Hoffman Books

I got this based on recs at another site. honestly, I was underimpressed when I read the recipes. I've been using a crockpot for several years and consider myself a relatively good cook without using recipes much...the recipes to me appeared to be very similar to what I already throw together. but...the minor changes have helped me to make the most delicious food...in fact, yesterday I made the brisket with picante sauce (I really didn't want to make it but had already purchased the ingredients) oh my gosh, it was delicious. I would highly recommend this everyone - even get it for people as a wedding gift. I am so glad I gave this a chance...

I have tried a couple of recipes out of this book and the spaghetti meat sauce was excellent. However, the layout of the book itself is terrible. It's a paperback book and I prefer cookbooks that will stay open on the counter such as spiral bound. I also like slick, glossy pages in cookbooks as they stay cleaner. It really bothers me that the size of crockpot needed for each recipe is not stated. Some cookbooks state which sizes are necessary. I just have to figure it out based on the number of servings, but I wish it were stated in the recipe. The center of this edition has some color pictures that are on glossy pages, but they are staring to fall out of the book. The book is not very well-made.

Of all my slow cooker cookbooks, this is the one that basically gathers dust on the shelf.

Was somewhat disappointed in this book. I had ordered it to replace one I previously had and it has been revised. Several of the recipes that were in it before are now gone. I also don't remember the print being so small.

I bought this book because I couldn't find my original after moving. It's a great cookbook except for the size, it is a pocket book. WAY too small for a kitchen cook book. My fault for not looking at the discription closer, guess I will check out the used ones, maybe I can find a decent original. It rates 5 stars but I gave it 3 because of the size.

Hoffman's recipes sound delicious, but in fact are often flavorless. If you use her recipes, you WILL learn slow cooking tecniques (stacking meat in the pot, thickening sauces, etc). But after 7 years of using this book, my notes on the recipes have a continual refrain: "Needs more pizzaz"; "Add vegetables"; "Flavors need more depth".

The story starts out in Boston Massachutus, and then eventually takes place in a small bumpkin town called Unity, where the story centers around the main characters and an entire town made up of individuals and their famlies.

Stella Avery has just turned thirteen and has developed a gift for seeing the forcoming death of other people before it happens. She sees a girl in a resteraunt while eating with her dad who will die from her throat being slit. She tells her dad to inform the police, thus getting her dad in major trouble eventually leading to his arrest.

To escape the press, Stella and her mom Jenny move back to the place where Jenny grew up with Jenny's mother, Elinor Sparrow, who has a strained relationship with Jenny. The house is called Cake House, a beautiful home out in the country filled with family secrets.

Here is where things begin to really happen. Once Jenny and Stella return to Unity, the story centers around various characters and families within the town. The sparrow family is famous for having daughters born with unnatural gifts, such as Jenny being able to dream other peoples dreams, and Elinor being able to spot a liar.

At first, I'll be honest, I was a little bored with this book, but it eventually started to real it in with its unique characters and their painful lives, as well as the lush detail describing the beautiful town, the mayflies, bumblees, the marsh, the lake, etc.

People who are into soap operas and stories with many different characters would enjoy this story. Its a beautiful story that tells of love: love lost, and love gained, as well as death, forgiveness, and new beginnings.

I found this book at a book sale and thought it sounded like a good story. Well, I was wrong. It is a GREAT story!

The plot hearkens back to the day when a young girl walks out of the woods and into a colonial New England town. She has the ability to call the birds to her (sparrows) and thus is given the last name of Sparrow. From her untimely death to the present each of her female descendents is given a special ability on her thirteenth birthday. Each one is unique and serves a different purpose.

This story centers around Stella who is six generations descended from Rebecca. Stella's unique ability is being able to see how a person will die. This reader followed with keen interest the blend of past and present in an attempt to turn what could be a tragic gift into one that serves a more noble purpose.

The characters in this book are well defined and memorable. The setting is pure Massachussets.

I enjoyed this book so much that I've gone ahead and purchased five more by Ms. Hoffman.

I'm not a big fan of "magic realism" so this book was always going to be a hard sell for me. It tells the story of a family of women, the "Sparrows" each of whom develops a special gift when they turn 13. The grandmother can instantly detect lies; the mother sees other peoples' dreams and the daughter sees how people will ultimately die. Previous generations also had "superpowers" of various kinds.
The story takes place in the misty, dreamy, magical town of Unity, Massachusetts, where nothing is as it seems. The best aspect of this book for me were the descriptions of this strange place -- the smell of the vegetation in the woods, the different kinds of rains that fall, the mist, the humid fragrant air, the bees, the frogs, the orchids and roses and the strange smell of water that clings to the Sparrow women.
That's the plus: on the other side of the ledger, the plot is laughably predictable. There wasn't a single development I didn't see coming 60 pages in advance. Everything is ultimately tied up neatly and happily like a Christmas present wrapped with a bow. The characters are also very weak. Each one is a kind of walking cliche. There is the serious brother and the wastrel (the men in this book are particularly poor), the good doctor, the evil murderer etc etc.
I was tired of this book by the end. I admired some of the writing but it didn't add up to a satisfying novel.

I really loved the characters in this Alice Hoffman novel. She always brings such life and magic into her stories, they live in my mind for a long time after I put the book down. The three generation of Sparrow women and their history is rich and wonderful. This story has a side of mystery to it as well. You'll never look at bees the same way again! Lose yourself in the story of "Cake House" and it's gardens. I really didn't want it to end. Great book for teen/young adult readers as well.

This book tells the story of the "Sparrow" women. Each new representative of this family (who are always women, because for some reason they cannot bear male children) develops a unique gift on the night of their 13th birthday. Grandma knows for sure when someone is telling a lie; Mom experiences other peoples' dreams and her daughter can instantly detect lies.
The male characters are uninteresting. There are two brothers -- one is a spendthrift who is comically irresponsible -- he can't even do the dishes. His brother is the exact opposite. Neither is even remotely realistic.
The author is great at evoking the dreamy town of Unity, Massachusetts, a magical place where the unusual is routine. We smell of the vegetation and I loved the way she differentiates between different kinds of rain. The town is swathed in mist, the air is humid and fragrant. Bees and frogs have almost magical powers, weird and unique orchids and roses bloom and mother earth does her fervid work.
I was enjoying these descriptions which reminded me a little of Gabriel Garcia Marquez which is high praise indeed. But let's not get carried away. I found the characters very one-dimensional and the plot was awfully hackneyed. Every development is signaled well in advance; there are no surprises here. This author can definitely write. But can she describe real people with real dilemmas doing real things?
The jury is still out.

