Richard Books

This is the best "How to" book on Oracle. I have read around 20 books on Oracle (I reviewed most of them on Amazon) and this one is the most practical Oracle book for intermediate to advance Oracle DBAs.

The book skips most of the architecture and goes directly on how to configure and use some of the most salient features of Oracle 10g.

Some of the examples are:

1)How to manually install RAC instance
2)How to migrate Non-ASM to ASM disks and vice versa.
3)How to collect AWR reports using builtin scripts.
4)How to install CRS
5)How to Flashback Database and Flashback Table.
6)How to Patch Dataguard Instances
7)How to use flashback in Dataguard Standby.
8)How to manually remove Oracle Instances.
9)How to upgrade RMAN Catalog.
10)How to use Wait statistics to measure and improve performance.

Not all the topics are advanced. But it still helps to get down to the fundamentals, even for the advanced DBA with decade or more of experience.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to expand/improve their Oracle 10G skillset.

This is a really good book to have by an Oracle DBA for Oracle 10g reference. This book will help the Oracle DBA to identify and implement Oracle 10g new features. It has good tips for performance and tuning and setting up ASM. I give this book 5 star rating.

Highly recommended reference book for DBA's that are familiar with previous version of Oracle and wants to find out the new features of 10g.

This book covers Release 2 of Oracle 10G. Concepts are presented in a clear manner. Each chapter can read in an hour or so. This is a great place to start for new DBAs. For experience DBAs, this a great book to get to know the New Features. Book is very easily read. Best book to learn Oracle 10g R2.

This book is easy to follow and drives straight into chapters essential for 10g. It does a wonderful job and covers installations on various platforms, new features and approach for identifying the performance issues. It provides practical advice using practical approach, tips and examples. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is learning or working with 10g.

If you are hopelessy addicted to snowboarding, you absolutely must read this book. It will get you so excited and make you yearn for the fresh white stuff. The book is well-written, funny, and gives you a first-hand account of the life of an international pro snowboarder. You'll learn what a pro snowboarder actually does day-to-day (besides snowboarding). And who knew those guys don't get health insurance from their sponsers?

PS Probably not a good idea to read this in the summer . . . unless you can go to the southern hemisphere immediately afterwards.

My life revolves around snowboard, and one of my all time snowboarding hero's is Todd Richards (the author of p3). When I blew out my knee riding this season my friend bought me this book as a gift, I thought it would be kind of lame but since Todd Richards wrote it I decided to read it. I finished it that night and have been looking for another snowboarding book. But I haven't found any that come close to being as good as this one. I've recommended this book to a lot of my friends and they all really liked it. This book tells you about Todd Richards's life to going pro inventing tricks hurting his knee and still riding. It rules!! BUY THIS BOOK!!!!

I'm still reading the book, but it's amazing, I've read 3/4 it last night, had to force my self to put the book down and go to sleep. I read another book the night before from this pro girl snowboarder and I thought it was ehhh... just whatever very kiddy like... but after a few pages of PPP, I started getting really into it. Todd Richards, tells a story well and he's just so honest about it all that you can't help but like the guy a whole lot while you're reading his book. I'm thoroughly impressed-just got into boarding and it's funny, my bf thinks I'm obsessed with it, but looks like Todd Richards was too. That's awesome. Anyway, the books a great read buy it. It's a lot more than just about riding, it's about his life through it all.

For anyone interested in snowboarding, P3 is a great read. It was even better for me, serving as a reminder to how much has happened to our sport in a short span, and bringing me back to the days I spent in Colorado - often at the same events/locations as Todd Richards. I found myself digging up old journals and reliving years of P/P/P in Breckenridge. Todd Richards is in the unique situation of having been involved in every generation of snowboarding so far, and at the forefront of most of these. So I can't think of anyone in a better position than him to put together a book like this. And compliments to author Eric Blehm for making the pieces come together so well, a task that no doubt would've been bigger than the result would imply. Cheers!

This is definitely snowboarding's version of "HAWK Occupation: Skateboarder".

