Burnett Books

First of all, don't bother purchasing this book until you have seen the series "Survivor: Borneo", because, basically, the book won't have the same meaning to those who have yet to see the series on which it is based (What are you waiting for? Go watch it!). For those who have seen "Borneo", this is an ideal way to relive the moments of Pulau Tiga seen from an entirely different perspective; that of the producer, Mark Burnett. Burnett describes the activities of island life as they occured on the island, making this a descriptive insight into the personalities and personas of each of the 16 castaways as pictured by Burnett. He covers the backround of each "character" by actually attempting to see things from that survivor's point of view. The description of many of the things not shown on TV is quite interesting (to say the least), with backround information provided on the technicalities of the shoot and island living (including not only the cast, but the crew as well). I was extremely disappointed by the rather abrupt end to book, and that the final tribal council, one of the most pivotal moments of the entire series, was so swiftly covered, without even remarking on Sue's "Rat & Snake" speech (Oh good God, you just gotta see it!) or the other jury members' votes. (Now I'm told that all this comes in Burnett's next book, the Survival Guide for the Autrailian Outback. What in God's name is the point of that?). The interview with the million-dollar winner (the sole suvivor) is interesting, but could hardly be called "in-depth". The most important thing about this book, though, is Burnett's analysis of each of the castaway's mentality and strategies, and, like me, those of you who have seen the show and have appreciated the castaways' outer values will be most intrigued by the psychology of their mentality Burnett discusses here. This book is an absolute must-have for any Survivor fans (and any Colleen Haskell fans like me!), but will still be better appreciated by those who are actually familiar with the entire "Borneo" thing.

I loved this book. I bought it used off of Borders and had my doubts about it. But it came through. I was written by Mark Burnett while he was on the island as the filming progressed. Mark wrote about the game itself along with insights to what happens behind the scenes. Although the sotry is basically a recap of the show, it also give more. I learned many things like- the production crew and the castways know each other by names and intermingle and also I learned more about each castaway and his or her ideas about the game going into it and afterwards. I totally recommend this book for any fans (and even non-fans!)

This book by Mark Burnett gave me a different view about the first Survivor. The details given didn't give much more insight than the TV show, but I did notice that the story was told somewhat differently.

One very small downer in this book is the number of spelling errors, not many, but it is a small hint that this book may have been rushed and not edited properly.

If you haven't watched the first season of Survivor, this book does capture some of the moments, but the VHS or DVD of season 1 may be a better choice.

I thought this book would be a bit spicier than what can go on TV, but I found details and stories to be a bit thin. It was as though the book was an after-thought to the hit show; another piece of merchandise not quite up to snuff. Not a bad book, but I think it could have been better.

This book is supposedly based upon Mark Burnett's journal of his forty days behind the scenes of the first SURVIVOR. There isn't a whole lot of new information here and there are many typos. Everything in the book is filtered through the mind of Burnett, which has positive and negatives. Positive: readers are given insight into how Burnett felt about the players of the game (he had several favorites and there were a few people he didn't like at all) and it's interesting to see how those feelings may have influenced parts of the show. Negative: much of what Burnett tells is old news, it's as though he was trying to reach a different audience with the book than he was with the show and therefore tried not to offend too many people. The book is simple to read (I flew through it in a day) and fairly entertaining. Fans of the show may enjoy it and it makes a good primer for anyone who has never seen the show.

When I first installed Caldera OpenLinux on my PC, I was a newcomer to Linux and didn't really know my way around. Caldera does provide decent documentation for its product, but the installation and user's guide is a bit spare fora newbie to make much use of. This book is the one that took me from being a wet-eared newbie to a competent OpenLinux user. The book assumes that you know very little about Linux and gives you an introduction to the history of Linux, the open source philosophy, the distributions of Linux and a host of other pertinent information before taking through Star Office, the K Desktop Environment (using and manipualting), the command line, package management with RPM, the file system, configuring the X Server, configuring sound, the file system, networking (including using Samba and NetWare), connecting to the Internet, reading the XF86Config file, tweaking, programming languages, compiling source code, shell scripting, runlevels, troubleshooting, and a range of almost every possible problem that a home user or small office user will run into. This book can get quite in depth, and is suitable for those who want to get into Linux quite deeply, or for simple casual use as a reference guide. This is the one book that should ship with every version of Caldera. With this book, you'll find that Linux really can be quite fun to learn and quite easy as well.

I have accumulated 4-5 Linux books in the past 5 years, so I struggled a long while before I got this book as I am neither a great fan of Que's books, nor the in any way enthusiastic about getting a year-old book (especially in the fast changing world of Linux!) Anyway I got it in the end after browsing all Caldera and general Linux titles in a local bookstore - and looking back I never regretted my decision.

