Chang Books

We Americans view the world with wide-eyed innocence. We see ourselves as no threat to anyone. We feel that we are little threat to the ideologies of others. That explains why we think other nations are just as harmless. Gordon Chang is about to startle everyone.

A superb writer, Mr. Chang takes you on a high-speed ride just as exciting as a mystery thriller. The problem is that this is reality - dangerous reality. You will put "The Coming Collapse of China" down only to check Chang's facts.

You may disagree with Chang and that will make him happy; At the very least, you will have been challenged and you will have learned. If you happen to disagree and to be right, Chang will be giddy with joy. Neither of these things is likely. China has a dark cloud over it and you will feel the storm.

As other reviewers commented, the sheer venom with which several of Chang's detractors attacked this book was rather shocking. As a person interested in the future of China but whose economic talents are admittedly barely enough to keep my own accounts in order, I simply can't speak to the correctness (or otherwise) of many of his theories, but I am reminded of a book I read in the 1970s, Andrei Amalrik's "Will the Soviet Union Survive Till 1984?" As many of HIS detractors gleefully pointed out, 1984 came and went and the USSR seemed to be chugging along normally, just as Chang, his five years now past, seems to have been wrong in many of his prophecies. But Amalrik just turned out to be seven years off in his timing - regarding Chang's prophecies, some watchful waiting rather than immediate condemnation may be what is in order.

If they say take his book with a grain of salt, I would suggest that you take their comments/reviews with a grain of salt too. Some of them are flat out ridiculous, like the comment someone left saying that he isn't Chinese but Indian. C'mon, I've seen his pic and profile, and he looks about as Indian as I do. At that level of defamatory commenting, you pretty much have to question the intent of every negative review on here. So I did, and noticed that the bulk of them were from Chinese--wouldn't doubt that they were Chinese nationalists, based on their names and stance.

Anyways, i've read this book before taking a look at investing in China. The most important thing I gathered from the book was the lack of regulated financial reporting in Chinese securities market. Just look at a Chinese ADR in America called ADY and you'll see that there are still these sort of risks with investing in Chinese companies. This is the second time i've seen that with a Chinese ADR too.

The book is well recommended for anyone looking to invest in China. It should provide a very one sided view, but a very relevant and necessary one. You do NOT want to fall into the 2000 tech bubble hoo-rah, or the 2007 real estate bubble mantra, with China without knowing full well of the dangers and pitfalls.

I knew the existance of this book for a while but never had a chance to read it. I checked it out this time to read it only for fun! Indeed, it is amusing reading it and comparing what was predicted in the book with the reality. Mr. Chang definitely had an ax to grind when he wrote this book. Don't waste your breath to argue the right or wrong of his arguments! He hates China! In fact, he could not care less about Chinese people! That is it! Period! Read it for a laugh! Don't waste your time to get serious with him!

Ever since Gordon Chang started selling his book with fanfares, the events in the past 5 years have again and again disproven the bleak outlook Chang is trying to make money (and fame) on. Currently, Chang's bold prediction has become one of the most stupid prophecies in human history, and himself an entertaining laughingstock in the academic communities. Nowadays, even the most prominent China-haters in both academic and political circles have to distance themselves from Gordon in order not to be contaminated by the color of absurdity that Chang wears now. Looking back, we see how people with vision differ from those without.

I love this book because the designs are simple and allow the new fabulous yarn to shine. You don't have to knit very complicated patterns to make very stylish garments and this is one of the best books I have seen to make this statement. I have also ordered some of her yarn and it is wonderful.

THANKFULLY i got this from the library. i didn't cough up my own hard earned, non celebrity endorsed cash to pay for suss cousins' gloating.

only two things i'd make in this book and both are cardigans. sadly, neither goes over a 36 inch chest and i'm a 44. there'd be major adjusting on my part to get them to fit and not look like i'm wearing a sweater from the juniors' department of Kohl's.

that being said, you can buy most of this stuff AT Kohl's.

it makes me sad that this Swedish woman comes from a region of the world that does AWESOME things with knitting (i say this with confidence since i learned to knit in Finland).

bottom line, don't bother. find it online for free.

