Series Books

Very well done. We enjoyed listening to it. The narrator did an excellent job of making the story come alive.

The book Doesn't lack for action and it is a well written book. The one thing they could of done to make it better than it is. Was have men or a man do the male readings for the book. Miss Rose did a very good job with the female parts but was lacking when it came to the male parts in the book.

This one is, in my opinion, probably the weakest Sackett story so far. I admitt I am new to Louis Lamour (relatively). I have read 9 of his books so far and I enjoy them very much and continue to read more. The Sackett series are a special lot but I was not overly excited about this particular one. It is worth reading, I guess, like any other Louis Lamour, but I would put this one off because there are many more exciting ones than this.
Still a Lamour fan

Louis L'Amour writes like a girl, and when he's telling the story of 16-year-old Echo Sackett, that's an excellent thing to do. Echo leaves her mountain home in 1840 to claim an unexpected inheritance in the City of Philadelphia, and the story is principally about her efforts to outwit and outfight the criminals who want to make sure she doesn't get back to the mountains with what is rightfully hers.

Echo, every inch the lady, has spunk and smarts enough to go with the knife she calls her "Arkansas Toothpick." Being a Sackett, she also has a lively sense of her family history. As in most L'Amour books, the Sackett ethos -- help your kin at any cost -- is on full display here. I also enjoyed the book because it includes a free black man and a gallant city boy, not to mention serious villains. Their adventures, and reactions to them, are true to the time and place of which they're part.

It's also worth noting that the moral code that suffuses this book -- the idea that doing good deeds is like scattering bread on the water -- is L'Amour's version of what author Catherine Ryan Hyde would famously call "Pay it Forward" many years later.

In short, on the river or off of it, Echo Sackett is good company, and not just another pretty face. She reminds me of a family friend who ignored the unspoken navy blue dress code to interview for an elementary school teaching job wearing a lime-green skirt and matching Eisenhower jacket. You'll enjoy this story even if you haven't had the good fortune of knowing a young woman of such character.

Echo Sackett is one of the few women mentioned of the family. She is young, but she is a better shot than her brothers. Echo is also a strong female character who still aspires to be ladylike and not masculized.

But she still knows to "expect Higginses" when she finds she is due an inheritance and travels alone to retrieve it. Fortunately, being a woman is an advantage in a world of men who will underestimate her abilities.

I admire L'Amour for writing such a strong, young female character. Girls may become interested in reading westerns after their introduction to Echo Sackett.

This book is the best way to learn the lingo expected of you, once in an aircraft. It will inform and educate you on all aspects of talking with towers, ground crews and the likes. As an aspiring pilot, I wouldn't have tried figuring it all out in the plane. Great read, and great instruction.

I've been working with _Say Again, Please_ while studying for my US private pilot certificate, and it's been great. I live in a rural area, and there are no towered fields nearby for frequent radio practice. The book makes the different types of radio interaction much easier to understand.

Gardner breaks down communications by airspace class, which seems pretty sensible. One thing I liked was its discussion of how to interact with Flight Watch, restricted areas, Military Operations Areas, etc. It has a chapter on IFR communications, though I'm not ready for it yet.

The book explains clearly the reasons for saying things a particular way, and gives examples of correct practice. It's easy to understand, and well worth the price.

I bought this book to prepare myself for my first flight to Class Charlie in years. I wrote a script from the information Bob has in the book. The communications with SPI went perfect. Low cost and high content make this a slam dunk.

I am much more comfortable using the radio now. This book explained things that had been frustrating me for a long time.

Excellent book but it does require that the student pilot have some stick and radio time. Otherwise there will be information that simply doesn't make much sense.

My one early beef with the book is that he doesn't talk about the essential mnemonic for radio communication with a tower: 1) Who are you calling? 2) Who are you? 3) Where are you? 4) What do you want? and, possibly, if you're taxiing, or inbound for landing 5) what ATIS information do you have?

He does address these issues in a piecemeal fashion but I found the above memory device from my instructor extremely helpful.

this is far the best com book I have read. I am happy to be in possession of one

It's a great book to possess, When it comes to Component programming. After Don Box "Essiential COM", this is by far the best COM+ book I have read. It will give you good understanding about not just writing but design and implementing COM+ Components. Examples are great and right to the point.

