Guides and Directories Books

I was surprised to find how many places in Wisconsin that I've camped at are not listed in this book. It is huge but still far from exhaustive. The emphasis by far is on commercial RV parks over national, state, and regional campgrounds. My view of Trailer Life's RV-camping guide is similar. Between the two of them, they cover enough RV-friendly places in Wisconsin to be useful, but even combined are woefully far from complete. The CD is handy if you bring a laptop with you, can't seem to find a "turn here for camping" sign, and don't want to spend another night at Wally World.

Excellent book, very informative. The CD makes it a whole lot easier looking things up while traveling.

Great value for the money. Includes a handy CD. This is very useful if you have a laptop.

Thankfully a CD is supplied because the book is as big as a New York City phone book! I'd be hard pressed to lug it around the country with me.

It's heavy with ad space, too. The campgroud descriptions are brief but given the volume, I guess that is by necessity.

We replaced an older 1997 version with this new Woodall's directory as we plan an RV trip to Yellowstone and adjoing states this summer. Remembered how handy the older one was during our other excursions and obviously wanted the newer/updated version.

Have found the included CD to be a compliment to this directory. Loaded it into our PC and work strictly off of the CD to plan our summer excursion. If RV campsites have websites, you can just click on the link and they come up. Pretty nifty and much easier than looking them up in the directory... much faster. If you have a laptop, I can see how nice and handy it would be on the road.

The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because I can't find any information on "reservations accepted or not" at any of the various RV campsites we are looking at. This would be a real plus and great addition to the directory, otherwise you will need to call each one individually.

I haven't actually tried to submit anything using this book but I am going to begin sending out query letters using information from this book. Because I haven't actually used the information in the book I can't say what kind of results it will garner but that would probably depend more on my material and letters than the information in this book. There are a lot of advice articles and I can saw that my letters and approach is going to be much better than it would have been had I not bought this book. I think the book is worth the price that I paid for it for the articles alone much less the contact information for which the book is really intended.

I am purchasing this because a friend of mind had last years edition in her library. If you do anything Duck Quack tells you to do, you will be thrown out of any publishing house in America. All of it is rude, crass and will not get you any closer to acheiving your goal. Read this book and many others, take it's advice, and stay within the realm of professional, responsible behavior--then the rest of us will not have to read complaints from editors and publishers about pushy, difficult writers who think they deserve special treatment and don't follow protocol.

In today's publishing world, acquiring an agent is perhaps the most difficult task a writer faces - even more difficult than getting an manuscript published. The 2005 Guide to Literary Agents provides essential guidance to those who have a finished and polished book manuscript or script, and who wish to find representation. While this book won't make the process easy, its helpful listings and articles will direct writers toward the best agents for their work.

Unlike many of the Writer Digest Books guides, this one contains valuable information in its articles: "FAQs About Agents"; "Author-Agent Etiquette"; "Agents Share Their Secrets"; "How to Find the Right Agent"; "How Do I Contact Agents"; "The Art of the Synopsis"; and more. Of course, the listings themselves, of over 600 literary agents, constitute the bulk of the book. Each entry contains contact info, what kind of material the agents represents, terms, and, often, recent sales. Near the end, the editors provide a section on writers' conferences, where many authors meet their eventual agents. (Note that many agents do not wish to be listed in this book because of the volume of submissions it generates.)

If you want to get your book published by a major publisher, you must have an agent. Publishers now rely on agents to screen manuscripts for them, to weed out the unprofessional and the boring, so that when you acquire an agent, you've conquered a large part of the battle. Beyond that, however, you'll need an agent who has extensive connections within publishing, who knows exactly which editors like your kind of material, and how to present your work in the best possible light. Finding that agent among the listings here won't be easy, but at least Writers Digest Books will give you a gentle push in the right direction.

Highly recommended for those who already have a polished book manuscript or script. For those who aren't yet ready to find representation, save your money for next year's guide.

