Cameron Books

I'm sorry, but this is probably my least favorite book in the Vampire series.
I just can't get past the whole Lestat on stage singing about his Vampire ways.
UUGH...........corny and annoying.
His back story is the only reason to read this book, but on a whole it's a sad follow up to Interview.
If you're that interested in Lestat's back story then sure, go ahead and read it.
I'm not going to recommend this book just because the whole rock star slant is just too stupid to even be believable.
Pass

Second in the Vampire Chronicles.

Lestat, the misunderstood vampire who created Louis in Interview with the Vampire, tells his own story here. We see, from Lestat's perspective, many of the same events described by Louis in the first book.

While recovering from Claudia's attack, Lestat rests underground for many years. He is finally drawn back into life in the 1980's. He is entranced by the music of a garage band named Satan's Night Out. He rises, introduces himself to the band, and promises them that they will soon be famous. He takes charge of the band and creates a barrage of music and videos while also writing a memoir. Lestat feels that Louis got many things wrong and he is determined to set the record straight. As Lestat recounts the story of his life, he also spills many secrets, his own as well as those of powerful vampires. Lestat's quest for fame might just bring him the recognition he deserves--and then some.

Who cannot love Interview with the Vampire? No one I know. That is why I was one of many who was eager to get to Lestats story in this second book in the series. I realized right away that this was complete rubbish. Not even half way through it I had to put it down and read something else that was a million times more intelligent in order to keep my brain working. The tale itself was quite remarkable, however Anne Rice's writing is hideous. I cringed every time I read "as if" which happens about fifty times a page. If I ever read this again (which will likely never happen) I'm going to highlight ever time "as if" and "was" appears. I'll have a very colorful inside that is for sure. To sum this review up DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME!

The Vampire Lestat is an enigmatic, gripping character iconic of the modern era: a man, however immortal, searching for not only a meaning that does not exist but an origin that defies everything anyone's ever said. A paradoxical being, he murders shamelessly but will only kill the villain. He rebels and yet is the iconoclast of many. He is everything Louis said about him in Interview with The Vampire, but he is so much more.

Lestat is the most compelling antihero I've had the pleasure of reading in a long time, and his "autobiography" is a beautiful piece of literature.

I think I have read this book 4 times since discovering Anne Rice and it remains and will remain the best Vampire novel ever written. I know Interview With the Vampire came first, but we didn't really get a sense of who Lestat was in IWTV. In this, we get to live and breath Lestat. His character is intoxicating and everything you wish a character to be. He is evil, he is cruel and mischievous and he is also utterly charming. He plays the gentleman and kills without thought. There are no proper words to describe his character. But you will fall in love with him as soon as you read his 'autobiography'. I swear you will believe in vampires and you will believe that Lestat is really flesh and blood and writing his little heart out to all of us.
Truly, this is not the cliched vampire novel that can be seen and read anywhere. It is utterly original and dramatic. The words will enthrall you from the very first sentence. It is a long book but never feels boring or dragging. It is very descriptive and I woudn't have it any other way. If you wish to read about a young man who was brutally turned into a vampire against his will and goes on an extroadinary journey, then you simply must read this book. Give Lestat a chance, I assure you, you will not be dissapointed.

I have worked through the first 7 chapters of "Learn to Program with Visual Basic 6" written by John Smiley and published by Active Path with the latest reprint September 2001. I will finish the remaining 8 chapters in a few days.

This is a good book to work through the uses of the basic VB6 controls.

But the book is nearly useless for providing a quick way to understand VB6 code syntax. The VB6 program provided with the book has the HELP disabled. So, one is always "googling" to get syntax and examples. Plus, the program will not produce executable runtime VB applications.

The cover states about the software "...including a fully working version of Microsoft Visual Basic..." I consider runtime and HELP to be an integral part of a *fully* working version.

As to the title of this review, one should be be careful with which Smiley "Learn to Program..." book one is buying.

But, I would buy again. Just wanted to let you know what you were getting.

After programming in various languages, such as C and Perl, and using the Win32 API to write Windows applications, my company bought the rights to a product built on VB and ActiveX. The Visual Basic language, which in my mind was relegated to "script kiddies" and fly-by-night vendors, had found its way into our hallowed halls.

