Wainwright Books

I started reading "Lies" in the bathtub and I couldn't put it down! It's "smart women/foolish choices" and (not) having it all in one novel. It has a dashing hero (Stuart Brandon) you love to hate; a fresh, fascinating setting (New Jersey's Pine Barrens); and conflicts of autonomy that ring as true for the 21st century as for the 18th when the book takes place. And, as one of the jacket reviews says, "the nature writing is lyrical."

The story weaves real "lanes and legends" of the mysterious Barrens with characters based on historical figures like The Black Doctor of the Pines, "Pine Robber" Joe Mulliner, and an eccentric industrialist trying to build a utopian community.

Story events aren't just "plunked in"; they arise from the ecology of the area, the technology of the time, and the motives and passions common to men and women in all times.

"Romance" doesn't have to be a dirty word; it's a literary tradition going back to "Jane Eyre." "Lies" is romance without guilt with people, places, and writing worth remembering. Read it once for the story and again just to savor it.

This book was good for comparing apache 1.3 and apache 2.0, and that was the end of what helped. I am a programmer and a network administrator, and I am trying to intigrate FreeBSD and Apache into a windows environment. I am amazed by how much this book has overcomplicated simple things in apache. I paid about $22 for the book, and I have never been so disapointed.

This book is overly technically dense and way too thick. And it was on the verge of unreadable. The way Wainwright wrote this book reminded me of the first scene of Ferris Beuller's Day Off. Yep, you guessed it, the one with the teacher's annoying monotanous voice, well, that's Wainwright, et al in this book. Also, when Wainwright covered TCP/IP I freaked out: I had no idea what a NAK was. After checking Stevens' TCP/IP bible (TCP/IP Illustrated), It turned out that there is none. So the 10 or so technical reviewers should be ashamed of themselves. Granted, everyone has heard of the 3 way handshake and four way close; however, the details of TCP's timeout and retransmition algorithms are complicated but not unintelligible. The authors also do a poor job explaining the material. In fact, they don't really explain it; instead, they state it and assume you've understood it. Also, the authors speak in the second person with We and Our! I find this irritating and offensive. Anyone who managed to get through college knows that you're supposed to use you aditude. Yet the editors of this book seemed to make no note of it(It's on almost every page). In conclusion, this book manages to cover all of apache in a bibleish fashion, but it has obvious errors that make you feel like you know the material better than the authors do.

Apache's HTTP server has been by many measures the most popular web server on the web, and perhaps the primary application that drives people to Linux and open source. Three years ago, Wrox published the definitive book on running the Apache server by Peter Wainwright. Excellent though the book was, it badly needed updating. In May 2002, Wrox published another book, Professional Apache 2.0, which covers the new generation of Apache server, as well as older 1.3x versions that are still running production servers around the world."

Although Apache changed a great deal in its version 2.0, it is a credit to the Apache folk that the config files and command line options have basically remained the same for sys admins. For this reason, the book seems to include a lot of material (CGI security, building, core modules) from the original book. However, a closer look reveals many changes. Almost every chapter includes a discussion about how features differ in both versions of Apache. The book does a good job of giving an overview of Apache's architectural changes and how the use of multi-processing modules (MPM) allow the admin to choose an optimal implementation of apache. This edition, noticeably bigger than the previous one, contains many more examples of how one can extend apache functionality (configuring for binary distribution, setting up virtual interfaces, load sharing). Many sections have been expanded. The discussion of security and SSL is more detailed, yet more succinct; so is the section on content negotiation, (which is twice as long as the previous book), doing proxy server configurations, rsync and benchmarking performance. The discussion on hardening the server was great and up-to-date, although I wish the book spent more time discussing on patching and upgrading.

What is new to the book? We find a longer discussion of graphic administration tools for Windows and Unix, including webmin (which actually I wanted more of). We also have discussions of newer modules such as mod_ruby, mod_python, mod_dav as well as a brief description on how to install tomcat alongside apache. The discussion of mod_dav was especially helpful and interesting to me (and I was especially glad that the author acknowledged the Subversion DAV module, something which is bound to become more important). The php stuff hasn't changed much (although at the time the book was published, 2.0 compatibility with PHP was still an iffy proposition). The book's discussion of mod_perl isn't significantly different, although it does point out migration issues and some additional features.

Generally, the book is clearly written and contains enough examples to find any configuration you want. A few parts required rereading (especially the part about proxies and proxypasses), and occasionally I needed a better explanation of what the example code was supposed to do.

