Blake Books

I have read NUMEROUS books and talked to several freinds from Ulster that lived this conflict. This book is a good image for me to see how the other side viewed things. I understand this one loser is not the a good representation of all prods in Ulster, but he is a good represenative to those youths that decided to go to the gun and grenade to find there owns so called justice. This book showed me that allot of these Brits living on the Island of Ireland truely feel they deserve the right to be a British citizen in a different country! This man was a street thug ang gang leader that simply was pushed to a cause that makes me question if it was the killing or the cause that drew him in. A good read non the less, but do so with an open mind and realize that Ireland belongs to the Irish and the only Ireland that will exist in peace is a free united Ireland! Out with the brits!!!

Michael Stone's book offers a look into the rage and despair that could have effected either catholic or protestant. I think if Mr. Stone had been catholic he would have been the same maverick/rebel that he is as a protestant. Overall I found his book to be honest and thoughtful. No matter what side your on, Mr.Stone proved himself to be a caculating and effective "warrior". I have not read Martin Dillon's account of him but I'm sure its a bit different.
I'm not claiming to be in his fan club but I applaud him giving up his "war" and applying himself to something creative.
This book opens the closed doors of a paramilitary activity much in the same way "Killing Rage" did.

I remember the events that took place all them years ago in Milltown. Being a Protestant born in East Belfast but not necessarily a Loyalist like Stone I didnt care for the taking of lifes in such a way. Therefore I didn't care much for Michael Stone, actually thought he was a lunitic until I read his book. Reading this book has opened my eyes to the belief system of this unique man. Since very early in his life he was conditioned to be what he was destinant to become, a soldier, his book explains how he stood by his beliefs through everything, even right though a year in solitude in the Crumlin Road Prison and later putting up with gangster foul from both the enemy and his own kind in The Maze Prison. The book reveals a strong humanity for Michael Stone hidden deep in a loyality to his natural calling in life, 'Defender of Ulster' and this in my opinion is inspirational for anyone regardless of religion, colour or race, if one can be openminded enough. He has paid for his wrongs and doesnt brag or cry about it, a true example of an honest man. Most men would crumble with a fraction of this man's story. If any one of us put as much heart and energy into our goals as this man, we would be successful. This book is a must - educational, inspirational and sometimes emotional. What this one man has went through and lived to tell us, one should not ignore.

This is a book written by one of the most incompetent and laughable men within the terrorist ranks of the UDA.

Although it is written by a confessed murderer, it does contain some good info as to why neither the "loyalist" terror groups OR the British Army were able to defeat the superior forces of the IRA.

One of the things that it exposes, is the link between the Loyalist terrorists, the British Army, and the RUC.

Because the British army and RUC were losing the war against the IRA, the British military decided to basically "Team Up" with both loyalist terror groups. The idea was that the UDA and UVF would be used as "Proxies" against the IRA. The RUC and British Army proceeded to give the Loyalist groups intel on IRA and Sinn Fein members, in the hopes that they would be killed by loyalist hit-men. The plan backfired though, as the amateurish loyalists proceeded to kill hundreds of catholic civilains, but only a handfull of actual Republican paramilitaries. In response the IRA and INLA proceeded to assassinate 50 or more high ranking UDA and UVF men, from between 1987 to 1994. It was because of the the IRA assassinations and the introduction of a massive bombing campaign on the British mainland, that the British Army and Govt. decided to commence peace talks with Sinn Fein and the IRA.

The book details all of this, along with the secret negotiations held between the British govt. and the IRA.
Al and all this is a good book that exposes the ciminality of the Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, and their ultimate failure at defeating the IRA.

A very easy and compelling read, with insight into the situation in Northern Ireland impossible to find in the media.
Michael Stone achieved notoriety as an Ulster Loyalist ( Protestant ) paramilitary when, distrustful of the Loyalist hierarchy and acting alone, he crashed the funeral of the 3 IRA paramilitaries killed by the SAS at Gibraltar.

