Computer Books

This book provides great resources to live a better lifestyle. I love the way Jeremy documents his accomplishments and failures. He proves that one should not give up on their dreams but rather set goals so they can achieve their dreams.

Jeremy's book is separated into three parts: Mind set, Nutrition, Exercise. The mind set is a motivational section that describes what tools a person needs to achieve their goals. This was my favorite section of the entire book!

The next section is the Nutrition section. In this section Jeremy talks about what foods to consider eating. This section does not contain a diet plan rather Jeremy attempts to educate the readers about the properties of the different food groups. This section contains great information and gives the reader an idea of what foods are made of thus allowing the reader to decide for themselves what foods are good and what foods are bad.

The final section of this book talks about exercise. Jeremy describes some exercises and explains some different ways to do them. This is a great section if you are not familiar with weight lifting. Some of the exercises Jeremy describes are the Squat, Dead Lift, and Bench Press.

This really is an amazing book. I don't contain the words to do this book any justice. BUY THIS BOOK!

I've read a lot of these type of books. A lot of similarities and a lot of contradictions between books. This books is the most comprehensive one I've read. I've reread it several times and get something new out of it each time.

a great book to read before your weight loss journey. Very well written and it has a good progression of all facets of a weight loss approach minus the recipes.

This IS THE BOOK ladies! It is not just for men only. If you want to be encouraged and seek the key to transfomation, Jeremy Likness hands you everything you need in his book. I am 49, mother or two, an RN for 27 years, gained 70 lbs and should have known better. This book has given me hope and encouragement and KEYS to getting fit and healthy again. YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK. I intend on reading it again and again. It is THAT GREAT of a book!

KAREN S.

It has been said that the way to make money quickly in the book industry is self-help or weight loss fitness books. This book does not really fall into that category. It is written with a passion for a subject and based on personal experience and transformation. There are a number of factors that make this an exceptional book, and even more so an extraordinary fitness book. First is the way it is written - each chapter is written in two parts. It begins with the meat of the matter, the teaching about, health, fitness, wellness ... the second part of each chapter is the personal narrative of Jeremy's journey from being unhealthy to healthy. Mr. Likeness gives numerous examples from his own fitness journey and some from those he has helped to move along that path. In the same way that Sylvester Stallone did in his book Sly Moves : My Proven Program to Lose Weight, Build Strength, Gain Will Power, and Live your Dream.

This book is in part written around the philosophy from the book Body for Life: 12 Weeks to Mental and Physical Strength by Bill Phillips, yet it goes into much greater depth on some of the non-physical factors of health and weight loss or weight management. It deals with issues of stress, family life and work factors that can either help or hinder the physical transformation a person desires to make. This book has a very holistic approach to health and fitness. It presents the argument that in order to make lasting changes in your life, those changes must begin from the inside; transformation starts in the heart and in the mind and then works out in the body. Jeremy states: "Physique transformation is about more than simply losing weight. You will find that your life changes in many ways, too. You adjust to new clothing, a new image in the mirror, even a new sense of energy that allows you to achieve more during the day. Spiritually and mentally, you may change as well. Although these changes are almost always positive, change itself can be something that we fear. For this reason, it is important to understand what changes to expect to better prepare yourself as the process unfolds." Once the physical changes start to become more evident, you will have both positive and negative comments from people in your life. Likeness helps to provide some tools for dealing with both types. An example he gives is that if you have been over weight for a long time, you might not be accustomed to compliments - you will have to learn how to receive them and take some of them to heart.

This book, as the techniques in it are applied, can be a great tool for helping a person achieve greater health and wellbeing. This can be a factor in a longer and happier life. If these goals are things you have been thinking about, or have started working on, pick up this book to help boost your resolve and efforts to make your lifestyle changes.

(First Published in Imprint 2008-05-30.)

I'd been confused about pointers in particular for a while. I took a C class with this as the textbook and was finally able to understand the pointers better.

I'm still working through the book but was pleased to FINALLY find an author whose style is clear without being boring. An enjoyable book which has already cleared up some confusion I had before. I have a couple of comments for other reviewers, though:
(1) The title is a play on words. It doesn't mean that the book is supposed to be
entirely about pointers, as a couple of reviewers seemed to think. I think its a great title! (2) The book IS expensive, probably because it is widely used as a textbook. Textbook publishers have been gouging students for years, and in this case it affects more than just university students. (I'm a prof myself.)

