Scott Books

Scott's photographs are exquisite and beautifully married to simple but sophisticated text by her co-author, Reid. In an era of "Chicken Soup for the Soul (which I also occasionally read and find helpful), The Soul in Balance is a visual delight and a book whose messages are challenging, thought-provoking, and soothing. This book would make a perfect gift for almost anyone whose life is too hectic, fragmented, and in need of some inner direction. Scott's understanding and appreciation of the natural world are reflective and direct descendants of the best 18th century traditions. But no mistake, she is a complete, late-20th century sensibility with an remarkable eye and camera technique that excels.

I had been in hospitals for 12 months when I read Alexandra Scott's book. It was so peaceful and beautiful, while the text and pictures enhanced one another. For people in distress with little energy, it is balm for the self.

This is such a soothing, satisfying book. The photographs are exquisite, with a wonderful sense of intimacy and color: red berries glistening in droplets of ice, poppies with the fine blonde hairs along their stems backlit in the sun. Scott's sensitive, observant eye takes you places you wouldn't know to go, pulling your eye deep into a hydrangea, where tiny growing leaves curl into infinity. There is a real synergy between the photos and the thoughtful quotes, to a degree that I have never seen. Reid is a poet and you can tell; when you read the quote and look back at the picture, you understand it in a different way. I've been giving copies to everyone I know.

The Soul In Balance: The Gardens Of Washington National Cathedral pairs photographs with short quotations from Biblical, Philosophical, and literary works thereby creating lovely, inspiring images both visual and philosophical. Alexandra K. Scott's color photographs pair beautifully with quotations selected by Heddy F. Reid and New Testament passages chosen by Frederica Isabelle Scott. The Soul In Balance is an ideal gift book to commemorate special occasions, and to browse through in search of heart's ease and the spirit's inspiration.

This is one of the best-designed books I've used. The notes, tips, and cautions are plentiful, which really helped to enhance the topics. There is also a quick reference to special features called Power tips. A large tear out section of keyboard commands is included in the front. I had no idea there were so many shortcuts.

I found the illustration techniques uniques and extremely helpful. The tables not only show the function of a tool but where to find more information if needed. The whole book has cross references to other sections, great help.

If you are looking for one book on CorelDRAW 9, you can't go wrong with this one, it is excellent!

Steve Bain's book on CorelDRAW ranks among the best books I've read on any technical subject. The organization is excellent; essential tools are named and described in the first few chapters, and then explored in detail later along with the remaining tools and functions. The author's command of English is wonderful; the book is clear, concise, coherent, thorough, and readable. I have been concurrently reading through this book while I use CorelDRAW at work, and am enlightened at every turn of the page. The desire to praise this book (& author: thanks!) inspired me to write my first review for Amazon.

This is the only book I have found that includes a working evaluation copy of CorelDRAW 9. It includes dozens of hands-on step-by-step workshops with the CorelDRAW files to support them. It is virtually the only book to explain *all* of Draw's complex drawing features in easy-to-understand language. It is over 1,000 packed and well-illustrated pages in length containing hundreds of time-saving user tips. Each chapter ends with indispensable troubleshooting tips geared toward solving dozens of common user problems. Most of the information covered applies to previous versions of Draw, at least two versions back. You won't be disappointed with this one, it's a lifesaver !

I recently bought CorelDRAW 9 together with Steve Bain's book titled "Special Edition" Using CorelDraw 9. I am finding the book *very* useful in helping me to better understand the complexities of CorelDRAW 9.

This is a wonderful book and a very quick read; I would highly recommend this book for people of all ages. G.L. Gregg did an excellent job in his development of the characters and the adventures created by the sporran. I would rank this book right up there with the classic stories created by Tolkien and Lewis. I am enthusiastically looking forward to the continuation of Jacobs adventures in the next book.

My wife and I very much enjoyed the story -- it is an action-packed fantasy-adventure, which also draws a lot of great background from Dr. Gregg's knowledge of folklore and of real history.

But this isn't a dry academic lesson -- it's as colorful as a children's book should be: There's an eccentric erudite professor who shares a motorcycle with his pet dragon-pug, the boy-hero who is sent on a mission to recover one of the lost mystical treasures of Celtic heritage, and a close encounter with one of the Loch Ness Monster's cousins.

This book is a sure pick for anybody with a taste for fantasy, or for those particularly interested in Scottish lore.