In fairness this is a guide to literary agents. No doubt. The catch is the premise that from this book one can pitch his or her's manuscript. Well the pitch can be made but it will not be read. You will get your response with a dear john "your project" card. (They cannot even find the time to write down the title of your book.) Why is this? Why do the agents allow their names' and adresses' in these books. It's vanity, all vanity. Now they have a new gimmick. It's advice. "I'm too busy, have too many clients anyhow, have you tried Writer's Market??? That's the kiss off. Er, please never send me anything again. A few will actually mention that the three chapters that they requested in their advertising blurb and you sent them were disposed of unread. So what to do? Call them up. Call'em. Find out if they want to read your stuff or not. Better yet get on a program of meeting agents and editors. This is all about money, not creativity. Maybe you can bribe a credible editor (not an agent) to read your work. (I know everybody tells you not to do this.) Sometimes you have to succomb to extream measures. You're a creator, be creative. But save your copying dough and your envelopes and the postage and the time and give these agents a call. If they don't have time to take your call they certainly dont have time to read your stuff. Be tough.

All of Writer's Digest resource books are excellent. If you think about it, where else would this vital industry contact information be available? I'm getting irritated with "Quack's" comments on every Writer's Digest review page. He obviously never sent a query or manuscript to an agent (as he probably can't write one to begin with) because I've had a lot of luck sending queries, proposals, and manuscripts to agents and publishers who "say" they aren't accepting new authors, etc. I have one book deal in the works because I sent my proposal to a publisher who clearly stated, "No new authors." So Quack needs to get a life, learn how to write, and stop being such a kill joy. He'll never be a successful writer...or a successful anything. He's just too pessimistic. If you're serious about writing, you need all of the contacts and resources you can get. This book will get you started on the right path.

Everything rolled perfectly..the shipping and paying.
It's great book for those who have a good knowledge of Active Directory from Microsoft. I recommend it for those who want to develop for this kind of technology.

It's better than most AD books from MS Press. A great resource and not a bad cover to cover read either. Something very hard to say about MS press books.

If you just need more of an understanding of AD and how everything works together in 2003, than grab this book. it will be worth it.

If you're new to Active Directory, this is an acceptable starting point to get you up and running. However several points are not mentioned in this text:

- First of all, issues regarding an Authoritative Restore; specifically Group Memberships. This is a CRUCIAL topic, as you'll see in the field, after doing an authoritative restore "by the book" you will have group membership inconsistencies
- Poor explanation of tombstones & how to actually modify them; specifically which Object Attributes are saved in the tombstone by default [hint: user's group memberships is NOT one of them] and how to modify this property.
- Insufficient coverage of crucial tools such as LDP.EXE, ASDIEDIT.MSC, FRSDIAG, REPLMON.
- No explanation of Object's Back Link's [i.e. a user's Group Memberships] vs Object's Forward Link's [i.e. a group's User Members] and how Active Directory treats them VERY differently [esp for purposes of performing a restore].
- No coverage of the Journal Wrap & issues this causes w/ FRS replication

There are other books, but unfortunately the only place I've found any information on these vital topics is support.microsoft.com. I HIGHLY suggest you spend your time reading the following technotes if you plan on using this book: Q840001, Q280079, Q216993, Q909265, Q292438.

When Windows 2003 was first released, if you were shopping for an Active Directory title, it was to solidify your administrative abilities with the emerging technology prior to implementing what at the time was a new platform. Today, if you're looking for an AD book, you are probably looking more for a reference guide to facilitate either advanced configuration and troubleshooting, or to enhance your understanding of the more "behind the scenes" aspects of the AD.

In 2002 (when this book was published), I could have recommended this title. Without a doubt the book gives good historical information on where AD came from, and provides a solid foundation for the systems AD relies on (DNS), as well as planning your AD configuration, deployment in either a clean or migrated environment, security configuration, and AD object management. Much of the information presented in the domain design, deployment, and security sections however, are either direct reprints or consolidations of already posted (and free) Microsoft documentation, from such titles as Windows 2000 Server Domain Migration Cookbook, Windows Server 2003 Active Directory Domain Rename Tools, Step-by-Step Guide to Kerberos 5 (krb5 1.0) Interoperability, and several other cited Microsoft KB and "Step by Step" articles. These references are not hidden, but mentioned in side-bars throughout the text, and you are quite often encouraged to read those texts in addition to the information in this book.