I finished this book over a year ago, and never got around to writing a review. Probably won't help too many with most of the new development moving to .NET, but here goes. Overall, it was solid but I thought it could have done two things better. I thought the coverage on MSMQ could have been stronger and the project at the end did not get tied together as well as it should have. I like the approach of a lot of the Wrox books that really get into detail WHY they're doing something in their projects they use to tie their ideas together. I felt as thought the author really almost rushed this section of the book, and, in doing so, missed the opportunity to really drive home his points. Hopefully he reads these and will take a page out of the Wrox books in really getting down to explaining his reasoning and what is going on when he's tying his ideas together with a project in his next book. I thought he did an outstanding job up to that point though.

Scot Hillier's book COM+ VB is destined to be considered a classic among the great big programming books. I wouldn't jerk you around. In fact I can honestly say I love to read Scot's work. Tony Davidson once said "A Smith can be a common man, but does that mean I see a Smith and think: "There before
heaven go I"? There is absolutely no need to ponder. In fact to ponder this is to get confused. I read and laid down the book again. Soon I'll read more.

Joanne Brady

I started my COM+ learning experience with Peishu Li's "Visual Basic and COM+ Programming by Example" and then used this book to get a more advanced look at COM+. This was NOT money wasted. I highly recommend both books to users wanting the learn about COM+ and n-tier. This book is very well written. Developers with a background in MTS may want to skip the "by Example" book but you definitely want to read this book. Scot Hillier understands COM+ (and MTS for that matter) and his style of writing is pleasant to read.

I was amazed at the speed of delivery, i had expected a paper back copy and received a hard back copy, it was well packed and in pristine condition. I am very pleased with the service i received.

As a non-religious person (I had a Buddhist and Christian upbringing but grew to be non-religious in my adult years), to me what is most moving about the life of Gladys Aylward in war-torn China is how she persevered in her efforts to integrate herself into a new culture in a foreign land, at one of the most tumultuous times in history, while still maintaining her own faith and managed to convert others to her religion by first grasping others' perspectives and understanding their experiences. Somehow she lost her cultural baggage (literally and metaphorically), got over it, and quietly learn the locals' ways of life by interacting with them on a personal level rather than positioning herself as a high-and-mighty missionary preaching to the ignorant natives. Mentored by an experienced missionary with a no-nonsense attitude, Gladys learnt and grew to love and respect the local ways of life, with an open-minded freshness that came from a curious mind and a generous personality. The contrast of Gladys' warmth and integration with the local culture with another older missionary who never learnt a word of the language despite decades of living in the country is startling. Aylward showed genuine Christian humility and from a timid and clueless parlour maid grew to become an assured and resourceful woman whose virtues shown through to all who came across her, so much so that she was given a Chinese name signifying 'the virtuous one'. This is the part of this small book that I most enjoyed - she really is a 'small woman' in the best sense of the term, by leading others through her quiet example.

The Japanese's bloody intrusion into the tough-yet-idyllic existence of this rural community is honestly and harrowingly rendered, the cold-blooded cruelties of which constrast sharply with, and overshadow, the narrative on the budding romantic relationship between Aylward and the Nationalist general. Here she reminded me a little of the character Maria in the Sound of Music - one whose love of God did not prevent her from loving and being loved by a man, even in the throes of war.

All in all, an epic tale of a woman's life in a foreign land, how she grew to love her new-found life and how she was loved and respected by all around her in return. The major feat she pulled off towards the end, taking 100 orphaned children with her to safety while playing cat-and-mouse with the Japanese army, did not seem so improbable when one sees how she has grown and developed under the grace of God in spite of the unexpected turns in her life path. This is a small book that would be appreciated by anyone with an interest in experiencing life in war-torn China beyond the official statistics and male-driven narratives, as well as by people who are looking for a heart-warming story about the fortitude of the human spirit in the face of adversity, with the heros being an unassuming woman and her orphaned children. Above all, this book would be loved by both religious and non-religious readers, for this slim volume depicts the humble story of an unpretentious missionary whose spiritual grace crosses language, cultural and religious barriers. An absolute gem.

This is the story that the movie The Inn of the Sixth Happiness was based on. After I watched the movie I wanted to read the book & I can say the book was just as great if not better than the movie. The book is a very plain, simple appearing story, but let me say it packs a powerful punch...so don't judge this book by it's cover!

