Berry Books

not bad, like most have posted already, more character developement would have really helped out the story,
that being said, i did enjoy the book and will continue with the series.

Unfortunately, this book left a lot to be desired. Mediocre character development and almost obsessive overuse of "big words", almost to the exclusive point of proving the author can use them. For example, the word ensconse was used 2-3 times in the the course of 2 or 3 chapters, and then dissapeared completely from the author's vocabulary. And who uses the word eidetic in everyday conversation?

Perhaps the biggest problem I had w/ the story was how the author conveniently "forgot" to reconcile the resolution of the story w/ the well described goal of Cassiopeia Vitt's desire to bring down Christianity. It was an incomplete story.

For its good points, the author did develop some suspense and did hold my attention at times. He was able to create a very intricate story line and built-in mystery.

This definitely a "genre book" - a bit of a clunky attempt to duplicate Dan Brown's writing, almost as if the writer is a fan and decided to give it a try, too. The plot is interesting, although it does meander a LOT with meaningless episodes that don't contribute much to the story. At times it appears that he used the thesaurus on Microsoft Word to edit his writing - for some reason the characters never "reply" or "say" - they "make clear" as in "It's time to go," Malone made clear" - which is a really weird construct he uses over and over again. But the real problem is that this genre isn't so much writing as describing - the dialogue, pacing, and plot unfolds as if the author is trying to describe a movie rather than write a book. At any rate, its mildly entertaining, but feel free to skip over boring parts to get to the end. As this genre goes this book is amateurish.

Most of the book is a pretty well crafted and readable story. If you like this genre (secret societies and such) you may well like this novel.

Parts of the book, especially some of the characters, really needed some development. I found the character of the spy boss Stephenie to be completely unbelievable. She just did things you would expect a competent spy boss not to do.

The main character, Cotton, is better defined and a more believable character.

A lot of the action scenes (shooting and fighting and such) are not well thought out. It does not appear the author has a good feel for that kind of stuff.

I was a little disappointed at the end when after murdering who knows how many people, the author allowed the modern day Knights Templar to turn into good guys without having to pay the price for the many, many crimes they committed in the book.

The Templar Legacy by Steve Berry is an enjoyable read. The story covers all the same old Templar histories, but the author's added insights especially on the conflicts found in the gospels is refreshing. That truth is not the enemy of faith is once again proved out in this story of modern day Templars struggling between righting ancient wrongs and remaining true to the foundations of their order. The clues and puzzles that drive all the characters and the rights and wrongs of their own personal pasts add intrigue and scope. The story also has a small important part of modern life that most literature totally ignores, that of the divorced man who is living away from his children. What gives this story real worth is that the reader is left to weigh the value of truth, wealth, and knowledge against each other. This is a book of many puzzles some are blatant and others merely nuances.

I might be a little bias since this man is my favorite writer, but I think that the Cotton Malone Series just keeps getting better and better. I personally loved this book. And can't wait to read the next one when it comes out in paperback in nov. It kept me very interested and I really hated putting it down. I actually had to force myself to put it down at night so I could get some sleep! I think some of the reviews are being way too hard on him. It is a great work of fiction, and I highly recommend this book or any of his books. They are all great and I hope he keeps up the great work!!!

way better than the templar legacy, imo!
looking forward to reading more in the cotton malone series!

With the phenomenal success of the Da Vinci Code, it is no surprise that more novels of such genre surface the market. I bought this book expected to find some aspects of the Alexandria Library history, as I learnt about Da Vinci's work from the Code. To my disappointment, nothing of such nature is found here. The name Alexandria Library is mentioned only as the reference point as the origin of the Link. No other history trial is covered. The majority of the book is dedicated to the hunt of such "treasure." The most boring part for me is when they are trying to decipher the clues, the way it was portrayed in the Code, but this time only ten percent as good. I stopped reading it after having covered about 3/4 of the book, didn't want to waste my time further.