As before I bought this book I have problems about advance pointer like a pointer to function, array of pointer to function, pointer to structure or other topic like this. The author explain this topic very well.
By the way, the purpose of buying this book is to solve reading C language code on embedded linux which involve pointer and hardware. The author do not give enogh information about this topic.
However I still rate this book five stars for the topic Pointer on C.

When programming in C you must use, love and own pointers. Look at the function templates for the standard C lib. What do these functions return? POINTERS! If you don't want to learn pointers, or think about solving problems using pointers, then please go drive a truck or program in Basic or some other half-wit language. C will frustrate you to tears if you insist on using subscripts. It's not how the language approaches problems.

I am having to use C# right now and want to gag. Any language that claims to be "C" but doesn't support pointers is an oxymoron. Have a glass of dry water while you try to swallowing that load of bull. Thanks MicroSlop for ruining two languages, Basic (who cares) and C, the language that built the computer revolution (punishable by death in a better world). Arrrghhh. Thanks Ken for a great book for the strong and the brave amongst us.

As others have noted, this book is exremely expensive. I was lucky enough to get a used copy for about half the retail price here on Amazon and I intend to keep it. I haven't read every book on C, so I may be ambitious to say this, but this is the best explanation of pointers I've read to date. The author doesn't assume anything and this is helpful when learning something as tricky as pointers for those new to the concept. The author explains concepts with clarity while being concise. I don't develop software for a living, but need to write the occasional program here and there. I thought this book accurately described the methodology of writing the most compact, yet readable code, for the problems presented. I'd reccommend this book despite the price. Those new to the C programming language won't be disappointed.

Unlike most of the books on Amazon I found Geno's to be an extremely efficient read. Most of the books on this subject are filled with "fluffs" and long run on's of success stories. It was very refreshing to finally read a book by someone who approaches Online Marketing and Management from more of a "This is the exact science" standpoint while still keeping the book enjoyable and not dense at all.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in Affiliate Marketing or for the Affiliate who is curious as to how Affiliate Managers think and act.

Great work
-Cyrus Massoumi

"A Practical guide to Affiliate Marketing" is exactly what the title says. It is a great resource and reference for everybody who is interested in affiliate marketing. It gives answers to almost all questions every merchant wants to ask before launching affiliate program. The book is easy to read and easy to follow. There are many real life examples and valuable tips both for merchants and affiliate managers. The author Evgenii "Geno" Prussakov is one of the most respected and successful affiliate managers in affiliate marketing world. I think the book definitely deserves 5 star rating.

The day I agreed to take on the Affiliate Program Manager position at the company I worked for, I realized that I had some learning to do. I quickly found a bunch of different resources online that pointed me to this book.

It is a quick read. Took me three evenings without dedicating too much time to it. I feel I was able to soak in a ton. Geno's book really motivated me to immerse myself in the biz. I think it will do the same for you.

I humbly believe in the adage that says "You don't know what you don't know". This was definitely true about Affiliate Marketing. There's so much jargon and tech-speak to wade through when trying to learn about this industry. Then I read Mr. Prussakov's book and was amazed at how clearly and simply it outlined what I needed to know to get a handle on the power of affiliate marketing. It was a real eye-opener, and allowed me to pursue techniques that have made a real difference in my business. I highly recommend the book as a basic resource for anyone looking to understand affiliate marketing.

It isn't often that a book so clearly and concisely delivers so completely on its chosen subject. But such is the case with "A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing".

Upon recently launching our affiliate program I began researching the topic so that at least I might avoid making some "newbie" mistakes. I met Geno through a popular affiliate forum and he was kind enough to send me a copy of his book. Once I began reading, I knew that this book was exactly what I needed. The book, in plain and simple english, covers all of the pitfalls, opportunities, and provides sound advice, obviously based on Geno's years of experience. It does so in a format that makes it a great point of reference long after you read through it and a must have for any affilliate manager, merchant, or anyone who wants to understand the affiliate marketplace.

I highly recommend this book to any executive considering the idea of launching an affiliate program or anyone currently managing a program who would like to see their results improve.

Tom Livia
President
PC Universe, Inc.

This in-depth look into transaction processing provides a wonderful place to start when considering implementation in your application(s). Cover-to-cover, this is an EXTREMELY easy read and doesn't try to be "fancy" or use complicated wording as many other books on the topic do.

