Meyer Books

I wasn't sure what this book would be about, but was pleasantly surprised. It caught my attention immediately and I read it in just two afternoons. I'm thinking about collecting pennies and sharing them, just as the main character in the book felt compelled to do.

I'm shocked.

I actually enjoyed a fiction book. It takes a lot for me to admit that.

Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford have outdone themselves with The Penny. I was actually drawn in from page one and my interest just progressed from there. I felt like I was in St. Louis with Jenny and Mrs. Shaw. I wanted to reach out and hug them. I wanted to be the one being ministered to by Mrs. Shaw and in a way it felt like I was.

This is a truly captivating tale of how God intricately weaves every thread of our lives together for a purpose. I sensed hope and joy as I read through each and every page. I could relate to each and every character and though the book is fiction the lessons are as real as my father in heaven.

I really enjoyed this book and I am sure you will too!

I know who Joyce Meyer is but have never read any of her books until The Penny. What a wonderful read! Detail where it needed to be without fluff. I looked forward to sitting down to read this book whenever I had a few minutes. It contains many wonderful thoughts and actions portrayed in a story of a troubled young girl. The reader can gain inspiration from all the characters involved that can be incorporated into daily life. This is a book I will keep to read again and buy another copy to pass among my friends.

I picked this book up because it takes place in St. Louis, where I grew up, so I thought I would enjoy that part of it. There are mentions of St. Louis and a few landmarks there, so I liked that part.

After reading the jacket of this book, I thought I would enjoy it and I did, but it was hard to read. Not in the sense where I was bored or it wasn't moving along fast enough, but because the main character (Jenny) is abused by her father. The author does a good job showing how it affects Jenny, her family and the dynamics of her house.

All in all, the story tells a good story about human kindness and being able to rise above life's challenges. I was kind of inspired by Jenny!

While some of the content is very dark this book was beautifully written. I am in my fifties and enjoyed recalling so many things I had forgotten about in my youth. I loved the characters and the plot. A great read and it gives you something to think about.

I wasn't sure what this book would be about, but was pleasantly surprised. It caught my attention immediately and I read it in just two afternoons. I'm thinking about collecting pennies and sharing them, just as the main character in the book felt compelled to do.

I'm shocked.

I actually enjoyed a fiction book. It takes a lot for me to admit that.

Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford have outdone themselves with The Penny. I was actually drawn in from page one and my interest just progressed from there. I felt like I was in St. Louis with Jenny and Mrs. Shaw. I wanted to reach out and hug them. I wanted to be the one being ministered to by Mrs. Shaw and in a way it felt like I was.

This is a truly captivating tale of how God intricately weaves every thread of our lives together for a purpose. I sensed hope and joy as I read through each and every page. I could relate to each and every character and though the book is fiction the lessons are as real as my father in heaven.

I really enjoyed this book and I am sure you will too!

I know who Joyce Meyer is but have never read any of her books until The Penny. What a wonderful read! Detail where it needed to be without fluff. I looked forward to sitting down to read this book whenever I had a few minutes. It contains many wonderful thoughts and actions portrayed in a story of a troubled young girl. The reader can gain inspiration from all the characters involved that can be incorporated into daily life. This is a book I will keep to read again and buy another copy to pass among my friends.

I picked this book up because it takes place in St. Louis, where I grew up, so I thought I would enjoy that part of it. There are mentions of St. Louis and a few landmarks there, so I liked that part.

After reading the jacket of this book, I thought I would enjoy it and I did, but it was hard to read. Not in the sense where I was bored or it wasn't moving along fast enough, but because the main character (Jenny) is abused by her father. The author does a good job showing how it affects Jenny, her family and the dynamics of her house.

All in all, the story tells a good story about human kindness and being able to rise above life's challenges. I was kind of inspired by Jenny!

While some of the content is very dark this book was beautifully written. I am in my fifties and enjoyed recalling so many things I had forgotten about in my youth. I loved the characters and the plot. A great read and it gives you something to think about.

