Bradley Books

I've read probaby all of the late Marion Zimmer Bradley's works (excepting the numerous short story compilations). I think I prefer MZB's writing in the books that came out chronologically in the middle of her series (not the early pulp fiction books), like Bloody Sun, Thendara House, Forbidden Tower, and the Sharra series. They were compelling stories of culture clashes, struggles with sexuality, gender roles, and technology. The later books seem to stray from the themes that are really what makes Darkover stand out. That said, this was my favorite of the collaborative books between MZB and another author. A fundamental part of Darkover culture is the "Compact", an agreement not to use any weapon that doesn't put you in reach of your opponent. This book discusses how the compact was reached. I found Varzil to be a fascinating figure - strong, serious, driven, brilliant. Very unusual for both MZB's work and other science fiction.

In this text the reader is treated to a different POV of the times around Hawkmistress! (a Zimmer-Bradley novel). Varzil, one of the greatest Keepers, is shown from the beginning of this training AND this novel takes up a few years after the first book in the trilogy left off (but that news is slow in being told to the reader).

Several different subplots are skillfully woven together, and at the end enough is left hanging to leave me wondering how Deborah will interpret Marion's notes.

That said, this is not a book to start with if one has never read any of Zimmer-Bradley or Ross' work, but it is an excellent and worthy addition to the Darkover fold.

sob(i did not know that marion had passed). i am not sure whether this was done before her death or not but it is beautifully written and a credit. why does it seem all the good authors pass so quickly(v.c andrews was another).

anyway this book chronicles the lifes of the famous keep varzil the good and the hastur king carolin hastur and their many trials from adolescent to points that their separate destiny's take them.

for these 2 men meet at arillian for training in their laran. while carolin is a minor telepath, varzil is one of extraoridary ability and is soon put in keeper training. carolin soon returns home to assume his duties as heir to the throne and all the political strifes that were rampant in this period of darkover history.

the book keeps you interested from beginning to end and you are almost upset that you have to wait for the 3rd book in this story to come out to see the ending. for all darkover fans, this is definitely one you do not want to miss.

Please - let her rest in peace. This greed by her estate is outrageous. Put the title under the real author's name - Ross.

Hi, Steve Y. Normally, I don't respond to reviews personally, but I want you to know that Marion and I worked together on the concept of this 3-book project before she passed away. Many of the ideas, as well as characters and settings, are hers. You probably noticed that a number of scenes appeared in HAWKMISTRESS!

She left several partial manuscripts, which I will be finishing over the next few years, and they will appear with both our names. After that, we'll see where the saga of Darkover leads us...

I hope you enjoy how I have developed and completed these stories. Thank you for your input!

Best,
Deborah

Also, I'm not tooting my own horn with the stars. They wouldn't let me post a reply without them. Consider it a comment on your comment!

The stories were entertaining but they lacked the detail I had been looking for. It would be a great book for non-technical managers to read so they know their techs are just over-bearing security freaks.

I also feel that several of the investigations were flawed in how they were conducted. It is possible that the book is just being faithful to the 'real' story, but it would have been good to see comments on what could have been done better at the end of each one.

If you are looking for a broad picture of the types of attacks you might face and some procedures for what to do during or after an attack the book can be a helpful starting point (wake up call for some).

HACKER'S CHALLENGE 3: 20 BRAND-NEW FORENSIC SCENARIOS AND SOLUTIONS comes from too-tier security experts who offer 20 new real-world network security incidents to allow readers to test computer forensics skills and responses. From phishing and internal corporate hacking to wireless and Linux hacks, each challenge includes an in-depth explanation of the incident, how it was detected, and provides technical logs and network maps: everything needed for readers to test their skills at solving the incident. And yes, detailed analysis of successful results appear at the end.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

One of the best ways to teach is via the use of examples. This book is chock full of real world forensic scenarios along with their solutions. As the author of a forensics book myself, I understand and appreciate the hard work that these four brilliant individuals have put into this excellent text. We need to see more books like this in the future!

I read and reviewed HC1 in Nov 01, and HC2 in Jan 03. Now in Aug 06, I'm happy to be reading Hacker's Challenge 3 (HC3). Like its predecessors, HC3 is the sort of book that needs to be used when interviewing new hires or promoting technical staff. If the candidate has read the book and knows the answers to the challenges, she at least demonstrates her commitment to learning, as well as an ability to remember what she reads. If she can solve the challenges without having read the book, she shows a higher level of skill. If she has no clue how to respond to the challenges, you can move on to the next candidate.