After looking for a good proxy 2 book and looking through many books to find the right one, I ended up using this book. As other reviewers have commented, this book is a little more geared for the person working with the product day to day. It gives you a good grasp of proxy. I used it as a certification book, and it was also pretty good in conjunction with other material that I used...namely transcenders. Proxy is a big subject and there are a lot of things to cover. This book covered them well, but it could be longer. Actually most of the books out there on proxy could be longer too. The writing of the authors could be a little bit better. Give me a little more narrative in parts before jumping to the technical details right off. Other readers may prefer jumping right to the details right away though. The bottom line though is that this is a very good book that didn't leave anything out. If there was a better answer and question section, it would get a five.

Use this book, set up and play with a Proxy 2 server, use the PC Age prep test, and in two weeks time you can pass the test. I passed with a 897, this was the last test for my MSCE+I!!!!

About three weeks ago I was tasked with setting up a proxy server. Being this was the first time ever doing this I was a bit nervous. I tried to get help on the phone and was unsuccessful, I open this book and within fours hours I had the proxy server up and running.

Learning about the server layout and services as well as what goes into the planning of the server was the first real exposure to proxy server. I then read and read the section on installation and administration.

Other topics I looked were packet filtering, setting up multiple servers on the LAN and the client installs, having proxy server and exchange server work together, how and what to monitor, how to optimize the server and there was even a section pertaining to the troubleshooting of the server.

Overall this book has been a big help to so far. Also included is a cd rom with practice question should you decide to take the MCP certification.

Proxy server is for most one of the last exams to be taken by budding MCSErs. I am one of them. After burying one's head in books for severval months, one gains knowledge and experience to weed out the good publications from the bad. This book is good, not great. There are numerous typos and some of the screen dump illustrations are in a foreign language! One can still wade through these though. The book is thinner than most other MCSE titles, but do not let its small size fool you, it is a heavy read. Comes complete with CBT training module, but it is much better to pick up the demo for Proxy Server from Microsoft and get real hands-on experience instead of clicking through some module. One of the biggest disappointments for me was the lack of a *.pdf version of the book. All of my other study guides came with a *.pdf version which is invaluable for searching through the 100's of pages of text quickly. Without this file, thumbing through the text and index seemed like going back to the dark ages and really slowed my study to a snail's pace when trying to cross reference.

The book was a good read. It really explains the whole deal but only in a practical sense. You will get a good understanding of Proxy but if you are looking to pass 70-088, you will need more than the book. There are topics on the test that are not covered in the book and it would be in anybodys best interest to use multiple sources to study. I used the book, Technet documents and Transcenders (as a study guide, DONT JUST LEARN THE QUESTIONS). By using multiple study sources the test is relatively easy. I got an 867. In taking sample questions, I studied the subjects that I was weak in. I found many topics missing from the book. Good luck to all

I read about a third of this book and quite. It was boring. C.J. had the eithics of a slug and I kept wondering about the poor blind Beagle. The dog was mentioned right up front - then never heard about again. C.J. and Dom lived on the 12th floor! They're coming and going all hours of the day and night - hello! What happened to the dog? Even blind dogs need to be walked. And fed. How anyone can write about a serial killer and make it boring I'll never know. It sure didn't hold my attention.

I really enjoyed this book. It is a page turner if there has ever been one. One positive complaint, too many law enforcement acronyms. Other than that I can only say good things about the book. It's really good!

You must read "Retribution" by the same author first!
Very thrilling and a great read! I couldn't wait to get my hands on this sequel after I finished Retribution and I was not disappointed! Here is the synopsis of the book taken directly from the author's website [...] so that I don't give away anything I shouldn't.

"It's been three years since a string of brutal serial murders thrust Miami into the unwanted glare of the international spotlight. Three years since the largest manhunt in the history of the city was launched to find a sadistic killer, and as a monster now awaits his fate behind bars on death row, Miami has finally begun to heal.

But terror has returned to Miami and a new killer stalks the city. Except this one is different. This one hunts the hunters, the designated protectors of society, the men and women who keep watch during the deadly nighttime hours...

He hunts the police.

Cops are dying -- brutally murdered while on patrol -- and it seems the killer nicknamed The Black Jacket has only just begun. Florida Department of Law Enforcement Special Agent Dominick Falconetti heads up a task force of Miami's most experienced homicide detectives, as the shaken law enforcement community demands justice.

Details at the crime scenes point to a possible drug connection, and when a highly placed gang member disappears, Dominick finds corruption may be the unfortunate and unavoidable answer.

C. J. Townsend, the Miami-Dade SAO Major Crimes prosecutor he has loved for the past three years -- ever since they met on the infamous Cupid investigation -- is getting the calls in the middle of the night as well. As the Assistant State Attorney who put Miami's last serial killer behind bars, she's the logical choice to help stop this one. But before too long, a terrified C.J. begins to suspect that there may be another reason why cops are being viciously murdered. Only she can't tell. Because the explosive secret she possesses can never be revealed, lest a madman go free..."

Jilliane Hoffman rightly shot to fame following the publication of her first novel RETRIBUTION. The Last Witness is not only her second work, but it follows the same storyline and employs the same characters. The problem for me is that while Retribution seemed to have been written from the heart, the follow-up has been written almost entirely from the head.