I found this book enlightening and very informative. John's treatment of the SDLC was very brief, yet helpful. Wheras most techical manuals border on mundane, this book was anything but boring. The "classroom" setting was a great medium to keep my attention page after page. It catered to the beginner in me, which was a relief.

Some books will just gloss over functional parts of development tools. Not only does this book come with a working version of Visual Basic 6.0, John goes to great lengths to walk through the menu system, debugging functions, and certain control parameters.

Each section in each chapter contains a discussion (this is the "classroom" converation part) about the exercises. I found that each exercise works as written in the book. At the end of each chapter is a Summary and a Quiz. The Quiz answers can be found at the back of the book, however, I found that some of the Quiz answers were wrong, but was glad I had enough knowledge from John's writing to recognize a wrong answer.

If you have a desire to learn how to program, have some knowledge of windows operating system, and enjoy good stories, then this book is for you. Keep in mind that John only covers the tip of the iceberg. You will truly need another book to actually do anything more than create simple forms and process the "Click" event (read the book to see what I mean).

Let me begin by saying that I'm the author, so let's get that out of the way.

I'm posting here to point out that the book has a tremendous amount of support materials that have never been advertised. Each of my books has a support page containing a current list of errata, downloadable files (completed exercises from the book), extra links to extra materials I have written and my email address in the event you have problems. I also run a series of online classes so that if you would like to learn with me in a more structured setting, you can do that also. You can access those materials via this link

http://www.johnsmiley.com/books.htm

I should also say that this book isn't for everyone---and you can read through some of the other reviews posted here to see why and why not.

I wrote this book for beginner level programmers, and the book is written in a unique style.

You (and I) can thank the now defunct Wrox Publishing house for the style of the book that some people absolutely love and others (primarily hotshot programmers with lots of experience) hate. The book is written as if you are participating in an actual classroom---many people, particularly those learning on their own or in an Independent study setting find comforting.

My thanks to the many people who have written to me to tell me how much they've enjoyed my books and how they have helped them achieve their goals of learning to program.

John Smiley

If you are a busy person, you work a lot with programmers and you need a general understanding of programming, this is not the book for you.
If you have time on your hands, and you want to learn VB, this could be the book for you.
After I bought this book I realised I was fooled by the title. It should be called 'Programming in Visual Basic for beginners'. The point of this book is to teach you to program in VB6, not to teach you the basics of programming using VB as an example language. While I can understand that the verbose classroom approach may appeal to some, I found it patronising and time wasting. I eventually bought 'Sams Teach Yourself Beginning Programming in 24 Hours' by Greg Perry which gives a concise summary of programming basics, an overview of the most common languages, and exercises to drive home the lessons. Exactly what I was after.

I'm a hobbyist, not an IT professional, and have been programming in BASIC since I bought my first PC in the 70's. When I decided to tackle Visual Basic to write programs for Windows, I purchased five "how-to" books on the subject. Unfortunately for me, John Smiley's book was the last one I bought. If I had ordered "Learn to Program" first, I could have saved more than $100. This is a clear, concise, and sure-fire way for the beginner or experienced BASIC programmer to transition to the powerful yet simple language of Visual Basic. John Smiley's book easily allows the reader to understand the concepts of event driven programming and the differences from procedural driven programming. Consider it a "must have" for the novice with little or no programming experience.

This book is exceptional. It is well written with characters that are true to life. The plot is absolutely engaging. I really like that there was a glossary of terms for those of us who are forensically challenged. I found it difficult to do anything until I knew 'who did it'.

Good job Mr. Deaver. You have a fan for life.

The Rhyme Killers would be a great book to read after the Bone Collector.
It too has the great suspense you love to find in a mystery.

Lincoln Rhyme has been retired, ever since a falling beam at a crime scene, left him a quadriplegic. Now, Lincoln is bed ridden, with his only human contact being a man named Thom. He dreams of killing him self, when some thing new, to occupy his time.