The 20 challenges cover the following: phishing, DNS cache poisoning, Web app hacking (multiple), anonymous FTP abuse, wireless misconfigurations and abuse, social engineering, disgruntled soon-to-be-ex-employees, malware, password reuse, p2p abuse, router exploitation, XSS, and an iSCSI compromise. The last of these was my favorite because I have not seen this in the field yet. Almost all of the other exploits will seem familiar to anyone performing security consulting.

I believe all of the HC books are wonderful learning and discussion tools for junior security analysts. I would caution them to not accept the "approved solutions" as the proper way to conduct incident response and forensics, however. In 4 or perhaps 5 of the 20 cases, the IR process commenced with direct examination of suspected systems. In other words, admins or security folks jumped right onto possibly compromised hosts and began searching for clues of intrusion.

This is not the proper way to perform IR, yet I saw it demonstrated in Chs 4, 6, 9, and 12. Ch 12, p 119 was especially disappointing -- "the obvious place to begin the investigation is the Oracle server." Wrong -- unless you want to contaminate evidence, tip off the intruder, or introduce other problems into the security equation.

One of Anton Chuvakin's cases demonstrated a better way to approach the IR problem -- look for application logs, firewall records, and network traces first. Avoid touching suspected victims until there is no other option, and then do so carefully.

I do not intend to say through my comments that this process was universally ignored in HC3. Several times proper host-based IR procedures are followed, when using forensic live CDs or obtaining hard drive images. However, please keep my comments in mind while reading HC3. Since the book claims to be based on real events, it's possible the authors are retelling flawed investigations by their customers!

Overall, I definitely recommend reading HC3 if you are new to security or if you need to quiz your newer employees. The book is technically sound (except for a mention of Windows 2002 on p 265) and entertaining. Kudos for the HC3 team for sharing their creative ideas with us.

What struck me about this book is that the attacks are all brand new. This isn't just a rehash of the same old attacks we read about over and over again, nor is it a rehash of the attacks - but on steroids - from the previous Hacker's Challenge books. The day of the simple port scan and null session enumeration are long gone. Today's world is much more complicated and scarier. Hacker's Challenge 3 proves it.

And these aren't off-the-wall attacks cooked up in hidden computer labs by researchers. They're the type of threats now, unfortunately, becoming more commonplace to any one in information security.

The chapters on phishing are real-life and could've been taken right out of the playbook of an actual attack perpetrated against a real bank. The steps for investigating, tracking down and bringing down malicious phishing sites closely follow those actually taken by information security professionals on the job.

Another attack presented is pharming, a new and frightening type of DNS poisoning that threatens financial and e-commerce web sites. The description of the attacks is very accurate. It's almost as if you were working with the team trying to block the attack.

Hacker's Challenge 3 is written by a star-studded cast of well-known industry players, each a top notch expert in their specialty in the field.

For each attack, this book provides a complete set of steps for detection, resolution, prevention and evasion of future attacks. There are detailed examples of the forensics examination used to track down both the attack and its offending attackers, including samples of analyzed logs and data that would be used by an actual threat and incident management team in action on a case.

Each chapter has a series of questions that add to the material and provide thought-provoking points for further discussion.

This is a digest of the new world of Twenty-First Century attacks that should be read by every information security professional.

I am a college student studying the Middle East and I was in Model UN group and was Saudi Arabia when I firs discovered Bradley. That book gave great insight that helped my debating at the conference. Now he has come back with an even better book about a more important country, I would argue at least, with "Inside Egypt." He discusses many topics that are prevalent in Egypt and are rarely discussed in Egypt on any public forum. This gives you great insight to a country that in due time will become one of many forms, depending on how much deeper the problems get, which from the likes of it is very far.

A great read for Anyone who wants to know the state of Egypt today. Banned in Egypt for that reason??

John R. Bradley's 'Inside Egypt' is a journalistic account of contemporary Egypt. It is interesting but hardly surprising. At great length, using multiple examples, it tells us what we already knew about Egypt. Egypt is a poor nation, becoming more radically Islamist each passing day, governed by a corrupt, incompetent and selfish regime which strangles reform and resists change.

For the most part, Bradley eschews analysis for reporting, but what he reports about is depressingly self evident given the general outline. Many of the chapters come with self explanatory titles "Torture" and "Corruption", for example. Minorities, whether the Bedouin (in Sinai) or the Copts (in Egypt proper), are abysmally treated.

