Pitt Books

I review and found the book is extremely useful for experienced programmer. The structure is confused but when I get used to, it became handful reference.

This was the first XML book I bought, I new less after trying to plogh through he book that I knew before. Misses the target.

Cheryl Kirk, aka, Lou K., wrote a review entitled, "I agree with the bad reviews - and I'm one of the authors!" on March 12, 2002.
Her review was more of a slam against her co-author, Natanya Pitts.
Read all of the editorial reviews and customer reviews before making your decision on whether or not to purchase this book.

This is not a good learning book or a good book to use as a reference. Each chapter was very disjointed and hard to follow. The examples and explaination were extremly lacking. The only reason I was able to put the parts together was by finding a web based tutorial that explained the concept better. I would not waste your money on this one.

This book is out of print, and it should be. It's an awful book, and I should know - I helped write it! If you are looking for a good book on XML, you could either try the second printing of this book, or a ton of others that are out now. I'm writing this review to tell everyone and anyone to save their money. (If you look at the other books I've written, you'll realize I write great books, and this was just a blip in the continum.)

So why was it so bad? Let me tell you the truth, without making excuses.

This book was written a LONG time ago, so it is VERY out of date. And I was a contract author that came in at the last minute, when the book, I presume, was in jeopardy. Another writer had jumped ship, and frankly I think the book had more problems before I even got involved. Why the lead author Natanya Pitts, didn't complete the book, I'll never know. But she didn't and I was hired and told to write more than 400 pages on the technology that had yet to have to be finalized. There were few if any tools for XML, Microsoft had yet to even release their parser, and the original XML spec hadn't even been finalized.

And I kept telling the lead editor at the time, it was just too soon to write a 'Black Book' on a technology that in essence was still being thought up. With the XML spec not even finalized, and other components like XLINK, XPATH, etc. not even part of the equation at the time, there really wasn't much to write about.

Then I tried to contact the lead author, get copies of the chapters she had written, and confer with her about the book, but to no avail. I never heard from her at all. When I did get her chapters thru the editor, it was only after I had turned the chapters I was assigned. That's why the book repeats itself so much, and is so dijointed. I basically had a list of chapters, and that was it. I didn't even get the TOC until much later! Then the editor kept telling me, write more, regardless of whether there was anything to write about. And there wasn't much to write about at the time, so it was a real stretch. In essence I was told write this many pages, regardless, and to do it within less than 2 months.

I learned a great deal about computer book publishing with this project. It wasn't about quality, it was about quantity. It wasn't about the reader, it was about getting a book out so the publisher could take advantage of the tide of interest in XML. From what I understand, however, things have changed at Coriolis and they realize their missteps.

But I still see other publishers, like Wrox, that seem to take that same approach, and I think it really hurts the computer book industry, but more importantly, hurts the reader.

I wouldn't give up on Coriolis (or any other publisher for that matter), since some of the Black Books are actually very good. But I would take the time to really check out a book before buying it, since series books aren't always written or controlled by the same editors or authors and quality can vary greatly. What I would do, however, is return bad books not only to the bookstore, but also the publisher directly. They need to know WHY a book didn't sell and what readers expect. Oftentimes publishers think a book fails because of other reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the book.

And until readers STOP buying ...thrown-together books, publishers will never learn! I certainly learned NEVER to work on a failing project like this one. My other books all have 5 star ratings and dealing with irate readers on this book (mainly because the lead author failed to even respond to anyone's email) made me realize how important the reader truly is...

This is one of the better mysteries in the series set in 1880s London which feature Inspector Thomas Pitt and his wife, Charlotte (and a growing number of his in-laws, too). Pitt has just been promoted to be Superintendent of the Bow Street station, and he's beginning to discover the difficulties inherent in the increased responsibility. Then a decapitated body turns up in a small boat off the Serpentine and the public, which hasn't forgotten the Ripper killings the previous year, begins to get nervous. And then a second beheading occurs, and then a third, and Pitt can't find anything the three murders have in common. While Pitt struggles with the case, moreover, Charlotte is busy with the new house they've just bought on the strength of his increased salary, and Emily is deeply involved with her new husband's second campaign for a seat in Parliament. The Inner Circle is strongly in the background this time, which is unfortunate -- especially since the description of its activities reminds one of Prof. Moriarty's organization.

I tried to listen to the taped version. It's 12 two-sided tapes, with an advertised running time of 15 hours and 5 minutes. After about 10 hours into a car trip, we voted unanimously to put in the last tape, just so we could satisfy our "Who dunnit?" curiosity. Alas, even that strategy was frustrated, as only one of the murders is solved on the last tape. The writer's style is both pretentious and repetitious, a deadly combination. After we had heard "lugubrious" for the third time, the groans became audible, even above the traffic noise. The writer's obvious fascination with the styles, manners and customs of London in 1890 have led her to assume that all her readers are similarly inclined. For me, they got in the way of the story... constantly! I got the book/tapes from the local library, so it was free. It still wasn't worth the price. Unless you're fascinated by the trivial aspects of living in London circa 1890, save yourself from a gruesome ordeal.