This is a true story of an insignificant English maiden who went to China to tell the Chinese people of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Alan Burgess weaves a masterful tale, including harrowing escapes, a clash of cultures and customs, extreme poverty and deprivation, amidst an enchanting background of picturesque cities tucked in the misty mountains of Northern China, official Mandarins on palanquins, and the dusty mule trails that tie it all together.

There is even a love story of Gladys and a Nationalist army officer tucked in between the bombing of her town and the marching of 100 children refugees over treacherous mountains to Sian (Xian) in search of an orphanage to care for them.

You'll not be able to put this book down, and you'll laugh and cheer for the glorious work that God does through this determined and hardy woman.

If you are interested in China and the missionary experience, this is a book you must not miss. It is extremely easy to read, you'll finish it in no time!! If you have read about China this book may give you insight into one of the most remote corners of the country. It is also a story of incredible bravery and sacrifice to others.

I always believed the missionary effort in China had been quite hopeless, but reading this book made me see the way one "small woman" influenced so many lives, leaving a lasting impression and truly changing people for the better through patience and above all, a lot of intelligence.

I am a Speech-Language Pathologist, a "big sister" to many, and a proud aunt. These books are worth the money for gaining the attention of young children as well as teaching age-appropriate concepts/information.

Good buy from a great seller-

My kids LOVE this book! I read it to them several times a day and they never seem to get tired of it. Great rhymes and great pictures! Definitely one of their favorite books.

This is a great book just like all of the other "Snappy" books. My son loves them all. He's always throwing them up on my lap for me to read to him. Fun to read, great pop-up pictures...A+

My kids are 2 1/2 and 1yr. They love it! It's a really cute, simple, rhyming pop-up book that teaches the sounds that animals make. They're excited everytime we read, which is often!

I highly recommend this book as well as the other pop ups that are made by this company. The one with the colors is really cute too

This is a favorite of my 15 month old. He has had this book since he was about 6 months old and has enjoyed it since the start. All the Snappy books are fantastic and we have most of them. Snappy Farm Animals is colorful and simple to read. Babies love the colors and the animals. The farm starts out nosiy and slowly calms down as the animals go to sleep and the farmer waves goodbye.

I'm teaching myself Spanish, and this book is really helpful.

This book progresses with more difficult readings as you move through it. It has a good variety of material and many exercises to check for understanding. My only regret is that most of the material is above my beginner level. I think it will become even more useful as my Spanish improves.

This book was well worth the price I paid. It covers a lot of grammar and quite a bit of vocabulary. Most of the exercises are set up so that you only need an index card (or other piece of paper you can't see through) to do them.

Although I wish that it had a dictionary in the back, I'm still giving it a five-star rating. I sure wish it had an audio CD with all the reading passages, because then it would be outstanding, but I'm not marking it down for lack of a CD, since it isn't meant for listening comprehension.

I loved FRENCH FOR READING, so thought I'd give this one a try. Make sure you have a dictionary because there isn't one at the back of the book - and sometimes the passages give you words you've never seen before - with no way to look them up. Also - these chapters seem a bit denser then 'French For Reading', make sure you go slowly, maybe only doing 1/2 chapter at a time.

I'm an intermediate Spanish student and had been struggling with my reading skills. After two chapters and about ten hours' practice, I was able to read almost flawlessly. I'm now on chapter 5 and I can't believe how much I've learned. I'm recommending this book to all my friends, and my Spanish teacher is so impressed, he is ordering it for his next class. Now I need to find a way to learn to speak as easily as I learned to read.

This book written by Merle Feld was extremely good. I couldn't put it down. Merle takes us on a journey through her early days as a child with lovely poems to enhance our reading and onto her married years where she explores the many areas of women in Judiasm. It is a true story of her journey which I truley enjoyed.

Merle's Feld's poetry is so down to earth and fun to read as to appear simple--and nothing can be further from the truth. Her beautiful and touching poems are little jewels, each reflecting her deep connection to Judaism as well as her own humorous and profound insights into life as a Jewish woman. Through her poems and the personal narrative story that she weaves around them, Merle shares her experiences and journey as a Jewish feminist, mother, daughter, American in Israel, and wife.

This book will speak to anyone, regardless of gender or background, who has ever felt that spirituality is in competition with the overwhelming demands of everyday life. Without offering formulas or prescriptions, Merle's voice speaks to a part of myself that I struggle to find; it says that holiness can be found right in the midst of the most mundane tasks and minutae. It is a transcendent experience in itself to realize that we have the power to transform everyday life into something holy.

