Hall Books

The Rita Mae Brown book, High Hearts was a thrilling read from cover to cover. It was a look back in time to a woman who goes to war, the Civil War as a man, so that she can be with her new husband. More than a romance, but with more substance than an adventure tale, I could read this book over and over. I never knew about the phenomenon this book was based on, but apparently, there were several women who did in fact, pass for men, in order to go to war. Not complicated, or hard to follow, this book is enjoyable with some thought provoking aspects as well.

One of the best written by Rita Mae Brown. Gives a different perspective on the Civil War. Should be more like it showing the losers side.I highly recommend this book. I have given it as gifts to friends.

This book is very unusual for Rita Mae Brown and I consider it her best work! It's all in one: A love story, a history book (American Civial War & Slavery), a feminist novel, funny, serious, ironic, and critical of society. The reader experiences the war through the eyes of captivating characters you just have to fall in love with!

There were uncounted women who cut their hair, lowered their voices and took up arms on both sides of The Civil War. Rita Mae Brown does a wonderful job crafting a fictional story using this truth as her premise. The characters are richly drawn (I actually preferred the evolution of Geneva's mother, Lutie, to Geneva herself), and the story layered and interesting.

Geneva can't bear to be away from her husband when he enlists as soon as the guns fire on Fort Sumter. She joins him as a soldier, and learns some unpleasant truths about him and about war. She finds that she has a talent for fighting and that she and her husband aren't as compatible as they might have been had they not rejected their "traditional" roles.

Rita Mae Brown's interesting Foreword and endnotes provide context and explanation for her literary choices, and greatly enrich the experience. I give this book four stars instead of five because at the end, there are several characters whose final stories are only alluded to, as in, "this happened, but that's a story for another day." I wanted to know what happened for these folks, and this abrupt ending felt like laziness, as if Miss Brown just didn't feel like writing any further. Unfortunate, as it left a bad taste after the novel had been so interesting up to that point.

One of the BEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN!!!! Shared this with my 12 year old son and my spouse, my 8 year old daughter, I would like to introduce,soon an another positive female role model. A great book to even interest( and introduce) HOMOPHOBES who cannot be asked to view another great book, Rubyfruit Jungle.TRy the book... you will LOVE IT!!! Love, war, decision based on love and respect. I wore out 2 copies already. One of my top 5 for a desert island. Enjoy the book.

I liked the book because I am a history major but some parts are hard to get through. It is a classic however and is a great stepping stone to use when reviewing ancient history

Cornelius Tacitus knows perfectly what the cardinal human characteristic is: `From time immemorial, man has had an instinctive love of power.' And, `the reward for virtue was inevitable death.'
His book is a mighty illustration of the ruthless fight for the top spot: emperor. The ambitious and the wealthy fight one another without mercy. `The truth is that revolution and strife put tremendous power into the hands of evil men.' The vanquished are brutally slain.
For Tacitus, the most important factors in the power struggle are money (`money was the sinews of civil war') and control of the military (`the lesson that an army can create an emperor'). If you could `reward` your soldiers, you could win. However, the legions were not interested in war itself only in looting, plundering, raping and enslaving. `The men wanted campaign and set battles, as the prizes here were more attractive than their normal pay.' The victims were innocent peasants, women and children.
Overall, `Italy found it hard to put up with such hordes of infantry and cavalry, and with violence, financial loss and acts of lawlessness.'

While the `Annals' contain more human touch, the `Histories' are nearly completely centered on military, diplomatic and tactical manoeuvres, followed by terrifying and merciless violence after the battles (`the fury of the soldiers').

This for mankind severe and pessimistic book is a must read for all those interested in the lessons of history and for lovers of great classical literature.

Every now and then a pivotal moment in history is witnessed and recorded by a master communicator. The mid-first century of Rome was such a time and Tacitus was such a communicator. The Histories will forever be a benchmark of good history with its observations on human nature and behaviour along with their impact on history. The historian will do well to read Tacitus not just for the historical lessons but for his approach to history as a record of human activity. While observing and commenting on the human element in history, Tacitus avoids making moral judgements and remains as objective as possible in the midst of turmoil, wars, and rumors of wars. His beloved nation and people were suffering under the barbarity of fratricidal war yet he remains above the madness and records the events with passion tempered with objectivity. His example is one that has remained difficult for others to follow.