Steve Berry delivers another globe-hopping thriller with retired US operative Cotton Malone attempting to live a quiet life running a bookshop in Copenhagen. Retirement comes to an abrupt halt when he escapes the assassins who burn down his bookshop and tell him they have kidnapped his son. Cotton is forced to join forces with his acerbic ex-wife Pam when it seems assassins may be on her tail, as well. They get their son back, but then they find themselves caught between ancient organizations: the Guardians of the Library at Alexandria, pledged to keep its secrets safe, and the Order of the Golden Fleece, a ruthless sect of the powerful who meet in secret and who have vowed to claim the Library for themselves. Accompanying Cotton and Pam is the Order's pet assassin, who has a few plans of his own regarding the library.

At the same time, treachery is afoot in the US government with the president, vice president, secretary of state, and the heads of several security departments all mistrusting each other as a web of secrets and lies is unraveled. Some find this kind of thriller gripping. Unfortunately, I find it a bit tiresome, and in this book, everything that was happening inside the government was not essential to the main plot of Cotton Malone following a quest to the lost Library of Alexandria. This is also the third Steve Berry book I've read starring an idiotic and unlikeable female lead. When Pam Malone, yet again acting stubborn and stupid, gets herself shot, I found myself wishing they'd put her down then and there. This author obviously has some issues with women. The author also seems way out of touch with children. Gary Malone was supposed to be 15 but came across as a 10-year-old in size, maturity, vocabulary, and deed.

I think they're a dime a dozen, but thrillers involving clueless protagonists doing a lot of chasing around the globe while unaware of the web of lies surrounding them as they follow a trail of clues in close proximity to the know-it-all bad guys are pretty popular. Some such books are sometimes a thrill to read, but often they miss the mark and fail to grab my interest. Since this book also contained one of my least favorite plot devices of all the characters knowing something that was kept from me until the very end, it failed to grab my interest.

I got this book for free when I went to a free screening of Sweeney Todd which was sponsored by The New York Times. The book was not bad but I felt like I was watching National treasure. The beginning of each chapter was really frustrating because I was always, "wait who are these people again". The story was poorly organized the author could have added some clever conversations. The dialogue was so stiff.

I'm beginner in EJB.
Initial chapters were OK , which I was able to run all of them.
But in Chapter 5, written by Daniel O'Connor doesn't even work.
The source code in the book is different upsidedown from downloaded source code from Wrox.
What is good for if I'm not even able to execute due to bug in source file.

This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It is extremely detailed, clearly written, and well organized. If you're looking for a brief introduction to EJBs, this is probably not your best choice. But, if you want a thorough coverage of EJBs, this is a great choice. The book even covers EJB 2.0 which is not yet covered in most books.

First 4 chapters of this book are confusing, compared
to other ejb books from oreilly. don't pick this book
if you want to learn ejb better.

I agree that this book is very good at covering the topics that it sets out in the outline.

This covers the EJBs in great detail - both 1.1 and 2.0. The knowledge of the individual authors definitely does come through - I have not purchased a Wrox title before, but I rather like the idea of multiple authors working on a book - I find the different views and experiences very powerful.

I did find that at times it did gloss over topics - I would have liked more information on the different pieces of the J2EE architecture, but that may have lost the focus of the book I suppose.

All in all, this book has been able to help us considerably in our development - it gives more than just 'theoretical' scenarios and has significantly reduced the learning curve amongst our team.

I never give perfect marks - but this book is definitely one of the better books that I have purchased.

I picked this up last summer as it was the only book at the time offering coverage of EJB 2.0.

In the tradition of Wrox books, it offers good coverage of the entire EJB API. While some topics weren't covered exhaustively, that is not what these books are for. This book does provide *effective* coverage of almost everything in EJB 2.0. There is also coverage of design, which is a nice addition!

It is GREAT for it's intended purpose. Highly recommended...

I thought I'd find more logical techniques for sleep from Dr Brazelton since I enjoy all his other books, but this book just follows the old-school cry it out method. I did find many non-crying solutions in a newer book called the No Cry Sleep Solution.