"A Spiritual Life" gave me permission to digest my past. At the end of each vignette I was surprised to find myself face to face with "me"-my own experiences of decades ago. I suddenly slowed down and felt deep parts of my life that I had been too frightened to listen to long ago. I keep it on my night table and read it again and again reflecting on my own memories. Reading "A Spiritual Life" has been a healing experience for me.

An amazing story of self-discovery, " A Spiritual Life, A Jewish Feminist Journey" by Merle Feld, fills her book with beautiful prose and poetry. I identified with this book immensely as the author echoed my inner thoughts that I never took the time to write. Ms. Feld voices the struggle to grow and develop into a special person, concerns about doubts how woman relate to others, professional growth and motherhood. She discovers a gift with words and poetry and along the way - confidence. Her book, a triumph of realization and actualization, expresses her developing passion, hones social action and true friendships. Read this book from cover to cover or open the book and select a poem at random. Each poem allows an opportunity to remember who we are, engage in a dialogue with self and friends, to encourage where we need to be in our lives. Several favorite passages discuss marriage, Israel, re- interpretation of some biblical stories, Shabbat and agonies about menstruation. This book will make you a new friend. Excellent!

"A Spiritual Life" gave me permission to digest my past. At the end of each vignette I was surprised to find myself face to face with "me"-my own experiences of decades ago. I suddenly slowed down and felt deep parts of my life that I had been too frightened to listen to long ago. I keep it on my night table and read it again and again reflecting on my own memories. Reading "A Spiritual Life" has been a healing experience for me.

Ian Hamilton has been the picture of propriety since his stepfather, Rom B'kah, named Ian his heir as King to the galaxy. Now, seven years later, Ian is fighting to keep Earth on good terms with the Vash. Wanting to pull out of the treaty that Earth signed seven years ago, Ian has set out to prove that it is best for the galaxy all around if they all stick together. With the return of Muffin, we are also introduced to a crew that will go straight to your heart. When Ian finds himself not able to keep a pilot, he hired 'Tee' whom he knows is running, but he doesn't know from what she's running.

Tee'ah Dar has fled her life as a Vash Princess. Never having the freedom to make her own choices, not even choosing the man she marries, Tee'ah is sick to death of her life as a pampered princess. The only thing she has ever done behind her family's back is learn how to fly, the one thing that she can't live without doing. When her father finds out, Tee'ah knows that she can't stay and keep suffocating under her father's rule, or her heart will slowly die. When she meets Ian, he seems a gift from God, or so she thought. What she didn't know was that he was the prince of the galaxy and if he knew who she was, he would return her before she could say 'Earthdweller'.

Tee'ah and Ian's story is truly heartwarming. All her life Tee'ah has been taught to put the needs of others above the needs of few. This once she has denied her heritage and fallen in love in the process. Ian has done everything he can to please Rom, and not end up like his father, who treats women as bad as he ever treated his mother. Ian has a rolemodel in Rom who he wants to be proud of him, but he doesn't think he could give up the love of his life.

Don't miss it!

Princess Tee'ah Dar was sick of enduring life in isolation as Vash Nadah tradition demanded. In a desperate bid for freedom, Tee'ah stole a starspeeder to begin a new life doing what she loved most, flying!

Ian Hamilton, an Earth dweller who was the heir to the Trade Federation and crown prince of the Vash empire, was deep undercover. He posed as Ian Stone, a trader of black market items. He was determined to bring the human people of Earth, the Vash people of Sienna, and all the people in the Federation together in peace! However, freak accidents and bad luck kept getting in the way. When his pilot died, Ian's crew was stranded on an awful world called Donavan's Blunder. Ian's critical mission would have failed right there, had a spunky pilot, Tee, not happened to appear. But neither Ian nor Tee told the other who they really were.

King Romlijhian, Tee's uncle, sent Gann Truelénne after the runaway princess. To do so, Gann had to hire Lara Ros, a master tracker. Gann and Lara clashed instantly, but are forced to work together if they were to succeed.

The galaxy would never be the same again!