***on a side note, one reviewer mentioned that she doesn't like to borrow stuff from the library and photocopy. since knitting patterns and the such fall under the category of BEING ALLOWED to be photocopied (as long as it's for personal use and not mass production, including giving copies to your friends), i borrow things from the library, photocopy, make it, and THEN decide if i want to plunk down $20-35 for a book. saves me money in the long run from buying badly written books and wasting more yarn than i need to.***

The patterns are all so simplistic that it seems to imply that Hollywood types are all ADD-afflicted. There is a difference between a simple, timeless pattern that lets the beauty of the yarn shine, and a crude, poorly written one. Unfortunately the patterns of this book falls into the latter category.

Too bad that I gave one of the patterns, the leather tie cardigan, the benefit of the doubt and started knitting it. The instructions omitted several rows at the top of the sleeve so that the finished piece measures 13" rather than the specified 17"! I looked for corrections on her website. Even on the corrections page, this glaring error was not corrected. How poorly written and edited can a book get?!

The copy I use is a library copy. Even then, it is not worth the investment of my time.

Incessent name dropping and unoriginal patterns loaded with mistake after mistake that only be made using "suss" yarn -- give me a break...don't bother with this one and save your money.

I initially bought Suss Cousin's "Hollywood Knits:Style" and then purchased this, her first book. I was attracted to both of the books patterns and color combinations. The patterns are organized by difficulty level and the 'Cinchy for Starters' patterns really are quite easy to finish while the 'Hot Knitters' patterns definitely require more experience. I think my one of my favorites in this particular book is the Knit Knitting Bag...It's very fun and funky. Okay...so the reasons I only rated it three stars...
I find the commentary and captions for the photos a bit self-aggrandizing for the author. After reading how she came up with this or that pattern for this or that actor or film got old after about the fifth reference. Also, the yarns she utilizes and recommends are, of course, ALL Suss yarns and there is no yarn weight indicated should you not want to use Suss yarns. Finally, there are fantastic knitting books coming out seemingly daily with similar patterns plus some really innovative patterns included that make a lot of the patterns in this book appear kind of commonplace. Overall, I gave it three stars...I like it alot but, the more I progress in my own knitting experience, the more I find myself searching for other sources of inspiration.

I bought this book to gain the fundementals of the new breed of client/server systems. The value of this book is that it argues that Java and XML will revolutionize the data interchange and data presentation. From this perspective, I think it makes it's case.

BUT, much to my amazement, I found most of the examples(code)(programming constraints) inconsequentially and almost irritatingly organized throughout the book, as it assumes you have some java programming under your belt which I do not.

There are some great points to this book. $50 is steep, but then it does manage to give you a fundemental understanding of how Java and XML may prove the most common tools in future web endeavors.

There's a lot of good information in here, but it really isn't all it should be. The quality of the writing is a tad erratic, chapters are padded out with long lists of methods etc which would be better consigned to an appendix.

It has feel of a book which has been thrown together in a hurry. Some of the sample programs are poorly documented and difficult to understand. I'm not sure the writers really knew who their target audience were; some of the Java text, for example, is very basic but other parts of it are difficult, but there's not a logical step-by-step progression. The book is really a bit of a rag-bag. That said, there's a lot of good stuff in here, but it's hard work finding it sometimes.

xml/java combination is treated in only around 80 pages. The rest is stndard java client server, applet, servlet, JDBC etc., Buy only as a general purpose Java book and not as a XML/Java reference.

Had a look at it the other day at the Borders. Covers almost all the technologies associated with WEB development in a nice way with sample code that demonstrate each technology. It's a puzzle why the title is what it is. It's misleading!

I bought this book because of it's title. I also own Chang and Harkey's Java and CORBA books, which are better than this. The title is misleading. It is not until almost 400 pages into the book that XML is introduced. And the content is all too brief. Most of the book looks like cut and pastes from Chang and Harkey's other Client Server books. The book is over 500 pages long, using huge fonts and page after page of example code and API references. It is disappointing that there is not a decent XML & Java book on the market. I guess I will have to wait and see if O'Reilly publishes one, or at least a XML in a Nutshell.

There is very little of value in this book that shouldn't be posted on Oracle's web site as a tutorial or whitepaper. It is expectedly Oracle centric, but only covers their products in a very broad manner without much meat. For example, Chapter 4: "Developing for an Oracle Application" is only 16 pages and simply provides definitions for the variety of Oracle-side web apps/extensions.