We're back in Miami serial-killer territory again, only this time the victims are police officers who were involved in the arrest, trial and conviction of "Cupid" from the first book. We've moved on 3 years, which is how long Cupid has been on Death Row. Central character CJ Townsend, an Assistant State Attorney just as the author herself was, inevitably but reluctantly becomes involved in the hunt for a killer nicknamed the 'Black Jacket'. She's assisted by her (mostly) live-in lover Dominick Falconetti, a Special Agent from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

There is never any doubt about Ms Hoffman's knowledge of her subject matter. She is almost relentless in her descriptions of investigative methodology and cross-agency politics. She's been there herself, and it leaves me wondering how much of the story lines have been adapted from real-life experiences. Some will find this attention to detail impressive, but to me there was just too much of it and there wasn't enough passion - something that Redemption did not lack.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, my expectations were sky-high but unfortunately it turned out to be less than special, bordering on a by-the-numbers crime thriller. We already know that the writer can do better than this, let's hope she does next time round.

I really enjoyed Hoffman's first book, Retribution, but like other readers, I found the repetition of that story to be annoying. Having said that, it was necessary to bring first time readers into the plot from the first book. What bothered me more was the big reveal at the end of who the second Cupid murderer was. I thought the link between the two killers was poorly developed and didn't make much sense to me. Plus at some point, and I find this with so many of these thrillers, you start to wonder - how many evil murderers will target this one DA or policeman? The suspense over whether or not C.J. Townsend is going to survive another attack is very minimal, since we know she is the heroine and this is a suspense series. I tend to enjoy the stand alone books, because they can kill off characters more easily and therefore create more suspense.

Also, the sheer number of times now that C.J. Townsend has compromised her legal integrity and withheld information makes me dislike her. Sure, Bantling is worse and needs to remain in prison, but in my mind she is far from sympathetic. Her responses are also becoming predictable. I can already predict the third installment - C.J. keeps Dominick at a distance during the re-trial of Bantling, has bags under her eyes from all the stress, guilt for her legal indiscretions...In the third installment, I wish Hoffman would mix it up a little!

I highly recommend "They Were White and They Were Slaves" because this information seems to be either forgotten or ignored.

In the colonial era, English merchant ships imported sugar and tobacco from the Americas to Britain. After the cargo was delivered to Europe, do you think those ships returned to the West Indies empty? Whites kidnapped in Britain were the return-haul operation.

Kidnapping in port cities became an industry, with "press gangs" roaming the streets. You might want to read Robert Louis Stevenson's "Kidnapped." The word "kidnapper" was coined in Britain in the 1600s to describe those who captured and sold white children into slavery.

This book reveals that as many a 2/3 of original American colonists from 1609 to 1800 did not come of their own free will. The term "indentured servitude" is a euphemism. Indentured servants were permanent lifetime slaves, and that's how they referred to themselves. Runaways had ears cut off or were branded with an "R" on their cheek. Families were often separated. There was whipping, iron collars and chains.

Other eras are covered, going back before 1000 A.D. The book also has some interesting information about the African slave trade. Expensive Negroes were better treated than Whites, who were obtained for free.

The fault in the book is in the organization, which is neither strictly chronological nor geopraphical. The book has an impressive bibliography.

Mention slavery in American history and no doubt you will conjure up visions of middle passage slave ships feeding the rotting black bodies to the sharks, abusive slave owners on southern plantations and perhaps even Kunta Kinta being whipped at the stake for refusing his newly assigned name. Few people would even entertain the notion of white slaves in American history, but Michael Hoffman's 1993 book, THEY WERE WHITE AND THEY WERE SLAVES exposes little known facts about the abhorrent practice of slave owning in America.

Hoffman's books goes far beyond slavery in the United States, however, giving an indepth chronicle of white slavery throughout history. The book begins with the Greeks and continues on with white slavery by the Romans, the Arabs, who also implemented the practice of slave castration, the Franks, Vikings, African Kings, and yes, American colonials and eventually, American Indians.

Hoffman also gives an indepth explanation as to why white slavery in American history has been all but swept under the rug. The book is well written, very well researched and lends critical understanding to anyone who truly wants to have an informed and balanced view of our slavery history.

One can see Mr. Hoffman straining to keep up with the intellectual Jonses, never realizing that they are no wiser than he--just smarter, and more easily disguise their shallowness with broad coverage. Mr. Hoffman cannot disguise his own littleness of penetration (though, incredibly, I think he has hidden it from himself).

Poorly researched, and unconvincingly written, and philosophically immature. Mr. Hoffman is bowled over by what he thinks is a New Enlightenment; he is a slave to revisionist history trends; he really thinks his reductionism is The Truth; reminds me of when I was a kid, and I thought my family was correct in its understanding of the world; period. Most of us come of age, and put away childish things. Some become innerlecktuals and join a new family which soothes guilt with sentimentality and cynicism. Would be a funny combination--if there weren't those many like Hilary Clinton, sentimental to the public, and cynical with their clique and power hungry within. These intellectuals are a dangerous breed. Fortunately for Mr. Hoffman, he appears to be just one of the misguided small-minded multitude, who combine the two attributes into a hodge-podge of meaningless chatter--but still manage to impress their just-as-gullible peers.

The Forgotten Cause of the Civil War: A New Look at the Slavery Issue

Hoffman has raised a very important issue - white slavery - that is ignored and played down in our schools because it doesn't suit the political agendas of any powerful elites. Americans are led to believe that, if you were white, slavery was the last thing you had to worry about. False! I also recommend The Forgotten Cause of the Civil War by Lawrence R. Tenzer as another great work on the political ramifications of white slavery.

The main thing this book documents is the history of white slavery in North America, England and the Carribean during the same time period the African slave trade was underway using sources written during that time. Everything that you'll never hear about or that just gets glazed over by your local Universities history department.

The biggest lesson that racially concious white people need to take home with them after reading this book is that the elite white capitalists are your worst enemy. They are the main cause our races problems. Quit looking under every rock for a Jew. The overwhelming majority of these scumbags are white. This book is a must read.

After reading To Rescue A Rogue and loving it to death, how could I not read this one? And I am SO GLAD I did. I definitely don't get the reviewer who said Thea hated Cave. She tried to hate him, but it was obvious from the very beginning that she couldn't make herself do it. Aside from the physical attraction, she at first felt pity for him, though she didn't want to. But as she began to know him, she came to respect him. I also thought it was completely realistic for them to drop the engagement agreement that they made in the beginning of the book. As Thea had tried to tell him many times, it wouldn't have been believed because they weren't together enough. And an engagement became unnecessary after everyone started pitching in to help raise his reputation.