And of course it's a good kids' book, too: One of the junior high students at the school where my wife teaches got a copy and she loved it, saying (and I quote) "It's brilliant!"

Gregg's inspiring and captivating epic of destiny spins a tale of high adventure, humor, and serious moral purpose. Young readers will breathlessly follow the hero's perils and triumphs among the ancient ruins and landmarks of Scotland -- and also learn along the way that life presents us with inescapable duties beyond the strength and courage that any one of us alone possesses. The novel affirms friendship and family and cultivates the moral imagination. If the first installment of The Remnant Chronicles is any indication, this new fantasy series will belong on the same shelf with Tolkien and Lewis.

The Sporran is a wonderful book for all ages. I am a teacher and I just finished reading this to my reading class. My students range in age from 7-10 yrs. old and they LOVED it. It is a great read aloud book that allows discussion to happen naturally about actual places in other countries, other cultures, and allows children to work on making predictions. The book is filled with danger, humor, and lessons to be learned. This is a good book for any age from 7-100yrs old. My students can't wait for the next book in the series. As they would say "Dragon Pugs rule! Kelpies drool!"

This book is presented in an academic debate style. Waltz beings with a discussion of why the spread of nuclear weapons is not detremental to world peace. Sagan counters, after which both comment on the recent spread of nuclear weapons to both India and Pakistan. Both then write a conclusionary essay, essentially restating the arguments they made earlier.

This is a wonderful book for people interested in this aspect of international politics. Sagan and Waltz both make deep arguments, peppered with numerous historical references and held together by a sound logical structure. Though this book is quite complex, neither author writes in an overly academic style, which allows for a wide potential audience. You'll read more here about the theoretical logic behind the threat of nuclear war than you will about, say, the technical makeup of nuclear weapons.

My only complaint about this work is that Scott Sagan's responses to Waltz seem specifically devised to tear Waltz's argument apart, rather than constructing a logical arugment of his own. This book also includes quite a deal of repetition. After reading both author's take on the potentiality of an India-Pakistan conflict, one feels exasperated to see Waltz merely reiterate what he said earlier. However, this is still the best book of its kind on this subject, one that any serious student of foreign policy should pursue.

Book was in good condition. As for content, it was for a course, so what does it matter?

Certainly the best debate ever produced about the existence of nuclear weapons and its distribution around the world. Highly recomended!

This books puts together two colliding authors on whether the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a good idea or not. Waltz, one fo the premier figures of realpolitik, argues (brilliantly, even though I disagree with him) that proliferation is a good idea. Sagan argues there are too many organizational risks in the proliferation system.

The two present their arguments, and then respond to each other's argument. It is a fascinating argument, one that can be discussed in 1000 pages, but the authors do a tremendous job of synthesizing it and pointing out the major strenghts and weaknesses of each other's argument. In today's world, where we are willing to go to war to prevent proliferation, it is useful to take a step back and really understand what the main problems arising by proliferation are.

I couldn't be happier with this sprinkler.
It's very nice to be able to point the heads in separate directions.
The quality is top rate.
Be sure to get more than one though as it's not practical to try to move it to different spots in you yard or garden.
You don't want to be resetting the directions of you sprinkler heads all the time.
It does take a little bit of time to begin with to get them adjusted to where you want them to go.
I'm going to be buying more of these and my daugher is going to buy some for her yard as well.

A very good book for the homeowner with a sprinkler system. Lots of good info on how systems work, and how they can be modified. Worth the money.

Scotts Sprinklers & Watering Systems is a complete and thoroughly "user friendly" guide to planning and installing landscape irrigation for the home. Profusely illustrated, this "how to manual covers every aspect of planning out a sprinkling system to be as cost efficient to install as it would be to operate. Included in the planning process are detailed materials and equipment comparisons as this superbly organized "how to" manual takes the homeowner and do-it-yourselfer through the planning and design process from beginning to end. Then the reader is taken step-by-step through the installing process with clear instructions and illustrative photography which will eliminate any operational problems later one. Also included is the maintenance, care and upkeep of the installed watering system including occasional repairs and replacement of parts. Finally there is an invaluable section on using the installed water system, getting the right amount of water in the right place at the right time. If you are wanting to include a sprinkler or other kind of watering system as part of your landscaping, then give a close and careful reading to Scotts Sprinklers & Watering Systems -- it will save you not only time and money, but help you to avoid aggravation and error!