If you really want to buy an Oracle XML book, then get the O'Reilly "Oracle XML Applications". Now there's a 5* book.

If you've ever tried understanding Oracle's XML offering from the technet documentation, you've probably given up in despair, as the information is available, but it's totally disorganised.

Unfortunately, this book suffers the same problems. Many of the examples can be found on technet, and the organisation is no better. Like many Oracle Press books, this layout is poor, and the examples are either superficial or non-existent.

Instead, try Steve Muench's "Oracle XML Applications." It's superb.

There is very little of value in this book that shouldn't be posted on Oracle's web site as a tutorial or whitepaper. It is expectedly Oracle centric, but only covers their products in a very broad manner without much meat. For example, Chapter 4: "Developing for an Oracle Application" is only 16 pages and simply provides definitions for the variety of Oracle-side web apps/extensions.

If you really want to buy an Oracle XML book, then get the O'Reilly "Oracle XML Applications". Now there's a 5* book.

There are several problems with this book. One is that very little coverage is given to the Oracle XML SDK. I could not find useful documentation on TechNet regarding use of the XML SDK via PL/SQL. I had hoped that this book would provide examples of SDK and a more complete set of documentation. To my disappointment, this book does not provide much more than an overview.

The other problem with this book is that it was written with examples for Oracle Application Server, which has been replaced by iAS. Bottom line, this book reads like it was written for the first release of Oracle's XML SDK. Your better off on TechNet and the newsgroups.

The book provides an overview of XML from Oracle's standpoint. Chapter one is a basic introduction to XML itself, but from that point onwards it is more about how Oracle integrates XML into its products & how you might use them to put together a technology solution.

If you are already vaguely familiar with what Oracle offer, then there this is a good starting point to determine how to solve problems using their fairly extensive toolset. Then you will probably want to purchase another title that focuses more upon the individual tools you choose.

We really like the book sitting on our coffee table so we can flip through it and dream of sailing in all the beautiful places. The only complaint we have is that the images are often poor, with very low resolution and some of the 50 locations don't even get an image, which is sort of ridiculous for a book like this. It's certainly not an expert guide, though it gives some great descriptions, tips, and stories of sailing, including quotes and tales from professional and competitive sailors. Overall, a fun coffee table book.

Other reviews more aptly describe the disappointing aspects of this book: dreadfully small quantity of photographs, not useful/practical information to travel to said location, etc.
That said, the book has made fair bedtime reading. Just do as I did, check it out from the library instead. It's worth reading, but not owning.

I am an avid sailer and dream of sailing around the world or being a crew member of an America's Cup team. I thought this book sounded facinating and ordered two (2) copies: one for myself and one for my brother, another water warrier.

I was disappointed in the lack of images. How can you talk about Hong Kong Harbor and not have an image? I assumed this was a coffee-table book which I think with added imagery would make it all the more enjoyable. Reading the passages was informative, but you had to read the bio of the author fist to understand why the place they chose was important to them.

Am finding it slow to get through - and disappointing.

what a wonderful book to get started!!! my husband has read it front to cover and has learned many important points.

We cruise extensively in Australia and on the Med. We bought the book hoping that it would introduce us to new, exciting sailing grounds. Sadly, the book largely fails to do so.
To start with, it lists the locations in alphabetical order: California, China, Chile, Colorado etc instead of geographical grouping. The individiual sections are crammed with general information to fill the pages. Twenty percent of each section is typically dedicated to the writer's CV! Very little information is specific to sailing conditions.
For example the Antarctica section doesn't say a word about the special cruising challenges. The Fremantle/Australia section describes how the US won the America's Cup here - but not a word about the magic beaches and crystal clear waters.

On the back of this book:

"The tools that accompany General Chemistry: The Essential Concepts are designed to help you succeed in your general chemistry course. Please visit your bookstore to order these helpful supplements..."

Following this little note are no less than 6 highly recommended websites, workbooks, and OTHER textbooks to use just to understand this one textbook. I think a clearer message would read "Please purchase these materials, and set this book back on the shelf, thanks."