Ms. Beverly's books are character driven, which is as it should be since she excels at character development. But I've also found that her plots become more complicated as the book goes on. As with To Rescue A Rogue, this book started out being mostly about the development of the relationship and the hero's struggle to change something in his life, but complications kept arising that threatened a successful outcome for the hero. In both books, villians were responsible for the more serious complications and the heroines were in danger. My heart was pounding as it drew near the climax. There is no way I could have stopped reading the last 50 pages of this book--not even for a dinner break.

I don't know why it's taken me so long to discover Jo Beverly's books, but I'll probably make up for lost time. I just got 3 more of them and can't wait to dig in.

Really enjoyed reading this book...couldn't put it down. There was good chemistry between the characters, even if not a lot of steamy scenes. I will say that I sure wished I was the girl in that linen closet!! This was my first Jo Beverley book and I will read more. Al of the characters were great.

Read the great reviews & checked it out. Ugh. This book is way too long, the actual interactions between the hero & heroine make up maybe 30 pages of the over-400 (including the sex scene, all one of them!), the story is labored and slow. The basic premise is that Viscount Darian comes from a crazy and disgusting family & has decided to become socially acceptable so his younger brother (who we meet for maybe 5 pages throughout the entire book) can marry the girl of his dreams. Most of the story is made up of a bunch of boring people talking endlessly about whether or not he can be socially acceptable again & how to get him to that state. I kid you not, there is more yammering in this novel than I have ever read in any other romance novel before and I've read some real stinkers! The problem with Viscount Darien's redemption is that he can only accomplish it by saving the reputation of his worst enemy (whose crime is calling him names in elementary school). His worst enemy is named Dare and the constant switching back and forth between Dare and Darien is extremely confusing. Dare's sister agrees to pretend to be engaged to Darien for awhile so everyone thinks he's socially acceptable again, but somehow during the few minutes they're together she decides she loves him and he decides he can't love her because of his situation or some such confusing plot twist. Throw in a bunch of secondary characters who do lots of dumb and confusing actions and you pretty much sum up the book. I didn't understand all the references to events and other people scattered throughout the book, even having read at least one of the prior books (which I found equally boring & confusing). There are couple of obligatory scenes in which Darien thinks fond thoughts about his younger brother, but it's not enough for a person to believe that he would completely change his lifestyle to help him. Other things in the book disrupt what little flow it has--the girl is so prim & proper that she has a fit when her corsets and her dress don't match, yet she has all kinds of wild sex in a closet with Darien at a ball they attend together (including the types of stuff that a proper young lady of the Victorian era would probably have not been too interested in during her first experiences with the opposite sex). Enough said. I can't believe I wasted so much time finishing this book as it just dragged on & on & on. Don't make my mistake! Read something else!

I just loved this book. I loved all the Rogues but this one and Dare's story (To Rescue a Rogue) was my favorites. You never know what's going to happen next in this book. I laughed out loud at several times and will surely add this one to my "keepers". If you haven't read all of the Rouges, you need to definitely need to start from the beginning!

Lady Beware was very interesting in the beginning but slow in many parts.
It is not a page-turner, but if you like Jo Beverley probably you will like this one.
But, Beware of this romance if beautiful love scenes are important to you because there is just one love scene and it is very mild.

A very good book to help figure out one's own psychology. Paying attention to one's own responses to this book while reading it can help untangle one's own "messes" both of head and heart. Hoffman's work makes me think of what "Women Who Run with the Wolves" would be like if it were a novel.

Nina Kiriki Hoffman is a terrific writer and I am glad that I purchased this book.

If you've already read this and are looking for similar books, I fear you'll be disappointed. Hoffman's novels are quite unique. That said, read the rest of her books, especially Past the Size of Dreaming and Stir of Bones. These are also about Matt and Edmund. Brother to Dragons, Companion to Owls by Jane Lindskold, many stories & novels by Charles de Lint, say The Ivory and the Horn or Trader, the anthology The Armless Maiden ed. by Terri Windling who also wrote The Woodwife, a novel. Like Hoffman, these are urban fantasies. Where magic and faerie exists alongside McDonald's and malls and homeless people.

Matt (who is a woman, but since she's homeless she dresses and presents as a man) and Edmund have magic that most people can't see. Edmund calls his Spirit. Is that the Holy Spirit? Maybe. They don't say. Do other people think they're mentally ill? Matt's spent some time in hospitals. They're warm and serve meals, but since she can ask trash cans and dumpsters to give her their freshest food, finding food isn't a problem for her. Edmund's car takes care of him, in a very real way.

The magic in this book isn't like Gandalf's or even Harry Dresden's, it isn't *big.* But it is transformative of several lives. Maybe yours too?

I love everything by Nina Hoffman, and this book is probably my favorite; she has such an amazing command of fantasy. "A Red Heart of Memories" combines unique and fascinating fantasy elements with reality and the issues people face. Her characters are never shallow, and the complexities of their personalities help the story move in unexpected directions. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves unique fantasy - something different than what is typically out there in the fantasy world.

Although the setting of this well-written novel is the modern world, it is a modern world with a rich, pagan spirituality. But the heart of the story is the redemption that occurs when painful memories are faced. Resolutions are but too tidy, perhaps. While the worldview undergirding the story is pagan, the ethics are, in the main, traditional. Loyalty, home, forgiveness, understanding, tolerance: all all valued; child molestation, murder, and magical curses are understood to be wrong. There is no sex, although one of the protagonists thinks about sex (though not graphically). Magic helps the protagonists find redemption, but since in reality there is no magic (at least as described in the book), the reader may wonder whether humanity can really find redemption without divine aid.

Undoubtedly, the best work on the Masonic, Jewish conspiracy there is. Hoffman's work is original, unique, hard-hitting, and something one can read repeatedly, and always find something new.