Here's an awesome story about a guy who started out like a lot of us, just stoked to skate sketchy ramps with friends...but who transformed himself into the top Snowboard Genius somehow. The tales of his formative years are epic, piss-your-pants funny at times. Then once the career starts taking off, a testament to how working your butt off at something (wiring mind blowing tricks) can bring great things, even to a down-to-earth guy from humble beginnings like the rest of us. It is also very interesting to hear about dealing with the industry side of snowboarding from someone who's been there since almost the beginning. Like David Robinson and the Spurs, this book chronicles how nice guys can and do finish first sometimes. We can all share the stoke reading about how TR wins tons of contests, finds fulfillment in life, gets the pretty girl, all without selling out and/or becoming a cocky bastard like so many seem to.

And the pictures, pure sweetness! They're a top-notch complement to the text throughout and really help tell TR's story. From bravely included photos of the awkward pre-teen and teen years where he was an undersized Star Wars junky with a bad haircut to well-shot professional sequences in the pipe, there are tons of stellar images. One thing that comes to mind after looking over the photos: TR definitely could have made it as a professional skater too, no doubt about it. And the moves he's still pulling on skate and snowboard into his 30's will blow minds.

I started reading this book one night where I needed to get to bed early due to an important meeting the next day. Did I get to bed early? Hell no. Stayed up until I'd dusted almost 200 pages! And I could have read it straight through...it is hands-down that good, but the need to be coherent at my a.m. meeting the next day intervened. Bottom line: Buy it now, you'll be glad you did - whether you're a "grown-up", a stoked kid, a surfer/skater/or snowboarder, armchair X-Gamer...whatever.

Be sure to read the first book, Whiskey Island, before this one. I started reading Emilie Richards with her Shenedoah Series because of the quilt block titles. She only gets better with each book. This series was exceptional. Good solid reading from start to finish.

A multi-layered, multi-generational saga of an Irish family. Spanning the Atlantic ocean and richly populated with a diverse set of characters, Emilie Richards weaves stories together in a flashback style that works, tied together with humor, love, and tragedy. Beginning with a series of disasters during Megan Donaghue's wedding, the reader is then transported to Ireland with sister Peggy and her autistic young son Kieran to the home of a dying distant cousin. Misunderstandings, pubs and saloons, alcoholism, schizophrenia, debilitating grief, miracles, and autism, as well as the requisite red-headed Irish tempers give the story realism, and the setting is casually comfortable. A wonderfully hopeful glimpse into the lives and loves of the Donaghue Sisters.

I read this book unaware it must be the sequel to "Whiskey Island". Not a problem. The author pulls you in with each character and the storyline going from past to present, then back again was done smoothly. I'm looking for other books by this author!!

I am a devoted Emilie Richards fan ~~ I have read almost all of her books and I totally loved Whiskey Island ~~ it's in my home state and I love books that is set in Ohio since I know the general area. I just love Richards' books since she delves into her characters' lives and she brings her readers along with her into a journey that travels back and forth in time between two different generations of people, especially women. This book is no exception. In fact, it's better than Whiskey Island in some ways ~~ the sisters are more mature and dealing with more mature issues than being single and wondering if they'll ever fall in love.

Each of the sisters are set on their paths that they have chosen in life. Casey, who is not written about very much in this novel, is pregnant and happily married to Jon, her friend from high school. The novel centers mostly on Megan and Peggy. Megan and Niccolo are married but dealing with a shattered saloon that a tornado has torn apart, the growing lack of communication between the two of them and with Megan's restlessness as she is temporarily out of work. Peggy takes her son, Kieran, to Ireland after putting medical school on hold since he has autism and Peggy decided to devote time to helping Kieran learn the basic skills. She also went to be her cousin's companion. Irene, a lovely Irish spinster, is seeking answers to her father's death eighty years before. The sisters all help with the research and along the way, found answers to their own questions and problems as well as discovering the great secret that Irene's father has been holding all those years.

This is a great escape-novel. If you're overwhelmed with life and life's demands, this is the perfect book to sink yourself into for a few days. It's not a demanding reading but it's a fun reading ~~ and Richards keeps you guessing as you turn the pages. Once again, she writes about star-crossed lovers, relationships between husband and wife, between sisters and friends and lovers. It's a wonderful novel. She has the charm to keep you coming back for more.

7-23-04

Occasionally life will hand us a situation and we don't know if we are strong enough to handle.

This is the case for Peggy Donaghue when she learns that her young son is autistic. So she puts her medical career on hold while she struggles to understand the condition that has her son locked in a world of his own. When she receives an offer to spend a year in Ireland with a distant relative, she grabs the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with her son and learn about her family's past in return.

