned of the penalties of possessing a shawl or engaging in the illegal trade. The campaign, which was backed by the Delhi Government, also appealed for information about those flouting the law. As a result, an anonymous phonecall resulted in a raid on an exclusive auction held in a five-star hotel in Delhi. A shahtoosh shawl was seized from the auction and two persons, including the organiser of the auction, were arrested.

What happened? That was my reaction to this pitiful excuse of a book. Mr. Condon has succeeded in doing the impossible: he made the Prizzi crime family into something ridiculous. I loved the other Prizzi novels; "Prizzi's Honor" remains one of my favorite organized crime novels. That makes Prizzi's Money all the more intolerable. In this story, the Prizzi's are portrayed as bumbling, brainless oafs, easily deceived and utterly incompetant, both at crime and at legitimate business. WHAT?! Condon's first three novels introduced us to a vicious, professional, criminal family that had risen to the top of their world. Suddenly, they devolve into a pathetic cliche. Essentially the novel can be summed up as follows: woman steals money from Prizzi family, Prizzi attempts to get the money back are (repeatedly) foiled, woman gets away. I could've liked this story, but the Prizzi's here bear no resemblance to the ones in first three novels. Read and enjoy the first Prizzi novels. Try to forget this one was published.

after "Prizzi's Honor" I expected a lot from this book - I was really disappointed; it is boring, previsible and naive; the humour is almost absent and when it appears it is substandard; you can read it but don't expect much

Do not buy. I was a contributor to this book and am ashamed of that fact.

I was a contributor to the book. I think it's sad that anonymous authors from Seattle are embarrassed about being a part of a project when it was fully within their power to create something they wouldn't be embarrassed about. It's sad when someone partakes of a project, then feels the need to dissociate with it after it is done--and in an anonymous fashion.

That being said, I've given this book to a few friends, including the company that I work for now. No one I know that has actually read the book has come away with the feeling that they have just completely wasted their time and money.

The book is not perfect. It's hard to figure out where the text is going at times. But the information is invaluable and I haven't seen another book that covers all the informational topics that this one does.

You also have to remember that Exchange Server went through 2 major versions in an extremely short period of time. That shows in this book and probably accounts for the patchy feeling you get while reading it.

This was not a 5.5 book at all. It's more like a 5.0 book with upcoming features in 5.5. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY.

The following text comes from an e-mail to IDG books, publisher of "Exchange Server 5.5 Secrets"--

*To Whom it May Concern:

I feel it imperative to inform you that "Exchange Server 5.5 Secrets" is, far and away, the worst technology book I have EVER wasted money on. Not only do I feel cheated of my hard-earned money, I feel cheated of my time. I spent several hours trying to decipher procedural and installation instructions from obscure fact after history lesson after sidebar after obscure fact after... (well, you get the point)-- hours that I will never be able to get back for myself. I gained nothing tangible from your mighty tome of utter ambiguity and total confusion, for all my index referencing and double-checking and "if...then" pondering. There is absolutely no coherence in any of what is written. It seems as if the authors got together and just kind of threw whatever thoughts they had on the table, left it in a heap and handed it over to the copyists and printers. On a brighter note, at least there weren't very many typos...

One of the things I kept trying to figure out was, "Who is this book written for?" Case in point: In Chapter 20: Internet Mail Service, there's an explanation of SMTP and TCP/IP's roles in internet mail and Exchange specifically. It shows a sample conversation between two hosts. THEN, after going over the command lines, the text goes on to say: "Each computer or host connected to the internet must have a unique 4-bit address. Because remembering xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx would be cumbersome, computers also have special names called domain names..."

Really? You don't say. "Domain names?" If I didn't know what a domain name or a 4-bit addressing scheme was, how on earth would I have been able to understand the command line session that preceded your explanation? You guys should've researched your target a little better. This book is the reason why environmentalists are so up-in-arms at the thought of more wasteful forest cutting.

Rest assured, ladies and gents, your "secrets" are safe with "Exchange Server 5.5..."

-This e-mail will be forwarded on to the readers reviews of amazon.com, Barnes & Noble and any other bookseller that carries your over-priced doorstop.

Assistant Manager, Information Systems Academy of Television Arts & Sciences

This is not an Exchange 5.5 manual. Most of the book is written for v. 4.0 and 5.0 of Exchange. The authors merely added a few paragraphs about what has been added for version 5.5 but offer no information that any administrator could find useful. Passing this book off as a 5.5 manual is an insult. Save your money.

I suffered through this because I had to...the only book I had to listen to. It was possibly the worst, most boring, most ridiculous plot I have ever been exposed to!

Do not buy, rent, read or listen to this

I liked very much "Prizzi's Honor" (the book AND the movie) - but this is one of the worst books I ever red; the author really tried to be funny - and failed. At every page. Don't loose Your money buying it (it is NOT worth one penny+shipping) and don't waste Your time reading it, even if You get it for free

The Venerable Bead is a disappointment from an author of Richard Condon's stature. It is a loosely, disjointed, mishmash of a novel. Its central character, Leila Aluja, is a spy, singer/actress, fast food mogul, and PR whiz whose voracious appetite for sex outweighs her credibility. Potential readers save your money!