There is an interesting chapter, euphemistically titled "Lost Dignity", about the Egyptiam sex industry in its various forms, particularly in that of the "marriage" of Old Western ladies to younger Egyptians, and of male prostitution. It is possibly the most penetrating part of Bradley's book, because it shows that even sex work is shaped by the cultural and religious beliefs of the Egyptians. Even as they make their livelihood from sex, Egyptians maintain a semblance, no matter how twisted, of traditional gender roles and sexual mores.

But for Westerners, most interesting is the political agenda. And Bradley is in a catch 22: his instinct, as summarized by a blurb contribution from the managing editor of Foreign Affair, is to "love [the] country but hate [the] regime". Bradley's sympathies are clearly with the Egyptian people, and against Hosni Mubarak and his government. But as Bradley acknowledges, the Egyptian people are considerably more anti-Western than the regime. The most popular Middle East leaders are Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah, and Mahmood Ahmadinejad, the radical president of Iran (p. 89). As Bradley puts it, "The sickness... runs not just through the system but through the whole of society" (p.145).

The Egyptian people are against America, and who can blame them? Their dictatorial government is an American dependency. Being subordinate to the United State is an afford to the Egyptian's pride; Being repressed by America's agent is a legitimate grievance.

And of course, the Mubarak regime encourages the antagonism. It allows the fundamentalist Muslim Brothers opposition some freedom, while suppressing the secular democratic opposition. This has several advantages - it creates the illusion of openness, gives the Islamists a reason to cooperate with the state, and most importantly, offers leverage against the United States.

Because, as Bradley acknowledges, in the Middle East, the United States' foreign policy is aimed at attaining two mutually exclusive goals: democracy and stability. But these can not be achieved simultaneously. If America were to pressure Egypt to democratize, it would undermine Egypt, and thus the entire Middle East.

(The fact that Bradley identifies the trade off is significant in and of itself. Some Middle East expert think you can have you cake and eat it too. See for example Amitai Etzioni's Security First: For a Muscular, Moral Foreign Policy)

Between stability and democracy, Bradley is firmly on the side of the latter. "Washington must think long term" (p. 227).

But as John Maynard Keynes reminded us, in the long run, we're all dead. What Bradley does not stress is that Egypt is a spectacular case of successful American diplomacy. For a relatively cheap 2 billion U$ annually, America has got the traditional Arab powerhouse as a staunch allay. For over thirty years, Egypt has been in peace with Israel; It is a moderate force in Arab politics and an ally in the so-called "War on Terror".

This comes at the expense of the Egyptian people, who live under a brutal dictatorship. But America's foreign policy is aimed at promoting the welfare of Americans, not Egyptians. And even if America wanted to do something to democratize Egypt, it can't. Pressure on the regime would only make Egypt uncooperative; Egypt would give a freer hand to its local al-Qaeda supporters and diminish cooperation in the struggle against terrorism. Egypt's president would make anti American statements and increase his popularity. And if America were to risk its national security interests in pursuit of Egyptian democracy, it would risk an Iranian style Islamist revolution in Egypt, which would make Egypt's liberal forces nostalgic to Mubarak's autocracy.

The only reason America should change course in its Egyptian policy is if changed circumstances require rethinking this policy. Bradley's most bizarre notion is that Egypt is nearing the end of a 30 years cycle of relative unrest, and is facing a period of tribulations like the ones it faced in the 1920s, 1950s and 1970s. This is mistaking a coincidence for a pattern.

A more likely source of instability in the regime is the possibility of a succession crisis when Hosni Mubarak (aged eighty), departs the scene, and his son Gamal takes over. But recent generational changes in Morocco and in Syria went smoothly enough, and the presidency moved between Egypt three post revolution presidents (Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak) without incident.

History tells us that dictatorships, no matter how strong they look, are brittle things. They may collapse without warning. Yet in an region full of extreme and dangerous enemies, Egypt's dictatorship, against the wishes of Egypt's people, remains an American ally. Supporting a pro-American autocracy in Egypt is a necessary evil.

This is the perfect volume if you are looking for one book to read before visiting Egypt, or just to get a handle on the country. It is smoothly written, combining journalistic reporting with historical and political analysis. He is deeply critical of the state of Egyptian politics and society, and of official Western approaches to that country, but those criticisms ring true.

Mr. Bradley writes a very telling portrait of modern Egypt, a country which has been ruled by a military oligarchy since 1953. The corruption, poverty and oppression which are hallmarks of the regime are discussed in detail and personal anecdotes are used whenever possible. The writing style makes the subject matter very easy to get through even if you are not an Islamophile or have never been to Egypt.