The layout of this book lends itself well to those learning or solidifying the basic to intermediate points of the technology. Although the title would suggest that this is a good reference, references allow one to look at the index or table of contents for the information they need, and get the answers without having to cross-reference many other topics. Picking a topic, such as application partition creation and management, shows that the information on this is not in one location and in fact requires the reader to have read the preceding topics in order to get a clearer picture. This is not detractive to the value of the book, but a better classification for this would be textbook.

Today, the 2003 AD has been out for many years, more professionals have mastered the topic, and better books are available that provide a less Microsoft-centric take on the AD, as well as proven experience in management in more standard implementations. Instead of this title, look at ISBN 0321228480 "Inside Active Directory Second Edition".

While I generally have a low opinion of the quality of MS Press books, this one is absolutely the best book I've read on active directory. It is clear, concise, authoritative, and comprehensive. Don't waste your time or money with any other books on Active Directory.

I was given this book for free for attending a Microsoft Technet briefing and commented sarcastically to my colleague sitting next to me, oh great another MS Press book. I decided to read it on a whim, and boy was I surprised and even impressed. This book not only explains very detailed functionality within active directory, but also covers high level planning and design and does a phenomenal job of tieing it all together so that the information is useful. Don't let the size of this book fool you.

Every Windows 2003 Administrator should have this book on their shelf.

RT
MCT, MCSE, MCDBA, MCSA

There is a more comprehensive book on the topic called Campus Free College Degrees: Thorsons Guide to Accredited College Degrees Through Distance Learning by Marcie K. Thorson.

If you're new to Distance Learning, this book will be a good primer. It did help me to save about $2000 by directing me to a junior college that had the classes I wanted, rather than taking classes through the out of state school that granted my degree. However, two years is a long time in the evolution of distance learning, and the information is out of date for many of the programs. A great grad program at NYU was completely overlooked, as was the acquisition of University of Sarasota by Argosy University. Wait for the third ed.

As the President for TheDistanceLearningExpo.com, we have used many different resources to guide the people coming to our website. We found Barron's guide to be the most up to date.

This book ia a good tool for those interested in learning about distance learning. It included information a what to look for in a school, associations that accredit schools, financial aid information and a dictorary of schools and programs. It is a great resource and information source for those new to distance education and those who are wanting information on schools and programs. Some of the information was not as up to date as it should be. I have been involved with distance education since last year and found that many of the schools I am familiar with were not up-dated in the book.

This is the best big-picture overview of distance learning programs available today, and is hugely better than the Bear's Guide, a popular competitor. The strength of this book is in its comprehensiveness. It lists so many programs that it can be a chore to wade through them all. Fortunately they are indexed in the main text alphabetically, but are cross-referenced in the back by state and program subject.

This book would be a hands-down five star slam dunk if it were more up to date. I realize that colleges change their programs all the time, but to me that strongly argues for less time between editions. This was last published in 2002, and much has happened since then especially where Internet learning is concerned. Despite this weakness, it is still at least as current as its competitors, and is vastly more useful and comprehensive. Another small issue that occurs occasionally are short entries like "See school website" or "Contact school" in response to required data fields. I gather from reading this that the entries here were exclusively based on the information schools sent back to the editors on a standard survey. It would have been nice if the researchers had actually called the schools and asked for the information to complete these data fields. It would have been more time consuming to write (enormously so, in fact), but the finished product would have been unbeatable.

In the end, this is my favorite guide to distance learning available, and despite its weaknesses, I still recommend it to anyone considering a distance learning option at any educational level.

The CD-ROM that comes with the book is almost completely worthless. Some idiot decided it would be cute to use Flash for the interface. The result is something pretty but impossible to use.

When you search colleges, they are listed five per page (yes, five). If you try to print them, you only get five colleges. For sixty colleges, that's twelve pages, whereas everything could have been on one page.

They give you no ability to sort the data and getting the data into a form that you could use in a spreadsheet seems a formidable task.

They also fail to include any quality ranking in the search criteria other than the very broad and inconclusive competitiveness rating.

They have gone out of their way to cripple the product.