A word on this translation in particular - I found Mr. Wellesley's translation very readable and poetic. He seems to have captured the literature value of the text as well as the content. Well done.

Tacitus Histories deals with the turbulent year 69AD the year of four emperors. Tacitus eye for detail which allows us to understand the personalities of Galba, Otho, Vitellius and Vespatian and their motivations and ambitions in this trully chaotic time in Rome's history. The sinister role of the Praetorians in these events is faithfully accounted. I found I could not put it down! Very readable compared to the Annals. The translation is first rate. The work is also supported by numerous foot notes and maps. Anyone interested in this period of Roman history must read this book.

Reading Tacitus' Annals I oft remembered Thucydides' account of the Peleponnesian wars. An important theme of the latter work was the corrupting effects of prolonged war on the morals and intellect of the Athenian people, who were ultimately degraded so much that they voted the destruction of the people of a small island just because they had chosen to remain neutral. Tacitus, on the other hand, seems to have dedicated himself in this work to examining the corrupting effects of absolutism on the Roman people after the fall of the Republic. He shows how absolute power brought out the worst traits in the character of rulers like Tiberius and Nero, who grew more and more tyrannical with every year on the throne, and how members of the illustruous Roman senate and other sections of the Roman political society turned into a horde of spineless sycophants, informers and debauches. There were still a few honourable individuals, but as Tacitus shows in an endless series of judicial and non-judicial murders, most of these paid the price of sticking to the ancient traditions of liberty and honour with their lives. Tacitus also deals at length with the relations of the Romans with the subject peo-ples. I may be wrong here, but it seems to me that in such passages Tacitus draws a parallels between the fate of these enslaved peoples and that of the enslaved Roman people -the first a slave to the Romans, the second a slave to the emperor and his bureaucracy made up of ex-slaves. Many subject peoples rebelled and some like the Cherusci under Arminius (towards whom he does not seem averse at all) could successfully preserve their liberty against the in-trusion of the Romans. Those Romans who dared defy the tyrant on the other hand, and especially those who could wisely remain independent and yet stay alive, were far fewer, Tacitus seems to imply. Insofar as it demonstrates how closely liberty (including liberty of thought) and morals are intertwined, this work is still relevant today as a central work of liberal humanism.

OK, so perhaps you don't need this book, but you'll enjoy it anyway!
The best review and tutorial on clusters available, this book is also funny
enough that you probably don't want to read it in a quiet environment.

As other reviewers have said, this is an excellent book and is a *must have* for anyone exploring practically any aspect of cluster computing. Even beyond the quality of the information conveyed, the writing style is wonderful and the author makes an otherwise abstract and cumbersome topic quite readable and quite approachable. This book is regarded as the Clustering Bible worldwide, and I've seen copies placed prominently in the bookshelves of individuals in Beijing, Tokyo, Paris, and the US. Microsoft's own Cluster Server was codenamed 'Wolfpack', as an honerable reference to the cover art of this specific book.

Aaron McKee
Clustering Products Manager
TurboLinux Inc.

In a subject which is probably considered dull Pfeister has written a book which is actually entertaining as well as informative.If you are new to high perforamnce computing this book will begin from the basics and teach you all the way.If you are a pro you still will find it a great refernce material worth a read.You are bound to find something new in it.

This book provides a terrific introduction to the hardware, software, and systems architecture of parallel computing, candidly discussing the issues and trade-offs in various approaches. The emphasis is on clusters, but there is lots of information on the whole continuum from single processor machines to SMPs to clusters to distributed computing. Pfister will leave you with a better understanding of things like how SMP machines keep processor caches coherent, what the differences are between SMP, NUMA, and distributed computing, how various cluster products work, real world cluster issues (like system administration), programming models used in parallel computing, and why programming code that runs efficently on these architectures is usually the hard part.

The book is somewhat dated - nothing about Beowolf for example - but the concepts remain valid. Many of the issues are illustrated with reference to mainframe clusters, especially IBM's 390 sysplex, which I found particularly interesting since I don't have much experience with these systems.

The style is highly readable and informal, but not insultingly non-technical. The book is loaded with opinion and insights - it is not a dry textbook of issues related to clustering. Highly recommended for anyone in the business of creating information systems that need to run fast.