His intention was revenge for the IRA atrocity of bombing a WW2 Remembrance memorial at Enniskillen, when the IRA killed many innocent civilans. His intention was to assassinate IRA dons Gerry Adams & Martin McGuinness, amid thousands of hostile Republican mourners. Such a "suicidal" course of action earned him the title of "Rambo".

He describes how he was betrayed, had no getaway car, fought a rearguard action alone, while hundreds converged on him as he ran out of ammunition, how he was beaten within an inch of his life before the RUC ( police ) got to him, his subsequent imprisonment, trial, and sentence.

A book sparsely and unemotionally written, describing, without rancour, not only the dynamics of the inter-sectarian struggle in Northern Ireland, but the conflicts within the Loyalist movement itself - the officers who collaborated with the UK police, the hoods and gangsters, overtly Loyalist but out for themselves, even cooperating with the IRA.

A gripping tale, without padding, revealing a man resolved to sacrifice anything for his people, including his own family life, liberty, & life itself, as he acknowledges did his Republican adversaries. His description of the brief accord between IRA and Loyalist prisoners in the Maze prison adds a touch of wry humour to the raw seriousness of the book.

His refusal to utter a word in his own defence at his trial, and his defiant words finally breaking his silence after being sentenced to 850 years, are impressive, as is his determination to survive an imprisonment where he in more danger from assassination than on the outside.

Ultimately he lays down the sword, in the context of the peace agreemnent, takes up painting, and reveals his reflective side.

A unique and revealing book. Worth reading.

I genuinely liked the hero of Rogue's Salute. Nicholas, an expert fencing master, is everything a hero should be, dashing, a little bit dangerous, a lion of justice and protective of the heroine.

Nicholas meets Juliette on the street and within half an hour is proposing marriage. He needs a mother to his brood of street orphans and she needs to marry to prevent her sister from acquiring a treasure box. The box goes to the oldest and first married in the maternal line.

Juliette is from a good Creole family and knows marriage to Nicholas will be difficult as he is beneath her station. She has no problem with this as she was almost a nun and has not led the indulgent life her twin sister has over the years. Juliette is an okay heroine but just cannot hold her own when compared to Nicholas. She was compassionate and loyal to her family but she was also a bit priggish and well, a tad boring.

Most of this book deals with Nicholas and Juliette's engagement. It is interesting only when Nicholas is on the page. I noticed I flipped past Juliette's scenes with others. She just could not capture my interest.

Nicholas spends most of the novel playing gentleman to Juliette but also endearingly playing mentor to his orphan brigade.

The ending is a bit troublesome as the questions Juliette had about Nicholas were never really answered. Also the book was too long. About one hundred pages could have been deleted as some scenes never seemed to move the plot forward. This rates three stars though solely for the hero.

As always Jennifer Blake has out done herself in this book. The characters are so wonderful to drift off with. The story line is so good that you can't put it down for you want to find out what is going to happen. I read it in a day's time. I also can't wait for next book!

Blake uses beautiful language to tell an engaging story. I would have rated the book 4 stars except for the numerous typographical errors and the weak ending. There were more than 40 errors (I counted them), some subtle and ignorable, others as blatant as mis-spelling the heroine's name (p.188). A large part of my disappointment in the ending was due to a continuity error: in a substantial chunk of the story the heroine stews about the hero having lied to her, but in the final confrontation, he speaks as though she knows the truth behind the lie and she responds in kind. Maybe a scene was missing from the final print?

I absolutely couldn't put the book down. I've read every Jennifer Blake written and the interaction between these two main characters, Juliette and Nicholas, is the finest work she's done to date. Blake's a true professional, capable of drawing us into the world she's created.

Can you can resist the opening lines?
"Send a husband for me, I pray, most Holy Mother. Interced in this
matter, if it be they will, for I have desperate need."

If you enjoy the history on the sword masters of New Orleans, be sure to read the other two books in the Master at Arms series, "Challenge to Honor" and "Dawn Encounter".