No book can be everything for everybody, and nobody can accuse the book of not having enough content (it is after all more than 700 pages!). I found myself wishing for other things. The book briefly discussed 2.0's support for ipv6, but I longed for a fuller explanation and a more detailed example (Fortunately, I had seen a good ipv6 tutorial on Linux Journal ). Also, I would have liked more information about other web application servers (like zope that Apache sometimes coexists with, content frameworks (such as cocoon) and other goodies produced by the Apache Foundation. The author might legitimately feel that such subjects lie outside the book's scope, but such topics are becoming more important.

In summary: for newbies who are looking for a guide to start with: this is the definitive book to read. It's definitive and a little imposing, but it is well written and logically arranged.

For people already familiar with Apache 1.3 but looking for more depth about ipv6, php, content frameworks or Tomcat, it might be better to read books on those specific subjects instead of this one. Indeed, Wrox will soon be coming out with a book specifically on Apache and Tomcat.

For experienced system administrators, the material in this book may not be terribly new, but they will still appreciate the variety of configuration examples for managing large numbers of virtual hosts and the convenience of having documentation of the 1.3/2.0 differences at their fingertips.

Moving from the IIS environment to the Unix environment; being fairly computer literate and having become quite familiar with basic Unix administration, I was looking for a good source to get me up to speed on Apache.

This book is not it.

It assumes a fairly detailed basic knowledge which most 'newbies' to the Unix/Apache world just do not have. After I had learnt quite a bit about Apache (from another source) I found this book excelent to tune that knowledge. It is however, as the title 'Professional Apache' suggests, for the Professional Apache administrator. Don't get it to learn about Apache, get it when you already know quite a bit about Apache, and need to learn how to refine that knowledge and need to tweak Apache for maximum performance!

Wainwright is incredibly knowledable, but like many knowledgeable people he forgets that for the average Joe to get from A to Z he has to go via BCDE & F and can't start at UVWX & Y. This is not a criticism of Peter but rather is a criticism of the Wrox editorial staff.

I do feel that the editorial staff could, with a little intelligent effort, have helped Peter create a book that could indeed have become the 'bible' of Apache Administration.

This book is the only book that describes mod_ruby as far as I know.

You can know various things about mod_ruby from this book. For example:

* What is mod_ruby
* How to configure Apache to use mod_ruby
* How to configure Apache to use eRuby
* Output buffering mechanism of mod_ruby
* Apache API for Ruby

The author of this section is Sean Chittenden. He is the most powerful contributor to mod_ruby, so his document is very reliable.

I hope you enjoy this book and mod_ruby:-)
If you don't know what is mod_ruby, please read this book!

I also read the book "Who Goes Next" that tells the true stories of daring escapes from prisons and prison camps throughout history, but this is not it. I ordered this book used and was disappointed to find it to be a 1960's detective/police novel. I would like to find the prison escape book.

I read this book when I was in fifth grade - - in 1969 - - and it left an indelible impression on me. I haven't seen Who Goes Next? since '69 but the one story that has remained in my mind was the story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's rescue at the South Pole. Travelling with two others in inhuman cold, starving, dead-tired, the men insist they'd seen a fourth man. Could this be the "spirit of escape?" the author conjectures. I have never forgotten this, what's more, Shackleton read books like Who Goes Next? when he was young and they were formative for him.

I read this book when I was in the 6th grade and it was by far the most popular book among my peers at the time. The book tells the true stories of daring escapes from prisons and prison camps throughout history. Truth is stranger (and more interesting) than fiction.

I was disappointed with the quality of this book. There are great descriptions of climbing Everest, it is true, but in light of the finding of Mallory and public knowledge of his close relationship with his wife, it seems crass indeed to have him galloping off to a secret life with his Bloomsbury friends. Mallory was not the sort of man to carry on a secret life- his 1920/1 trip to Ireland notwithstanding; he was remarkably unBritish in his frankness concerning feelings and opinions. This book does great disservice to the memory of Mallory and Irvine.

This is a "must" for inclusion in a climbing hut bookshelf. You can feel the cold hard winds and menace of Everest; you can identify with the thoughts, fears and fantasies on the rock face.

Professional Perl Development by Randy Kobes and a whole bunch of others is really boring. Luckily this was cheap, or I would have really regretted getting this one. For me, pretty much no use at all, so far, so you can probably pretty safely stay away from this title unless you have some burning obscure need for it, or find it at a really cheap price.

Seems to cover a lot, from networking to graphics to XML & CGI. I was surprised that the chaper on CGI was so short, given that its not covered at all in Professional Perl also by Wrox press. Also the book was a lot shorter, but still long at 650 pages.