This book has a detailed description of just about anything you can think of when it comes to installing your own sprinkler system. From planning bluelines to selecting sprinkler head types, it covered all bases. I was a totally new to the world of sprinkler installation when I read this, and now I feel like a pro!

Danielle has been stealing things for as long as she can remember. She travels from town to town with her mother, robbing the rich of their valuable silver. That's how she ends up in Heaven, a beautiful beach town where many rich people vacation. But there's something different about this city. Danielle can't seem to keep a low profile. She becomes friendly with a talkative girl named Allison and starts falling for a cute guy named Greg.

But the job isn't as easy as all the other jobs Danielle has done. She has to steal silver from the Donaldson's, but that would mean stealing from Allison, the first person Danielle has ever called a friend. And Greg turns out to be a cop. Danielle is torn between her loyalty for her mother and her yearning for a normal life.

Stealing Heaven was an amazingly well-written novel. I got the sense that I really got to know all the main characters, and I felt a connection to Danielle, even though Thievery is not my life. But there is some much more to Dani than just being a thief. She is clever, careful, and above all things loyal. She often sacrifices for her mom, and although her loyalty to her mother sometimes gets in the way, I loved how at the end, Dani finally gets what she wants.

I loved how the ending was neatly wrapped up and made me feel hopeful. I also like how most elements of this book can be applied to anyone who feels out of the ordinary sometimes. I can honestly say that I fell in love with this book. I definitely look forward to reading more of Elizabeth Scott's novels, and I highly recommend buying this novel.

[...]

Dani goes by many names. Her name changes depending on where she and her mother have moved for their next job. Dani and her mother are thieves. Her father is no longer in the picture. He was caught during a robbery and was sent to prison when Dani was younger. Once he was paroled, he faded from their lives. Now Dani and her mother travel all around the country planning their next big job.

Since she was little, Dani's mother has always taught her to believe in silver and things she can hold and sell. But now, at eighteen, they have moved to Heaven, a coastal town. Her mom has her sights set on the huge mansions along the beach. Dani's thoughts are changing toward the future. She keeps having thoughts about what it would be like if they settled down and she could be normal.

While scouting the area for her mother, Dani meets Allison and Greg. Allison turns out to be the daughter of the house her mother has decided to hit. Allison accepts her, no questions asked. Greg turns out to be intrigued by Dani. He's also a cop. Greg is the worst possible type of guy for a girl in her position to be interested in. Yet Greg keeps turning up, and for the first time in her life, Dani finds herself telling him the truth about things. She even goes so far as to tell him her real name. Allison knows her as Sydney, but Greg has met the real Dani.

Complications arise in Heaven for Dani and her mother, and the story comes to a satisfying conclusion for the reader. Dani is torn between what she wants to do and what she's obligated to do for her mother. Dani struggles with doubts of her mother's love, as well as her attraction to Greg. She wants desperately to fit in and finally make friends, but the life she's always lived keeps getting in the way.

STEALING HEAVEN is the second book I've been fortunate enough to read by Ms. Scott. And I have to admit that I loved this one even more than PERFECT YOU. Of course, now I must go back and read BLOOM, and wait eagerly for her future release, LIVING DEAD GIRL. Ms. Scott was an unknown author for the Class of 2007. Well, I'm pleased to say I believe she will be around for many years. Her stories keep evolving and her audience will surely grow along with her increasing library.

Reviewed by: Jaglvr

"The story of my life be told in silver - in chocolate mills, service spoons, and services for twelve. The story of my life has nothing to do with me. The story of my life is things. Things that aren't mine, that won't ever be mine. It's all I've ever known.

"I wish it wasn't."

Most girls Danielle's age are moving between high school and college, moving from one part of their lives to the next, moving on to a new school and a new job, moving away from their parents.

Danielle has never been to school. She has spent her life helping her mother steal and move from town to town. Even though her father was jailed for thievery, his remaining family members have made it their work and their lives. Danielle's mom specializes in stealing silver from homes and other establishments. Though she knows stealing is wrong and illegal, Danielle doesn't know how to get out of it. She has never known anything else, and she's never had a lasting relationship with anyone other than her mother.

When the ladies go to a breezy little town called Heaven, their attempts to take it all may split them apart. Two residents of Heaven quickly complicate Danielle's life: a rich girl named Allison who wants to be her friend, and a young man named Greg who wants to date her. Allison's family is Danielle's mother's next target, and Greg happens to be a cop.