A serial killer, called the Bone Colector, is terrorizing the city of New York. With every person he kills, he leaves behind evidence that will lead to the next victim. Unfortunetly, this is only half the work, and Rhyme needs some one to do the crime scene for him.

Enter Amelia Sachs. Sachs is a model turned cop, who has several problems of her own. At first, she, like most people, is able to see past Rhyme's physical handicap, and be disgusted by his personality. But, Lincoln and Amelia will have to work together, to defeat a man who knows every one of Lincoln's tricks, and whose final victim, is Lincoln.

Notable Charecters Introduced: Lincoln Rhyme, Amelia Sachs, Thom Lastname, Lon Sellitto, The Bone Collector.

The character of the Bone Collector is extremely spooky. As already stated in numerous other reviews, this is an excellent story that keeps the reader turning pages as fast as possible. The characters, especially Lincoln Rhyme and Amelia Sachs, are developed enough that I have already begun to read another Deaver story starring Lincoln Rhyme: I want to know more about them. I won't give a synopsis as so many other reviewers have dutifully done. I just recommend this fast-paced, spine-chilling mystery/adventure novel to everyone!

Warning: Once you read this novel, you will be hooked. I devoured every other Lincoln Rhyme novel after reading the Bone Collector. The only problem I have discovered is that Mr. Deaver cannot write fast enough.

To anyone who enjoys a deliciously complicated character base along with amazing plot twists, you have found yourself a winner. I find myself wishing I could meet the people in this novel. You will too. I dare you to pick up a copy today, I promise you will be glad you did.

I bought the version of this she published years ago on cassette tape and have worn the one last cassette I have of the original 2 cassette set to a thin memory. She did that version live and the energy from having an audience enhanced her delivery. This aspect was missing in this CD version which I'd hoped to buy as a replacement so I returned the CDs to Amazon. The return was problem free.

Much creativity is lost between the time we are young children and when we become adults. The school system, societal influences, and even maturity itself eventually whittles away the artist in most people.

Julia Cameron systematically addresses subjects to release the enormous creativity we all have. I found the book useful for stimulating an artist's though processes. Improving one's creativity is a key element in developing the right brain for Critical Thinking.

The Artist's Way validated several ideas that I had picked up through the years. I have been fortunate to have a very creative family. My sister has created amazing miniatures for many years. After retirement my father became an amazing wood carver ( I have a ship he carved on my mantle in the living room) and my mother an excellent painter (some of her painting are displayed prominently around my house).

This book's twelve week system is a good common sense approach to using the right side of the brain much more effectively. The book chapters each focus on twelve subjects. They are: Recovering a sense of safety, identity, power, integrity, possibility, abundance, connection, strength, compassion, self-protection, autonomy and faith.

There are many great ideas to ponder in the book. For example, in the chapter: ecovering a sense of Power, Cameron writes:

"Remember that creativity is a tribal experience and that tribal elders will initiate the gifted youngsters who cross their path. This may sound like wishful thinking, but it is not. Sometimes an older artist will be moved to help out even against his or her own wishes. "I don't know why I'm doing this for you, but..." Again, I would say that some of the helping hands may be something more than human."

Some people may like the considerable connection to the universe (or God) that Cameron uses. Others may not. However, the force of the universe is something that no man or woman completely understands and it does seem to govern many of what happens in our lives (Karma etc). Accepting there are things that we don't understand and striving to have these forces on our side is a good thing!

The Re-Discovery of Common Sense: A Guide to: The Lost Art of Critical Thinking

My boyfriend and I have an ongoing argument about whether fear or laziness is more likely to keep someone from action. He claims it's laziness, but my answer is fear.

Julia Cameron would seem to agree with me. Her book, a classic for "blocked" artists, outlines a 12-week program for "creative recovery." Week one is devoted to the tension between "the dream of action and the fear of failure."

I discovered The Artist's Way nearly two years ago, and it became I lifeline for me as I recommitted myself to singing.

The book's numerous exercises helped me discover and confront the fears that held me back from fully pursuing my dream.

Self-acceptance and the freedom to fail have been essential to me as I've taken new artistic risks, and they are woven throughout Cameron's recipe for success.