Hoffman takes the reader from the dark cauldrons of John Dee to the occult trail of Route 66, to JFK to Son of Sam. This work is a refreshing, fascinating look at the modern world from a traditionalist perspective. The author is obviously extremely well-read, and understands the current state of affairs better than anyone else I've seen. This is not your typical Alex Jones, David Duke, Pat Buchanan look at Zionism and the new world order slave state. This book thoroughly covers the occult ritual all of us have been taken on, by OTO Satanists to Judaic Kabbalists, to an American people that have been repeatedly psychologically raped by the inner sanctum of political witchcraft. This is a look at the inner workings, the darkest objectives, the most psychotic, mind-boggling demonic events that are "out of style" for discussion amongst the latest wave of 9-11 neophyte truth-seekers.

The reader can only leave this book with a completely new world-view, even if you already thought you had it all figured out. Even if you are not a Christian, this book will make believe in the supernatural, because only someone completely possessed could be responsible for the hell described in what I consider to be Hoffman's best work, "Secret Societies and Psychological Warfare" -the number one book on the Cryptocracy.

Because I study collegiate history and mystical orders, secret societies and such, I thought this book and "revisionist history" would be interesting. However, this book is poorly researched, and the terminology is inconsistent. Having previously studied many of the subjects and organizations mentioned in this book, it is easy for me to see that the author either only skims or deliberately obfuscates both the terms he uses and the connections he professes to exist between various organizations and agencies.

The author must have only skimmed the surface of the organization known as "The OTO," because he makes no differentiation between the legitimate, legally recognized OTO (see book: "The Equinox: The Review of Scientific Illuminism : The Official Organ of the O.T.O. Number 10") and the "Typhonian OTO" of Kenneth Grant. There are several supposed "OTO" organizations, several of which are very misleading.

The author of this book attempts to obfuscate the fact that he refers to several "OTO" organizations as one organization; this is absolutely false, therefore he either needs to do much more research or he is deliberately making stuff up.

I also found that his usage of the term "Twilight Language" makes no sense, because he obviously has not studied the various aspects of what he attributes this term to; in other words, he attempts to apply the term to several different incompatible scenarios. He stretches shaky concepts and fills empty research with gleaned fodder from conspiracy theories.

There is no question that he neglected to properly research the OTO, yet he does mention some interesting people who actually were connected with the legitimate OTO (such as John/Jack Parsons).

This entire book can only be taken with a grain of Salt, however it is interesting, and could be a decent book if it were properly researched instead of thrown-together in such a sloppy manner. The photo copies are so blurry that they add nothing of value to the book. Mimeograph copies would be easier to decipher--the pictures mostly look like ink blots.

Over all, this is a very poorly written book, minimally researched, and the photos are abysmal; however, those with more knowledge may be interested in acquiring this book as a good laugh, and a collector's item. The author's conclusions and theories are highly dubious, silly in many cases, but entertaining.

If you purchase the book as part of a Truth Quest, you will be highly disappointed, because it is mostly bunk; however, if you purchase the book as entertainment, and for the subcultural context, this can be a fun read.

The author cannot be taken seriously, yet the book could lead to personal research, by branching off his work, following names and organization names the author uses. The overall impression I had was that the author was trying too hard, and adding too many layers of justification for his theories (because they are weak); the more he adds on to the original premise, the shakier his foundation becomes. More than anything, however, he completely undercuts any validity by blatantly mixing up facts; this can easily be verified by doing a few Internet searches. He simply lumps various groups together as a whole, thus undermining his own attempts to convince the reader. Clearly defined organizations are thrown into a blender by the author, thus resulting in mush and nonsense. Also, a trend that I am seeing in this genre is that authors will make a statement about Charles Manson, then tack-on a completely unconnected statement about the OTO, in order to trick Lazy readers into thinking the two statements are connected. This is an old trick, and follows the tradition of using outdated (proven false) nonsense such as The Leo Taxil Hoax which permeates Anti-Mason and Anti-Occult writings.

Much like authors who attempt to use false premises such as the Baphomet Taxil Hoax to promote Anti-Masonry and Anti-Occult rhetoric, this author uses false techniques to attempt to trick the reader into mentally connecting two independent statements about different groups into one visually constructed (misleading and false) statement, through word construction tricks.

This is a light read to be taken lightly, and with a grain of Salt.

Interesting book. As above, Vigoda got it right. Read this book on a dark windy night and wonder what tomorrow brings.

The other reviewers pretty much summed it up already: This book is THE classic. Read in combination with the other classics: Rule By Secrecy by Jim Marrs, Behold a Pale Horse by William Cooper, The Carnivals of Life and Death by James Shelby Downard, Programmed to Kill by David McGowan, Lucifer Dethroned by William Schnoebelen, etc. And find out, for one thing, what everyone is talking about, and also, who is controlling the world, how they operate, and how they communicate to people in the know that they are there operating. Hard to explan, go ahead and read to find out. Becoming fleunt in translating the cryptocracy's twilight language definetely adds another dimension to perspective, and to existence. If you think that Skull & Bones members like George Wanker Bush are good Christians simply because they said so in front of a Fix Noose Fox News camera, then maybe you should start thinking for yourself a bit. I thought the Bible said not to kill, let alone by the thousands of boatloads. Many people seem to think of the few elitists controlling and demolishing the rest of the world as saints, strange opinion on your part. How about you find out how they are nomadic pedophocratic satanists with no national obligations whatsoever? Pop yourself out of the matrix, through the rabbit hole, reclaim your own mind and keep in mind, billionaires with nothing but time on their hands communicate occassionally to us lowly commonfolk, albeit in a sick and psychotic way. Start here. For uninitiates and Inititates alike, the real deal, 10 stars.

Was so excited at the premise of this book, but could not stomach it after a couple of chapters (VERY rare for me). A pro-life, Christian agenda slithers beneath the surface. Very irresponsible, opinionated "journalism".

Wen Ho Lee, who helped develop the software used to design nuclear bombs at Los Alamos, becomes the target of suspected leaks of national security material. Admittedly he is not without blame for compromising highly classified material, but, according to Stober and Hoffman, it is unlikely he was a Chinese spy. Unfortunately for him Lee becomes the number one suspect in a political witch hunt despite the absence of any credible evidence.