Before reading any other transaction books or jumping into API document, this is a MUST MUST MUST MUST read. When developing an application that has transaction support, this is wonderful as a reference in order to include data in presentations, summaries, position papers, internal documentation, etc.

No only will this benefit a general developer, but also benefit people not in the development environment. This allows for clarification of communication between departments without going into API-specific implementation details.

This book is excelent for who want to deep his knowledge in TP. Is very practical with many examples and tips. Funthermore include examples of of transacctions for commercials TP like a MTS (COM + today), Tuxedo, CICS, etc.
Is a book very very recommendable.
bye.

The title of this review is a quote from the book and it summarizes it very nicely. Indeed, the book provides a great deal of information in such a small volume, but many of the things that would have been nice to have are missing and many are just skimmed over.

The best chapters of the book explain in very simple words the principles of transaction logging (along with recovery from a failure), two-phase locking and two-phase commit.

The chapter on transactional communications is not as thorough as the just mentioned ones and pays most attention to transactional message queueing rather than synchronous RPC and peer-to-peer. On top of that, message queues are just transactional, period. No attention is paid to the message queues specifics.

The chapter on transaction processing monitors considers only the three-tier environment with presentation, workflow and transaction tiers.

Other problems ?

The whole chapter with an overview of the existing transaction processing software was useless. You see, product Foo has features A and B, and product Bar has features C and D, so what ? As you read it, certain architecture similarities show through, but it's up to you to analyze it, the book gives no cross-product comparison, no analysis, just a list of acronyms.

Samples in Cobol (duh !) or tangled C-like code. The pictures are less than perfect.

But the biggest problem to me was certainly the lack of real-life information. Specifically, I would better be interested in interaction between transactional and non-transactional systems. An acknowledgement of databases and message queues being the only transactional systems (or not) and the implications of that. Two-phase commit in heterogeneous environment. And so on.

A great introductory book.

Transaction processing is a daunting topic, and this is one of the few books that provides the basics in a clear, understandable manner without overwhelming the reader. Most of the book is focused solely on transaction processing, but it touches on queuing as well, which makes it the ideal first book for anyone who is seeking details that extend beyond pure TP.

I like the way that the authors use real products to reinforce key points made throughout the book. While some of the products are no longer mainstream (indeed, some were never mainstream), the fact that real world implementations are used makes the information realistic. If you are using CICS, MQSeries, Tuxedo or similar products this book will have even more value. I also like the way difficult topics, such as locking, high availability and database recovery are given entire chapters because these topics need to be thoroughly understood in order to completely understand transaction processing.

After reading this book you will be armed with sufficient knowledge to make intelligent choices in selecting the right approach for transaction processing in a system design, or to understand the nuts and bolts of any TPM that you are supporting. I also agree with Cem Kaner's earlier comments that this book is an ideal resource for software test professionals who need to understand the entire environment that they will be testing. If you want to go deeper into TP, I recommend "Transactional Information Systems: Theory, Algorithms, and the Practice of Concurrency Control" by Gerhard Weikum and Gottfried Vossen, which drills much further down into the details of both transaction processing and queuing systems.

This book was written in 1997 which is often considered ancient in "Internet-years" but it is still very relevant because it focuses on fundamental principles of transaction processing (TP) rather than the latest whiz-bang technologies that optimize TP.

For those of you who aren't TP experts, a transaction is a computer operation that meets the ACID test. ACID here stands for:

Atomic - the steps that comprise transaction succeed or fail as one, there is no partial success.

Consistent - the internal data structures of the system(s) remain consistent with business rules.

Isolated - the data read or manipulated by the transaction is not altered during the duration of the transaction's execution.

Durable - the results of the transaction are persisted

Why does this matter to the system user or stakeholder? The canonical example is that of the ATM machine (or the "handy bank" if you're Australian). When you withdrawl money from an ATM, it has to go out and validate you have enough funds to meet the withdrawl, reserve those funds, and dispense cash - all within the same transaction. If the ATM failed after your bank account had been debited but before you'd gotten your money, you'd be very upset; conversely if the cash was dispensed but the debit procedure failed, the bank would be very upset. Ted provides very amusing analogy for this using a wedding ceremony but you can read that in his book.