The spiritual overtones in The Artist's Way might not appeal to all readers. However, I found it easy to "translate" these into my own words, and I highly recommend the book to anyone who has fallen into a creative rut.

If you are looking for validation for the talents you think might be lurking around inside you somewhere, you need to read this. It will remind you that there's more to who you are than just a work-producing-robot! With The Artist's Way as my workbook, I am now reading Cameron's Right to Write and am looking forward to Vein of Gold. Just get the book. If she wrote the phone book I think I'd read it!

This book got into my hands at a crucial moment in my life and has been a life changing experience. I would recommend it to anyone struggling with self doubt about your capacity to create art.
Do the 12 weeks and you will discover a new you.

as a reader who is just a reader, not someone experienced with this illness, my review should be read as such. there was more that i didn't like about this novel than i liked. i immediately draw offense at writers who describe everyone by their physical or material attributes (everyone wears brand names and is "handsome"?? how beautiful must the US psychiatric scene be!! lucky everyone has a mercedes), and found the dialogue slow and, amazingly, the content simple. i would have liked to hear more in depth from the "alters" who particularly appealed to me such as Clay and Bart - maybe whole chapters so we could get a sense of them and how their lives were structured. maybe not possible? in short, multiple disappointments, as i read this book imagining the author (who is, coincidentally, "handsome") selling the film rights and talking about it to Oprah without knowing he'd actually done same. talk about mind-reading.

This is a book for people who are truely interested in Ego State Theory. Also, it is a very informative and engaging book for people who have been diagnosed with DID. Cameron West brings his personal struggles to the public and is able to impart his angst as well as his optimism to readers.

A very harrowing account of what multiple personality disorder can do to a life, in addition to being a rather stunning portrait of what the human mind can be capable of. It also tells the story of his wife and child who try and cope with his disease. The book is occasionally melodramatic, especially the subplot about his worries of infidelity. While the writing can feel self conscious and some passages seem to be using words in a way to sound "literary", it is a riveting work and a quick read.

I bought this book in a second hand bookstore and before I finished the first chapter I was already distracted by West's appalling overuse of groan-inducing metaphors. This book must contain the largest collection of bad metaphors ever published. You can scarely turn a page without being assaulted by another embarrassingly dreadful metaphor, or an irrelevant, boasting description of his cars, clothes, appliances, etc. The impression I was left with (besides the fact that this guy REALLY should have gotten someone else to write the book for him, or at the very least should have found a competent editor), is that it's fake. I don't doubt that Mr. West has psychological issues, but more than anything, you get the impression that this is a man who craves attention. It's obvious that West wrote the story with a movie in mind, as it reads like a bad screen play. I believe in DID, but I don't believe Mr. West.

Just a true story of a family and the affects of a MPD father on that family. Down to earth. Showing how and what the family memebers could do to support the father. I was happy to see a family unit working together. There is very little technical, big words describing MPD
but from the patients view and family. It is a story. Not a school book that is cold with descriptions and theories. Helped me a lot.

I picked this up at a used book store. I was hooked from the beginning. I don't want to go into detail and give so much of the story away. I bawled uncontrollably the first time I read it along with the second and third. I wish I could say there is nothing dissapointing about this book. The ending seemed to happen so abruptly. There was so much to the story yet when she comes back to the present it was over as though she was just ready to be done with it. Maybe I was just sorry that it couldn't continue on. It really is such a beautiful story and I'm about ready to read it again.

I loved this book. You do not have to be a fan of romance novels to appreciate this book. I feel that Remembrance belongs in the general fiction catagory more than it does in the romance section. This is not to say that Remembrance is not a love story; it is. It is more than just a love story though. Remembrance is a grand, sweeping saga about two people meant to be together who are trying to find each other throughout eternity and includes all the heartache and hardship each one encounters throughout the ages. This story includes love, lust, betrayal, jealousy, and time travel. I could not put this book down. (

This has to be my favorite book by Deveraux and I've read most of them. Her time travel books have always been my favorite but this one wins by far.

Don't forget the big box of Kleenex before you settle down with this novel about soul mates and reincarnation.