Because President Carter wanted to "cultivate...an Eastern counterweight to Soviet power,"(52) Chinese and American laboratories, once shrouded in the utmost secrecy, were opened to exchange visits of high level weapons experts. Lee and other scientists traveled frequently back and forth between the countries and Lee even began sharing "Applied Technology" to China. This was not secret material but should not have been sent without approval. More troublesome, Lee, apparently for his own personal reasons, also began to shift secret coded material from the secure side to unsecured files in the laboratory's computers. This went undetected for years, but his name only became known to the FBI when he telephoned Gwo Bao Min who was under investigation for espionage under the code name "Tiger Trap." In many ways Lee set himself up for what was to come.

The FBI meanwhile was getting nervous about the freewheeling interactions of scientists and the GAO was concerned with the lack of background checks being performed on visitors. The DOE became involved when Notra Trulock, in charge of intelligence and counterintelligence, embarked on a mission to ferret out the "mole," convinced the design of the nation's most advanced warhead, the W88, had been stolen by the Chinese. Described as "the kind of man who could mistake a possibility for a certainty,"(114) Trulock, ignoring the cautionary advice of others and lied to the FBI to further the investigation. His assistant Dan Bruno was so bumbling that only the people whose travel records from Los Alamos came under investigation, with Lee as the target. The ultimate miscue came as a result of political infighting between President Clinton and the Republican Congress over Clinton's China policy in support of the comprehensive Test ban Treaty.

If this were a script for Peter Sellers playing the role of Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther, the humorous miscues of the Wen Ho Lee "investigation" could not get any better. The script would only have to meld the CIA, FBI, DOE actions into the character of Inspector Clouseau to make it work.

Dan Stober and Ian Hoffman raise many questions about the relationship of scientists and their work. In the Wen Ho Lee matter the critical issue was the balance between national security and personal liberty. This and other issues raised in the affair could as easily be applied to industrial, medical, or any other scientific inquiry. Since industrial espionage is as likely as spying, security can be sensitive in any facility, whether public or private, when confidentiality is important.

When it is necessary how do you maintain confidentiality while simultaneously encouraging scientific interchange? This can prove to be a delicate balance. Stober and Hoffman argue that Lee, while charged with spying, was merely eager to "share what he knew."(24) When the rules are too restrictive, scientists may simply chose to ignore them. At Los Alamos, to get around laws they thought to be too restrictive, scientists began to stamp material as "PARD, Protect AS Restricted Data. This was not a security classification, but it allowed easier access and sharing.

Keeping research a secret is always a problem. One way is to compartmentalization the work. This technique was resisted by Oppenheimer during the development of the atom bomb. On the other hand, "China's weapons physicists and academic physicists were separate communities, unknown to each other."(48) Other methods of controlling secret data may be through travel restrictions, implementation of a stringent classification system, limiting the chance of personal contacts (Lee was jailed), or voluntarily limiting publication, as early atom scientists did. Institutional rivalry may even present a serious challenge in maintaining security: "At Livermore there was an expression that said it all: `Always remember, the Soviets are the competition, but Los Alamos is the enemy.'"(40)

Who decides what needs to be secret? Should it be the scientists, politicians, government, contractors, all of them, or others? Scientists themselves do not always agree on what is sensitive. They "warned Congress that the line between basic science and real, practical weapons was blurry."(245) But Stober and Hoffman point out that Von Neumann's work was "mathematics, not nuclear bomb secrets,"(34) yet it was highly classified for years. Fortunately for Lee, John Richter, a renown physicist, provided contradictory testimony that the real nuclear secrets were intuitive knowledge, not the codes that Lee had copied. At Los Alamos, scientists "harbored a growing disdain for government authorities and lawmakers who seemed to think everything about a bomb was a state secret."(35)

Los Alamos security was based on an honor system with ineffective oversight. Prosecutors argued "the system operated on a `sacred' trust and Wen Ho Lee had violated that trust."(262) But compounding the breach, human failure prevented a screening system from catching Lee's transfer of files to an unsecured system. Stober and Hoffman speculate Lee may have wanted to use classified materials in a consulting business he wished to establish though his real reasons remain a mystery.

Some of the problems that may arise in trying to balance the varied interests of scientific research, security, and intelligence are evident in A Convenient Spy. Wen Ho Lee became a scapegoat for the ineptness of those responsible for overseeing security; so much so that Judge Parker was compelled to apologize to Lee. "The Executive branch has enormous power, the abuse of which can be devastating to our citizens....I sincerely apologize to you, Dr. Lee."(330)

This book could have been the definitive, unbiased account of this whole ugly situation. Unfortunately, the authors appear to have had very little access to Lee himself, or his family, and so this book does not feel complete. This book is strongest when discussing the failings of the FBI and CIA, but it is weaker when discussing its main subject, Wen Ho Lee. Stober and Hoffman's depiction of Lee sometimes seems unnecessarily dark, like the shadowy picture of Lee on the book cover. For example, they exonerate him as a spy, but repeatedly mention that Lee was a mediocre talent at the labs. It's not clear why this even matters, but even if it did, Los Alamos is an elite lab that could have hired anybody it wanted - even an average performer there is probably quite decent by outside standards.

I also wonder how well the authors understand Lee and his background. For example, they accept at face value reports that Lee was seen hugging a foreign weapons scientist, suggesting suspicious intimacy with the "enemy". But Lee himself always strenuously denied that the "hug" ever took place, and Lee himself comes from a generation and a culture where public displays of intimacy are not terribly common. Hoffman and Stober choose to believe a culturally incongruous report, and not Lee. Why?

Did Stober and Hoffman not push hard enough for more access to Lee and his family? Was Lee advised by his lawyers not to talk to Stober and Hoffman? Whatever the case, this book missed a golden opportunity to present two complete sides of a very complicated case. The authors probably did the best they could with the material they had, and their descriptions of Lee's egomaniac accusers Notra Trulock and Bill Richardson are very eye-opening. However, the title should be reversed to "The Politics of Nuclear Espionage, and Wen Ho Lee".