I find this book extraordinary in the breadth and depth it covers. It has very good coverage on a wide range of topics in addition to the usual installation and configuration and common sysadmin tasks that is present in most Linux books, and the authors had a lot of insight into the topics (I was skimming through the sections on pgp, ssh, tcp wrappers and firewalls and learned a lot from it).

It is, at the same time, very well written and easy to read and gave me much less headache than reading the howto's, man pages, RFCs, or my Linux Bible! My only criticism is that it is sometimes a bit application-oriented (e.g. it was focussing mainly on swat in the Apache configuration chapter and did not cover manual configuration nor gave explanation of the Apache directives).

In general I find the book well structured and very well written and I definately hope to see the authors continue to update the with the new features of the new versions of Caldera Linux.

While the back of the book says it is aimed at Intermediate to advanced users, the introduction claims that it is aimed at beginners.

I have never used Linux much, and have recently installed a dual-boot system. The book mentions LILO, but is completely incorrect regarding its installation..actually..it doesn't cover the installation at all.

This book has a very scatter-brained approach, and is incorrect far too often for me.

This relates to 5th edition.

The overall content seems valuable for a starter to intermediate Linux user. However, individual chapters are very poorly organised. For instance, text switches from one topic to another, then back to the original one, almost as if points were noted down in the sequence the author thought of them. Typographical and syntactical errors are rife, making it impossible to rely on the information imparted.

Quite obviously, the book has not been proof-read. It is unfortuate really, because it could so easily have been a useful piece of work.

This book is rubbish. Please do NOT buy it! If I had to rewrite the book, it would have been 40 pages instead of 900! The CD-ROM's that come with the book are rubbish to. You're better off buying Red Hat Linux at your local computer shop.

D. Graham Burnett's "Trial By Jury" is not a "true crime" novel. In fact, it is to "true crime" what Jane Austen is to Harlequin romances. I am not writing this to sound smarmy, but just to let the reader know that while this is a story of a trial and the tensions arising therefrom, the reader should not expect anything resembling Ann Rule or even Truman Capote. [This mis-expectation, I think, accounts for several of the negative reviews.]

This is a autobiographical recount of D. Graham Burnett's jury duty on a murder trial. Burnett's rationle for recounting the trial is to give us a view of the machinations of the jury trial and, in so doing, reflect on such things as the difference between law and justice, and the ways in which we try to ascertain the truth of a matter when all we have are disjointed facts and clues.

The trial is that of Monte Virginia Millcray, who is charged with stabbing Randolph Cuffee about 20 times. Millcray says the stabbings were in self-defense, after Cuffee (posing as a woman) tried to rape Millcray. The prosecutions account is that Millcray and Cuffee were in a relationship and Millcray snapped.

About half of the book is about the courtroom drama and half is about the lengthy (20+ hour) deliberation process and it is clear that the author places much more emphasis on the latter half of the book. Witnesses are gone through rather quickly, summarized as might be done by a story teller quickly laying the obligatory groundwork for the "real" story. By contrast, Burnett's recounting of the jury deliberation is quite lengthy and detailed.

To this reader's mind, Burnett really does a good job with describing the jury deliberations and for those of us who've done jury duty before, much of his retelling will seem familiar. Tempers flare, opinions clash and fluctuate. Evidence is combed over again and again, in hopes that each time will reveal something missed the time before.

Burnett also reflects on the jury process. Some of his reflections - the mismatch between law and justice - are rather pedestrian and hackneyed. (I confess that I was sometimes annoyed that some of Burnett's more pedestrian reflections were sometimes treated as if he were the first to have thought of them.) Others - jury sequestration as an example of the virtually unlimited power of the state - were quite interesting. Either way, Burnett's retelling of the jury deliberation is as much recount as it is reflection. (If that would bore you, you might get bored with this book.)

"Trial by Jury" is not for everyone. As noted, it is not a "true crime" novel, and is not a page-turner. I don't think that was D. Graham Burnett's goal in writing the book. Rather, it is a sometimes entertaining and other-times thought-provoking examination of one man's experience with, and reflections on, a jury trial as a way to try and mete out imperfect justice in an imperfect world.

D. Graham Burnett, an assistant Princeton history professor, brings us a lively, honest look at the inner world of juries in the slim volume entitled, A Trial by Jury. Burnett's writing style is casual and easily accessible in describing the jury he joyfully found himself leading.

The Manhattan murder trial has the defendant claiming self-defense. The burden of proof lies on the state to prove Monte Milcray did not act in self-defense after stabbing Randolph Cuffee twenty-odd times. Milcray's story about the hot August night changes several times. Erroneous facts spring forth as key elements begin to slowly seep into the story: a rendezvous encounter with a transvestite via the dating phone service. Unfortunately, the author decides to reveal the verdict in the opening pages of the book. Burnett then back peddles to the beginning: a week of jury selection, two weeks of evidence and then the four days of closed deliberations.