In 1842 New Orleans, fencing master Nicholas "La Roche" Pasquale meets church-pledged Juliette Armonte when she rescues his three year old ward from an angry male pursuer, who happens to be him. Nicholas tells her that Gabriel could use a mother so he proposes a marriage of convenience. To save the family legacy, a marriage chest, she accepts.

Juliette's twin sister Paulette wants to keep the marriage chest so she does her best to cause trouble in order for the relationship between Nicholas and her sibling to fall apart. For the most Nicholas ignores the irritating machinations until someone tries to kill Juliette; Nicholas assumes a desperate Paulette is behind the dastardly but potentially lethal attempts and he vows to stop her. Julietee knows the rivalry is intense due to the marriage chest, but she cannot accept her sibling would want her dead.

ROGUE'S SALUTE is a heated historical romance starring the latest Maitres des Armes (see DAWN ENCOUNTER and CHALLENGE TO HONOR) hero and the woman who proves his fencing equal. The story line focuses on a marriage of convenience turning into a marriage of love and passion and the suspense in the storyline enriches a fast-paced mid nineteenth century tale.

Harriet Klausner

I recommend this book. The character development was great, with just enough eccentricities to make them interesting, but with enough history to make them believable. The way they each deal with their frustrations mirrors real life. I keep looking for more books by Cindy Blake, or other books like this one. It was memorable.

I have never read any books by Cindy Blake before, but the synopses for Second Wives sounded interesting enough to give it try. I was pleasantly surprised. She's a good writer, and her story held my attention. The story is about four sisters, two of whom are second wives, Meg and Amy; Leonora (Leo) who has just become involved with a married man (Nick); and Beth, the cynical single in their group. Their mother is dead, as is a younger brother, and their father has always led a live of his own. As Beth, Meg, and Amy try to help Leo see how she's throwing her life away on Nick, they each must deal with baggage in their own lives. Meg's marriage is falling apart, Amy's first husband has arrived back in town and is turning her head, Beth is in love with a man she met at the age of 12, and has been following this hopeless dream for years, their father is trying to be involved in their lives, and lets not forget to throw in the ex's and step-children for a cauldron of trouble.

I read this book while on vacation in Florida over Xmas and enjoyed it a lot. These four New England sisters and their trials and tribulations over their parents, husbands and boyfriends zipped right along while engrossing me. The problems of the sisters who are also second wives are very realistically depicted as well. Two of them are second wives and a third will become one when her intended man's divorce comes through. The unmarried sister who is a shrink can be alternately witty and annoying. By the end of the book, she was grating on my nerves. The book also goes a bit over the top towards the end with one of the first wives becoming unhinged. Most of these love relationships/marriages do work out by the end though and, all in all, it is a very good reading experience.

I gave this book 4 stars because it started out slowly. Towards the middle, though, it really picked up and the ending was unexpected and thrilling.

When their brother died as a toddler, the four Preston sisters lost their mother too, though she did not actually die for a few more years. Meg, Beth, Amy, and Leonora found their father remote and not there when they need adult help. Instead, the four siblings learn to depend on one another.

Years later, they all reside in Boston. Meg and Amy struggle with their respective spouses' first wives and children. Now Leonora plans to become a second wife, but her beloved's first spouse plans to get him back at any cost. Beth thinks Leonora is behaving like a lunatic for following the melancholy paths of Meg and Amy. However, she joins her siblings in support of their youngest sister. Then again, she still hero worships a much older person, one who rescued the foursome as children when their mother simply drifted away from them.

SECOND WIVES is a warm, intelligent look at the problems of relationships. The poignant yet jocular story line moves very quickly to its climax. However, this tale is clearly a character study and each of the four women seems genuine and their motives feel right. Cindy Blake shows much talent to take a topic that usually bogs down with too much false emotion and turns it into a one sitting relationship drama.