The book is very informative and an useful addition for those who are engaged in teaching the environmental modelling - air, water, waste, solid etc.

The chapters are well written and very crisp in putting the matter in a very simple way.

The Title of the book justifies the author's theme and orientation in writing this book!

Mukesh Khare
professor in Environmental Engg
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
India and
Atlantic LNG Chair Professor in Environmental Engineering
University of West Indies, St Augustine
Trinidad and Tobago

The election of Ignacio Lula da Silva as Brazilian president in October 2004 was cheered in Brazil and abroad. In Brazil there was finally hope of social change. Outside Brazil Lula's rags to riches story, combined with the uncertain behaviour of the financial markets should he be elected, led to special interest.

On the wave of optimism following Lula's comfortable second round victory, Sue Branford and Bernardo Kucinsky with help from Hilary Wainwright wrote this book about Lula and his workers' party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT). All three of the writers are firmly left wing and start from the assumption that PT is different and better than all other political parties, making a critical analysis impossible.

Each writer contributes his own chapter, resulting in a collection of articles and not a coherent book. The first chapter tells the story of the PT from its origins in the mass strikes in the Sao Paolo area in the late seventies to the 2002 elections. The second chapter starts in Caétes with Lula's humble origins and joins the PT story when Lula becomes the undisputed leader of the Sao Paolo strikes. The most interesting chapter covers the economic developments in Brazil in the 1990's, in which the IMF and the international banks are the villains. In the last chapter Hillary Wainwright visits Porto Alegre to see the system the ruling PT has established to listen to the wishes of its citizens.

The book also contains profiles of emblematic PT members like Marina who first went to school aged 16 and now is Minister of the Environment and black favela dweller Benedita de Silva. People like this and Lula himself are the PT's best claim to uniqueness.

Two years after his victory it's clear that real change is difficult to accomplish. Lula himself admitted Any profound change is not easy in our country. And the PT is behaving more and more like the other Brazilian political parties.

The subject of this book - ways that communities are developing their own democratic spaces - is an important one that I am particularly interested in, as a political activist. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed by the lack of breadth in the different communities covered. I was expecting a survey of experiments in democracy around the world. What Wainwright presented was an example from Argentina, an altogether too brief reference to Brazil, and then several examples from the UK.

She teaches in the UK, so the focus is not surprising. But that focus was off-putting to someone (like me) not terribly familiar with the structure of local government in the UK. She explained the specifics of the Argentinian political fora well enough, but I think that she presumed to be writing for a British audience.

If you must read everything on this subject (creating more direct democracy in your own community) or you are a community activist in the UK, I think that this book is worthwhile. Others in the rest of the world may not find enough in this book to engage and energize them.

This story takes place in the span of a Sunday morning in a vacation town in Britain. The story centers on the small town's police force and their reaction to a constable's brutal murder and the ensuing siege. The approach the book takes is a lot like a 70's disaster movie, where there are lots of individual stories that are told surrounding the main action. Probably a fourth of the book is spent talking about the siege, and that works here.

The back stories are of moderate interest, and Wainwright throws in some gratuitous shockers meant to remind us that these small town folks have skeletons in their closets. As an American it's hard to believe the siege, which involves cops in a standoff with a man armed with just straight razor. This siege is an extrordinary event in this town, whereas in the States it's just a Friday night on payday weekend.

I gave the book three stars probably because I had a hard time following all the different story threads, since I didn't learn all the character names I guess. The siege idea probably works well for a European but for an American not so much. This book would be ideal to read while actually on vacation in a European beach town. The book is short enough to do just that.

I FIND THIS BOOK TO BE VERY OFFENSIVE. THE WRITER REFERS TO SIGN LANGUAGE AS "DEAF AND DUMB LANGAUGE", HE REFERS TO NATIVE AMERICANS AS AMERICAN INDIANS, I FOUND THIS BOOK TO BE HORRIFIC AND THE WRITER SHOULD CONSIDER BEING MORE POLITCALLY CORRECT IN THE FUTURE

I didn't do the excersizes and I didn't get as much out of the book. It's tempting to not do them as you can get the concepts from the discussion, but I suspect given the extreme reviews of this book, that doing them makes all the difference.

If you're not going to do them, then buy another book.

I read this book beacuse I wanted to learn about body language, to develop body-language awareness and to get across more convincingly. I have not learnt any of those aspects from this book. The author superficially describes different topics and does not provide any insight or meaningful discussion. Save time and money, try something else.

This book does point out the obvious a lot. But it has noted a lot of things knew, but didnt realize. Its a good begginer book.

This is not a book that will enlighten you. I have many books on body language, and his one is the least informative.