Emilie Richards returns to the story of the Donaghue sisters in her novel, "The Parting Glass," a sequel to her bestselling book, "Whiskey Island," which began the chronicles of the lives of the Donaghue clan, the family who has been apart of Cleveland's large Irish community since days of the first immigrant's arrival.

Richards picks up her story of the feisty Donaghue sisters, focusing on little sister Peggy's story. Her decision to move to Ireland to live with elderly distant cousin Irene Tierney proves to be a move that will affect not only her life, but the lives of her entire family. As Peggy helps Irene unravel the mystery of their connected lineage, they discover family secrets that will soon come clearly important to the American side of the family. Experiencing love in the form of handsome but tragic Dr. Finn O'Malley will prove to be an added adventure that Peg hadn't planned on.

Back in the States, Megan, the eldest sister, has married her true love, Niccolo Andreani, an ex-priest who works with the trouble youth of their close-knit neighborhood. However, on the night of their wedding, a tornado strikes, all but leveling the historic Whiskey Island saloon, revealing a mysterious marking that will change the lives of everyone who comes into view of it. As they work to restore the saloon, Megan and Nick found out that married life is not exactly all wine and roses. As the couple work through communication problems early on, each wonders if they have made a mistake abandoning their former lives.

Only the middle sister, Casey, is living in relative harmony, having married her high school sweetheart, Jon Kovats and now is expecting their first child. But if one Donaghue ain't happy, none of them are happy, and the two older sister travel to Ireland to try to sort out their myriad of problems together, family style.

Intermixed with the Donaghue sisters' story is the story of Irene's family during the early days of Prohibition, and how their family became intertwined with the Donaghues in the beginning. The love story of Glenn Donaghue and Clare McNulty is heartbreaking and poignant.

Emilie Richards wraps up her Whiskey Island saga successfully, tying up loose ends and treating her fans to bits of Irish humor, angst, and whimsy in her writing. She ties her story together with glimpses into the past via letters written between the parish priest and his Irish sister. This gives wonderful background information, as well as bringing the story together for a magnificent and satisfying conclusion.

Richard Steinheimer has often been described as the "dean of railroad photographers" and I see no reason to argue. It takes an artist to convey well what Stein's images in this book convey: the relation of man to machine, the romantic quality of machinery (why railfans love trains) and the beauty and harmony of man's mechanical devices with nature.

This is a very good book, reasonably priced, and serves as a showcase for some of Stein's classic work.

"DW" critiqued this book because of the quality of reproduction. I agree it is not what it could be, but some of these photographs have appeared in other publications with reproduction quality far inferior to what appears here.

Richard Steinheimer has captured in black and white the everyday life and romance of railroading in a bygone era with an incite that earns him a prominent place in recorded railroad history. As a rail buff and life member of the Waterford Township Historical and Preservation Society in Waterford, Michigan, I recommend that anyone who is drawn to the sound and thrill of railroad action should experience atleast one of Richard's publications to place a picture in their minds eye.

Black and white photography's superior ability to communicate both detail and atmosphere is dramatically demonstrated by Richard Steinheimer's A Passion for Trains.

This is one of the most totally satisfying railroad books I own, and I own over a hundred.

Steinheimer has a unique ability to display both the railroad and the faces and geography of its environment. Landscape and nature over conspire against railroaders, as Steinheimer frequently demonstrates in A Passion for Trains, yet the weather never quite overwhelms the trains or the men who keep them moving.

The photographs contain detail you can just about feel. Text on most pages is limited to a single line identifying the location. Thumbnails at the back of the book contain an additional paragraph about each photo.

If you have a passion for trains, you'll love this book. It covers a wide variety of railroads, geographic environments, and weather. Many of the photos will soon become your favorites. In fact, I considered getting a second copy, just to be able to frame some of the pages!

The term "coffee table book" is often used derogatorily. Yet, what's wrong with a book so fine that you'll want to keep it on your coffee table where you, and your friends, can frequently enjoy it?

The photographs capture more than trains, but never less. They capture the beauty of the land that trains opened up. They bring us people, both on and near the trains. His sense of composition draws us into the scene and makes us want to look at it again and again.

As the antique dealer haughtily remarked to a customer who expressed shock at the astronomical price of an exquisite 1780 Philadelphia Highboy, "My dear sir, it is sufficient that it is available."