There's a whole lot more to transaction processing beyond ACID and the ATM example, including two-phase commit (TPC), high-availability, massive concurrency, and crash recovery. To find out about all of these topics, read the book. One thing to remember though is that most application developers will never have to deal with the extremely complex details of providing a working and robust transaction management implementation, but like any technology it's important to understand the technology's fundamental principles and mechanics to effectively use it.

The book itself is extremely dense. The content of the book is "only" 324 pages long but covers a large amount of ground in a good amount of detail. Definitely read in a quiet place free of interruptions with a strong cup of coffee.

One shortcoming of the book is that it was written in 1997 so it doesn't cover TP implementations in Java (e.g. JTA, EJBs, etc.) but it was nice to finally find out what the heck IBM's CICS and IMS products are.

Interestingly enough, I have never had to deal with complex transaction processing (i.e. two-phase commit) in my short IBM career. This is probably because I've worked on business-to-consumer (B2C) applications where only one data source is involved rather than a business-to-business system where multiple data sources are involved. I'll have to ask the B2B guys if they get heavy into two-phase commit or if it's not an issue.

The reason I read this book is because I've always been a bit mystified by Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs). When I joined IBM, I knew the word, but I was not familiar with such topics as object-relational persistence, object remoting, and transaction processing, so to me EJBs were simply things that took four classes/interfaces to do what I could do in one simple POJO. Ted Neward, in a very interesting web interview on the Serverside.com mentioned that he used to think EJBs were completely worthless, but during the process of writing Effective Enterprise Java came to realize that they were not worthless but rather over-marketed. He said that they should have been called Transactional JavaBeans rather than Enterprise JavaBeans because transactions are what EJBs did very well. So, hearing this from Ted I decided to read a book on fundamentals of transaction processing, so that I could understand EJBs better. Now that I've read all about TP principles, I pick Richard Monson-Haefel's book again, and all of a sudden EJBs start to make a lot more sense.

I finally picked up this book last year and throughoughly enjoyed it. I keep referring to it because the examples build up to the point of qualified proof of concept. The examples also are different enough from the other ones that are easy to find with Google, so between the two you get a complete view of the vulnerable issue.

The book's title should be obvious enough; this is NOT a book of defenses. However, if you understand these attacks you will be better equiped to deal with them when they happen. This book is no replacement for hands-on training in person with a qualified instructor such as at the SANS Institute, but it is an excellent supplement.

Its a great place to start...and works its way through some pretty indepth concepts. The great part is that for the beginner it is step by step....and they tell you were to download everything you will need. Anyways loved it, read it twice.

I have been around the software industry now for almost 20 years and every now and then I find a book where I learn exciting things, this is one of those books. It reminds me of the early days of low level Windows programming but with very up to date information on the OS and how to apply it. The book is obviously designed to attract hackers - both black and white hats - however it does do a good job diving on the internals of the Posix and Windows subsystems. If you like low level stuff this book is for you.

Not an easy read if you're not already familiar with programming and operating system concepts, but then if you are an IT security professional you'd better be, and the book explains why.

I read Rootkits: Subverting the Windows Kernel last year, but waited until I read Joseph Kong's Designing BSD Rootkits before reviewing both books. In a head-to-head comparison, I thought Kong's book was easier to comprehend and directly covered the key techniques I wanted to see. If I could give this book 4 1/2 stars I would, but Amazon doesn't allow that luxury.

Hoglund and Butler should be commended for writing this book. It really does assemble the parts (meaning techniques and code) necessary to implement a Windows rootkit, at least prior to Windows Vista. My only concern is that, at times, the authors are not as clear as I hoped they might be. This is probably due to the fact that they are two of the best rootkit writers on the planet, so they probably do not remember what it was like to not understand "hooking" and other techniques.

In some ways Rootkits is probably a book best suited for other experts (like many who wrote reviews here). That leaves beginners (like myself) wishing for a little more foundation or direct language prior to reading about implementation tricks.

One of the greatest strengths of this book, however, is the degree to which it exposes the internal workings of Windows. For greatest effect it's probably worth reading Microsoft Windows Internals, Fourth Edition by Russinovich and Solomon first.

Note that although I found the direct approach of the BSD rootkits book better for my learning style, this book by Hoglund and Butler is deeper in several areas. In fact, those who liked the BSD rootkits book would do well to read its Windows counterpart to learn tricks from Hoglund and Butler.

