Abbey Books

Didn't realize it was like a children's book. 5 x7 in size and just a bunch of short pro's.

I bought this book for a friend of mine a few years ago when she was dealing with her husband's alcoholism. Since then I've ordered it for another friend who also found it comforting. Now years later I searched to find it for myself. No particular reason. It just always stuck in my mind because of its simplicity and quiet meaning. If you like inspirational books, this is a keeper and makes an excellent gift.

This special little book is such a joy to read. I have been in family counceling with my family, the world becomes a very difficult place to live in sometimes. Very often we get away from the person we are inside. Things go by us so fast. We run to get on the merry-go-round of life and forget about the child we left on the side. We all have a child within us, recognizing that is such a wonderful eye opener, this little book helps you get in touch again with the child. The world and its creations are again wonderous and the simplicity of life returns again. I recommend this book to anyone who maybe riding the life merry-go -round without the inner child.

my only complaint about this book is that its too short. each page is a delight and inspires a really great form of perception. if only everyone had this book!

I think this book is good for people with low-self estem! This can really help you deal with your problems!

An outstanding portrayal of what it means to be on foot in the middle of the harsh desert wilderness. Of the balance between beauty and the harsh reality of an environment where every animal (from stealthy mountain lions to invisible bugs) every plant (from majestic saguaros to innocent weeds) and even the land itself (from river-bottom quick sand to valley fever lurking in the dust) is at any moment ready to strike, sting, bite, scratch, poke, infect or crumble away beneath your feet without warning.

Humbling. Awe-inspiring. Solid environmental consciousness hard to argue against. And written in a voice that recollects Hunter S. Thompson in its appreciation of the beauty in the weirdness of it all. Having grown up in Arizona, and exploring these same lands, Abbey accurately represents what it feels like to be there. And pithy profundities abound for the deeper meaning of it all.

If you're a fan of Edward Abbey, it wouldn't hurt to check out this book but you may as well just get the books that it takes samples from: Jonathan Troy, The Brave Cowboy, Fire on the Mountain, Desert Solitaire, Appalachian Wilderness, Black Sun, The Monkey Wrench Gang, The Journey Home, Abbey's Road, Good News, Down the River, Beyond the Wall: Essays from the Outside, The Fool's Progress: An Honest Novel, Hayduke Lives!, Earth Apples: The Poetry of Edward Abbey, and Confessions of a Barbarian. Many of the samplings seem out of place when they are taken out of the context of their stories, but there are others that were written to be read individually such as the chapters from Desert Solitaire. Plenty of great writing, but I can't really recommend this book to anyone who either isn't an obsessed fan or someone who just wants a condensed way to see if Edward Abbey is an author who they might want to read more of. I think that if you are one of the latter, you would do better to pick up a copy of Desert Solitaire or the Monkey Wrench Gang instead.

If you have a saint's name and spelling you'll be able to quickly find it alphabetically along with a short biography. This book will not help you find "patron" saints by catagory.

The title of the book (A Comprehensive Biographical Dictionary)
does much to describe the content contained therein. I must admit that I was initially disappointed when I first opened the 640 page tome. I believe that when I first bought the book I was looking for stories and inspiration concerning the lives of the saints. And what better way than to have a comprehensive dictionary. I was disappointed because the entries were dry, uninspiring, factual, and remarkably terse; in fact each entry usually has only two or three sentences.
However the book is indeed comprehensive. It contains entries for all those who have been formally canonized or beatified by the Roman Catholic Church to date, as well as for those who have had their local veneration approved by the Church as a whole and those who have been listed in the old Roman Martyrology.
The list is complete. I have not been able to think of a single saint that I was unable to find in the book (with the possible exception of my dear grandmother).
I have now become much more accepting of my reference book as I am using it in the manner in which it was originally intended. I refer to it when I am in need of basic, verified, factual, information regarding a certain saint. The book is not meant to be read cover to cover as a novel; and in fact, the editor states explicitly in his introduction that "this book is intended primarily to be a work of reference, which entails that a critical attitude is taken towards historical evidence . . . "
If you are looking for a book that will give you inspirational stories regarding the lives of the saint, then this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a comprehensive reference book that contains verified information about all those who have been formally recognized, then this is the all inclusive reference book for your shelf.

Great follow up to a strong first volume. The only negative is she leaves you wanting for the third volume that never got written. the characters are well fleshed out and interesting. In the vein of Diane Paxon's White raven.Good stuff.

I didn't like this book much because, the writer skipped between the characters minds and I had a hard time following everytime she skipped between.

The story plot, in its self, was good. I liked the way the plot ran and how it kept you wondering at the end.

The only problem that I had was the writing. I would settle into the story as one persons point of view and then she would change it.

Over all if you could deal with re-reading paragraphs to find out how shes talking about, the book it worth reading. I wouldn't read it again though.