Clearly those who need instant gratification will love the author's choice for the up-front verdict. This reader would have preferred more tension in the vein of 12 Angry Men; the movie magnificently portrays the inherent conflict of twelve disparate people dissecting evidence to reach a conclusion. That balled-up tense feeling one gets in the gut is sadly absent here since we know the outcome early on.

However, there are many keen insights and fine discussions about law and justice. The juror Adelle says,
"I realized that what I keep wanting here is for us
to figure out some way to do justice, but I am
starting to realize that the law itself may be a
different thing. What is my real responsibility?
The law? Or the just thing? I'm not sure what the
answer is? We've been told that we have to uphold
the law. But I don't understand what allegiance I
should have to the law itself. Doesn't the whole
authority of the law rest on its claim to be our
system of justice? So, if the law isn't just, how
can it have any force?"

Burnett effectively brings us the emotions felt within the sealed jury room. The writing is palpable and quickly sparks one's imagination. The reader is privileged to the endemic shortcomings of the court. A Trial by Jury enables you to be the proverbial fly on the wall, listening and watching twelve individuals from various backgrounds decide a man's fate.

Bohdan Kot

This is a terrible book by an atrocious author. The author is not very likable; at the start he has made up his mind about the case, so he makes fun of the other jurors for being stupid, especially the ones that don't support his position. His arrogance comes through easily, making long winded speeches to his fellow jurors and "putting them in their place" when they say things he doesn't like (despite his being younger than most of them).

He says early on that it was his goal to "hang the jury," and the only rationale he gives for that is that his whole experience in life has been academia, where the discussion essentially never ends, and he just doesn't have it in him to make such a final decision. How odd!

There are no real insights into the criminal justice process, just lots of very high-brow language that sounds almost put-on. Also, he exerpts from his diary at one point--showing that even in his personal life, this fellow can only write pretensiously.

Avoid this book!

In a two hour film (e.g., "Twelve Angry Men"), an audience can't empathize with some crucial aspects of a jury trial: the tedium, the ridiculous density of certain jurors, the uncertainty and fear, the perilous duty.

Many attack the jury system as criminally stupid. Yet as D. Graham Burnett's acerbic judge noted, jury duty is the highest civilian duty an American may fulfill in a time of peace. (Many condemn the military for similar density--even those who love it dearly.)

Burnett's book casts the jury experience as a journey. He strives to explain why a jury might decide that a moral wrong was not necessarily a legal wrong proven with sufficient certainty so as to punish a human being. As he depicts the deliberations, the book stretches tediously - repeating arguments, just as an actual jury would. A more dramatic presentation would slice a quarter or more from the book; but then the reader would miss the real-world of a jury.

After reading Burnett's, book one may understand that though the system is messy, putting facts into the hands of real human beings makes sense in our democracy. Also helpful for exploring the "black box" of jury reasoning.

Judges have become too powerful; they tell juries what evidence is admissible and which pieces of evidence must be discarded; judges instruct juries on the meaning and intepretation of the law; juries attempt to appease the judges by closely following the instructions and intrepretations in finding a verdict, their civic duty; the more constrainted the rules of law and admissible evidence the more influence the judge has over the outcome of the verdict; juries don't receive great threatment or financial compensation for their time and can be forced to remain silent, feed mediocre food, forced too appear in court with little regard too their personal considerations, and sequestered by confinement too a hotel.

I praise the author's courage in pointing out that juries have a responsibility to Justice and law secondary. Justice is the responsibility of the people. People's law guarantees liberty, justice, and truth. A jury is the people's last defense against a tyrancal government. If rules and evidence can be controlled, the final verdict of the jury can become predictable. I say, a jury should have the power too decided what evidence is admissible, a jury should have the power too decide, if a law is unconstitutional and have the right to dismiss the law according to their conscience.

A jury represents the finest power given too the people to administer Justice. Expediency is a power oriented goal for the law. Should a computer be given the power too decide guilt or innocence? The goal of law must always be too seek Justice. Objectivity and impartiality does not necessary guarantee justice. In any serious charge the defendant should always have the right to a jury. The power of Judges too administer Justice needs too be contracted and constrainted and the jury power expanded - maintaining the power too see Justice is served. Therefore, it seems the Judge and Jury are at odds with each other; the judge seeking more control over the jury by increasing his power and capability and the jury reliquishing its discernment power and confining itself too the boundaries of the law as explained by the judge. Can a judge rule on verdicts more wisely than a jury? Historically, for serious crime the English common law brought the King as a party in the criminal case? How did the crime hurt the king? Why did the king entangle himself into the criminal case? Is prosecuting crime really about forced collection of money?

An eye for an eye mean compensation for injury not revenge. The parties have the right to work out a negotiation for compensation. An eye for an eye did not mean two people walked around blind. Does the law sometimes attempt to be so objective that both parties walk around blind? Where is the discernment power? Should juries be given the power too discern guilt or innocence? Has law become too much like a business negotiation between a big company and the small business?