While struggling through this book, I spend more time thinking about the characters of this author than about cluster. He has this unique style of telling a subject like a friend telling you a story and it goes like : I am going to tell you this .. but first let me explain why I tell you this .. and now I want to tell you how I am going to tell you this .. and finally this is this, believe you me .. OK, truth is - I lied, it is actually this ... and on and on. He successfully made "this" simple and understandable to a certain degree, but the "how I, why I" portion mix with some high IQ humours did confuse me no end - though it is fun. I find that at some stage I have to use a finger to point to a key sentence and said " OK, Pfister is going to tell me this - lets see how" - then at some stage I will have to judge whether he has finished what he promised and is already on to new stuff. And, he does choose some words that I suspect is more often used in classical literature - rococco, dischotomies, litany, etc - which although harmlessly infrequent, does add some irritation to the already burden mind. All things considered, going through this book is fun. In case you are one of those like me that is quite lost and struggle a fair bit, I did find chapter 6 fairly readable - so perhpas you want to starts from there and work backward/forward if other chapters frustrated you a fair bit.

This book was needed quick for a college class - thanks for making it easily accessible without having to leave the house to search for it.

This was a very interesting story, I enjoyed this book better than Their Eyes Were Watching God, and that says alot. The story of John Buddy is a turnpager and you will not be disappointed. The best I've read in a long time.

I loved this story. The story is so true to life for many women who are with men, who don't seem to be able to get it together, unless there is a woman making it happen.

The husband is a great orator, but isn't the kind of man he should be. His wife is his long suffering mate. I just love Zora's use of black dialet. It is so beautiful.

When I read the following excerpt, it felt like something hit me in the head. I was moved beyond words. It goes something like this: "Ah done been in sorrows kitchen, and ah done licked out all the pots; ah done died in grief and been buried in de bitter waters. Ah done rose from the dead lak Lazarus. Nothing can touch mah soul no mo!"

I highly recomment it.

I got an excellent book from this person. thank you so much. great doing business with you.

I always thought of Toni Morrison as the leader, the queen, and the matriarch of black women's fiction, but the more I read of Zora Neale Hurston, the more I feel that everyone else must have taken their cues from her!

Her writing is enchanting and thought provoking, her use of "black" language is absolutely delightful. The story and the characters are interesting in and of themselves. What makes this work really shine is the language, and the heritage and history that it preserves. She takes care to write the way that people speak, resulting a unorthodox spelling and usage that at first I had to say out loud in order to properly understand. (My grandmother didn't have to do that, though, and for that reason alone, she loved Zora Hurston.) Ms. Hurston also uses words, idioms and phrases that are unique to black america, and that my generation would likely have lost -- the news of the "Black Dispatch," "Old Hannah" rising, "hittin' a straight lick with a crooked stick." Some of the sayings I remember my Grandmother using, and some I remember using as a child. I found all of them interesting and beautiful, and I am grateful to Ms. Hurston for finding them valuable enough to put down.

May Sarton is an author you must not miss. Not of you're a thinker (and do your own thinking).

This book was beautiful. I loved reading it. It felt delicate to me...the insights shared within the pages...but it was compelling. I picked it up and read a few pages whenever I had the chance. Loved it.

I've read most of Sarton's journals and this is by far the best. Her writing allows the reader to enter her mind. It's so honest, so raw. I've reread Journal of a Solitude a few times over the years; its one of those books to keep on your shelf, and read to get back in touch with the things that matter.

I read Journal of a Solitude shortly after giving birth to my first child. I was alone in a new neighborhood with few family and friends around me and felt completely estranged from my former life as a professional woman working in New York city. May Sarton's story - shared in such a real and heartfelt way - has always stayed with me. Where are the May Sarton's in today's world? She was an extraordinary woman who was able to connect with a broad audience of readers, through the authentic sharing of her thoughts, feelings and experiences. I miss her work but am thankful that she left behind a wonderful legacy.

If you're into reading memoirs, this is exceptional. Her clarity of thought and her ability to portray her feelings into words is unsurpassed, in my opinion. I enjoy her prose so very much. I can find myself relating to so many of her feelings and thoughts despite the difference of age and time. This is a great read.