I took the Microsoft exam 70-216 for network infrastructure today and all I can say is AMAZING! How did the writers know what was on the exam? There is so much obscure stuff on the exam that no other book I read covered the questons on the exam. But this one did. So much of the test was troubleshooting the network, so I guess a TCP/IP troubleshooting book would be the right one. But the similarity of this book to the test is amazing.

This book was good to read too and I am using it at my job and fixing some of the problems we've had with WINS and VPN based on what I learned. Great book and best study guide for the test.

This book is heads and tails above any other TCP/IP book I've read or own. Finally understand how DNS works, the RAS section helped me put together my Win2k VPN. Get this is you wnat to understand some of the weird stuff in Win2k TCP/IP.

We are in the process of moving from NT to Win2k and my boss made me the project manager. I had to get on top of Win2k networking fast. I bought this book on the recommendation of several of my co workers. Glad I got it. The book is informative and detailed in explanations and examples. A must have for the busy guy like me.

OK, I admit it. I learned my TCP/IP for Windows NT exams from reading Exam Cram. Needless to say, I passed the Windows NT TCP/IP test, but couldn't tell a subnet from a supernet. Now I have a job in the industry and I needed to actually learn TCP/IP, especially since we are moving up to Windows 2000 in our shop.

This book is unreal in how good things are explained. Great detail in describing RRAS, WINS, DNS, and the TCP stack. Using the information in the book I am now up to speed on TCP/IP. Enough to pass the 70-216 test! Not bad for a NT MCSE!

For Real, this book helped a lot. I owe the author's a beer on this one.

This book is fresh air to someone like myself who has read at least a dozen Windows 2000 books. I get the impression that a lot of the Windows 2000 books were written by people who write books and don't work with the technology. This book doesn't fall into that class. It was great to read this book, because it renewed my faith that a tech book could be written in a way that doesn't put me to sleep.

They cover Windows 2000 TCP/IP from top to bottom. WINS, DNS, DHCP, RRAS, IIS, routing and network devices. Its all there, and its filled with little known factoids that makes me want to keep reading and have another "aha!" experience.

This book also was the major reason I passed the Microsoft 216 exam so easily. Although I didn't buy it to pass the exam, they seem to cover all the material that the exam covered. A nice bonus. I wish they made the book longer, because I'm sure they could have said a lot more that I would like to read about.

This book isn't for beginners, but neither is Windows 2000. I think once the reader is ready to manage Windows 2000, they'll be ready to get the most out of this exceptional book.

this book is an excellent information source for both professionals in need for a reference on a db2 topic/ students trying to get into db2 / certification hunters interested in ibm 730 exam db2 administrator for V9 .
very well written.

if you looking for a db2 beginners book...its a right choice...even if you are a exp. dba, this book can come handy anytime for any reference or as a guide..

If you are new to DB2 this is the book you need.
It covers all the basic information you need to start working with db2, in a easy way.
If you also want to get certified get the DBA guide or one of Sander's book, and you are all set to go.

This is an excellent book for DB2 if you are a beginner or even an intermediate skilled user. This book covers not only DB2 9, it covers DB2 9.5 and the facts that pertain only to v9.5 are duly bulleted/annotated with the version number. This book treats DB2 from a DBA point of view so the SQL examples are pretty basic if you are a hardcore SQL programmer. If you are looking only for SQL programming for DB2 this is not the book to buy. But for an administrator, this is one of the best reference books on the desk. Since this book has lot of visual examples, you see what the authors are talking about rather than forming a mental image. Also, it covers XML/XQuery in DB2 in detail. Moreover, this book is an excellent reference if you are taking certification in DB2.
If you are on the lookout for the one book that will kickstart your DB2 career; this is the one.

If you have to own one DB2 book (Linux,Unix,Windows) , buy this one. Usually I end up buying 2 books. The first being a book being very visual and easy to read but lacking any real detail and practical knowledge. The second book is usually a scary developers guide which is extremely thorough but requires a PHD to read it, or you end up using it as a reference.

This book hits dead on!! Incredibly easy to read with examples and visuals that make understanding difficult concepts easy, but its encompasses every important concept in DB2 with plenty of detail. I love this book and recommend it to anyone looking for the DB2 book to buy. Of course there are times you will need to access DB2 Info Center when you need very specific detail, but this book will provide you on the right track and explain how you got there perfectly. Hats off to the authors of this one.