Many of the interviews and anecdotes took place in 2007, the same year I was assigned to duty in Egypt. Many of the experiences he had in Egypt are typical and I also had many similar experiences or knew people who did. Yes, Egyptians will not hesitate to tell you that they hate Mubarak and I also learned from Egyptians I met of the near-universal perception that Mubarak intends to have his son follow him into office. I wish the author had also mentioned the extensive cult of personality surrounding Mubarak and how his image seems to be everywhere... even if it gets vandalized in remoter parts of the country. And baksheesh is rampant in the country... I once had to pay a parking attendant a small wad of notes for helping me get out of my reserved parking space... he had allowed another vehicle to park too close to the front of my machine. Events that I could "verify" with my own experiences made the book real to me.

On the other hand, the author did not fully discuss the problems involved in removing food subsidies, political pluralism or the legitimate terror threat that hangs over Egypt. Also, the author feels it necessary to compare the routine torture that takes place in Egyptian police stations to Abu Ghraib... where no physical torture took place despite the images on the internet. He also feels it necessary to denigrate the Coalition effort to bring democracy in Iraq. The author bemoans the lack of democracy in Egypt but in none of the instances he mentions Iraq does he talk about the successful elections there.

Egypt's future is uncertain and this book definitely gives you a feeling for the disaster that looms on the horizon when Mubarak passes on.

This is an extremely unique and exciting book. I have always had questions for venture capitalists, and reading this book answered many of them. The style is clear, and it is very easy to understand. The interviews have obviously been conducted meticulously, and very good questions are asked. If you run an internet business or are going to have any future interaction with venture capitalists, you would be silly not to pick this up and read it.

This book is a must read for every entrepreneur and VC. The snippets of information in it are very valuable even after the downfall of the Internet economy-most of the text is more focused on timeless vc/entrepreneur related issues. I would highly recommend this book...

I was very impressed by the knowledge in this book. It has a ton of useful information for everyone from entrepreneurs to investors to other financial professionals. In addition, the content is fresh and much more applicable to the "after the shakedown" landscape than other venture capital oriented books such as eBoys, Confessions of a Venture Capitalist and Done Deals. This is a great book that has a ton of useful information straight from some very accomplised venture capitalists.

This book was obviously written at the peak of the internet "Boom". The majority of the companies cited as examples of the onslaught of the new economy are no longer in existence. Earnings are barely mentioned. Companies cited as the movers and shakers of tomorrow are now penny stocks. The total lack of balance relative to other sectors is appalling and in retrospect is by itself educational. Everyone bought into the hype including the entire VC industry. This might explain why they all sat on the sideline in 2001 trying to regain their sense of direction. The entertainment value is a 5 and the educational value a 1. It is your choice.

10,000 years ago there was a civilization where people would throw money onto the street and it would turn into huge castles and fat bank accounts. Then there was an unknown worldwide catastrophe and that world completely disappeared. Later on a book was discovered where the people throwing all the money around told their stories, oblivious to the coming world catastrophe. Its fascinating to see inside the minds of these primitive humans.

LEMUR is a bizarre journey into fast-food hell with a serial killer wannabe named Spencer.

First, I'll say that if you are looking for a weird, fast-paced satire with crazy "mental-patient" dialogue, you should buy this book.

When I started reading, LEMUR reminded me of one of those independent movies in which the main setting is banal (in this case, a fast food restaurant) but the characters talk in unrealistic and exaggerated ways. That's neither a positive nor a negative statement. However, usually when I start watching one of those movies, I turn it off.

Luckily, Tom Bradley's prose is so well-written, so smooth and clever that it overshadows any problem that I personally have with the dialogue. This book is in the Bizarro genre so it's not a shock that the characters speak in weird/funny/unrealistic ways. It isn't that Bradley can't write realistic dialogue but rather that he chose not to for the sake of this story. By the end of the book, however, the dialogue seemed less awkward and I was fully immersed in the story.

I fear that this is starting to sound like a bad review. It's not. Bradley is a talented writer who satirically explores many social issues in LEMUR. Consumerism, murder, corporations, communism, the food-service industry, bad Anthony Hopkins impressions. All are fodder for Bradley's sharp wit.

Bradley ventures into Vonnegut territory (though maybe not as deftly in the dialogue department). Overall, that's my impression of LEMUR: a more obscene version of a Vonnegut novel but with enough originality to not make it a rehash of old ideas. There are some laugh-out-loud parts in there, too.

Personally, as far as Bizarro fiction is concerned, I much prefer the style of Carlton Mellick III. However, that isn't meant as an insult to Bradley and his work. LEMUR will no doubt please most bizarro readers as well as those who have never read a "bizarro" book before.