First of all let me tell you that this book is not an easy reading, it has to many characters and to many stories, to be exact it has six stories, at first all of them separately but in the middle of the book they will be as one big story. Of course the main story, the story of Lucky and Lennie is the must important, but you are really interested in all the stories at the same time. When you end a chapter of one story you want to skip the next chapter to see what happened in that specific story, but when you start to read about the other story you forget about the first one and you will want to know what happened to this one.
The end of the book is not so good, but the book still keep 5 stars

Yes, I should be reading something with more substance, but I love Lucky Santangelo's story! This is like watching your favorite soap opera, but with better characters, and a faster, tighter storyline. Very hard to put down once you start it! I especially loved how Lucky planned to make her studio more receptive to female stars and women's stories. If only there was a Hollywood studio like that for real!

I am not normally one to ready "trashy" novels. Ms. Collins has set up a great list of characters (Bridgett, Charlie Dollar, etc.) in the Lucky Santangelo series. This is perhaps the best of the bunch. Feisty Lucky Santangelo purchases a movie studio from one of the old time owners (kind of a Louis Mayer personna) and becomes the boss of the studio. This causes a lot of friction with her husband Lennie Golden, who feels cheated of his right to win roles on his own merit.

I read this one really fast!

Nothing comes remotely close to this series.

In LADY BOSS, Lucky has finally found the love of her life in comedian/actor Lennie Golden. Not only are the two different as night and day, but they are both as headstrong as ever causing them to sometimes bump heads, but the love that they have for each other surpasses all of that.
Who would've thought that Lucky would find love again after her beloved Marco? Three marriages later, and she has finally got it right this time around. So like any loving wife, Lucky tries to make her husband happy. When Lennie nags and complains about the goings on in his workplace -- Panther Studios, Lucky decided to eliminate his frustration by buying the studio so that the pair of them can have complete control. But nothing wanted in life comes easily. Before Lucky can take full control of the studio, she has to go undercover, and expose all employees who pretty much aren't "getting the job done". This is where the adventure begins.
Meanwhile Lennie is oblivious to this plan. Lucky has to cover up her whereabouts because she wants to surprise him with this after the plans flow accordingly. This situation brings on strain that the two were not prepared for. Will Lennie appreciate the gift Lucky is working on presenting him with? You'll have to read and find out!

I recently finished 'LADY BOSS' the third book in the Lucky Santangelo series and I absolutely loved it! Where 'LUCKY' was good 'LADY BOSS' was great. In this third installment Lucky goes to Hollywood in hopes of acquiring a major movie studio, however, just before she closes the deal she finds out that there is a catch. She has to work undercover at the studio for six weeks as a plain Jane secretary! At first Lucky is reluctant but soon the idea of surprising her husband movie star Lennie Golden with his own studio coupled with the sheer enjoyment of being able to spy on all of the studio executives is too much for Lucky to pass up. But as Lucky soon finds out Lennie is not too thrilled with her surprise, which puts their marriage in serious jeopardy.

There are so many enjoyable story lines in this book that it makes it hard to put down. An example of this is the story of Venus Maria and Martin Swanson the movie star and the billionaire. Swanson is a business tycoon who is married to Dena Swanson a woman who became famous by using the Swanson name and refuses to let anybody take that away from her including the Madonna like movie and recording star Venus Maria. But Venus is determined to have Martin all to herself that is until her brother Emilio shows up and stirs up trouble for the couple.

I found this book to be extremely entertaining and I cannot wait to read the next book in the series. Lucky is powerful, demanding and independent a true example of a strong woman. 5 Stars!

Moles abound.


The last book in this trilogy is probably not quite as good as the other two, you could call it a 3.75 if you like, but there is some entertaining commentary on what goes on in the spook office with the whole clueless management versus the footslogging hardworking spy in the field.

MI6 is still a bit worried about Benard because of his traitorous spouse, so when he finds out about what he thinks is yet another mole, he isn't looked on too favourably, particularly as it might just be one of the higher-ups.

People who like the others should still enjoy this.

This book can standalone as a good spy story, as can the others in this trilogy, but the storyline attains excellence when read in series - Berlin Game, Mexico Set, and London Match. The tension ebbs and flows throughout the trilogy, but it isn't until the climax of London Match that we see the full scope. I honestly think this is the best book of the three, but maybe that's just because all the threads finally come together. Highly recommended!