I ran hot and cold with this novel. Ultimately I have to ask myself, would I recommend to others? No...I don't think I would. Many parts left me largely unsatisfied. Her plotline had great potential...but ultimately fell short. I liked ths story of Calli and Talis from birth and their childhood...it just got too drawn out once she reached womanhood and their love for one another deepend to the next level. I thought Hayden was too old and Callie and Talis too young for deep 'soulmate' kind of love. The story I wanted more of was Catherine and Tavistock...that could have really enhanced this project of hers. I wish I could rewrite this one myself...I think I could have made it better. Sigh...oh well...I think I'm done with Devereaux for awhile. The very first book of hers I read was Knight in Shining Armour (EXCELLENT) however I think she gave all she had to that book. I've been disappointed with her other Time Travel works (Legend--ick stay away!) and now this. While it's not as awful as Legend, It still disappoints.

i was initially skeptical about whether to read this book or not read this book but i am ever so glad i did read it. wonderful characters in a exceptional story make for a very enjoyable read. at least for me, dystopian futures with children as the main protagonists are a new thing, however, i rather like such a thing.

If nothing else, this book shows an incredible amount of creativity. Colfer continues his wit from his "Artemis Fowl" series, and actually adds more blatant emotion--and I'm not complaining. Here we are introduced to the freaky future world we have seen so many times. But I still love it and Colfer does not ruin it.

Enter the fantasy fusion--strange creatures that seem to feed off human life. There is a small band of rebels who fight them, but what is the truth of these supernatural creatures?

I think the social message was a little heavy handed, but it's touching and exciting.

Most people know Colfer only for his Artemis Fowl books (which are amazing by the way) but he also as many other great novel for children and young teens

I love this book, this is the book that got me into reading. I haven't read an entire book my whole life until this one. Found this book 2 years ago, and now again, still love it. Very good book!! Must buy for people who don't like to read but like a nice fantasy story.

Intro: This story takes place in the future. It is about a boy named Cosmo Hill, who escapes from an Orphanage and joins a group called the Supernaturalists. This group of four is made up of people who can see little blue creatures known as "parasites" and the Supernaturalists are dedicated to fighting them. The little parasites congregate around disasters where people are hurt, and the Supernaturalists rush to the scene to fight them off from sucking out life force from those who are injured. The parasite's numbers are increasing rather than decreasing; who's behind it?

I liked: The story was interesting, and I really liked the plot twists. Plus I thought the ending wrapped it well.

I disliked: There were a few gross parts, such as when someone gets sick in zero gravity. Also, Cosmo gets injured and has to be pieced back together with future-technology medicine. And he ends up bald.

Recommended for: people who like technology mixed with street life kinda stuff. I think this book is meant for boys more; I'm a 15 year old girl and I stilled liked it, but not as much.

Voltaire's book, originally published in 1759, is a classic of world literature. At face value, it is an allegorical attack in the belief on progress of its age, but I think it is much more than that. With a plot similar to that of a picaresque novel, it tells the story of Candide, a naïve young man taught by Dr. Plangloss ("all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds") on Leibnizian optimism. Several misfortunes forces him to go on a journey throughout the world (among the lands he travels, very breezily, are his native Germany, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, South America, France, England, Venice and the Ottoman Empire). Through the book, the main purpose of his life is to meet his beloved Cunegonde, a friend of his childhood who seems to have been through as much misfortunes as him. The novel attacks not only the religious intolerance of the day, but European colonialism, and institutions then considered natural by most people, like slavery (when he meets an African slave in the Dutch colony in Surinam, the black man wonders why if the Dutch preachers tell him that all men are brothers, some peoples rule over others). In a Rousseau-like touch, the place most happy to him seems to be a place in South America, where the natives have found a shelter from the European conquistadors, and where gold is considered valueless mud. And despite being almost 250 years old, the book is very accessible (at least in the translation I have read).

Comedy or tragedy? Which makes for better literature? How about both? In fact, many of the greatest works of literature are both comedies and tragedies. Candide is probably the greatest example of such a work from a French author. Penned under a pseudonym by the great thinker, Voltaire, this work is superficially an adventure novel about the title character traveling the known world to find his love, while accompanied by Pangloss. In reality, the book is a parody of human society, culture, philosophy, and mentality. The result is a short, witty and insightful examination of the human condition. The textual level is appropriate for anyone at the high school level, but is great reading for anyone at any reading level.