"Spencer wanders past various deserted sections of the library, marked LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, RELIGION, and HISTORY. Eventually he comes to the Business shelves, the only ones that have any visitors." Yes indeed. Spencer Sproul lives in a world where money and power mean everything. He lacks both, of course, and he's too broken down to lash out like his serial killer idols. But this is America, folks. The land of opportunity, where the abused can become the abuser. In Lemur, Tom Bradley writes about the American Dream. This is a funny, twisted book filled with funny, twisted characters. His prose is as addictive as MSG, and the only side effect is the feeling of being smacked across the brain, and liking it.

Reading Lemur is like watching a cartoon on the inside of your eyelids after a pound of Lebanese blond. There's a realism to the story that is very close to, but not quite, the realism of everyday life. The characters, the situations are all recognizable, but as exaggerations. They move about in their blind way, but always about three inches off the ground. Bradley has a way of getting at the essence of human qualities through a peculiar satire, one that is uniquely his, and that constantly startles and shocks. When it comes to snideness, he's right up there with Pope and Swift. The fast food restaurant theme (Lemur is a cafe logo) becomes an allegory for what America (and the rest of the world) is swallowing without question. The serial killer fixation of Spencer, the "hero," reduces human brutality to the prosaic level of a French fry (or elevates the French fry to the level of a criminal act). Bradley's story of who does what to whom in the competitive world of food & beverage is the very stuff of every day life in America, but you have never quite seen it in this bizarre context. The sign of a great book is the extent to which it changes the way you look at the world. When you finally set down Lemur after reading it, take a stroll down franchise lane with its parking lots and metal signs, logos, and hapless souls in uniform smocks, and see if you don't start to feel that you're walking six inches off the ground yourself in a world that isn't a world. Better yet, read the whole book in a McPhonyFood Diner, pausing between chapters to look around. You'll never feed your brain with stuff off the sidewalk again.

During an interview in the current issue of Unlikely Stories Magazine, award-winning novelist Tom Bradley is grilled pretty thoroughly on the issue of man-boy love. The interviewer seems to have something of an axe to grind. Which is good. The best interviews grind lots of things: teeth, nerves, egos. A modicum of bumping goes along with the grinding, too, in this case.

In the six thousand words of that strange conversation, they range all over the place, and pretty well dispense with the notion of pederasty as practiced among certain secondary characters in a sub-plot of Tom Bradley's new book, Lemur. But I find it interesting that they seem deliberately to ignore the largest presence on the pages--I refer to Spencer Sproul, the would-be serial killing protagonist--and the biggest theme: gayness itself. I mean among consenting adults, of course.

Before the reader is made aware of Spencer Sproul's erotic orientation--indeed, before even he himself becomes conscious of it--a sympathy has been established in our hearts. Affection for Spencer is sturdy enough to remain unshaken by any sexual revelations and the phobic reactions they might spur in all but the most reptilian subcortex. And the beauty is that the sympathy has been engendered in a most venerable manner: via the expedient of the Bildungsroman.

We have followed Spencer Sproul all the way to the top of his profession, from the bottom-most menial trench to the middle-managerial stratosphere. We have ascended with him to psychic wholeness, from deep in an unhealthy serial killer infatuation. This obsession is nonetheless unwholesome for its self-delusion: it would be hard to imagine someone with less of a killing knack than Spencer. His lack of self-awareness is even sicker than the collections of splatter shots which paper the walls in his "lair"--actually just a squalid duplex.

We have gone along with him as he rises to the rare level of individuation that permits real work to be performed, where creativity comes within one's reach. And the fact that his canvas is a crass family-style restaurant only adds piquancy, for he has clearly done what the Hindus have always considered the point of manifest existence: he has found out what his karmically determined Sadhana is, and has managed to arrange circumstances, both external and internal, so he can pursue that work which his inner nature predetermined for him at the moment of incarnation.

And, this being a classically structured comedy (even though a tragic chorus of bums sings in the dumpster out behind the restaurant), he comes to the point of being able to feel and express love. Spencer Sproul achieves the capacity for tenderness, which is signaled in the patting of a special pair of buttocks at the very end. His face, which in all the previous pagination has been distinguished only by its incapacity for expression, smiles patronizingly at his favorite employee, his "special-best bus boy," namely Spud.

Never has a love story been told so effectively in a less likely setting. Tom Bradley has pulled off an astonishing, hilarious feat here.

Spencer Sproul aspires to be a serial killer. His locker at work (he is a busboy at Lemuel's Family Restaurant) is papered with portraits of murderers both real and fictitious . His apartment is also loaded with memorabilia.