There are so many books out there now for parents, especially about sleep. I never would have known which one to pick -who has time for more than one?- if one of my co-workers hadn't told me to check out the Brazelton Way. Well, she was right. This book is only about a hundred pages long, it fits in your pocket, and it's written so clearly you can zip right through it. I love my kids, but I'd rather be with them than spending a lot of time reading about them. I know many parents who feel the same way, especially single parents like me. It's tough raising a child alone, especially for a guy, because everyone is second guessing you and making you feel like you're never going to figure out how to take care of a kid. These little books, though, have really made me feel like I know what I'm doing. I love the way they steer me back to trusting my own gut, and at the same time give me so much useful advice. I bought this sleep book because my four-year-old was waking up with nightmares every night. He was so scared of having another one that he started refusing to go to bed. I couldn't deal with that because I have to get my sleep too. But this book gave me a few simple tips and all I had to do was try them out a few times and my little boy settled down - no more nightmares.

This books is definitely the one. I highly recommend it to any parent who wants to be sure they're doing everything they can do to raise happy, healthy kids.

I had great hope -- sleep !!!!!!

But it is just yet another book advocating abuse of the child for the ease of the parent.

Yes, I want sleep. NO I will not sacfice my baby's secure attachment to me, and faith in me and the world to get it.

crying it out is abuse pure and simply.

Don't waest your time and money -- if you think this is how to raise a child, do yourfelf and the child a favor and giv the child to someone who will care.

This is a great little book - short, easy to use, not overwhelming. Yet I've found all the answers to my questions in it, simply and clearly explained. I especially like the section with all the suggestions on how to handle problems. I'm done with struggling over bedtime with my 3 year old. This book has shown me what to do and given me the confidence to do it.

This book is easy to read & sympathetic but it didn't work for me. Staying with my baby while he was supposed to self-soothe (as recommended) did not help him or reassure him in any way. He cried continually, stopping for no more than 2 mins at a time. It worked better for me to leave him, returning every 10 - 15 mins for very brief periods of reassurance. He still cried but less & less each day. I think there are babies for whom the stay-with-them style could work, but not all, and alas, not mine.

I have been a surgeons puppy dog for many years now. I worked in the OR before I went to medical school, then mainly took all surgery electives. This book helped when the discussion of positioning, the background, overview, and has pictures. I will use it next year when I am a surgical intern also. I only recommend to those who are serious about surgery or who have the money to get it during med school and have an active surgical core clerkship.

Please be aware that this item is not the most recent edition of this highly regarded text. The 11th edition is now out (published April, 2007) ISBN 0323044832. For whatever reason the author's name on the new edition is simply Nancymarie Phillips, in case you attempt to locate the latest edition by using the author's name. 11th edition is also available on Amazon.

This book is a "must have". Sometimes the index in the back doesn't match up with the page material so you have to go back or forward a page or two to find what you are looking for, but it was a great resource.

I have been a CST for 24 years. I feel The Surgical Technology for the Surgical Technologist is a much more useful tool than this book. Both are reasonably good to get you started, but as you will learn, technology is progressing faster than either edition can keep up with.

This book does have alot of valuable info in it, however if you want to purchase a textbook that gives you quick, easy to follow facts this is NOT the book for you. I had to purchase this book for school and all of my classmates including myself complained about how hard it was to get quick, simple info from it. The explanations in this book are very complex and you have to read for a long time before finding what you want to know. Surgical Technology for the Surgical Technologist: A Positive Care Approach was the other book I had to buy for school, and it it much better than this book. I do not recommend this book.

I loved the first "Book of the Dead". It had some great stories in it. This second installment, though, just was lacking. I just had the feeling that this book got all the stories that weren't quite good enough for the first one. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be good enough for a third, fourth, fifth, etc., book either. If you want some good zombie stories go to the Home Page of the Dead site and check out the fan fiction section. Oh, there's quite a few stinkers there as well but there's also, in my opionion, even more that show some real artistic quality. Definitely quite a few that are better than anything in this book.