The power migration to the Judges must swing back towards the Jury. The defendant is entitled too defense counsel, a speedy trial, and an impartial jury for an serious charge. The state uses tax money to pay for courts and attorneys to represent the state's interest. It is in the best interest of the state to prosecute crime because crime is big business. When the defendants rights are forfeited, Justice is not served; Justice can not be fair if the power is removed from the people too decide what is Just.

The fact that the State becomes entangled in serious crimes where party one wrongs party two seems unconstitutional. The case should be between the parties involved in the crime. A fee should be paid to the court for usage of the facility. A jury should be selected from among individuals the parties know. A jury member should be able to bring insight and information to other jury members about the circumstances of the case.

The law should not be revengeful, instead it should only offer compensation for damage. In the Milcray case, the law measured "intent" equivalent with "depravation of human life"; so, if the defendant demonstrated by a reasonable doubt - heinous disreguard for human life, he could be charged with 2nd degree murder. The test for mental intent did not necessary have to be proven.

Software Piracy Exposed is riddled with factual and grammatical errors and contradictory information. The book also contains a completely unrelated and unnecessary chapter on basic computer security. Avoid this book.

This is the kind of book that is unique, original, and yet, seems as if it was accepted by the publisher as a first draft. The author makes clearly obvious factual errors every three pages or so. Case in point, he claims P2P is shorthand for "person-to-person". Another doozy: "less than 10 percent of Altair owners never paid for their copy of BASIC" (the exact opposite is true). Some sections of the book, particularly those on internet hacking and usage of firewalls, are completely pointless and out of place. This book was clearly rushed to market. Shame on Syngress for screwing this one up.

I loved Software Piracy Exposed (SPE), despite the lack of good technical review, copyediting, and proofreading. I liked SPE because the author did original investigative reporting to gain the trust of the pirate underground. By infiltrating the scene, he brought an unprecedented level of access to the common reader. That is real threat reporting, which for me compensates for rough presentation.

SPE is surprising on multiple levels. In one respect, the book shatters myths held by most outsiders. For example, I was shocked to learn that digital pirates hate those who distribute content over peer-to-peer networks. Almost all of the attention from the media, anti-piracy groups, and lawmakers focuses on p2p -- yet real digital pirates hate p2p users too! In fact, the more I read about digital pirates, the more I appreciated that piracy is almost a secondary aspect of the scene. In reality, piracy (outside p2p) is about building a reputation and gaining respect among peers. It seems hardly anyone dealing in stolen content ever uses it -- all they do is crack and trade it to elevate their status in the pirate community.

A second surprise involved the sorts of people active in the pirate scene. This is the advantage of a book like SPE over the competition; SPE is written by a reporter who interviews pirates themselves. In one case, a university network admin hosts a top level pirate site by hiding bandwidth usage from his supervisors. In other cases, top technical schools in Europe with fast connections are favorites of pirate users. On p 53, pirate suppliers -- those who steal media, that is then cracked and distributed -- said they knew of no other supplies who hacked companies to steal media. That ran contrary to my understanding, but I believe it.

I was also highly interested in learning how my own books have been pirated. I was always curious how a book that had never been published as a Microsoft .chm file would appear on p2p networks. SPE reveals that book pirates use stolen e-book credentials to sequentially read and scan text and images. Their custom software then compile a completely new book out of the material they obtain.

The final surprise was the warped sense of morality demonstrated by members of the pirate scene. Consider this quote: "Sadly, the Internet attracts such bottom dwellers, people who in real life have no one to talk to. The anonymity of IRC is a place they revel in. Some of us, though, still maintain ethics and standards." These are the words of the leader of a pirate group! Oddly enough, a few sentences later this person states "I idolize the true friends on IRC." In another case, a pirate who narrowly avoided an FBI sting shares these sobering thoughts: "Now I really don't think piracy was worth it. I have a life, a girlfriend, a job... The worst thing about the scene is how fast you are forgotten; nobody really cares too much after a few months. Is that worth the jail time?" Indeed.

I highly recommend reading SPE. I would skip the four appendices, as I do not believe they add anything noteworthy to the book. If you are a nontechnical person, you will still enjoy reading SPE since it is more about humans and their motivations, and less about technology.

First, I ran across this book in the bookstore, went home, got a
better price, and read it cover to cover. The book was entertaining
as hell. The only part I didn't particularly care for was the
inclusion in the appendix of what was clearly an overview of
current virus, popup, firewalls and other softwares, which I
considered way off the book's subject.