So it may be said of Richard Steinheimer's big new book of railroad photographs, A PASSION FOR TRAINS. The images are superb, indeed, in a class by themselves. These are pictures that anyone who is interested in great photography will admire, regardless of whether or not they care about railroads and trains.

It is regrettable, therefore, that the reproduction of Steinheimer's photographs in this volume aren't far better than they are. The problem is that the blacks are consistently too dense, with a disturbing loss of shadow detail in nearly every instance. Furthermore, the whites are generally grey and flat when they should be bright and buoyant.

It is difficult to tell from the book whether these defects are a result of poor printing, poorly made, excessively contrasty photographic prints or a combination of the two. However, flaws notwithstanding, it can safely be predicted that many railroad enthusiasts and some photography buffs will snap this work up (as I did myself), gratefully acknowledging that it is sufficient that it is available.

For nonpareil examples of photograph reproductions as they should be, see CALIFORNIA (Adams, Little, Brown, 1997), IN THE LAND OF LIGHT (Smith, Houghton, Mifflin, 1983), COURT HOUSE (Pare [ed], Horizon Press, 1978), NEW YORK, EMPIRE CITY 1920-1945 (Stravitz, Abrams, 2004) and THE CHRYSLER BUILDING (Stravitz, Princeton Architectural Press, 2002).

Greatly enjoyed reading this book even though I am not usually a big science fiction fan.

I must echo all of the previous reviews in stating that this is a remarkable first novel! I simply could not put this book down, and nearly missed my train station stop. I have not been this excited about a work of science fiction since I read Asimov's *I, Robot* as a teenager.

The dialogue is realistic, the characters are three-dimensional with excellent character development, and the plot is compelling. The attention to detail in scene description immerses the reader in the action so that you feel as though you are one of the characters involved in the story. As I turned the last page, I found myself hoping that a sequel was in the works so that I could look forward to being captivated again . . .

I must say, this would also make a great film! I hope that Lynch's next literary effort is around the corner.

Definitely one you can't put down. As you finish one chapter, you think you'll read just a page or two of the next because you *must* know what happens ... and then you're at the end of that chapter and on to the next.

I thought it was a creative concept and exciting story. Once I began reading, it was hard to put down. Can't wait to read Mr. Lynch's next book.

I'm not usually a fan of science fiction. A storyline might capture my imagination for a time, but invariably the characters or dialogue or the plot structure would seem forced and amateurish, and I would put the book aside. Not so here with Mr. Lynch's debut novel. Pendulum captured my imagination quickly - through the time-tested devices of strong and interesting character development, a fast-paced, credible plot, spiced with fresh dialogue and intriguing plot twists. I enjoyed it immensely and recommend it highly!

Hi, I haven't read the book yet but I am going to order it now b/c my friend told me all about and how I just had to read it. Their ship is called the "sinfull sausage' what isn't to like?

This book was a good charming mystery. It had just the right amounts of twists and turns to make it a good, curl up by the fire book. The pirates give this book, just the right amount of jazz and the thousand islands in this book, gave it just the right touch of fantasy. Overall I'd rate it 4 stars!

This book was a very charming mystery. It had just the right amount of twists and turns to make it a good cozy curl-up-by-the-fire book. The pirates gave this book just the right amount of jazz, and the Thousand Islands really gave this book a nice touch of fantasy. Overall, I'd give this book 4 stars.

The book that Mahy wrote was one of the funniest books that I have ever read. This book was full of many laughs and suprises. It is about these middle age men who work very hard in a teashop and they are very tired of working. They want to do something they always wanted to do and that was to go on a voyage as pirates. So one day they just dropped eveything an set off to the thousand islands hoping to have fun. Before they set off the harmless bunch of pirates kidnapped a famous inventor to help seach for one of thoughs action filled adventures that pirates always have. If you are trying to find a funny book then this is the book for you.

The book that Mahy wrote was one of the funniest books that I have ever read. This book was full of many laughs and suprises. It is about these middle age men who wor very hard in a teashop and they are very tired of working. They want to do something they always wanted to do and that was to go on a voyage as pirates. So one day they just dropped eveything an set off to the thousand islands hoping to have fun. Before they set off the harmless bunch of pirates kidnapped a famous inventor to help seach for one of thoughs action filled adventures that pirates always have. If you are trying to find a funny book then this is the book for you.