Great Reference! Extremely helpful for locating colleges of your interest. Highly recommended book for those in grades 9-12. It not only helps you locate a college, but a field you would like to pursue.

This book a must for those considering college and don't know where to start looking.

Barron's Profiles of American Colleges is a good book. The ink smears a little, but it remains completely readable. A tremendous number of four-year colleges are well organized in this book. Useful information is given about each of them.

It helped me place myself in the right direction as far as choosing a college. It's hard to choose colleges just by what you hear by older people but this book is extremely useful in information you need to know before visitng a college. I would reccomand this book. The software was useful to me, however if you know how to write a formal essay it's no big deal.

Who knows whether I'll actually push the pedal that begins a coast to coast bicycling trip but having read Donna Lynn Ikenberry's "Bicycling: Coast to Coast," I now know what to feel, smell, taste and enjoy along the journey. The sunshine pours through her scenic descriptions and your legs ache during her climbs. As she comes close to each day's destination you can feel the anticipation of soothing well-used muscles. This is a guidebook to prepare for the trek as well as take along for reference. Buy two and leave one with someone responsible for knowing your itinerary.

This book goes the wrong way, namely East to West. The book follows the old 1976 Bike Centennial trail that is well described and updated at the Adventure Cycling website. I followed this route, East to West. It would have been a lot better to have gone East to West. The wind gets pretty strong and it blows West to East; so, if you are riding East to West, you have to work much harder than if go would go the other direction. While I enthusiastically recommend the route, I suggest that it would be better to start in the West.

Donna Ikenberry's "Bicycling Coast to Coast" is a well laid out, day-by-day guidebook for a bicycle trip across the country. From maps, to sights to see, to places to camp and eat, this book has everything you need to get across the country and not get lost.

The only thing I wish this book included was trip preparation hints (of which it has very few). However, this book along with Steve Butterman's "Bicycle Touring - How to Prepare for Long Rides" make a great cross country bike touring set.

I biked the TransAmerica trail last summer and I used this book for pre-trip planning and as a guide while on the road. The vast majority of the route Ikenberry takes is along a trail that was first ridden in 1976 and was designed by Adventure Cycling. If you just need maps of the roads to take, you'll be much better served by getting them from Adventure Cycling. If you want to use this book as a companion to the maps, you should realize that this book was written for westbounders. If you are riding from west to east (like i did) get ready to learn what dyslexia feels like as you try to decipher all the directions backwards.

The book is thin on trip planning info and simply points readers to other sources for info on bike touring. In general, most of this book merely describes points of reference along the TranAm trail (ie: mile 1 - You'll pass a convienence store on the left; mile 2.3 - You'll see a lake with picnic benches to the right). I felt that it lacked a real focus (sometimes it reads like a diary, sometimes it reads like a guidebook, etc) & was full of superfluous fluff (the state flower of virginia is blah blah, a family in kansas fed me cake, etc) that only made my saddlebags that much heavier.

Overall though, it's not my objective to dissuade you from buying this book... as unbelievably it seems to be the only guide written about riding the TransAm trail. Ikenberry's book certainly has some usefullness - perhaps mostly so in providing info on places to sleep along the way. But even then, she fails to mentions whether these places have showers or food on numerous occasions. It's worth the 15 bucks... but the book could (& should) have been so much better... (for example: there is no mention anywhere of suggestions on what kind of bike to use, gearings, tires - nothing even remotely technical)

I used this book this summer, riding from Florence, OR to Yorktown, VA (yes, the book goes from east to west, so I was reading "backwards"). For my purposes, I used the book to help figure out how large towns were and what services they offered. 9 times out of 10 the book gave fairly accurate assesments of services. There were times when "full-service" towns were no longer in existance and the grocery or restaurant we had been relying on was nowhere in site.

That said, I would NEVER bike the Trans Am, or even a portion of it, without consulting Adventure Cycling first [on their web site]. Their maps are indespensible and when used in conjunction with their up-to-date addendums, they are incredibly accurate. Ikenberry makes it pretty clear that she is using the Adventure Cycling maps as her guide as well.