The problem with the book is that it seems entirely unproofed
(unproofread). Spelling errors are rampant, and the author
appeared to lose control of the book in places, writing

"Sentinel was discovered by the FBI in late 1999, who then
called the FBI"

The various clerical errors could have been overlooked. However,
there were so many technical errors and distortions, I was left
wondering if the author was reporting on what he had witnessed
in the "scene" accurately. He reports again and again that
crackers can defeat any program in minutes or hours, then later
relates on programs that remain uncracked. Which is it ? There
are pronouncements about how certain programs cannot be cracked
when they make windows calls, leading to the conclusion that
the author is not aware that even the Windows kernel can be
debugged. The author talks about dongles being "enveloped",
as a "small deciphering machine". It appears that he wasn't
aware that a dongle can have an onboard CPU, or be a simple
ROM accessible by the main computer. The text reads like
an effort to dance around the fact that he didn't
understand the difference.

The other errors, or if you will, "affectations" of the book
are just annoying. The term "ISO" is used many times in the
book as the term for a CD-ROM image on a computer. The author
does, at one point, give the definition of ISO = International
Organization for Standardization, but never gives the full
definition of "ISO 9660" (or similar). Calling a disk image
an "ISO" is like calling an apple "A grocery" because that's
where you got the apple. ISO has hundreds, if not thousands of
standards. I do realize that such misuse of terms is common
on the internet, but I would expect better from a reporter.

The term "warez" is explained: (exaggerated plural derivative
of software). Not bad, but the author repeats this expansion
over and over again like a bad Saturday Night Live skit.

I liked the book, but would warn that there are better books
to really learn how to protect applications against piracy.
My current favorite is "reversing", but Eldad Eilam, but I have
three books on the subject so far, and I unfortunately find I
know more about it than the writers of these books (and not
because I know more than average).

With all the hype currently being generated about digital piracy, I decided it might be interesting to read Software Piracy Exposed by Paul Craig and Mark Burnett. There's an interesting subculture there that's unlike anything I've ever known, and it's not quite what I expected...

Craig spent some time working himself into a position of trust with a number of significant players in the piracy scene. While not participating in the activities himself, he was able to see how cracking and distribution organizations are structured, and what drives the individuals to do what they do. Surprisingly for software piracy, it's not necessarily being able to have and use the software you crack. Mainly it's the bragging rights to say you were the first to crack and distribute the package, or that you have the largest collection and distribution network. I got the distinct impression that most of the hardcore players in this culture don't even have the time to use the software. Since these groups are competing against each other, minutes can be critical in breaking a package open and getting it out first on a network. And as soon as one is done, the next one is waiting. If you spend days cracking something complex and then get beat out by another group by a few minutes, you (and your group) don't get credit for the hack and all the work was wasted. It seems like music and movies are less intense so far as breaking encryption, but a bigger deal to get it out early. Morals and ethics aside, it's a rare look into a strange lifestyle...

While the book is pretty good, it did suffer from some bad basic editing. Acronyms were inconsistently spelled (MP3, Mp3, etc.), and I got tired of seeing the parenthetical description of "warez" showing up time after time. Explain it once at the beginning, and then move on. There were even a couple of times when the explanation of the acronym was just plain wrong. I feel if you're going to publish a technical book, you need to pay attention to these things. Otherwise, it looks shoddy, unprofessional, and rushed. While it wasn't enough to make me dislike the book, it did detract somewhat from what would have been a very good volume otherwise.

Editing aside, it's a worthy read in order to understand the mindset and reality of the piracy and cracking subculture. Software piracy does have a financial effect on copyright owners, but it's not a case of "every copy is a lost sale"...

As a long-time Mac user who still has a lot to learn, this book hit the sweet spot for me. It's totally thorough and reasonably priced. I refer to it again and again for answers, and it hasn't failed me yet. I found it to be especially useful when I was setting up my home network -- the networking and file-sharing chapters, especially saved me from flailing around for hours. Thanks, Lon and team!

Bought this book for help on setting up a Mac network using ethernet, to share printing and internet. Unfortunately, the Mac OSX Bible Jaguar edition spends the majority of chapter 18 on Airport networks, which most people don't have due to cost.

Does not explain the differences/benefits of a software internet router and a hardware internet gateway. Nor does the book mention how a hardware router interfaces with a hub or switch and the connected devices. Some wiring graphics would have helped. Instead, the chapter on networks goes on about Airport networks: "You don't need Ethernet or any cumbersome wiring to establish a network with the latest Macs." You do if you don't have a $200 base station and Airport cards for each Macintosh at $100 a pop! (Ethernet, a hub and a router can be had for less than $50, which is why most people connect their LAN that way).

First clue to avoid this book: The forward begins, "I admit it: Mac OS X scares me just a bit."

This book is a great tour of OSX and will provide you lots of background. BUT, it has no troubleshooting section. I bought this thinking it would be the only reference book I needed, and when my mac crashed and I needed it the most -- nada. Nothing on system crashes, boot problems, or any of the other issues that you might encounter in OSX. The previous "Macintosh Bible" books are quite complete, I have no idea why they dropped the troubleshooting section for this one. Caveat emptor!