Sheila Allen's "Reluctant Ghost" is the first of 4 novels featuring a ghost named Harry. Here, Jane Steadford tries to save her home from her nasty uncle Nigel, and from the new buyer, the Earl of Warwick, Charles Graham. But Jane finds herself falling for the Earl, with the help of Harry who shows up in the second half of the book. But Lady Agatha, Jane's grandmother, is determined to stop this romance, as she was used by all of the men in her life. True love triumphs of course, with the help of Harry

This is the charming tale of Sir Harry, the ghost, and the lovers of Steadford Abbey he must bring together. Although this book takes a while to get going, the characters are charming (especially the irritated but earnest Harry) and the plot is fun. Harry must bring together the granddaughter of bitter Lady Agatha (who has been dumped on by every man she ever knew) and the man who bought her home from under her. Sheila Rosalynd Allen's (aka Sheila O'Hallion) writing is especially strong with the dialogue and the believeable romance. Look to the next three books for more of an enjoyable romp (#2 "Meddlesome Ghost," #3 "Helpful Ghost," #4 "Passionate Ghost").

This collection of short stories started a whole series of collections that all reflect an era not unlike the AD&D novels. These stories are written mostly by up and coming authors with a few ringers in each collection

The best capturing of what youd expect a fantasy city to be like.A handful of authors writing about people that live in a seedy city named 'Sanctuary'

Theres Warlocks,Thieves,Warriors,gods,hookers and politics hanging out in a shady tavern.Few authors attempt needlessly over worded stories.A plague of which most fantasy series suffer from.

If more authors focused on writing good stories instead of trying to be the next Shakespeare impressing us with their huge vocabulary,this would be the result.

As the follow-up to The Brothers' War (Magic: The Gathering: Artifacts Cycle), PLANESWALKER disappoints. Where the previous book was full of action and intrigue, this tedious book is contains lots of philosophy and a gradual build-up towards a climax that ends just a few pages after it begins. Additionally, the writing style of Abbey doesn't hold a match next to Jeff Grubb. Dialogue between characters who don't seem to know each other even after about three thousand years of constant companionship annoys, and dull action scenes fail to excite.

All the being said, this book is worth reading. Find out what happened to Urza after he unleashed devastation at the end of THE BROTHERS' WAR, and follow characters as they travel through the Multiverse and visit bizarre but somewhat familiar realms, including Serra and Phyrexia. Also, the characters are actually quite unique and intriguing. Xantcha in particular (who is really the main character) presents a very complicated character that you'll wish you could appreciate more. The interplay between her and Ratepe is very emotionally satisfying and thought-provoking. Even the two-fold way in which the story is presented, from Xantcha's reminiscing of the past and of her adventures in the present was a good idea, just not pulled off all that well.

Bottom line, this book was a disappointment, but I'm not too upset that I spent a couple of days reading it. I'll continue with the series, but wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

The most annoying aspect of the book:

"Waste not, want not"

WTF!! Where does that come from and how can it be used constantly without pissing off everybody around you?!

After reading all the negative reviews, I really wanted to like this book. And for the most part, I did. I never had a problem figuring out when the author switched time frames or anything like that. However, I was horribly bored by the entire Serra visit. From that point onward, the book was pretty much a slow decline for me.

I don't regret reading the book. I did enjoy quite a bit of it, there are just some serious lulls in it. I'd still recommend it to any Magic fan as there is quite a bit of interesting information revealed.

I'm surprised on how low rated this book is. I really enjoyed it! Unlike other books in the Magic: the Gathering line, it's not simply all battles and fighting and junk. It explores the psychology of being a planeswalker, and Urza's struggle with guilt and insanity. It's very character driven, a bit deeper than the usual WotC written-in-a-month hackery. I also really liked Xantcha's character.

I was hoping for a continuation of the Urza Saga, but got a half-baked love story instead. The Urza character here is quite different that Jeff Grubbs original in the Brothers War. I was left at the end wanting something more. The book is really not even needed to understand the other story lines.

This book is hard to rate because it is filled with lots of important content from Urza's Saga card set but it is also long and at some points not very exciting. This book is drastically different than "Brother's War" so beware, if you're looking for another novel like that. This book gives a lot of insight about Urza and his mental/emotional state after losing his brother to the Phyrexian beasts. I thought it was very interesting to see his reactions and decisions he made with a creature that is one of the enemy, Xancha. She is one of the strangest characters because she is a newt like thing, and she is Phyrexian. As much as she tells Urza, he never really listens because he believes she is corrupt and misguided.

I do think the ending was interesting when they were drifting the planes looking for the first plane - it compares to modern day society looking for the beginning of the universe through our telescopes. There is love, betrayal, and deception throughout that add to the emotional attachment some might feel toward the characters.

I can't say this book is extremely exciting, but it's worth reading once. I not going to make any absolute statements because some of you might love it, some of you might hate it - but regardless, you need to read it if you are interested in staying up to par on the Magic: the Gathering books.

This book tells a lot of notions about oracle db, and this can be at first interesting for beginners, but without a logical order: there is no structure, there is no logical consequence in what is written, sometimes even in the same page

This aspect is particular evident in the bakup and recovery section: the authors have written a blob of informations totally unrelated with each other

The choice of the topics is very strange too: there is nothing about fundamental topics, like oracle installation (not even for windows) but there is place for very advanced topics, not so useful for beginners, like xml in oracle db and data partitioning.