I had this book when it first came out & lent it to someone who never gave it back. Never again! This collection of 'living dead' stories is just as good as the first one. I can't go into details about either book, but if you LOVED any zombie/flesh eating ghoul movies,these books are for you!

i had just received this book and so far so good, but i wanted to let you know something about it. It seems that within a month of this printing, their was another one called 'still dead: book of the dead 2". That is the copy i had received and it's a smaller paperback. Now i just looked at the contents of the one listed above with the contents listed in mine and they are exactly the same. Perhaps one was a larger paperback size, i do not know, but what i can tell you is that i scored it for the low price of 2.99 off www.abebooks.com which is a huge used book finder site. I'm mentioning this because i noticed the used prices here are outrageous, and to buy one new, firstly cost $20, and even then it will take one to two MONTHS to arrive.
If i am missing something that is in one and not the other i would love to know. At anyrate, i just started reading it and as stated previously "so far so good", i would recommend it

If you are expecting all-out gore and horror along the lines of the Romero movies, then this collection of short stories will disappoint. Yes, all of the stories are set in the Dead universe, but there's very little flesh-eating.

Instead, the authors concentrate on the psychological aspect of living in a world of the dead. Consider such off-the-wall scenarios such as:

* a psychotic circus owner who invites the dead to participate in his act (not as good as it sounds though.)
* a zombie (called Quint!) who is invited by his mother to get a woman pregnant;
* gore-hounds who decide to make their own "snuff" movie because all horror movies are banned... actually, This story is useful in a way, because it mentions the name of just about every REAL banned horror movie that exists!!!
* How to be completely anonymous in a city filled with the walking dead (not as good as it sounds either.)
* Towers of flesh that meld with each other! Yes, you read that right.
* A world war 2 veteran who recalls the dead rising to a disbelieving psychiatrist.

Personally, I wouldn't buy the book second time round. Too boring, not enough action and too much arty, inane dialogue.

The original, "The Book of the Dead", to which this is a sequel, is much better simply because at least 2 stories somewhat approach what most of us want in survival horror. I won't repeat what I wrote there (feel free to check out my review), but this book isn't worth the time or money. The stories are far too cutesy, as though, in trying to present new perspectives, every writer drew from the same cliched examples.

Nothing here as cool as the terrific ending to Resident Evil (the movie), the tunnel scenes in The Stand, or the Manhattan scenes in Swan Song--and the last 2 aren't even zombie stories! A better book--though much harder to find--might be Bryan Keene's The Rising.

Certainly a much scarier book is Noel Hynd's Ghosts.

Avoid these 2 books--The Book of the Dead and Still Dead. Not only are they not scary--they're dull!

Whether one loves or hates Los Angeles, most people agree that it's an interesting place. The remarkable achievement of this book is that it makes L.A. sound boring.

The book consists of chapters written by different authors, all of whom consider themselves to be knowledgeable insiders but who are generally clueless.

There are a lot of good insider guides available for L.A. This is not one of them.

A few unpleasant facts for Pleasant (the editor): Gathering together a bunch of your buddies and asking them to write a chapter for your book does not constitute good journalism and does not result in a good book. Omissions: I was looking for info. on the early punk clubs (The Masque, etc.) in this "underground " guide. Nothing. I also saw a listing for Jerry's Famous Deli in the book, but the writer failed to mention that Andy Kaufman had worked there as a waiter at the height of his Taxi fame. Errors: Too many to spell out, but one that made me slap my forehead was a writer's contention that Hawaii Five-O had been filmed at CBS Studio City with "ocean footage edited-in". In fact, that was probably the first television show to be shot entirely on-location, with interior scenes shot in their own studio in Hawaii.

This book is a good idea, but even the standard Moon handbook has more hidden out of the way stuff than this one. It's more like a series of essays than a comprehensive guidebook, so you can't turn to a specific area or a specific topic, other than the essay titles. It's best as a guide to restaurants, shops, bars, and coffeehouses, but there are much better ones if that's what you are really after. Everything is treated too quickly to really give the reader a good idea what they are getting into.

I remember one thing in the Hollywood chapter they pointed out was the Pink Dot, a convienence store that delivers. I "had to" go visit it, thinking it was a famous landmark, but it is really just one of a chain of mediocre conveinence stores. I have no idea why it made it into an "underground" guidebook.

