Budget Books

I'm a big horror fan, have literally watched 70% of all horror films ever made, write for horror and B-movie websites, and constantly read books about horror films. This one suggested a few films that I had never heard about and am quite interested in watching, along with the typical comments on some movies that are the standard fare of any book about B-movies (e.g. "Blood Orgy of the She Devils", or the movie that is the first half of the subtitle of this book). It has enough info on some films, while on others you wish the author would write more about their bizarre history.

The problem with the book, unfortunately, are the interpretations that the author writes at the end of over half of his reviews. For example, he points out obvious environmentalist messages behind any giant-monster-caused-by-radioactivity movie, or reminds us that the sinners die in any slasher. But he really makes a mess when at the end of ANY movie where the villain is a woman, he interprets the film as being misogynist and against women's rights. I mean, really, this guy suggests that the people behind "The Corpse Grinders" were actually thinking when they wrote the screenplay and shot the film.

Still, for the most part this is a book written by a horror fan for horror fans, and the author's redemption comes when he just allows himself the enjoy the silliness of many of the listed movies or admires the creepy aspects of unsung classics.

Not as entertaining as a Joe Bob Briggs book, but still worth a read, for horror fans.

I was looking for a second perspective on personal finance books to make a comparison with "Personal Finance for Dummies 4th Edition."

While the writing style is acceptable and the author seems knowledgeable, I don't feel there is enough content compared the the Dummies book.

The big thing I liked about this book is that it spends a chapter section about the present/future value of money and how money compounds in an interest-bearing account. The author shows a basic equation, but also provides some quick lookup tables to save time on calculations. This section does give a sense of how money can grow. Most other personal finance books don't even discuss the math or give examples, and I think everybody should understand the basic math behind this concept, as it applies to anything that gains interest (your investments, bank accounts, etc.) or charges interest (your credit card, mortgage, etc.)

The other thing that was good were the worksheet examples to allow you to tabulate your expenses and do a net worth analysis (list your assets and liabilities).

But for many other topics in the book, it gives too general description of the topics, and it does not offer too many examples or anecdotes to help reinforce the concepts. The Personal Finance for Dummies book does try to use examples or anecdotes to try to press the importance of the topic to the reader a little better.

I would not bother with this book. It is "ok" and cheap, but the content needs more substance.

I bought this book for a trip to Denmark last summer. The information in the book is good, just very unfocused and general. For example, they cover the entire city of Copenhagen in about 15 pages. This book is perfect if you plan to vist all of Denmark, from Jylland to Bornholm, but if you are stoping and staying in one place (Copenhagen, Legoland, rhus, etc) this book might not be the best choice. The book tries to talk about too many places in not enough pages.

Fodor states, "No American city places such a premium on pleasure," and after just returning from a raucous, frivolous long weekend, I can hardily say AMEN!

Although "Fodor's 2002 New Orleans" is not the best of the two guide books that I took with me (read my review on my first choice: Frommer's New Orleans), Fodor's is a good, solid guide.

The "Nightlife" section in this guide is excellent, and when you see a one star, "Fodor's Choices," in this section, they are worth looking for and experiencing.

Another strength of this guide, which can be very beneficial when you plan your trips, are the Internet web site addresses provided with almost every hotel. With these you can visit the hotel site and see the accommodations and rate prior to making reservations. Fodor's has a very good section at the back of the guide that lists recommended books to read and music to listen to "before you go." And, unlike Frommer's, Fodor's has a great list of videos (films set in N.O.) to watch.

However there are two significant areas in this guide that could use improvement: maps and hotels/restaurants.

Regarding the maps: the guide needs more, better maps; maps that use color.

The biggest criticism is regarding the hotel/restaurants recommendations. For some reason the Fodor's does not differentiate quality via symbols for either restaurants or hotels. The only rating system that they use is the "Fodor's Choice"; a single star next to the listing. Thus, the elegant Ritz Carlton and utilitarian Quality Inn, which are both listed in the guide, have no symbolic differentiation - except their $$$$$ cost. The same is true regarding the restaurants.

The recommended accommodations and dining recommendations are, for the most part, generally accurate and up to date. However, my experience at listed and recommended, Sheraton Hotel was woefully inadequate. This hotel does not warrant the listing that Fodor's gave it. It especially does not merit their comment, "expect top quality service." NOT.

At the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, I had prepaid reservations for a nonsmoking room that WAS NOT honored. I was given a handicap with a shower where the water fluctuated between scalding hot and cold. The bath towels were both dingy and cheap and the front desk employees were indifferent and callous. Then, upon check out, I found a surprising $13 "per day" charge for the fitness club that I used once. The Fodor's guide highlights the hotel fitness club, but has no mention of the surcharge. Fodor's missed it big time with this hotel. They need to reevaluate their recommendation and listing.

Though my first choice is Frommer's, this guide is still usefully. It is easy to use, relatively reliable for sights and nightlife and has some significant strong points. Recommended.

Fodor's certainly needs to put out an updated version since this one is 2 years old. I've yet to visit the region so I cannot judge the accuracy of info but I did not like the feel of this guide.

I bought this together with the Frommer's Scandinavia. I like that one much better...

This guide offers information and other important details of the area but lacks any real depth as far as the "Off the Beaten Path" stuff goes.If you need a quick list of restaurants or hotels it is good. I would not buy it for backroads travel though, much better guides out there for that.

I found this book really helpful. I started a new job where I was responsible for budgeting. This provided a nice refresher for me.

This is a very elementary article on EVM and is useful primarily to see a high level overview of what OMB A-11 says about how EVM should be incorporated into the Federal government report OMB-300.

The article refers to what seems to be a critical figure, but the figure is missing.

This book gives good basics on recording from the setting up ofmicrophones on most types of instruments in a band to hooking up your4-track recorders. I would of like to seen more on the process of CD burning but I would probably need to get a book directed just for that...

In this book, Michael O'Hanlon suggests a way out of this budgetary fix. In contrast to the current military posture calling for the United States to be capable of waging two Desert Storm-like wars at a time, he argues for a "Desert Storm plus Desert Shield plus Bosnia peacekeeping" capability as well as selected economies in weapons modernization programs to save a total of $15 billion a year. He is a great analyst and I would definitely recommend this book to be read.