***** In a word, "W-O-W!" And throw in a few "WOO-HOO's!" Why? Because Susan Grant has created an amazing universe with some very interesting characters to turn it upside-down! The story was well written and very believable. I could not help but cheer Tee's bravery. When the name "Susan Grant" is on the cover, readers best hold onto their seats because it's going to be one heck of a ride! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

This book by Susan is my second, after reading Contact and enjoying that one I quickly found this one and Star Princess. I really enjoyed this one, Ian and Tee'Dar were great for each other. I also greatly enjoyed the secondary characters like Muffin and Lara. The KettaCat was also great. I also hope that she contines this series,and hope that she finds a mate for Klark Che's brother. I'm still trying to get all the families down, but she's going to have to continue the series. I'm now reading Star Princess and enjoying that book as well. I highly recommend thses books they're great. Please Susan write more Star series books.

I love the time travel aspect. I wish Susan Grant had written more books like this. I read it all the way through. It has everything you could want -- adventure, time travel, sensuality -- great dialogue -- even humor!

Very good story, very entertaining... although I'd prefer more on what happened between Gann and Lara.

hero and heroine of this books play outstanding roles, wonderfully portrayed...scenes are nicely illustrated.

Good read.

I can't really add anything the other reviews haven't already covered. I just wanted to add my praise of this classic. This book is very relevant in a lab setting. I would recommend it to everyone to start with, but especially those with experimental problems to solve in an objective way.

I used the Montgomery DOE book as an undergrad...but chatting with a Stat prof freind of mine..she recommened Box Hunter & Hunter over this. I had never covered the entire book..& was reading up on Factorial designs...I went ahead and bought Box Hunter & Hunter...(do wait & buy the 2nd edition due out in May-I think Amazon trys to sell you the old inventory if you are not careful)...nonetheless, the old edition I bought actually is much more intuitive and easy to follow that the "Design and Analysis of Experiments" book by Montgomery....I think its b/c the latter is written by an engineer..no offense to you out there...just that engineers cover so much material that there texts seem more "cookbook" like..here's how...w/ no too much intuition as to why ...probably catering to the engineer who has not the time to care about the why...I am thoutoughly enjoying the read...some of the quotes in hte book are pretty funny yet all the while relevant...

All of the reviews on this book are generally consistent in their praise for the book and the authors. I do not have any points to add to the discussion other than this:

It is a credit to this version of Statistics for Experimenters that it has remained relevant throughout the years as a classic introductory text that has kept selling consistently since it was released in the 1970's. Nevertheless, unless you have a particular reason for purchasing this version, you should purchase the updated version(also available through Amazon).

The full title of the newer edition is:

Statistics for Experimenters: Design, Innovation, and Discovery, 2nd Edition

The 2nd edition, written in the same engaging and readable style as the 1st, contains virtually all of the content of the 1st edition plus advances in design of experiments that have happened since the 1st edition was published.

George E.P. Box, the senior author of this magnificent example of great teaching for adults, is one of the great statisticians of modern times. He is a master at teaching those with experience, especially industrial experience, but not necessarily the most advanced mathematical training. My own background in econometrics and decades of work experience left me in a position of having too little knowledge to apply sophisitcated statistical methods to experiments and too much knowledge to settle for the exposition of statistics in many experimental design texts, especially those for behavioral scientists. I had read some of Mr. Box's "Evolutionary Operation" [with Norman Draper] ("EvOp") (also outstanding, practical, and unusual) and looked at "Bayesian Inference in Statistical Analysis" [with George Tiao] ("BISA") and hoped the book was as practical as EvOp rather than as mathematical as BISA. It has turned out to be so without being unsophisticated.

Once you have mastered this, I am sure you will be prepared for many of the challenges of applying statistics to practical industrial and experimental situations and for more advanced and modern methods that have emerged since 1978 with the ubiquity of very cheap computing power.

What it may lack in the most contemporary methods it more than makes up for by helping the reader develop a good intuition for applying statistical methods and judgment.

This book was published in 1978 but as other reviewers have noted its practical methods and advice are timeless. George Box and Stu Hunter are both very famous statisticians who are also great teachers and lecturers. Bill Hunter is now deceased. All three authors have made major contributions to the design of experiments. The book is written for practitioners and in the simplest language possible. Emphasis is placed on practical designs and not optimal designs because optimal designs are very sensitive to model specification.
It does not include the robust designs of Taguchi which came later and could easily be included if the authors choose to revise it.

I found this book to be excellent. It clearly defines areas to be researched, how to do that research, where to find the resources and how to make sure the package will meet the needs of the users. It is well written, easily understood by all levels of users and extremely, extremely helpful. If only users of open source software went through these steps, open source would be far more successful than it already is.