For Danielle - or Dani, the nickname Greg gives her quickly and fits her completely - this isn't simply a moral tale. This is her life story. It's time for her to make it her own.

Stealing Heaven offers a unique premise, and the story grows when Dani's conscience really starts to kicks in. As in her previous novels (Bloom and Perfect You), Elizabeth Scott allows readers to truly get into the mind of the main character. Dani isn't your typical teenager, so her situation might provide escapism for some while giving others food for thought.

Danielle only knows one way to live. She's never been to school, she's never had a legitimate job, no friends, and no boyfriend. What she does have is her mother, and what they do, is criminal. They steal. Basically they move from town to town, targeting the houses that contain their drug of choice, silver. Her mother does it, her father did it. It's the only thing she knows how to do, but is what she wants to do.

Their next hit is a small sleepy beach town called, Heaven. Everything is going as planned they have the house in sights and they are gathering intel. They'll breeze in and out and no one will notice or miss them. That is until Dani meets Allison and is tempted with the taste of friendship. But Allison isn't the only one who has Dani questioning her ways, there is Greg, the cop that makes her heart flutter! Will Dani be able to turn her back on the only life she's ever known for a life she has only dreamed about?

This is my second time reading Elizabeth Scott, and she keeps getting better! I loved this story. I was completely captivated by the plot and the characters. Dani's situation was so compelling, I can't imagine what it would be like to be in that situation, even if my parents did something wrong I can only imagine I would want to protect them. The conflict of this story was unbelievable that alone instantly made me want to pick up this book. And I'm so glad I did! I loved Dani and Greg's characters. They were both dealing with the effects that their parents had on their lives. Although their stories couldn't be farther apart. If you want a quick yet mesmerizing novel, I highly suggest Stealing Heaven!

with the particular buddhist context, in an accesible type of prose, stripped of too much jargon and history