Harriet Klausner

This is the first book that I read of Jennifer Blake, the hero and the heroine are very well matched. I liked the physical and mental tension between them. The scenes were action packed. The descriptions were detailed obviously a great deal of research went into the writting. The only one espect of the noval that bathered me was the dark mood of the noval. I wish there were more scenes filled with joy and contempt. Overoll not a bad read, although I am not sure if I will read any of Jennifer Blake's books in the near future. I almost feel like I need a break...something funny.. perhaps Maggie Osborne.

I bought this book thinking it would roll smoothly and fluidly, engrossing me to keep reading until I was done. Unfortunately it has taken me 2 weeks just to get to page 74. Ms. Blake is the Don King of the Romance Writing World. There are so many nauseatingly long descriptions of every little detail from conversations to observances that I find it impossible to read more than 3 or 4 pages without getting frustrated. I want to get in to the story, I'd like a little of the fantasy to be left up to my imagination. Ms. Blake is so long winded that I feel like I'm reading a blow by blow narrative of a documentry, instead of losing myself in a historical fantasy life.

anyone who is interested in a good conversation along with a good romance will enjoy this book. the heroine has a wit to match the heroes. you have to pay close attention and infer what is being said. don't skip pages cause you will miss out. this was definitely something for the mind to enjoy. i rate it one of the best because it never lagged, you never get bored because they are always sparring with words;whether with eachother or their own conscience. so if you want an intense novel this is is.

Not a big fan of her contemporaries, I was thrilled to see another historical novel. Not quite as great as some of her earlier novels, but still enjoyable.

hey :)

i think this is a really cool book to read because it keeps you interesting. you can't just put the book down because you HAVE to know what's going to happen next... i like that in a book. it's a cool romance novel, and i highly recommend it. it's changed my opionion about romance novels. you must read it! :) if you have any questions about the book you can email me at: rivas_juanita@hotmail.com, take care :)

This was a exquisitely written story. Interesting characterization, good plot and sensational love scenes. This book kept me reading every page. I give Jennifer Blake five star rating with this one. I will keep Southern Rapture on my shelve to read again and again.

It was a very good book of double identies plot ... and the best thing about it is that you don't have to guess who is the Thorn , the auther tell us from the very begining . so you can keep with his point of view & his amotions .

The story talks about a school teacher from the north - Letti - setteling south after the civil war so she can help capturing the killer of her officer brother . she rents a room at the Tylers where she met man/ boy Ransom who suffers from a head injory durring the war & made him act & think like a 12 years old which we learn quickly that it was just an act to cover for his ather activities ...

Letti is strong & hardheaded , which it make it more surprasing that she fall for the Thorn from thier first meeting .
As for Ransom , I liked him alot , espicailly as Ranny . and the Thorn was somthing between Robin hood & Zorro .

All in all , the book was good & enjoyable ......

This story has a great plot (kind of a southern post civil war robin hood) so had enormous potential. Unfortunately the writing doesn't live up to the story line. It's very slow moving and sometimes confusing ( as noted in the above review.) The Thorn and Ransom are the same person and we are supposed to know it but it takes awhile to figure that out. That is an important part to this story. Lettie goes south to avenge her union brother's death supposedly by the "thorn". She gets an entirely new perspective on the south and this is one great thing about this book. It shows that not everyone sat on the porch getting fanned drinking mint juleps in the south's glory days!!! It also reflects southern hospitality even in the face of defeat. The Thorn is trying to correct injustices to help his fellow southerners survive the reconstruction era. The beauracracy, as portrayed in this book, was evidently grave cause for the miscarriage of justice in the defeated south. It becomes clear in this story that the enitre war bet the states was a huge power struggle by greedy men in the north and the south. This "potentially great story" was too slow paced and bogged down by unclear writing to do it justice. Ironically, another miscarriage of justice for we, the readers. Sorry JB. By the way the JB book Tender Betrayal rates at least 6*. You may want to try that one instead.