All in all, one of the best works in young adult literature.

I have owned this book for quite awhile but put off reading it, fearing that it would be dull and scholarly. I was in for a wonderful surprise. His philosophy makes a lot of sense and he puts it forth in a simple story accessible to almost everyone. Many, many times I laughed out loud. It was fun as well as enlightening. The term "sixes and sevens" was used; what is the etymology of that expression? The violence is expressed in an absurd way, though we know awful things did and do happen.

Candide is an ambitious book. It should be an example for all `would-be' writers all over the world. It is not less than a frontal attack on the greatest philosopher of Voltaire's time, Leibniz, for whom the world he lived in was `the best possible'.
'Dear Pangloss (= know everything), when you were hanged, dissected, cruelly beaten, did you still think that everything was for the best in this word?' `I still hold my original opinion', replied Pangloss, `since Leibniz cannot be wrong.'

This eventful text running with dazzling speed is a masterful mockery of Leibniz's philosophy with its `causes and effects', `sufficient reasons', `(non)contingent events', `freedoms and necessities', `(pre-established ) harmonies', `souls and evils' and `natural laws':
`You expect to eat a Jesuit today; nothing could be more just, for natural law teaches us to kill our neighbor. If we don't exercise the right to eat him, it's because we have other things to make a good meal of.'

Voltaire is a fundamental pessimist: `Men have always slaughtered each other; they have always been liars, traitors, ingrates and thieves, cowardly, envious, greedy, ambitious, bloodthirsty, slanderous, lecherous, fanatical, hypocritical and foolish.'
His philosophical solution is a flight from this brutal reality: `let's work without theorizing; it's the only way to make life bearable.' The only thing left is `cultivate our garden.'
This is a cowardly, selfish non-solution, to use Voltaire's own terms. Closing one's eyes for the realities of this world should not be an option.
But how did Voltaire cultivate his garden? He profited handsomely from the slave trade. He even agreed that a ship for slave transport was named after him! A not so magnificent example of gardening.

However, this brilliant `cooking' of a philosopher's key ideas is a must read for all lovers of world literature. It should be a challenge for all ambitious writers.

To call this book a satire and suggest that it is funny, or well done, or relevant to recent times, may be true but that fails to point out what is obvious. Voltaire was a French Enlightment writer. He used wit to make his points. He made fun of the teachings of the Church but he was pushing for religious freedom. He had strong opinions and the book was a tool to presenting his thoughts. The book is considered to be one of the most significant works of Western Canon due to its portrayal of the human condition.

The story is intended to satirize the idea of optimism. The approach was developed in the events of a trip. The events of the trip allow him to interchange the tragedy and the comedy within the various situations that occurred. This is a unique approach but it allowed him to develop a look at good and evil as well as the role of God and Government in men's lives. The satirical approach allowed him cover to focus his criticism.
A simple story. Young man leaves his home but really he has to leave having been caught kissing the wrong person. Sill optimistic he joins the army. He is flogged. Later almost burned alive. He sets out to see the world but continues to believe, as he was taught early in his life, that he is indeed living in the "best of all possible worlds". It seems as though nothing goes well. One tragedy after another. Funny but sad. Then after what seems to be an endless ordeal he returns and settles for life in a garden. Even so, still optimistic perhaps, he says that "we must cultivate our garden".

His book and his story challenge the idea that "all is for the best" in a world where it is often assumed that things "work out for the best".

I'm a software developer, not a web designer, so I don't use CSS on a daily basis. I've read a number of CSS books. This is the clearest, most practical presentation that I've run into. CSS is a surprisingly complex topic, particularly when you have to consider the real-world incompatibilities. For an intermediate presentation, this is an extremely well written, impressive book.

This was the first CSS book that I purchased. I was always hesitant to purchase a book on CSS because most of the resources that I've found have been mostly beginner's tutorials or instruction and I felt that I had at least a "beyond beginner's" understanding of CSS. I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm an expert at CSS, but at least mid-level to advanced. However, this book had some previous good recommendations from amazon.com so I bit the bullet and bought it. I must say that I was NOT disappointed!