This is the third of the Bernard Samson trilogy set in London, Berlin, Mexico and East Germany. I think that Mr. Deighton possibly felt that the first of the series was meant as a solo effort. Perhaps not. Both Berlin Game and Mexico Set stand on their own and could have been solo efforts; London Match is possibly the weaker of the three, but leaves us with that gritty taste in our mouths that recalls the anti-Bond stories of Harry Palmer, Bernard and the others.

The office wit characterized by working with management types unfamiliar with the "field" is not uncommon to many of us who spent time in the military or big corporations. We toil for those who have never experienced what they ask us to do. Hence Dickie Cruyer and Bret Rennselear. Of course for most all of us the result of the inequity of working for management is several antacid tablets; Bernard is quick to point out for him it may be death.

Len Deighton writes wonderful stories about the Cold War a long time ago. Or was it? 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury

It's one of those hall-of-mirrors British spy stories in which the puzzle is to figure out who is working for whom, and who is double-crossing whom.
I was rereading my Len Deightons, partly to see how much impact they still have post-cold war, and I picked this one up out of order. After the first few pages I remembered that this was third in the Bernard Samson series, set in the 1970's and 80's, but it has close affinities to the Harry Palmer series of the 60's, especially Funeral in Berlin. (This has a 1985 publication date). If you're completely new to Len Deighton I'd start with those, and of course you should read Berlin Game and Mexico Set before this.
Some people think Deighton deteriorated in the later spy books. They contain fewer wisecracks and less descriptive scene- setting. In compensation there's a lot of subtle humor in the portrayal of the Dilbert-like atmosphere of office politics, and the plots are more sharply focussed and draw naturally to a climax. The earlier books tend to jump from episode to episode with a tidying up of plot in the last chapter.

The best of the game, set and match trilogy. Exciting, lean and suspenseful.

This book is excellent for learning how to do financial mathematics. It covers the topic from a global perspective, looking at the conventions in different markets in the world such as Australia, UK, France, Germany, Japan, US etc. and shows you how to convert calculations among different market conventions. A truly global book and quite clearly explained!!! Makes a great teaching tool and an excellent reference tool.

This book does a nice job of explaining the wide array of financial calculations and I'm particularly benefiting from the HP12C steps in the text.

I am using the most recent edition (1999, ISBN027362587X) of this excellent book published by FT Prentice Hall.

This book is a concise and informative guide to the concepts and mechanics (maths) and application of financial instruments.

The author has managed to cover the wide area of financial instruments and business maths in the most concise and informative manner possible.

The added bonus of this book is that it could have been "unintentionally" written as a companion with HP financial calculator-the HP12c and the HP19BII.

New & existing owners of the HP12c, would find this book to be an excellent and indispensible guide and practice workbook.

Working through the examples in the book with my HP12c has helped me familarise with the RPN mode/logic of performing financial maths at the same time as I apply my understanding of the underlying concepts to the exercise questions and illustrative examples.

I am impressed that the author had even included detailed key strokes of both the HP 12c and 19BII calculators with each illustrated examples and answers to practice questions as well! Although there is afew minor errors but the overall effort is great efforts and attention to details.

This book is really true to its name, I would certainly recommend Mr Steiner's excellent work and effort to anyone who needs a refresher or an introductory course into financial instruments for both work and study.

Judging by the author's excellent effort, it would be difficult for the author himself to improve on his own work unless there are major new developments in the subject matter or if the author wishes to cover more complex and specialist areas.

A five star+ effort in my humble opinion.

It would be hard to overstate the clarity and comprehensiveness of the content. Similarly, it would be hard to overstate the shoddiness of the printing. It looks like it was run off on a third rate copier, so badly printed that some of the equations are impossible to read as they are printed on a gray background. Fortunately, the equations are reprinted in an appendix.

Es dificil encontrar un libro que te explique con tanta claridad (sencillo) el tema de las matematicas financieras. Vale la pena tenerlo.

Reading The Memory of Old Jack is taking a journey through a man's life--the times he's proud of and the times he regrets but understands with a clarity that only comes from age. Soren Kierkegaard said that "life can only be understood backwards; the trouble is we have to live it forwards." Old Jack does this well and Berry manages to tell his story in a way that Old Jack's understanding brings understanding to our own life experiences.