Unfortunately, he just isn't very threatening (he can't even growl convincingly), and when he breaks into a woman's apartment to kill her, he gets distracted by her book (about a serial killer, natch) and reads it till dawn.

Inspired by the machinations of a convenience store clerk (who he also originally intended to kill), an expert at luring obese people into his shop to consume even more questionable comestibles, Spencer realizes that his best potential murder weapon is the restaurant itself. So he turns his creative talents to marketing -- and especially to ratcheting up the effect of its mascot, Lemmy the Lemur (pictured on the cover) -- and rapidly moves up the ranks by capitalizing on the subliminal power of gonzo advertising.

Satire is not a strong enough word for what Tom Bradley is doing with Lemur. Every character is painted with a bizarro brush, and yet they remain relatable. Spencer can't even use English properly (Bradley calls this "oral dyslexia"), but he isn't hard to understand, and this difference actually works to make him more engaging and sympathetic.

Readers who like their social commentary wrapped up in absurdity will find a lot to like about Lemur. You can read it as a tightly written treatise on consumption in the modern age, or as the touching story of a serial killer's coming of age. Either way you choose to approach it, this darkly comic novella is sure to entertain.

Good overall coverage of the region. Listed all major activities from rafting, hiking, driving, or whatever. I would recommend it for people traveling there. I wish it would have gone into detail about the tour operators.

Lonely Planet has never let me down. It seems no matter where in the world I travel, LP has walked, slept, and eaten there! I am still looking for a place to travel where they have not been. Any suggestions?

I really only used the info regarding Kathmandu since that is the only place I visited but the information given was accurate even the warning about the electricity going out all of a sudden for hours in the city. That was fun to experience and thankfully we read it in the book. The best recent book I could find on Nepal.

we were in nepal in recently and found this guide to be very useful and informative; will recommend it to anybody who is travelling to a new country.

I bought this book to prepare for my trip to Nepal. I found the advice in the book regarding cultural mores and appropriate behavior to be invaluable. The descriptions of places, restaurants, and hotels was accurate. I would have liked to see longer lists of accommodations. One thing I learned in Nepal is there are many, many more hotels than this book describes.

Here's why I gave it a 4: if you are over 40, go out and buy reading glasses before purchasing this book. The font size is very small and difficult to read for those of us with older eyes, especially in the dim light of an airplane or a Nepal Hotel Room.

For 15 years, this book has been the first that I recommend for colleagues and friends wishing to evaluate the validity of evolution. Its value is that it focuses in ample detail on just one single, critical step in evolution: getting from non-life to life. The book describes work by 4 researchers who attempted to find the mechanism that led to the evolution of the first proto-cell. The authors detail their attempts to find this mechanism that would work against the known processes which the first step in biological evolution would have had to surmount (such as entropy). Each researcher brought a different expertise to the work, so the book is able to bring a number of perspectives to bear on this one relatively narrow issue.

This is not a book for individuals with merely secondary-school maths, biology or chemistry knowledge. The further one has studied in those disciplines (university, post-graduate), the better able he will be to appreciate the research.

first of all, this is a very well written book, it presents its points well and does a very good job of defending its critics... however, the writing and explanations could have been better, but i gave this book five stars in order to make up for the 'idiocy' of tom sullivan

i did not buy this book from amazon, but looking at other's reviews helps me understand other people's viewpoints... to be honest mr. sullivan's review was rather amusing, especially his example of the beethoven dog... while he accused creationism of this gap, i personally feel it is much more fitting for evolution, considering the fact that we are presented with amino acids, then complex organisms (such as ourselves) and then told that we came from those amino acids with some transfer point inbetween... which is exactly what is missing from the whole chain... and could be just as easily be interpreted as the fact that the dog never plays on the piano... so thank you mr. sullivan for providing an excellent illustration of the flaws within evolution

overall, get this book if you want an in-depth and unbiased understanding of the differences between evolution and creationism

The authors are distinguished scientists holding advanced degrees in chemistry, materials science, and geochemistry. This book clearly reflects that, and if you've not studied any of these sciences, a primer is in order. They thoroughly rebut Miller's infamous experiment which supposedly proved life can come from nonliving matter. This book explores the hypothesis of chemical evolution and what conditions would be required, as well as what conditions probably were like on the Earth prior to sentient life developing. Darwin's point about wanting a "warm little pond" in which evolution would take place is delved into in the chapter "The Myth of the Prebiotic Soup." Whether you believe in evolution, creation, or creationism, this book is a must-read for anyone with an interest in science.