I tried to listen to the taped version. It's 12 two-sided tapes, with an advertised running time of 15 hours and 5 minutes. After about 10 hours into a car trip, we voted unanimously to put in the last tape, just so we could satisfy our "Who dunnit?" curiosity. Alas, even that strategy was frustrated, as only one of the murders is solved on the last tape. The writer's style is both pretentious and repetitious, a deadly combination. After we had heard "lugubrious" for the third time, the groans became audible, even above the traffic noise. The writer's obvious fascination with the styles, manners and customs of London in 1890 have led her to assume that all her readers are similarly inclined. For me, they got in the way of the story... constantly! I got the book/tapes from the local library, so it was free. It still wasn't worth the price. Unless you're fascinated by the trivial aspects of living in London circa 1890, save yourself from a gruesome ordeal.

Just a very tedious book, with far too many extraneous details and repetition. Not a bargain at any price.

While this was not my favorite Perry novel, I enjoyed it far more than some of the other reviewers seemed to. The story centers around a series of beheadings that are discovered in or around the Hyde Park area of London. In addition to trying to solve these mysteries, Thomas Pitt must deal with conflict created by both subordinates and superiors who doubt that he is qualified for the Superintendent position to which he has recently been promoted. His inability to solve the mystery also becomes an issue in his brother-in-law's campaign for a seat in the House of Commons.

In terms of my enjoyment of the novel, I think it makes a difference that I have read all of the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt novels up through this one. Over the course of those 10+ novels, Perry has created an interesting and likable couple that I enjoy following through their various adventures. The new characters introduced in Hyde Park Headsman are not as interesting as those found in some of her other novels, and this work lacks the psychological depth of some of the earlier works. Nonetheless, for those who have gotten to know Thomas and Charlotte through the earlier novels, this is an enjoyable page-turner.

Eh. Ok. Yeah, I guess.

This 18-point type edition is just that. Straight 18-point text; no explanations, no annotations, no background. I wish I had seen a copy before I ordered it. I don't have the copy in front of me, but I don't even remeber any paragraphs. Just page after unremitting page of 18 point type. I took one quick look and put it on the shelf.

I already have a good copy of John Milton's classic work, but I needed a copy I could mark up, and call me old-fashioned, but I wanted a real book, not a printout from the Web.

Somehow that page after page of 18 point type was a real jolt to the eyes.

But all is not lost. I can use the book as a perfect example of the differences different sizes of type can make.

Thank goodness there is a book that no longer refers humankind as mankind, references he for they, and men for human. To the reviewers below-get over it-

As a woman, I appreciate it, this is not some politically sensitive wordage, it's inclusive wordage. I am not a man, mankind does NOT mean humankind, and during John Milton's time women were being burned on stakes, so his outlook especially torwards women was dim, and very well could have been reflected in this book, if it wasn't for the publishers insights regarding this. This is an excellent account of one of the original ideas for free speech in this country. This book will particularly interest those who are in media studies.

Let the buyer beware! I should have recalled this adage and examined my purchase more carefully.

I am now the owner of writings by the new John Milton, a politically correct John Milton, a John Milton that rejects manhood for adulthood and rejects man for person. This new Milton embraces the humanist pronouns hu and hus and hum, non-sexist third person pronouns. He, his and him and she, her and hers are no more.

Milton's quotation of Euripides is likewise changed. Euripides now says' "And hu who can and will, deserves high praise". Euripides stands corrected.

Milton's use of archaic English has also been modernized. Milton has cast aside much of his seventeenth century English. This Bandanna Books version of John Milton is no longer John Milton, but an altered, censored revision.

Ironically, in the essay Areopagitica John Milton is arguing to the Parliament of England for freedom of the press, specifically for the liberty of unlicensed printing. Would John Milton have approved this modern, secular, nonsexist version of his essay?

Milton would have agreed that Bandanna Books had a right to publish, but I suspect that he would have argued that that Bandanna Books had a moral obligation to label the book cover to indicate that Milton's essay had been significantly altered to fit a peculiar nonsexist standard.

Bandanna Books in Santa Barbara, California offers other humanist works including Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, Plato's Apology and Crito, and commentaries by Confucius. Unless you find comfort in hu, hus, and hum, I suggest that the traditional Whitman, Plato, and Confucius might be adequate and that you look elsewhere. Let the buyer beware!

Prospective buyers of this edition should be aware that it is edited; some of Milton's words have been changed, either to modernize or to "humanize" (that is, eliminate sexist usages by the replacement of he/she, him/her, etc. with bizarre "hu", "hum," etc. This is not a worthy edition of Milton's great text!

"Hu", "hus", "hum"? Ho hum.

John Leonar

I was very excited to read this book but when I finally did I was thoroughly dissapointed by it. I do not recommend this book to individuals or libraries; there is nothing useful or worth reading here.

Gitelman's compilation is valuable to historicism, but only to a point. The articles contained therein present perspectives on jewish history not found in other scholarly monographs. The citations in the work are plentiful, and while the works are not long in nature, they do provide an adequate and inciteful look at modern jewish politis. Take, for example, the article by the well-established Gershon Bacon, who argued that Agudah Yisrael actually imitated the politics of its closest rival, the Zionists.