Betsy D. review of Curse of the Blue Tattoo by L.A. Meyer, March 17, 2008

*SPOILER WARNING

This book was amazing, a five star book indeed. If you want to fully understand this book however I suggest that you read the first book of this series Bloody Jack.

When Jacky Faber is found as being a girl on the ship they drop her off at a boarding school for girls in Boston, Massachusetts. When she gets to the school she knows that she doesn't belong with these ladies-in-training. When she gets in a fight with another girl she is demoted and becomes a servant girl at the school, but Jacky loves being a servant girl.

With more freedom she now can investigate Boston and see what it is all about. Jacky then learns about another servant girl who committed suicide, so everyone thinks, but Jacky believes it was the twisted work of the local preacher who thinks that Jacky is the devil's helper!

In all of her adventures the mistress of the school decides to give Jacky another chance, so she is back to becoming a lady-in-training. While at a friend's house Jacky runs away, and joins a whale hunter's ship that will pay her to help the captain's wife and children on board, and then drop her off in England were she can find her lover, Jaimy.

Jacky Faber, her gender discovered, is sent from the masculine and free world of the British Navy to the constrained feminine world of a Boston lady's refining school. Needless to say, Jacky is a fish out of water in this feminine and class-ruled world, as a id-ruled, brassy feminist heroine that refused to be ruled by class or gender definitions. Jacky, despite all her best intentions, just cannot behave herself (lucky for us), and her bravery and intelligence gets her into as much trouble as trouble she solves. Freedom in Puritan-influenced Boston and in the role of a woman is much harder for Jacky to come by than on the seas, but Jacky strikes against these rigid rules and roles (at school and on the streets), as well as against the domineering and--frankly--evil men (a crazed witch-murdering Reverend, a drunkard, a philanderer) that oppresses her and other women. While Jacky's "misadventures" continue to be clever and exciting, witty and brilliantly written and characterized, and while it is fantastic to see her in such a female setting, it seems almost a crime for Jacky to be so removed from the sea and her Jaimy. The tale, disappointingly, also lacks an ending. Though this means there's another delightful sequel ahead. Grade: A-

I would like to start off by saying that if you didn't read the first book in the series first, then don't read this one, because it doesn't give a very good expalanation of what happened before.
Curse of the Blue Tattoo starts off right where Bloody Jack ended and it was very tedious for the first two hundred pages. The book introduces a lot of unecessary characters and leads into a lot of unresolved storylines. Basically, Jacky goes to Boston and is enrolled at a girls' school, makes friends of some of the high-classed girls and all of the maids, makes enemies of the stereotypical 'snobby rich girl' and the 'evil headmistress.' Sorry to disappoint for those that liked the romance between Jacky and Jaimy, but her sailor lad doesn't appear in the book save for his letters.
The reason that I gave the book three stars, however, is because the story, no matter how unbelievable, gets exciting. After all of its introductions and storylines, it made me want to sit back, relax and finish it. A lot of the characters really grew on me and I hope to see them in later volumes.
Let me warn those that don't like cliffhanger endings--beware. Personally, I'm not a big fan of series books. But this one made me decide to read and see what happens next.

This was the first book that I had read in the series, and I will admit, it was confusing before reading Bloody Jack. Though, the introduction where it does sort of explain the situation was very helpful. Even if I was confused the first time, I could not put it down. Jacky Faber is a very believable character, and Meyer, if I do say so myself could pull off being a teenage girl very well. The ending was brought down very well for having a sequel to follow. In my opinon, it was a very interesting book, and a good read.

I'll admit, I liked Bloody Jack better, but Curse of the Blue Tattoo is still a wonderful book. It shows a different side of Jacky, the side that desperately wants to be a lady. This books shows her transformation from salty sea salior to a fine lady. Though she encounters difficulties along the way, Jacky meets wonderful new friends and experiences new things. Peppered with humor and sorrow, Curse of the Blue Tattoo is a wonderful book for anyone who wants to see another side of the infamous Bloody Jacky Faber.

I would suggest this book anyone dealing with STL. It provides extensive best practice input for the experienced C++/STL developer.

What a great book! Helped me get past mental blocks on using the STL.