While this book does include some LA basic tourist stuff, it also includes tons of record stores, thrift shops, strange history places, and Bukowski's grave site. Great dive bar recommendations and cheap eats, too. The chapter written by LA scenester Vaginal Davis is the funniest thing I've ever read in any guidebook anywhere and is itself worth the price of this book... a fun book for visitors and residents alike - loved it!

When one hears the word "underground", one usually thinks you are going to get the inside scoop on something or get the unusual, strange or non-ordinary. This book is anything BUT those qualilties.

This LA guide gives you the same ol' sites to see that any other tourist book would....Mann's Chinese Theatre, Universal Studios, Hollywood Walk of Fame. You might get a good reccomendation on where to eat, but that is about it. Nothing too underground about this book.

However, for a tourist book it really isnt bad. Pick it up. Just dont go in with the pre-conceived notion that you are picking up something unusual. it is as good as any other tourist book of L.A.

This is nothing more than a printed version of the documentation that ships with Flash 8. As this is stated in the description of the book, and several of the reviews here, it shouldn't surprise anyone when they receive the book in the mail expecting more.

Everything contained in this book can be found in the help files and PDF docs included with Flash 8, but it's still great to have a printed reference that you can actually make notes in and bookmark. The docs could use a little more in the way of examples, but if all you're looking for is a good printed version of the Flash reference materials, this is a good resource.

As others have noted, this book is available as a PDF from Adobe / Macromedia and also in the Help section within Flash. This is also stated in the description of the book, so I wasn't surprised at what I received.

If you are the type of person who gets by with online documentation and/or PDFs, then don't buy this book. I am a professional Flash developer and have other Flash developers working for me, and I find printed books indispensable when used in conjunction with the Help system.

If you want a single printed volume documenting all of the components that come with Flash 8, then this is the book you want.

What are Flash Components? According to this work's many authors Flash components are "movie clips with parameters that allow you to modify their appearance and behavior" (p. 11). The main purpose of this book is to show you how to use Flash 8 components to facilitate the development of applications while providing a standard, yet customizable, user interface. The first 200 pages of this nearly 1800 page book provide detailed tutorials in all aspects of the Flash components. Familiar Flash components are such user interface controls as scrollbars and scrollpanes; however, there are also non-visual Flash components. The rest of the book is a components language reference that provides information on the edition, usage, parameters, description and examples for each.

When I opened this book it was because I was more interested in learning how to more elegantly "skin" existing Flash components. Although I had used scrollpanes and some other interface elements, I had not been able to achieve the look that I desired. Luckily for me, how to modify Flash's existing components, and much more, are elegantly covered in this book's first five chapters. Each chapter provides numerous code examples and tutorials to teach you the in's and out's of using listeners, setting focus and skinning user interface elements. The thorough step-by-step instructions will be invaluable to anyone wanting to learn more about what components are and how to control their look and behaviors.

Later chapters in the book cover how to get started in creating your own components. Although for the moment this has less appeal to me, any developer building applications with Flash would find these sections of immense interest.

if you are a beginner or intermediate, this book is not for you, it is for advanced programmers, in ActionScript 2.

Also, 80% of the book is a waste of paper, nothing more than printed help you can get from the help menu or online support.

the good thing, is that it covers 90% of the advanced topics, in my case, I spend about 2 years learning action script 2, it misses how to merge 2 or more components in 1 single distributable component, also it misses how to include custom graphic component inspector.

so, with that in mind, I give it 3 stars.

This book was put out by Macromedia itself. Based on the title, I expected an original book that would be well written and instructive, to complement the more dry technical online documention. I opened the book and found it largely an effort to make a quick buck, providing little that is not already freely available on-line. The first section of the book is not original as another reviewer has pointed out, however at least it organizes some help section material into a readable flow. The bulk of the book is just reprint filler. I feel I got "taken" on this purchase. As you may have seen, Macromedia was notorious for having complaints over its published books. Hopefully Adobe will operate this end of the business in a different fashion.