I didn't know if it was Jennifer Blake's fault or the publisher's, but this story got very confusing until I realized it had to be an editing mistake. I don't know how to say it without giving away the "plot twist" so... Ransom, the naive young man, and the sexy rogue Thorn were often mentioned as the same person, when we weren't supposed to find out about that until the end, because that's when the female lead character Lettie figured it out. Confused? I am. I didn't even buy this, it was my mother's flea market copy. You start reading it, and think, " wait a minute, I thought she was with Thorn, and she's calling him Ransom; instead of calling him Thorn or whatever." I had to keep back-tracking because I got so confused as to who was in the scene. It has its moments, but pack a lunch; it's a long torturous read.

While this is not my favorite Jennifer Blake book, it was great. There was never a question that we, the readers, were not to know the Thorn's true identity. Lettie did not know, we did...that was part of the tension. I love Ms. Blake's sexual tension, but more than that I love her witty dialogue and her sensitive, yet virile, men. While Royal Seduction and Royal Passion are my favorites, this was a great read as well.

I bought this book because I was getting confused in my Dreamweaver class. The author does a really good job in explaining the program in simple understandable language. His style is casual, easy to follow, and doesn't put you to sleep. My only complaint is that it has some random content that is meant for "study break" reading. I could do without these. Overall all, it is an excellent book.

This title is both original and satisfying. Usually with "How-to" books, you're left in a drab environment, and end up wanting to peel your eyes out from sheer boredom.
Geoff does a great job of keeping one's interest with humourous side-panels, cute icons, and a writing style that more or less seems like an actual conversation - a good one at that.

I recommend this book to every web designer in the business. You won't regret it.

I have been going through the lessons in this book for a couple days and (so far) I am not entirely pleased with this "Ten Ton Dreamweaver".

Ironically enough, getting through the lessons is like navigating through a really poorly designed web site. It's been a struggle to get through some of the chapters, not for the difficulty of the concepts but because the tutorial instructions aren't totally clear. I've been going through parts of this book that review the really basic things I've already learned in Dreamweaver MX and, even so, I'm scratching my head and wondering: what did he mean by that?

:: What does "create a new, blank page" mean? There is no option for that. Does he mean an HTML page? A CSS page? Is this "new blank page" supposed to be part of the site I created in a previous chapter, or can I close that lesson for now?

:: Where are these buttons I'm supposed to select? What do they look like? What panel are they in? Just stating "select images button" means nothing when they are at least four of them staring at me from four different panels.

:: One of the first things the author says to do in the section about div tags is "click the page where you want to insert the div tag", without a thorough explanation of what a div tag is, let alone where one would want to place one. This is just one example of lessons teemed with head-scratchers. About a new tool: "enter the values you want"-- what are my options? "Name your style": what conventions do I need to follow, if any? How about "thisbooksucks"?

The author switches between PC and Mac verbiage frequently; sometimes he calls out which is which, most of the time not. Sure, I've been able to figure out that "OK" means "Choose" but, really, why should I have to figure out what the author really means when I really bought the book to figure out Dreamweaver?

In any case, I've been able to muddle my way through so far, guessing correctly in most cases when directions aren't entirely clear. However, if the material that I have already learned is confusing to get through in this book, I'm curious as to just how frustrating new material will be--- IF and when I get to it.

The author also tried to inject some humor into the book by including a recipe for Irish coffee, a list of excuses to tell your boss while you're playing hooky, etc., etc. I noticed these things while browsing through the book at the store but didn't realize how these charming little sidebars detract from why I bought the book: to figure out Dreamweaver. Hey, buddy, I have a site to build here. I don't need to see a page of not funny CSS-themed tattoo designs.

Perhaps more care could be put into writing lessons where the reader was creating a site along with the book (like the "Hands on Training" books) and less time trying to tickle the reader's funny bone?

I'll likely return this book and try another Dreamweaver 8 book. I don't have time for Irish coffee and scratching my head; I have a web site to build.