This book starts off with a very quick introduction/recap of CSS basics including good code structure and organization, validation, DOCTYPES, common selectors including IDs and classes, pseudo-classes, and the advanced selectors such as universal, child, attribute and more, and some wonderful reference on the specificity and inheritance, or the "Cascade", the core of CSS. Although this introduction is provided, it is relatively short at about 25 pages and I would suggest a good working understanding of these basics first, as it will help understand the rest of the book easier as opposed to trying to learn CSS for the first time from this book. The following chapter is another quick 15 pages with on "Visual Formatting Model Recap" including the Box Model and Positioning, two EXTREMELY important concepts to understand CSS properly. Although it is short, it is an extremely powerful section.

Chapter 3 finally jumps head first into the code with "Background Images and Image Replacement." With the movement towards "Web 2.0? websites, one of the most common features you'll see in these websites is rounded corners. These can be difficult to achieve successfully and the authors make it very easy. This chapter also touches on different drop shadows and image replacement techniques, which are useful for placing a logo in place but still having the text remain search engine friendly. Chapter 4 is a fairly short chapter on "Styling Links" with some interesting uses of attribute selectors.

Chapter 5 is all about "Stylig Lists and Creating Nav Bars" including the popular "Sliding Doors" popularized by Douglas Bowman of Stopdesign and first published in October of 2003 in A List Apart online magazine. During the section on creating nav bars, this chapter shows how to use CSS sprites for rollovers and visited links, something which I'll be blogging about soon. Chapter 5 also shows how you can use CSS to create image maps, something I've never even thought of doing with CSS.

The next two chapters are two of the best in the book I think. Chapter 6 deals with "Styling Forms and Data Tables", while Chapter 7 tackles "Layout". I think that styling forms properly can be one of the most difficult things to do in a website Chapter 6 shows some good tips and tricks to handle this properly. After all the chapters on styling elements, comes the final code chapter which deals with Layout and shows how to center designs, create two and three column layouts, and liquid, elastic, and hybrid (elastic-liquid), or fluid, layouts.

As any web designer knows, IE doesn't do the best job of displaying HTML and CSS properly according to the W3C. Fortunately, the last two chapters in the book are about "Hacks and Filters" and "Bugs and Bug Fixing", two excellent chapters for dealing with the countless IE CSS bugs. Finally, the last two chapters of the book are Case Studies that put everything together and take you through building two different web sites in a Web Standards way with CSS.

Overall, this is an excellent book, one I'd highly recommend to any web designer, or CSS developer, looking to expand their knowledge of the powerful language that is CSS. Definitely worth adding to your library. On an additional note, this book is published by Friends of Ed, a fantastic publisher of technical books, and one of my favorites. I currently own 8 books published by "Friends of Ed" and 2 more from their parent company Apress, all of which are excellent books.

This book has some useful information and is really targeted to the hardcore CSSers, who already know the basics (& a little bit more). It outlines clearly many topics and use some good examples (with some minor typos). If you are a beginner, I would not really recommend the book as it may overwhelm you with too technical stuff and exceptions. A good way in learning is not to provide exceptions at the beginning of a learning experience, but more towards the end. But that always happens with folks who know their stuff too well. So, get your basics and foundation right first, know about CSS and THEN go for this publication.

I'm a developer with minimal experience designing web pages "by hand." Most of my work on the front-end includes using built in templates and designers to do the front-end magic for me.

I decided to change all that and picked up this book. In a couple of days I was up and running creating some pretty cool front-end designs...plus, the advice in this book matched almost all the advice I was getting from one of our top front-end guys.

Not a beginner's book and thank god for that - beginners should start online anyway.

If you've been working with CSS for a while but have some nagging questions that never seem to get answered about the tricky stuff like certain layouts and centering, this is the place to go. Andy Budd appears to possess that rare quality that makes for an excellent how-to author which is a deep awareness of just how hard it was to come by his own solutions to CSS issues and focus on those in his book rather than just reiterating stuff you could get from w3schools and peppering it with the occasional tip that's useful.