I also found it odd that Ikenberry only biked the Trans Am once. She makes comments on terrain and areas which are purely cicumstantial (such as mentioning "dog-prone" areas in Kentucky - where we had no more dogs than any other day - and areas with mean drivers.) It was sometimes hard to tell whether her descriptions of places were based on one pass through or fact. Plus, I would have trusted her judgment of "steep" and "trafficky" had I felt more confident in her bike touring past.

On the plus side, Ikenberry does offer some nice background information on historical areas which the Trans Am cyclist may not otherwise recieve.

Overall, I am glad I lugged the extra pound on my tour. It was helpful and since I wasn't relying on it for accuracy, I wasn't affected at all by the closed services. It would be great if someone would update the book! Some towns in the book are no longer on the Adventure Cycling route. Also, she breaks the route into 70 different biking days. Some are rediculously long. She must have had some serious tail-winds at some points! Again, had she biked the route several times, I am sure her days would have been more "normal" in some instances.

In any case, bike the Trans Am since it is awesome and contact Adventure Cycling for your most accurate information. If you have [any money] left over and some room for a medium-sized book, squeeze Ikenberry into your pannier.

The boook was for my academic course..... and I was surprised by the reponse of amazon. They delivered it to me so fast. Thanks a lot. And the quality of the book is good too.....
Book is basically related to museum culture and importance of rituals in those spaces.

Excellent working with seller, received item very fast! Would definitely recommend business with this seller.

Dr. Duncan's book was required reading in my undergraduate studies. She writes from two angles - first, being the traditional fine arts view, and second, a sociological view. Art is not created in a vacuum and is directly affected by the society it lives in. There is a value to looking at art from this combined point of view. You have a clear picture why some art is considered valuable, while some is not.

Carol Duncan's book delves into the reasons why we have art museums and then focusses in on some notable museums of today. The small book is an easy and quick read. However, its relative ease and small size does not mean it does not inform. It is well researched and well edited. It is short, sweet and to the point. Too bad more art history books are not like that.

Dr. Duncan's books discusses the history of art museums and focusses in on some notable, present day museums. Her approach combines the traditional art historian view with a sociological view. Art is not created in a vacuum and reflects the society it lives within. Duncan's approach gives us insight into why some artwork is accepted while other artwork is not.

This book was required reading in my undergraduate studies. It is one of the few I choose to have in my personal library as well.

Carol Duncan's book is small in size and easy to read. However, just because of its ease and size, don't mistake its value to art history. It is well researched and well edited. It is short, sweet and to the point. Too bad other art history books cannot be like that.

As the title of Miss Duncan's book suggest, she sees the museums as almost religious institutions that entice the visitor to "enact a performance of some kind". Their very identity and meaning are constructed through this ritualistic practice, which is neither natural nor neutral. In the introduction the author states that she has no ambition in propagating what an art museum should be. In fact she does not indicate if she has such a clear cut ideal thought-out at all. The purpose of her research is to see, decipher and describe. There are, it turns out, two ways - two ideals in fact - a museum is presented to the public: the educational museum and the aesthetic museum. The first type proposes to educate the visitor, treating the exhibits as "art-historical objects", while in the second they are unique, original works of art to be reflected upon by the sophisticated guest, sheltered by the museum. Duncan insists that either way, all this happens in a "ritual-like" atmosphere, and that is what she wants to prove in her book. She deals with this aspect specifically in the first chapter. The older museums were practically all built in a style that consciously copied the architecture of old Greek and Roman temples and were often compared to them. The visitor, already mentally prepared for an enlightening experience, would receive (in a seemingly "objective" and disinterested package) rational and verifiable knowledge - a truth that is so obvious as to be irrefutable, when in fact it is highly subjective and hierarchical.
In the second chapter, Duncan traces the development of the museum from the princely gallery into today's public, secular space, and maintains that this space is neither quite as clearly public, nor secular as it would like to be seen. Here, the Louvre and the National Gallery in London are primary examples. The museum here serves particular needs of the bourgeois state and its ideology.
The third chapter follows the "museum boom" in the United States that begun in the late 19th century. Duncan sees it as a pretentious attempt of the new republic with no history to boast to be seen as civilized and a part of wider Western culture. She follows the mushrooming of "American Louvres", museums that ideologically support White Protestants' view of themselves and their political power. Here, an American museum equals money.
Private museums that once belonged to rich collectors are dealt with in the fourth chapter. The characters of the often ruthless and predominantly white men are vividly brought to life, together with how they saw themselves, and how they wished their collections to reflect this.
The final chapter deals in great length with the nature of modern art, and its use in today's museums.

