Boone Books

This book is an adaptation of Eleanor Perry's screenplay for Frank Perry's film, "The Swimmer." The original short story by John Cheever must have been hard to adapt into a full-length film, but the result made for an interesting movie with Burt Lancaster. This book is a good record of the movie. Doesn't add much, but if you're a fan of the movie, this would be a good book to add to your collection.

I teach simple economics principles for a class of third graders. This book is a wonderful tool for explaining human, capital, and natural resources. It is a very high interest book for the students-who hasn't ever played baseball? The language is simple for younger learners and explains the process for making baseballs, wood and aluminum bats. I'd recommend it to anyone who is interested.

This book was on my reading list and as usual I thought it would be a boring book. To my surprise, only the first couple of chapters were boring and the rest was all extremely exciting. The detail that the author used also helped me in picturing what was going on in the story.

Description from the book back cover:

Alison Murdock tried her best to remain proper and professional, but how could she describe her unusual inheritance to the most handsome and exciting man she'd ever seen? Tucker Boone was rugged, tanned, with sky blue eyes any Texas cowboy would be proud to call his own, and then there were those kissable lips ... Alison felt her composure slip, her temperature rise and her heart pound - she was supposed to deliver an English butler to this wanderer, but how could a "gentleman's gentleman" fit into Tucker's life? Tucker swore he was no gentleman, and then did his best to prove it, stunning the lady lawyer with kisses that made her forget work and long to play. Alison had spent years reaching for the top - why did being with Tucker satisfy her so? And now Tucker wanted roots, a future with this beautiful, complicated woman, but he needed a plan ... and the help of his knowing butler to pull it off. Could he make Alison see she couldn't settle for less than love?

Volume II came in the mail today, and reminded me that I really got a kick out of the skill that went into developing each chapter by a different author--it takes enormous skill to distill entire bodies of literature into roughly ten pages--in both of these volumes.

This document is available FREE as a PDF download, see the comment for the URL. US Government publications are paid for by the public and consequently free online.

Since it is free and can be reviewed in detail online, I do not itemize the way I usually do. The Army War College Strategic Studies Institute (AWC SSI) is one of the finest places for anyone to access a wide range of free monographs covering all strategic topics relevant to the US Army and the Joint military-civilian strategic challenges and opportunies.

See also:
Security Studies for the 21st Century
Sun Tzu: Art of War (History and Warfare)
The Paradox of American Power: Why the World's Only Superpower Can't Go It Alone
The Unconquerable World: Power, Nonviolence, and the Will of the People
The Fifty-Year Wound: How America's Cold War Victory Has Shaped Our World
The Sorrows of Empire: Militarism, Secrecy, and the End of the Republic (The American Empire Project)

I have many lists relevant to this topic and would be glad to see greater public interest in how one defines national interests, and then develops national policies that are truly in the public interest.

This came in the mail today, and I really got a kick out of the skill that went into developing each chapter by a different author--it takes enormous skill to distill entire bodies of literature into roughly ten pages.

This document is available FREE as a PDF download, see the comment for the URL. US Government publications are paid for by the public and consequently free online.

Since it is free and can be reviewed in detail online, I do not itemize the way I usually do. The Army War College Strategic Studies Institute (AWC SSI) is one of the finest places for anyone to access a wide range of free monographs covering all strategic topics relevant to the US Army and the Joint military-civilian strategic challenges and opportunies.

See also:
Security Studies for the 21st Century
Modern Strategy
Understanding International Conflicts (6th Edition) (Longman Classics in Political Science)

I have many lists relevant to this topic and would be glad to see greater public interest in how one defines national interests, and then develops national policies that are truly in the public interest.

Debby Boone and husband Gabriel Ferrer make for a formidable team in the world of children's books. Together they have written six books... each with Debby's heartwarming prose on everyday things and Gabri's charmingly primitive watercolor illustrations.