My wife's maternal grandparents hail from Poland, so when planing a Eurpoean vacation for this summer, Poland it was. As independent travelers, we have always favored Lonely Planet travel books in the past. Once again Lonely Planet delivered the goods. Detailed descriptions of things to see & do, places to stay, and various methods of transportation. Additional internet rescources for finding more hotels than the ones reviewed. I would recommend this series of travel books to all from young backpackers to mature (myself) travelers.

I'd wonder how much time and frustration it would take finding out all this in depth information about the country and it's attractions myself. Especially since we didn't know much about Poland in the first place. It was a true blessing having this book around, especially since many Poles at places you need it most often don't speak English or German. Only price information should need some adjustment (which might have something to do with EU membership related inflation?). I used the print which was updated in Jan 2005, but some prices already doubled!

I recently went to Poland for the first time and found this book to be an absoutely wonderful guide to Warsaw, Krakow, and the Auschwitz concentration camps. All too often guide books that cover an entire country lack the kind of detail a traveler needs, but this book did not suffer that problem at all. The section on Warsaw was actually better organized and contained more detailed factual information than the DK book dedicated solely to that city. This was the only book I needed to help me get around Krakow and Auschwitz as well. I can't speak for the hotel and restaurant recommendations in the book because I never used any of them, but as far as information about historical sites and points of interest this is an outstanding book.

Update: In planning for my second trip to Poland, I recently purchased the Rough Guide to Poland, and I have to say it is even better than the Lonely Planet book because it includes quite a lot more detail. If you only buy one book, get the Rough Guide. But if you buy two, the Lonely Planet book is also very good.

Lonely Planet has been known for covering EVERYTHING in it's books. Thie one really does have a big flaw. Sites are quite OK and hotels are good too - though sometimes choices may be strange. However shopping is done dreadfully - at least in Warsaw. If your happy with the souvenirs you bought using this book, then you are quite lucky. Many shops with fine hand craft, genuine Polish hand-made are unlisted. Also shops with Jewish memorabilia, getting more popular after turbulent history tend to be missing. And when you come to normal shopping its a complete disaster! You wanna hang out in a mall or buy clothes a lot cheaper then in western Europe? Sure... Tourists and Ex-pats do it. But for sure NOT using Lonely Planet. The ever popular Arkadia Mall (biggest in this part of Europe), a place where English, German, French, Spanish and other languages are often heard as often as Polish is missing. So is the not much smaller and also popular with expats Galeria Mokotów. And what mall do tehy list? The dull out-skirt Sadyba Best Mall with a few stores, the usual fast-food joints and a few crappy stores. And it's lonely planets best tip on shopping? Come on! Almost no one goes there, except primary school trips (it's only attraction is the IMAX cinema).

I am puzzled by teh Warsaw shopping chapter. You can't come to the city and not here of Arkadia or Galeria Mokotów. If you see them, you can't recommend the crappy Sadyba Best Mall. So either someone didn't reaserch shopping at all (and just went to SBM) or Lonely Planets standards are dropping and the choice was made in some different dark ways. I just hope the ownership was not an issue. SBM is the only American mall. Arkadia is European, Galeria Mokotów - Jewish and most others French... What other thing could have provoked such a choice?

As a Pole living abroad (but frequently visiting) I have the dual perspective of "a local" but also that of a tourist. This book is easily the best source of background information on all sites and places in modern Poland, from the well-known tourist attractions to the small villages off the beaten track. I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of historical, ethnographic and cultural information about many of those places.
Thanks to this book I managed to discover some interesting places in Poland that I should have known about, if not visited before. Once I got there, I found that relying on the information in the book (especially on "how to get there" or "where to stay") proved more reliable than the information available to the visitor "on the ground". My short trip to the Jura National Park, north of Cracow, was a perfect example of a trip I would not have done if it was not for this guidebook.
Thoroughly recommended to anybody planning to spend an extensive holiday in Poland, or for repeat trips; if your travel is limited to the main cities like Warsaw, Cracow or Gdansk you may find other guidebooks, specific to those locations, sufficient.