The man Meyers has worked his magic on the STL. If you've read Effective C++, then you know what to expect, and should invest accordingly. Meyers is on top of his game, finding the right balance of sage advice and dry wit as he guides you through the complexities of the STL. If you haven't read Effective C++, you really ought to before reading this one.

A wide range of advice is dispensed, including: advice on what containers to use, range member functions, avoiding loops, erase-remove, auto_ptr, associative containers, equality vs equivalence, gotchas like const keys in sets and maps and references to reference problems, efficiency in sorting, searching and inserting, iterators, functors and adapting them.

Phew. A lot of ground is covered. You will want to be familiar with the structure of the STL, I don't recommend learning the STL from scratch from this book, and you may want a good STL reference. But those aren't half as much fun to read as Scott Meyers.

I really enjoyed to read this book as it contains very good tips. The only detail that annoys me a little bit is the amount of cross references between the items. The author first 2 books were a little bit like that but it seems to me that this one is too much. I would have prefered to have items more self contained. If you want to refer to a particular item, this one will refer to 2 other items that will refer to some more items and so on to the point where if you would like to close the open loop, you would need to consult all the items.

Except for this small annoyance, this book is very good. You should read it or have it.

I tought I knew STL but Dr. Meyers showed me how little I knew. His in-depth analysis and numerous examples gives new insight into STL and how to best implement solutions using it. This is a must-have for every C++ programmer/software engineer.

The inside cover of Our Stolen Future says: "...by two leading environmental scientists and an environmental journalist, is the first book to piece together the compelling evidence from wildlife studies, laboratory experiments, and human data and to lay out the emerging scientific case regarding this largely unrecognized threat. Picking up where Silent Spring left off, it reveals the underlying causes of the symptoms that had so alarmed Carson."

In this book, I got a look at the role that certain chemicals that have been put out into the environment since the 1950's might be affecting plants and animals, including human beings, specifically as "endocrine disruptors" and "hormone imposters." I know there has been some review of Our Stolen Future that call into question the validity of the study that the core ideas in this book are built upon...I honestly don't know enough about the subject to make my own decision about that, YET.

What I can say, is based on previous reading on loosely related subjects (The Crazy Makers, Eat Here, The Omnivores Dilemma), is that I believe that this is entirely possible and if so, it is also deeply disturbing. I did enjoy reading it, though it took me six days to work my way through it because it is fact intensive and books of this nature are, for me, harder to absorb in general (compared to fiction). The information contained here is both enlightening and disturbing...ranging from problems like decreased sperm count and motility in males over the last thirty years, to birth defects, sexual abnormalities, reproductive/fertility issues, the increase of certain types of cancer, and even touching on aggression, attention deficit disorders, and similar concerns. I am glad to have read this one and will read more on the subject to gain a great understanding of the issues touched on in Our Stolen Future. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

This book was a great read. It was very informative and credible. I learned alot of things I did not know in this book.

This true detective story has been favorably compared to Rachel Carson's SILENT SPRING by writers including Al Gore and Donella Meadows. It is a highly readable documentary of the scientific sleuthing that has linked birth defects, infertility and intelligence deficits to persistent chemical products which are poisoning our planet. From falling human sperm counts, to crashing bird populations, marine mammal die-offs and alligator sexual mutations, the authors demonstrate that we are performing a planet-wide experiment in which all life forms are unwitting subjects. The chemicals now impacting the whole biosphere have caused the same effects in laboratory animals for years -- and, surprise, surprise, nobody listened to the few small voices of alarm. This work may be the definitive and ominously final answer to the famous line from THE GRADUATE, "Plastics, there's a great future in plastics." No. There may literally be no future at all.

This book is both fantastic and worrisome in its import. Painstakingly documented, it sounds a warning call that must be heeded. As well-read as I consider myself to be, I was surprised at how much I didn't know about the extent to which we've ALREADY messed up this Earth, biologically. Knowing how seriously we've messed up other species, one wonders to what extent the lessons also pertain to us. That is: it makes you realize that a lot of what we see going on today might have been the results of the seeds we've been sowing. Very thought-proviking.