"Welcome to this World" was originally published by Harvest House Publishers in 1995. The book was a similar size and format to Debby's other books... like a big picture book. Well, in June 2001, Harvest House re-issued "Welcome" as a read-aloud board book. It was sized down to 5.78 X 5.08 X 0.86, but retains all Debby's text and Gabri's illustrations. The pages are sturdy and easier to clean... just right for busy hands. Here's a book that toddlers can hold themselves!

The book makes for a wonderful gift for baby showers or new arrivals.

I finished this book perhaps a year ago. It took me ten months to complete and to be fair, I read it while moving across the country and often set it down for days at a stretch. When I picked it up again, I'd forgotten what was happening.

I intend to go back and give this book better treatment. I kind of want to read it chronologically, in other words, read the different sections of the book in order from the shot heard round the world up through the end. It might make more sense.

Two complaints:

one, the length. I felt like I was reading a compilation of several novels rather than one.

two, the language. Here's an example: "And where do these compressed words come from? They come from remote levels of development, from technicians and bombheads in their computer universe - story, bespectacled men who deal with systems so layered and many-connected that the ensuing arrays of words must be atomized and redesigned, made spare and letter-sleek."

Many-connected?
Letter-sleek?

Barf. These two awkward constructions ruin an otherwise flawless sentence.

DeLillo's Underworld has some difficult aspects. It presents a history of a world in decline, as we follow (in rough shod fashion) the life of Nick Shay, a waste expert. DeLillo throws in snippets of times and other lives into the mix, for all too fleeting periods. Reading this book is maddening for all the unfinished stories. However, the total sum of its parts adds up to a great thesis. I have long wanted to read this book, but it took me a LONG time to read. Now I feel it has spoiled my reading to come. This is because DeLillo's writing is very masterful and intelligent and spare. I loved the theme - of the Cold War and the examination of the detritus of our (recent) times. Personally Nick's character did not resonate with me. There was the wrong kind of introspection and the most intriguing aspect of his life took too long to unfold. However the story of his father and his brother made sense as did that of Klara Sax.

To read it now, it feels like DeLillo was ahead of his (political) time. I think he missed demonstrating the communist hysteria and the rejection of the foreign when the novel dips into the 50s and 60s. He does capture the fear and emptiness of the modern world and beginnings of the materialist mania that America was headed for very well.

Overall, if you enjoy books that are challenging, please read this book. It may take some time, but it will be worth it.

[....]

Single Abroad: Tales of the Boyish Man is written for anyone who has ever been uncomfortable when trying to approach the opposite sex, dealing with Bike Cops in Butte County, traveling Europe or interviewing with ivy-league colleges. Covered in this book are the cheapest and most social hostels in Europe, the life of a Club Med host in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, the three features that make Mexico City unlike any other city in the world, how I managed not to get thrown out of Chico State University, the impact of the Russian Mafia in Southern Spain, the linguistic impact of the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, the last 20 days of the Incan dynasty, how to live in Latin America for $25 a year, how to make the most out of a Euro Rail Pass, mastering a second language and how someone who can't even properly slice a tomato can get a job overseas in a Portuguese restaurant. This guidebook was designed for anyone wanting to explore a Latin approach to working, dating and travel.

Don DeLilo isn't to be trifled with.

"Underworld" reads thickly and slowly, and I found it quite the challenge. Some days I could read thirty, forty pages, just go for hours and not notice the time, while other days I'd get maybe five pages read and have to quit. There is so much compressed on these pages, it feels akin to reading flourless chocolate cake; thick, slow, filling, and delicious.

While I'm not saying every new page brings new joy, I am saying that the book as a whole certainly does. Once every few pages I would find myself dog-earing the book, to return to that section later. His understanding of people and of the human soul is phenomenal, I felt like I new every one of the characters at their most intimate and essential level.

On the whole, I think this is one of the most masterful and excellent books I've read in years. A classic.