The premise that museums are ritual sites is highly problematic and on closer examination cannot be supported by facts. The argument that older museums were built in the style that closely followed that of the temples of antiquity is a hollow one, for in the late eighteenth and throughout the nineteenth century, all structures of significance were built that way. Banks, schools, parliaments, city markets, private houses, ch?teaux, family crypts, public baths and indeed museums were built in that style. Does it mean that all of these were ritualistic, temple-like places? Hardly. Duncan either doesn't know it or doesn't grasp the significance. Instead she tells us that in art museums, it is the visitors who perform the ritual. And I think therein lies the problem. While it is perfectly reasonable to say that a great majority (if not all) of people attending a mass in a church are there for a specific - ritualistic - reason, such assumption won't work when studying the behavior of museum-goers who may be there for a number of causes. First of all, there is absolutely nothing about timing one's visit to a museum that would suggest this. There is nothing regular about the visits and such a visit is often accidental as much as planned. Once inside the museum, I have never seen anything that would suggest any shared patterns of the visitors' conduct that would support this `ritual' theory. I have always interpreted what is more-or-less silence or only quiet talk as a mere politeness towards people around, rather then any sort of `ritualistic behavior'. I am silent in a hospital too. Whether one wants to admire one particular work of art or even see it as such is one's free choice. No museum in the world could force me to look at something longer then I want to. I have seen people, particularly in American museums, to behave no differently the they would elsewhere. Museums can place all manner of things for us to see in every way they can, to represent whatever they want them to represent, but in the end it is up to us to accept it or not. If someone wants to worship, why should I care?
Duncan quotes Goethe as he impatiently waited for the opening of the Dresden Gallery in 1768 and using his exaltations as a proof of the ritualistic nature of gallery visits. She probably doesn't realize, that if this was the very first day of a gallery functioning, in the 18th century when there were almost no public museums or galleries, there could be hardly any talk of an established ritual. Duncan states that the origins of the evolution of the museum from the princely gallery lie in the discourse "in which bourgeois and aristocratic modes of culture were pitted against each other" and that the museums such as the Louvre stand as monuments to the new bourgeois state as it emerged at the time of revolutions. Yet later in the second chapter she says that conversions of this type happened before revolution in Dresden and Vienna. Why aristocratic and ultra-conservative regimes such as Saxony and Austria had at the time, would promote a monument to bourgeois state remains a mystery our eager writer could not be bothered to explain. After all, even Bourbons were considering opening the Louvre to the public before the revolution. Between 1789 and 1871 France experienced several revolutions, was run by three monarchies, two empires, three republics, directory and a consulate, and went through the Paris Commune, yet none of these widely varied governments thought of closing down the museum. If the new type of museum was simply a monument to the bourgeoisie, then why was it kept on in Soviet Russia and the entire communist bloc? Little details like that could not bother Duncan. Her overall historical scholarship is below that of an eight-grader, and so she cheerfully states that by 1825 all western capitals, monarchical or republican had a national gallery. Obviously, the fact that in 1825, there was no republican government in Europe escapes her. It is the complete lack of in-depth knowledge on Duncan's part that allows her to arrogantly write that the countries of the third world have museums just so that they can receive western military and economic aid. It is not just that it is plainly insulting, but what is implied is that getting money and weapons from the west is as easy as building a museum. And why, then, do some third world countries that refuse aid from the west still build museums? If a major argument in (what I take for) a serious book is built on hot air like that, than the book is perhaps not as serious as we might think. Duncan, as is painfully obvious by now, has no taste. It is therefore no surprise that she hates those who do. With misplaced sarcasm she derides the practice of basing museums on `national genius', claiming this to be the governing pattern in the west by 19th century. I seriously doubt that, if only because hardly two, perhaps three countries in the west could possess such wealth of cultural heritage as to claim a genius and not be laughed at. British art galleries, for example, could hardly build their identity on such shaky ground. But Duncan does not care about facts. Or logic. She unworriedly states that museums were seen as instruments of "social change capable of strengthening the social order", without realizing that it is a contradiction in terms. Now the plot has been completely lost, and by chapter three Duncan doesn't talk about ritual anymore. What she wants is to hate and deride. To her, public museums set up in the United States in the second half of the 19th century are nothing but nests of hypocrisy, thinly veiled racist institutions, run by and for the white male, the root cause of all evil. Uncouth terms like the `WASP' are standard here and one is left wondering if all white male Protestants really are pathological liars. The impression one takes from this is that museum founders, donors and curators are twisted, dangerous psychopaths. Perhaps we should keep them under lock and key as soon as they even start rambling about museums. When talking about lives of museum donors, Duncan approaches something resembling mildly appealing writing, but only because the subject is interesting. Predictably, another pearl awaits us at the end of the fourth chapter where she idiotically writes that Andrew Mellon's refusal to have his name associated with the National Gallery "is an act, however, that also obscures the deep contradiction on which the National Gallery is built: that one man, single-handedly, was able to dictate, pay for, and carry out the creation of so potent a symbol of the nation's spiritual and material wealth". I don't see Duncan's point. So what if one man can do all this? One man was behind building of the Suez Canal, one man led India's independence movement, a single sixteen year old French girl in the 1420's saved her country, yet no one would claim there to be some "deep rooted" contradictions. One prefers to admire the courage and persistence of an individual. Duncan does not. To her, anyone out of the ordinary, above the average, is an elitist.
It all finally falls apart in the final chapter on modern art museums. These are places frequented by sexual deviants, all male. In fact, Duncan is convinced, all (!) of the modern art is about sex. This is just one of her bizarre beliefs, based on her strange, shamanistic psychoanalysis. I was, let me admit, a bit surprised to discover that as a man I had feelings of inadequacy and vulnerability in front of mature women (like Duncan, I presume) and was frightened of the vagina. Throwing in Latinisms just for good measure is apparently Duncan's idea of maturity.