This book is so poorly organized that it makes my head spin. As mentioned by another reviewer, the tools for effectively learning material appear in chapters AFTER said material. This book features page-long discourses on the wonders of quantum physics and how amazing chemistry is, and information that hurtles so far above our heads that it knocks birds out of the sky.
These walls of text have various sample problems interspersed throughout, but I can say that 3 sample problems are not enough to explain the 117 "practice" word problems that follow each chapter. (I counted)

I am glad that our teacher never touched this textbook throughout the semester, but we were required to read it on our own and no one understood it. The class after assigned reading homework, we needed an hour to an hour and a half long lecture on what a few sections in the book meant, put down simple understandable terms.

This book makes seemingly simple concepts way too complicated by throwing in information that only works to confuse the reader.
The only useful items are the tables that appear in the appendix listing heats of formation, standard enthalpies, etc., which have an unusual amount of organization compared to the rest of the book.

If your goal is to learn chemistry, then stay away from this textbook.

This text serves its purpose perfectly. It is very well-written and succint. Prof. Chang realizes that there is more to chemistry than solving problems...he does a fantastic job of presenting the essential concepts and then solving many sample problems. There's no way that a chemistry book can show an example of every type of problem; that expectation is unreasonable. This text seeks to teach students chemistry with the examples falling into place.

This is the book that was assigned to my general chemistry class. Personally I think this is one of the most horrible books ever written, not just chemistry but on any subject. Even though the book says "General Chemistry" there is NO general overview of chemistry whatsoever in the chapters. The only thing that even comes close is the one page "A Note to the Student" thing that says chemistry is percieved as difficult. If the subject is difficult then it is the authors job to make it as simple as possible, which he clearly doesn't. Every chapter I have read gets way too detailed right off the bat. The equations that are given rarely have an explanation of where they came from; they take on a view of, "Here is the equation, now memorize it." They don't try to explain the relationship of the specific subject of chemistry on hand. Also, I think the chapters are out of order. I think some chapters should come before others. Lastly, the book has WAY too much information to be called a general chemistry book. I have been swamped with more information from chemistry than all of my other classes combined. I AM NOT EXAGERATING! Less than half way through the book they try to teach quantum mechanics/physics. It is just a poorly planned book for the coarse. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU STAY AWAY FROM THIS BOOK!!!

This is a difficult book. Not as difficult as my Phys book, but difficult nonetheless. Perhaps that is the way with chemistry, but it was Chang's job to write a book that could be understood and comprehended. He failed. I resigned myself early in the semester to draw the depth of my chem knowledge from a supplements ("Chemistry", by McMurry and Fay and "Schaum's 3000 solved problems in chemistry"). This trully reminded me of physics in a way I had never before expected of a chemistry class - finding answers to problems out of thin air. The material is overly light and does NOTHING to sort through the jibber jabber in a clear and comprehensive way. Note to Mr. Chang: Sometimes it is not enough to be witty and write well; Sometimes students actually want to learn how to DO THE PROBLEMS YOU THEN ASSIGN TO US AT THE END OF EACH CHAPTER! This book is written for people who have another book (or person) to fall back on for a REAL explanation. Raymond (if I may call you that), you should come down to the trenches and see the devastation in your book's wake.

I bought this book hoping to get ideas for cooking regular foods in a way that will keep my IBS symptoms down. Many of the food items in this books are more health food store, fine dining recipes and that is not how I eat. I am a basic person and this book does not have basic dishes. Many of the ingredients I have never used and a lot of them are beyond my budget.

Far from being a healthy cookbook for IBS this book features nothing but recipes using dairy, gluten (wheat) and even alcohol. These are three of the biggest triggers for IBS sufferers. I'd send the book back but I've already lost enough time and money. That's what I get for not having a neighborhood bookstore and buying sight unseen.

I haven't cooked anything from the book yet, but all the information on IBS at the beginning of the book is great! I have leaned a lot from the book so far and I have only read it in parts. The recipes look great and easy to do...I'm a busy college student thats been too busy to cook something good :)

P.S. since I haven't tried any of the recipes, I only rated the book a 4 out of 5

This very gorgeous publication has pictures and recipes of scrumptious foods; however, there is little genuine substance about IBS or helpful remedies. Like other food books about IBS, there is little clinical evidence referred to, to support that any of these recipes will keep you symptom-free. This original UK publication is in the dark ages as to the causes of IBS. For example, in the "Who is susceptible?" paragraph it includes such things as "Do you work long hours and at weekends?" or "Do you eat at your desk or in front of the TV?". It is a beautiful coffee table book that if anything may be an opening line for discussing IBS openly with your guests.