For all the "creative smartypants"s out there...
You need at least half a brain to understand this book, even less to choose the right book off the shelf.
Mr. DeFever, give me a break! You whine about a book you picked up and paid for without someone holding a sawed-off phaser to your head. You talk as if the Author is to blame for your poor shopping skills! Finally we have a book available to us laced with true wit and you hop on Amazon and slam it for your shortcomings. An unfair review and totally unnecessary. I (and many others) actually wasted our time reading your review.

Allow me to clarify the finer points (as it seems you require):
(I'll even use the fancy :: like you did)

:: What does "create a new, blank page" mean? Come on! If you need to ask that question, that's one thing. If you need to ask that question and post it on Amazon while slamming a great book and you can't figure it out for yourself, you're goof ball!

:: Where are these buttons I'm supposed to select? Now Please! Are you serious? At this point you should have ran (not walked) to the closest in-class training available in your area.

:: That DIV tag comment thingy. Come on "smartypants"! Get "creative"! How many times does the book need to remind you that it is not your average "Step-By-Step" (Ooo baby) guide to Dreamweaver. It is not a linier training guide, it takes a much more imaginative approach.

Switching between PC and Mac is something all designers must consider in this modern age, you must know all paths for which the force flows, young padawan!

Do us all a big favor, don't buy any of the next titles; your sense of humor fails you.

Hey buddy, get back to designing your site instead of wasting time writing pointless reviews that end in you just getting your money back after admitting to muddling through it.

I hate to sound so upset, but frankly I am. A real book comes along in an endless sea of crap, gets right to the point, proves itself and earns itself a place on my bookshelf and some "creative smartypants" tags the wall with self-centered sputterings with little ::'s all over the place, and...

...never mind, I gotta go ...I've got a site to build

I have to start by saying I totally disagree with K. DeFever...maybe he had a fever when writing his review. K, if you don't like or have time for the humorous side bars, skip them. I mean why the petty attack about them? It's not like you're forced or even obliged to read them...some people just love to flame for the sake of flaming. I personally liked them and thought they were a nice touch that helped to add levity to a dry technical discussion.

I liked the writing style, and the humor. I found the chapters and lessons easy to understand and learn, and more importantly I learned how to accomplish real life web site building tasks using DW.. I also believe if you read the lesson through it all makes sense in the end. I thought the book did a good job teaching the reader how to use the DW utilities to accomplish the task of building a standards compliant website.

Overall I'd recommend this book as it will teach about DW and how to navigate through the program to create a well coded web site.

This is a fairly complete treatment of elliptic curve cryptography. It suffers from a very uneven treatment. The chapters on implementation are well written and easy to read. The material on the logarithm problem, however, is much too advanced and will only be accessible to research mathematicians. A big omission in the book are protocols such as signatures and encryption.

This book gives a good summary of the current algorithms and methodologies employed in elliptic curve cryptography. The book is short (less than 200 pages), so most of the mathematical proofs of the main results are omitted. The authors instead concentrate on the mathematics needed to implement elliptic curve cryptography. The book is written for the reader with some experience in cryptography and one who has some background in the theory of elliptic curves. A reader coming to the field for the first time might find the reading difficult. The authors do give a brief summary in Chapter 1 on the idea of doing cryptography based on group theory. They then move on to discuss finite field arithmetic in Chapter 2. The reader is expected to know some of the basic notions of multiprecision arithmetic for integers. The authors choose to work with 2^16. Psuedocode is given for doing modular arithmetic with Montgomery arithmetic given special attention. The last section of the chapter gives a good summary of arithmetic in fields of characteristic 2. Chapter 3 discusses very compactly arithmetic in elliptic curves. This is where the reader should already have the background in the theory of elliptic curves, since the reading is very fast and formal. The authors do a good job of summarizing how modular polynomials come into play in elliptic curve cryptography and give some explicit examples of these polynomials. The most important chapter of the book is Chapter 4, where the authors give a discussion of how to implement elliptic curves efficiently in cryptosystems. This chapter is nicely written and pseudocode appears many times with lots of nice examples. This chapter serves as background for the next one on the discrete logarithm problem using elliptic curves over finite fields. The MOV attack, the anomalous attack, and the baby step/giant step methods are discussed very nicely. Random methods, such as the tame and wild kangaroo are discussed at the end of the chapter.