Reading this book is like reading a scientific paper...boring! I think the idea of collaborating and telling a story could be a good idea, but this one doesn't work and is a real snooze-fest. There was too many incidents cited (yes, we get it, DDT is bad)that it took too long to get to the conclusions. It also didn't help that the type was fairly small and difficult to read.

This would be a good book if you wanted to write a term paper and needed a source for your topic and bibliography.

I bought this book hoping to learn more about After Effects but unfortunately, the only good tutorial that really teaches you about the program is the Atomic Cafe because it goes over importing Layered Photoshop Documents, Illustrator files, and Quicktime movies. All the other lessons in the book are a huge disappointment. I don't like saying that because I think Alex Lindsay does an admirable job with going into great detail about Multi-Pass rendering techniques. Check out his tutorials and teachings at Pixel Corps or DV Garage. You won't find much detail here. That is not to say that the book is not without its merits; I love how the Atomic Cafe lessons teaches the fundamentals and techniques of nested compositions, as well as complex effects. If you really want some good After Effects tutorial lessons, then check out Trish and Chris's other books which do a little better at giving you the information.

i needed this book for school, and it did the job i learned tons of effect tricks through this book.

if motion graphics is your thing, this is a fantastic resource. Nobody more clearly explains the basic concepts of layering, nesting, timelines, footage, transformations, masks, precomposing, stencils, track mattes, transfer modes, keyframes, rendering, resolutions, plugins, working with audio, and much more.

The "Creating Motion Graphics with AE", and "After Effects in Production" must be considered the best of the best, even for those who may be using other products such as Apple Motion, or Combustion, etc.

Highly recommended, as is having plenty of time and some decent hardware.
The tutorials are a blast ! Go thru them all (this takes awhile folks) and you begin to get the idea....motion graphics is fun !!!

After I bought after effects the software had little interest for me. I never new that broadcasting and such could be such fun. Did a lot of editing for animation studies with this tool. Looking forward to buy the next book when I'm finish with this. Recommended for advance users.

This is an excellent resource for After Effects. The "Meyers" Have always produced great learning materials and this is another proof positive of that.

Royal Praise for Doomed Queen Anne

The trite love story of a princess meeting her true prince is not as glamorous as it may seem. Usually, during the 16th century in England, love in a monarchy was significantly complex. Queen Anne, however, showed that with an ambitious attitude, one can achieve anything, even marrying a king. At the young age of 13, Anne declared her future that she will become the queen, which came true. The end of her story as wife to Henry VIII, however, did not conclude as a fantasy tale. Through her tale, author Carolyn Meyer writes with intense emotion in a first person point of view that draws in the readers to the dramatic, interesting, and adventurous rise and fall of Anne Boleyn.
Meyers employs an appealing style that grabs the audience. Her text is mostly informal and simple to simulate the story as a normal conversation or that a story is being casually told. Emotions and Anne's consciousness all play the part, such as when Anne is still engaged in a hot pursuit to marry King Henry: "I lay awake tormented by doubt: Why does he not simply declare himself the head of the Church, dissolve his marriage to Catherine, and marry me- before it's too late? Does he love me ENOUGH?" (Meyers 162-163). She also italicizes words to emphasize Anne's thoughts or emotions, for instance when Anne began to notice King Henry's eyes looking at her: "Time and again the King's roving glance halted and lingered upon me. What can he be thinking?" (Meyers 73). Since the readers become entranced with Anne herself, the plot also develops into a spell-binding story.
The plot that begins with Anne in her pre-teen years to her final death allows the audience to become fully involved in an adventure that so happens to be her life. Despite the change in time, Anne's obsession to lose her stereotype as the "odd" one and a bad reputation remained constant. Ever since youth, here long, black hair, black eyes, and dark clothes made her regarded as a "witch." Her disgraceful relationship with Lord Hal, and a secret marriage, almost ruined her chances of ever catching the king's eyes. Yet, the readers could see that Anne's ambition did not fail her when she was banished from court and told never to see Lord Hal again: "When I was drained of tears, my heart filled with bitterness. Someday I shall have my revenge" (Meyer 61). She eventually proved her family and the nosey ears of the court when she caught the kings heart and eventually manipulated him into having her as his wife, instead of a temporary mistress similar to most of his lovers. This ultimate shocker and revenge made everyone aware that Anne is not the average person but also proved to the readers that her ambition made her win. Once she became queen, one can imagine the sounds of "OHHHHH!!!!" that usually high-schoolers yell out when someone is "burned," in slang terms. Later, unfortunately, Anne's cause for her rise doomed her into her fall because once she couldn't give birth to a son, the tables turned on her. King Henry VIII became influenced to think that she was a which that put a spell on him and that she was having an affair with a musician. Eventually, Anne was beheaded, causing a sense of "wow" at the end.
The journey of Anne's obsession to make the king fall in love with her proved to be hectic and mind-blowing. The connection to the readers permitted the audience to become considerably engaged in her wild ambition. Carolyn Meyers successfully told Anne Boleyn's tale with a technique and plot to capture everyone. Doomed Queen Anne is not the common fairytale princess story, which is why this book is strongly recommended for anyone desiring for a ride.