Scott Berry brought to light a most unusual book on Tibet based on the turn of the century manuscript of a Zen Monk's adventures in Tibet. Kawaguchi Ekai "Three Years In Tibet" was the contemporary of Alexandra David-Neel and Sir Francis Younghusband, the famous Tibetologist. The uniqueness of this book is that for the very first time, an account of Tibet was told from the Asian point of view. Kawaguchi was born in the Meiji Restoration Era, but he was certainly not a conformist of that era, he was much too eccentric for his time. Although the Meiji Era symbolizes the modernization and opening of Japan as well as the adoption of a strong Japanese identity; Kawaguchi was the direct opposite, a throwback to a much earlier age of high adventure focusing on Buddhist spiritual development. During the Meiji Restoration, western culture and western scientific methods were making inroads into the Japanese system, downplaying China's symbolic role in Japan. All things Chinese especially Buddhism was despise at, instead the state cult of Shintoism gained much favour of the Royal Court and the ruling clique. The Emperor though still a puppet emperor became the focus of the new cult of the emperor as the living embodiment of Amaretsu, the so called descendant of the Sun God. Kawaguchi had very strong affinity with Buddhism. In his early life although not yet a monk, he took the shojin vows of refraining from meat, alcohol and maintaining celibacy. Kawaguchi was first ordained in the Obaku sect (Obakusan or Mampukuji) a Buddhist sect imported to Japan during the Ming Dynasty retaining much of its Chinese influences like liturgy recitation and even the style of vegetarian cooking remained close to its Chinese identity. Although a member of this sect, Kawaguchi was disillusion with the worldliness of the members of the Sangha, his quest was for the original teachings that remains the heart and soul of the Buddhist Tripitaka. No other place suits his quest except for Tibet, where Sanskrit Buddhist texts remains locked up in the various monasteries as a safeguard from the Muslim invasion of India. Scott Berry illustrated the zest of Kawaguchi, comparing him with Hsuan Tung, the illustrious pilgrim criss-crossing deserts, vast nations, various tribes etc in his quest for Buddhist holy texts. Kawaguchi was not unlike the modern incarnation of Hsuan Tung. His quest for Buddhist texts brought him to Darjeeling, India (Little Tibet) where he stayed for almost a year, accustoming to the Tibetan culture and language. Tibet at the turn of the century was a very feudal nation, the rule of the Dalai Lama was totalitarian and unquestionable. China's influence in Tibet remained very strong, the Chinese Ambans acted as agents of the Manchu Court influencing various policies of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. Tibet did not welcome visitors to her land, she was closed to foreigners except Buddhist pilgrims from Mongolia, Bhutan, Nepal and India. Many visitors gate-crashed into Tibet, including zealous Christian missionaries like Ippolito Desideri, and adventurers like Peter Hopkirk (Tresspasser On The Roof Of The World). Still, forays into the Tibetan heartland remained few and far in between, remaining rather impossible for the curious westerners or in this scenario a lone Japanese monk. Kawaguchi's comments on Tibetan Buddhism was rather critical, he was not apprehensive to snide on the various practices of the Tibetans including the worship Guru Rinpoche or Guru Padmasambhava, in his views, he questioned the equality that Tibetans placed upon Guru Rinpoche and Sakyamuni Buddha. For him, he evaluated Guru Rinpoche not as a true Buddha but a charlatan, murderer, fornicator and a drunkard as observed in his quotation. "Lobon (Guru Rinpoche) was in practice a devil in disguise of a priest and behaved if he has been born for the very purpose of corrupting and preventing the spread of holy doctrines of Buddhism". Scott Berry made known Kawaguchi cultural prejudices against Tibetans, he saw himself as culturally superior compared to backward and superstitious Tibetans. It is interesting to note that Kawaguchi took devotedly to the daily bath seriously, he was aghast of the Tibetans view of bathing that which at most was 3 times in a lifetime, at birth, marriage and death. In Darjeeling, Sagauli, Kathmandu and Thak Khola, Kawaguchi befriended many people including Chandra Das and Chiniya Lama. It was during this time, Kawaguchi replaced his Chinese Mahayana robes for the Tibetan maroon-coloured robes. Probably by then, Kawaguchi was in diguise not as a Japanese monk but a Chinese monk bending on making a sacred pilgrimage to the holy city of Lhasa. I am rather impressed by the author's account of life in Nepal as very few authors have touched on the palace intrigue of Nepal during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The author too wrote some very good narrative of daily practices of the Tibetans including a well-liked account of the hermit Gelong Rinpoche. Kawaguchi forays into Tibet was indeed very interesting, texts from his book "Three Years In Tibet" was well quoted and duly explained and detailed by Berry. Differences between the various religious factions of Tibetan Buddhism were highlighted, from the tulku line of the Karmapa-Dalai Lama to the degeneration of various Buddhist practices to tantrism. It is a pity, the climax of Berry's account was extremely short as compared to the overall account of Kawaguchi biography. The features of Kawaguchi in Lhasa (U Tsang) was indeed short (only two chapters) though I would say this should be given the most attention as it was the goal of Kawaguchi's prime destination. Kawaguchi indeed managed to realize his goals of collecting sacred text in Sanskrit, he was to become a student at the prime monastery of Sera, one of the three greatest monasteries in Tibet, i.e. Ganden, Drepung and Sera. Nevertheless, it is indeed very enlightening to read about Kawaguchi's encounters with the 7th Panchen Lama (although I would question the validity of Berry's numbering, as it seems strange to have a 7th Panchen Lama in the early 1900s and the 11th Panchen Lama enthroned in 1995), the 13th Dalai Lama and to the much admired Kyabje Tri Ganden Rinpoche. Kawaguchi never failed to mention his high admiration for Kyabje Tri Ganden Rinpoche, for him Kyabje was the ideal monk not corrupted by worldliness or politics. As a Doctor of Sera and at times personal physician to the 13th Dalai Lama, Kawaguchi wrote at long of health conditions and various medical practices among the Tibetans. Kawaguchi's description of Lhasa was indeed very fascinating. ( ) END

I still cherish the memory of reading this book. There are many reasons to recommend it, but I love it as a combination humorous travel story and spiritual reflection. It is also an interesting example of how identity and conciousness can transform in the crucible of a foreign culture. This book is great as travel writing, spiritual writing and personal history.