I was pretty excited to get this book, I had been looking and needing something on this topic. The problem though is, ugh, the production quality is just awful on this book. The book looks like it was a black and while xerox copy of a book using 1970's copying technology. The all-important pictures which are the very heart of this book (the book is like 90% pictures, 10% text) are just barely legible. Not only are they not in color but in many cases they are extremely washed out. And for $40 (the msrp) a book this small and of this poor a quality is just a debacle. Shame on you guys, next time you publish a book, this one will haunt you.

I really enjoyed this book, other than the black and white pages. I found the tutorials quite thorough and helpful. The book helped me figure out the modeling and texturing process quite well. Perhaps if the author had chosen another publisher he would have gotten full color pages printed. Sometimes the publisher makes the final decision not the author. But if you are buying this book just be prepared for black and white pages vs. color.

I usually read reviews and not write them but in this case I feel I had to, this is not the cheapest book around and it doesnt go through that many projects (small form factor, lots of pics for each step), granted nothing wrong with that it omits nothing and actually shows you uv mapping and texturing can be fun and easy (if you do simple non organic models-and thats what the title says). There are several problems though- I dont know about most people but I dont have time to read while looking at the CD that has all the images on the computer, I just have the book with me. The paper is light not glossy, there are no colors, and worst of all I cant tell whats shown in half the screenshots- when youre visual like me you go by the pics along with the text, not just the text. Im sure the author saw a copy of the book before it was mass printed and realized all it would take would be to darken maya's background for the objects and cursors to show up better, not asking for color here although that would be nice when showing a brown wood texture...

I just received this book about 30min ago. Of course I was excited and immediately opened and gave it a once over. The first thing I noticed was the book is in black and white. Everything! This makes it hard to recreate the skins the author is producing unless you're planning on making them all monochromatic. I didn't check the companion CD that came with the book so I can't comment on that. The modeling portion is using Maya so if you want to learn how to create models, map and unwrap in Maya than this might be the book for you. If you want to learn how to create the skins for any weapon that there are better books out there and I suggest you look else where if that's what you're looking for.

I read the German edition of 2004 of the originally 1998 book. Compared to most other non-fiction books I have read recently, this one is sure eye candy. However, beneath the glossy pictures, the remaining text is just of introductory length and doesn't present itself fully agreeable with both - the history establishment and unorthodox autodidacts. Even the captions are used as regular, i.e. original information text, not as repetitions or complements of the text pages. Meaning: The text pages are rather superficial, even lacking. (Be aware that the missing captions of some pictures are to be found on the very last page of the book.) I was looking for any connection with ancient Egypt, which at least the alternative historians suggest. These links are completely ignored. According to the Euro-centered text the reader will get the impression, the Celts originated in the Balkan-Bohemian-South German area. Yet, Egyptian/African traces are left for those who know what they are looking at:

The Gallarus Oratory in Dingle is depicted, which is in a turned over boat shape. No explanation is offered. It has been suggested elsewhere, that this shape is the result of an architectural meme pool of initially real boats, which weren't of any other use after an exodus from Egypt. For more information read the second of Cleopatra to Christ (Jesus was the Great Grandson of Cleopatra) / Scota, Egyptian Queen of the Scots (Ireland and Scotland were founded by an Egyptian Queen) [Two Books in One], though overall this double book is a little too far out in other aspects.

It is mentioned that the Celts eagerly adopted the fish as the symbol of Jesus, when the early Christian missionaries arrived, as they already venerated fish. The same author of the just mentioned book reasons convincingly that the veneration of fish is of Egyptian origin, due to the changing star formation of astronomical precession, which changes every 2,000 years. Before it was the ram (Aries), before that the bull (Taurus). Both, Jesus and any Egyptian-derived religious cast were aware of the change into Pisces. Read more in Jesus: Last of the Pharoahs. (But be warned: Anything else in this book about Jesus is a bit less convincing...)