Anne Boylen was determined to get to the top, Henry the 8th's wife. Anne, with her dark black hair and jet blck eyes would draw in men. She had always admired the king, but Henry was already married with a daughter and a misstress. She had always been jealous of her sister with her long lovely blonde hair and blue eyes and being the king's mistress. But when her sister(mary) had gotten married and had a child, it was her turn to be the king's lover.


This was an exellent book, and I think everybody would enjoy it. the end was kind of sad but still I loved the whole story!

If you are into semi-romance novels, "Doomed Queen Anne" is the book for you. Anne is a townsperson in the beginning. She juggles around a few relationships, and then sets her goals high. She wants to marry the king. She refuses to be his misstress she wants to be queen. But when she does become queen, she gets framed for treason against the king. In the end, she gets executed, and leaves her daughter, Elizebeth, out of her hands.
This is an awesome semi-romance novel as I said before. In the beginning, it was a bit confusing, but you'll catch on. This book wont let you put it down!

I think that the book, Doomed Queen Anne by Carolyn Meyer, is a wonderful and amazing book. Doomed Queen Anne is about a teenage girl with some really big dreams. She starts out trying to be better than her older sister, Mary, but ends up getting more than what she ever dreamed of having. Will she ever get the biggest of her dreams? Will live a wonderful life?

-A.N.

We read this book aloud for our homeschool unit study. There are some graphic details that I can't see why they didn't leave out but is really good from historic point of view.

Fantastic, really simple tutorials and suggested websites for further info. Deals with the basics to get an extemely powerful website online.

There are many more aspects to web design but anyone from the total beginner to intermediate should find this book helpful.

Better than Dreamweaver MX 2004 "Training From the Source". This is a step by step book for beginners thru experts. I found it easy to follow and understand. It is also a good reference book for the experienced, which I am not. Why Macromedia could not furnish a book like this with there software I will never understand. The same goes for the new Dreamweaver 8. They want you to buy there product but not show you how to use it. This is a good buy.

So many software books are so confusing and difficult to understand, I really appreciateone that is clear and truly helpful, which this one is.

I have read this book cover to cover. You can read it in front of your computer and perform the tutorials or you can simple read an look at the illustrations. Both provide you with a very accurate experience. The online web site allows you to download all of the necessary files to perform your labs if you desire. It is simple, elegant, and well thought out book. You can't walk away from this book and not say that you did not truely learn to use Dreamweaver MX 2004. I struggled to learn this program, after reading the book, I have built several complex websites, complete with dynamic database integration. This book is that good!

I admit I'm biased because I've had Dave as a teacher and he's a great one, but his book is like his teaching -- clear, comprehensible, practical and most importantly, funny. Who wouldn't want to work on the National Exasperator pages? His tutorials are excellent, easy to use and fun.

I have following comments on both Effective C++ and More Effective C++ CDs:
positive:
- good practical tips and advice on avoiding pitfalls
- heavily cross referenced
constructive:
- too informal at times and sometimes patronizing
- lack of structuring in explanation at some places

I am a huge fan of Scott's philosophy. I re-read his books every couple of years. Having his books on CD is most convenient. You can copy the CD to your hard drive and browse it whenever. Don't forget to look at his STD Lib book.