The material in the book touches on Sonet, IP, ATM, and other topics.

But it is not enough for a beginner and absolutely boring for any advanced reader.

I would suggest instead to read the Bible of IP "Internetworking TCP/IP vol. 1 (Comer)" and "ATM Resource Library, Volumes 1, 2 And 3 (Black, Prentice Hall)".

If those that want Sonet stuff try "Sonet and T1 : Architectures for Digital Transport Networks (Black/Waters, Prentice Hall)"

This book does not get into much detail on every topic that it covers. Any book on ATM should have covered more on "TCP/IP over ATM". I didnot get much after I read this book. Therefore, I don't recommend this book.

This was my first book on ATM (after having browsed through uninteresting overly complex literature on ATM). Well this book explains the ATM basics, the concepts, LAN Emulation, Classical IP, management, the relationship with IP, etc in a highly readable manner. The content is very clear. The book also contains references to other material for the reader who wants to go deeper (like the technical specs of the ATM Forum). After reading it, I was armed with a solid foundation to be able to understand more and go on my own. There is also a good chapter on TCP performance over ATM. The book is aimed at people who are familiar with networking but don't know much about ATM, for people who want to know how it works in some detail, but not so much detail that the concepts would be buried under and not understood. So the reader won't get ALL the information, but will get a pretty good idea of how it works and where to go to learn more. For me, this book was a joy to read!

If you expect to find in depth info about tcp or atm, you'll definately disapointed. This book is only good for people who don't know anything about tcp/ip or atm. (In that case, one would not buy this book). The book starts with overview of tcp/ip and atm(using 2 chapters). Then, it use one short chapter to talk about how ip is over atm. Then it talks about other things like snmp, ip multicast, etc... which I don't really interest in. Don't let the title of the book fool you. You can get much more info regarding ip over atm with any other ATM books.

On the one hand, reading this book gives a pretty good overview of TCP/IP over ATM. However, it's pretty short (just barely 200 pages altogether, with almost 40 pages of backmatter)--the price is pretty high considering the length. And, I've got serious problems with the content.

What's troublesome are the copy editing lapses. There seem to be a lot of instances where an acronym is used without first defining it--this is why it's so hard to read the source RFCs on ATM, and why a book like this could be so helpful if it were clearer. And not all acronyms are included in the glossary, making it worse. And the fact that there are a fair number of typos that didn't get caught makes me wonder how accurate the rest of the book is. Also, for example, Kercheval refers to NHRP as the "Next Hop Routing Protocol" yet the source (and the bibliography) correctly refer to the Next Hop Resolution Protocol.

Although Kercheval states in the introduction that everything will be explained clearly so that even people without an ATM background will get it, that doesn't always seem to be the case. Even so, if you really need to try to figure out the main issues related to running IP over ATM, this is probably as good a book as any now available. This would actually be a great book if it were more closely edited for accuracy, though.

Unless you enjoy having someone else do your thinking for you and like being scared sh_tless by the fundamentalists, one would do much better to read "Quantum Theology" by Diarmuid O'Murchu (Catholic priest), "The God We Never Knew" by Marcus Borg (Lutheran Hundere Distinguished Professor of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University), or "The Universe in a Single Atom by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Mr. Berry's revealing book tells the truth about other religions and their backgrounds. A must for every person who is deceived by Satan concerning the "religions" of the world. Praise the Lord for someone who is willing to stand for truth despite the false accusations of the world!
Jesus said, "I am THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life; No man cometh unto the Father, but by me." He also said, "He that hateth Me hateth My Father also." If Jesus is just a "prophet", then why in the world did He declare Himself to be God Almighty?
The King James 1611 Bible is THE holy, inspired Word of God. All other versions are Satanic counterfeits, trying to mar God's perfect revealing of truth in the KJV. The whole lot of "versions" and "translations" out there are PERVERTING God's Holy Word! Decide now to chuck those fakes and get going with the real stuff!
Once again, let me say that Mr. Berry's book hits the nail on the head when it comes to other religions. Anyone who says that his view is "narrow-minded", "bigoted", or "discriminating against other religions" are themselves discriminating against Mr. Berry! They also carry a narrow-minded view of Mr. Berry's "narrow-minded" view if they say that "we cannot tolerate THIS view, because WE tolerate ALL views!" This whole issue of discrimination is just a way to blame Christians for everything!
Let me also say that this is NOT just "my view" on this subject. God's own Word backs this review AND Mr. Berry's book up! This book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to ANYONE out there who thinks that "Any religion's OK, so long as we all get along and we're all sincere!"