I picked up a copy of this book in a bookstore in Katmandu as a result of a recommendation from someone that had already spent time in the area. For me, just beginning on a month-long trek, the detailed description of the subject's travels were amazing. This is in part because the western most portion of a famous trek in Nepal (Annapurna Circuit) are covered during the adventure. However, now, 19 years after my trek I have begun to read this book again and am struck by the author's careful, almost painstaking attention to the details of the subject's trek through parts of Nepal and into Tibet about 100 years ago. This is truly a book that takes you back in time and lets you imagine what it must have been like to travel to a totally foreign and forbidding country with no safety net to achieve a goal as empowering as locating original religious manuscripts. If you have ever wanted to imagine what true adventure is like, this is the book for you. It is not clear that there are adventures left like this in the world. The story is filled with episodes when the traveler logically should have either frozen, starved, or been otherwise killed. Of course, for a book like this to succeed the story must be unimaginable on some level but still possible. The details are barely believable (such as ending up teaching within Lhasa while being a foreigner). However, the real mystery, never solved, concerns the subject of the story himself. One is left wishing to have met this bizarre and infuriating combination of bungling and brilliance.

Great turn-around time. Arrived quickly and in great condition. Would buy from them again!!

Thanks!!

This is a very clever and insightful distilled overview, and as a performer I appreciate his experience as a performer, director and producer all of which informs his deep academic research. He has a strong, unapologetic author's viewpoint which makes for more interesting reading.

I have read and enjoyed Scott Miller's past books and "Strike Up the Band" is a worthy addition to his output (though I have to admit that I have only read about three-fourths as of this writing). Miller writes interestingly and informatively about composers, works and, especially, helps the reader relate the musical art form to the social and political environment that its history mirrors. I plan to use the book as a text for a class I will be teaching next year.


The above notwithstanding, I did see evidence of sloppy editing, e.g. "Juilliard" not "Julliard"; "Antonio" not "Anthony" Banderas" and vocal "cords" not "chords"), and I regret that my students will not have the benefit of a bibliography with which to expand their scholarly curiosity.

Starting with the first page entitled, "The Overture", this book instantly captures your interest and compels you to read on to find out what each consecutive chapter contains. Scott Miller's words make every era, from the early 1900's up to the present time, an exciting journey through the history of musical theatre. I liked the fact that he integrated into his book what was going on in the world at the time the musicals were produced. Reading about my old favorites, "Oklahoma", "The King and I" and "South Pacific" was pure fun, but learning about one of the newer musicals, "Urinetown", was not only fun, but enlightening. I've read all his previous books, but this one tops them all!

This is a proper "In Action" book. I do strongly recommend it. If you plan to buy only one reference in the subject, look no further this is it! Down Brown is a Struts PMC member and an authoritative voice, among others he is the author of the Struts 2 REST plugin which is a superb addition to the framework from version 2.1.2

The book is very well written and easy to follow. I personally found the explanations very concise and appreciated the most their unique and clear way of breaking down and explaining all code snippets. This is really a great reference.

The first two chapters are a very good introduction to the framework. I am a pure version 2 user and had to learn most of these concepts from online documentation and from the Struts mailing lists.

Among all the topics covered I enjoyed and appreciated the most the coverage of:
- Interceptors
- OGNL and Type Conversion
- Validation! before this book, you could only find the relevant coverage of this topic scattered online in e.g. WebWork articles outdated
..for Struts 2. The authors did an excellent job explaining validation in chapter 10
- Really unique was the coverage of:
..... Unit testing actions
..... Tiles plugin
..... execAndWait interceptor "processing your request, please wait .."
..... UI component templates
..... Writing Struts 2 plugins

On the big plus side, the authors did a superb job keeping the book agnostic to minor versions of Struts 2 i.e. there were several differences from 2.0.x to 2.1.x and I was very happy to see that the examples and explanations were not outdated for the later.

On the down side and as a trade off I can only complain that the book left the Ajax topics out; maybe also because there have been many changes on this topic from minor versions of Struts 2 e.g. the ajax theme of Struts 2.0.x was converted to the dojo plugin in version 2.1.x. In any case, I somehow find the Ajax topic in Struts 2 to be one of the best documented online.

I believe that the Practical Apache Struts 2 Web 2.0 Projects (Practical Projects) book from Ian Roughley is a very good complement to this one. If you want to find coverage on topics like Security and Ajax in Struts 2 you will want that one too. The only issue there is that the coverage of the ajax theme is partially outdated for the newest version 2.1.2 of the framework

Struts 2 In Action is the best resource (hard or soft copy) for Struts 2 available. I took a look at this book as someone with quite a bit of experience using Struts and Struts 2. I really thought I had a good understanding of the core framework before, but many of the topics that lack online documentation were covered in more depth than I had seen in the past. As an example, many others have shied away from covering OGNL because it is a language all by itself. In this book you will find what I consider to be the most thorough explanation of how OGNL fits into Struts 2 and how to use it yourself. I was tempted to give the book 4 stars because there are a few things that I thought could have gotten more coverage, like Spring/Hibernate integration and AJAX, but I realized that it really would be impossible to cover everything in one volume. Struts 2 is a large and comprehensive framework and with anything of that scale, a good understanding of the fundamentals is the best way to start. This book delivers.