This is a book written with courage and conviction. It addresses the potential for harm in the supervisory experience in a way that raises awareness of this dynamic, and names the experience and resultant trauma for those who have been mistreated in these important and powerful relationships. Our human desire to possess certainty, which is illusion at best, is part of what fuels these abuses of power. This book brings such issues to light, using both personal story and professional, theoretical understanding. It will be helpful to anyone in any role of the supervisory relationship.

In the model of corporate whistle blowing, Richard Raubolt tells his story of psychoanalytic training; exposing abuses of power, authority, status and control. In Power Games, he brings together respected analysts who weave a pattern of similar training experiences told with personal angst along with professional theory. Together, they identify the areas of training abuse and propose an alternative method of training that incorporates democratic principles of empathy, and respect for subjective experiences. This is a must read for individuals, like me, who are outside of the professional community of clinical psychotherapy. With an "insider's" help, the shroud is removed and we begin to understand the inner workings of this mental health profession. Collectively we should support the evolution of training practices that will inevitably develop therapists with greater self-understanding, knowledge and a voice of their own.

Richard Raubolt has authored a unique book. The perspectives of the prominent contributors to the book regarding the potential for abuse in psychotherapeutic training and supervision are diverse and eye-opening. The pitfalls of ego and authoritarian teaching on the part of trainers can be devastating and demeaning to potentially talented students of psychotherapy. Dr. Raubolt's courage in his documentation of his own toxic experience in clinical supervision is to be commended. He demonstrates in a very personal and powerful way, the potential for the misuse of power in the very institutions that are mandated to educate and support clinical excellence. This book is well written, informative and boldly honest. It is a "must read" for anyone that is involved in training; educators and students alike.

This is an original,brave book, which does what so many mental health books fail to do: it is unflinchingly honest and personal. Most books on psychotherapy discuss the dynamics of the patient or patients in intricate detail in order to support the author's or authors' version of "Truth"or at least what has been defined as Truth by instructors, supervisors and training analysts. The person of the therapist is homogenized and relegated to a "Stepford" professional existence in far too many training programs. As a result, both psychoanalysis and good writing are dying.
Well, this is not the case in this refreshing and frank discussion of training. While a number of theories are presented that are well articulated they follow rather than diminish the deeply personal experiences of those seeking advanced training and supervision. Complex, ornate and rarified theoretical nuances are not allowed to interfere with descriptions of effective, respectful and democratic training.
Senior supervisors, instructors and training analysts should be among the first to read this book. Candidates may also do well to study the experiences of other professionals before selecting a program of training. Honesty and learning go together best when done hand in hand for both student and teacher. -Dr. Becki J. Telford

In paper after varied, interesting paper, this book stitches together a picture of the painful underbelly of life in psychoanalytic institutes. Even where the best and brightest gather at the pinnacle of mental health thought and treatment, power corrupts as deftly and unconsciously as it does anywhere else in the human species.
For all our scholarship and dedication and aspirations to facilitate healing insight in our patients, it turns out that we have trouble walking our talk with each other. And worse yet, our candiates develop in our shadows.
As Raubolt demonstrates in this relevant and riveting collection of psychoanalytic experience, at least we have the wherewithal to turn an
analytic eye to our own fragility and our possibilities for reform and redepmtion. Both 'cult' and 'culture,' after all, derive from 'cultivation' ---of our own human soil, in this case. Luckily, we keep on tilling, often with humor, courage, resolve. This book speaks deeply to the task before us.

Nancy Spohn, LCSW, May 15, 2007

This particular book provides the reader with a comprehensive view of PHP development. I was pleased with the vast amount of topics covered. This book is a very useful tool for developers.

This is a great book in that the author provides comprehensive coverage of a complicated subject, and does it in clear, concise and understandable language. The book should be a promary resource for programmers. I look forward to more contributions from this author.

'Pro PHP XML and Web Services' by Robert Richards is a great book to help you learn your way around these technologies. Packing in over 900+ pages, this book gives a broad overview of the subject matter which is outlined here:

01. Introduction to XML and Web Services
02. XML Structure
03. Validation
04. XPath, XPointer, XInclude
05. PHP and XML
06. Document Object Model
07. SimpleXML
08. Simple API for XML
09. XMLReader
10. Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations
11. Effective and Efficient Processing
12. XML Security
13. PEAR and XML
14. Content Syndication: RSS and Atom
15. Web Distributed Data Exchange
16. XML-RPC
17. Representational State Transfer
18. SOAP
19. Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI)
20. PEAR and Web Services
21. Other XML Technologies and Extensions

If you need a book that dives into the XML technology and doesn't look back, this is a nice pickup that gets the job done. Lots of other Apress books I feel are a bit too long, but this book at over 900 pages I have less complaints about. It's solidly written and a nice companion book to have on your bookshelf for anyone that programs with XML.