Very well written book. It not only give what to do and what not to do. It also has very detail explanations.

This book is not for C++ beginner nor a reference. But there are a lot of interesting and useful ways of programming C++.

This is the most disapointing book on C++ that I have ever read. Not only are the author's "simple" examples unrelated to anything that programmers do in the real world, they are written from the viewpoint of the programming gods on Mount Olympus. Does anybody really care whether your "pointer to a derived function of a virtual base class that inherits nothing, can end up being a consternation for those expecting a pure, inherited pointer to a class that is virtually derived?"

Huh? Enough said.

C++ is an obscure language enough. And not one that will be around for very long in view of the developments of web programming in general. It will always be a basis to start from -- then once learned, quickly forgotten, like Latin.

If you want more from this book then study FORTRAN, the precursor of the Latin we all know (and are struggling to work with to this day).

This CD does not work on modern computers. You need Internet Explorer 4.0 to view it. With other browsers no diagrams are shown.
I could not find a bug fix on the authors web page.

It is interesting to see that one of the big software gurus doesn't seem to know about graceful degradation. He could have easily added a statically linked HTML-only version to the CD.

When I first started reading the sugar queen I thought it would be a little strange, and then it grew on me and I really started to enjoy the characters. Josey was so many different people all wrapped into one. We also learn the same of her mother. I would have liked a little more detail into the life of Josey's father who had passed on. Maybe her hero worship could have been put to rest a little more. I love all the other side stories that were going on, it really was a fascinating tale. Not a masterpiece but a fun summer read for sure. If you want something fun not too heavy that you can just smile and enjoy this is a great way to beat the heat and enjoy some good old southern comfort.

I picked this up at the local library, not expecting to enjoy it. It seemed simplistic initially. However, that quickly turned into a sense of delight and desire to keep turning the pages. I'm not sure how to characterize this book, but certainly recommend it as a refreshing read.

I am thoroughly enchanted with this author! I found myself in the same scenario as when I opened to page one of, GARDEN SPELLS--from the first line there was no way I could stop reading-- I devoured this story the same way that Josey devours her stash of sweets!

Allen creates such unique characters-- her amazing ability to make these characters so human and flawed...and real...combined with unexpected magical touches throughout her tale had me enthralled.

I wish with all my heart that when her next book is published...I have Chloe's "gift". ;)

After I read Garden Spells in one sitting, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this one! I will admit that there were some twists I saw coming and others that hit me from left field. I really identified with out main character as somewhat of a sugar queen myself! Touching and fun. This one was also a 1 sitting book. I got a little grouchy when interrupted toward the end!!

I wanted both of these books to have sequals just so I could get more of the characters. I will be keeping my eyes open for her next heroine!

Sarah Addison Allen's follow up to Garden Spells, The Sugar Queen, has many of the same elements: lonely women, food, isolation, and magic. Set in the North Carolina skiing town of Bald Slope, we meet Josey, who's been enslaved to her hateful mother's whims since she was a child, and Chloe, whose life has been upended by the admission of her boyfriend that he slept with someone else. These two young women, who seemingly have nothing in common, meet and become fast friends, helping one another grow, learn forgiveness, and find love. Throw in Della Lee, an abused woman who turns up in Josey's closet one autumn morning, and Adam, the mailman for whom Josey secretly pines, and you've got a mix for odd relationships that somehow come together in the end.

I liked the magical realism of this book, and in particular the way books seemed to follow Chloe around. I also liked Josey's emerging personality, and her awareness that she needed more than her mother could provide. Helena the maid was also an interesting character with her charms and strange ways of speaking. Despite all these fun situations and characters, I never did feel a deep emotional connection as I did with Garden Spells. I began to suspect where the story was heading early on and while I found it delightful, I was a little letdown to find out I was mostly right. However, this is a light engaging story that I enjoyed and can recommend to those who like their chick lit with a dash of magic.