Do you know how to manage your security log? If you don't, then this book is for you. Authors Jacob Babbin, Dave Kleiman, Everett F. Carter Jr., Jeremy Faircloth, Mark Burnett and Esteban Gutierrez, have done an outstanding job of writing a book that shows you how to exactly solve the various problems pertinent to log generation, storage, processing, and reporting.

Babbin, Kleiman, Carter Jr., Faircloth, Burnett and Gutierrez, begin by covering how to get more information out of your passive detection systems. Then, the authors explore how to find key events in the log files of your Web servers and their host systems, and correlating data to give you useful reports. Next, they illustrate the depth and breadth your security logs can cover. They continue by exploring what ESM is, how it works, and when and where it should be used. In addition, the authors go over each of the primary areas of focus, and show you some techniques you can use to best manage your log files. Finally, they show you how to build a toolbox of queries that you will have ready to use if needed.

The ideas and tools shown in this most excellent book will help your organization in several ways. Perhaps more importantly, if you keep all of the solutions shown in this book in mind, your organization should have a flexible, scalable, remotely accessible security reporting infrastructure that can bend to the needs of an organization.

When I received a review copy of Security Log Management (SLM) last month, I was eager to read it. I saw two very powerful but seldom discussed tools -- Argus and Bro -- mentioned in the table of contents. This indicated some original thinking, which I appreciate. Unfortunately, SLM did not live up to my expectations. When you strip out the pages of scripts and code and the three reprinted chapters, you're left with a series of examples of output from the author's deployment of several tools. Aside from a few examples mentioned in this review, I don't think readers will learn much from SLM.

The first problem with SLM is a lack of competent editing. Prior to publication, someone should have read the book from the reader's perspective, asking "what is the reader expected to learn from this section/chapter/book?" In other words, the editor should have asked "how is the reader supposed to implement these recommendations?" For example, Ch 2 mentions using the Bro IDS. Nothing about setting up Bro is included, which would be acceptable if a reference to an online guide or another book was given. That is not the case; the author just assumes readers know about Bro and have it running. The number of Bro users is probably less than 100. If you're one of them, you don't need to read this book!

Bro's DNS and SMTP logging modules are casually demonstrated with no regard for showing the reader how to deploy them. The Web module at least shows a sample mt.bro file, if the reader can figure out what that is or how it fits into the picture. The situation gets worse on p 101 when the author says "the SMTP module can be very powerful in helping to identify several of the 'Marcus Ranum' top mail-related statistics (Chapter 1)." Marcus Ranum is not mentioned at all in Ch 1.

SLM demonstrates two other features that are becoming increasingly common and frustrating in Syngress books, for which I detracted stars from the review. First, the editing is rough. I am perplexed by the inability to standardize on references to tools; e.g., is it bro, Bro, or BRO? Second, and far more worrisome, the last three chapters (7, 8, and 9) of SLM are reprints of chapters 6, 7, and 5 from the Feb 2005 Syngress book Microsoft Log Parser Toolkit. On the positive side, SLM did not have as many fuzzy screen shots as sometimes appear in recent Syngress books. The unexplained small, fuzzy, NetForensics screen shot on p 31 is one unwelcome exception.

In terms of stating a clear purpose and delivering material in a coherent manner, the best chapter in SLM is Ch 6 -- Scalable Enterprise Solutions. I thought the author of this chapter stated his purpose, and then delivered material that readers could use. My only problem with the chapter was reading the definition of ESM 5 times -- on pp 195, 196, 205, 237, and 238!

My favorite part of SLM was the material showing how to put Argus records into a MySQL database. This is not that common, so I was glad to see how the author implements that function.

I'm sorry I can't recommend reading SLM in its current form. Three stars means there is some value, but you could get what you need browsing in the book store. I would like to see a second edition of SLM cut out the reprinted chapters. That cuts the book down to 241 pages. If the 70 or so pages of code are moved online, that reduces the book to 171 pages. That leaves plenty of room to add material that meets readers' needs. An example of a very strong Syngress book on a related (host-based) topic is Host Integrity Monitoring Using Osiris and Samhain by Brian Wotring.

It is not often that I review a genuinely bad book, but this is one such rare occasion. It so happens that log analysis has been my primary area of focus for the last several years and thus I could not have missed a book titled "Security Log Management."

Yuck! The book starts from a hodge-podge of examples, which, if entertaining at times, doesn't lead to any meaningful lessons and thus doesn't deliver the value it could have produced. The same applies to material selection for the book, which, as a result, suffers from a compete lack of logical structure. Even the Ch 1 "Log Analysis: Overall Issues" barely touched on analyzing logs and clearly didn't cover any "overall issues." Also, authors have undoubtedly trademarked the concept of a random irrelevant picture or graph...