I picked up the first volume at the library to try it out. I am so glad I didn't waste money on it! I found the story degrading to women. The concept is of a computer in the shape of a woman, anatomically correct, who is in essence a slave and has no free will. It seems to be entirely accepted within society to use this machine sexually. The only person who seems to have issues is the main character, who vacillates between naughty thoughts and rather unbelievable prudishness. His entire lack of knowledge about technology seems farfetched as well. As to Chi, the computer who may be more than what she seems- well, she was incredibly boring. Cute, but very flat. The rest of the series may develope her character, may make this whole thing a commentary on the way women are viewed in society, but they don't even hint at it in the first volume. I have no interest in reading more about these characters. The 12year old with all the scantily clad persocoms that he built himself? That's just creepy. Oh, and although they mention the fact that male-shaped persocoms exist, they never show one. All the persocoms pictured are nubile young women.
The only reason I didn't give this a lower score, is that the artwork is good. Not spectacular or really special, just good.

I don't want to spoil the story for you, like so many have already for others (that's what wikipedia.org is for), so to make things short but informative:

Genre: SCI-FI, ROMANCE, COMEDY, ECCHI and MECHA. If you're not familiar with the term, ecchi, here it goes: Applying it to "Chobits", it most likely refers to the naughty humor, and sexual intercourse that is, LITERARY-speaking, a major theme in this story). And if you're not familiar with the term, mecha, it's really very simple: robots (but the robots here are not purposed for action scenes, this is very much a normal society you're reading about; nothing like "Star Wars" or "Neon Genesis Evangelion"... Chobits is set in the future, but that "future" is very much like present-day Tokyo, ya'know?

And I can't stress this enough: Please, read the MANGA, rather than watch the ANIME. The MANGA is MUCH better than the Anime. If you ever get the chance to do both, as I have, you'll understand my meaning. If you've already watched the Anime, read the Manga. You will most definitely NOT regret it.

The Anime version altered the original story a bit.

I HIGHLY recommend Chobits... highly, like, right-up-there-with-the-universe highly. I've read it over and over; It doesn't cease to affect me in the way it did the first time.

One of my favorites. Long story short: This kid that worked in a dvd/cd store told me to get the Chobits Manga volumes. I did as he suggested. I finished reading Chobits. Then climbed into my car, went back to the dvd/cd store, asked for the guy and thanked him. I'm serious; It's that good.

well i rated this book a 3 because it haas alot of missing work.Well thats how it feels, but over all its great. Irecomend the 2nd that i would rate a five :)

Chobits is a great sory, Hideki Motosuwa is 19 and like everyone else his age he's trying to got into collige but he's got a dead end job and hes a bit lazy like most teens. now a days everyone has a persacon, amazeing computers that look like real girls (or boys) and of corse Hideki is to poor to afford one but he hits the jackpot when he finds a lovely persacon in the trash! but theres something diffrent about Chi!
This comic is enchanting and Chi is so cute as she learns and explores the world however i send a warning to parents, this is an OLDER TEEN magna meaning 18 and up (it says this on the back of the book) there is some nudeaty and sexuial content so please don't buy this for a young kid. You see in japan everyone reads comics from the buisness man to the 1st grader so just becouse its a comic doesent mean it's all for kids the same goes for any Anime so cheak the rateings folks :)
I love chobits its a great magna and anime so cheak it out!

i watched the anime on youtube, but i did not read the book, but i am writing the review anyway. its about a [...] japenese boy named hideki who is trying to get in college by cram school. he is also envious that everyone else in tokyo has a beautiful computer chip dollbot thats accuratley made called a persocom, but he can't afford one. but after he gone grocery shopping, he found one in the alley. she was naked :( but wrapped in toilet paper :/. at first hideki thought she is a human girl that was raped and strangled to death. but when he saw her ears, he knew she is just a persicom. she looked like [...] blonde beauty. he took her home and turned her on. but all she could say is "chi" so hideki named her just that. i would like to go on, but i should not. i don't want to spoil it!
TTFN
corrie