This handbook is wonderful for a student that is looking for a guide that contains plentiful information about a large number of colleges. However, it may contain more than you need - if you already have a few colleges in mind. Still, it's a great guide to colleges and is second only to actually visiting colleges themselves.

My 17 year old daughter has used this book and the great CD connection to narrow down her college choices. The ability to search based on the curriculum that you want has been terrific especially with something like dance education. The backpack is wonderful to save and review choices. Worth every penny!

I have been using the book for quite a while, and I have to say that I've found it extremely useful. Although you can obtain the same information from the internet, extracting, cataloging, and comparing them will take a tremendous amount of time. Using this book, neatly formatted and with hard-data, you are not buying information, you are buying time.

Also, there are some tables / statistics and articles about the college application process, which will give you a head-start.

Since you're reading this review, I assume all of you have access to a computer. The CD which comes with the book is great. I made my college list using the CD, which lets you spesify almost everything. It also has some videos and tutorials for college application.

The only negative side is, the information will gets obselete very quickly. Also, it does not provide a brief description for colleges.

But both facts are actual neccessities: 1)There is no way of magically updating the book with new data. They could have provided some discounts for people who already have the old edition. But most of us will not need the book after we get into college anyway.. so this is not really an issue.

2) There can't be descriptions of the college. Here is why: Collegeboard is an official organization, and it any review would also generate bias, so they rightfully remain silent.

If you are looking for a book, which'll help you to get a feeling of the college, try the Fiske Guide. (the 2002 edition is published)

Overall, the book is a perfect 4-star product. Not excellent, but certainly above average.

This handbook is wonderful for a student that is looking for a guide that contains plentiful information about a large number of colleges. However, it may contain more than you need - if you already have a few colleges in mind. Still, it's a great guide to colleges and is second only to actually visiting colleges themselves.