This took me two weeks, and I wondered if it'd be worth the effort. The heft of the book had discouraged me before, but the beginning bravura panorama of the Polo Grounds game and the closing pages with a less ostentatious, but surprisingly thought-provoking scene also in a New York where crowds gather for another miracle does manage to bookend this massive work satisfactorily. The challenges lie in what comes between, seven hundred pages of characters who you constantly shuffle among, unsure often who they might be for a few pages, or how they fit into the larger plot.

De Lillo does not satisfy the reader wanting as in some Dickens novel all the characters to match up and align by the end. It's messier, and truer to life if not fictional craft of what we expect in a neat narrative. I liked this. The scope narrows and expands without warning, but by the last 100 pages, the vistas begin to enlarge and contract both. De Lillo takes on, by the conclusion, big questions, but he does not reduce them to pat answers. I almost forgot about more than one character, so attenuated might be the lapse before their earlier and later turns on stage. I wish the book came prefaced with a dramatis personae! Let the book continue, don't resist the occasionally puzzling dead end, and move on. Not all the subplots will find resolution anyway. You come away both humbled and puzzled by his conclusion, one I certainly never saw coming.

Elements never quite fit, and the baseball's trajectory into the hands of various collectors does not align with the wanderings of the main figures as I'd anticipated. After a while, I learned to put up with the languid passages, and gained patience. The iconic baseball and the nuclear core represent the key symbols, but they are not as easily pegged down or pinned for a reader's facile understanding. This is a clever, haranguing, and frustrating story, for it's both hyper-aware in its jittery prose and smarter than the usual entertaining fare. It's serious, if with lots of clever put-downs thanks to the Italian American one-upsmanship, and while you may find certain characters that you glom onto with affection, others will bore you. Like life, their permanence in the plot as you get to know them will differ, and without warning, people drop in and out of the vast events. De Lillo alternates Nick Shay's first-person voice with many other ones, and while I wish the omniscient recorder of this diverse cast sometimes registered more emphatically the necessary accents, moods, and personalities, even those (like Klara and Sister Edgar) who bored me early on turned out to be worthwhile, albeit many many chapters later. Don't give up on anybody you encounter early on in these dense pages.

The waste theme, the FBI-Hoover surveillance, the wanderings through deserts and suburbs, apocalyptic tension, and childhood wonder all emerge and overlap, again in a nearly imperceptible form for much of the time. The contrast of Nick's Italian neighborhood then vs. the Bronx today gradually assumes its symbolic significance, but very glacially. The pace has to slow often, so while the energy ebbs and flows, stick with the plot's byways and asides. The prose shimmers at times, yet more or less does not call as much attention to itself. Dependably intelligent, this book takes on enormous themes. I'm not convinced that De Lillo can not top this book. It recalls Roth, Dos Passos, Kesey, Hemingway, Updike, Mailer, Vonnegut, Heller, and Barth, to name a few American peers and predecessors. He's at the top of his game here, but I think he's capable of yet another turn or two at bat that might match or surpass this game.

I started reading Ms. Scottoline books in the middle of this series and decided to go back to the beginning of the series, I am so glad I did.

Great Series!

Good book, great vacation/weekend read. I discovered Lisa Scottoline late in the game, and I em enjoying her books. I don't have as much time to read heavy modern fiction as I used to, and these novels really fill the space for me. As a defense attorney, I really admire and root for Bennie Rosato and her firm.

This book was alright, but at 561 pages, it should've tied up every loose end. I was completely blindsighted by the ending and it left me feeling extremely frustrated. I found the whole boxing story line unnecessary and boring. I don't think it connected smoothly to the plot or added to it. In fact, it opened up more questions concerning the boxing wives and their roles.