A seminal work for the theory of intelligent design, this book provides a scientific critique of the prevailing paradigmatic theories of chemical evolution. The authors include Discovery fellows Charles Thaxton and Walter Bradley, and they conclude that the prebiotic soup from which the first cell supposedly arose is a myth. The Miller-Urey experiments employed an unrealistic gas mixture, and there is no geological evidence for its existence in Earth's distant past. The "soup" faces a myriad of other problems, such as inevitable rapid destruction at the hands of radiation.

The authors also take aim at the dominant paradigm for chemical evolution using technical arguments from thermodynamics. The second law of thermodynamics has been misused by creationists who failed to treat the fact that Earth is an open system. But Thaxton, Bradley, and Olsen takes this point into account as they argue that thermodynamics is eminently applicable to assessing whether unguided chemical reactions can organize matter into life. Their conclusion is that natural laws cannot account for the encoded "specified complexity" inherent in biomolecules.

The epilogue looks forward to other possible explanations for the origin of life. The book was published in 1984 when the United States was immersed in debate over Genesis-based creationism. Yet these authors take a different approach that is ahead of its time. They recognize that science requires an observation-based understanding of cause-and-effect relationships. Thus they set aside biblical arguments and focus instead on observations about the natural world and intelligence. After demonstrating that various undirected causes lack the power to produce complex information, they note, "We have observational evidence in the present that intelligent investigators can (and do) build contrivances to channel energy down nonrandom chemical pathways to bring about some complex chemical synthesis, even gene building" (pg. 211). The authors then pose a simple question: "May not the principle of uniformity suggest that DNA had an intelligent cause at the beginning?" (pg. 211)

He writes and I quote, "Only a moron would accept that as "proof," and yet ID-iot Christians are more than happy to accept exactly that kind of "proof" from ID-iotic films like this".

Obviously this man thinks it's a film rather than a book, so much for reading it and a fair critical review.

To be honest, I wasn't that impressed. This was our assigned textbook, and I tend to use the texts as references for when I don't understand something in class or in a problem set. I felt that this book often left out the explanation of "why" something happened, and tended to be less in depth than even our lectures and so I'd be frustrated that the book didn't really explain the underlying mechanisms to a process (which I think is key to understanding renal pathophys)...and don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those people trying to memorize every tiny detail. But I felt this was a little too superficial to be of much use. I ended up probably getting more out of Robbins and Costanzo's BRS Physio review (which does include some pathophys) than out of this text.

Helps for reviewing material that is kind of obscure. I preferred reading Robbins Basis of Pathology to get a good glance at the material.

Excellent book as a primary text for both pre-clinical renal pathophys and clinical rotations. Highlights important clinical pearls and practical information for the medicine wards. Highly recommended.

This book is all you will need for renal pathophys your 1st and 2nd years. It is small and doesn't look like much, but is extremely well written. THis is all I used for my 2nd year renal module (with a little robbins on the side), and I nailed the exam. I recommend for any med student.

Though the text can be a bit dense and overly wordy sometimes (Glomerulonephritides chapter), it does an excellent job at explaining pathophysiology. Pictures are in B&W though, so if you're just looking for nice slides, pick up Robbins. If you're looking to gain understanding, pick up this book.

This is the first programming book I have read. At every stage of the book it has clearly explained the current topic and the chapters flow nicely together. The author seems to have been able to get into the mind of the beginning C programmer, and answers all those nagging questions. Every question the book raises for me is answered. I am really enjoying this book, I like its style and approach, and best of all it is actually teaching me something. Well done.

An excellent text which explains C quite clearly. The authors' concise writing styles make it easy to understand. Difficult topics like pointers are given good explanations. Sample/practice problems with answers, and debugging exercises provide a practical way to test your knowledge.

La version en español de este libro "Aprendiendo C en 21 dias" es un libro muy bueno para principiantes. Cuando lo adquirí, aprendí la escencia del C. A travez de sus capitulos tu puedes surcar los mares del poder en la programación. "Aprendiendo C en 21 dias" es un libro publicado por Prentice Hall en Mexico. Ojalá que este libro esté a la venta en Amazon.com.

This is the first programming book I have read. At every stage of the book it has clearly explained the current topic and the chapters flow nicely together. The author seems to have been able to get into the mind of the beginning C programmer, and answers all those nagging questions. Every question the book raises for me is answered. I am really enjoying this book, I like its style and approach, and best of all it is actually teaching me something. Well done.

I highly recommend this book and also the follow-up "Teach yourself Advanced C in 21 days". With these two books, you shouldn't need any other basic C books. As a C programmer since the early 80's, I've found no better books.