The next three chapters concentrate on how to actually generate elliptic curves for cryptosystems, with particular attention payed to the Schoof Algorithm. The chapter on Schoof's algorithm is more detailed than the rest of the chapters and this makes for better reading. The authors do discuss how to generate curves using complex multiplication although the discussion is somewhat hurried. The next chapter discusses how elliptic curves have been applied to other areas in cryptography, such as factoring, etc. A good discussion of the ECPP algorithm on proving primality ends the chapter. The authors end the chapter with a discussion of hyperelliptic cryptography. Anyone familiar with the theory of elliptic curves and how they are applied to cryptography will naturually ask if hyperelliptic curves have any advantages over the elliptic case. The authors never really address this explicity but do give examples on just what is involved in implementing hyperelliptic curves in cryptography. Overall a fine addition to the literature on elliptic curves in cryptography. One would hope that the authors would write a follow-up book on hyperelliptic curves and maybe on general algebraic curves and their possible use in this area.

First, the reviews dated below (July 25, 2002, July 29, 2000 [Lee Carlson] and January 31, 2000) are refering to Blake, Seroussi and Smart's first book: Elliptic Curves in Cryptography: London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series 265, not the new book Advances in Elliptic Curve Cryptography, London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series 317.

Contents of Advances in Elliptic Curve Cryptography, London Mathematical Society Lecture Note Series 317 (ISBN-10: 052160415X).

Chapter I: covers Elliptic Curve Based Protocols in the IEEE 1363 standard, ECDSA (EC Digital Signature Algorithm), ECDH (EC Diffie-Hellman) /ECMQV (EC MQV protocol of Law, Menezes, QU, Solinas and Vanstone) and ECIES (EC Integrated Encryption Scheme).

Chapter II: on the provable security of ECDSA.

Chapter III: proofs of security for ECIES,

Chapter IV: side-channel analysis.

Chapter V: defenses against side-analysis.

Chapter VI: advances in point counting. (This is an advanced chapter covering Takakazu Satoh's fast p-adic algorithm. Note, a very brief introduction to p-adic fields and extensions is given at the start of this chapter.)

Chapter VII: hyperelliptic curves and HCDLP.

Chapter VIII: weil descent attacks.

Chapter IX: pairings.

Chapter X: cryptography from pairings. (Highlight: covers Boneh and Franklin's identity based encryption (IBE) using Weil pairings.)

This book, published in April, 2005, brings the reader up to date with much of the latest research on Elliptic Curve Cryptography.

The algorithms are in the same format as in Elliptic Curves in Cryptography. Also, like in their first book, this book also does not always give proofs.

Highly recommended for advanced graduate students, applied mathematicians and computer scientists in the field of public key cryptography. The mathematics is more advanced than in their first book on Elliptic Curve Cryptography.

I think this is one of the best introductions to elliptic curve cryptosystems. This book have all the last algorithms in the field.

Major Colin Burgess' book about being the Equerry to the Queen Mother from 1994-1996 makes a wonderful read. Real insight to what its like to be "behind the scenes" of Clarence House from someone close enough to see quite a bit. He does not reveal anything that isn't really already known about the Royal Family. In fact, he is quite diplomatic about the Royal Family, but what makes this book such a fun read is learning the little quirks and interests about the Queen Mother. It is sadly a bit of a quick read, but I enjoyed it!!