The story itself wasn't too believable, but it did keep my interest and I found the trial portion to be a real page turner. Bennie's character is not very likeable, in my opinion, but my main complaint about this book is the DiNunzio character. What happened to her? I've only read a couple of Scottoline's books, including her first novel, Everywhere That Mary Went, and in the first book DiNunzio was a confident, bright attorney who, along with Carrier, made partner at their firm, but planned to open their own firm. Granted, I didn't read any of the books between Everywhere That Mary Went and Mistaken Identity, but how could Mary DiNunzio have gone from being so strong, to being such a wimp? Her character in this book was so mousey, and every other line was "Catholics don't do this," and "Catholics don't do that." It was totally annoying. Her character in this book did a complete 180, which was very disappointing, because I was expecting Rosato and Associates to be a big powerhouse firm.

I will probably read more of Scottoline's books, but I hope that she allows Mary to have a personality in future books.

This courtroom drama features Bennie Rosato, the head of an all-female law firm. Bennie agrees to take on a murder case for a woman named Alice Connolly who is accused of killing her detective boyfriend, but who claims that she's been framed by the police. The most interesting part of the book centers around Alice's startling resemblance to Bennie and her assertion that she is Bennie's twin. Author Scottoline spins out the suspense throughout the book. Is Bennie truly Alice's twin or is Alice merely using a ploy to get Bennie to defend her? In this book the reader meets Bennie's ill mother and her absentee father, and Bennie examines what family really means. This is a fascinating story with lots of twists and turns which kept me guessing up to the last page.

This is not my favorite mystery/thriller, but it's a very good read with lots of unexpected bends in the road and enough to keep the reader glued to the very end. Mistaken Identity questions the ethics of both lawyers and police with the intensity only a former lawyer like author Scottoline can really delve into, and the results are sometimes overly analyzed but never boring--except for some of the courtroom scenes that occasionally drag on into infinity.

Imagine your surprise to discover a client who looks way too much like you to be coincidence and raises questions about your entire existence that make it hard for you to concentrate on getting your alleged twin off death row. Now imagine that same twin is guilty of everything else under the sun except for the murder she's serving time for and is insisting that the cops set her up. This story has so many wild twists and turns, plus an ending I never saw coming, that I couldn't leave it alone until I was done, but I must admit not knowing what all the coverup was about when the murderer was revealed.

All the way, Bennie Rosato's alleged twin Alice Connolly is an unlikable manipulator and liar, but she defends her with integrity and passion nobody else can quite understand except for Mary, a co-worker who also has a twin. The supporting characters that surround Bennie are what really make this book a pleasure to read, and the outcome will most likely leave you wide-eyed as it did me. You may come away at the end with a lot of questions about some of the loose ends, but I guarantee you a fast paced, exciting ride into the world of criminal defense and crooked cops. Check out Mistaken Identity for an unmistakably good, if at times uneven, read.

Read as many books as you like (and practice!) to grasp the concepts of Java BUT to pass that exam...this() is the book for you. There are one or two typos, dont pull your hair out trying to compile them but the sample questions are worth every cent/penny! Good Luck

I used this book and was able to pass. This book covers almost every aspect you need to know in 1.1 test. However, in reality--that is to pass the test, you need to find more resources with good mock up exams. I found about 2 exact same questions and several similar questions in the exam from this book.

I passed with 78%.

Be warned, I wouldn't have passed the exam with this book alone.

Take all the mock exams you can find, for ex. the new 1.1 test.

Some questions on the test are difficult, and you will need to know your stuff in depth

This is one of the best books that I ever found for java certification. I gave exam today and passed it on first attempt. Author has done great work in organizing language concepts. The practice tests at the end of the book are excellent. Great book Barry !!!

I passed the programmer test on the first try, thanks to this book! My only sources of information where this book and the API documentation itself.

Start from zero Java knowledge, put in a few hours of study and practice every day for two or three months, and do all the exercises and practice tests in the book. Don't hurry. Be sure to completely understand the concepts before moving to the next chapter.

Yes, there are a few errors in the book and in the practice exams. You must go to the author's homepage to get the corrections.

The book deserves five-star rating, though I think it should have covered more thoroughly the IO classes. The programmer test hit me with a few questions I was not prepared for.

Next, the developer test...