While it is true that this is not by any means an authoritative work, it is still valueable and a very quick read. I would recommend it for any undergraduate class, or as light reading for anyone interested in the political agency of the Interwar Jewry of Eastern Europe.

I am most dissatisfied with this book. It is obvious that the authors and editors have not read-proof the text and contents of the companion CD-ROM prior to publication.

The text is plagued with typos and errors and the exercises are incomplete. The author prepared a website with corrections for the exercises and still they got it wrong. Definitely, I recommend against buying this book.

As advertised by the title, this book describes how to use ArcInfo 8.0. However, the number of wasted words and useless images kept me from enjoying it much. The book describes, in some detail, the three new modules of ArcInfo and gives a cursory overview of the old ones. The descriptions are sullied by descriptions of things that are too basic for someone trying to use a $10,000 piece of software (for example, What is a wizard?) by hyperbole (for example, "You will find this feature indispensable" - really?) and by poor page layout. Overall, I'm glad to have the book, but I was hoping for a higher quality product...

This book follows an Irish family mining in the hills of Pennsylvania and their involvement with the Molly Maguires, a secret society fighting-- and killing-- for miners' rights. This is not a book I would have sought out to read, but I'm glad that I happened upon it. I've actually found myself looking around for people like the two strongest male characters-- Captain Mike and Red. And this book does an excellent job of relating the real life troubles and joys of the mining communities that fueled our country's industrial booms. Something is lacking in this book, but its intentions are honorable and the combination of fact and fiction does make it enjoyable to read. I'd give it two and three-quarter stars or a B+.

This book is about the highly controversial Molly Maguires and the labor troubles in the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. It's written for school-age children. The blurbs on the cover claim this book is historically accurate, and the author claims everything is based on historical records. Yet, at this story's climax, one of the main characters (Red, who is based on the historical figure of detective James McParlan) is depicted as a liar who commits perjury in court to convict an innocent coal miner. There is no historical proof that it happened this way. Yet, it happens to coincide nicely with the conspiracy theories that Molly Maguire apologists have been pushing for years, trying to defend the perpetrators of murder and violence in the anthracite coal fields. In other words, this book misrepresents itself and misleads impressionable young readers with a one-sided and inaccurate version of the Molly Maguires. This book is ideological propaganda masquerading as history. Not Recommended.

"Art and archaeology of Pre-columbian Cuba" is an important book for the distribution of knowledge of an archaeological culture that is not known to the general public.
Therefore, if you are interested in getting a glimpse of the archaeology and the archaeological objects that Cuba has to offer, and not able to go there yourself, it will be a valuable addition to your bookshelf. However, the amount of information in the book can be a bit disappointing for specialists and small incongruities are also present. Nevertheless, for now this is the best introduction to Cuban archaeology that is widely available now.

This book has a rather cheap and tacky format, with few pictures, and those not the ones likely to appeal to fans. Some of the text is rather snide, in a subtle way, and there is little acknowledgement of the depths of Brad Pitt's character. It would be hard to guess from this book that here we have an actor who is intelligent, subtle and talented. It is also out of date, ending with Seven, and still has him with Gwyneth Paltrow. A better buy is "Brad Pitt - the rise to Stardom", which at least has a good range of pictures, although it is also rather out of date now.

A great concept - a who's who of cinema's creepy neighbor kid, the horror film - is on the surface quite good. If one just has a general interest in the field, the book is incredible just in its scope. Actors and actresses from the classic masters (Chaney - both ones, Karloff, Lugosi) to ones such as Jamie Lee Curtis are covered, with Evelyn Ankers, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, Lionel Atwill, Vincent Price, Christopher Lee, Claude Rains, and even Fay Wray thrown in for good measure.

However, it does have some issues. Firstly, since the title is "Horror Film Stars" it would help to have some of the behind the scenes sort of stars included - folks like Jack Pierce, James Whale, Murnau, whether they be directors or other artists one cannot ignore their contributions. Sceondly, the book has a wierd habit of including pages on some person that I'd wager most people never heard of that did only a handful of films and neglecting several others. Book is fairly comprehensive, but there are still quite a few performers missing, the biggest modern exclusion I can think of being Robert Englund - Freddy, and several supporting heavies like Ralph Bellamy and Patric Knowles. (Valerie Hobson but no Mae Clarke?)The third problem is the vastness of typos. I'll allow, I know most about the Universal Monsters heavies with a bit of Price for good measure, so I can't speak about all, but in many entries I caught errors ranging from simple typo to those along the "what???" avenue. Differences in costume and makeup components, differing names for spouses and children, incorrect dates / personal history, etc. may be small but they add up and at the end of the book I found myself wondering how many omissions there were overall in the bios of the actors I didn't know about.

In total, an OK book for reading but I would advise taking things light.

I have read this material many times to try to make peace with it. The cramped writing style does not allow me to grasp the far-fetched imagery. Many of the poems serve as models for the types of writing which students and working poets should avoid.