In addition, the book reveals many areas where authors are deeply befuddled. ESM chapter (`Enterprise Security Management') is one such example, where such confusion reigns supreme. They can talk about `ESM process' and claim that `ESM is not a tool' in one sentence and then describe `ESM tools' in the next one. On top of that, if you are looking for some arcane security humor, try understanding their ROI calculation in the chapter (`Cost of problem' + `Cost of solution' ...)

One would think that they can get something as (relatively) simple as firewall reporting right (chapter 3). One would think that - and one would be wrong... The reader is still left with no answers to questions such as `what summaries, statistics and reports he/she should collect and how to do it'

As far as style is concerned, the book carries unfortunate signs of being written by a group of authors who didn't talk to each other much. Furthermore, what adds insult to injury is truly excessive amount of quoted source code, which plainly doesn't belong in the book, but on the website, CD, etc (were editors asleep at the wheel?)

To conclude, the book does have some relationship to patterns and chaos: the patterns in your brain will immediately turn into chaos after you are done reading it, provided you would even finish it. My suggestion is to avoid this largely useless title and save the money for better books (such as Bejtlich's or countless others).

Dr Anton Chuvakin, GCIA, GCIH, GCFA (http://www.chuvakin.org) is a
recognized security expert and book author. A frequent conference speaker, he also represents the company at various security meetings and standard organizations. He is an author of a book "Security Warrior" and a contributor to "Know Your Enemy II", "Information Security Management Handbook" and the upcoming "Hacker's Challenge 3". Anton also published numerous papers on a broad range of security subjects, such as incident response, intrusion detection, honeypots and log analysis. In his spare time he maintains his security portal http://www.info-secure.org and two blogs.

These puzzles are a fantastic learning aid. For the beginning Spanish learner, I highly recommend them. If you are advanced, that is, if you can already understand 80% of the Spanish in Spanish radio programs, then they are too easy for you.

These puzzles are not that easy and they aren't fun to do because not a lot of the words intersect so you don't get hints by filling in the words you do know first. They use odd words that a beginner would not be likely to know such as the word for axle (eje). The definitions are neither imaginative nor intuitive. Many words in the puzzles do not appear in the vocabulary list in the back of the book (e.g. mecadora and columpio).

I enjoy crossword puzzles and I love studying Spanish but I did not enjoy this book. It appears to have been very carelessly put together.

in a little princess book sara goes to a bording school.
she was the finest, and popular girl in the school, she has alot of toys and the finest clothes.
until they tell her that her father was die,

and then she dicovers thet her father was alive.

A Little Princess follows the story of Sara Crewe, a young girl whose mother died when she was a baby and who has been sent to bording school. She has the finest clothes and toys and anything she wants but isn't spoiled (the story is a fairy tale, by the way). She imagines herself as a princess and wants to be kind wise and just. She does good deeds as her way of "scattering largess to the population." This results in her being the social butterfly of the bording school and earns her the animosity of its queen bee. All this changes in an instant when her fortune is lost and she becomes a scullery maid in the same boarding school. She works all day, sleeps in an unheated attic, and is underfed. She now imagines herself as a princess in disguise, and continues to try and do good deeds for anyone less fotunate. But now she has another identity too - a soldier, like her father, who must live on rations and bravely face each day.

I didn't find this book to be overly sappy and sentimental, but it got close to the borderline at times. There were plenty of discussions of dolls and lacey dresses and ribbons. I read this as an adult. I guess these are supposed to appeal to little girls who want to have a little princessy playground and so would love to read about ribbons, but I think descriptions of lace would have put me off as a child as well. Like I said, these only get borderline sappy, probably because Sara soon becomes penniless and enters the lower class. As a scullery maid she experiences hunger, phsychological abuse from the bording school mistress, and a grinding work schedule. This is not sugar coated for the children, but it isn't the focus either. The focus is on Sara's internal thoughts, her relationships with her few loyal student friends, and what she thinks of the neighbors and the new people she meets and things she sees. So even though there is all this poverty it is there as a setting and not because the author has an axe to grind. Even the ending is fairy tale, but partly bitter-sweet. Strangely enough, this book came across as realistic.

This is a children's book, but functions as a book for adults as well. For example, the estate agent's diplomacy in getting Sara hired by the bording school after she is found to be penniless has some subtlties that are going to be more real for older readers.

I recommend this book to all. It is a children's book that works for adults too. It skirts the border of sappy, but for me didn't cross over at any point. It was a good story that I read through quickly and did not get bored with or bogged down by.

Young Sara Crewe has never been like her childish counterparts. Sure, she has always loved dolls, and tea parties; pretending and magic. But, unlike many other children her age, she has always carried herself with a Princess-like air that made her seem much more like an adult than a child, earning her the title "Little Missus" from her beloved father, Captain Crewe. After all, very little makes Sara emotional. She rarely cries, and often stares right through people with a solemn look upon her face, trying to figure them out, and thinking bizarre thoughts that, likely, would not occur to anyone else. Still, she is her father's child, and does what she can to assist him in his daily doings, even though she is merely seven-years-old. But when she is forced to attend Miss Minchin's boarding school, all that changes.