Mr Berry is a writers writer. Eloquent without being pretentious. Brilliant without being inexcessable. He is Wes Jackson and Frederick Buechner at lunch over beans and Hoecake

Memories of a lifetime move into and out of the mind and soul of Jack Beechum, town patriarch and now-aged and retired Kentucky tobacco farmer who was born of, defined by and wedded to the richness and rewards of the toil and soil of his beloved farm. As in other Wendell Berry novels that I've read, Port William, KY is the setting for the same collage of personages who populate and flesh out these recollections of one man's successes and failures, joys and sorrows, hopes and regrets, with prose that embraces the poignant nuances of each reminiscence. Throughout, it's as if Old Jack's mind lights upon a loose, dangling thread of a past experience and, holding on and following it carefully, he wends his way back to the original whole-cloth of the event. Whether it is the poetry of the narrative, or the truth of universal insights, or the pervasiveness of gentleness and forbearance, this is literary soul food. There's nothing maudlin here, however, as these are remembrances of a pretty vigorous and rough-hewn guy, grown old but not soft. But, by gosh, this IS beautiful down-home style stuff.

For Berry readers, this will come as no surprise, but this is a phenomenal book. I love the simple elegance of the prose, and the import is incredible.

Beautiful, beautiful book.

This is a fine book, opening a window into a day in the 1950s in a Kentucky river town, and a life that led up to that day. Wendell Berry loves his characters, but portrays them honestly, and makes you feel like you have known them too. The Memory of Old Jack isn't about nostalgia, it's about how people live. It's about human nature and the human condition, and though the circumstances that produced that moment in time have changed, human nature hasn't, at least where I live, and that's what made this book enjoyable. I plan to read it again.

This is the 13th edition of a text that has been the standard in this field for 84 years. Its durability lies in its solid information; clear presentation; and graphics that are as rich as they are numerous. It is peppered with fascinating sidebars. You can dip into it as a reference and find just what you need (assuming you have a foundation in soil science). Even after I moved on to advanced coursework in soils, I found myself referring back to this.

If you have been assigned a soils text for a class, do not go with the abridged version of this, Elements of the Nature and Properties of Soils. It is 1/2 the book for 3/4 of the price (and at discounters the books are priced identically). If you plan to continue studies in the natural sciences, you will want this unabridged version. It's indispensable.

I first bought this book when we bought a property with trashed-out soil. I've since grown attached to this book, which I find myself referring to. It's clearly written, well organized, and covers so much information. I really think that you can't go wrong with this book, if you want to know about soil (be warned: it doesn't really cover soil microbiology, the living aspect of soil - I'd recommend the book by Robert Tate III; the copy I have is Soil Microbiology 2nd Ed. (c) 2000)

With that said - I've gone through other books but haven't found one that I'd compare to this one. It's just really well done.

My "Science of Soils" class at Stanford University (Autumn '01) used "The Nature and Properties of Soils" as our main textbook. It is clearly written, easy to read, and has lots of helpful figures (including graphs, diagrams, drawings, and black-and-white and color photos). The chapters are well organized, so that you can find exactly what you need to know. The authors include hundreds of websites for those who want more information, and make the book more readable by starting off each chapter with a quote and a "big picture" statement.

"The Nature and Properties of Soils" has a good mix of theoretical and practical information. Wherever possible, the authors do sample calculations and describe applications for agriculture, ecology, and engineering. They thoroughly cover every major topic in soil science, as well as delving into some more specialized ones (for example, symptoms of micronutrient deficiencies in plants).

In conclusion, I've found this textbook to be both very information-rich and very readable, and highly recommend it. (The other day I caught my boyfriend, who's a materials engineer, reading it for fun... that's about the highest accolade any textbook can get!)

The first time I ran into this book was at the public library, while serching reference material for my daughter's science project. I found the book so helpful that I checked it out again for my own use. The third time I said: "I have to have my own copy." The 13th edition is now on its way.

I'm an agronomist.Here in Brazil, I read this book.
This book is long and has many informations.
Every agronomist must read, a book such as this.
At least in ediction that I read, this book has a big failure.This book is weak about tropical soils.
For american reality, I think this book deserves 5 stars.
Well, I live in Brazil.I'll give four stars for it.