This book contains even less information than I could get online (with a site like usnews.com). It has, on average, one quarter of a page per college (a half a page for popular ones) and contains only factual information. For example, you might be able to determine when a college was built, what percentage of males it has, how many freshman it has, and a list of majors. But nothing more - there is no opinion (no rating system like Fiske) and no commentary on the college itself.

A useless waste of money - go with the Fiske guide or stick to Internet-based information sites; they have a ton more information than this remiss handbook.

There is a female friendly world in cyberspace filled with exciting and interesting women and Aliza Sherman will help you to find and meet them with this concise and readable book. Also use this book to quickly discover and locate women's resources from business advice to health issues on the WWW.

I have not read this book yet, but except for one review, the rest of the reviews read like press releases. I can't imagine that this book is that terrific considering that the word of mouth I've heard hasn't been that great. Can someone provide a balanced review, please, instead of Cybergrrl's friends posting useless accolades here that read just like a PR person wrote them? I don't believe them.

I'm not a professional reviewer or PR type person.I saw Aliza speak in Montreal recently and she changed my life - I mean it. I read about the book in the newspaper, it was a great review, so I thought I'd check her out in person. I only heard good things word of mouth, too, which made me even more skeptical. I hate hype. But I wasn't the only one who was blown away, totally. She was a very generous person, very funny and real. Not stuck up and not fake in any way. And I read the book in two sittings and learned more from it than anything else I've read about the Internet. I never used computers - ever - but my husband just got one for his business. In 2 days I now know more than he does! (He doesn't believe me of course). I'm a 46 year old woman and I know you don't know me, but this is the truth. I suggest you buy a few books for your friends who aren't online yet - they will be thanking you for it.

I just started an internet-related job. I learned quickly but alot of things got glossed over during training, like terminology, etc. It seemed too late to ask certain questions after I had been there a while. But the Cybergrrl book is such a clear concise explanation of the Internet that I feel totally Net-Savvy now!

We can handle the techie talk, we are not afraid of technolgy. Maybe YOU are. And in that case perhaps you should have stuck to the lame adventures of Cybergrrl on your website, instead of subjecting others through the print medium to your demeaning view of women and technology.

You learn a little snippet about a lot of stuff, but not enough about anything. The book doesn't teach enough to make itself useful. If you want to learn Java, buy a Java book, if you want to learn about Perl, buy a perl book, etc. IMHO, you don't learn anything in this book, you couldn't learn by looking it up on the internet.

If you are looking for a book which can give you the big picture on several web technologies- not to mention acronyms- (HTML, DHTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML, XSL, Java, VB, Perl, CGI) this is the book for you. The web is greater than the sum of its parts... take a look at all the parts from a unified perspective. I found the author's interviews with specialists in each of the technologies to be especially informative.

This book is very useful if you wish to get a grip on the bewildering array of programming languages and technologies for the Web. Being a legacy C programmer wanting to venture into web programming this book seemed to be a dream come true. The book will definitely orient you to Web programming and clear up all those nasty acronyms that make you sleepy! However, the book goes too technical on each programming language rather than staying with high level concepts and as such you may get bogged down in details and syntax. But, if you want such detail to really learn each language then you will also be disappointed as each chapter just whets your appetite.

If you keep yourself out of the technical details and use the book for a good overview of Web programming technologies then you should come out the other end much more focused on what you really need to learn and which books to buy to truly train you up.

This book is a welcome addition to my bookshelf. It explains the concepts thoroughly and is enjoyable reading. It would probably be a good book for a student trying to decide what web technology or programming language to specialize in. I myself am a musician and songwriter and promote myself via the web and was therefore interested in learning how to build a better website without having to get too involved in learning programming. I'd rather spend the majority of my spare 30 hours a week crafting songs! Also, I liked the fact that the author explained terms and gave examples and even interviewed my ISP, Earthlink.

I'm in a Masters Level Program in Software Engineering and have been trying to decide whether I should specialize in Web Programming. Having taken specialized courses such as advanced Java and advanced Unix Programming, I needed something more general to give me a wider perspective but detailed enough overview of Web technologies to help me make my decision.

Thank You Mr Cintron for providing this valuable service! Your book will probably be the most important tool I will use to make my decision on whether to make a career in Web Technology.