The mysterious round towers are depicted, as well as golden torques (jewelry), to be worn on the skin. No real explanation for the former is provided, the latter gets banalized. For a really far out, but very convincing reasoning relating both read Lost Star of Myth and Time. It wouldn't make sense to pitch the content for this one in a oneliner, as this harbors all the potential of a review killer, if you haven't read the sophisticated book itself. (No, it's not about aliens or Astrology.)

The Picts are merely referenced. They should have played a bigger role. For more on them and other peoples of potentially black/dark skin color (not mentioned in this book) read the two volume 19th century classic Ancient and Modern Britons: Volume One (Ancient & Modern Britons) and Ivan Van Sertima's African Presence in Early Europe (Journal of African Civilizations).

The most rewarding picture for me personally, however, for it qualifies as the evidence, which turns speculation/reasoning into knowledge is the golden crescent moon shaped fibula. Again, the book at hand does not draw any connection, even though it is really obvious for anybody of faint knowledge about ancient Egyptian theology. It is clearly a depiction of the night time barque, under which the sun travels in the underworld to appear the next morning.

With all of these books (and more in depth orthodox ones on the Celts), this book is worth to look at. But not really by itself.

Five stars for the sheer beauty of this book, but I found myself mentally correcting the text as I read. There are lots of books out there that give a better account of the Celts' history. Recommended only if it's on sale, and only if you have some knowledge about the Celtic tribes before cracking the cover, so you can take some things with a grain of salt. If the previous two conditions are met, this is a gorgeous coffee-table book with absolutely exquisite photos of landscapes and of ancient Celtic artwork and jewelry. It feels like the author wanted to make a photography book, but felt the need to fill it with text. Much better if you just look at the stunning pictures.

I read this book hoping to find out more about who the Celts were. I sort of know now, but the constant jumping around in time confused me. This book seems very unorganized by its shotgun approach to subjects. I wish it had been written chronologically for greater understanding of the Celts' culture in the context of history.

Instead, it jumped around from 800 BC to AD 100 back to 400 BC, etc. mining nuggets about their art, mythology, and warfare.

Another annoying thing was that it was unabashedly apologetic of the Celts, even though history shows them to be viscous warriors, involved in such atrocities head hunting and child sacrifice.

If you wanted to know anything about Druids, don't read this book. It doesn't get to them till late in the text, and then there is only a brief and unclear description of their role in Celtic religion.

What I did like about the book were the excellent illustrations. I was not familiar with Celtic art, and now I can see how the beautifully illuminated Scriptures of Medieval times derived their style from earlier Celtic motifs.

In all, this is a nice picture book to flip through, but I wouldn't use it as research material for a history paper.

It has been a month since I purchased a book, and I haven't received yet.

The pedagogy of Pediatric Cardiology is already well covered by two masterfully written texts: Moss and Garson. They are, admittedly, tough acts to follow. A clinically oriented text, directed specifically toward the difficult problems encountered in the intensive care setting, however, would be appreciated. This text attempts to fill that need.

Not surprisingly, pediatric cardiac Intensive care is largely dedicated to perioperative management of congenital heart disease, and this text approaches it in this manner. After the expected chapters in monitoring, pharmacology and so on, large sections are devoted to preoperative care, operative considerations and posoperative care. There is a generic discussion of extracorporeal support and dialysis. The text ends with consideration of social and ethical issues,

I had hoped, when I read this book that it would enhance and expand the information found in general texts. For example, I know the litany of agents used for sedating posoperative patients. What I would like is some discussion of which is useful in a given set of circumstances, and how each might intereact with other aspects of care. Does any provide a specific advantage in a given clinical situation or represent a unique hemodynamic risk? This text generally does not explore cardiac care in this depth.

The text does have its strengths. The descriptions of surgical repair are well done and the illustrations of them are clear. They would be very useful in describing the surgical procedure to parents or staff. The generic approach is most useful to nursing staff and respiratory therapists, especially those just orienting to the PCCU.

Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care is a well organized general text on the subject. Its approach is best suited to the nursing staff. Cardiac fellows, attendings and cardiac intensivists will find little here that expands their knowledge.

What I liked most about this book was it's multidisciplinary aproach and down-to-earth explanations. Wer good dravings of the procedures. It lost one star since it was not easy to find information by surgical procedure.