I am sure if you glance at the rest of the reviews you will be more than tempted to buy this book. Well, you should! Kerman's way of introducing the LOGIC behind actionScript is phenomenal. This books should help pave the way for you to grasp the logic behind actionScript. Why not 5 stars then? Well, I thought there would be more practical examples than the book included. Definitely worth the money!

I'm sorry I bought this book!
Because it's so good!
And now the MX version is out,
but I already have the Flash 5 one!
Anybody wants to buy it off me,
so I can get the new issue?
;-)

This is the first book I've read by Phillip Kerman. I will now go hunt for his next one - or all of them, to be honest! This book doesn't learn You any Flash or design, but it gives You everything You need to know about actionscripting. Tastefully presented and easy to read. If You are the perfect object oriented programmer - You could skip some chapters, but if You're just an "almost" perfect programer in object oriented languages - this book will give You the last skills that makes You perfect! Yes it really does not only cover actionscripting - it gives You a visual and very educational lesson in object oriented programing.

Wow!

This is a GREAT book for the graphic/web designer wanting to learn actionscript. I own or have read many others that don't cover the basics or the thought processes behind writing in a scripting language. Most books on this topic started out over my head with little explaination and were accompanied by buggy and/or old code. With clear and consice writing, Philip uses the first half of the book to fully explain programming concepts as they pertain to scripting in Flash, and then follows up with examples of how to implement these ideas.

I can't say enough about how far this book has taken me into the scripting world. Kudos to Kerman.

If you're looking for a book with lots of pictures and fluff this is not the book for you.
But if you're actually interested in learning to program ActionScript this is the first and only book you should buy.

Phillip Kerman explains everything in a clear understandable way and approaches the ideas of good programming as opposed to bad as well as the actual language itself. This alone will save you hours of re-doing what you've already done. Phillip gets you thinking like a programmer (a fairly new concept to a lot of designers trying to make their Flash more interactive.) Learn to design completely independent re-usable interfaces so that not only are you developing advanced interactive web-applications, you're also building a library of sample re-usable building blocks that you can re-use over and over.

Even if you're new to the language, take some tutorials online to get the basics and then buy this book. Read it and do the tutorials in it and soon you will be programming like a professional in no time. This is the best book on ActionScripting period! and I own 16 books on Flash Development!

This book is not only good for project managers but also an excellent read for developers. In the real world it is not uncommon that developers would confront a manager who likes to micromanage and everything the developers do have to be conform to something really bureaucracy and with little or no business sense or tech sense. In this book, the value of APM is well articulated in concise sentences. These sentences can be powerful tool when it is necessary for R&D people to discuss/argue with a manager about things like project plan/report, etc. There is also practical method of APM. I find this book very articulate and concise. Highly recommended.

This book is a thoroughly enjoyable read, from the emphasis on principles, the excellent job navigating the difficult territory of the line between prescribed process and anarchy, and the stages a team goes through as it embraces an agile style of development. I even thought that the hypothetical story added a nice element of repetition to each section that helped drive home the main points.

The one thing I would've liked was for this book to get off the fence and decide to be software-related. Almost every example is software related (except for the basketball analogy that got beaten to death...), but it goes out of the way not to specify software practices because this is about arbitrary project management. The book's in the "Agile Software Development Series" and the author is primarily a software consultant. I'd prefer it stuck to software rather than trying to go for broader appeal because there were several practice areas where detail was elided on that basis and could've really helped make the practices more concrete.

Also, it would've been nice to have a little grid mapping up common-day software development methodologies like Scrum, XP, FDD, and DSDM against the practices in the book. I tried to do it in my head, but once you get past 5x5, it's something that should've been provided.

I picked up Agile Project Management because I haven't done any agile projects in a while and wanted to update my knowledge to help with an upcoming project. I found the book a good combination of theory and practical activities that a project manager can use in an agile project. The book steps through each of the processes, explains the theory, then steps through tools that can be used for that process. I recommend this book for anyone new to agile project management, including experienced project managers looking to expand their toolkit.

This book is well-written and provides both a good explanation of agile software development and insights into how to manage such a project. My disappointment comes from fact that Highsmith emphasizes that one has to find the right people in order to succeed with this kind of project, and doesn't provide much info about how to identify the right people or how to train people with potential to work this way. Given the emphasis on the importance of the right team, more space in the book should be devoted to that aspect of management.