If you are wondering what is covered, you will find comprehensive coverage of the following -
- writing actions
- action workflow basics
- type conversion
- OGNL
- form tags
- non-form tags
- results
- intro to Spring/Hibernate integration
- validation
- i18n
- struts 2 plugins
- migration from struts 1

I had to learn Struts2 quickly since I recently changed jobs and my new team has several web application projects built using Struts2.

Overall, I thought the book was done very well if you are looking for a good introduction to Struts2. The first 8 chapters are very good.

The main negative is the source code for the book's examples. The authors provide one very large war file with all the source code embedded into the war file along with an overall web application divided into sub-applications for each chapter.

This packaging of the source code into the war file made it difficult for me to create individual projects in my development IDE that demonstrated just the material in a specific chapter. I had to spend quite a bit of time breaking down the source code into individual web projects and then figuring out on my own what jars needed to go into each project, what the struts.xml file needed to have, and what ever else was necessary to separate out just that chapter's sub-application so I could run that example and play with it.

Where this really became a problem was in chapters 9 and 10. Chapter 9 is a very advanced introduction to integrating Spring and Hibernate/JPA into Struts2. I never could get this chapter's example to work correctly.

However, chapter 10 on the validation framework then uses the same code as chapter 9, so you really cannot separate out the code for either chapter 9 and 10.

The validation framework is likely something even beginning Struts2 developers will want to use, while Spring/JPA/Hibernate is for more advanced developers and should have been well after the chapter on how to use the validation framework.

Also, the authors really don't give you a good understanding of what Struts2 jars you need to have to build a basic Struts2 application. There is some information about this in chapter 13 (setting up your IDE) but this information should really be at the beginning of the book. Also I don't think the list the authors provide is accurate since my basic HelloWorld (get the user to enter a name, call an Action class, and then display Hello userName in new jsp) worked with far fewer jars. Note there is apparently a new example war that just is a basic Hello World so there may be some information in that war file. That war was not on the manning web site when I purchased the book.

This book is good but be prepared to struggle working with the code examples if you want to work on the examples in your own development environment.

I recommend the authors create separate complete war files for each chapter's example to make it easier for users to just get that chapter's example code into their development IDE.

Lastly, the book does get 4 stars because the author's explanations of the basics of Struts2 (chapters 1-8) is very easy to follow for experienced Java developers. I'm now ready to tackle the Struts2 applications in my new job.

I took a chance and pre-ordered this book because I have recently started a Struts2 project and wanted to learn more about the framework. The book did not disappoint.

The authors explained the concepts behind the framework clearly and used examples that were immediately useful. The book is a little too short and in many cases a few more details would have been appreciated but it seemed to be a deliberate decision to leave out some of the less common use cases to avoid cluttering up the book. Thus, this book is ideal if you are new to Struts 2 but have some prior experience with Java web development.

I like the fact that an entire chapter was dedicated to integrating Spring and Hibernate into the framework. It brings all the bits and pieces from the online documentation together in a cohesive and comprehensive package.

Chapters were also dedicated to validation, internationalization, best practices and migration from Struts classic. The authors spent several chapters on how the Value Stack and the ActionContext worked and how OGNL fits into this framework.

All in all there is enough information in this book to start and to produce a complete Struts 2 application.

Ms. Scott truly has a way with words. She effortlessly takes the reader through a labyrinth or deception, mystery and undying love. A must read debut novel!

Ms. Scott truly has a way with words. She effortlessly takes the reader through a labyrinth or deception, mystery and undying love. A must read debut novel!

This was a real page turner. Intriguing from beginning to end. Something in it for everyone including mystery and romance.

What an amazing find! Not since classics like The Changeling or The Omen have I been so consumed by a story like the one Ms. Scott brilliantly tells in Sweet Melody. Her writing style is refreshing, and the story line so engagingly unpredictable, I can hardly wait for Liana Scottès next book! One final word on this literary gem: wow!