The books fails to cover the security aspects
of the Wen Ho Lee case accurately. This is
more dissappointing considering Hoffman did
covered the security aspects at the Los Alamos Labs
in his original newspaper articles but such
coverage did not make it to this book.

Hoffman and Stober incorrectly refers to Wen Ho Lee's
data as classified when infact the data was technically
not considered classifed when Wen Ho Lee was working
on them. Data security at Los Alamos is defined at
multiple levels. While Wen Ho Lee had a very high
security clearance, the software and data Wen Ho
Lee was working with was defined as "Protected As
Restricted Data"(PARD) which is not considered
classified but one step below it. Classified data
at the lab was defined as "Classified Restricted
Data" (CRD). The files that Wen Ho Lee copied onto
the infamous tapes were all PARD; however, after
the FBI found his backup tape notebook - the DOE
retroactively redefined the tapebackup data files
as CRD and "Top Secret"(TS). This allowed the
FBI to prosecute Wen Ho Lee as a felon. The
government ploy was to intimidate Wen Ho Lee
in hopes that they could get Wen Ho Lee to
disclose a spy handler or a spy ring.

Much of the data at Los Alamos is listed as PARD
because none of the researchers wants to go over
the many lines of code to determine if there were
any secrets worth protecting. In the past, efforts
by DOE intelligence to eliminate the PARD
classification has met with resistance from most
of the scientists at the atomic labs because
researchers found PARD useful in reducing the
security workload (so they could focus on their
work at advancing science and weapon technologies).
IIRC while the installation of PARD data on non
classified computers was against security
regulations - it was not a felony - one might
could lose one's security level or at worst be
dismissed. Reportedly more often than not the

mishandling of PARD data would only bring a
reprimand. Prosecution's argument for treating
the Wen Ho Lee case differently was that a
massive amount of data was involve. However,
Many of the lab scientists who normally work
with massive amounts of data felt that the
prosecution of Wen Ho Lee amounted to an
abuse of power by security. To make such
matters worst, it was disclosed that CIA Dir
John Deutch was caught editing Top Secret documents
on home computer which was not approved
as a classified computer ( FBI officials were
relucant to prosecute Deutch. Deutch's case
was a source of embarassment to the Clinton
administration. John Deutch case was
closed when he was pardon by President Clinton.
Wen Ho Lee however was unable to get a
presidential pardon. )

Hoffman and Stober's puts a great deal of effort in
describing the case against Wen Ho Lee. The book
reads rather unevenly. In general, when the book
describes possible error or problems with government
agents like Trulock and Dan Bruno, the authors
immediately provide a defenses or alibi to deny
any wrongdoing or dismissing any error. However,
in general when the book presences evidence against
Wen Ho Lee the author do not provide any immediate
defense for Wen Ho Lee but rather tries to build
up Wen Ho Lee as the mystery man; the reader has
to wait until the end of the book for Wen Ho Lee's
defense. I suppose this was for dramatic buildup?
In writing this book the authors acknowlegde
they had immediate access to the government agents.
The book's acknowlegdement seems to indicate
that the authors did not have immediate access
to Wen Ho Lee - who was writing his own book
about his experience.

Some one has protested that the Authors were biased against Dr. Lee, I don't agree with that point.

The first time I found it two years ago, I immediately fell in love with this book. The beautiful writing, the amazing story and the vivid pictures of distinct characters, all have been inspiring me to think and to change even today.

My own conclusion:

He is not a spy. Why?

As a second generation of Chinese immigrant to Taiwan, Dr. Lee believes in his heart that he is superior to a Chinese, unfortunately (or fortunately), his moral (like majority of the Taiwanese), is as low as an ordinary Chinese in that "we" (Chinese and Taiwanese) both worship no God but money and authority.

Wen Ho Lee's own account ("my country versus me") as to why he wasn't spying for China was simply that China was such poor (at his time) that it wouldn't be wise, honorable or beneficial for him, such a smart guy, to work for the Chinese. This argument makes perfect sense to the majority of Chinese and Taiwanese because "we" are educated to think in this uniform way that I do something only because it is good for my own, "we" don't care whether it is good or evil, in "our" eyes, "we" see only the difference between the smartness and the stupidity, and by smartness, "we" mean specifically, though implicitly, that someone is able to observe the vulnerability of a system or the weakness of other people AND to take the advantage over it by some way no matter what. But his pale explanation does NOT make any sense to the people in this country. In this country, citizens are educated to do something because it is the right thing to do, NOT because he himself would necessarily benefit from doing it. Dr. Lee was unable to understand the way his own brain functions his own thinking style his own philosophy much less the way Americans are thinking, that's why he was so confused and frustrated that the American investigators would have hard time to believe his innocence while ordinary Chinese or Taiwanese would be easily convinced as soon as he speaks out loudly his "concrete" reason.

Surely Wen Ho Lee has broken the honor system, he violated the code of conduct, he destroyed the mutual trust that his colleagues at Los Alamos had graciously laid on him, but

He is not a spy for China; he doesn't have the guts,
He is not a spy for Taiwan; he doesn't have the moral,
He is not a spy for any country; he doesn't have the intelligence, Yet

He is a smart PhD (his own words) as far as "we" are concerned, in the sense of "our" culture and value. Consequently, everything he did was simply for himself, which is the unspoken common sense for both Chinese and Taiwanese, which explains everything!

Stober and Hoffman are professional reporters pursuing the truth, unencumbered by political ambitions or personal vendettas. Their rich descriptions of the many players and settings paint a colorful picture and make this serious drama come alive. I was amazed at so much: from the liberal flow of visitors and information so directly related to our Nation's defense to the bumbling incompetance during the investigation.

A must read for an objective and compelling look at this not-so-proud moment in American history.

As a professor of mathematics, I was recently assigned a section of our undergraduate linear algebra course; the last time I taught the course was twelve years ago. While doing the obligatory search for a course text, I have been surprised to see how the first course in linear algebra for mathematicians and scientists has "evolved" since I last taught it, at least insofar as that evolution is reflected through available and popular textbooks.