This is a great insight written by a young military officer who was Equerry to the Queen Mother for 2 years. It's written with great respect and fondness of his experiences as her close personal assistant. A rare glimpse into the everyday life of the Queen Mother and her association and influence in the Royal Family. An endearing book that touches on her home at Clarence House, other members of her household, his duties, and describes her "little extravagences" like Lobster, strawberries in winter, champagne, and daily fresh flowers in all the rooms. He describes her other residences at Royal Lodge and the Castle of Mey in Scotland. Full of interesting little known facts and antecdotes. No scandals (she never had any)or unflattering gossip. You'll LOVE this book. Easy reading!!

Interesting read. Gives a behind-the-scenes look at palace life. Nothing juicy. Make a cup of tea, put your feet up and relax for an hour or two.

Not quite below-stairs gossip nor entirely unbiased, either, this account of two years spent as an equerry to Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, gives only a glimpse of her life and activities during the years when Prince Charles and Princess Diana were making headlines with their marital problems. The ghost writer who helped the equerry to write this book said, in his preface, that there were so many other interesting stories that could have been shared but, for a number of reasons, were not. I wish they had been, since several chapters chat about difficulties that staff members of other royal households face rather than staying on point. I'm sure the author was very relieved not to have worked for either Prince Charles or Princess Diana while their marriage was breaking down, but the key bits of intelligence that those chapters provided were that the Queen Mother removed herself from the battle lines early on and that Prince Charles has a nasty temper. The overall focus of this book is more about the duties an equerry to a member of the British royal family is expected to fulfill and less about the Queen Mother. Still, it's a good, fast read and provides an interesting view of the other members of the Queen Mother's senior staff and their little foibles.

Ever been to the gym and overheard a guy boasting that benching 300 lbs. is "not so hard, really"? In fact, of course, 300 lbs is a lot to bench press no matter who you are, and to suggest otherwise is ridiculous.

Similarly, it would be folly to suggest that this book is anything other than exceptionally demanding reading that requires both a solid quantitative background as well as a keen interest in the topic. The book is a compendium of research papers from a conference at NYU in 1999.

The papers will mean little to the reader without a basic understanding of derivatives and the quantitative methods associated with them. Without having read the equivalent of texts by Hull and Jorion, for example, the reader will feel a bit like George W. Bush at a Stephen Hawking lecture.

A collection of papers by Econometricians and Data Miners, on techniques of data mining, knowledge discovery, genetic algorithms, neural networks, and machine learning.
To undersatnd the papers you need to be familiar with LMC (Financial Econometrics) level of knowledge.
This book will be boring for Probabilist and Mathmaticains, because it does not contain heavy math at all (No where near Karatzas and Shreve)
The articles are taken from the conference of Computational Finance '99 in NYU.

Finally, an insightful, easy-to-read collection that bridges the gap between lofty academics and down-to-earth practitioners!

Good information on techniques of data mining, knowledge discovery, genetic algorithms, neural networks, bootstrapping, machine learning, and Monte Carlo simulation. The articles are taken from the conference of Computational Finance '99 in NYU. Recommended for the quants.

Reading this drivel along with Pierre Salinger's Valentine from the Heart to the misunderstood tyrant - I could not help but thinking of Mel Brook's movie "The Producers" with its climatic play "Spring Time For Hitler". If there ever was a more lunatic writer and dictator then Qaddafi (how do you spell the nut jobs name - Qaddafi, Gadafi, Khadafy?)I would like to know about it. If there ever was a more idiotic "journalist" then Salinger - please let me know. Shame on the publisher!

Qaddafi and many arab leaders have been demonized by the American press. This book is invaluable because it gives the reader a chance to read what Qaddafi has to say in his own words.

Go to the Geocities.com website about LIBYA to read a full review which is necessarily more than a 1,000 words, as this book and this subject have been boycotted mostly by Amazon. I wrote the review in 1998 and Amazon has refused to run it.

This is an excellent book because it gives insight into Qadhafi the man. It is more current than many of the books written about Qadhafi. The stories "The City", "The Village" and "Escape to Hell" are very revealing. I feel one can learn much more about a person by reading what he has written than by reading what has been written about him.