The criticisms of this book by the two previous "reviewers" should be taken with a large grain of salt. They never dealt with the actual content of the work; they simply offered abusive ad hominem toward it. As George Will aptly put it, "in the lack of substantive ideas, ad hominem."

The criticism against the Bible that "there are many translations" reveals an ignorance of basic textual criticism issues--the major, recognized translations into English (NASB, NIV, RSB, et. al.), are based upon the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek manuscripts and they do not differ in their substantial source content nor their doctrinal statements. The various recognized translations simply offer the text in different styles of English, from the more rigid, literal NASB, to the easy reading modern style of the NIV. No recognized, reputable textual scholar--conservative or liberal--claims they are "different" in the context as to what their substantial content is or the doctrinal statements made.

The comment by the "reviewer" that the "end-times will play out" evidences that s/he is an adherent to some exclusive cult movement and was offended that this book exists and offers criticism of their group. This is, of course, understandable.

The other major criticism is that the book is written from a Christian perspective, oblivious to the fact that the one offering the criticism likewise is claiming their way is "right" and Harold Berry's view is "wrong." This they cannot rationally do and still stand by their statements (even if they did read the book). It is nothing more than special pleading and a denial of the law of non contradiction. In short, it is hypocritical and non-thinking.

Bottom line: The book is copiously documented and makes an honest criticism of the major cultic and secular religious movements of our day from a historic Christian perspective (the author doesn't simply use the never-defined cultic and liberal complaint of "literal" interpretation, as this is to imply that idiomatic usage, poetry, apocalyptic literature, et. al. are not taken into consideration. It is evident that the "reviewers" are not familiar with exegetical and hermeneutical issues and are oblivious that Berry employs a grammatical-historical exegetical approach; moreover, as regards the essential doctrines of historic Christianity as embodied in the universal creeds of the undivided church, the various Bible-believing denominations are actually in agreement; the differences are over sincere disagreements over peripheal issues, such as church polity, mode of Baptism, eschatological perspective, or simply reflect cultural differences).

The most honest option is to read the book for yourself and carefully and comprehensively study the copious documentation. There are better works available dealing with the various cults but this work is certainly a worthwhile contribution to the literature on the subject.

I found this book to be a most revealing example of the flaws in this kind of thinking. I agree totally with the previous reviewer, except for one point: if you want to see exactly where the "Bible-thumpers" get totally off-track and reveal their ignorance regarding their own source--the Bible--then be sure to get this book! It is the clearest example I have seen of "my way or the highway" thinking, and--given the number of different translations of the Bible and the amount of projection and interpretation that has been layered onto the original manuscripts over the centuries--I found myself actually laughing incredulously over the conclusions and "proofs" this writer puts forth. Nonetheless, it is a good summary of the central tenets of the various "groups" described and thus could be useful to a researcher dealing with these issues. Get it if you want to home in on the fundamental differences between "fundamentalist" Christian thought and those who come to these matters with more intelligence, knowledge, and comprehension. All this spluttering won't change a thing, anyway, and the end-times will play out, whether this writer "gets the picture" or not.

It is a must read for all who are going to fulfill the great commission in your person life. Which means all who believe in Jesus Christ as Lord. As we are confrounted by all types of cults with a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. Let us be the informed,leading the lost to a true Savior Jesus Christ. Read the teachings contained in this book and learn where some of these decievers are coming from. I have encountered some of these false religions at Christian prayer rallies and other gatherings actually passing out form letters telling of their heiresses. This book by Brother Harold J. Berry is a good resource for us in this current darkness. Read, be blessed and informed.