**** RECOMMENDED

This book is amazingly well written. The content is organized in an intuitive and logical fashion. The author explains base concepts and progresses into advanced topics, providing consistent depth of coverage along the way. The author's writing and concise examples get the message across on the first reading - unlike some texts that require multiple passes. It's also noteworthy that the Technical Reviewers, Christian Stocker and Adam Trachtenberg, are renowned PHP experts and authors. If you plan to study or work with PHP and XML, this book is a MUST HAVE.

This is first and foremost an XML reference. The author takes the reader through over 100 pages XML background in the first three chapters, then an overview of a few utilities like XPath and XPointer before he touches on PHP. Having provided some grounding in the basics, he then proceeds to develop the use of XML in PHP from the basic topics of DOM (Document Object Model) and XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) to the more advanced topics of SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and web services.

Along the way Richards introduces the reader to utility classes like SimpleXML, SAX (Simple API for XML), XMLReader. He also touches on PEAR (PHP Extension and Application Repository) utility classes and topics like security, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) and UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery and Integration). The author's examples are reasonably concise and readable; making the necessary points without getting carried away.

The bottom line is that this is a highly effective reference (that means fairly comprehensive, but dry reading; I read cover to cover, but it was relatively tedious) on XML and its varied uses in association with PHP. This is not a book for the newcomer to programming, nor is it a cookbook for examples for the casual programmer/web developer, although the author does provide PEAR examples for connecting with major web services like Amazon, Google and Yahoo (among others). My suggestion for readers is to review what you need of the first 11-12 chapters to ensure a firm grounding in XML, and then hop to the chapters specific to the problem being faced.
P-)

With the intelligence community re-inventing itself to meet emerging threats, the Heuer book's re-release will serve the new generation of analysts well.
The first two chapters deal primarily with biases, mindsets and perceptions -- those key areas which have had less than a good impact on thinking in and outside of the intelligence field. The eighth chapter covers what he is known best for, the Analysis of Competing Hypotheses, covered in a step-by-step manner.
I require all my analytic students to read this book and I find it gives me new insights with every re-reading.
The new publishers have done us all a favor by putting this into the public venue once more.
Heuer's work and his ongoing contribution to the field make him an international intelligence treasure.

This book is simply a must read for anyone interesting in the field of intelligence. Heuer really knows his stuff.

The core function of the U.S. Intelligence System is to collect unprocessed information (data) and transform it into useful knowledge (intelligence). This transformation is accomplished through a cognitive process called `analysis' (more accurately research and analysis). Richard Heurer examines this process and attempts to explain how it is performed. This book reflects his long experience working for on the thorny issues associated with understanding analysis on behalf of CIA. The book is less than successful primarily because Heurer appears to believe that mere technique or `tradecraft' can be codified and used to produce good analysis.

In point of fact to focus on technique is to ignore the reality that the entire process of intelligence production is dependent on the analyst's knowledge of the target. This knowledge enables an analyst: to collate unprocessed information and extract relevant pieces from it; to recognize patterns of behavior and anomalies within the target; and to steer collection programs to obtain still more information about the target. Target knowledge, particularly for CIA analysts, should enable the analyst not only validate discrete target related events and occurrences, but also to integrate them into knowledge packages that would actually be useful to intelligence consumers. Perhaps more importantly, Heurer ignores the truth that good analysis is more dependent on the personality of the analyst than on any amount of training. The qualities of persistence, curiosity, objectivity, and intuition cannot be acquired through teaching. Finally Heurer gives very little attention to the value of sound research as an indispensable part of the analytic process. The analyst who presumes the information before him is all there is to a story is making a major error. True as, Heurer notes, information must be managed with care or it can overwhelm an analyst, but target knowledge should allow the analyst the wheat from the chaff. Properly executed research can result in a more informed and accurate intelligence product.