Bernard Golden's book offers one of the most comprehensive analytical tools for evaluating open source software projects, his Open Source Maturity Model (which is also featured on his website, www.navicasoft.com.) The book starts with a general overview of open source software, open source business models, and key legal issues, and then discusses the OSMM in depth. It also offers a very detailed and fair evaluation of a major open source project, JBoss.

Whether you are a developer creating an open source project, a user evaluating an open source project, or an investor doing due diligence, this book is a very valuable resource.

This book is perhaps the best resource I've run across on the subject of evaluating open source.

In this book, Golden explains the methodology of applying his Open Source Maturity Model (OSMM). OSMM is a framework for evaluating the maturity of an open source project and its usefulness, specific to an organizations software requirements. The book provides excellent insight into the organization and culture of open source projects and provides a wealth of recommendations for investigating and evaluation open source software.

I was really blown away by the accessibility and accuracy of Golden's writing. Having been involved in open source for about 6 years in one context or another, I found his analysis of open source software to be spot-on. If you are looking for a simple, guided, and clear methodology for evaluating the usefulness and maturity of a specific open source project, you should read this book. It's a goldmine.

Any IT Manager with their eye on the radar knows that open source software is rapidly maturing into a viable alternative to expensive commercial software packages. However, there are still some barriers to entry into the OSS world, especially for IT Managers within large, traditional, non-IT companies.

The OSMM evaluation method described in this book is a perfect fit for an IT Manager trying to find a way to justify their use of open source software inside the software stack of one of those traditional, non-IT companies.

The real-world examples provided by Bernard throughout the book are very interesting and can be used as additional "weight" to your arguments if you are trying to convince your boss that your use of OSS is no longer the pioneering adventure that it once was.

This book not only provides OSMM evaluation method, but also a well-written overview of the current status of OSS in the first three chapters.

I was not able to find blank worksheet templates on www.navicasoft.com although the book indicates that these are located somewhere on the website. I also could not find a way to upload an assessment to share with the OS community. This is a something that should be considered as it would really be a tactical advantage for IT Manager's efforts if there was a section of Navica's website dedicated to sharing OSMM assessments of the different OS packages. I can imagine that a user community would quickly spring up in response to such an portal.

Truly an excellent book!

Have you been wondering how to extend the use of open source software in your organization, but would like to know how to find the right software and do pro-quality evaluations of alternatives effectively? This excellent book by Bernard Golden will show you what's different about open source in detail, how you might make those differences work in your organization, and how to use a simple, effective model that summarizes the necessary elements to compare different apps that might fit into your environment. Using Golden's methods will educate your choices, reduce your risks, and help you to succeed with open source.

This is a "How-To" book for IT managers, but it's also very suitable for beginners. The concepts don't require technical knowledge, and the explanations are clear and concise.

Part I is an overview of everything you wanted to know about open source. It dispells myths, and helps you to understand why open source works at all. Best of all, each chapter has an executive summary, and most paragraphs have a margin note that summarizes the paragraph's concept. This really makes the book easy to read or review. You can skim down the page reading the concept notes until you come to the areas where you want more in-depth knowledge. The overview is excellent.

Part II (which also includes the great paragraph notes) introduces Golden's Open Source Maturity Model, the framework for applying what you learned, or knew, from Part I, and more that you will learn later in Part II. The model is a template that grids the elements for software assessment and weighting factors. When you do the math you get the product maturity score, maturity being how full-featured and ready for production use the product is. Of course, your weighting factors will affect the score to make it useful in light of your organization. Formally scoring a number of products will pinpoint the products you should and should not be considering. This part is pretty simple.

The devil, of course, is in the details. Golden discusses different types of organizations, how they should set up their reviews, weightings and interpret scores. Then he applies this process to a real-world example using JBOSS, a significant open source product. Each element is fully explored in its own chapter, and this is where the rubber meets the road. Golden compares how commercial products provide the elements, then he discusses how open source provides the elements, many times by using different mechanisms. He gives great guidance on how to find and use these resources when they differ from the single-point solution of commercial software. If differences between open source and commercial software implementation weren't clear to you before, they will be after these chapters, and you'll begin to know how to get the most out of them, too. Open source may not be the right answer for your environment, but now you'll know exactly why, and what has to change before it is.

This is a well-written and thorough book, good for initiates and decision makers, made easy to use by the paragraph notes. If open source is on your radar, I highly recommend it.