In one of the more popular linear algebra texts currently on the market (I will refrain from naming it), the formal definition of a vector space does not even occur until page 198, and this is not atypical. Looking through half a dozen of the more popular texts, one finds lengthy introductory chapters on vectors in R^n and their properties, basic matrix algebra, systems of linear equations, special algorithms for computing determinants and matrix inverses in efficient time, and significant space devoted to special matrix factorizations, such as the LU factorization. I would like to point out, without passing judgment, that this has not always been the case. Over time, the undergraduate course in linear algebra for mathematicians and scientists has evidently acquired a partial resemblance to the computational, non-proof-based course in "Matrix Algebra" that used to be offered to "casual users" of this area of mathematics at nearly all major universities.

Hoffman and Kunze's book was written for the undergraduate linear algebra course at MIT in the 1960s. Those of us who pursued graduate study in mathematics in the 1970s saw copies of this text, with its vivid purple stripes down the cover, on the shelves of virtually every serious graduate student. Simply put, Hoffman and Kunze was a "standard" undergraduate reference for decades, which continued to inform its readers well into graduate programs or professional careers.

The author of this review did not have the good fortune to use Hoffman and Kunze in a course, but I always had a copy at hand as a reference. My first linear algebra course, taken as a sophomore in the 1970s, used a text by Robert Stoll and Edward Wong (Academic Press, 1968). In Stoll and Wong, the definition of a vector space occurs on page 4, not on page 204. There is no preliminary chapter on basic matrix algebra; these computations are discussed as they arise, in context, when one chooses a basis for a vector space and therefore places coordinates on that space. The entire organization and conceptual structure of Stoll and Wong's book is worlds apart from the texts I have been reviewing of late. The same may be said of Hoffman and Kunze, and indeed of most of the popular linear algebra books from that period of time. This is why I am a bit disturbed when I read reviews that declare Hoffman and Kunze's classic text "outdated," "irrelevant," or "impossible to read." If the younger reviewers are comparing Hoffman and Kunze to most of the popular competitors that have been published in the past five years or so, then they are comparing a remnant apple to a crate of newly harvested oranges.

Against all odds, Hoffman and Kunze remains in print, 46 years after its first apperance. And this in an era when the typical college text remains in print for what seems like less than five years. There is a reason for this longevity. For serious students of mathematics and the mathematical sciences, this text remains invaluable. If one is going to be called upon to actually USE linear algbra in any substantive way (and by substantive I do not mean inverting a matrix or solving a system of two linear equations in two unknowns), then one eventually must learn about such things as dual spaces and double duals, cyclic decompositions and the Jordan canonical form, unitary operators, self-adjointness, the spectral theorem, and multilinearity and tensors. One cannot even find most of these topics in the most popular undergraduate texts currently available on the market; they appear to reach their summit when they discuss eigenvalues and eigenvectors. As a consequence, if a student in an advanced course in, say, differential geometry or differential equations is sent back to his or her linear algebra text to read about dual spaces or the Jordan canonical form, then it will be necessary to abandon the text with which he/she is familiar and refer to a more serious reference like Hoffman and Kunze. How terribly inefficient.

In the spirit of fairness, I must observe that the text Linear Algebra, 4th ed., by Friedberg, Insel and Spence is a currently available undergraduate text that is comparable to Hoffman and Kunze in coverage and rigor. It is an excellent text for a first course for mathematics majors---a true anomaly among a host of weaker competitors. However, the authors may dissuade many would-be users by their declaration in the preface that their text is "especially suited for a second course in linear algebra that emphasizes abstract vector spaces, although it can be used in a first course with a strong theoretical emphasis." The second undergraduate course in linear algebra is evidently becoming increasingly common; is this because the first course has been weakened to "matrix algebra" and therefore leaves the student unprepared to cope with advanced mathematical courses?

My sincere thanks go out to Prentice-Hall for keeping Hoffman and Kunze in print all these years. Linear algebra is the essential prerequisite for nearly all advanced mathematics, and it is good to see that at least one definitive reference remains available, even as market and societal forces in higher education bring about a clear, demonstrable devolution in the quality of introductory texts on the subject.

This was the textbook they used to use at MIT in the past few decades. Virtually, however, nobody uses this book in a regular undergraduate course anymore. Instead of developing the ideas in the familiar context of the real numbers, Hoffman and Kunze give a more abstract (and general) discussion. For example, the theorems about determinants work in all commutative rings. The rigorousness and the wealth of information are overwhelming for most undergraduates to handle. You will not learn anything if you just glance through the pages. Every line requires deep thought. Down-to-earth applications are not included. So I do not recommend this book for engineers.

This book is very rigorous and detailed. This book covers what usually is covered in 2 semesters of Linear Algebra, it covers introductory and advanced Linear ALgebra. I would not recommend it for someone who has not ever seen Linear Algebra because of the lack of concrete examples although I would highly recommend it for someone who has had Linear Algebra. This book is all the Linear Algebra you need up to a Master's degree in Mathematics. For Linear Algebra beginners I would recommend the following 2 books because no one book is good enough : "Elementary Linear Algebra" by Robert S. Johnson; and "Linear Algebra 3rd edition" by Fraleigh. Please see also "Linear Algebra, an applied first course 8th edition" page 447 for those of you intersted in Differential Equations.

A comphrensive introduction to the subject of linear algebra that every undergraduate should read. This book explains in detail the concepts that make up linear algebra and will be enjoyed immensely by anyone with an intrest in pure mathematics. Of course, since it is written from a pure point of view, the authors have made almost no mention of practical applications. This is a book soley for the mathematics student. This book has had a wonderful and profound impact on my views of mathematics and I can only give my heartfelt thanks to the authors for writing such a beautiful book. If you have an intrest in linear algebra and operator theory, buy this book! You will have a blast exploring the realm of pure mathematics and thank yourself later.

This book is the second edition. If I've done the math correctly, and I think I have, this is the edition that, sequentially, comes after the first edition. I found this book to be quite helpful, especially concerning Linear Algebra. Essentially, it covers the topic of linear algebra from the point of view that it took in the first edition, only slightly different because it is the second edition. The cover is also very nice to look at.