In the end Heurer makes a valiant attempt and certainly provides some important ideas and concepts that do help the analytic process. His arguments about perception, managing information, and open mindedness are all perfectly valid. Yet at the end of the day, target knowledge and personality will trump technique (tradecraft) every time.

One reviewer has the following criticism: "The book is less than successful primarily because Heuer appears to believe that mere technique or `tradecraft' can be codified and used to produce good analysis." Whether or not Heuer actually believes this or not, I do not know, however, I disagree with this criticism as it pertains to this book. I have never worked in a formal intelligence environment or as an intelligence analyst, so I am only addressing what I perceived as the intention, stated or not, of this book.

I believe it is clear that he is addressing this book (or series of articles) to those who are already trained intelligence analysts in some capacity, and is discussing the importance of, and giving some instruction on how, to avoid the pitfalls and hindrances associated with our human cognitive processes. From my perspective, he is not trying to teach a particular one-size-fits-all analysis technique, or trying to imply that anyone can perform and excel as an analyst just by following a prescribed procedure.

Actually, I believe he addresses some very deep and sophisticated topics in a very practical manner. His writing is very plain and easy to understand, as are the examples and studies he cites to make his point. He does not attempt to write like a scientist, he keeps the subject matter on a level that makes it easy to understand, which in turn, makes it more useful to you. (You cannot apply what you do not understand.) In fact, as I read this book I could immediately recall situations in my life where I paid a price for making some of the mistakes he outlines and see that I could have brought about much better conclusions and solutions if I had the knowledge in this book.

This is a very good book for any type of manager, lawyer, analyst in any field, detective, researcher, etc..I cannot imagine anyone not being helped by the subject manner in this book and his very practical instructional approach.

I have used what I learned in this book, and couple others, in some recent business problem solving efforts, and had very successful conclusions to these efforts.

Richards Heuer's Psychology of Intelligence Analysis is based on a compilation of declassified articles from the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence, prepared for intelligence analysts and management. However, this book will benefit anyone conducting analyses of complex scenarios in a structured way, including health care professionals, financial and market analysts from all industry verticals, law enforcement and security staff, auditors and fraud investigators, and many others.

Heuer's point is that `analysts should be self-conscious about their reasoning processes. They should think about how they make judgments and reach conclusions, not just about the judgments and conclusions themselves'. The book presents a discussion of how mental models and subconscious cognitive processes can limit our reasoning capabilities (especially when coping with uncertainty and doubt), as well as an introduction on how we can try to understand and negate these effects.

In his analysis, Heuer presents data from internal and external cognitive studies, scrutinizes past CIA success and failure cases, and proposes a re-evaluation of the way we generally look at problems. The author brilliantly makes his point in Chapter 13 by showing scenarios in which the reader is invited to review previous statements and `evidence' from the text, look at the discussion from different angles, methodically apply or remove certain models, and then compare his/her own conclusions as a professional analyst would be expected to do.

The outcomes are disturbing, but not surprising. Disturbing because it is alarming to see how our judgments are normally biased by previous experiences, pre-conceptions and mental models; also because it is extremely hard to change or even notice this fact by ourselves. Not surprising because we can see the same analytical problems happening over time; even when talented, trained professionals are warned about the dangers of cognitive biases, such as `events that people experience personally are more memorable than those they only read about. Concrete words are easier to remember than abstract words, and words of all types are easier to recall than numbers. [Information having the qualities cited] is more likely to be stored and remembered than abstract reasoning or statistical summaries, and therefore can be expected to have a greater immediate effect as well as a continuing impact on our thinking in the future'.

Heuer's presentation of the subject is very pleasant to read, fluid and rich in real-life examples from psychological research, political and military intelligence, and other domains. The author clearly differentiates empirical data from his own assumptions and opinions, even when his conclusions are naturally drawn from research data (i.e. following his own advice).

The book leaves the reader with some unanswered questions as to how one can change his/her own biased mental models to improve the outcomes of an analytical process, as many issues simply have no known remediation and are deeply rooted in the way humans reason. That being said, the greatest value of this book comes from Heuer's recommendations and logical steps to be followed in order to improve the accuracy of verdicts and conclusions, and avoid known cognitive traps that can ruin even an expert's assessment. Heuer also points out that by knowing about the existence and understanding the nature of the problem, we can further research ways to identify and isolate negative effects of cognitive limitations on our forecasts, plans, and professional judgements.