Sara is dreadfully unhappy from the moment she steps foot into Miss Minchin's boarding school. She dislikes Miss Minchin on site, and knows that she is simply pretending to be fond of the curious child. But Sara knows that she must make the best of it to please her father, and make it known that she is in good hands, even if she thinks otherwise. Luckily, she has lovely Emily by her side. Emily is the doll she and her father searched high and low for, and Sara knows that, together, they will be able to face Miss Minchin's boarding school, no matter how strenuous things become. Unlike the other students at Miss Minchin's, Sara, at her young age, has already received enough education through life experience, that she is more than qualified to teach at the school. Instead, Miss Minchin quickly takes credit for the bright pupils intelligence, and uses her as an example for prospective students. It doesn't hurt that little Sara has the most glamorous clothes, and the most peculiar looks, that contribute to the many stares she receives from just about anyone she encounters. But Sara is also quite different in her demeanor. She does not talk down to the servants, or beggars in the streets, but, rather, works to befriend them. Unfortunately, when Sara's luck changes, and she learns that her father is dead, and has left her penniless, her kindness is not reciprocated. Suddenly, she is thrust into an attic bedroom in rags by Miss Minchin herself, forced to take on any task thought up, and share her living space with a family of rats. Now, Sara must find the strength to continue on as a Princess on the inside, in an attempt to take control of her newfound suffering, and make her father up in heaven. Perhaps, by pretending, and working her hardest to stay strong, she will have the ability to turn her life around, and reclaim her place in the world.

For years, I have passed by Frances Hodgson Burnett's A LITTLE PRINCESS, without having ever picked up the story, and giving it a read. At times, I contemplated seeing the film, but just never got around to doing so. However, when I saw Mary Engelbreit's illustrated version of the classic tale, I finally dove straight into the pages, only to have emerged with a new outlook on life. Sara is, perhaps, one of the most charming little characters I have ever encountered in fiction. She is unlike anyone I have ever encountered in all of my years of reading. Her caring, and giving nature make her an example for young readers the world over. From page one, her peculiar way of looking through people, and forming her own thoughts about anyone and everyone she meets gives her an original air that instantly draws you in. However, it is her ability to create magical worlds and scenarios all her own that give the story a fantastical element not found elsewhere. Hodgson Burnett has crafted a tale that is profound and original from beginning to end. Her ability to provide amazing imagery which assists you in seeing Sara and all of her friends - as well as her acquaintances and enemies - right before your eyes is amazing; while her know-how of incorporating a wonderful message, that of helping others no matter how much or how little you have, is like a breath of fresh air, in a sea of novels that portray young girls as being conceited, self-centered, and self-absorbed. A LITTLE PRINCESS showcases the ups and downs of a charming child who will, no doubt, win over your heart in an instant, and hold fast to a little place in your mind forever and ever. Simply charming!

Erika Sorocco
Freelance Reviewer

If you think ME illustrated this great book (you can't look inside because it is still sealed in plastic in the bookstore) you're wrong. Only the cover is illustrated. What a rip-off

First, the book is not 900 pages, it is 624.
Second, there is NO CD.
Information provided is consistant in quality of the other Maximum Security series (later editions).

I am a senior engineer for network security operations. I read "Maximum Windows 2000 Security" (MW2S) to learn more about Windows 2000 vulnerabilities. While the philosophy espoused in MW2S is appropriate, the book fails to deliver any original content. If you've read "Windows 2000 Security Handbook" by Cox/Sheldon, and "Hacking Exposed: Windows 2000" by Scambray/McClure, you don't need to read MW2S.

I do not feel my time reading this book was well-spent, as I'd encountered almost every topic elsewhere. The advice on how to exploit Windows 2000 web servers (ch. 13) was weaker than I'd expected. The suggested tools list in ch. 3 was incredibly sparse. I am more involved with defending Windows systems than attacking them, but I was still able to easily collect a more comprehensive Windows attack tool kit than that listed in ch. 3.

MW2S is frequently internally redundant, with multiple chapters rehashing the same advice, most of which is already published. The book also mentions a nonexistent CD-ROM and suggests readers to refer to the publisher's web site for certain links. I couldn't find anything beyond the normal book catalog entry for MW2S on that web site. I believe the book may have been rushed to publication, with loose ends left hanging.

The original "Maximum Security" was interesting because it concentrated on exploiting vulnerabilities. Five years later, its descendants are more likely to be generic security books than ground-breaking texts. I'm hoping "Maximum Network Security" (due this month) breaks this trend.

(Disclaimer: I received a free review copy from the publisher.)