As someone who has managed large custom software projects and programs for 20 years, I was concerned that applying Agile to project management would simply mean burndown charts and the like. What I found in Highsmith's book is a perceptive understanding of how people think, feel and actually work on projects. Approaches that take human behavior into account, in my experience, are far more successful than those that don't.

The concepts covered here, if really absorbed and understood, can benefit any project. I found Chapter 7 to be the most valuable for my current product development team, and ordered copies of the book for all my managers.

The book never arrived at 3 weeks, so canceled the order and hope the charge is reversed on my card. Woody's books was nice about the problem and sent me a $5 check to aid in buying the book at a higher cost in a local book store.

This is a fantastic book for the newly-diagnosed breast cancer patient. It was given to my by my surgeon's office. It does a great job explaining things on a level that the average person can understand. It also has great diagrams, lists of questions to ask your medical team, glossary of terms, websites to check out and comments from breast cancer survivors and/or significant others of survivors. I highly recommend this book.

We give this book to surgeons in our area to distribute to women diagnosed with breast cancer. Before purchasing it, we had a group of 4 breast cancer survivors review and rate 3 separate books on breast cancer. This book "won" hands down, based on numerous criteria -- everything from its explanation of breast cancer treatments, to its index and glossary, to its discussion of life after cancer. It is clear and easy to read, provides comprehensive information on types of breast cancer and corresponding treatment alternatives, has wonderful graphics and photos, and provides interesting anecdotal stories of actual patients in its sidebar. Highly recommended!

I was introduced to this book at work and am now giving it to women newly diagnosed with breast cancer. I am on oncology certified nurse in the radiation oncology department of my cancer center. In January 2007 I also became our Breast Cancer Patient Navigator. I find this book gets excellent reviews from patients and their families alike. It is a great source of information, covering all the topics from diagnosis to living life 'after cancer'. I only wish I would have had this book when I was on my personal breast cancer journey! I highly recommend this book for someone newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

"Many experts believe that Herceptin represents the future direction of breast cancer drugs, because it targets a particular protein on the cancer cell, rather than attacking all cells at random. As research progresses, scientist hope to make all anti-cancer drugs as specific as possible." ~ pg. 97

Designed to compliment the book, the DVD provides an environment of understanding with explanations for all the procedures and various situations that will occur after a diagnosis. New treatments like Immunotherapy are discussed and there is an extensive resource section with additional CD options, including a CD-ROM program that is an interactive guide to treatment.

Helpful up-to-date information about why you may not need a mastectomy and only a lumpectomy is encouraging and gives hope. Radiation and Chemo is also discussed in detail. Throughout both the DVD and book, women tell their stories and that gives a sense of the range of experience. There are over 150 color photographs and graphics to illustrate important points.

A variety of questions are given in each section so you know what to ask your doctor. The stages of breast cancer are given so you know exactly what your doctor is talking about. The main sections include:

Facing Breast Cancer - Your feelings, support groups, healthcare teams and overview of treatment options.

Breast Cancer Basics - Types of Breast Cancer

Diagnosis and Staging - Tumor Testing, the Pathology Report, Additional Tests, How Stage is Determined

Surgery - Reconstruction, Lumpectomy and Mastectomy options, Lymph Nodes

Reconstruction - Choosing a Plastic Surgeon, External and Internal Options

Radiation Therapy - How treatment is given, Brachytherapy

Chemotherapy - Side Effects, Common Chemotherapy Drugs

Hormone Therapy - How Treatment is Given, Who should be Treated, Side Effects

Immunotherapy - Future Therapies and Herceptin

Clinical Trials - Participation Ideas and getting the newest treatments...

Life after Cancer - Emotional Recovery, Physical Recovery

The Guide for Your Partner is a special section your partner can read. If possible, watching the DVD together would be ideal because it explains all the basics in the book.

Be a Survivor is an excellent resource because it gives you all the questions you need to ask and answers a number of pertinent questions any woman will be asking the moment she is diagnosed.

Vladimir Lange, MD is one of the most respected doctors in this field of study and this book came into being after his own wife was diagnosed with breast cancer.

~The Rebecca Review

I can also recommend "Reconstructing Natalie" by Laura Jensen Walker.