The Darkover series is an excellent blend of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Plus, Bradley describes action scenes with a flair that even men could appreciate, while never sacrificing the sensitivity and feeling that marks female writing. You get a good buy with this one.

This book tells us about a society guided by women who do not accept the social rules in Darkover. This is the story about Jaelle and how she leave the dry town (where womwn are property of theirs husband and use chains around her arms)and became a renunciant. It's also the story of Magdalen Lorne and how, pretending been a renunciant she has became one in fact - Margali 'n Ysabeth. This two women cross each other life and after that theirs lives would be different forever. This book introduce us to these two caracthers that would re-appeared in Thendara House and City of Sorcery.

"The Renunciates" series is a must read if you love MZB and the World of Darkover. The female reader will be especially inspired! (as usual) However, a word of advise...If you like to discover a new world in chronological order, as I do, then I suggest you jump ahead and read "Rediscovery", "The Spell Sword" and "The Forbidden Tower," at least, before you dive into the thought-prevoking, and thrilling side story of "The Renunciates" trilogy.

This series is not just for the Sci-Fi/fantasy reader. It is probably the most "real" look at humanity, our gender struggles, and our mental potential that I've read in any genre. A truly intelligent rendering of the human landscape!

Each Darkover novel can stand on its own as a complete story, but taken together, they weave a rich tapestry about a world different from our own. "The Shattered Chain" is set after the rediscovery period when the Terran Empire discovered the planet of Darkover and that the inhabitants are descendants of colonists on a "lost ship" from thousands of years ago. This story is about the Order of Free Amazons. Darkover society is very restrictive towards women and women have few rights; and in some cases no rights to speak of. The Free Amazons reject that attitude and by law, any member of the Free Amazons does not have to submit to the rule of men. Rather, they are held accountable by the Charter of the Free Amazons for their actions and to the Guild to which they belong. They represent another option for women who feel the oppression of Darkovan society (some do not feel the oppression).

The novel is broken out into three sections, each focusing on a different character, though the same cast of characters moves in and out of the stories being told in each section. The first section focuses on the lady Rohana Ardais. Before the novel begins, Lady Rohana is given information that a kinswoman who had been kidnapped more than a decade ago is still alive and that she wants to be rescued for the sake of her children. Rohana defies convention, hires out a team of Free Amazons, and sets out to rescue Melora from the Dry Towns. This rescue results in Melora's daughter, Jaelle, being fostered by the Free Amazons. There is a twelve year interval between section one and section two.

Section two focuses on a Terran named Magda Lorne, and again, there is someone who needs rescuing. This time it is her former husband, also a Terran. Both are Terran agents working out of the spaceport at Thendara. Since they were raised in a Darkovan city, they are able to work undercover, learning the languages and the changes in language and style and culture to better assist the Terrans to interact with the natives of Darkover. Magda's ex-husband, Peter, seems to look identical to a relative of Rohana's, and with Rohana's suggestion, Magda disguises herself as a Free Amazon to negotiate the release of Peter.

Section three features a grown Jaelle. Jaelle met up with Magda during section two, and is a leader of a small band of Free Amazons. But she is still young, and has not yet known love and does have the experience to know if she will regret her decision to become a Free Amazon. This becomes the central conflict of the third section, after the action of section two.

Ultimately, this is a novel that looks at the gender roles in Darkovan society and how there is one segment of society that works outside the typical roles of women. The Free Amazons will also be a very important society in the relations between Darkover and the Terran Empire.

This is one of the better Darkover novels. With the three section structure, Bradley was able to pack the detail and story and emotion into a tighter form, and the novel is stronger because of that. Each of the three women (Rohana, Magda, and Jaelle) are characters that I want to know more about, they are well written and interesting, and this is an excellent chapter in the world of Darkover.

This is the first Darkover novel I read, and it made me hungry for more. Darkover and the Terran Empire in their diplomatic maneuverings. Free Amazons--a guild of women who renounce men's domination over women, the Comyn--the noble caste with psi powers, an intricate society with traces of the supernatural and feudal systems in place.

The novel starts with a daring rescue of a kidnapped, enchained, and very pregnant Comyn Lady from the barbaric Dry Towns chief who has kept her his prisoner/wife for over a decade. We meet the Free Amazons, the women who are hired as mercenaries to handle the rescue, as well as the Comyn Lady who hired them to rescue her imprisoned cousin and her young daughter.

The story returns to the Free Amazons and the Comyn Lady years later when a Terran woman needs their help to save one of her own. Their stories are linked in a series of adventures that establish Darkover as an irresistable world.