The result: this book can be attractive for the large numbers of topics discussed, but it can be very, very confusing

I know beginners need a book wich talks about only a few topics, the most important. And it must be clear and not too deep way. But it doesn't mean you can take a time with each topic. This book passes over every chapter at the speed of light, leaving many issues unexplained.
To all of this, it must be added the fact that the book costs as much as other really wonderfull and longer books.
It's been frustrating that feeling I had while reading, as I have wasted my money and I'll have to buy another. Any search in google for oracle tutorials gives more information than that book.

Just like other reviewers have written, it is really a poor guide... from the fisrt pages you know that the book is missing it's target...

The problem with this book is stated on page 4 " In order to work.... you will need to have the Oracle Database 10g software installed and the first database successfully created". Therein lies the problem. If you have the software installed and a database started you are way passed the beginning.

This is an intermediate and overview book of Oracle, it is not a beginner's book. When you install the software you will have at least 19 .exe files that will start certain portions of Oracle. Which one do you start with?? This book will not tell you. There are default passwords you need to know to get started with Oracle. This book will not tell you. There are certain set ups you need to do with the DBA program to start using Oracle. This book will not tell what you need to do.

There are chapters on SQL, Database Administrator, Networking, Backup, PL/SQL, Java, XML and Large Database Features. There is not a single chapter on how to begin and set up Oracle.

This book was written by three authors and five associate authors that are all highly qualified at Oracle. Their knowledge is so far above the beginner, they have no idea or concept of what the beginner needs to know. Nowhere is there a step by step, mouse click by mouse click, command by command on how to start Oracle. As stated before there are at least 19 .exe files installed when you install Oracle. There is no chapter that tells you what these 19 plus programs do and which one to start with or how to set up Oracle.

The book does give some code snippets to use once Oracle is up and running, but they are completely useless if you cannot get Oracle up and running. Instead of having chapters on Networking, Java, XML and Large Databases, there should be chapters on Beginning, Install, Setup, Logging on, and First Database Definition.

At its stated mission or title, this book is a complete, absolute and total failure. If you want a beginning book, pass on this one.

Setting expectations: My last Oracle training was for my OCP certification on Oracle 8i but needed to be up to speed on 10g in less then 3 days.

Read 4 of the 9 chapters and here is what I found.
Chap 1: Database Fundamentals, Chap 2: SQL, Chap 3: Database Administration, Chap 5 Back and Recovery, then onto Chap 9. Large Database Features.

Summary: Basic structure of 10g is the same as 8i (Control files and background processes). What's new is that Oracle has added Grid computing - the ability for distributed computing across heterogeneous systems - from what I can tell this is a `work in progress' type of feature.

Also new to Oracle 10g is additional self management for tuning and many helper Agents and GUI utilities. The Oracle Data Pump is also new.

RAC and Clusters are discussed but at a VERY high level - would have liked more info here. Automatic Storage Management is discusses and appears to be VERY cool feature.

What is also new is Oracle's ability to support ANSI Joins, e.g., s.Cust_id(+) becomes `right outer join'. However, I like the old non-ANSI format myself - more intuitive in my book.

I have read this book so many times and every time I shake my head and wonder where it is going and what is it about??? Even the title makes no sense,what was her gift??? Her name to the zulkir at the end??? what was that about??? that horse she wanted to give to Elminster??? Why would a 600+year old sorceress give a 1150+year old wizard a stupid horse for his birthday??? The bottom line is that the book makes no sense whatsoever.Why did she dream up some plot about red wizards when it doesn't go anywhere???

Another Lynn Abbey book that makes no sense,but at least it wasn't as bad as that stupid pitiful attempt to write about Hamanu of Urik

After having read several source books to the Forgotten Realms campaing setting, I must say that I hardly even recognise the Witch- Queen of Aglarond. The book was entertaining but itdid not seem to fit with the campaign. Now I have to decide which Simbul I like the best...

The book was very good. I especially liked the fact that a book finally went inside the personality of the Simbul, one of my favorite characters. Really the only dissapointing part of the book was that the ending wasn't much of an ending. It left a lot of unanswered questions.

Mmh...I really do not like these all powerful invincible characters like Elminster, the Seven Sisters and the Simbul, being one of them. It is just too easy for them to destroy hordes of powerful "evil" enemies with a mere thought. The story about these half-elves was quite interesting, but not captivating and I somehow felt, there was some kind of solution missing at the end. If you don't collect the FR books, you can skip this one.

When I bought this book I assumed it would be terrible, but I found out that I rather liked it. I probably am biased but I thought the book was a very interesting book for a couple of reasons. First it offers the first and only look at the Simbul in a novel. Her personality as depicted certainly was nothing near what I imagined! She was portrayed as much more..human than I had thought her to be. The second factor is the interesting plot involving the Yuir elves and their gods. It is a very excellent book indeed.